My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 12

Sera

Water dripped off my skin, pooling on the stone floor. I stood there, naked and shivering, despite the fire roaring in the hearth. I grabbed the dress from the bed.

I’d seen it the moment Mina left, but holding it up was different. It was blood-red and made of a fabric so slick it felt like it was trying to slide out of my hands. It had thin, stringy spaghetti straps and a neckline that plunged so low it would barely cover my nipples. But the back was the real problem. There wasn't one. The fabric just... stopped. It was a long, open scoop that went all the way down to the tailbone.

It was a dress meant for a red carpet or a high-end club in the South, not a stone fortress in the middle of a blizzard. It looked completely wrong against the heavy timber furniture and the raw, unpolished mountain walls.

"I can’t wear this," I muttered to the empty room.

It wasn't a dress; it was a neon sign that said come fuck me. I dropped it back onto the furs and turned toward the massive wardrobe. I needed something thick. Something with sleeves. Something that didn't make me look like I was auditioning for a role I never wanted.

A heavy knock sounded on the door. I jumped, my heart thudding against my ribs.

"Who is it?" I called out. The wood was so thick my voice sounded thin even to my own ears.

"It’s Mina. Dinner’s in twenty minutes, Sera. Are you decent?"

I grabbed a towel and wrapped it tightly around myself, tucking the end over my chest. "Come in."

The door creaked open. Mina walked in, her face bright with that same restless energy from earlier. She stopped dead when she saw me still in the towel. Her eyes went to the bed, then back to me.

"You're not ready?" she asked, her voice dipping into genuine surprise. "I thought you'd be halfway through your hair by now."

I pointed at the red pile of fabric on the bed. "Is there something else I can wear? Anything else. A sack would be fine."

Mina walked over to the bed, picking the dress up by the straps. She turned it around, inspecting it with a frown. "What do you mean? Is there a tear in it? I checked the seams myself."

I swallowed hard, the dryness in my throat making it difficult to speak. "The dress is too damn revealing, Mina. I’m not walking into that Great Hall—into a room full of warriors—wearing that. I saw those men in the yard. I’m not giving them an excuse to eye-fuck me all night."

Mina didn't just smile; she burst out laughing. She tilted her head, looking at me like I’d just told a hilarious joke. "You’re worried because it’s revealing?"

I nodded, my jaw tight.

"Two things, Princess," Mina said, her amusement settling into a smirk. "One, no male wolf in this territory is sane enough to eye the Alpha’s Luna. Not unless they have a literal death wish."

"I’m not his Luna," I snapped.

"Yet," she countered effortlessly. "And two, I didn't pick this dress. The Alpha did."

I froze. My hands tightened on the towel until my knuckles turned white. I looked at the dress dangling from Mina's hand, then back to her. "Fenris chose this?"

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