Chapter 13: Eudora

Fanciest carriage I have ever seen, pulls up to our dorm and a man dressed in a suit gets out to open the door. 

"You can't be serious." I say to Ryland, looking around for our actual ride to the restaurant. 

"Of course I'm serious. Only the best for you. " Ryland lays it on thick, winking at me before he takes my hand and guides me towards the carriage. I am wearing an elegant black dress that Koda picked out for me, and heels that are a little too high for me to do any real walking in. Once we enter the carriage, the coachman gently closes the door and pulls the carriage away. 

"It's been a long time since I've been in a limousine." I say examining the interior of the luxury carriage. "I didn't even know you could rent a carriage like this around here." 

"You can't." Ryland responds. He reaches over to an ice bucket and pulls out a bottle of champagne, then pours two glasses. I watch as condensation forms on the sides of the glasses as the chilled liquid fills them.

 "I don't want to know." I say as Ryland hands me a glass of champagne. I take a huge sip and am surprised by how good this champagne is. I grab Ryland's arm and exclaim, "Oh my god what is this! This is the best champagne I've ever had." 

"It's Dom Perignon." 

"Okay yeah, I didn't want to know." 

The carriage slides to a stop in front of a fancy Italian restaurant. The coachman walks around to our door as I stare out the window agape. Ryland exits the carriage first and then turns back to lend me a hand. I am going to need all the help I can get, because walking in these heels should be an Olympic sport. I take Ryland's hand gratefully and step down from the carriage preparing for my Olympic debut. By some miracle, and a lot of lifting on Ryland's part, I manage to stand up. Like the champion I am, I walk to the hostess station, making it look almost elegant. At least I look elegant in my head. To everyone around I probably look like a baby gazelle learning how to walk.

"Your usual table Sir?" The hostess asks Ryland. I look up at Ryland in surprise. He's a regular here? I realize that I have no idea what he does in his free time. Lost in thought, I barely notice as Ryland puts his hand on the small of my back and guides me to a small candle lit table at the back of the restaurant with a sweeping view of the ocean. 

I sit as Ryland pushes my chair in under me, before taking his own seat. 

"So how many women have you brought here before?" I ask. 

Ryland looks bemused, "If it's Eudora my date who's asking, then you're the first one. If it's Eudora, my friend who's asking, then I have brought many, many women here." 

I can't help but laugh. Shifters have a pretty high sex drive, so I'm not surprised Ryland has been on many dates here. 

"So have you ever felt a mate string with anyone?" I ask tentatively, curious but also not wanting to pry. 

"Not once." Ryland says solemnly. 

I reach across the table and put my hand on his, "I'm sure it will happen."

Ryland perks up, "And who knows, maybe we're a match. We'll find out on your birthday."

"That's true." I smile at him. "What will you do if we have a string?" 

"I would lock you away from all other men, ravishing you everyday with my mouth and cock until you agreed to bond with me."

I blush. 

Before I can respond, the waiter arrives at our table with two glasses of champagne we didn't order. As he puts the glass in front of me I notice a ring in it. I glance up to Ryland and he is already on one knee beside me. The whole restaurant has gone silent as everyone watches what is happening at our table. 

"Eudora, you have made the last four years the best of my life. Loving you makes me a better man and I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. Will you be my mate?" Ryland ends his speech with a wink. I decide to play along and throw my arms around him, splashing champagne on the back of his expensive suit.

"Yes, I will mate with you." I loudly declare. "My father will be so happy you've finally, after four years, decided to make an honest woman out of me." Ryland stands up, easily lifting me with him and spins me around splattering more champagne around the table. He places me back on my death heels and takes the champagne glass from me. Somehow, the ring managed to stay in the glass while all of the liquid was escaping. He fishes the ring out and puts it on my finger. The whole restaurant breaks out into applause and we retake our seats. 

Shortly after our waiter returns to take our order. I quickly glance down the menu and order the first thing my eyes land on.

As we wait for our food to arrive, Ryland asks me, "So this is definitely going to be the best date any of us take you on right?"

I laugh, "This was supposed to be a first date for me to review. Unless you propose to every girl you take out, I think you missed the point of this exercise."

