Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 473

Chapter 473
Stella

Even though I’d known that everything Abba and I had talked about made sense, I’d held out a small hope that interacting with the people of Constantine wouldn’t be so…freaking…weird.

Everyone had been super nice, whether they were talking to me or about me. There’d been a few who’d touched me, though. Even if it was just my sleeve, it was odd to be such an object of attention.

My mom had noticed it, too, but she hadn’t said much about it. She’d been caught up with my bratty siblings. I was kind of glad for their fussing. Her lack of attention had let me pick out a bunch of different outfits that I wasn’t sure Mom would have approved of.

I stared at myself in the mirror wearing one of those outfits right now. The jeans were loose around the waist and the butt. Even the legs were a little loose, and also too long. They’d drag on the ground if I didn’t roll them up. The blouse I’d picked out was of sheer fabric printed with flowers in bold colors of red, purple, green, teal, and black. It had flowy sleeves and a high neck—but the see-through cloth made it sexy.

Well, at least I hoped it was sexy. I really had no idea what that meant beyond the sound of the word. As long as I’d been aware of my mom’s clothing, she’d favored practical, well-fitting jeans, boots, and T-shirts, or long, flowy skirts and dresses.

I lifted my chin. This outfit wasn’t quite right for Stella Constantine. It didn’t fit, and it wasn’t a style that I felt matched my personality.

But for Elleah Whitehaven? These jeans were going to make her ass look amazing.

Shifters who changed into wolves or dragons or any number of other creatures had to expend energy to access their inner beasts. They didn’t have to focus hard on becoming their animals, because their internal companion was as much a part of them as their very souls. Still, the change took effort, even if it was an unconscious one. It ate up bodily resources. For some, like dragon shifters, it meant a period of recovery time to compensate for the enormous changes in mass from dragon to human form.

The kind of transformation I was undertaking didn’t take anywhere near that kind of effort or energy. Although I’d never done it before, I knew I could access my shapeshifter gifts…I just needed a little bit of practice. First, to decide what I wanted to look like. And then, to hold that form in place no matter what else I was doing.

If I thought being a Celestial freaked people out, I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I was talking to someone and I forgot to keep my eyes the right color…or in the right place.

Also, deciding on a face and body was an important decision, and one I didn’t want to rush. If I was really going to embark on this grand new adventure, I wanted to make sure I did it looking like someone I could feel comfortable being for as long as I had to be her.