Ravishing Elizabeth

by J. J. Marstead

  with my parents. My room’s bare, only the bed and dressers are left standing in the room.

  “Mom, you want to watch a movie with me?”

  “Sure, sweetheart,” She says softly, emotion cracking her sweet voice.

  It’s getting dark out; Caleb’s at our home with his parents getting things ready for tomorrow

  night. I’m giddy about tomorrow; my nerves are all over the place. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait

  to walk towards my two handsome mates in my dress and all dolled up; it’s just everyone else who

  will be there that I don’t know fully. The Pindar Hollow Den will be there as well, they now have a

  truce with the pack, and it seems that Darren invited them to the mating tomorrow out of kindness.

  Samuel should be here soon, to say good night then head back to the house he’s renting, he

  said it didn’t feel right staying the night at the house without Caleb or me being there, the same with Caleb, he’s staying at his parents. There’s a knock at the door, squealing I make my way to the door, passing the living room where my parents are, laughing at me while I run to the door. I open the

  door with a huge smile; my smile drops as I stare at a tear-eyed Kelly. Oh my God, I knew it; it’s too much for her. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.

  “Oh Kelly, I’m sorry about tomorrow. I really am,” I utter fast, she looks at me with a

  confused expression on her face, but when it clicks in her eyes, she shakes her head repeatedly.

  “No, it has nothing to do with that. I meant what I said at the spa, Elizabeth,” she says her

  voice soft and calm. Okay, now I’m confused.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask cautiously.

  “Can we talk inside, and if it’s not too much to ask… can I stay here for the night. I can’t

  really go home right now,” I nod my head, ushering her to come inside. My parent’s heads snap up

  at the same time, my mom has a smile on her face, till she sees Kelly’s face and she frowns. My

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  mother then looks to me and then back to Kelly; she nudges my father whispering something in his

  ear and then they both leave the room. I turn my head slightly; I can see my mother in the hallway, motioning me to go to her. I tell Kelly to take a seat on the couch and I tell her I’ll be right back.

  My mother pulls me down the hall to the kitchen and out back.

  “What’s wrong, why is she crying?” my mother shoots off, asking a ton of questions. She just

  got here, I could’ve had a chance to find out but she dragged me out of the room before saying two

  words to Kelly.

  “I’m not sure, she hasn’t told me what’s wrong yet, but she did tell me it has nothing to do

  with tomorrow. She’s happy for both of us, something must have happened to her today,” my

  mother looks at the house biting her lip.

  “I hope it’s nothing too serious,”

  “I’ll find out, oh… is it alright if she spends the night here? She doesn’t want to go home for

  some reason,” I know my mother will let her but I just want to make sure it’s a solid yes.

  My mother huffs, “Of course she can stay. She’s more than welcome. If you two need me,

  just let me know.” I nod, giving my mother a quick hug, letting her go; I head back into the house to the living room.

  I smell him before I even enter the living room, Samuel. He’s sitting in the chair across from

  the couch talking to Kelly, his head tilts my way and he smiles at me, he gets out of the chair. I give him a little smile back when he reaches me, he kisses me. I tell Kelly I’ll be right back, she nods with a shy smile.

  Once were in the hallway, walking over to the front door, we head outside. Once were

  outside Samuel kisses me again but with much more passion this time, like he was holding himself

  back in the house to spare making Kelly, feel uncomfortable. He pulls away, leaning his forehead

  against mine.

  “I missed you today, are you ready to become mine for eternity tomorrow?” he whispers

  huskily holding me to him. I place my head on his shoulder trying to hide my smile.

  “Of course I am,” my voice muffled against his shoulder, he chuckles lightly.

  “Is everything okay with Kelly? She seemed down.”

  “I’m not sure, she got her a few moments ago and I haven’t had a chance to talk to her

  about the reason she came over for yet,” Samuel nods, grinning down at me.

  “I can’t wait to see you walking towards me and Caleb tomorrow, it will be the best day of

  my existence,” he mutters lovingly as he stares down at my eyes. I could stare at this man forever

  and not get tired; mentally shaking myself out of it, I remember Kelly’s waiting for me.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  “I got to get back inside, Kelly’s waiting for me,” I say, Samuel nods his head, understanding

  completely.

  “I’ll be there waiting for you tomorrow, my little gem. Good night,” he whispers before

  kisses my lips with his. He leans away and gives me a crooked grin.

  “Rest up, you’ll need it for tomorrow night,” he says, winking at me, he turns around and

  leaves me there, with tiny shivers running through my body. I take a few deep calming breaths,

  trying to calm my raging libido before heading back inside, after I feel like I’m calm down enough, I enter the house, Kelly’s still in the living room, sitting on the couch where I left her, walking in she looks up and gives a tiny smile.

  “Sorry about that,” I take a seat on the couch beside her, she waves me off.

  “Don’t apologize for being with your mate,” she snaps out quickly. Wow, okay.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just… God…” she takes a deep breath before she

  continues.

  “I found my mate, today.”

