Chapter 232

Fiona POV

The dress is gorgeous, but something about it just doesn’t fit right.

“I don’t know,” I whisper, brushing my fingers down the sparkling bodice. “It just doesn’t feel like the one.”

A feeling of disappointment begins to weigh on my shoulders since this is the eighth dress I’ve tried on and none of them felt like the one. I thought I’d be able to easily find my dress, but I was wrong. I’ve tried every shape and texture of dress. None of them spoke to me.

“Okay, how about we go to the next one?” Isla asks, standing from the viewing room’s chair. I nod, not wanting to leave without a dress.

Isla leads me back to the dressing room and rubs a hand up and down my back with a comforting smile, “It’s okay. If you don’t find something today, we can always look again at another shop.”

“Okay,” I murmur, climbing out of the dress. She then helps me into the last dress I picked out and as she laces it up, I get that heavy, disappointed feeling again.

“What’s wrong?” Ethan asks through our bond.

Just that one question has tears springing to my eyes as I link him, “I wanted so badly for today to go well, but I’ve failed.”

“Oh, baby. It’s alright,” he says softly, a warm feeling of comfort flowing into me. “You’ll find the perfect dress and look gorgeous. Maybe take a break and try again tomorrow.”

Sniffling, I nod, even though he can’t see me, and link him back, “Thank you, Ethan. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Fiona.”

“I think I’m ready to stop for today,” I tell Isla as we look in the mirror. The ballgown dress is pretty, but it’s not mine. “I think you and the girls should look for your dresses while I think about what I want.”

She agrees and helps me out of the dress.

Once we’re back up front, I tell the girls they can look for their dresses now while also telling them that they should pick whatever style they want as long as it’s blue.

With those instructions and a shop attendant, they head into the mass of colorful dresses while I sit back and take a deep breath. I didn’t realize dress shopping could be this stressful.

When I got here, I was super excited, but with each dress I rejected, my excitement went down more and more. I guess it’s not easy to find the perfect dress. I don’t want to feel the way I did during my wedding with Jack. His mother had chosen my dress, and out of respect, I agreed. It wasn’t ugly, but it just wasn’t me.

I want a dress I love, this time, so I will only pick one that I love.

I try to distract myself by looking around, but when my eyes land on Laxus’s tense form, I study him. His eyes are sweeping the street outside, his arms are crossed over his chest, and the straight, pinched expression on his face has me wondering if he’s angry.

The girls are still in the back, so I stand from my seat and walk over to my ever-present protector. He notices me and glances at me before I get to his side.

“Is everything alright, Laxus?”

“Of course, Luna,” he says, but the tightness in his voice isn’t normal. “Everything is fine. Don’t let me interrupt your good mood.”

Good mood?

My mood hasn’t been good since dress five and that was nearly an hour and a half ago. Usually, Laxus would have picked up on that.

Again, I study him, taking in the tense posture. He’s more stiff than usual. I briefly wonder if Ethan told him I was struggling with the dress choices, but then his eyes sweep the street outside again, and I know. This isn’t just an on-guard tension, like what he usually has. There’s something wrong, and he doesn’t want to say anything.

“If you won’t tell me, then I’ll ask someone else,” I mutter, touching the link between me and Ethan.

“Ethan, Laxus is really tense. Is something wrong?”

He hadn’t sounded like anything was wrong just a bit ago when we talked, but he’s a lot better at hiding his emotions than I am.

“There’s a bit of trouble on the Southern border with rogues,” he answers back, and I take in a deep breath.

Ethan has been working hard for weeks to get rid of the trespassing and attacking rogues, and I thought since it had been quiet over the last few days he’d finally done it. He’s had people patrolling No Man’s Land, but he hadn’t said anything about the rogues gathering or planning anything.

“Do we need to head home?” I ask, glancing at Laxus again. It seems with every passing minute, Laxus grows more and more stiff. If he gets any tenser, he might crack a tooth.

“It would probably be a good idea,” Ethan answers.

“I thought so. I’ll gather the girls and let Laxus and the guards know I’m ready to leave.”

“Okay, love. I’ll see you soon,” Ethan tells me, and the warm feeling that flows down our bond makes me smile. It’s almost the same feeling I get when he hugs me, or when he tells me he loves me, or when he brushes his thumb over my cheek tenderly.

I send my own thoughts and feelings of love back to him, wondering if he also gets that soft, warm feeling.

“Hey, Laxus, I think I’m ready to go home.”

He nearly snaps to attention at my words and nods, getting the look in his eye that tells me he’s linking the other guards. I go back to the dressing rooms to let the girls know, and luckily, they haven’t started trying dresses on.

Nova is the first to move, telling me she’ll go out to the front with Laxus. Sometimes, I forget that she’s a Gamma but seeing her become serious reminds me that she’s here as my friend and a guard.

Once everyone is ready, we follow Laxus and Nova outside, toward the car. Several Gammas stand around, watching and waiting, but we’re not even five steps outside the door when they start dropping to the ground in broad daylight.

I cry out when the Gamma to my right crumples to the ground with a fuzzy blue dart sticking out of his neck. Then, two more fall. One after another, before we can react, they’re all on the ground and Laxus is pulling me down, curling his body around me.

“Get down! Get in the car if you c—”

Laxus’s body jerks and he gasps. Something warm splatters against my cheek and seeps into the back of my clothes just before Laxus slides to the ground with a thump.

Blood pools beneath him as he gasps and groans, “G-Get ou-t of h-here.”

I press shaking hands to the gunshot wound in his back, but hhe still tries to push me away. “R-un.”

“Nova!” I cry, looking over, but she’s also unconscious on the ground. The girls are huddled against the side of the car, tugging her body closer as another loud bang fills the air. The concrete near my feet explodes, and I scream, jerking back.

“Fiona!” One of the girls screams, but all I feel is the pain splitting the back of my skull as darkness floods my senses.