Page 48 of Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #1)

Chapter Forty-Six

I

woke with a start, jolted up from my bed, and clutched my heaving chest. What the heck was that? I searched my room, sure that I would find the black wolf with bright eyes there, but I was alone.

“What was that?” I dropped back to my bed and huffed out a laugh. Just remembering his voice had my skin breaking out in goosebumps. I closed my eyes and his eyes flashed in my mind. “Who are you?”

There was a knock at the door and I sat up again, pushing the mysterious wolf out of my brain. I got up and looked down at my ruined sheets. “The blood.” Ugh. I shuffled to the door, wiping my eyes. I cracked it open and Cass pushed in. “Wake up.”

“Cass?” I wiped my face as I turned to face the irate Cass sitting at the end of my tossed and ruined bed. “What are you doing here?” I looked at the clock on the bed-side table. “It’s six in the morning.”

“Exactly.” She pointed to the bathroom. “Go shower and get ready. We are leaving here in two hours.”

“For what?”

“We only have until two.” She got up and pushed me toward the bathroom door, but I was still so confused.

“Cass?”

“Go shower.” She slammed the door in my face and I shook my head as I leaned my forehead against the door. I was exhausted. But apparently, Cass had a plan.

“Fine.” I pushed off the door and turned the shower on. I needed to get the blood off my body, anyway. It had turned itchy. I undressed and looked at the clothes in my hand. Instead of tossing them into the hamper, I threw them directly into the trash can. There was no saving them.

I stepped under the spray of the water and sighed.

The hot water loosened tension I didn’t even realize I had.

The last few days had caught up with me.

The water was a dirt rust color, and I waited for it to run clear before I grabbed the soap and cleaned my itchy skin.

I washed my hair a few times before the water was finally clear.

Once I was finished, I stepped out to see a very impatient Cass. I was a little more awake to deal with her now. “You want to tell me what is going on now?”

“I don’t know when the next time I will get to see you.

I want to use the next,” she looked at the clock, “Seven and a half hours to spend quality time together before you leave.” She sat heavily on the end of my bed again.

“I feel like we barely got to spend time together this summer. You were always training, and so was I.”

I nodded as I walked over in my robe. “I know.” I sat next to her. “I feel like I should apologize, but I know we were where we needed to be this summer.”

Cass nodded and looked over at me with tears in her eyes. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“I know. I don’t want to leave either.”

“Promise me you won’t become best friends with Lynn. I don’t think I could take it.” I laughed and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Amy, I’m serious.”

“I know. But I would never replace you, Cass. No one would ever measure up.” I laid my head on her shoulder. “You are always going to be my best friend.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” I stood and headed to my closet to finish getting ready. “I’ll be ready by seven. By the time we eat and head to the mall, it should be open.”

“The mall?” Cass followed me with her eyes. “Why are we going to the mall?”

“I have an idea, but I will have to call ahead.” I closed myself in my closet with her yelling after me.

“This was supposed to be my idea.” She banged on the door.

“Yeah, well, it still can be, but I want to do one thing.” I called back before I made a call. I waited for the person to answer.

“Hello?” The groggy voice made me feel a little bad.

“Hey. It’s Amy. I need your help. Can you be at your store at eight?”

The voice woke up a little more. “I guess. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just need to get that thing we were talking about.”

“Shit really?” The voice was fully awake now.

“Yeah.” I smiled. “Make sure Neil is with you. Cass is coming with me and I want something to match her too.”

“You think she would go for it?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.” I laughed when I heard a thump. “I’ll see you at eight?”

“Yeah. We will be there.” The line went dead, and I finally got dressed.

“Let’s go eat.” I pulled her from my room and raced down the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m not telling you.” I looked back at her and grinned. “It’s a surprise, but you’ll love it. I promise.” I pulled her into the dining hall and we grabbed big plates of food. I went and sat next to my exhausted father. “You okay?”

“Yeah baby girl. I’m just tired. But I got it done.” He took a sip of his coffee and looked over at me. “You look excited. What’s up?”

“Cass woke me up at the butt crack of dawn to get some quality time in.”

“But she hijacked my plans and now I have no idea what we are doing.” Cass pointed out and I laughed.

“You made the mistake of waking me up.” I leaned into the warmth of my father. “We are going to see MJ and Neil.” My dad looked over at Cass and laughed.

“No idea?” I just shook my head. And he laughed harder. “That’s definitely going to be some quality time.”

“I know. I’m excited.”

“Your mom is going to be pissed.” He pointed out, and Cass snapped her head in my direction.

“I’m old enough.” I pulled away.

“I know. I just want you prepared.” He kissed my head and got to his feet. “I want to see you before you go. The plane’s wheels are up at two thirty, so make sure you are back before that.” He kissed my head and then walked off.

“Take a nap.” I called out, and he waved his hand back to me without turning.

“Amy…what the hell is going on?” Cass had put her fork down and turned to stare at me but I just smiled.

“Eat. You’re going to need the strength.” I nudged her glass of water. “And drink.”

“Amy!” Cass slammed down her fork, but I just ignored her and ate my food. “Fine.”

Once we were done eating and I had forced her to drink a few glasses of juice, we left.

We made it to the mall right before eight and I pulled Cass into the opening mall.

We made our way through the mostly empty place, only walking around with the mall walkers.

We made it to a darkened door and I knocked a few times and we waited.

A lock clicked on the door and it swung in. MJ was staring at me with an energy drink in his hand. “Come on in Aim.” His smile was sweet, and it matched his bright blue eyes. His dark hair was shaved down the sides, with the top flopping over his eyebrow.

“Handsome as always, MJ.” I patted his cheek as I walked in and his smile got wider, showing off his dimples.

