Chapter 23

The car gracefully snaked through the countryside and gradually the farmland and small peaceful villages soon turned into a vibrant and bustling city. Tall skyscrapers filled with offices and high-rise blocks of flats soon replaced the wide-open fields, and streets filled with people hurrying about laden with shopping bags filled the scene.

This was what I had missed about the city since living in the packhouse.

The hustle and bustle of the city were quite different from the peaceful life back in the countryside. I looked out of the window as familiar shops and cafes whizzed past in a blur of colour. We finally turned into a large car park outside of a large shopping centre filled with cars of all colours, shapes and sizes.

“What shop do you want to go to first?” quizzed Hannah excitedly, bringing the car to a stop and taking off her seatbelt.

“I wouldn’t mind grabbing an iced coffee first if I’m honest,” I responded, grabbing my purse from the dashboard, and climbing back out of the car.

I watched as Hannah grabbed her bag from the back seat and proceeded to lock her car again with the fob before turning excitedly towards me, her face bursting with happiness.

“The Roasted Bean it is then!” grinned Hannah, grabbing my arm with her hand and pulling me towards a large building made entirely of shiny glass.

Silvermoor Arcade was a large tall building that consisted of three floors, filled with coffee shops, clothes shops, shoe shops and a food hall. There was also a fancy jewellery shop, a posh sweet shop that sold the most delicious chocolates and a large toyshop filled with every toy imaginable. We joined the queue for the Roasted Bean, and the smell of freshly ground coffee soon filled the air. I sniffed hungrily and eyed up all the rows of different flavoured coffee beans and bottles of sweet flavoured syrups.

“That smells good!” I chuckled.

“Yes, it does. I’m going to have a large Macchiato with whipped cream,” grinned Hannah.

We finally made it to the counter, where a tall skinny boy with short blonde hair and wearing a green apron was serving.

“Can I take your order,” he drawled, clearly sounding bored.

“Yes, can I have one iced coffee please and one Macchiato with whipped cream. Make them both large too!” I responded confidently.

“Sure. Is that everything?” the boy asked.

I nodded and held my hand out with the correct amount of money and watched the boy grab the money before slamming it shut into the till. Moments later, we both had our drinks, and as we walked away from the counter, we slurped on them noisily.

“Uhhh, I have missed this,” I chuckled, swallowing a large gulp of the icy cold liquid and sighing contentedly.

Hannah looked at me and laughed. “You’re really not a countryside girl, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I prefer the hustle and bustle of the city. To be honest, I didn’t even really want to move to the packhouse in the first place,” I admitted.

Hannah stood there opened mouthed at me in shock at my revelation. Shaking her head in disbelief and trying to hide her amusement, she grabbed my arm, and we promptly made our way to Laura’s Closet, which was a fashionable clothes shop, and we made our way straight to the sale rack. Excitedly, I ran my fingers through the different materials, pausing to look at a few items. I pulled out a light blue pair of denim jeans that had slits cut into the legs and held them against me.

“You will look super-hot in them,” Hannah declared, holding up a black leather mini skirt against herself. “What do you think?” she asked me undecidedly.

“Looks lovely,” I beamed before turning my attention back to the clothes rail.

I grabbed a sequined black vest top and a red and black chequered overshirt and headed over to the changing rooms. Hannah grabbed a purple chiffon top and followed me into the same cubicle where we both quickly changed into our new outfits.

“Wow look at you!” Hannah squealed, clapping her hands. “That really suits you, babe. Xavier will love it!”

Shyly, I grinned back at her before taking off the clothes and throwing back on my old outfit. “I’ll meet you back outside, okay?” I said before squeezing out of the cubicle discreetly and heading back out on to the shop floor.

By the time Hannah had finished in the changing rooms, I had picked up a couple more tops, a pink and black silk nightdress and an electric blue bra and knicker set. Hannah finally joined me, with her arms also filled with a large bundle of new clothes.

“Have you found everything you want?” Hannah asked breathlessly.

I nodded, and we slowly made our way over to the till. Minutes later, we both hobbled out into the busy shopping centre laden with shopping bags. As we continued walking down the long halls, a waft of melted chocolate filled the air.

“Mmm, smell how good that is!” Hannah sniffed hungrily.

I inhaled deeply, and the sweet smell of chocolate set my senses on fire. I nodded in agreement.

“I fancy some chocolate now. Let’s go and check it out!” I exclaimed.

We wasted no time in making our way towards the sweet shop. Piled up high in the window were bars of white chocolate, brown chocolate and dark chocolate in the distinctive purple and black wrappers of Cocalico. Cocalico was the best chocolatiers by far in the City.

Hannah pulled open the heavy glass doors, and we walked into a large but dimly lit shop, where there were tables and shelves filled to the brim with treats and sweets. Rows of chocolate lollipops sat on top of the display counters with chocolate bars in every flavour piled up high. Boxes of chocolate fudge and large glass jars of drinking chocolate sat on glass shelves at one end of the shop. At the other end of the shop was a pick n mix counter with a mini version of their chocolate bars in every flavour, all wrapped in brightly coloured foils. I decided to buy a large cup of pick n mix, a bar of chocolate coconut creme and a large glass jar of mint chocolate drinking powder. I turned around to see that Hannah had filled her basket with two or three jars and 5 bars of chocolate. Grinning, she chucked in a handful of lollypops, shrugging her shoulders.

“What? I like chocolate, okay! This is for my snack draw,” she winked.

I looked at her and shook my head, trying not to laugh. “You and bloody chocolate!”

Hannah threw a sneaky side look at me and began to chuckle. “Okay. I’ve got what I need. What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Actually, I need to pop over to Handmade Love.”

