Fated to the Wolf, Bound to the Immortal

“Shit,” I mumbled, spinning around frantically in the dressing room and somehow managing to whack my elbow in the process. “Double shit!”

“You okay?”

My best friend’s voice drifted through the door; her concern laced with a fair amount of amusement. If there was one thing Natalia knew about me, it was that dressing rooms and I did not get along.

“The zipper on this dress is stuck. Stupid thing.”

I reached over my shoulder again, contorting painfully like a gymnast or a circus performer. I knew my body wasn’t supposed to bend this way, but how else was I going to get this thing off?

I glanced in the mirror, cringing at the blood-red dress my body was sheathed in. For as hard as it was to get the dress off, there wasn’t much fabric on my body to begin with. If I hadn’t been twisted up like I pretzel, I would have blushed at how scandalous I looked in the thing. Instead, I mostly just looked ridiculous.

“Nat, this stupid outfit was your idea,” I growled, giving up on the zipper and unlocking the dressing room door. “So, get your butt in here and fix it!”

Laughing, Natalia pushed open the door, her smile widening as she took in my frizzed hair and my flushed cheeks. Sometimes getting out of a dress was a workout, okay? It wasn’t my fault that I happened to be out of breath.

Cocking her head to the side, Nat closed the door behind her and placed a single finger against her chin.

“Twirl,” she commanded, tapping her face thoughtfully.

“I just need you to undo the zipp—”

“I said twirl!”

“Yes ma’am,” I grumbled, spinning quickly in a circle. I felt ridiculous.

“Yeah, you’re right. That does need fixing,” Natalia smirked, before reaching out and tugging on the zipper.

I gasped in air as the tight fabric slithered off my body, letting me actually breathe for the first time since I had put the damn thing on.

“Thanks, hon. I was dying in there. And besides...”

“Red’s not really your color?”

Nat grinned at me, pulling a slinky black dress from behind her back. “Good thing I’ve got you covered, then, right babe?”

I smiled back at her fondly before grabbing the dress and inspecting it closely. The dress was silky, with geometric cutouts up and down the front and sides. I knew even before I put it on that this thing would highlight my narrow waist and make my painfully small breasts look a little bit fuller.

“Nat, you’re a miracle worker!” I gasped, before slipping the red dress off and tugging the black one over my head. No zippers on this thing, thank heavens.

“Oh, Wren.” Natalia’s voice was low and almost awe-struck. “It’s perfect.”

I grinned at her before turning back toward the mirror, taking in my reflection.

My long auburn hair was still frizzy, but I’d be able to fix that before tonight. Maybe I’d go all-out and sweep it up into a bun or something? Just as I had suspected, the black dress hugged my curves perfectly, settling on my hips before tapering and narrowing up through my waist.

I peered closer at the geometric cutouts around my breasts. Could I see cleavage? That definitely couldn’t be mine.

A little self-consciously, I poked at my chest, my eyebrows arching in surprise at the rounded curves just visible through the cutouts.

Well, I’ll be damned.

“Nat, you’re a miracle worker!” I crowed again, turning around and hugging her exultantly. She was the best friend anyone could ever ask for. I’d known her since we were six years old, and we were closer than sisters.

It helped that Nat was so outgoing and popular. She had a natural fashion sense, never-ending confidence, and was a magnet for hot guys. I was the opposite: shy, awkward, and more book-smart than people-smart. I loved basking in her aura. It made me feel alive, in a way my own life never really seemed to.

“I need to take you with me every time I go shopping,” I sighed, pulling away from the hug and glancing happily at my reflection once more before pulling the black dress back over my head. “When I finally start making some good money, I’m going to hire you as my personal stylist. Just you wait.”

“I sure hope so. Then you’ll never be able to get rid of me. I’ll just follow you across the country instead of being stuck here.”

The mood in the dressing room soured, and I kept my mouth closed as I pulled on my jeans and pale grey t-shirt.

Nat and I were both starting our last year at Boston University, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I had already lined up a chemical engineering internship with a company up in Seattle next summer. Natalia and I had gone to school together for literally every year of our lives. But once this school year was over, for the first time, we’d be going our separate ways.

“Just come with me to Seattle,” I found myself begging as we headed out of the dressing room and toward the checkout counter. “I’m sure there’s plenty of jobs you could hop into up there.”

Nat wanted to be a big-time magazine editor, just like the main character of 13 Going On 30. We’d watched the movie every weekend for a whole year back when we were in junior high, and Nat had really taken the storyline to heart. She was hell-bent on moving to New York and making her dreams come true.

And as much as I wanted to support my best friend, I couldn’t bear the thought of living without her.

“We’ll call each other every day,” Nat sniffed, her eyes already tearing up at the thought of our separation. “But I can’t deal with this right now. Just pay for your sexy dress, and let’s get back to the apartment. We’ve got to do something with your hair.”

I smoothed it down, suddenly self-conscious.

