Chapter 113
Wednesday 30th September, 2020.
Star
My date with Eli had been filled with sweet moments which was exactly what I had expected from him. Tonight was my date with Zaya so I was expecting the unexpected. I woke up lying on Eli’s chest. My mates had been really gentle and loving last night after my date with Eli.
There was a soft knock on the door. I extricated myself from my mates to answer it. Holly.
“What’s up?” I said brightly.
“Good morning, Your Highness, Princess Hesper as you know is to wed Lord Heath,” said Holly in her usual formal manner.
“Yeah, my parents,” I said.
“In honour of their upcoming nuptials, rituals to celebrate the end of one’s solitary existence must be performed,” said Holly happily.
What?!
“Um, what?” I asked Holly.
Jonah’s voice was a bit hoarse and deeper than normal in the morning. He was still groggy as he sat up to say, “She wants to throw a Bachelorette Party.”
“Good translation,” joked Zaya.
Holly nodded eagerly.
“A Bachelorette Party for my Mom?” I asked incredulously.
Holly nodded. “Yes!” She chimed.
“Ok,” I said slowly.
“What about Dad? Is he having a Bachelor Party?” I asked.
“Harper will organise that. Perhaps, your mates might assist him,” suggested Holly tentatively.
“Yeah!” Chirped Eli, suddenly wide awake and sitting up.
“Partay!” Exclaimed Noah.
Zaya snorted with laughter.
“Don’t let Noah plan it, we’ll be stuck with a cheesy magician instead of an exotic dancer,” muttered Zaya.
“Oh, so is that what you want then?” I demanded. “An exotic dancer.”
“Yeah, come over here, Baby, and give your man a lap dance,” instructed Zaya unperturbed.
I conjured a pillow just so I could fling it at him.
“There will be no courtesans present at the festivities,” said Holly serenely.
“So you’re not gonna dance for Harper, Holly?” Teased Jonah. “And after he paid off the Air Contraption Police on your behalf too. They were here earlier…”
“Jonah drinks a lot,” I said, interrupting him. “Like it’s a problem,” I joked.
“The only addiction I have is you, Star,” said Jonah with a wink.
“So when are we having this bachelorette party? When did Harper say?” I asked.
I knew my parents wanted to be married as soon as possible. They wanted an extremely short engagement.
“Harper said ‘really f*****g soon,’” quoted Holly innocently.
Noah almost choked on his coffee. My breakfast table was already overladen with brunch foods and beverages. The good thing about some of the castle servants being Fae was they never had to disturb you to set the table. They did it with magic without ever setting foot in the room.
“Lord Heath also requests as audience with the Quadruplet Alphas at once please,” said Holly, looking at my mates anxiously.
“No prob, Hol,” said Eli.
“Ok, we’ll go see him now,” said Noah.
“Is he in Hesper’s chambers?” Asked Zaya groggily.
Holly nodded. “Yes, Alpha Isaiah,” she said.
“Hol, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Zaya?” Grumbled Zaya.
“Eleven, so far, my apologies, Zaya,” said Holly.
I chuckled.
“Thanks, Holly,” I said.
The Quads disappeared for a while. I knew they were meeting with my father. Zaya wanted a particularly long date so I had to get ready for noon. I started going through my clothes and modelling outfits for Holly who was running her bachelorette party ideas by me.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
“Do we have a party planner? We should get a planner so we have less to do,” I said.
“Harper helped me call a few party planners. One of the neighbouring packs always uses this woman, Lady Rhonda. We called her and she…was wrong for the job,” decided Holly.
“Why? What did she do?” I asked, looking at Holly.
Holly actually looked angry. I had never seen her like this. Holly sniffed.
“She was flirtatious towards His Highness,” said Holly, narrowing her eyes.
“Oh,” I said.
I smiled slyly at Holly.
“Your claws are out,” I teased her.
“I am not a wolf, only Fae and human,” she said, confused.
I giggled.
“Who is next on our list?” I asked.
“These two young ladies came highly recommend by the Luna of Winter Moon herself,” said Holly. “And they were charming via phone interview.”
“Chasity?!” I exclaimed.
“Yes, Luna Chasity herself recommends them,” said Holly. “Mina Toros and Tina Gregory.”
“Mina and Tina! I follow them online! Their makeover videos are so funny! I didn’t know they did events! I thought they just did makeovers!” I exclaimed.
“Their website says they do makeovers on people and on homes and event planning,” said Holly, looking at her phone.
“Look at you! Using the internet!” I exclaimed, impressed by her tenacity.
“His Highness taught me,” said Holy bashfully.
“Ok, we’ll leave the Bachelorette Party to Mina and Tina! Maybe the wedding too!” I decided.
Holly grinned.
“They are gonna be exotic male dancers at the party now for sure,” I giggled.
Holly gasped. “Male courtesans,” she whispered, her eyes wide.
“Don’t look so worried,” I said, smiling reassuringly.
Holly nodded. “Ok. I’ll hire Mina and Tina, but I’ll specify no courtesans!”
I doubted Mina and Tina would know what a courtesan was. I wasn’t sure I knew either. They would be male dancers at that party if those girls were anything like their online personas.
The Quads returned from their talk with Dad, all of them looking glum. Holly scurried out of the room to give us privacy.
“What happened?” I asked, alarm bells going off in my head.
Jonah sighed deeply. He exchanged a glance with Noah who looked forlorn. Zaya lay down with his head in his hands and Eli sat at my vanity, staring into space.
“Please, someone tell me what’s going on!” I demanded.
“Your Dad told us we can’t be guests at the wedding. He doesn’t want to see us sitting there,” said Jonah sadly.
“WHAT?!” I shrieked.