  My eyes widen in surprise as I stare at her and squeal, “Really? Oh my God, that’s amazing

  news. I’m so happy for you,” as soon as if leaves my mouth, she bursts out crying, that’s not how I thought she would act, knowing she found him. Oh no, he’s already mated?

  “Kelly, what happened? I thought you would be over the moon finding your true mate,” she

  wipes the tears from her eyes, sighing heavily.

  “I was over the moon when I saw him. He’s perfect. He saw me but didn’t even acknowledge

  me, a girl ran up to him and he hugged her and he even kissed her. It was like my heart was ripped

  right from my chest. When I went to talk to him the bears surrounded him and told me to get lost,”

  she hiccups from all the crying. Wait what… Did she just say bears?

  “Did you just say bears, your mates a bear?” She nods her head giving a sad smile.

  “Turns out my true mate, is the only and only Clan leader of the Pindar Hollow Den,” she

  hisses out. “Oh my God, Kelly, I’m so sorry. I’m sure he’ll come around,” I say trying to soothe her, she shakes her head repeatedly.

  “It’s not going to happen; he doesn’t want a wolf as his mate. His clan made it perfectly clear

  that I’m not fit to be his mate.”

  Kelly mentions she wants to go to bed, that she’s tired and she has a headache from

  everything that happened today. Totally understanding, I nod my head, I bring her to the spare

  bedroom, as soon as her head hits the pillow she was out like a light.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  I pray for her sake that he comes around, he sounds like a total asshole to me. After leaving

  the room, I head downstairs
to get a drink before going to bed; my mother stops me before I make

  my way out of the kitchen, I reply what Kelly told me to her and her heart breaks just hearing it, and then she gets pissed. That poor bear won’t know what hit him when he meets my mother, after her

  finding out what he did to Kelly, he doesn’t even have a fighting chance of surviving my mother.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  Chapter 18

  The Day of the Mating Ceremony…

  I can’t believe it’s finally here, last night I had such a hard time falling asleep, too much

  excitement about today that I only fell asleep around I think was a little past midnight. I feel

  energized today, though, I thought for sure I would have been walking around like a zombie but

  nope, here I am in my room at my parent’s place, getting things ready for the ceremony, in a chipper mood to boot.

  I’m admiring my gorgeous dress hanging on the back of the door. Kelly’s in the bathroom

  putting on her makeup, I’m sure she wants to rub it into her mate’s face, show him what he’s

  missing. I can’t believe she has a date for the ceremony, I hope this doesn’t turn into a blood bath, but then again he did reject her, in front of his whole den, all’s fair in love and war they say. How he did it though, in front of his own den members to see, that was low.

  Tori’s somewhere in the house with my mother, doing God knows what. I’m sitting here on

  my bed staring at my dress, in just a few short hours I’ll be walking with my parents towards my

  mates. Caleb and Samuel both have mentioned that, when it comes time for a human wedding that

  Caleb and I will be getting legally married. I don’t want a huge fuss about it; a small thing at the courthouse is fine with me. We’re doing a huge thing for the mating ceremony, so I don’t need a

  huge traditional wedding.

  The woman who will be doing my hair and makeup should be here soon, can’t wait to see

  what the guys think about me all dolled up with the hair, the make-up, and the incredible dress. My

  mother has mentioned countless times today, that they’ll probably fall on their asses or maybe even

  stumble on their words a bit.

  I haven’t seen my father yet today, he must be out of the house, he’s probably over at the

  Jackson’s, with a full house of women; he must have thought it’s safer to be out of the house, smart move. He won’t have to hear all the screaming and gushing over everything from us.

  The doorbell rings twice, and I hear my mother shout ‘I’m coming’ downstairs, you hear her

  footsteps as she makes it to the front door from upstairs. I think that might be the hairdresser. My mother went all out for today, having someone come here instead of us going out, she didn’t want

  Caleb or anyone to see me until the ceremony.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  I hear two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs, there’s a knock on the door, “Elizabeth, the

  hair stylist is here, are you ready for her?” her voice muffled through the door. Well here goes

  nothing, I need to be prettified.

  “Yes, I’m ready,” my voice sounding a bit squeaky from all the nerves.

  My mother opens the door, and lets the woman in, my mother says she’s going to let Julie

  get to work on my hair and make-up, while she gets her outfit sorted, also my father’s outfit. Poor guy can’t dress himself today; he would end up picking a pair of jeans and a t-shirt if it was up to him, and my mother would have a fit if he wore his worn out jeans and plain white t-shirt.

  The woman from the hair salon is sweet. She’s been working on everything for about an

  hour and a half now; making sure everything’s perfect for my special day. Tori comes in with her hair looking like a hurricane hit it.

  “Oh my God, Elizabeth you look beautiful,” she gasps, coming closer to me, taking a seat on

  the bed.

  “Thank you. What the hell happened to your hair?” She straightens and clears her throat,

  swinging her arms.

  “Well, it seems the curler and I had a disagreement,” she says with a straight face, biting my

  lip, I try my hardest not to laugh at her, but I can’t hold it in anymore and I crack up, laughing

  because her hair looks like a birds nest, she starts laughing with me, then Julie clears her throat.

