Chapter 11: 10, Shopping on a budget

Adina collapsed back on the bed. Laying on her back, looking up at the ceiling, she tried to collect her thoughts. Well, this was not how she had planned things to go. She felt guilty for not stopping Colin. She didn’t want to give him false hope.

But honestly, every time he got close to her, especially with those lips of his, she just wanted to rip his clothes off. Her wolf thought that was the best idea ever. Well, joining him in the shower would be a better idea, her wolf thought.

Adina summoned all her strength to force that image out of her mind and instead she went into the wardrobe to pick out clothes she could go shopping in.

When she was done, Colin came out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair still wet. He’s doing this on purpose to drive me crazy, Adina thought as she pried her eyes off his body and instead took aim towards the bathroom to take a shower of her own. A cold one, she decided.

“Have a good day, baby. If you need anything, just ask anyone and they will help you. If you need me, just tell anyone in the pack and they will mind link,” Colin said and Adina nodded.

“Are you going to the hospital today to talk to the pack doctor? Could I tag along?” Adina just remembered.

“Sure thing, I’ll swing by the pack house so we can grab lunch and then we can go together,” he said.

“Thank you. Have a good day,” Adina said before closing the bathroom door.

Before Adina went down to eat breakfast, she mentally linked with Sean to check if he was awake and ready. He was, and they met up in the kitchen and had cooked breakfast when Julia came downstairs and joined them.

The three of them enjoyed the food, and Adina filled Sean in on the plans for the day. Shopping was first on her to-do list, and Sean sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, come on, it will be over in no time. We will go to one clothing shop, pick out an outfit and then we will be done,” Adina said supportively.

“Hm, luna, it may take a little longer than that. The alpha was very clear that we needed to visit every clothing store in town.” Julia said.

“So that they don’t think we have a preference,” she added when she saw Adina’s and Sean’s looks.

Right, Adina thought. She hadn’t considered that.

“Okay then, we will visit every shop and make one purchase in each one,” Adina said.

That may be a bit more than she was planning on getting. Nevertheless, not that excessive.

After a lazy breakfast, the three of them walked down to the main street and entered the first clothing shop. It was a nice boutique with an array of mostly dresses for more formal occasions. But Adina saw a pantsuit or two that looked interesting as well.

“Good morning luna. I’m Angelique, the owner. It is a pleasure to have you in my simple shop.”

They were greeted by a woman in her forties. Everything from her clothes to her hair and the way she held herself exuded elegance.

“It is a pleasure. You have a beautiful shop, and the dresses are amazing,” Adina said, scanning the inventory.

“You flatter me. The alpha called ahead and arranged everything with the budget,” Angelique said.

Adina’s POV

Good, Adina thought, Colin had been smart enough to place her on a budget. She had been afraid he would go over the top. She felt more comfortable having a budget.

“I think we might be looking at about five dresses to reach the minimum amount. But it all depends on the dress, of course.” the elegant woman continued.

“Excuse me, minimum?” Adina asked, confused.

“Yes, luna, the alpha was very clear that you needed to leave the store with merchandise for at least the minimum amount allotted,” Angelique explained.

Adina didn’t like this, but she knew the shop owner wasn’t responsible. She only did what her alpha had asked of her. No point in arguing. She just had to find five dresses, which wouldn’t be that difficult.

It seemed Colin had called all the stores with the same instructions. Everywhere she went, Adina had to shop for more than she had planned. At first, Sean had been tasked with carrying the bags, but Adina quickly realised that would not work.

They needed a car, Julia mind linked with her mate and five minutes later a car with a driver showed up. Sean was more than happy to load all the bags into the car and continue to do so after each shop. Soon the car filled up with everything from formalwear to comfy stay at home clothes.

As they visited one shop after another, Adina was making Julia tell them the story about how she and Mateo met.

Julia had been working at a fast-food place in a town about three hours’ drive away from the pack. Mateo and Colin had stopped there on their way from a regional alpha meeting two years ago. Julia hadn’t been able to keep her eyes away from Mateo.

But as she was a human, she hadn’t known about the mating bond. She just thought he was hot and super sweet. Mateo had gone in quite heavy with the flirting, but Julia had just started seeing someone, so she had turned Mateo down.

But he had kept coming in at least once a day, even on her days off her co-workers told her he came in looking for her. After a little over a week, she ended it with the other guy, as all she could think about was Mateo.

