Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Their mother rubbed her temples and sighed. “Still. It’s disrespectful. The dress could go to another family.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Sure. That’s exactly what some other girl in town wants—another drab brown gunnysack dress that reaches her ankles, high on her neck, and down to her fingers. A used one. What a dream,” she drawled sarcastically.
“Leah,” her mother chided. “Where did I go wrong with you? You’ve got to pull it together.” She clapped her hands once and stepped farther into the room. “Get in the shower. Hurry. You have to try the ceremonial dress on so I can make adjustments. You’re making me nervous.”
“Do we have any cyanide?” Leah asked. She turned toward her sister. “How long does it take to die from cyanide poisoning?”
Khloe giggled again. “I think you’re going to have to accept this. From what I’ve heard, as soon as you meet him, you’ll suddenly feel like everything is right in the world.” She sighed, tipping her head to the left and blinking dreamily.
Gross. Leah wanted to vomit.
Her mother pointed toward the hallway. “Bathroom. Shower. Now.”
Leah took a deep breath, set the paintbrush down, and reluctantly left the room. As soon as she was in the bathroom, she locked the door and started peeling the layers of clothing off.
First, there was the outer brown dress, then two layers of shifts. Leah hated this dress and the fact that every dress in her closet looked just like it. It was the traditional clothing for unmated girls. Like a school uniform except no one ever changed out of them when they got home.
Because she felt bad about the paint, she turned on the sink and ran the front of the dress under the water. It rinsed out easily. No one would ever know she’d had that little tantrum after it went through the wash. Yay for the poor girl who got this exciting hand-me-down dress.
Leah turned on the shower, and while she waited for it to warm up, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess with sprinkles of paint in it. It was yet another thing that made her different, caused her to stand out. It was red. Not a little red, very red. And wavy. If she pulled a strand, it reached down past her butt. There was nothing she could do to tame it except pin the front back and hope for the best.
She hadn’t been born with pretty blue or green eyes like some redheads. Nope. She had brown eyes. And freckles. Lots of them.
There were a few other girls in her school who had red hair, and most of them were teased by other students, but few people teased Leah. She figured it was because she was surly and marked.
Maybe she’d get lucky and her intended mate wouldn’t be attracted to her. Maybe he would take one look at her, gasp, and return to the mountains so she could go back to her home in peace.
She smirked. Yeah, right.
She glanced down at her naked body. She supposed her figure was nice. Her mother always told her so. Her people by and large frowned on vanity, so looks weren’t something she’d dwelled on much, but her mother had caught her frowning at herself in the mirror many times and had quietly told her she was precious and beautiful. When Leah had gotten older, her mother had whispered to her that she had a body her mate was going to love.
Leah sighed. At least she had that one thing going for her. She stepped into the shower, closed her eyes, and let the water run down her body. She shuddered as she thought about the stupid dress. It was white with delicate gold lace sewn into it. A ceremonial dress she would wear with gold sandals.
In two days, she would be expected to put the stupid dress on, her mother and sister would fix her hair, and then she would be taken to the slaughterhouse.
There was no way out of this, but she didn’t have to like it. Maybe if she scowled long enough at her mate, he would leave her alone. Ha. As if that was going to happen.
She wasn’t stupid. She would be expected to get naked, spread her legs, and take the stranger into her body. After that, she would shift for the first time into wolf form. At least she had that to look forward to. She did long to experience her first shift.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe her mate would be kind and let her shift whenever she wanted and run wild in the woods.
Sure. That was super likely.
A girl could dream.
Chapter Three
Elias tugged on his tie as he stood in the doorway that led to the room in his home meant for his Little mate. He really was an asshole. He’d done very little himself to prepare this space.