I don't know how I did it but I survived the marathon shopping trip. We managed to fill the entire back of the SUV, I don't think I've bought that many clothes in my life. I may not have bought the green dress but I did cave and get a nice little sundress.

Home stretch as we walk to the vehicle for the last time. My cell rings cutting our conversation off.

"Hey?" I ask.

"You and Sara didn't kill each other after all?" Chris asks skeptically.

"No, it was actually not as bad as I expected," I admit.

"Ok who are you and what have you done with my mate?" He asks with a chuckle that sends a flutter in my stomach.

"Laugh it up now, you may cry when you see your credit card statement," I chirp.

"I'm not worried," he replies calmly and amused. "Are you guys still in town?"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Dinner with Alpha Eric and his group?" Chris asks.

"Sure, nothing too crazy right?"

"No, casual, just change into something you got today, Xavier will pick you up in 20 minutes." He says.

"Claire will come with but Sara needs to give Jude a hand," Chris says to Sara's dismay.

"Ok, we'll be as quick as possible."

"See you soon baby," he says before hanging up.

-----

Changing in a restroom wasn't high on my list of to do's but you do what you have to. Sara took the bag that now had my clothes I was wearing before passing me the bag with the new ones. She had passed me nice strappy sandals and taken my runners also.

"Um Sara? This is the wrong bag." Silence. "Sara, not funny," I growl.

"She huffed it, what's wrong?" Claire asked.

"She gave me the wrong bag, this is the sundress," I complain.

"Well she's long gone, you'll just have to wear it."

I slip on the sun dress, it hangs to my knees and works very well with the sandals but I feel half naked. I wasn't prepared to wear a dress tonight.

"You look great, stop fussing, let me fix up your hair and make up," she says smiling.

After a little tweaking she has me looking presentable. She twisted my hair up in a half up mostly down do, leaving the waves cascading down my back while the sides were pinned up.

"Xav's here, let's go," she says smiling.

We get to the car as Xavier's chatting over the truck's bluetooth. Thankfully he came in Jace's truck, the back seat is super spacious as I climbed in.

"Yup the ladies just got here, we'll be there in ten minutes go ahead and get the table." I catch him looking at me in the rearview as he raises a brow. "Make sure you have a camera when we get there, you'll see what I mean..."

"Whatever man, Eric has the private lounge, we'll wait for you in the bar," Jace says before hanging up.

"This is stupid, I'm gonna kill Sara," I grumble feeling incredibly self conscious.

"Relax, you look good," Xavier says. "Just caught me off guard, I've never seen you not in pants."

"Sara swapped the bags and took off," Claire explained.

"Got it, wait till I'm around before you break her nose again, ok?" Xavier says with a chuckle. I just grumble and lean back in the seat, just what I need something else to be self conscious about.

We pull up to a nice restaurant called the Honest Butcher, apparently epic steaks and bbq. Xavier tried to drop us off before parking but I wasn't having it, I was stalling.

We made our way to the bar where Jace was waiting for us. It was literally a comic moment, he scanned looking for us, saw Claire and Xavier but scanned right past me before doing a double take.

"Holy fuck Jess, you look fantastic," he said staring at me like we've never met before. I could die of embarrassment at this moment. So I did what I always do, blush like a tomato and stared at the floor.

"Oh my elf, what's wrong?" He cooed, grabbing my hands.

"I feel ridiculous, Sara switched the bags and took off leaving me with just this," I mumble in frustration.

Jace carefully lifts my chin making me look at him. "Jess you look beautiful, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I've just never seen you in a dress."

"You're fine, I'm just being twitchy like usual I guess," I mumble.

"That explains Sara's text," he says with a laugh. "Out of the blue she texted Chris 'you're welcome,' no context or reply."

Over the crowd in the bar I heard Chris call over to Jace. "We're on the second floor private lounge. Where's Jess?" I freeze, but watch him smirk and raise a brow before nodding at me.

"Jess?" I hear Chris ask confused, much closer behind me. A moment later he growls lowly as he sees Jace's hands on mine.

"Think that's my cue elf, I'll see you guys at the table," he says hastily dropping my hands and taking off.

