The Choice

Selena

After having the delicious venison that Kieran and his mom made we all made our way to the common room and just relaxed. Kieran wrapped his arms around me and I relaxed immediately. His parents were super sweet and accepted me with open arms. Soon we saw another young gentleman come in and make lovey eyes at Mia. He seemed handsome, but not as handsome as my Kieran. He was fit cause I could see his muscle tone through his shirt. Short black hair that was hidden by a beanie, clean-shaven, and possibly some tattoos that peeked through his long-sleeved shirt. He seemed mid-20s, but I was bad at guessing ages.

“Mia? Who’s this nice gent on your arm? I think this is the first time I’ve seen you blush.” She blushed like a red rose and hid her face into his chest.

“This is Jake Montego, but I call him JC. We met when he was visiting from another pack to help us train. I was helping him with some minor injuries and we’ve been together ever since.” He kissed her on the cheek and I couldn’t help but go ‘awww’.

“Yeah yeah, way to rub it in Mia…” Raven pouts on the couch.

“You’ll find yours sometimes it takes time.”

“I know… I’m just impatient…”

“I know you are, but this is the one time you have to be. Otherwise, it could mess things up.” Kieran added.

“Mess things up how?” I asked him curiously.

“It could mess with their bond somehow, but since I waited for you I knew you were mine since that night I found you in the woods.” It was my turn to hide my face and blush. Everyone laughs but I just let out a shy smile.

“Maybe sometime you could help me at the clinic, there are some cute unmated guys there.” Mia nudges Raven.

“I’m a businesswoman, not a nurse!” Raven shouted at her.

“Oh, yeah… well there are still cute guys there. Maybe we can have lunch sometime.”

“Alright…” Raven sighed in defeat. Just then two very beautiful, curvy, straight, blonde hair that went down past their chest, come strutting in and almost tackle the twins.

“Oof hi to you too!” They all laugh.

“Wow, aren’t you two lucky?” I giggle when I realize that the ladies are also twins.

“Oh, right you haven’t met. Selena, this is Athena Millington.“ Conrad hugs her.

“And my beauty is Althea Millington,” Connor says proudly.

“Hi,” they say together. That was a little weird, but guess they’re used to it.

“Hi… wow twins mated to twins… guess I shouldn’t be surprised. No wonder you’re jealous Raven!” Everyone else laughs but I really felt bad.

“Now you see why I want my mate…” Raven pouted again.

“Well, speaking of mates.” Kieran turns towards me “Would you do me the honor of going on our first date?” Everyone goes ‘ooohh’ like in some sitcom show.

“I’d love to.” I smile. I never went on a date before mainly since my dad just wanted me to just accept whoever he wanted instead of what I wanted. I haven’t heard from my parents since I called them a few days ago, but my siblings text me whenever they can. I’ve grown close to my brother Liam since we went through the same experience. “When would you like to go?”

“Tomorrow night? How about I pick you up in your room at 6?”

“Sure that sounds perfect.” I squeal to the ladies with excitement. “Wait, I still don’t have a lot of clothes, and most of the clothes Mia gave me are in the laundry.” Raven, Mia, and their mom, Caroline all smirked and looked at me.

“SHOPPING SPREE!” They all squealed!

“Where do you shop?” I haven’t seen a mall around here.

“There’s a daily market that’s near the townhouses kind of like a town square. I’m sure we can look around there for something fun and flirty.” Mia smirks at me and I can tell this is going to be a fun day with the girls.

“Well, sounds like you’re going to have a fun day tomorrow and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.” We both get up and I kiss his cheek.

“I guess I’ll get ready for bed since I have a fun day planned tomorrow,” I smirked at the ladies and we went to my room. I still have a separate room for now, but hopefully, that’ll change soon. We’ve been getting to know each other for the month I’ve been here. To say I was sheltered back home is an understatement, and I’m so glad I have freedom here. I changed into my nightgown and climbed into bed with a smile on my face. The next day I was woken up bright and early by Raven, Mia, Althea, Athena, and Caroline.

“Good morning! Rise and shine!” Raven jumped onto my bed and almost landed on my legs.

“OOF good morning to you too,” I say in a groggy voice. What a way to be woken up.

“Market opens soon, so let’s have a substantial breakfast, get you dressed with what clean clothes you have left and we’ll head out.” Caroline sat on the edge of the bed and helped me up, and nudged me to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I admit I was looking forward to this girls’ day. It gave me a chance to bond with my future in-laws. As I was getting changed into a light long-sleeve dark blue shirt and jeans, I got a call from Gwen.