The next day she finally accepted to go on a date with him. He took her on a picnic in the woods and then he took her to the pack house to meet “some friends that I live with” as he had described it.

A week after that and several dates later, he had told her his big secret and explained all about the mate bond. She had been a bit freaked out at first, but she couldn’t deny the powerful feelings she had. She ended up moving in with him after dating for three weeks.

“What does your family say?” Adina wondered.

“They thought I was crazy for moving here so fast,” Julia admitted.

“This place is seen as a cross between a hippie community and a cult by the surrounding human population. So they were concerned. But Mateo and I visit them at least once or twice a month, and they have visited here as well. Now my mother loves Mateo, my father approves and since my two brothers talked him into joining in neighbourhood baseball games whenever we visit, he is top of their list,” she continued, laughing.

“I’m happy to hear that,” Adina said, and she was.

Adina liked Julie, but she also knew that it wasn’t always easy for a human-werewolf mating. Of all the races, humans were the ones that didn’t have any connection to the magic community. The cultural shock could be big.

“And how has it been moving into a pack?” Adina asked.

“Different,” Julia said with a smile.

“I wasn’t used to the close community, the lack of privacy that comes so natural to werewolves. Not to mention the nudity. That threw me for a loop for quite a while. I could take a walk or sit in the kitchen and next thing you know there is a completely naked person strolling by.” Julia said and made both Adina and Sean laugh.

“Yes, the shifting makes us comfortable seeing other people nude,” Adina agreed.

“But we are nowhere near as bad as vampires. Sean and I stayed at a nest a couple of years back and they are as comfortable with sex as we are with nudity. The number of times we walked into a room just to see several people doing… things. On the dining table, on the couches, everywhere.” Adina told Julia with a shiver.

“I ended up always sending Sean into a room first. He had it worse than me, but my nerves just couldn’t handle it in the end,” Adina confessed.

“Disgusting,” Sean agreed.

Julia looked at both of them to see if they were joking.

“I think I don’t mind the nudity as much anymore,” she said when she realized they were telling the truth, making all three of them laugh.

It was almost lunchtime. Sean was grumpy after several hours of watching the women trying on clothes. The last stop on their shopping tour was a lingerie store. Adina looked at the shop window where sexy undergarments were displayed. Then she looked at Sean and saw the uncomfortable look on his face.

“You can wait outside if you want to,” she said to him. Sean seemed to consider the offer but finally shook his head, depressed.

“I go where you go,” he gloomily said, and the three of them entered the store.

The store owner gave him a strange look but as he was with the luna, they let him stand next to the dressing rooms, doing his best to look at everything but the inventory, the displays or anything that reminded him of where he was.

Once they were done, Adina felt exhausted and was happy they were done.

“The last bags are in the car, and I sent it to the pack house,” Sean reported.

“Too bad, we could have gotten a lift back,” Julia said, and Adina had a suspicion she was as exhausted as Adina.

“There wasn’t any room,” Sean said.

“What?” Adina exclaimed.

“There wasn’t any room in the car because of all the shopping,” Sean clarified and Adina looked at him in terror.

How many things had she bought? This had not been a part of her plan. The three of them started walking to the pack house. When they arrived, the car was about to drive away, but the driver stopped and rolled down the window.

“I had the bags delivered to your room luna and yours, Julia,” he informed them.

“Thank you,” Adina said.

“No problem luna,” the man said and drove off.

One problem less to worry about, Adina thought. Then she realized how late it was. They had spent so much time in the lingerie shop and then walked home. Lunchtime was long since over.

As they approached the door to the packhouse, it opened and Colin and Mateo stepped out. Julia walked straight into Mateo’s open arms and Adina walked up to Colin and felt him embrace her.

 “Did you have a nice time, Adina?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you for all the nice clothes. But I think we need a talk about boundaries,” she smiled at him, and he chuckled.

“Do you want to eat something before we head over to Doc?” Colin asked. Adina felt bad for keeping him waiting.

“No, I’m fine. How about you Sean?”

“No, I’ll live,” he said with a shrug.

“Then we’ll head over,” Colin said and started walking with his arm around Adina’s waist like a habit he had had for years.

“Bye Julia, thank you for keeping me company. I had a lot of fun,” Adina said to the woman that she now considered her friend.

“Bye luna, me too,” Julia answered with a smile.