43. Fit for a princess
Hanna meant business.
The order had no sooner left her mouth when six shop girls moved forward, immediately though politely escorting their current customers out of the store. Though all of them were curious why their need for shopping had been denied, none of them gave them the chance to voice their questions. The moment the last of the customers had been shooed out of the store, the door was promptly closed and locked behind them, a closed sign placed in the window. Then one by one she watched as all the blinds on the windows were closed, denying them even visual of what could be going on inside.
Hanna waved to them. “Follow me.”
Netayah silently followed them as Hanna led them along the red carpet on the floor, straight through a door none had seen there. On the other side of the door, the cluster of women descended down a spiral staircase, leading straight into yet another enormous store. Staring upon some of the items put on the mannequins for display, dripping in silks, satins and diamonds, more than double the price of the clothing upstairs.
She finally understood the reason she had been brought downstairs, as these were items that were reserved for only the wealthiest of their patrons. The best of the best.
“Now tell me,” Hanna spoke as she motioned them to the sitting area at the end of a runway, accepting the cappuccino one of the shop girls gave to her. “What exactly are you looking for? Dinner wear, balls, ceremony, day to day?”
“Everything,” the stylist said.
Her eyes widened, “Everything?”
Samantha stared her down evenly, a serious tone to her voice that she hadn't had before. “Yes Hanna, I do mean everything. I fully expect Miss Netayah to have an entire new wardrobe suitable for every circumstance she might face in life by the time we leave this store.”
“What limit for today?”
She shook her head. “The sky’s the limit.”
A sneaky grin spread across the shop owner's face as she heard what the stylist had said to her, almost able to see the money she'd bring in. “Have my fears Samantha by the time I am finished with this girl she will have a wardrobe to die for.” She clapped her hand. “Girls?”
“Yes Miss Lady?” they said in unison.
Hanna slowly scrutinized the younger girl in their presence, slowly circling around her, taking the time to mentally size up the one before her. “I want one of every item that we have in her size, I gather she's about a size six.”
“Four actually,” Sam added.
“Size four,” she informed the girls, “Do light, pastel colors, though some darker ones too, it will help bring out those eyes of her and her natural beauty.”
“Yes Miss Blake,” they said, then rushed off.
Netayah gulped convulsively as she watched all seven of them fan out across the room, skimming through the options made available. Growing slightly afraid when she watched each of them take out item after item from the wracks, some two at a time, all clearly meant for her. “Um Samantha,” she finally spoke to her, “What exactly did the alphas tell you when they asked for your stylist advice?”
She grinned. “That I was to come out to fetch you to have you attired with the clothes you were sorely lacking and by the time that I finished I better have amassed you an entirely new wardrobe. One fit for the princess that you are. Or something along those lines.”
Fuck. What she had originally believed would be a shopping trip to get her a few extra outfits that she needed, turned out to be a shopping palooza. Netayah tried to convince the stylist it wasn't necessary, she only needed a couple of outfits to get through the week, the woman refused to listen. The alphas had mandated what they wanted her to accomplish and to accomplish anything less would be a great mistake she wasn't willing to make. In the end, she was forced to submit to the determination of the woman, sorely hoping that Samantha didn't go completely crazy today.
It was a hopeless dream.
Half of an hour later a mountain of articles were wheeled out on a wrack for her to inspect, Samantha skimming through what had been provided. A few were discarded as unacceptable, then a couple of others were exchanged out for a different color, the majority remained on the wrack. Samantha motioned her forward, “I want you to pick one outfit to start with and then head to the changing room, I will have one of the girls wheel over the rest for you to try on.”
“Okay,” she stammered.
Scanning through an assortment of clothing that seemed to be focused on daywear, she retrieved the first item and headed into the dressing room. She changed into what turned out to be a delicate summer dress, that was held up by thin straps and came down to around mid-knee, in a light yellow.
“Come out,” Sam said, “I want to see.”
Understanding that simply trying the items on wouldn't be enough for her, Netayah stepped out of the dressing room and came before her. Samantha shook her head, “No, that simply won't do. How am I expected to get a feel for the item if you're just simply standing there, looking like a bump on the log? Strut your stuff girl, show me what you got.”
Fighting against the laughter that bubbled up inside of her then, she moved to the head of the runaway and slowly walked towards the end. As she reached the circle stage in front of her Samantha had her moving one way and then the next, until finally she was turning around in a circle. As the stylist gave the dress her mark of approval, leading one of the shopgirls to mark it on a clipboard, she was instructed on to the next.