“Hey, Gwen what’s up!?” I always get excited when my siblings call.

“I just wanted to say hi, and that now I’m getting closer to 18 and seeing what dad did to you. I think I’m going to do the ceremony too. I don’t want dad to pick some random stranger for me. I want love too. Like what you and Liam have. I’m sorry Jude has to stay here since he’s the heir…”

“Wow, this is bold of you, Gwen. I’m actually a little proud. If you pick the wolf door, mind-link me and I’ll try to find you.” Usually, she follows mom and dad rules so I figured she’d let dad pick her suitor like he had tried with me.

“Thanks, Selena. You gave me the courage to see their crazy and medieval ways. I too want my mate and I hope when Jude is King and Alpha that he’ll get rid of this stupid rule.”

“You and me both. I haven’t really talked to mom and dad since I started my new life. Just you, Liam, and Jude since you didn’t know. Liam and I have been getting close since dad did the same to him. He did the ceremony with him and found his mate in another pack which maybe I’ll talk to mine about allying with, but that’s another day. Anyway, I’m glad you called I’ve missed you.”

“I miss you too, Selena. Maybe I’ll just leave and come to find you. I don’t want to wait another three years of dad shoving guys in my face for his political gain.”

“If that’s what you want, I’m in a pack called Moonstone Pack. I have an idea how far it is from Oakcrown, but to simplify it it’s far from home.”

“I know that’s the point, isn’t it?” I can tell she was getting angry with mom and dad.

“Yeah, I suppose it is. The ceremony is more or less dad’s way of banishing us just in a fancy way. The only reason Jude has to stay is he’s the only hair he has left. Why don’t you pack something light? Clothes and shoes to last for a while, photos of us siblings, some jewelry you love, some money you saved up, stuff like that. Also, before you leave could you bring some of my stuff? ” There were a couple of things from home I wanted to get.

“Yeah, like what?” She asked with a confused tone in her voice.

“Mainly my journal, the small heart-shaped sapphire necklace you gave me, and pictures of you guys. The clothes I don’t mind leaving behind. I don’t want to be reminded of princess life. We were really only princesses in name, anyway. It’s not like we did anything.”

“Yeah true. I can see if I can find some casual clothes and shoes and the other stuff you recommended.”

“When did you want to leave?”

“IF I can… I want to leave tonight.” Whoa, this is bold even for her!

“Guards usually change around bedtime, so you have to be quick after dinner.” I knew the guard changes pretty well since I’d sneak out into the woods for runs all the time. It was my one chance of freedom, but guards usually found me. “Be careful, Gwen… I love you. If you can get away fast enough, I’ll send Kieran’s guards to look for you.”

“Thanks, Selena. I love you too.” She hangs up, and it dropped my jaw. I sit in the closet processing the phone call I just had. Where did Gwen get this confidence from!?

“Selena, are you almost ready?” Mia shouted from my room.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” I get up from the closet floor still with a stunned look on my face.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Caroline asks me.

“My sister Gwen just called me. She’s planning on running away from home and wants to come here.”

“Whoa…” They all give me shocked looks.

“I tried multiple times to run, but I’d always get caught… hopefully she has better luck than I did. Caroline, can you send out your best warriors to find her? Oakcrown is far away from here and I don’t want her to get scared and lost.”

“Of course I can! If I remember right, Oakcrown is only four hours away from here.”

“Four hours!? It looked farther away on the map. I want to go with them when they look for her. If I’m supposed to be Luna soon isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? I told her to leave tonight since that’s when the guards change.” I try to gain my confidence too and this search party for Gwen is my ticket to earning some trust and respect for my new pack.

“I suppose you can, being your sister and all,” Caroline said in a worried tone. “In the meantime, can we have our girls’ day?”

“Oh crap! Kieran! I have to tell him about this!” I ran out of the room realizing this might interfere with our date. I tried to lock in his scent of woodsy rum and vanilla, and I found him in his office.

“Kieran!” I panted once I found him

“Selena, what’s wrong?”

“My sister, Gwen… she’s running away from home and I told her that she can have sanctuary here.”

“What!?”

“I wasn’t sure if this would interfere with our date so I thought I should tell you.” I calmed down as I sat down on the couch near his desk.

“I’m glad you told me but I don’t think it should. I can pick you up earlier and after we have fun we can get to work. I’ll let the pack warriors know and both of us can go.”

