I was glad I had packed my hair dryer and some make-up so that I could make myself look presentable. I took my time and tried to make myself look pretty, like a real girl. I laughed at myself as I eyed the finished product in the mirror. That was the best I could do. I slipped my robe on and went out to investigate the status of my clothes.

I was just in time to walk out of the bathroom to hear a knock on my bedroom door. I walked over and opened it curiously, wondering who had drawn the short straw and had to go get the girl clothes.

Quinn was standing on the other side of the door. I had met him very briefly last night and my gay-dar had pinged, but I had pushed it aside, as it was none of my business unless he wanted to open up and share with me.

“Let me in, girl!” he said jokingly as he pushed past me to set down a million different bags. He handed me a Victoria’s Secret bag and pointed to the bathroom. “Go, we don’t have much time.”

Jeez, this guy was bossy. I went back to the bathroom and pulled everything out of the bag. It had bras, panties, and a couple of very skimpy thongs. I set those aside and picked out some of the more modest bras and panties to put on. I slipped my robe back on and went out to the bedroom.

Quinn was laying out all my outfit choices, along with shoes and handbags. This was a lot of stuff for just one meeting. I sighed; this was the kind of thing Kelsey was good at. If she were here, I would just have her pick something out for me to wear. I reminded myself to text Kelsey after the meeting. She was probably still mad, but it wouldn’t hurt to reach out.

Quinn turned back to me after laying out the last dress. He eyed me up and down.

“Your hair is very pretty down, but we are going to have to style it a little more. Conservative make-up, very well done, very appropriate.” He had a running commentary going as he examined me with a clinical eye.

“We should probably neaten up those eyebrows a little,” he told me thoughtfully. My hand drifted up to my face. I didn’t remember the last time I had really done anything more than casually pluck some stray hairs.

“Um, OK,” I answered. It seemed like he knew what he was doing. He probably would do a better job than I would.

He clapped his hands together. “Okay, off with the robe.”

I just looked at him and thought, Nope.

He saw the ‘nope’ on my face because he chuckled. “Honey, believe me, I am not interested in anything you have under there. I am interested in getting you properly dressed for an important day today.”

I guess my gay-dar had been right, but I had not wanted to stereotype. I just shrugged my robe off and set it on the bed. He started handing me items of clothing to put on. The first was a pair of dress pants and a blouse. “No, too short,” he mumbled to himself as he motioned for me to take it off. I just sighed. This was common. I could never find clothes that fit me and had to special order tall sizes online.

We finally settled on an outfit both of us agreed on; a fitted black skirt that came to just above my knee, a pale pink blouse, and pearl accessories. I had to hand it to Quinn, he had somehow made me look poised and sophisticated.

He pointed to a pair of heels.

“Nope,” I told him.

“Honey,” he started in on me. I was really starting to enjoy his sassy commentary. He didn’t pull any punches and was very blunt. “You are wearing the heels,” he told me firmly.

“I am not wearing the heels,” I told him steadfastly. We stared at each other.

He eventually sighed. “Why not?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I am already freakishly tall. If I wear heels, I am going to be put in a circus and will never make it to the meeting.”

He snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, wolves are taller than humans. I’m a runt at 5’11”.”

I thought about that. It did seem odd that all the guys I met so far had been taller than me. It had felt strange last night, not being the tallest person in the room.

“Wolves like their females to be tall, statuesque, and strong,” he informed me. “You need to get over any insecurities that spending too much time with humans gave you and embrace your heritage.”

I blinked. He was right. I shouldn’t try to make myself smaller; I should stand tall and proud. This was the way I was born, and I had nothing to be ashamed of.

I was grateful for this time I had spent with Quinn. He was awesome. I let him put the heels on me as I sat on the bed and stood up carefully. I took one step, and then another.

Quinn started laughing at me. “You look like a baby deer that was just born and is trying to learn how to walk.” I just glared at him and tried to practice walking without twisting an ankle. He gave me some tips and then walked me over to the mirror.

“You’re really good, Quinn,” I told him as I looked at the final product in the mirror.

“I know,” he told me confidently. We both laughed.

“You know, I was upset when the guys told me that Austin had moved some bitch in the house,” Quin disclosed to me.

I gave him a hurt look.

“My word, not theirs. They all assured me you were very sweet and quiet, but I did not believe it at all,” he stated.

“I came in here expecting to find a blonde bimbo with huge tits that had all the men wrapped around her little finger.” I just gaped at him, not sure how to react. “I am really relieved that you are the exact opposite,” he told me. “I came in here plotting about how to run you out of here, but instead I really want you to stay.”

“Awww, Quinn.”

“Don’t get sentimental,” he sniffed. “I’ve just really always wanted a giant blonde Barbie to dress.” He gave me a smirk, and I laughed.

“Seriously, though, Austin has something really good going on here. Wolves are not accepting of a gay wolf who wants to be a stylist. He welcomed me here with open arms when every other pack had thrown me out or wanted nothing to do with me. He invested in my business and has encouraged me to be myself.” He hesitated. “I just need him to find me a hot, gay mate.”