"Wait, people don't propose on the first date normally?" Ryland teases me.

"Normal people wait for at least the third date to propose." I tease back.

"Okay okay, so I know this wasn't a first date, but it was fun at least?" Ryland says suddenly getting serious.

"If we were getting engaged, this would be a beautiful proposal." I respond.

Rylan reaches for my hand and I allow him to take it. "If I got a chance to take a girl like out out for real, I would propose on the first date." 

"By a girl like me, do you mean a female shifter?" 

"Partly, but you're not just rare because you're a female shifter, you are rare because you're you." Rylan says smiling. "You are so much more than just a shifter, you are clever, funny, hardworking, and so patient." 

Our conversation is interrupted by our waiter bringing over our food.

…

We arrive home with smiles on our faces, and I am feeling the wine and champagne we drank throughout the dinner. Ryland guides me through the door to his suite and I kick off my shoes, throwing them haphazardly towards the neatly organized shoe rack.

"How was your first date?" Koda asks, grinning at us as we walk through the door. He is sitting with Gia on the couch. At the sound of our return, the rest of the guys come out of their rooms.

"First date, ha, more like 200th date. He fucking proposed." I respond.

"He what?" Kaden asks, a little agitated.

"He proposed. Put the ring in a champagne glass. Not the best way to propose by the way, very messy getting the ring out."

"And what did you say?" Aren asks hesitantly.

"She said yes!" Ryland blurts, before I can respond, picking me up and twirling me in front of everyone.

"Put me down" I shout as the room spins around me. He places me back on my feet, but stands a little too close to me, like we are a real couple announcing our engagement. "I only said yes to go along with it for fun! He wasn't actually proposing to me. Speaking of which, I should really return this ring to you." I say taking off the ring and handing it to Ryland. 

Ryland slowly looks from the ring to me and then smiles. He takes my hand and places the ring on my palm, wrapping my fingers around it. "You can keep it. It's not worth anything and I think it suits you." 

I look at my fist closed around the ring. "Are you sure? I can really keep it?" 

"Yes you can keep it, but whenever you wear it, I get to tell everyone you are my fiancé." 

I roll my eyes, but put the ring back on my finger. It's a beautiful ring, so I plan on wearing it regularly. I don't miss Aren's eyes staring at the ring on my finger. What is he thinking? Is he jealous about the ring? 

Lost in my thoughts about Aren and with my mobility hampered by wine, I trip over my dress and I take Leon down with me as I fall. I land directly on top of him. I'm frozen for a second, as I assess the damage from the fall, but soon I realize Leon's face is pinned by my boobs. My left nipple had fallen out of my dress and is now inches from his mouth. Damn this low cut dress. I make eye contact with him and feel him harden beneath me, then suddenly, I am laying on top of a seal. As I am trying to cover my exposed breast and detangle myself from Leon in his seal form, Gia jumps up and grabs her glass of water off of the side table.

She squeals, "Oh shit!" as she dumps the glass of water on Leon and I.

"Why did you do that?" I ask, finally getting my boobs back in their bra prison and standing. The left side of my dress is soaked, and there is a puddle on the wood floor.

Gia responds, "He's from the Aquatic Kingdom, doesn't he need water to survive?"

"What, no. That would be ridiculous if a shifter couldn't survive on land in their animal forms. Even aquatic shifters that aren't air breathing mammals can survive on land due to the magic in their blood." I inform her. "Who told you aquatic shifters needed water?"

Gia looks angry now. "Fucking Bennett. That lying octopus seemed so sincere when he told me."

"Ha! Of course it was Bennett." Ryland laughs. "Don't listen to a word he says."

"You're so gullible, don't you know anything about shifters?" Kaden says and Gia glares at him. 

"I might not be a shifter, but my dad is. I am a member of a pack in the Desert Kingdom. There aren't any water shifters there, so excuse me for not knowing." Gia angrily crosses her arms.

"What, they don't teach basic shifter biology in the Desert Kingdom?" Kaden responds, and then adds insult to injury by saying, "Don't you want to go into the medical field? How do you expect to do that when you don't even know the basics." Gia seethes at his words and I fear for Kaden's life. Gia may not be a shifter, but she can still be really scary.

