CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CATHERINE’S POV.
“Of course, it will be nice to be your friend,” I replied to her kind gesture.
I took the blue dress from her and placed it on my bed.
Harley stood there smiling at me, and the smile appeared genuine, making me doubt my sanity, probably I was hallucinating.
“Thank you, I’ll leave you to dress up, the council members are waiting,” she said, getting up from the chair she had been sitting on.
“And be careful, the council members are pompous men, they hate it when a woman’s in charge,” she whispered to me, ending her sentence with a light chuckle.
I could not find my voice to speak, so I left her silent. Soon Harley was out of my room, leaving me alone and in shock.
“I need some air,” I said to myself, walking to the windows and opening them, inhaling the fresh breeze made me forget how strange my morning had been.
I need to prepare so I can meet the councilmen, and get it over with. I hate the fact that Burke has some power over me, it makes me feel weak.
I entered the bathroom and had a nice shower, before slipping into the dress Burke got for me and it was stunning.
“He always knows what I like,” I said to myself, as I stared at the mirror.
The dress was long to my feet and it hugged my hips and stomach, revealing my slender waist and curves. The hand of the dress was decorated with blue lace, and it was difficult to wear, but still pretty regardless.
The neck of the dress was decorated with rare and expensive corals, and the hem of the gown had the same corals on it.
“He outdid himself,” I said, still mesmerized by how beautiful I looked.
I was not going to pack my hair in a messy bun today, I sat down and started applying makeup, although it was just some light makeup. Then I did my hair in a loose ponytail, grabbed a black purse, and wore black heels to match.
“You look adorable if I’m permitted to say,” a familiar voice said, startling me.
I turned back only to see Burke dressed in a black suit with his hand inside his pocket as always.
“Why can’t you knock?” I asked, holding my chest tightly.
“I’m sorry, I suspected you would be done dressing,” he said, using his eyes to roam around my curves and hips, he did not try to hide how his eyes stared at me, and for some reason, I did not stop him, instead I enjoyed his stare.
“You look good, blue dresses always looked good on you,” He said, giving me a wink.
“I’m surprised that you could still remember my favorite color after seven years,” I said with an awkward chuckle.
“You were my best friend, that’s something hard to forget, or did you forget mine?” He asked as I made my way towards him.
“Yes, I did”, I replied to his question and turned my eyes away from him so he would not notice I was lying. His favorite color is black, it had never left my memory, and that was Nikky’s favorite color as well, she took most of Burke’s character.
“You are lying,” he did not have to look at my face to figure out that I was lying, I hated the fact that he knew me that well, we are supposed to be strangers.
“Let’s just go and meet the councilmen,” I said changing the topic. I walked past him and he followed behind me. I was certain he was staring at my butt while I walked.
Soon we were at their board room and all the councilmen were seated according to their ranks, starting from the Beta.
Burke and Harley were right, they weren’t old men and they all appeared to be pompous men.
They all stood up, recognizing Burke’s presence. Burke took my hands into his and went to take a seat, leaving me to stand.
“Where the hell am I supposed to sit huh?” I whispered to Burke’s ears.
“On my legs,” he whispered back, gesturing that I should sit on his lap, in the presence of all the councilmen and forget that I’m engaged to another man.
“I’m freaking serious Burke,” I said, my voice was rather harsh this time around.
“You are going to sit dear, you are supposed to address them about how my father’s health is going, they are doubting your ability,” he whispered back.
I wondered why they would doubt my ability because I was a woman.
I looked up at the councilmen and all pairs of eyes were on me, giving me intimidating and scary stares but I was unmoved.
“Regarding Ethan’s health, I assure you that all is well,” I began and before I could utter another word, a hand was raised, and it happened to be the pack’s counselor.
I have always hated him, he was fond of making women appear as the weaker vessel.
“She is not done talking, Travis,” Burke said, sounding so angry that I could even hear his wolf’s voice.
I saw the fear in Travis’s eyes, as he dropped his hand down, something was off, but that was not any of my concern.
“Ethan is suffering from the Affliction,” I said to the councilmen, I could hear their murmurs, they were doubting me truly.
“How do you know it’s the Affliction? We had not heard of that illness for decades now” Another council member said, ” I barely knew him.
“He got it from poisoning, meaning our Alpha’s life and that of all his families are in danger,” I continued ignoring the earlier question because he was granted permission to speak, I peeped at Burke, he was staring at me with pride.
Suddenly I started feeling hot, my skin started getting red and Itching.
“What’s wrong?” Burke asked me, as I continuously scratched my book roughly.
Before I could speak, my body fell to the ground and darkness took over.