"Turn around," he commands in a voice that makes my stomach flutter. I slowly turn around feeling extra self conscious, I didn't know that was even possible. As soon as I looked at Chris his chocolate eyes were locked on mine and I dropped my gaze instantly.

Cyrus was right at the surface, he may even be in control. After the last time when he called me a lamb led to slaughter I wasn't keen to upset him again.

"Beautiful, look at me," he commanded. Yup, Cyrus was at the helm. Chris calls me baby, he calls me beautiful. He lifts my chin so that I have to look at him. "Are you afraid of me?" Guilt and hurt swirl in his eyes.

"No," I answer but he stares clearly wanting more. "I didn't was to upset you or something, like last time... I seem to have a knack for pissing you off without trying," I mumble.

"Beautiful, you don't upset me like that. I'm so sorry, I was out of line, they just got to me." He steps even closer dropping a hand to my hip and moving the other to caress my neck.

"I know." Suddenly I just want to get far away from this topic. "So what do you think of my dress? It may be my first," I say with a nervous giggle stepping back to show him, complete with a quick spin.

I see him clench his jaw as he step in to me, his hand slides to my lower back pulling me tightly as the other caresses my neck. I instantly melt to him as my hands land on his chest.

"I think you look beautiful, and that this is going to be an incredibly long meeting. I also think if Jace touches you again tonight he may lose that arm," he says dangerously.

"Really?" I ask without thinking.

"Beautiful, it's taking all my restraint not to just drag you out of here and show you how much I love you," he says voice laced with desire. "Jace may be like a brother but he is still an unmated wolf and I don't like how he was looking at you."

"You worry too much," I say reaching up to capture his lips as he instantly deepens the kiss.

"And you don't worry enough," he chides releasing me. I just smile and shake my head, but know better than to argue.

"Ready to go baby? The tables getting impatient," Chris says beaming at me as he draws me tight to his side. "You do look beautiful tonight." He kisses my sweet spot lightly before leading us to the group.

The lounge was perfect, dark wood was everywhere with soft light accents over the tables. It felt cozy and intimate despite the energy given off by the occupants. A bank of french doors led to a terrace with a view of the setting sun.

Chris led me to my seat at the right of the head and pulled out the chair waiting for me to sit before tucking me in. He sat at the head while Eric sat at the other end. Aside from our people that's the end of who I knew. To his right was a lean guy with red hair and brown eyes, and his left was a shorter guy with black hair pulled into a top knot with nearly black eyes.

The other two men were different. Both blond hair blue eyes. They looked related, one was a bit more muscular and the other had a faint blond beard.

"Luna, so happy to see you again," Eric beams.

"Alpha," I say nodding.

"Just Eric."

"Just Jess," I counter.

"Of course," he says with a warm smile. "May I introduce you to my beta Jeremy," he nods to the redhead. "And my third, Lee," he says nodding to black haired man.

"And these are my cousins Terry and Luke," he finishes with the blond bearded guy. "He's the alpha of Stone Wolves out west, and beta."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Terry says shaking my hand. "Eric speaks very highly of both of you."

"Likewise," I say with a blush.

"If I may, my mate asked me to give you something." He reached into his jackets breast pocket and pulled out a silver chain with a charm.

"She made this for you," he said holding it up. "May I?" I stretched out my wrist guessing based off of chain length. He carefully clicked it on, and I brought it closer to inspect it. It was an archers charm. The chain was like nothing I've seen before, intricately linked arrows formed the links of the chain.

"It's beautiful! She made this!?" He nodded and beamed with pride. "She's very talented, I would have liked to have thanked her in person."

"Perhaps at conference?" He said with a warm smile.

"That would be great," I say honestly.

"Lucy's resting at home, too heavy in pup to travel," Luke explained, but that just confused me further.

"Late term pregnancy," Claire offers seeing my confusion.

"Oh, congratulations!"

"Thank you, Daniel can't wait to meet his little sister." The pride as he speaks about his family is clear, in fact all of the men, ours included seem to swell. I notice Claire is smiling but somethings off.

