Chapter 4

Ravenna rolled out of bed, stretched her muscles, and took a deep breath. Today was the day that her older brother David was to return from his tour. He was gone for three months; he visited numerous surrounding packs in a search for his mate. Ravenna heard that he did finally find his mate, and the excitement overwhelmed her even more at the thought of a new sister. She sat on her bed having an internal debate with herself, should she get up and start her day or go back to sleep. Eventually, the decision to get up and start her day won so she climbed out of bed and grabbed a simple pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top. She walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower, dressed, styled her hair in a ponytail, and left her bedroom.

She walked downstairs into the kitchen, where she saw her mother and Serena chopping up fruits and vegetables for the Meet the Future Queen Ball they had planned for later that evening. It was their way to introduce David’s new mate Rosemarie to the pack and surrounding packs. “Hey guys, is David home yet?” She excitedly asked as she jumped on the stool next to her sister.

“Not yet he should be home in around six hours.” Her mother replied. “Have you girls picked out your dresses for this evening?”

“Not yet, we will be headed to the mall in a few,” Serena answered as she arranged the carrots in a pattern on the trays lined up across the counter.

“Please pick something nice, this is a formal affair and every Alpha and Alpha’s son will be there. You could find your mates tonight.” Queen Marian said with a stern look as she stared at her daughters.

Ravenna rolled her eyes at the thought of her brother’s party being turned into second-hand speed dating and just nodded to her mother. She turned to Serena and asked with a small smile. “How’s Kimberly?”

“She’s terrified, heartbroken, and barely slept. The good news is her mother will be picking her up today to take her back home. Family support and plenty of therapy are the only way she will ever learn to deal with what she saw, but she will never be the same.”

“I’m glad you were with her; you are way more capable than me to deal with that situation,” Ravenna said with empathy. She knew that Serena’s Pediatric Psychiatry Master’s degree she finished a few months before made her much more capable than most to deal with a grieving child. “Have you decided if you want to go to college for your Doctorate? You totally should do it; with Rogues and other issues we face you will always be needed,” she pointed out.

“One day I suppose, for now, I’d like to go a year without college on my brain. Take a breather and live life a little,” she explained with a dreamy look in her eye.

Ravenna nodded at her sister; she had always admired the fact that Serena knew what she wanted, and had the motivation and the determination to reach those goals. College was never a high priority on Ravenna’s list, she enjoyed fighting and decided to focus more on that.

“All set girls thank you for your help!” Their mother announced, her words caused Ravenna to snap out of her thoughts. “Shouldn’t you be heading to the dress shop?”

Both girls nodded in acknowledgment, waved goodbye to their mother, and headed to the garage. They headed towards Serena’s Mercedes Benz GLS, where Serena climbed into the driver seat, started the car up, and began the drive in the direction of the human kingdom of Alaria. The drive was peaceful as they listened to music lost in their thoughts.

Finally, Serena turned to Ravenna and broke the silence between them. “I have a feeling Mom going to be disappointed tonight,” she stated bluntly.

“Why do you think that?” Ravenna cocked her eyebrow and looked at her sister with confusion and concern.

“Think about it, we have been in every Alpha meeting, met every Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and all their kids. Yet we still haven’t found our mate,” Serena deadpanned, “We more than likely won’t find them tonight.”

“Hmm. Good point.”

“Think we were forgotten by the Moon Goddess?” Serena asked with sadness evident in her brown eyes.

Ravenna leaned back in her chair and thought hard for a second, and dismissed the question as she shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows, I’m honestly not that upset about it. I enjoy my life as it is now; I don’t need a clingy Alpha telling me what I can or can’t do.”

“Point taken,” Serena agreed.

“It will happen one day; I’m just not going to go hunting for him like a pirate and he’s some sort of long-lost buried treasure. Yarrr har har matey.”

Serena snickered at her sister and nodded, then drifted off back into her train of thought. They both sat in silence until they finally pulled up to the closest mall in human territory. They headed towards the dress shop and made a few small pit stops in other stores. They bought a couple of outfits, shoes, and a new black leather jacket for Ravenna. As the girls continued to shop, the overall atmosphere seemed to feel off to them. They received constant looks of hate and fear from some of the other shoppers and it was beginning to get uncomfortable for them.

