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EMILY
Seeing Griffin after being away from him for a week made my heart leap through my chest. I was sure it would patter out onto the cement floor, dancing around in happy bounces. I missed being around him, and feeling his arms embrace me earlier, his kiss on my head, sent a wave of bliss through me—an energized tingle that left me excited and on cloud nine.
My happiness was short-lived, ending the very second I got a text from him asking if Morgan could join us. I don’t have anything against her, but Morgan’s animosity was quite obvious. Every time that I’m around her and Griffin, she spent the entire time trying to keep us away from each other. There have been times that her rudeness was so off-putting that I couldn’t take it any longer and made a lame excuse to go home.
However, I had the feeling that if I were to tell Griffin that she couldn’t come, then he wouldn’t want to come either. After all, he hadn’t really been around the other wolves since his fight with Sam and still felt like an outsider. Maybe having Morgan there would make him more comfortable.
If dealing with Morgan meant that I could spend some time with Griffin, then I guess I could manage for a few hours. Hopefully, there will be enough people around who could keep Morgan busy and not so focused on Griffin’s every move. He may not think of Morgan as more than a friend, but her feelings toward him have been crystal clear since I met her. I’m sure that in her eyes, my bond with him was running interference with her ability to get him all to herself.
As I got dressed out of my comfortable clothes that I wore on our way home from the cabin, I made the conscious decision not to allow Morgan’s attitude toward me to ruin my night. Cassian said we’d had a rough couple of weeks, and dammit, I was going to enjoy myself. Tonight was my night, and nobody was going to mess it up.
Picking out what I wanted to wear for the bonfire was the hardest part. Normally I strived to keep to my bohemian style of clothing—living by the rule of function over fashion—but something in me wanted to change it up a little. Instead of something comfortable, colorful, and flowing, I decided to dip into Ember’s dresser and borrow some of her clothes.
As I dug through her piles of darker, tighter outfits, the sound of someone clearing their throat behind me caused me to jump back from the dresser and hands raised, ready to scratch their eyes out. Standing in the doorway, Ember stared back at me with an amused smirk smeared across her face. With her eyebrows raised at my hands, she asked me a simple question, “What are you doin’, buddy?”
I lowered my arms and let out a small laugh. “Jesus, Ember! You scared the hell out of me!” Wiping the panic-induced sweat from my forehead, I let out the deep breath that I didn’t realize I had been holding in. “I wanted to change-up my look for tonight. All of my clothes are … practical and comfortable, so I figured you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed something of yours?”
“Oh, okay! I thought you were looking for my secret diary,” she said with a laugh. “And before you ask, no, I don’t really have a secret diary. Secondly, if you want to change-up your look for the night, don’t stop at the clothes. Let me dress you and do your makeup; that way you can blow Cassian and Griffin’s minds!”
“Why does changing up my look for the bonfire automatically mean that I am trying to impress guys?”
Ember once again looked at me with suspicion. “Seriously, are you that oblivious to your own thought patterns? Griffin is back and agreed to join us tonight, and suddenly you want to change up your clothes. You took charge as luna of Cassian’s pack, and you’re not the least bit enticed to show that badassery in your looks? Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, my friend.”
I tried to keep from laughing at Ember’s joke because then she’d know she was right, and I couldn’t let that happen. She did have a point, though. I could lie and say that I wanted to try something new, but Ember knew me better than that. She could see right through me, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Although it was nice to have someone who was offering to help me, I decided to accept it. “Fine, but don’t do my makeup too dark. I don’t want to look like I got beat with a two-by-four.”
“Hey, I’m not promising anything,” she said with a giggle. I sat down on the bed as Ember threw clothes over her shoulder, determined to find the perfect outfit for me to wear. As the clothes piled up on the floor, I began to wonder how many things she actually owned.
My legs were covered halfway up my shin before she pieced together something for me to wear: black ripped leggings with a glittery, dark purple tank top and a black T-shirt with rips all over to show the tank top underneath. She tossed them onto my lap before she reached underneath her bed and pulled out a pair of black combat boots with silver shoe laces. “You will look so hot in these clothes. No one will be able to keep their eyes off of you.”
“I better, and once again, I’m not doing this for the guys. I’m just trying to change things up.”
Ember shot me an all-knowing glance, one that always made me laugh when we both knew that the words I had uttered were complete shit. “Let me just get the shovel,” she teased.
“Ha ha,” I dragged out sarcastically.
After I put on the clothes, I looked at myself in the full-length mirror on the wall, I was left completely speechless.
Who was the girl looking back at me?I didn’t even recognize myself. In fact, I looked freaking fantastic. Sexy. A little alluring, but not too risqué. “Wow!” I exclaimed, the words escaping my lips before I could stop them.
“Wow is right,” Ember squealed, walking behind me and placing a necklace containing a black amulet pendant around my neck. The necklace finished off the look, and Ember directed me to sit on one of the beds so she could do my makeup. “Just wait, I’m not done yet.”
I sat down on her bed and watched as she pulled a giant crate overflowing with makeup from the corner of the room. Ember rifled through the crate, trying to find a specific eyeshadow palette, and pulled out a rectangle packed full of dark colors—all of them named something mystical like night wolf, forest decay, and sparkling cauldron.
She got to work, telling me to close my eyes while she applied the eyeshadow and open them again to apply a thick layer of eyeliner beneath my eyes. She didn’t bother to apply foundation, stating that she didn’t have that pale of a color that would match my complexion. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to tease or simply stating facts, but hell, it was true either way. Ember’s skin, while also considerably pale, was much darker than mine. She finished off my makeover with a thin layer of blood-red lipstick across my plump lips before handing me a small mirror to check out her handy work.
My reflection in the hand-held mirror gave me a small scare. I had never seen myself like this and normally wore very little makeup to begin with. Uncertainty struck me, making me question if I liked seeing myself like this or not, but maybe it was because I didn’t usually strive for change. I preferred everything to stay the same at all times.
But look at me now. I’d stepped out of my comfort zone to become luna, so why not try a little change in my style, too? While I loved my baggy clothes, I also liked the way I looked in these—edgy and sexy. Both styles were a part of me, like two sides of the same coin. After tonight, I’d update my wardrobe and find a balance between the two: inspiration for the new, improved Emily. One that was totally badass and took care of business.
It reminded me of my mates—so different in many aspects, yet they both felt the same bond. They each had qualities that I both loved and hated. Qualities that connected to me in different ways, making me a better version of myself.
And like those two different styles, I wanted to find a way to keep them both in my life, because they were both a part of me now.
Ember looked me over and put up her index finger, telling me to hold on for a second. She grabbed one more thing from under her bed and showed me something that looked like mauve chalk. She took the mirror from my hands and started grabbing small pieces of my hair and coloring it, including my bangs.
When she was done, she handed the mirror back to me so I could see the finished product. I liked the person I saw staring back at me and started to wonder if this was the beginning of a new era.