“Handmade Love?” Hannah asked intently. “What’s in there?”

Handmade Love was a jewellery shop who had beautiful pieces of jewellery for sale. I wanted to get Xavier a gift to say thank you for saving me, twice.

“I just need to buy someone a gift,” I reply innocently trying to keep a calm, collected look on my face without giving anything away.

“Let me guess. A present for the boyfriend?” Hannah joked, nudging me in the ribs playfully.

“Shut up!” I laughed feeling embarrassed and blushing furiously.

We paid for our sweets and made our way out of the shop and towards Handmade Love. Handmade Love was lit brightly, and everywhere you looked, there were glass display stands and cabinets, filled with shiny jewellery that sparkled under the bright lights.

“I’ll wait outside, if you want?” Hannah chuckled, smiling at me broadly.

I shook my head at her before walking through the glass entrance and into the shop. I made my way over to a tall slim blonde woman in a smart navy suit.

“How can I help you?” she asked importantly.

“I’m looking for a gift for… um… my boyfriend,” I stuttered nervously.

“Okay!” the woman replied cheerily. “Are you after a necklace, a ring, a bracelet or some earrings?”

Xavier didn’t have his ears pierced, and I’d never seen him wear a necklace or bracelet before. “A ring… I think,” I replied confidently.

“Do you know what ring size he is?” the woman asked, glancing back at me.

“Um no… sorry. I should go back and find out what he is first,” I stammered, feeling suddenly foolish.

“It’s okay,” the lady soothed. “We have a list of well-known customers and their sizes. He may be on our list. What’s the name?”

“Xavier Black,” I responded quickly.

The lady instantly glanced up at me before lowering her eyes and looking back at the screen of her tablet. Frowning slightly at her reaction, I began to wonder what her problem could be.

“Yes, he is on there. Perfect!” the lady beamed before looking at me dead in the eye. “You must be the proposed Luna then. Nice to meet you. I’m Cassandra!” she smiled, holding out a perfectly manicured hand across the counter.

Gingerly, I shook it, so that I didn’t look impolite.

“Do you know Xavier?” I asked her politely.

The lady shook her head. “No, not like that. I just know that he is the Alpha for our Clan. He is a very loyal customer of Handmade Love.”

“Oh, I see!” I responded, feeling relieved that Cassandra wasn’t some ex-love rival or whatnot.

“So, what sort of ring are you looking for?” Cassandra asked, walking around the counter, and joining me to face the cabinet filled with gold and silver rings.

“I want something to say thank you, basically. Nothing too plain but nothing too flashy,” I described.

There were so many rings to choose from. They all glittered and shone under the bright lights, the lights twinkling back like little stars.

“Well, I know that Mr Black doesnt like yellow gold, so how about a white gold band with a Celtic design around the top, and if you look at this one, there are two wolves woven into the design!” Cassandra winked at me.

I looked at the ring that Cassandra held up, and I instantly fell in love with it.

“It’s perfect!” I exclaimed. “Thank you very much!”

“No worries. I hope Mr Black will like it. I’m sure he will,” Cassandra smiled. “Let’s get you a box and send you on your way.”

I nodded thankfully and followed Cassandra back to the counter and watched her expertly place the ring in a velvet box before slipping the box into a black and white gift bag. I swiftly swiped my bank card over the pay machine and grabbed the bag.

“It was lovely to meet you, Luna,” Cassandra whispered before gently bowing her head.

“And you!” I responded. “Thank you for your help,” before I turned on my heel and made a swift exit out of the shop to where Hannah was waiting patiently for me.

“Got what you needed in there,” Hannah grinned, eying up my little gift bag.

“Yes, I did. I found the perfect ring in there for him,” I gushed.

Hannah looked at me and shook her head, laughing. “How about taking a trip to the nail spar now?” Hannah grinned.

I was about to agree when my phone rang loudly. Puzzled, I answered it, and a voice boomed out over the speaker.

“Leah, it’s Rachel. Where are you? You need to get back to the packhouse now!”

“Why? I asked panickily, “Has something happened to Xavier?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that!” Rachel soothed. “There is just someone important here waiting to meet you, that’s all.”

“Who is it?” I pondered, but Rachel wouldn’t tell me.

“Just get home, and you will soon find out!” she replied before she ended the call abruptly.

I looked over at Hannah and sighed. “Sorry babe but that was Rachel. Someone is waiting for me back at the packhouse. It looks like we got to go.”

“That’s okay,” Hannah nodded. “I didn’t really fancy getting my nails done anyway. They would only break in training!”

I looked at my friend and laughed happily. She always knew how to turn sad things around and make them funnier. We swiftly headed to the exit and back out into the carpark to where we had left the car earlier that day. We threw our shopping bags into the boot, and I jumped into the passenger seat and clipped in my belt. Loudly, the car roared into life, before Hannah sped us off back to the packhouse.

When we finally arrived at the packhouse, nothing seemed amiss or different, and everything was quiet. I casually climbed out of the car and made my way to the boot to grab my bags.

“Sorry about not getting our nails done,” I said apologetically to Hannah.

“Ahh don’t worry about it. Honestly! I’m simply happy that we went shopping together. It was definitely much needed and well deserved,” Hannah smiled.

We walked slowly in through the front doors to where the sound of running feet greeted us along with a shrieking voice that pierced our ears.

“Leah! Oh my god! What the hell has happened to you? You, me, need to talk. Your room now!”

And in slow motion, I glanced up through the lobby towards the patio doors to where Xavier was standing with Rachel and another tall blonde-haired man that I had never met before. And flying towards me, as quick as her legs could carry her, with her arms wide open, was Cierra.