The Golden Lycans (Ella) novel Chapter 7

***Freya***

This wasn't quite how I'd spent my Friday nights during the summer, but now I was back at school, it was time to chill. I am sat on my bed watching 'To All the Boys I'd Loved Before' on my laptop, arguably my favourite rom-com of the moment. I was also doing my nails for the weekend. I knew that the next time I shifted, my nails would go right back to normal, but the full moon wasn't until next week, and I wasn't due on patrol. Hopefully there wouldn't be any reason to shift this weekend, as it was time to indulge my human side a little and enjoy some shopping and good food with my friends, in one of the nearby cities tomorrow. Sometimes, I enjoyed the human things in life, particularly after a whole summer of Lycan related things. 

The bedroom door opens and my newest friend walks in. I am quite eager to find out tomorrow how well I can get Ella to scrub up with a little bit of my guidance. 

She was definitely one of those classic girls who were pretty on any average day with almost no effort, but had pure bombshell potential hidden underneath, and it was my duty as her friend to bring that side out of her.

"Good run?" I inquire. Ella walks by me to prop the window open a little and I catch a scent on her that I really wasn't expecting. 

Whoa whoa whoa. Why does she smell like Austin? I wonder to Mira.

Oooh...looks like our human roomie can't resist the allure of an alpha either. Good for her! Mira laughs back at me.

Typical response from Mira. 

If anyone ever thought male alphas were bad, the lesser known alpha she-wolves were worse. Mira would have me be a female version of Ollie, if she could.

"Yes, thanks, no random wild wolves today!" she laughs happily, taking her trainers off. 

"Did you run with anyone?" I ask innocently, wondering how she will respond. 

"No...I just went by myself," she replies. With a blythe smile on her face, she then heads into the bathroom with some clothes and a towel. I frown, 

What a little liar! I exclaim to Mira.

You warn her away from him, and you're surprised that firstly, she has become curious about him, and secondly, has decided not to admit that she was with him? Mira counters.

True. I did say that. Ella isn't exactly a rebel though, I thought she'd listen, I sigh.

I whip my phone out as soon as the bathroom door is shut.

Me: WHY can I smell you on Ella?!

Austin: Not that it's any of your business, but I saw her heading out for a run earlier after the gym, and given the random rogue attack the other evening, Atlas told me to follow her to make sure she didn't encounter any more. She tripped over pretty badly and I helped her up. Then we just had a quick chat. 

Me: okay..fair enough. But PLEASE don't encourage her, though... I mean I know how the girls here get around you. In fact please just try to avoid her as much as you can.

Austin: Chill out Freya, we just had a chat. It's not a big deal. 

Me: She's nice and NORMAL, she doesn't need our world ruining her, especially without her knowledge. 

"Freya, are you okay? You look a bit pissed off!" Ella suddenly asks, having just come out of the bathroom.

"Uh...yeah, sorry....angry text face," I suggest, "are you looking forward to shopping tomorrow?" 

Ella laughs a little and nods.

"Yeah...but, I mean...I did grow up in London so it's going to be on a little smaller scale than I'm used to," she jokes. I throw one of my throw cushions at her and she shrieks with laughter a little, as she dodges it.

...

***Ella***

I wake the next morning feeling thoroughly refreshed, enjoying the fact my alarm didn't have to go off. 

Bliss, this is what weekends were about. I was really looking forward to today, as I had never been on a girly shopping trip before.

I get myself dressed in some dark skinny jeans and a white tank top and stand in front of the mirror. I had kept my damp plait in overnight and I now carefully work my fingers through it, enjoying how the plait had made my hair beautifully wavy. It was naturally dead straight, and despite so many girls saying they'd kill for my straight hair, I did find it a little boring. This looked quite nice though. 

I hear a whistle as Freya springs up behind me in the mirror. 

"Oh, YES Ella, now that's what I'm talking about!" Freya exclaims at me, running her hands through my hair. I can't help but laugh at her delightful silliness. 

"So, it looks good?" I ask, hoping it wasn't just in my head. She arches a brow at me and looks bemused.

"Ella, many women would pay a lot of money to have hair like yours!" she says reassuringly. She get herself dressed, and we are soon heading down to meet Annabelle for breakfast.

As we start eating breakfast, I subtly glance over to Austin's table, a little disappointed to see that he  isn't there. 

Hmm...was I perhaps getting a teeny tiny crush on my roommate's older brother? I couldn't help but hear Freya's warning to me on that first morning replaying in my head over and over. I had no reason to think she wasn't trying to protect me, but could it really be that she didn't think I was good enough for her brother? 

Perhaps it was against this 'girl code' I had no concept of, but had heard about at times. I wasn't sure. Either way, I couldn't help but feel a little bit intrigued by him, and it had not escaped my notice how handsome he was. Today, I wanted to try and look my best at the formal. Particularly since I now apparently owed him a dance...

