Chapter 15 - Diana
“Come on, Diana, you’ve tried three dresses already. I’m telling you, this one’s a winner!” Marian yelled outside the bathroom. “And Kaleem is going to be here in twenty minutes!”
She sounded more excited than I was, but that wasn’t possible. My stomach was in knots, and my palms kept sweating. This was my first date with Kaleem, where we’d be out in public, and I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to look perfect.
I was stepping out of my comfort zone, so picking a dress became more complex than I had imagined. The last time I’d worn a dress was before I left Wolfcreek, and I couldn’t remember the exact day, let alone the dress I’d worn.
Since returning to Wolfcreek, I started remembering things from my youth, happy memories that were too painful to remember, so I had locked them away.
I recalled times I’d spent with Marian, my Dad, and even Jackson when we were too young to hate each other. I even remembered Marian’s mother fixing us snacks and the parties we used to sneak off to attend.
It was such a strange thing, the power memories had.
Despite them being our memories depending on what’s happening in our lives, they either brought us joy or sadness, no matter if they were good memories or bad.
“Diana!” Marian called again, and I opened the bathroom door and walked out.
She crossed her arms over her chest while nodding with approval. When she did a quick twirl with her finger, I turned a complete 360, and she started to slow clap. I was wearing an olive dress with the right strap pulled across my chest to join the left.
It gave the dress a unique design, and with a corset design, my waist was a little snatched, which accentuated my growing thighs. The look was complete with my hair straightened and the black heels I was wearing.
I wasn’t someone that liked bright colors, so this dress was perfect. It was elegant but sexy.
“Gorgeous!” Marian yelled, and I laughed. “And that light makeup you allowed me to apply after two hours of begging, chef’s kiss.”
“Right,” I grumbled but laughed nonetheless. “I still don’t like lip gloss. My hair keeps sticking to it. Don’t you have lipstick?”
“Nope, you’ll get used to it,” she countered while I walked to the standing mirror. “You look amazing, Diana. Truly you do.”
“Thank you,” I said with a blush.
I had to admit, Marian was right, and I wasn’t trying to be cocky. I was okay with not wearing makeup because applying it myself always led to a disaster, but the woman looking back at me in the mirror looked grown.
I looked like a Luna, poised and radiating grace.
I wasn’t very graceful, but tonight would be the start of another chapter with Kaleem and me. We were making our relationship public, and in a few days, he’d announce his invitation for me to join his pack. I wanted tonight to be perfect, calm, and although there were going to be stares and whispers, that was nothing I wasn’t already used to.
I turned to the side and ran a hand down my chest to my stomach, adjusting the dress around my waist and where it stopped mid-thigh.
Since the day I told Dad we’d be leaving the pack, he’d warmed up to the idea more and more. We didn’t talk about our plans much, but Kaleem was having a house made for us. To start, our transition into the pack would be tricky, even though I was with Kaleem. So we weren’t moving in together at his pack house just yet.
I highly doubted Dad would have wanted to move into the packhouse, so us having a house for ourselves was needed. I’d only heard rumors of how impressive Kaleem’s territory was, and I was eager to see it all for myself.
The pack would have to adjust to me as Kaleem’s partner, and only then and when Kaleem and I were ready to take the step I’d move in with him.
“Can I ask you something?” Marian asked while sitting on the bed, and I nodded in the mirror.
“Of course, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she replied. “But how long has something been going on between you and Kaleem?” When I faced her, she sat forward. “You’d just returned to town the night I saw you, then Kaleem turned up, and I sensed something between you both.”
“It wasn’t the kind of tension I’d expected, considering the packs’ history, and if you knew Kaleem before you left, I figured that was something you’d tell me. So how could you both have just met and look at each other like that? I know you, Diana. We might not have been in contact for years, but the way you looked at him, I knew you had feelings for him then.”
“Diana,” Marian said low, and I knew what was coming. “Is he your mate?”
I hadn’t told Marian about Kaleem. When Kaleem and I met, I was too scared to ever say it out loud that we were mated. I was terrified of what Colin would do. I hated Colin back then just as I do now, but I’d been more afraid of him.
“He is,” I answered, and Marian’s face lit up. “Or he was, and now we’re trying again.”