The more I heard about Austin, the more I liked him. I was very glad it was his pack who had found me, and I really wanted to stay. “So, are all wolves outrageously good looking, or is that just Austin’s pack?” I asked him curiously.

“Austin knows how to pick them, right?” Quinn gave me a conspiring look. “I heard you have been getting close with the twins. Oh, to be the man-meat in that twin sandwich…” He sighed, and I giggled.

“Dish, girl. I want to live vicariously through you.”

“Oh, it’s not like that between us. I wouldn’t go out on a date with either one. I would be worried about the other being hurt.”

Quinn let out a loud laugh. “Haven’t you ever heard of #whychoose?”

I shook my head no.

“Those boys share everything in their lives. Do you think they would draw the line at a female?”

“Uh, yeah?” I was starting to get uncomfortable with Quinn’s bantering, so I tried to change the subject. “I’m sorry you had to get all of this when I only needed one outfit for today,” I told him as I motioned to the bed covered in rejected outfits.

“No worries, girl,” he said and winked. “I will just put the rest of this in your closet, except those pants; we will never be able to make those work.” He shuddered and flung my closet door open.

“Ahhh!” he let out a dramatic scream.

“What?” I asked and tried to rush over in a panic. I tripped and almost fell flat on my face but managed to make it to the doorway. When I looked in the closet, I was expecting to see a dead body, or maybe a giant spider waiting to devour us; instead, I just saw one of my hoodies opposite two pairs of my shoes in the closet.

He turned to me with his hand over his heart. “You’ve been robbed!”

I just laughed. “No, I just have everything else in the drawers.”

He went through them dramatically. “Ahhh!” he let out another dismayed, high-pitched scream. “Honey, no one told me that you were like…a…a refugee.”

I just stared at him with my mouth open. “You have nothing!” he told me emphatically.

“Well, I still have some of my things at home, but this is most of it. I don’t really need a lot because I wear hospital-provided scrubs to work every day.”

“Ahhh!” This time the scream was more horrified but still just as high-pitched.

He held out his hands to grasp mine. “Don’t worry, honey. We can fix this,” he told me, holding my hands tightly.

“Umm…” I started out, very embarrassed at this point. “I don’t really have a lot of money to spend on clothes right now. I just bought a house, and I still have student loans -”

“Don’t worry, I have one of Austin’s credit cards. It’s my job to make sure the pack stays well-dressed,” he assured me.

“Well, maybe you should check with Austin before you do anything…” I told him uncomfortably. I really didn’t need a bunch of new clothes, and I definitely didn’t want to make it look like I was taking advantage of Austin’s generosity.

Quinn walked over to pick up his phone. “Let’s talk basics.”

“Ummm -”

I have never been so happy to hear a knock on my door. “We’re busy!” Quinn yelled.

“We’re not!” I tried to hobble to the door as quickly as I could before the interruption changed their mind and left. I flung open the door to see Cody.

“Cody! I am so excited you’re here!” I said enthusiastically.

“Anna, wow, you look amazing,” Cody told me. “Not that you don’t always look amazing,” he added cautiously.

“Cody!” Quinn yelled from behind me. “Were you aware this poor girl does not own any clothing?”

“Umm...” Cody looked at me uneasily. “She’s been wearing clothing every time I’ve seen her.”

“Well, that is just unfortunate for you,” Quinn said snarkily. I turned even redder.

“Did you need me for something?” I asked Cody, hoping he would say yes.

“Yeah, I came up to see if you were ready for the meeting. We need to leave in a couple minutes.”

Thank god, I thought to myself. I turned to Quinn. “Do you think we could work on this another day?”

He nodded and seemed to have calmed down a little. “I’ll just put the rest of these clothes in your closet and be on my way.”

“Thank you,” I told him, very relieved.

I stepped closer to Cody. With my three-inch heels on, I was only a few inches shorter than him. It was strange to look at him from this angle.

I held out my arm for him. “Would you mind? I haven’t had much practice in these shoes, and I don’t think falling down the stairs would make a good impression on the pack.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that would cause a lot of problems if you showed up to the meeting covered in bruises with broken bones.”

We left Quinn, and I managed to make it down the stairs and into the waiting limo without incident.

“This is fancy,” I told Quinn as he followed me into the limo.

He smiled. “We need to arrive in style and make a good impression.”

I agreed. “Is Austin coming?”

“Yeah, he should be here in a minute.”

We sat in awkward silence. “Soooo…” I asked. “Do you have any advice for me? What can I expect?”

He looked more worried than Austin had. “Just be honest, you don’t know anything about your birth family. That’s going to be their major concern.”

“What about what James said? That they are going to want to put me in a well-established pack?” I twisted my hands in my lap nervously.

Cody ran his hand through his hair. “We were waiting to talk to you about this until we were on our way there because we didn’t want to give you too much time to think about it.” He paused, and the suspense was killing me.

“Tell me what?” I demanded.

“Let’s wait until Austin gets here.”

