Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,22

hung on my front door. Sage had scrawled a note.

Knock when you get home. – Sage

I sighed, not wanting her to ask questions about the vampire thing. Hopefully news hadn’t spread that they came looking for me. Somehow the alpha and Sawyer didn’t strike me as the gossiping type, but still, his guards might…

Reaching out, I knocked on her door and she yanked it open. “Where the hell have you been?” she questioned.

Before I could answer, her eyes flew to the gift in my arms. “Is that from my cousin?”

I jumped at the topic change. “I think so. Wanna help me open it?”

She nodded and then followed me into my room. “So I got this new eyeshadow palette that I think would look bomb tonight with that gown you bought. Want me to do your make-up?”

I nodded. “Sure, that would be great.”

She frowned as I set the gift on the coffee table.

“Hey, you okay? Was it the vampire thing? I mean, that shook us all up. I haven’t heard the war sirens in … forever. It was kind of scary.”

Okay … she didn’t seem like she knew they were here for me, that was more of a general statement.

I nodded. “Yeah, kinda crazy.”

She reached out and slung an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry, they know we change alphas every twenty or so years. They are just fucking with Sawyer. Keeping him on his game.”

Yeah, that wasn’t it at all, but I played along.

She pulled her arm from my shoulders and plucked the note from the top of the box, reading aloud.

“Can you really even call yourself a photographer without a fancy camera? Sawyer.”

Camera?

He didn’t…?

I tore open the box and gasped at the Canon Rebel DSLR. It had four different lenses, a lighting kit and tripod, all in a nice clean black carrying bag.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

This was like … a casual one-thousand-dollar gift. But aside from the money … it was a camera I’d always wanted. Thus far I’d only been taking pictures on my old-ass iPhone with a cracked screen. I bought a set of click-on lenses for it on Amazon for twenty bucks that worked surprisingly well, but this … this was next level.

Sage shook her head. “He’s totally smitten.”

I snorted. “Look around, I’m living in an episode of Werewolf Bachelor. He probably sends all the girls gifts right before the first gala. His calling card.”

But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true.

Sage frowned. “Werewolf what?”

Human TV, they probably didn’t watch The Bachelor. “Never mind. Help me get dressed, I don’t want to be late.”

Pushing the drama of the day from my mind, I focused on getting ready for the Welcome Gala.

While Sage curled my hair into an elaborate curled up do, I read the bylaws. Well, not all of them, but the ones that pertained to the mating year.

Bylaw 24.1: The longest an Alpha may rule the pack is twenty-five years.

Bylaw 24.2: When the eldest son of the Alpha gets to his senior year of college, he enters his mating year, and may not graduate without choosing a mate.

I nearly choked on my own spit. Sawyer had to pick a wife within the next nine months or they wouldn’t let him graduate!

Bylaw 24.3: The Alpha’s son may not take over the pack until engaged.

Okay, well, that was obvious. It was clear they cared so much about having a mate and marriage.

Bylaw 25.3: The prospective female mate must have no obvious breeding issues. It is also desired that she be a virgin.

Breeding issues?

I scoffed, “That’s fucked up.”

Sage looked over my shoulder. “Eww, the bylaws. Written like a thousand years ago by my ancestors. They make me cringe to read. They really need to update those things.”

Relief washed over me. “So they don’t take this stuff seriously?”

“Oh, no they do. Everyone knows they are outdated, but they go along with it.”

I closed the tablet and set it on the table, taking a deep breath.

What the hell was I doing? Getting ready for a party where I would corral like sheep with God knows how many women all for a chance to have something I didn’t even want. I didn’t want to get married! I was twenty. And kids! Holy crap. The bylaws said Sawyer could only be alpha for twenty-five years max. That meant once he took over for his dad, he’d have to start pumping out babies pretty much right away.

I held up a hand for Sage to pause curling my hair. “I don’t