I got up to storm out. I was going to give my Dad a piece of my mind once at for all. This was ridiculous! Zaya grabbed me, his arms wrapping around me from behind.
“Baby, don’t make it worse,” mumbled Zaya into my dress.
“No!” I said. “I’m going!”
“Star, calm down, it’s ok,” said Noah.
“Don’t upset your Dad!” Said Eli.
“UPSET HIM?! He’s upsetting me!” I squealed.
“No, he’s not,” said Jonah.
My brow furrowed.
“He doesn’t want us sitting at the wedding because we’ll be behind him, as his groomsmen,” revealed Jonah, bursting into laughter.
“YOU!” I said.
I tackled him and tickled him.
“Stop! I’m really ticklish! No!” Jonah tried to crawl away but I had him.
“You guys are the worst! I got so upset!” I said, laughing.
“Sorry, Baby,” cooed Zaya, hugging me from behind.
“It was Jonah’s idea. I just had a supporting role,” said Noah.
“You traitor!” Exclaimed Jonah, looking up at Noah.
“And you said Eli would mess up the joke!” Said Zaya to Jonah. “Your boy, Noah, almost laughed.”
“I’m not a good liar,” said Noah, grinning.
“Me either, usually,” admitted Eli.
“Come here,” I said Noah and Eli.
All my mates hugged me. I giggled.
“I’m so happy. I’m glad he’s including you,” I said softly.
“Harper’s the best man and Eli will be there in case Harper is too busy,” said Noah. “I’m shocked he let all four of us be groomsmen,” said Zaya.
“He’s really trying,” said Eli earnestly. “He asked me if you three might say no.”
“What? No way,” said Zaya, shocked.
“Yeah, well he knows he’s been tough on you guys,” said Eli. “He doesn’t want to push Star away and he’s trying to make up for everything.”
I had not realised I was crying until Eli and Zaya began wiping my cheeks.
“Oh,” I said, sniffling.
I laughed.
“Those better be happy, tears, Mrs Quinn,” said Jonah, kissing my forehead.
“No more tears, Luna,” said Noah, cupping my face.
I nodded.
“Go get ready for our date!” Said Zaya, waggling his eyebrows at me.
“It’s ten in the morning,” said Jonah incredulously.
“Dates aren’t time-specific,” said Zaya.
“So you’ll have her back early?” Asked Noah hopefully.
“Hell no,” said Zaya.
Eli laughed.
I got ready. I wore a pink floral sundress. I knew Zaya liked sweet girly outfits on me.
“Ready!” I said.
Zaya was lying on the bed in a white button-down shirt and black trousers. He refused to say what we were doing but he had tossed some of my things in a duffle bag. He grinned at me.
“Where’s your snow globe?” He asked.
“The one that goes to Viper Moon? I don’t have the new one yet. This is the old one. I’m not sure where in Viper Moon we’ll end up,” I explained.
“We’ll end up at the last place we used it. Just outside that hotel.,” he said confidently.
“Really?” I asked.
Zaya nodded. He grabbed the duffle bag and my hand.
“You look delectable,” he said, flashing his black eyes at me.
I giggled.
“Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself,” I teased.
I got the snow globe. I always kept it nearby. I said the incantation words on the bottom and we were off. We found ourselves right outside the hotel my Dad, Harper, Holly and I had stayed at, just like Zaya had said. There was a car waiting for us.
“I figured we needed warm weather for this trip and Viper Moon is still warm enough,” said Zaya, opening the car door for me.
The chauffeur drove us out to the harbour. Zaya and I could not keep our hands off of each other the whole car ride. Thank goodness for the privacy screen between the chauffeur and us. My hair was all over the place. I smoothed it our nervously as I exited the car.
“Tada!” Said Zaya, raising his arms grandiosely. “This is my family’s boat.”
“We’re going sailing?” I said, looking at the beautiful boat.
It was technically a yacht. It was huge and the entire deck was white and gleaming.
“Yes and no,” said Zaya. “We’re sailing out to my favourite spot to swim,” he said pointedly.
“I can’t swim,” I said slowly.
“I know, that’s kinda how we first connected, remember?” He said slyly, flashing me a dazzling smile. “As much as I love holding you in the water, I’m gonna teach you to swim. I’m gonna teach you a lot of things,” he added suggestively, his eyes darkening. “That’s why we needed the extra time,” he said with a wink.
“All aboard,” I chuckled, inwardly a bit nervous about my swimming lesson.
I took a deep breath and boarded the ship with Zaya massaging my shoulders. He was doing a great job of keeping me calm.
“So the stuff you put in the duffle bag must be a bathing suit!” I surmised.
“Yep,” said Zaya, unzipping the bag and showing me the suit.
My jaw dropped. Of course he had picked that one aspirational bathing suit with almost no coverage.
“I can’t wear that! My girls will be in danger of falling out the whole time,” I complained.
“Sounds like my kinda danger,” growled Zaya playfully.
“You’re the worst,” I said, swatting him.
“Let me help you get changed!” He said.
“We’re almost to the cove,” he said, taking my hand.
“Ok,” I said reluctantly.
I would have preferred to stay on board cuddling Zaya the whole day but I had correctly expected both younger Quads to push me out of my comfort zone and pick physical active dates. I knew the elder two were more into old school romance. I could count on them for a quiet candlelit dinner hopefully.
The bedroom on the yacht was gorgeous. How about a napping date? Zaya smacked my a*s as I headed into the bathroom to change.
“Hurry, my wolf is in a hurry to see that dangerous bathing suit!” He called.
I put the suit on. It was black with cut-outs at the side and a plunging neckline all the way to my navel. It was a far cry from my frilly puff sleeved suit back at the cabin.
“Star, the cove’s beautiful, come look,” came Zaya’s voice.
“Here goes nothing nothing,” I said to myself.