Page 10 of My Broken Mate (Healing Bonds #1)

“Food?” His head perks up. “Alright, I’m coming.” He scrambles to his feet like an old man and follows me. It’s beyond me how he can eat that much and remain so skinny.

I stick to my promise, and Ayden and I head out to the city center after having freshened up from the training.

I invite him to lunch first before we go shopping.

Fortunately, Ayden agreed to accompany me to the gala as my completely platonic plus one.

On the downside, it means he needs to come shopping with me – something he hates doing.

In the city, we coincidentally meet some old schoolmates, catching up a bit. It’s so fun to see them again. While I didn’t get along with everyone, there are no hard feelings from any side, and it’s cool to see what everyone is doing.

One of the girls, Clara, a former cheerleader, actually found her mate and will move with him to his pack. He is a beta, making her the beta female. Another one of the girls, Fiona, tells us her sister is mated to an alpha, hence they are all going to the gala.

We decided to go dress shopping together, all of us equally stressed. “You, as the beta female, for sure know how to dress,” I say to Clara, the ex-cheerleader.

“Yes, after all, you were one of the cheerleaders,” Fiona says.

Clara groans. “What makes you think I know how to shop for such an event? I’m literally hopeless.”

“You looked great in your prom dress, though.”

“Prom dress shopping isn’t the same,” she mutters. “I don’t want to embarrass my mate,” she adds. “These events are supposed to be totally judgmental and hell to attend.”

Fiona and I exchange a gaze. “Really?” Fiona asks.

“Well, I guess you aren’t wrong,” I say. “I tend to look tacky in the wrong dress.”

“I think you look great in anything,” Clara says to my astonishment. “You have the body to literally rock everything. I was always a bit envious of you.”

I’m surprised to hear that. “Come on,” I chuckle. “Now you are lying.”

“Not at all, I was so jealous. It’s why I never tried to get to know you,” she explains.

“At least, both of you look like adults,” Fiona says. “I’m almost twenty, yet everyone thinks I’m fourteen! It’s so annoying. Last time, a police officer approached me while I was outside, asking me why I wasn’t in school and if my parents were around.”

Ayden, who has listened to us without intervening much, chuckles now. “I know the feeling. They say I look forever fourteen, too.”

“It sucks, right?” Fiona asks.

“I hate it!”

“Then let’s make sure to get clothes that will make you look like actual adults,” I say. “And… that will make Clara and me look dignified.”

While we stroll from shop to shop, a scent keeps lingering around me.

It smells like freshly brewed coffee beans…

and something else. Marise stirs in my mind.

The dress-makeup-girly talk has bored her to no end, and she has retreated, but now she comes forward again.

What’s this? She asks. Did you smell that, too?

Yes, I say. It’s such a nice, comforting smell.

I turn around, sniffing the air, then I look around as if searching for something…

but I don’t know what. My gaze brushes over a high-end clothes store we skipped because we all felt it was too much out of our league to go in there.

I could swear there is a shadow at one of the windows, but the sun reflects there, hurting my eyes a bit.

Maybe the scent is just coming from a coffee shop, I think.

“Are you coming, Kat?” Clara calls out to me.

I nod, running after the girls and Ayden. “Everything alright?” he asks me.

“Yeah, I just thought I smelled something,” I mutter. “I guess I’m just hungry for some coffee and cake.”

“Dresses first,” Fiona tells me, puffing her cheeks, making her look even cuter than she already does.

She does look like a little angel with her blond, slightly curly hair and her white skin.

She is very small in height – I’m not surprised she awakens that protective instinct in others.

She looks like the type of angel you hang on your Christmas tree.

The next store is a bit more on the fancy and expensive side, and it seems that we will finally be able to find something.

In fact, Clara instantly finds a beautiful, dark blue gown, making her look elegant and sophisticated.

Ayden gets a new suit, some accessories and a new tie, but Fi and I are hopeless.

“So, do you think this is suitable?” I joke, holding out a tight pink dress.

The others laugh at my antics, before Clara tugs the dress out of my hands and pushes me into the changing room with a whole bunch of dresses.

I’m at a complete loss. It’s not like I don’t like wearing skirts or dresses, but most of the time when I do, I wear something that’s either more casual or more of a party dress.

Not a ball gown.

With Clara’s help, however, I’ve narrowed it down to two, now: one being a wine-red cocktail dress with a petticoat, with little sleeves that start below my shoulders.

It’s a style I have never worn before. The other is a dark green, bodycon one.

I grab my phone, and before I even know what I’m doing or why, I take a photo of myself in both dresses, making sure to cut my head off the pics, and send them to Remy, asking him which one he thinks is better for the gala.

I don’t know why I did it. I don’t even know why my thoughts went directly to him. It’s just an instinct that seemed to have triggered me. I have never done something like that before, my heart almost freezing in shock after I pressed the send button. What did I just do?

And why?

To my surprise, Marise doesn’t seem upset, though. Still, this all makes me look so desperate!

I’m about to write a message and pretend like I sent it to the wrong number when Remy replies.

The light is a bit bad, and I don’t know your eye and hair color, but I think they both look good.

I smile at his awkward response. Remy, help a girl out here! I need to not suck at the gala. I can’t embarrass my brother.

The cocktail dress, he replies. It has a bit of embroidery and lace, which makes it look sophisticated.

The stuck-up gala attendees like safe choices.

Try to get some accessories in the same color – necklace and bracelet, in particular.

And get a silk scarf in black to wrap around your neck or shoulders.

I blink in surprise. This is great advice! Without further ado, I ask the shop assistant to help me with finding some accessories and a scarf. When I step in front of my friends again, Ayden actually looks shocked. “Are you really my friend, Katalina?” he asks.

“You look fantastic,” Clara says.

Fiona beams. “Great choice, Kat!” she grins. “Now it’s my turn.”

I make sure to get everything wrapped and pay before I settle down next to Ayden and Clara, waiting for Fi to show us her dresses.

Thank you so much for your help , I write Remy. You saved my life.

Glad I could help , he answers. See you tomorrow, Katalina .

I suppress a giggle at the last minute. Katalina. No one calls me that… just Eve when he is mad at me. Most people stick with either Kata or Kat.

“Did something happen?” Ayden asks. “You have a slightly creepy grin.”

“Oh, shut up, weirdo!” I say. “You are one to talk.”

Ayden grins. “Let’s make sure Fiona finds her dress, so that we can finally have some cake.”

I silently agree, but I don’t want to be a bad friend and rush Fi. By the end of the day, all of us have found something to wear, though, and Fi, Ayden and I make plans to go to the gala together. Clara will go with her mate, obviously, but wants to meet us there.

It’s weird. I didn’t interact with either her or Fiona much in school, but now that we are out there and finally doing our own thing, it’s so much easier to get along.