“That was your mom’s advice as well.” I blush and almost kiss him again.

“What happened to your girl’s day?” He asks me with a confused look.

“Oh, crap the ladies! I’ll see you tonight, hun!” I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and headed back to my room, and it was empty. I went downstairs towards the front door and found them waiting for me on the porch.

“There you are!” Raven said impatiently.

“Sorry I wanted to make sure that my sister’s running away didn’t interfere with our date, and then I almost got caught up in a moment with him that he had to remind me of our girls’ day.” I blushed and everyone giggled at me.

“Come on! I can smell all the good food from the market and it’s making my mouth water!” Mia was practically already running across the yard to the fence where the edge of the packhouse property was. The food did smell delicious with all different kinds of meat and veggies being cooked. From bison to chicken, veggies from almost out of summer season veggies to fresh fall ones. The clothes markets had pretty dresses from flowy boho to suits to handmade to whatever else the tailors could think of. We all have a good time at this outdoor mall and I pick out bunches of dresses, shirts, sweaters, jeans, skirts, professional and casual. Shoes of various styles and colors. I look over at the other ladies and see they got stuff too.

“Wow, looks like I got my own mall of clothes!” I see that they have six bags in each hand!

“You won’t be running out of clothes anymore,” Raven smirks at me.

“Good, I need something cute and flirty for tonight.”

“It’s weird to set ya up with our brother, brother-in-law, and son… but since your mates anyway not much we can do. I know Kieran is thrilled to have found you.” I blush at their compliment. We grab a light lunch and head back to the packhouse to pick out an outfit for my date. To be honest, I’m a little nervous. I’ve never been on a date before… we get back to the packhouse in the early afternoon with a few hours left to get ready which should be enough… I think. Caroline had to go back to her Luna duties, which that’s ok. I didn’t want to keep her work. So it was just the sisters and me. They look through the bags seeing what the others got, and I’m just in la-la land. I have a decent room, but I’m nervous about moving in with Kieran. A queen bed, a vanity dresser, a walk-in closet that I can finally fill with clothes, my own nice bathroom, and a balcony with French doors.

Nothing fancy but at least it’s better than being outside like my parents probably thought I was. I go onto the balcony and just daydream about tonight. What could he possibly want to do with me?? I haven’t seen much of him since his alpha duties keep him busy, but that’s expected. Meanwhile, I hear noises going on in my room! Ugh so much for daydreaming… I go back to my room and realize they’ve set up a mini spa in my room!

“What is all this!?” I ask them with shock on my face.

“We figured since you didn’t get pampered much that we’d spoil you for a few hours before your date!” Raven squealed with joy. I can’t believe they did this for me! I have the most amazing new family!

“You guys! This is so sweet! Thank you so much!” They took me to the bathroom where it was lit with lavender candles to make it relaxing and I found an apple and cinnamon bath bomb. on the edge of the jacuzzi tub. The bath itself was amazing! The jets felt so good on my back… I take a little nap while smelling the apple scent from the bath bomb. Soon the water gets cold and I’m bummed I have to get up. Mia and Raven help me up and I see the outfit selections they pick. One is a simple white top with a dark red skirt with knee-high-heeled boots with a tan trench coat, one is a brown sweater with black pants also with knee-high boots but flats instead of heels, and one is a dark red knee-length sweater dress, a leather coat, and black thigh-high-heeled boots.

“What to choose… what to choose…” I say out loud to no one in particular.

“I like the second outfit since you probably want to help your sister afterwards you don’t want to wear a dress and heels in the woods.” Mia points out. That’s true I wanted to help Gwen so badly.

“How about the tan coat from the first outfit, but keep the second outfit?” Raven asks. I put them together and think about it for a few minutes.

“Yeah, I like it. That way I don’t get a cold.”

“Or no coat and Kieran can offer his,” Mia smirks at the thought of him being such a gentleman to her.

“Fun!” Raven seems to like it too. I’m not sure why they like the thought of him being flirty with me.

“Well, go change and see how it looks on you.” They shove me towards the closet with the outfit. They fit nicely and once I came out they squealed with joy.

“Kieran is going to love it!” Raven squeals. Mia checks the time to make sure I’m not late.

“You have enough time for simple makeup and then he’ll be here!” Mia does my makeup with a little brown mascara and eyeliner, with a light peachy lip stain.

“You look so cute!” They squeal together. Soon there was a light knock on the door. I could smell the woodsy rum and vanilla and realize that Kieran is here to pick me up.