By the time she reached the third outfit, Samantha's giddy delight was exceedingly infectious and couldn't help responding to the light mood. Before she even knew it Netayah needed no encouragement as she sauntered down the stage in her best model persona, twisting and twirling for her benefit. The stylist crowed happily at the reaction from the girl, laughing at certain points, giving her a score for her walks and style of clothing. Outfit after outfit she tried on for the inspection of the woman, all of them were laughing and cheering her on, getting totally into the mood.
With each new item that she presented to the crowd the list of approvals continued to grow, to enormities none of them had expected. Netayah tried on an enormity of different clothes, ranging from day wear then day outings, special dinners, galas, balls, celebrations, it was endless. Lastly their focus went on to nightwear, having her try on an assortment of different styles of sleepwear that the boutique provided. Thankfully Samantha kept it to only the most tasteful of items in their catalog, that while could be considered sexy but never mistaken for slutty.
Finally, the last of the sleepwear had been added to the list of approved items, she collapsed on the couch, having tried on more clothes than she knew existed. She was completely flabbergasted at the amount of items that had been at the boutique, that left her struggling to understand the need for it all. Women seriously didn't need these many clothes, right? In the course of the day she'd tried on morning wear, then daywear, clothes meant for inside the home and then for outside, day events and night events, dinner wear, cocktail wear, balls, galas, business dinners, diplomatic, on and on the list went.
Thousands upon thousands of items she'd tried on for the speculation of the items, leaving her completely stunned speechless by it all. By her account, there was no way in hell that five women could ever wear this amount of clothing in the space of a lifetime, let alone one. Yet judging by the comments she had overheard from the girls it made it seem like the options were minimal, compared to what she really needed. Netayah had no freaking clue as to what the women of today were thinking, when she would have been happy with just a couple dozen outfits. They weren't even done yet.
Hanna then escorted them to a different side of the downstairs shop, where shoes were lined up against the wall, assurance that more were in the back. Samantha snapped the command to have the shopgirls moving forward, as every single outfit chosen needed to have matching shoes. For the next two hours, she found herself walking down the runaway towards Samantha, as she tried on the shoes that had been handpicked. Though it was a struggle for her when it came to the heels, all of them assured that it would become easier, she simply needed to practice.
She elected to fail to respond to their comments, deciding that they knew better than her and trusted Samantha to make the right decision. In the midst of selecting the best shoes for the outfits that had been chosen for her, orders for coats and purses were called out too. Samantha was fully determined that when they left the store she would have a wardrobe that any socialite she-wolf would die to have.
On the verge of believing that the women never intended to allow her to leave again, Samantha finally called a halt to the commotion. “As much as I love shopping and would like to continue on, I have to get Miss Netayah home before suppertime.”
“As you wish,” Hanna said.
Samantha looked forlornly at the trays of jewelry that one of the shop girls was bringng in, unaware it wasn't needed, shaking her head. “We will definitely reschedule, as every girl needs some frosting.”
“Definitely,” the owner agreed.
Standing a few feet behind Samantha who stood at the counter, Hanna personally scanned in the purchases on her approved buying list. Thankfully one of the shop girls had a list of the inventory, having marked each one down that Samantha had chosen for the wardrobe. It made the task a thousand times easier for them, rather than having to scan purchase after purchase, which would have taken twice the time. With each new purchase that was scanned into the computer, her eyes rounded further, unable to believe the sheer enormity of the purchases.
By the time Miss Blake had finished scanning the last of the items that had been approved by the stylist, Netayah was literally gapping in shock. There were so many items purchased from this little trip of theirs that had to be in the high hundreds if not thousands, that took a hundred and twelve bags to contain everything. Considering not all of it would fit into the vehicle, Miss Blake assured to have everything delivered to wherever she was staying in a short matter of time. Samantha immediately thanked the woman for the offer of assistance, assuring that all of the items would be delivered to the palace.
“Post haste,” she promised.
One that she would follow through on. It was one thing to simply be a visiting member of another pack. Thanking the women for everything they had done for the day Samantha was escorted out of the store and climbed into the waiting vehicle. On the drive back to the palace Netayah was still struggling to comprehend the massive shopping excursion they'd gone on today. A hundred & twelve bags? Who would have thought? She sincerely hoped that Samantha had bought some stuff for herself as well, as there was no way possible that all of them could have been for her. What would she do with them all? Well, she'd be finding out soon enough she guessed. She only hoped that Xios and Xavier didn't get upset with all the purchases.