"Come on blondie, our ride is out front," Freya says, standing up and putting her phone into her back pocket. 

"My...uncle is giving us a lift. His name is Stephen." 

...

***Freya***

Out front was my dad's beta, Stephen, in his SUV, ready to take us out to one of my favourite cities for a few hours. 

Stephen wasn't my uncle at all, but he was as good as. I had known him all my life. He was a quiet man and enjoyed the simple things in life, so I knew he was probably just going to grab a quiet drink in a pub and read a book while we were busy. 

As my father's beta, he was my dad's closest confidante, aside from my mum, who was his Luna. In my Dad's absence he was in command of the pack. It didn't happen often, but sometimes when my dad went away on pack matters, Stephen would step in. Sometimes, though, he was chauffeur for me and Austin. Since Austin had now passed his driver's test, he was just mine. I could've asked Austin to take us but he was busy today with training and homework. I knew Stephen didn't mind, as he got to just chill out somewhere while Annabelle and I did our own thing.

There were some cute little boutiques in the city we were going to that sold some really beautiful dresses, plus it was generally a gorgeous city with a busy market on Saturdays, that also offered lots of different food to try. It was definitely one of my favourite places to go. 

The drive takes us a little under half an hour and it was just so nice to get out of the school grounds.

I'd spent the whole summer at the pack house and hadn't been allowed to go out of our territory much, which had been very boring. While one could've been dismissed, the fact that three local Seers had warned the nearby packs and covens of an increase in dark energies over the past year, this meant my father had taken that threat rather seriously. He doubled down on the pack's physical training and kept us younger ones within our boundaries for our safety. He somehow put even more pressure onto Austin in response, too. I was amazed he was happy for us to go shopping today, but trouble didn't tend to happen in busy high streets so that was probably why.

Stephen drops us off at the top end of the High Street and I turn to thank him. 

"I'll be nearby, we will leave here at this spot in exactly four hours," he says to me before driving off.

..

After two hours of shop hopping we came to one of my favourite boutiques. The prices were a bit steep but it wasn't every day I needed a new dress for a formal. I did have a lot of dresses but I was not someone who wore the same outfit twice around the same people. 

"Any thoughts?" Ella asks me, holding a somewhat shapeless dress in a dreadful colour up against herself. I shake my head at her and put the dress back. 

Luckily, she has me, now.

"Hmm...no. Trust me, that colour is no good for you with your skin tone and hair colour," I reply gently, suddenly eyeing a colour that would be perfect for Ella, extracting the source from the rail. Actually, the dress itself is gorgeous.

"This. Trust me, this is the dress for you," I say excitedly, holding up a gorgeous light blue, lacey midi dress. It was sleeveless, had flattering straps and a v-shaped neckline, but it still looked very classy and age appropriate.

Ella bites her lip and stares at it uncomfortably. I could tell this was perhaps a little out of her comfort zone but I knew she'd thank me once she tried it on. I encourage her to go try it on while I go to see how Annabelle is getting on. 

"Ooh purple, I really like it!" I nod approvingly, spotting Annabelle in front of one of the full length mirrors by the changing cubicles. She has tried on a deep, plum coloured, satin bandeau dress that suited her gorgeous shoulder length hair so well. 

"Any ideas for me, AB?" I ask tentatively. I hadn't seen anything I liked just yet.

"Yes! Although, it depends...are you up for hot pink?" she asks. She heads over to a rail I haven't looked at yet and plucks out a gorgeous hot pink chiffon dress with a corseted top and flowing skirt, featuring a sweetheart neckline. This definitely looked promising, I didn't have anything like it already in my wardrobe. I turn around to go to the changing cubicles to find Ella standing in front of us looking absolutely incredible in the light blue dress. 

"Wow. I almost didn't recognise you," was all I can say, my expression one of total surprise. I look at her up and down, feeling more than a little jealous of her lean legs, but I knew she was a keen runner so that really made a lot of sense. She hugs herself with her arms a little awkwardly and I feel quite guilty at badgering her try on the dress that put outside her comfort zone.

"It's not typically what I would go for but...I actually love it," she beams, her eyes wide with tentative excitement, "I'm going to get it, it'll be a nice birthday present to myself on the day."

I feel relief flood through me. She loved the dress, even though she looked so awkward coming to show us.

"Wait...when is your birthday?" I ask, wondering how I'd slipped up so badly on basic roommate etiquette. How had I not asked her this already?

"Well...it's the same day as the formal," she says, looking a bit sheepish. Bless her. I had definitely gotten the impression this week that she really didn't have many friends at all at her last school, so I guess she wasn't used to celebrating it. I knew her parents were usually out the country so she probably hadn't ever done much. I look at her kindly.

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