Apex Predator

~EIGHT~

 "Astrid, I swear if I have to get you up again, I'm dragging you out by your ear!" Dad snapped, his head peeking into my room and my eyes cracked open a bit to see his frustrated gaze on me.

I was so exhausted from my night, and I was hoping to sleep in. At first, I had no idea why he was in such a rush to get me out of bed, but the commotion outside my room exposed that the Devines were on their way. There was no real reason why I needed to be a part of this, other than he wants to look like we are united as a clan. That couldn't be farthest from the truth, and even Atlas knew how estranged we were. He showed Silas and I off like trophies and my brother was also aware of it, and that's why he tries to purposely get out of greeting the other clans.

I had no choice but to join like a good daughter, since I couldn't get out of it by hunting or patrolling. Normally, I'd just do it without any complaints because I didn't want the argument, but my palms grew sticky at the thought of seeing Atlas. It's been about a week since Trella and I started training, and I was hoping a little longer before the Alpha and I had our reunion.

A groan fell from my lips, and I sat up in my bed, my eyes training on the silver shiny dress my mom had laid out for me, hanging off the foot of my bed. The dress was something I had asked her to sow for me months ago for my birthday, and she had just finally gotten around to it. The dress was specifically for my birthday celebration, but since it was here, I decided to slip it on. It was beautiful, flowy, and hung around the center of my thighs. A little short, but not short enough to show off any goods, so I delt with it. My fingers brushed over the waistband that was engraved with emeralds, which way my favorite jewel. The thought and love that went into this made me tear up and as I wiped under my eyes, a knock sounded on my door before mom poked her head in, "Honey, your dad's about to have an aneurism-" then her eyes landed on me standing in front of my mirror, "Oh, you're up! Do you like it?" she seemed eager to hear my answer.

I nodded quickly and turned around to give her a big hug, "Its beautiful. I'm going to wear it today and break it in."

She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "You don't want to wait for your birthday?"

"Nope. It's so pretty, I can't wait." My hands grabbed my hairbrush so I could run it through my nappy locks, smoothing it out a bit.

"Good luck with that. Your father is going to have a fit with you dressed like that around the Devine Alpha." She giggled and nudged me a little with her hip, teasing me.

My face grew hot. Even though she was teasing, I honestly did want to wear it to show off to Atlas. If he's going to continue to act like I don't exist, I'm going to make it hard. "Let him be upset. I'm almost 20 and still not allowed to leave camp, he can deal with it." Also, if I was going to be forced to stand up straight and tall and wait for the Devines to make their appearance just to bow and greet them, I'm going to wear what I want.

She shrugged before leaning in and leaving a kiss on my forehead, "Do what you want, my love. Just don't be too long, they should be here soon."

They are almost here, but I'm not even ready yet. I guess, I couldn't really be upset at Dad. He did try and get me up for like 30 minutes, but I was just so tired.

Quickly I snatched up a hair tie and put my hair in a loose braid, pulling some strands out around my bangs to frame my face nicely. Once I was satisfied with that, I grabbed some makeup. I wasn't going to do anything extreme, maybe just a bit of brown eyeshadow to darken the area around my eyes to make the turquoise in them really pop. A small bit of eyeliner, and some mascara. I left my lips bare because they already looked a nice shade of pink, probably from me biting it nervously.

As I looked in the mirror, a frown came to my face at who looked back. At this point I had spent maybe 15 minutes trying to get my face to corporate but no matter what I did, I wasn't satisfied. If I wasn't satisfied, no wonder he rejected me. I look like crow next to a peacock. He's perfect without even trying and I have to actually put in the effort to look somewhat presentable. Since I usually stayed away from makeup, maybe it will catch him off guard and he'll look past the fact that my eyeliner was slightly lopsided or the fact that my lips were red and puffy from my anxiety nibbling.