I groaned to myself. I couldn’t wait any longer. It was killing me already. I was just about to open my mouth and tell him that when the limo door opened and Austin climbed in.

I was practically bouncing in my seat, waiting for him to get situated. Finally, I decided I had waited long enough. “What’s the secret plan that I had to wait for you to get here to find out about?” I burst out.

Austin gave Cody a dirty look. Cody just shrugged. “She asks a lot of questions.”

 “It’s not a secret plan,” Austin told me and sighed.

I really could not handle the suspense. I just wanted to scream out, TELL ME!!!! But I managed to hold it in and say, “What’s the non-secret plan, then?”

Austin and Cody both chuckled. Austin must have realized that I was going to jump across the seat and strangle him if he didn’t just tell me because he took a deep breath.

“We just wanted to give you an easy option. I think that if you told them that you were going to be mated to someone in our pack, it would be accepted more easily by the council. It would give you a legitimate reason for you to stay in our pack.”

My jaw dropped. “But wouldn’t I actually need to follow through with that? I can’t just lie to the council; they’ll know. And who would get stuck with me?”

Austin and Cody looked at each other. Cody motioned for Austin to continue. Austin tapped his fingers on his thigh. “It would be the most binding if you chose me. I’m the pack-master, so it would make the most sense to them.”

“Wouldn’t that prevent you from being able to get a real mate, though?” I asked, confused. “I couldn’t let you sacrifice your future for me.”

Austin gazed at me sadly. “My father would absolutely support our claim on you if I told him you were my future mate.”

I just stared at him in complete shock. “Do you think he would believe it, though?”

“Is it really that outlandish for the two of us to have something together?” Austin asked quietly.

“No,” I said slowly. “It’s just that I’m -” I gestured at myself at a complete loss of words. “Weird? Wouldn’t he be upset that you picked me out of everyone? Plus, I guess I just assumed that I was going to be single the rest of my life, so you are really throwing me for a loop here.”

Cody looked very uncomfortable to be in the middle of the conversation but spoke up then. “But you don’t have to agree if you aren’t ready, or if you aren’t sure.”

I nodded. “That’s a huge decision, and I wouldn’t want to make it while I’m under duress. I would rather make a decision like that because I want to, not because I have to.”

I watched Austin carefully. I couldn’t tell if he made the offer because he was interested in me or felt obligated to ‘save me’. He was smart guy, so I’m sure that he realized by now that I was damaged in some way and felt bad about handing me over to another pack to be abused again.

A sudden darkness came over me. If I was going to be sent to a pack like Evelyn had told me about, I wouldn’t go.

I would do whatever it took to prevent that, even if it cost me my life. I looked at Austin again. If it were a choice of being in a loveless relationship because the man felt obligated to be with me vs. death, what would I choose?

I’m not sure that I could go to my death if I had another way out. I liked Austin’s pack, and I liked being here. Maybe this was my only option. How would he feel about that? Knowing that I chose him because my only other option was death? He might not care if he didn’t want to be with me either. What kind of relationship would we have? Helpless tears filled my eyes, and I stared out the window to try and hide them before they fell.

I decided I would try to reason with the council first. If they wouldn’t listen, I would take Austin up on his offer. He may not ever love me, but he would care for me as a friend.

Austin was texting, and Cody was pretending to read something on his phone but watching me out of the corner of his eye with concern.

“What are you thinking?” he asked me quietly.

Austin looked up at me to hear my answer to Cody’s question. “I just…” I swallowed. “There’s a part of me that just wants to go back to my old life and pretend none of this happened. But another part of me recognizes that I feel like I belong with your pack. I’ve never felt a part of something before. I’ve always been alone, and I’ve always been on the outside.”

My voice broke, and I stopped speaking to touch the inner corner of my eyes to prevent any tears from falling.

Cody reached out to hold my hand, and Austin reached in his inner suit pocket to hand me a cloth handkerchief. I didn’t even know modern men carried cloth handkerchiefs; it made me smile a little.

“I’m just not sure that I can be a mate to anyone. I’m not…” I didn’t know how to communicate what I wanted to say. “It’s difficult for me to let people touch me. I’m working on it, but -” I shrugged, not sure what else to say.

I don’t think Austin or Cody knew how to respond to what I said. I highly doubt they understood what I was trying to tell them. I was too afraid to look in either of their eyes. I just wanted to hide. I didn’t want them to know that something was seriously wrong with me, but I didn’t want Austin to make a commitment he would regret later. It was only a matter of time before he figured out how messed up I was.

I dabbed a little at my eyes, trying not to smear my makeup or get anything on the handkerchief. I attempted to hand it back to Austin, but he pressed it back in my hand.

“Keep it. It’s going to be a rough day.” He gave me a gentle smile. “Let’s talk about the council members you’re going to meet today.”

During the rest of the car ride, all three of us pretended that our conversation had never happened. The guys told me about the council members who were going to be interviewing me, and I tried to take in as much as I could, but I was feeling very scared and overwhelmed.