“Is it me or are we the center of attention?” Serena asked cringing from the stares and dirty looks they were receiving.

“If they want to keep staring at us I’ll give them a reason to fear me,” Ravenna muttered under her breath as she continued to look through a clothing rack.

“Let’s not beat up the humans, let’s go to the store get our dresses, and go home,” Serena stated as she grabbed Ravenna’s hand and led her through the mall to the dress shop.

Once they got to the dress shop, they began to ignore the looks and focus on the hunt for the perfect dress. Serena picked out a strapless turquoise mermaid gown with sequined flowers along the bodice and midsection; she paired it with silver strappy heels and a silver clutch. Raven picked a red spaghetti strapped dress with a slit up the left leg; she paired her dress with black stilettos and a black choker. Deciding they had all they needed they went to go pay for the items. They set their dresses and accessories on the counter as the cashier turned and looked at Serena’s gown which was lying on the counter.

“I love this dress!” The cashier gushed as she scanned the dress and put it in a dress bag. She looked up at Serena and Ravenna and her smile instantly dropped. She continued to ring up the dresses and accessories, saying nothing else to the girls except the total.

“Have a nice day,” Serena sarcastically replied to the cashier as she just rolled her eyes and turned back around. “Ok what the hell is going on? Did you beat the wrong person up in the tavern or something?” She exclaimed giving a frustrated sigh and a mean glare at her sister.

“I beat a lot of people up. That is always a possibility....” Ravenna shrugged her shoulders not caring.

“Let’s just go home I made us hair appointments too,” Serena exclaimed as she led the way towards the exit.

They finally made their way through the gawking crowd to the exit, and Serena released a breath. “That was weird,” she remarked as she unlocked the back and laid their dresses flat. “Let’s head back to Jaime’s shop so we can get our makeup and hair done.” The drive back was just as quiet, yet, filled with tension. Serena spent the drive in silence as she tried to figure out any reason to cause the humans to stare at them with hate and fear.

Meanwhile, Ravenna was also trying to figure out if she did indeed beat up the wrong person, who it was, and how she would tell her father she did. Finally, they got to the salon and were immediately taken back to the chairs by Jaime and her makeup artist Thomas. As they frantically got to work Serena selected to wear her blonde hair in a curly updo with small sparkly clips throughout. Her makeup was light with a little eye shadow and rose color lipstick. Ravenna chose to leave her black locks down and curled into waves. Her makeup was set up much darker with a black smoky eye with cattail liner and bright red lipstick.

The girls thanked and tipped the duo, left the shop, and headed back to the castle, entering their quarters to get dressed. Time was running out with David arriving in less than an hour, and the ball started in an hour and a half. Once they were both dressed, they went downstairs to find their parents, finally finding them waiting at the door staring at the black car that had just pulled up. Queen Marian turned and looked at her daughters. She smiled approvingly at their outfits and refocused on the car in the driveway when her son slowly stepped out of the car. He was holding the hand of a redhead who looked at the ground, her cheeks red in embarrassment.

David ran up to the group, and gave everyone a hug, kiss, and shook his dad’s hand. “Let me introduce my mate; this is Rosemarie. Rose this is King Alistair, Queen Marian, Princess Serena, and Princess Ravenna.”

Rosemarie blushed and turned to his family; she stood to her feet and gave them all a handshake. Once she got to Queen Marian, she held out her hand to her future mother-in-law and stood there a few seconds awkwardly waiting for the Queen to shake her hand. “Nonsense! You are my third daughter I will take nothing less than a hug!” She smiled and grabbed the poor nervous girl and hugged her tightly.

“Mom you are suffocating his mate; it would be awkward having a Meet the Future Queen Ball with no future Queen.” Ravenna sarcastically remarked as she smirked at her brother.

Marian quickly pulled away from the hug, looked at Ravenna, and rolled her eyes. “Hush, you will understand one day, now you two need to get into that ball and see if you will find your mate!”

The group laughed at the Queen, then turned around to walk back into the castle and the ballroom to greet the guests.