“Just came of age?” That means she just turned eighteen... A mate nearly a decade younger than me... Not really what I’d been planning on, if I was going to take a mate.
“Yes. Her parents have been hiding her from the public, sent her away to boarding school and everything. And now I’ve seen her... I get why.” Phoebe winks. “Just... Take a look in your own time. But I think you’d like her.”
“Thanks.” I nod, putting the file down on the table.
I don’t think I want to take a look. I’m not ready to settle yet, but especially not with a girl that much younger than me. Hell, even the human girls who hang around Zack and I don’t tend to be that young. The poor Omega should at least finish college or something, get some more years on her before her parents mate her, some more life experiences.
But that’s not how things go, especially not when she’s ‘pretty’, which tends to be code for being a shifter type that’s less common. She’ll probably be mated off before this year’s mating season has properly started. That’s what tends to happen with ‘pretty’ girls.
Why does an actual pretty girl now pop into my head, Cyra, who definitely has a temper and who doesn’t seem to take shit from Zack, everything my parents would hate in a potential mate. Hmmm. A girl like that. I’d like a girl like that. Someone who will stand up for herself, even in quiet ways, and who won’t just let people walk over her. Her soft lips, her sparkling eyes, and those legs... which end in that great ass. Perfection.
Okay. Maybe I should have accepted Zack’s offer of going to a club. Maybe then I wouldn’t be thinking of a girl who I’ll never be able to have. She doesn’t seem like a girl who’s up for just some fun for one night, and I’m not going to try to convince her otherwise when we’ve got so many willing girls around us all the time.
4 Cyra
I move the stupid wig around on my head, trying to find where I’m going to attach it. At least I didn’t have to worry about clothes for today, the princess dress I’ll have to wear for today’s party was all clean and everything, but that hasn’t made my mood any better.
When I accepted this job, I obviously wasn’t paying attention to where it was. I don’t normally do shifter parties. I avoid them, like the plague, but another princess somehow managed to break her arm this week and they needed a replacement at the last minute. And I’m the only other person who does the Cinderella routine, so the agency asked me.
If I hadn’t been so frustrated by the Alpha assholes’ behaviour yesterday afternoon, I would have checked where it was, who it was for and I would have realised I should have said no. But of course, I wasn’t paying attention, still too angry, and now I’m stuck doing this. It’s not like the parties for shifters are much different from the human ones, it’s just that I don’t want to have to surround myself with shifters for a whole day.
I made sure I used all the products that will hide my shifter scent this morning, I even used some extra of the horridly sweet deodorant that some human girls seem to like. I don’t know if it’s too much, but I’m better extra sure than someone catching my real scent, no matter how small the chance.
I finally manage to get the wig on right and look at myself in the mirror. I can do this. I’m just a human girl dressed as a princess who is going to give some little girl a fun birthday party. Same as always. And I really need the money.
Even if I had realised where this was, I probably still would have had to take the job because I really need some extra money. Meds to hide my shifter side are not cheap and I’m also going to have to buy heat suppressants soon, and those are always crazy expensive. It’s not like my parents will pay for any of it, or my insurance... So I have to come up with the money myself some way, and these parties, especially the ones for the rich people, are a good way to boost enough of my income to cover it. Hopefully.
I grab my box with party games from the couch and make my way to my car. I take a deep breath. Maybe I should have cleaned my car, so I wouldn’t have to show up with a dirty car in one of those expensive neighbourhoods, but it’s too late for that now. It’s too late for any of that now.
No way back.
I step out of the house onto the fricking huge green lawn that’s supposed to be the ‘garden’. I can almost see half the city from here. Hell...
I pull my voice up high, putting on my Cinderella persona. “Where’s the birthday girl? I... spy...”
A little girl, wearing a crown proclaiming proudly that she’s five years old, comes running over to me. “Princess! The princess is here!”
More and more kids flock around me and I laugh as I greet everyone. The kids are just like every other party I’ve been to. Kids are kids, and these parties are the same no matter what. It’s just the parents and family members I’m more worried about...
The Omega mother didn’t seem to realise what I was, at least she didn’t show any signs that she noticed I’m not human, and the Alpha mother barely glanced my way when I tried to introduce myself. Let’s just hope that it stays that way all day.
Although, with the week I’ve had, that might be asking for too much. Those two
