Page 145 of All Packed Up

“Great. So just tell me what you want to do with these, and I’ll go fetch them.”

Wendy chewed her lip, eyed her selection, and tried to think of a simpler way to do her requests.

She separated the hangers into small groups of two or three.

“Just put this stack back,” she told him, and he made serious note of it, holding it in his other hand.

“Get one size up in all of these, and one size down in all of these,” she explained.

Grif arched a brow. “You need bigger sizes and smaller sizes?”

Wendy nodded. “That’s women’s wardrobe for ya. No company makes anything the same size.”

“That’s ridiculous, how are you ever supposed to know your size?”

Wendy shrugged. “I don’t know. It depends on the brand.”

“Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” he muttered, taking his organized load to the door. Wendy reached around him and unlocked the door, and he pushed it open with his foot. “I’ll be back,” he promised, and then he disappeared between the racks of clothing.

No one even glanced her way, and she exhaled a long, slow breath before retreating back to the changing room.

She couldn’t sit, there was too much wired energy tapped into her veins, so she paced around the small box. Eventually, she came face-to-face with herself in the mirror.

She saw black hair and stormy eyes and she was hidden in a really soft, if large, shirt. Lifting it over her nose, she scented Nic, and the gentle aroma made her feel a little better.

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the changing room door, and she tensed. She watched the shadows creep beneath the crack of the door… and pass.

With a sigh, she stared back at the woman in the mirror, lips tight and jaw clenched with nerves.

I didn’t always look this way.

Wendy tried smiling and winced at how fake it looked. How long was it going to be before she felt like herself again? Did she even remember how it felt to be herself?

Keep quiet, don’t cause a fuss, and blend in.

In college, Wendy’s favorite thing was to be a fuss. She’d liked being loud and wearing colors and painting her nails black.

Was that what had drawn them to her? They’d seen her as something wild that needed to be tamed. Taken her from a young, fun, but naïve college student, turned her into their little dress-up trophy omega.

Wendy didn’t feel like a young and fun college student anymore. And she refused to be their stupid trophy omega.

So now what was she left with? Or who?

A Wendy who didn’t know who she was, who she wanted to be.

So lost in her thoughts, Wendy jumped at the knock on the door. At the sound of Griffith’s voice, she stepped forward and unlocked the door, and he shoved a handful of hangers through the opening.

“Here’s what I could find. Try them on and tell me if you need more.”

Wendy fumbled with the pile of hangers, which included much more than she’d sent him off with originally.

“Griffith?” she asked, catching him before he could turn away. He arched a brow at her, waiting for her to continue. “Can you do me a favor?”

“I’d love nothing more,” he drawled.

“Find the most ridiculous thing in here and bring it to me.”

The alpha blinked at her. “Really? Why?”