Chapter Fifty Hers

I stood in the dressing room, staring at my reflection and wondering how exactly I got here. One moment, I'm galloping through the dense wilderness on the back of my shifter boyfriend-- is he my boyfriend? Mate?--, and the next, I'm staring at a stack of dresses at a small boutique I've never heard of. I felt like my head would explode from that thought's outrageousness. Aurora's face appeared in the mirror as she brought another armful of dresses. I internally groaned at the sight of them, hoping there wouldn't be any more. Aurora's face was beaming with excitement. "I know that you totally didn't want to go overboard, but it's a major bummer if we don't take advantage of this opportunity to spend the man's dough!"

"I'm still perplexed. After explaining we were attending an important engagement party, Ollie dropped me off and told me someone would come by to get me ready for the party tonight." I deadpanned and glanced at Aurora's stack of designer dresses in her arms. "I mean, I'm grateful for your help, but I barely recovered, and I'm freaking out about everything."

"Far out, I love it when my brother doesn't explain things." Aurora sighed.

"Wait, Ollie, is your brother?"

She shrugged, "Mellow out, babes! Of course, Alpha is my bro. I thought you knew that?"

I shook my head and bit my lip to keep from laughing. I studied her features, seeing very few similarities to Ollie. I wondered if Finn and Aurora took after their mother more because they looked almost Identical. "I can't believe I thought he was some mafia thug extorting money from you."

"No way! That sell-out is so straight-laced that it's borderline cool. He bought my building for me, and I paid him extra to buy it fully in my name. Alpha tried to gift it to me but respected my desire to earn it. " She held up a strappy, very short dress with a grin.

I shook my head, and all the criticism my mother made flooded back again. "Aurora, that will not look good on me. Nothing that shows off my arm fat would be presentable. I am trying really hard not to embarrass Ollie."

She scanned my face with a contemplative look. It was easy to see that she wanted to say more. Instead, she held up the next dress, which was a form-fitting floor-length dress. I opened my mouth to protest, but Aurora held up the dress, waited for me to take it, and then left me alone In the dressing room.

"I'll need shapewear to go with this dress!" I called through the curtain. I ran my finger down the fabric and sighed.

"Try it without it. I'll be the judge on whether you need shapewear or not."

I conceded, quickly stripping down to just my underwear. I grabbed the dress off of the wall hook I had put it on and slipped into it. It would just be easier to show Aurora how bad it looked on me than to fight her any longer. Once dressed, I threw the curtains open and stepped out into the stage area.

"Wowza." A male voice made me jump. I looked up to see Finn and Aurora just staring at me. With them side by side, I could 100 percent see they were siblings. In case I needed it later, I made a mental note of the siblings I knew of so far.

Suddenly, Aurora's eyes grew as big as saucers, and she swiftly closed the distance between us. Aurora grabbed my shoulder, her gaze zoned in on my collarbone, "Is that Alpha's?"

She sniffed near the area in question and looked back at me expectantly. I didn't know how to respond. How could I have been so stupid to forget about the mark? This was the first dress that had yet to cover it entirely. Finn's hand closed around Aurora's biceps, and he stated in a low growl, "Let go of her, Rory."

I flinched away from his sharp tone, letting my eyes drop down. Aurora didn't move; she just continued to stare expectantly at me. Finn adjusted his grip, and I could see her creamy skin start to redden, "Rory, You need to let go of Luna's shoulder right now. She is not required to answer to you, a mere Omega."

A protective instinct took over any self-preservation I felt. How dare Finn look down and mistreat her like that. My life was not more important than anyone else's. I held her gaze with as much confidence as I could muster, putting my hand on Finn's shoulder so he would let go; I softly stated, "Yes, it is."

The intense look she had sized me up bit by bit to see if I was worthy of her brother. Then her gaze dropped to the mark, and she ran the pad of her thumb over it thoughtfully, "I knew he was interested in you, but after her death... I didn't think he would..."

Finn removed Aurora's tight grip from me and took a half step to put himself between us. It was so tense between them that I needed to do something to break it, "Whose death?"

Aurora's eyes rimmed with tears, and Finn gave me a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "It's nothing, Luna. Ignore my twin; she can be a little touchy sometimes."

I went wide-eyed, glancing between them, "Twins?"

Finn smirked. Aurora swiped at her cheeks and plastered on a fake smile, "Yeah, Luna, It's nothing to freak out about. Now, you are so stellar in this dress, but I think there is another one that would fit better."

She moved over to the pile of clothes and lifted another dress. I sighed, seeing that it was another form-fitting one with a slip on the side to show off my leg. "Aurora, if I wear something so form-fitting, it will show off my muffin top and the fat around my thighs. Those dresses are for beautiful and thin women. I would only embarrass myself and Ollie with something like that."

Aurora stared at me dumbfounded, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I... Um... the dress, it won't look good--"

"No. I heard you, but I only picked out dresses that would vibe with your body type." Aurora interrupted.

Finn stepped away, headed for the open waiting chair, and plopped down, "Rory was a fashion major before she decided to open her hippie shop."

"It's true. I tried to live the conformist lifestyle, but I couldn't dig it. The fashion industry is about consumerism and the destruction of mother nature."

Finn laughed, "Yeah, Rory tuned in, turned off, and dropped out."

"So cool it with the negative vibes, and get some self-love on, babes!" Aurora shoved the other dress at me. I grabbed it and went back into the changing room. I looked in the mirror for the first time in years and thought maybe I was beautiful. I tried to see myself through Aurora's eyes, yet Mother's words bash against my thoughts. I knew it would take time to sink in and for me to learn to love myself, but it was still frustrating. I took a deep breath, examined the red fabric of the following dress, and knew it wasn't me, and I needed to fight for myself. I returned to the opening and realized Aurora was watching me with curiosity. I let out all the air in my lungs and refilled it like I was breathing in courage.

"I don't like the color red. I'm not too fond of it. I also don't like dresses that go past my knees." I started, trying not to cower away from her. Mother always chose dresses for me, and I found it easier not to argue because she would lash out when I did. Aurora studied my reaction, seeming to understand.

A small smile crossed her lips, "Cool! Do you want to look around and choose six dresses you dig? Then we can see which one vibes with you."

"You're letting me choose?" I whispered in disbelief.

Aurora nodded calmly, "Yeah, babes. Your body, your choice."

I closed the curtain and quickly changed out of the first dress, putting my leggings and sweater back on to walk around the small boutique. I perused through the different racks of formal dress wear and found a few dresses I liked but none that spoke to me.

I wandered toward Finn, "Do you think we could stop by my shop after this? I need to get something."

He pulled out his phone, typing away, then shrugged, "Sure."

Aurora moved around me, holding up one dress after another for my approval. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a dress folded up on the top of a box in the corner of the store. I walked toward it and saw the silky Navy blue fabric lined with an embroidered silver leaf pattern. I set down all the other dresses and ran my fingers along the patterns. I called over my shoulder, "Hey, Aurora?"

"Yeah?"

"What colors represent Ollie's Kingship? You know, like purple represents royalty, and gold represents wealth? What are Ollie's colors?" I absentmindedly asked while I examined the dress. Something about it called to me just as the other dress had.

"Navy blue and silver," Aurora said suddenly next to me. She looked down at the dress I was fascinated with. "You should try that one on. I get a good vibe from it."

I nodded, already picking it up and heading for the dressing room.