Page 22 of Their Promise

“Why?” I asked as I stripped out of the dress.

“Because if you wanted a blind date, you would have told us. We figured you weren’t ready to court yet and that you would let us know when you were ready. Plus, you were still in college.”

“I’m definitely ready now,” I said with a nod. Butterflies swirled in my stomach at the thought of potentially courting Kayden, Trey, and Mason. They were a packaged deal, after all.

“Good to know. I’ll make sure to make a list of those who request to be added to potential suitors.” She smiled and winked at me.

“Is there anything else we need to do to prepare for tomorrow?” I asked as we walked to the car.

“No, everything else is all ready!”

“Great, that means I can get a good night’s sleep in preparation for the storm tomorrow.”

“Good luck with that,” she said, and laughed.

Chapter

Seven

Hair, makeup, and getting dressed took over three hours, the longest I’d ever taken to get ready. Mom had insisted I wear my tiara, so I’d had to change my hair plans, which made the stylist have to change their original idea.

My nerves grew as I stared at my reflection. My hair was glowing faintly, but I was keeping the rage at bay without much issue.

“You look amazing!” Maya gasped and walked around me with her mouth open. “That dress is so sexy! Oh, man. The guys are going to be on you like ants on sugar.”

Chuckling, I hugged her. “Your dress is amazing, too.” It was white with red rhinestones in a swirling pattern from her cleavage around her waist and down her legs. “I think you might steal all the single men’s attention instead.”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and posed next to me in front of the mirror. “We can steal all the attention and then have our pick of men.”

I hadn’t told her about what had happened yesterday, still in shock and disbelief myself.

“Well, let’s hope there are some handsome, eligible men for us tonight,” I said.

“It’s time!” Mom called as she entered the room. Her hands went up to her mouth as tears built in her eyes. “Oh, honey, you look amazing!” She hugged me and kissed my cheek, then turned to Maya. “You look amazing as well!”

“Thanks, Mom Two,” Maya said. “Did you see any handsome men out there?”

“Besides my mates? There were a few younger ones,” she teased. “Come on, let’s get you announced so you can start enjoying your party!” She grabbed Maya and pulled her through the door leading to the huge ballroom, leaving it cracked so I could hear the DJ announce my entrance.

Taking a deep breath, I smoothed down my dress, reminded myself this was my party and would be fun, and stepped through the door while smiling wide.

Everyone clapped and cheered as I entered and I was immediately hugged and wished happy birthday by all the people inside. In addition to my family and friends, there were family friends, and friends of my parents and grandparents as well. Definitely over one hundred people, but if I counted how many were there, I might get too nervous, so it was better to just focus on the ones that were closest to me. There were several people I didn’t recognize, but I greeted everyone like I knew them, just in case they were important people I had met before and forgot.

“Happy birthday, gorgeous!” Luca said as I made it to him. He kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear, “I’ll give you your gift later, after you’ve made your rounds.”

Pulling back, I continued to smile and said, “Thanks for coming, Luca.” He was a handsome alpha, with long, light brown wavy hair and light green eyes complimented by a sharp jawline. He was handsome enough to be a model if he wanted to.

“Anything for you, Lily,” he said and winked at me.

As attractive as he was, I just never viewed him as a potential mate. His attitude was too cocky at times and it irked me to see him treat those weaker than him as less just because they weren’t as strong. He wasn’t rude all the time or anything like that, but I’d seen him on occasion be rude to servers or people who tried to interact with him.

People had started dancing and before I realized what was happening, Trey pulled me into a dance, spinning us around the room. “Happy birthday, Lily.”

“Thanks, Trey,” I said and swallowed nervously.

We had learned the dance together when we were growing up, classical dances were something that our parents required us to learn and since we were all around the same age, Kayden was the youngest by four years, we had practiced together.

“So, now that you know we aren’t complete assholes,” he said, “why are you talking to guys like that loser?”

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