“Thanks love. You know, if you were my cup of tea, I would be a puddle right now.” He pinched my butt as I walked by and I laughed.

Cass followed me in and gave a soft greeting. “Hello.”

“Cass, this is MJ, my gay lover. MJ this is Cass.”

“Oh, the sister from another mister you have been raving about.” MJ wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “I’ve heard nothing but the best things about you the entire time Amy and I have been designing this thing.”

“You heard about me?” Cass looked over at me and I smiled.

“Of course.” MJ walked us towards the back.

“Where is your better half?” I pushed past the beaded curtain and looked over my shoulder.

“He’s in the back, getting the area ready.” MJ nodded, and I kept going.

“What are we doing?” I heard Cass’s voice and MJ squealed.

“You didn’t tell her?”

“Nope.” I headed straight to the chair and hopped up, waiting for Cass to make it to the back and figure it out.

“Oh goodie. I promise we will be as gentle as we can.” MJ’s voice was low and reassuring.

“Amy?” I laughed and waited. Cass and MJ finally pushed past the curtain and her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yup.” I smiled as Neil came from a back room with two trays and Cass squealed.

“You’re serious?”

“I told you I was.” I pointed to Neil. “He will do whatever you want. MJ and I have been working on my design for over a month.”

“I can’t…” Her voice faded.

“You can and you will. I have already prepaid for our time. You can get whatever you want. But there is one thing I want you to get.”

“What?”

“I want both of us to get a small paw print behind our ear.”

“Matching tattoos?”

I nod. “We always talked about it, and now that we have shifted, we are allowed to get them.” I smiled. “Are you in?”

“Heck, yeah I’m in.” She jumped into my arms, squeezed me, and then ran over to Neil to talk ideas.

“Come on, girl pop that shirt off and lay down. We need as much time as we can get to get this finished in time.” MJ gestured me to the bed, and I smiled.

Five hours later, we were walking out with giant grins. “Thank you for coming in so early for us.” I kissed MJ and Neil as we left.

“It was our pleasure.” MJ called out as he shut the door, and locked it behind us.

“They aren’t staying open?” Cass looked back to the dark door.

“Nah. They are usually closed today. They just came in for us.” I hooked my arm in hers and we walked into the bustling mall. “Where to now?” I looked down.

“I wanted to get some new clothes. Now I want to get some even more. I need to show this off.” She stared down at her right arm.

It was covered in a black and white version of the moon Goddess with a full moon behind her, and wolves hidden in the forest around her wrist. It was gorgeous and Neil did an amazing job drawing it up on the spot.

I nodded, and she stared down at the fresh ink. “How does it feel?”

“It stings.” She shook her arm and then smiled. “I didn’t realize what went into doing tattoos on wolves.”

I laughed. “They have a deal with my dad, and now me. My dad sends them claws every month so they can break them down into their needles.” Cass shivered as I chuckled. “Alphas have a deal with the tattoo artists in their packs. It’s the only way to get them to stay without wolfsbane.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Pulling your claws out? Well yeah, but they grow back instantly. So the pain is fleeting. And this helps with pack morale. And another plus is you get your work done by a skilled artist.”

We walked into a store, and Cass looked me over. “You won’t be able to find an outfit that shows off your tattoo.” I shook my head.

“It’s not about showing it off. I knew I needed this design, and my back was the biggest canvas to get it all in.” I smiled as I felt the tightness on my back.

It’s perfect. Nix’s voice called back to me.

I love it. Megan’s voice followed.

“Why the two wolves?” Cass asked as we went through the clothes. “I know the first one is Nix. I saw you run by when you were shifted. But I don’t recognize the smaller brown wolf.”

“She is a part of my pack.” I smiled as the confusion flashed over her face, but I pulled an outfit for her to try on. “This would be perfect to train in.” I pushed it into her hands and pointed to the change room.

Cass laughed and headed to try it on. “Fine.” We spent the next forty-five minutes speed shopping and didn’t leave until our arms were full of bags of clothes. Cass looked over at me as we rushed out of the mall. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Hey. I’ll be back. And if you are feeling down, just touch your paw print and know I’m touching mine.” I smiled as we hopped into the car and flew home.

We ran up the stairs and Cass helped me pack the new clothes.

I would leave everything else here. I had to pull out a second suitcase from here to fit it all.

We laughed as we stuffed the two cases full.

“What else?” Cass turned to me as I ran to my desk.

I grabbed my backpack and shoved all my electronics in.

“Just this stuff.” I had just finished zipping up my bag when there was a knock and my father walked in. He looked at my bags and then at me. “You ready pup?”

“Yeah.” He looked better than this morning. “Did you take a nap?” I got to my feet.

“Come on.” He shook his head as he left, and I made my way over to where Cass was with the two suitcases.

“It’s time.” I hugged her, and we both hissed. My back and her arm were still too sensitive, and we giggled. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you, too.”

“Don’t go making babies without telling me.” I poked her shoulder, and she laughed.

“I promise.” I watched her tear up. “Everything has changed.”

“Yeah. This summer was a wild ride. But it’s been good.” I smiled down at her and hugged her again. “You got a mate.”

“We both shifted.”

“Now we have tattoos.” I pulled away. “But there is one thing that hasn’t changed, Cass.”

“What’s that?” She wiped her face and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“You are still my best friend.”

“You are still my best friend, too.” She tried to smile but I saw her lips trembling.

“Okay. Here we go.” I swung my backpack onto my arm and hissed at my stupidity. She grabbed my suitcases, and we left my room.

“I’ll get these to the door.” She stopped at the top of the stairs. “Bye Amy.”

“Bye Cass.” I walked into my father’s office as she headed down the stairs.