“It’s just another dumb college party,” I mumbled, handing the cashier my credit card. “I don’t even know why we’re dressing up for this one. The same thing happens every time.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Nat asked innocently.

“You leave with a hot guy, or two, while I get completely wasted and end up home alone, puking out my guts into a toilet.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad!”

“Yeah, for you,” I grinned back.

We both laughed easily as we exited the mall and piled into Nat’s car. I tossed my new dress in the backseat before turning to look at my best friend. The laughter was gone from her face, and her eyes were intense and commanding.

“But seriously, Wren. You’re going to that party.”

The pulsing neon lights of the party swirled across the walls of the massive frat house we were in. All the sensuous, dizzying colors were giving me a headache. Or maybe it was the shots I’d just downed.

“You know, if you drank a little less at these things, maybe you’d have a better time!”

Nat had to shout to make herself heard over the pounding music. Her normally perfect blonde hair was wild and sweaty, the princess curls frizzing in the humid space. She looked like a freaking sex-goddess, and all the guys in the place seemed to agree. I noticed groups of them drifting by, grinning as their eyes roved over her body as if she was something delicious to eat.

“Ah, ignore them!” Natalia shouted, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the drinks and toward the dance floor. “If this is our last homecoming party, then I sure as hell am focusing on you, babe!”

I blushed, but the drinks had already started going to my head. Usually I was a terrible dancer, but when I was drunk, I turned into a very outgoing, terrible dancer. Maybe Nat was right about not drinking so much. It only led to embarrassment.

Ignoring good sense, Nat and I let loose on the dance floor, our sweaty bodies slamming against strangers. My silky black dress hugged my body tightly, and even though I didn’t draw the attention of every guy like Nat did, I found myself feeling something strange.

I felt confident. And maybe even sexy.

Wham!

I had slammed into one of the pulsating bodies on the crowded dance floor, but instead of the give and take of the ebbing crowd, this person stood immovable as a stone wall.

The world tilted around me as I bounced off his unforgiving body, bracing myself for the inevitable impact of the hard floor beneath me.

But it never came.

Instead, I felt a pair of warm, incredibly massive arms wrapped around me, lifting me gently back to my feet.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped automatically. “I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t worry about it,” my rescuer grinned, his eyes glinting oddly in the strobing lights.

Even with the dim lighting, I felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked at him. Dark brown hair cascaded down almost to his shoulders; the shaggy locks wild and silky. His eyes were a deep, rich blue that I could somehow see even in the half-light of the raging party.

But his smile, oh god. The way his mouth was twitching ever so slightly upward in a cocky, half-grin. I felt a warm flush race across my body as I looked at that smile.

This man was the hottest person I had ever seen.

And I had just crashed into him like an imbecile.

The guy’s grin widened as he looked at me, his teeth gleaming eerily as the blacklights lit up his face. I swallowed nervously, resisting the urge to melt into the carpet beneath my feet.

“Thank you for catching me,” I mumbled, fiddling with my fingers uncomfortably. I could still feel the blush in my cheeks, the color only deepening as I felt his piercing eyes roaming over my body hungrily. I shivered, suddenly cursing Nat and her stupidly sexy sense of fashion. This was ridiculous.

Without waiting for the opportunity to embarrass myself further, I spun on my heel and practically ran out of the crowded dance floor. I could hear someone yelling after me, but I figured it had to be Nat. She’d understand and come find me; she always did.

After pushing through the crowd blindly for a few tense moments, I finally found an opening in the surge of bodies. With a triumphant grin, I dove toward the open space, before…

“Shit,” I mumbled automatically, as I bounced against another inconveniently in-my-way human body.

This time, I tumbled toward the ground, my tight black dress hiking up around my upper thighs. Thank god I was wearing underwear.

“Maybe I should have let you fall the first time,” a rumbling male voice chuckled from above me. “This is the best view I’ve had in a while.”

I looked up incredulously only to see the same gorgeous guy I had just run from standing high above me.

My cheeks were on fire as I tugged the edge of my dress lower before scrambling to my feet. Even with my heels on, I barely came to the guy’s shoulder. He grinned down at me, that hungry, mind-numbing smile still plastered on his face.

“Why’d you run?” he asked quietly, taking a step forward so that our bodies were nearly touching. “I promise I don’t bite. Unless you want me to, that is.”

I swallowed hard, acutely aware of how close our bodies were. I had never been this close to a boy before, and certainly not this close to one so attractive. Was he flirting with me? How drunk was I? Had I started to hallucinate?

“I didn’t run,” I lied, my mouth dry. “I apologized and left. I didn’t see much of a reason to stay.”

“Liar,” I berated myself. “I can think of several good reasons to stay.”

Unable to help myself, I scanned the guy’s body, my eyes widening as I took in his perfectly sculpted form. Holy hell.

I saw the man’s eyes narrow at my comment.

“Great, now you’ve pissed him off.”

“Not much of a reason to stay, hmmm?” He mused, before the grin returned to his face. “Well, I believe I can fix that. Let’s go somewhere and chat.”