The Traitor Panther

Chapter Six

 The mall we were going to... wasn't amazing.

The town we were in wasn't a big city. It had plenty of businesses and restaurants and pretty nature to look at, but lacked shopping and indoor things to do. This mall had probably...fifteen stores. Not awful, but not great either. No food court either. I felt my heart breaking at this realization. It was already twelve o'clock and I hadn't had anything to eat all day.

Levi had parked in front of the main entrance. It was twelve o'clock in the middle of a weekday, so it was pretty empty. There were only a few moms pushing strollers along and old people power walking through the aging mall.

"So what kind of get up are you supposed to be getting?" Nate asks me as our group approaches a small map of the place. I tilt my head to the side and look at the map. What was I supposed to be getting?

"You should get something comfortable that you feel confident in. No one is expecting you to wear anything formal." Willow says as she steps around the group and begins walking further into the mall. We followed after her lead, Levi quickly closing the distance between him and her and pressing his shoulder against hers.

"What's their story?" Nate asks as we follow slowly behind them. They were analyzing all the stores, determining which would fulfill all of our needs the most quickly. They were both so analytical. I drew in a deep breath and blew a raspberry.

"The only piece of their personal story I feel comfortable talking about with someone other than them, is that they're siblings." I say, looking up at him and shrugging. I wasn't sure who they wanted to know about them being mated siblings. Just because I trusted Nate didn't mean they did or want him knowing about them. There's even the possibility he wouldn't be okay with it. Incest is... incest.

I honestly expected him to be a little salty about my lack of response, but he just kind of smirked and looked back at them. It looked like they had picked a store.

"This is the one, huh?" Nate said as we stood in front of the store looking up at the sign. The store itself had totally white tile floors with white walls and bright lights everywhere. There were mannequins displaying their best outfits everywhere, along with shelves and tables with shoes and pants and skirts.
I gulped, and instinctively reached out and grabbed Nate's hand.

"What if they make me buy actual pants?" I mutter to myself. I feel Nate squeezing my hand and I turn to look at him. He's grinning ear to ear and has a blush on his cheeks.

"Come on. I'll help you."

In the end, I go with a pair of dark jeans and a button up black collared shirt that was made with soft and loose hanging material. Willow kept trying to get me to buy a pair of flats or strappy sandals, but I told her I'd rather get my toenails done and wear my Birkenstocks. I always preferred to be comfortable.

And so now, I was sitting in a chair with my feet in a hot bubbling bath of water with Willow next to me. She was currently talking to the lady doing her toenails. They were talking about some cuticle oil that was supposed to be amazing, so I was just kind of staring at my feet in the water.

"What if you get some kind of weird foot fungus from that thing?" I look to my left, where Nate and Levi have come back. We went to a nail salon that was in the mall, so they decided to walk around while they waited for us to be done.

"You weren't gone very long." I say. Nate crashes into the chair next to me, Levi goes to hover around his sister.

"There's not much to look at here." He shrugs and leans his head back and shuts his eyes. His eyelashes are so long. They look like they touch his cheeks.

"Color?" I snap myself out of my thoughts and look at the lady kneeling by my feet. She's drained the water and is now patting my feet dry with a towel.

I handed her the bottle of dark green nail polish I had picked out a few minutes prior.

"We'll have to leave quickly after this." Levi says after a few moments. He's been typing on his phone for a few minutes now.

"Did something happen?" I ask.

"No. But I guess a lot of the Alphas are wondering where you are. So, Ike is asking if we can come back a little early." I nod, watching the lady apply a clean stroke of the deep, forest green color onto my toenails.

Once she was done, I would have to go back to the pack and meet a bunch of people who were just there to gawk at me. I would have to act normal with Ike, because even an ignorant panther like me knew it wouldn't look good if we were bickering on the day I was becoming Luna. And eventually, I would have to tell the pack about their new Luna having two mates. I wonder how they were going to react to that...

"We're done." I shake my head and look down at my feet. I smile at the lady and swing my legs around to the side of the chair.

Nate's eyes pop open and he quickly stands, reaching his hand down to help me stand up. I'd never been doted on like this before. It reminded me of the books I used to read on my phone on my lunch breaks at work. I always thought they were entirely unrealistic and a little corny. Now that it was happening to me, I didn't know how it made me feel.

"What do you think?" I ask as I ever so carefully slide my shoes on.

Nate looks down at my feet for a second before answering. "They're the same color as the trees in the forest you live." He says quietly. I feel my face heating up. Why the fuck did that make me blush? If anything, he was complimenting the nail polish brand for being such a good color, not me.

"Are you guys coming?" I quickly look up to where Willow and Levi are already at the register paying.

I had to stay focused. I couldn't let Nate or even Ike distract me today.

I had a lot to prove.