Gia and Kaden continue arguing while Aren walks over to me. He holds out a towel for me and I gratefully take it from him. 

I dab at the wet spot on my dress while Aren quietly scolds me, "You have to be more careful. If you had fallen on Max and he shifted, our whole place could have been destroyed." Max was in the shifter level 2 class, so he had more control over his shifts, but a direct boob to the face attack would probably cause him to shift as well.

"I am careful, it was just an accident."

"Your pheromones are so potent Ora, if you surprise a weak shifter by getting too close with your scent, you could cause some real damage. Or worse, instead of shifting they could go mad with lust and attack you."

"You know my dads had me in combat lessons since I could walk. And besides that, my pheromones aren't that potent unless I am in heat." I drop the towel onto the floor and use it to clean up the puddle.

"Aren't that potent? All the other guys at school go a little moony when you are around." I notice that he didn't include himself among them in his statement. Gia walks away from Kaden and joins Aren and my whispered argument. 

"Are you guys talking about how Ora makes all the guys horny?" Gia says all too loudly. Max blushes crimson and Ryland smirks. 

"Okay Gia, on that note, let's go to our room and talk alone. I also need to get out of this wet dress" I grab Gia's wrist and drag her out of the guys suite. Once we've entered our room, I shut the door behind us. Gia helps me unzip my dress, her hands gently glide down my back, and then she bounces over to her bed sprawling herself across it. I strip down naked, which earns me a sexy eyebrows raise from Gia and I put on my comfiest oversized t-shirt (the one that used to belong to Aren, but I've decided is mine now) and sweatpants. Once I'm fully clothed again, I walk over sitting at the foot of my bed and glare at Gia. 

Gia sees my look and says, "Come on, you are a shifter, you shouldn't be so embarrassed to talk about your potent pheromones in front of the guys. It's not like shifter society is sexually repressed. In my pack we walk around naked and hook up freely. You are around those guys all the time and now you are going on practice dates with them, you can't tell me you haven't thought about hooking up with them."

I sigh. "I have thought about it."

Gia squeals, "Shut up! Which one? Or was it all of them? You have to tell me every last dirty detail of your fantasies."

"Well, I think about Aren a lot." I say blushing.

"That makes sense, he did spend the night after Homecoming."

My jaw drops, "How did you know that?"

"I saw the photo Camille took, and Aren's shirt could be seen next to your bed."

"Oh no." I bite my bottom lip with concern. "Do you think anyone else noticed?

"I only knew it was Aren's shirt because of the wine stain on it, and only Jayden and I saw the stain on Aren's shirt that night. Don't worry though, your brother hasn't figured it out yet, or he would have made a scene. Since Charlotte claimed it was her in the photo, the photo has stopped going around, so I doubt your brother will ever make the connection.

"Okay, that's good."

"So you've had sexual fantasies about Aren. Who else?"

"Well, Max seems so sweet and I can't help but wonder if his dick is proportionate to his body."

"Yes! I am so curious about his cock. He probably has a tree trunk in his pants."

I giggle, "and Kaden seems like he would be the perfect mix of dominant and protective in bed." 

"Yes, the guy is rude and drives me crazy, but he is almost as protective of you as Jay."

"There's also Ryland…" I trail off.

"Did you fool around with him on your date?"

"No, he was a complete gentleman the whole time. I am almost a little bit offended that he didn't try anything."

"Were you hoping he would make a move?"

"A little." I look down at the ring on my finger. "I feel like I shouldn't keep this" I take off the ring. 

"Can I see it?" Gia requests. I walk over to where Gia is lying and hand it to her. She takes the ring from my hand and starts examining it. "A gift is a gift and Ryland is loaded, so I say keep it. This is beautiful by the way. I don't think it's as cheap as Ryland claims. The carvings on it match your locket. Either this ring is as ancient as your locket, or Ryland had it custom made to match." She turns the ring over in her hand. "Either way, he put a lot of effort into getting this ring."

"Well I can't keep it if it is valuable."

"Ora, he gave it to you and refused to take it back once already. If you try to give it back again, you are going to offend him."

"You're right." I take the ring back from Gia. Instead of placing back on the ring finger of my left hand, I opt to put it on the middle finger.