"I imagine it won't be long now before Still Waters gets their heir also?" I must not have hid my shock very well because he just stared back at me confused.

"I-I um," I stammered at a loss for words. Chuck that in the growing pile of things Chris hasn't brought up yet.

"There's plenty of time for that later," Chris deflects, wrapping me tighter. "There's no rush," he says directly to me trying to sooth my nerves.

"Right now I'm just focusing on getting through this conference," I offer weakly, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Do you know what the big announcement is?" Terry asks.

"Afraid not, I had put in to pass this year but was turned down," Chris grumbles.

"It would be strange if Still Waters missed it," Terry mused.

"Why's that?" I ask, my curiosity piqued.

"Still Waters is one of the principal five," Eric offered. "They are the five strongest packs, it's considered an great honor, but comes with certain responsibilities."

"Are you guys-"

Both men laughed loudly cutting me off.

"Sorry Jess, in the scheme of things we are small fry. Terry's pack is larger then mine even with the influx from New Moon." Eric smiles softly, he has always been quite kind to me.

"Oh, sorry, I'm still learning," I say embarrassed.

"You do very well," he says as the table breaks off into small conversations.

It was surprising to me how easy the conversations flowed. There was a little shop talk but mostly just normal everyday table conversation. Currently Eric is talking about some crazy party when he was a teen that he went to with Terry.

I feel Chris large hand slide up my thigh as my heart flutters. It took everything in me to not outwardly react as his thumb traced circles on my thigh.

"I think you should wear dresses more often," he whispers in my ear. "I can't take my eyes off of you." He nuzzles into the crook of my neck a moment before pulling back.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I comment breathlessly earning a dazzling grin.

"Dinner's not even here and all I can think of is desert," he whispers, hazel eyes locked on mine. I can't help but swallow in response.

Dinner came just in the nick of time, the food was superb. The drinks kept coming and the conversation light, if the conference is a fraction like this I can survive it.

"I'm just gonna check out the view while you guys talk shop," I say stepping away from the table. It's been quite pleasant, but it has been quite a long day.

I walk up to Claire who is lost in thought looking at the starry skyline. She doesn't even notice me as I grab her hand lightly.

"Oh sorry Jess, I think I was lost in my own little world," she says throwing on a smile as she wipes the corner of her eye.

"Claire what's wrong?" I ask softly, her energy has been off for well over a week if not two now.

"Nothing," I wait for her to go on. "Just emotional I guess," she dismisses.

"Are you pregnant?" I whisper. Apparently that was the wrong question as her eyes started to tear up as she dropped her gaze. "I'm so sorry I shouldn't have asked," I  say giving her hands a squeeze.

"It's ok, I don't really talk about it. Pups just aren't in the cards for us, we've tried for eight years," she trailed off.

"Are you sure?" I ask earning a skeptical look from her. "You feel a bit off?"

"Oh it's probably just my emotions, I don't know what's going on anymore." I nod.

"Let's go see doc tomorrow when we get back, I need refills for my headache meds anyways." I offer and she nods. She crumples into me as I try and comfort her in a hug. Man I feel like I suck at this.

Jace and Xavier walk out and look at us skeptically. "Everything good?" Jace asks.

"Yeah, just girlie things," I mumble as Xavier takes over. I catch the sadness in his eyes as he wraps Claire up before heading off for a walk with her.

"Here," Jace says dropping a sports jacket over my shoulders, "you look frozen."

"Thanks but I probably shouldn't smell like you," I mumble embarrassed.

"It's Chris's," he says with a laugh. "Relax my elf, even I know better than to push him too far."

"You do like to make him crazy don't you?" I ask surprised by his admission.

"Well with you no longer running and Jude part of the pack someone's got to keep him on his toes," he jokes nudging me with his shoulder. I can't help but laugh.

"He's going to be worse at conference, you know this right?" He says seriously.

"Ugh, worse than wanting to rip of your arm for holding my hand?" I groaned, he just chuckled unphased.

"Jess, you're going to be in a mini town with many high ranking unmated wolves on the prowl, many of which are alphas. Unmarked females always draw unwanted attention. Just something else to be aware of."

Great... Cyrus is going to kill someone...