  “I can fix your hair if you like, I’m almost done with Elizabeth’s,” Julie mentions as she takes

  a pin from the bowl, placing it in my hair. She squeals, and starts bouncing on the bed, saying ‘thank you’ like ten times. Julie finishes pinning my hair and motions for Tori to take a seat in the chair now. Just then there’s a little knock on the door, then my mother and Kelly come in. As soon as my

  mother sees me she stops short, causing Kelly to ram right into the back of her.

  “Ouch,” Kelly exclaims going around my mother, her eyes widen, she takes in my

  appearance and she grins, “Elizabeth, you look amazing.”

  My mother wipes the tear from her eye, “Oh sweetheart, you look stunning,” she comes

  over to me giving me a quick hug; she’s trying hard to steer clear from my hair.

  “Thanks, mom,” I whisper softly as I hold her tighter to me.

  “Kelly, you look beautiful. I’m sure your mate will be sorry for what he did,” my mother

  opens her mouth letting a dangerously low growl escape.

  “That good for nothing, stupid bear…he’ll be sorry that he messed up, when he sees Kelly’s

  date. Oh my God, I didn’t tell you…Darren invited his brother and his pack here for the ceremony.

  Hopefully, the unmated females and males will get the chance to find their true mates.” She squeals

  that’s just like my mom, playing matchmaker.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  “Who’s Kelly’s date mom?” my mother squeals again clapping her hands together, while

  Kelly stands there looking nervous about the whole date thing. I’m not sure how a bear will act when he sees his mate with another, even if he did reject her I can only imagine.

  “Oh right sorry. Kelly’s date is Damon’s eldest son, Noah. He’s so sweet, he asked Kelly this

  morning and she agreed. Isn’t that great?” she looks at Kelly, taking her hands in hers.

  “Kelly, I want you to have fun at this ceremony. I don’t want you to hold back from having

  fun because of that supposed to be asshole mate,” she hisses, my eyes widen as I take in my

  mother’s foul language. Kelly laughs nodding her head, smiling.

  “Mom…” she waves me off, huffing about bears being big and stupid.

  “Enough about the drama in my life, today’s Elizabeth’s special day and I don’t want my love

  life to become the center of attention,” Kelly says ringing her hands nervously together looking

  around the room. My mother nods, Tori is in awe looking at her reflection in the mirror on the

  dresser, while Julie continues fixing the mess she made to even bother knowing what we’re talking

  about.

  “Kelly, if you want to talk about it, you can. I promise I won’t get upset, even if it’s my

  ceremony today, I don’t like knowing your hurting,” she smiles tenderly at me, she walks over to me, she puts her arms around me.

  “Thank you, but today is your day. We’ll deal with my mate problems, another day.

  Promise,” nodding because I can’t argue with her, I know she’ll talk to me when she’s ready.

  After about thirty minutes Julie is finally done with Tori’s hair, Julie picks up her things and

  says goodbye to us, wishing me luck on my sp
ecial day. I hope my mom gives her a nice tip for

  coming today, she did an incredible job on my hair, and what she did to save Tori’s mess was, wow.

  It’s finally time for me to get dressed, my mother takes the dress off the hanger holding it in

  her hand, and she lies it down on the floor so I can step into it. My mother lifts the dress up in front of me, while Tori zip’s the back. It feels amazing to have the dress on again, turning around slowly, I walk over to the mirror at the dresser and I gasp. I can’t even begin to tell you how I look, it’s truly amazing, with my hair and smoky eyes and the dress, it’s almost magical. I look like a fairy tale

  princess. My mother stares at me in awe; my eyes start to build up tears while she walks over to me.

  “Oh, my… Elizabeth, you look so grown up. I can’t even…thank God, you got your looks from

  me,” Tori and Kelly snicker, that causes me to laugh. God, my mom knows the right thing to say at a

  time like this, it’s a good thing, Julie used waterproof mascara.

  “Mom, you know dad’s a catch,” my mother puts her finger to her lip, looking deep in

  thought while she hum’s, and then she nods.

  “I guess you’re right,” I shake my head, chuckling. Tori leaps up scrambling over to her bag.

  R a v i s h i n g E l i z a b e t h ‘ W h i t e T i m b e r P a c k ’

  “Oh wait, I got you this for your hair, it’s just a simple pin but I thought it would add a little

  something to your day,” Tori mentions as she goes over to her bag, pulling out a little white rose and placing it in my hair. I touch the rose, it’s beautiful, my eyes start to burn with tears again and Tori snap’s her fingers in front of my face.

  “Hey, no crying, we can’t have you messing up that pretty make-up, I just wanted to get you

  a little something,” throwing my arms around my best friend, I’m just happy that she’s here, sharing this day with me. My mother takes out her camera snapping a couple of photos of me and the girls,

  and then my mother hands Kelly the camera for her to take some photos, of just me and my mother.

  A few moments later there’s a knock at the door, my mother checks to see who it is, and my

  father pokes his head in, my mother opens the door for him and once he’s in the room, he looks at