Umayza I had so much fun picking out the shirts and I know my Mates are fearing the worst, not that mine is particularly nice. Our guards had taken the opportunity to shop for their own shirts as well and we had a blast reading all the different prints that we found. Mama told us she would hold on to the shirts until the night of the party and we all know that no one will get anywhere near them, not even Papa. Besides the fact that I love reading the text on every shirt, they are also big enough to cover my belly and that is the main reason I wanted to wear Conri’s shirt. It is a great dinner the evening of the party and I can’t wait for everyone to get their shirts, Yade has been laughing her ass off every now and then as we think of those shirts. It has been fun picking out a shirt that suites the males and I think we all peed our pants a little when I held up the shirt for Armand. I have to give it to him as the rest fears retaliation from him and for some reason he never gets mad at me no matter what I say or do, lets hope that doesn’t change today. Once the tables are cleared Mama hands me the shirt that is for Armand and with a huge smile on my face I hand it to him. He makes sure no one can see it as he unfolds the shirt, “Oh, Yeah. Definitely my shirt.” He says before he turns it around for the rest to see, the shirt is black with the text “I see no good reason to act my age.” on it and everyone is laughing their asses off. Alexia got Theron a shirt that reads, “I’m nicer than my face looks” and hers reads, “Requires constant Supervision.” Theron looks at her after he has read both of them and tells her she should wear hers permanently. It had taken us a few tries before we found shirts for the males in my protection detail. Boris got one that reads, “I am not a complete Idiot, some parts are missing” Yonatan got one that reads, “Amazing in Bed, I can Sleep for days” and Axel got, “Breaking News: No one cares.” Tarja and Blaze found their shirt pretty quickly and they hit the bullseye picking them. Tarja is wearing a blue shirt that reads, “I hope Karma slaps you in the face, before I do” while Blaze is wearing a green shirt that reads, “Danger; mentally unstable, not fully medicated. Keep safe Distance.” Papa is rolling in the aisles as they read them out loud and I hope I don’t wet myself before we are at the party. Dad is looking at Ma and I know she got him the perfect shirt to wear, he stares at the text as he holds it up. “Don’t judge because I’m quiet, no one plans a murder out loud.” He reads and his head snaps towards me once he is finished, I told Asilda he would blame me but she hadn’t believed me. “Blame your other Daughter, I am innocent this time.” I say and everyone is laughing once again. Ma holds up her shirt that reads, “If you met my family, you would understand” and I don’t know who is more stunned by it, Dad or Orion. I giggle as she puts it on with a huge smile on her face. Orion is laughing so loud that he can’t even turn the shirt around and Asilda and I say in unison, “My parents think they’re in charge. That’s so cute.” Ma and Dad stare at the two of us while Callen puts on his shirt without even looking at it, “I tried being normal once, worst two minutes of my life.” Armand looks at me but I just point at Blaze and she starts running as Callen has finally read the text. Orion is in stitches when he finally looks at his Mate, Asilda’s shirt says, “Oops, my Bad. I could have sworn I was dealing with an Adult.” I just giggle as Mama hands Papa his shirt and I see a smirk on his face before he turns it towards the rest. It is a black shirt which reads “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.” Conri looks with a horrified look at his Mother and I know he fears what she has on her shirt. Mama turns around to put on her yellow shirt and when she turns around I hear everyone gasp because it reads, “Underestimate me, that’ll be fun.” Papa is rolling in the aisles, we all know that it is the truth and none of us will ever make that mistake. With everyone distracted by Mama I quickly put on my shirt and Papa falls of his seat after he has read my shirt. Evander and Conri look from my shirt to me and I just smile at them as Dad reads it out loud, “Raising my Mates is exhausting.” I hear Callen and Blaze laughing their asses off as they sit down again. “Okay, Little Ghost. What did you get your Mates? I think they are grateful you didn’t pick the shirt I showed them on my phone.” Armand says and I ask him what he had figured I would wear. Asilda stares at him when he tells us, because it had been a shirt I had been contemplating.I hand them their shirts and both of them hold the text away from the others. They look at each other’s shirt with a huge smile on their face, Evander’s shirt reads, “Who left the bag of Idiots open?” and Conri’s reads, “Warning! I do dumb things.” Conri asks how others will react to the dress code for tonight, “I think it is an ice breaker. It is always difficult to find something to talk about with strangers and now all of them have something on their shirt that can be the start of a conversation.” Evander says. We see a lot of amazing shirts as we are sitting at our table and I see a lot of Wolves and Lycans talking as they point at the shirt of someone. It is definitely making things a lot easier for everyone tonight and I hope they will remember this night for a long time, no matter the outcome. Former Alpha Atlas is wearing a shirt that says, “I am the Boss” and former Luna Anthea is wearing a shirt that says, “I am the real Boss.” I point out to Evander that his parents could have gotten that one too and I hear Conri chuckle as Evander reads them out loud. We had laughed our asses off when Joseph and Inti had shown up and Conri asked why he hadn’t gotten a shirt with Inti’s text, “Me? Wrong? Never!” Evander had looked at him and asked him if he wanted an entire new wardrobe, because he had pointed out quite a few he really liked. Tarja had kept track of every shirt both of them had commented on and I have a long list with shirts they like, looks like I already have my Christmas presents ready for my Mates. If I wrap each of them separately there will be a whole lot of presents under the tree this year. Theron is counting down to midnight in the mind-link and the moment he reaches zero I see Armand stiffen, he is looking at Lilith with a smile on his face. He doesn’t get up until she starts walking towards him, but my attention gets drawn to my protection detail and I have a huge smile on my face. The only one that stays in his seat is Callen, but I don’t get the feeling he is to upset and when I look at him to see him staring at a female that is hanging on the arm of another Squad member. The male quickly realizes what is going on but when he tries to step away from the female she starts shaking her head, “I don’t want anything less than a member of a Royal Squad and you promised you would take me as your chosen Mate.” The female yells.The male pushes her softly away from him and tells her he won’t take her as his chosen Mate, not if status is all that matters to her. She turns to Callen demanding to know his name and we all know what is going to happen, she is going to reject him. After she speaks the words Callen looks at her and says, “I, Callen, member of the Royal Squad accept your rejection.” The look on her face is priceless, but I wish my friend didn’t have to go through this pain and I am surprised when Theseus tells Doc that he isn’t allowed to give her something for the pain. Being a Lycan makes it easier for him to handle the pain and he just sits back down in his seats, defeated and hurt. My Mates don’t stop me when I crawl into his lap and I wrap my arms tightly around him, holding him as others around us celebrate finding their fated Mate. About fifteen minutes later his head snaps up and Conri quickly lifts me out of his lap as a very angry looking female stalks over to us, she looks at me as she is growling. Callen steps in front of me, “She was just comforting me, I just got rejected.” He says and the female just stares at him. “Lyla, you made it.” I hear Theron say, but she just keeps staring at Callen and I see a look of hurt on his face as she keeps quiet. Through the mind-link I explain to Theron what she saw and he is quick to confirm to Lyla what she was told about Callen’s rejection. She slowly walks over to Callen to step into his arms, they just stand there as they inhale the other’s scent. Conri sits down with me on his lap and Evander rests his head on my belly as we wait for Lyla to say something to Callen, “I am sorry for overreacting.” She whispers and I burst out in laughter, making everyone look at me. “Sorry, but I think I would have done the same thing. Hell, you males would have been worse.” I say as I look at Lyla and I see a smile on her face, before she says, “You’re Little ghost.” I turn towards Theron with a confused look on my face and he tells me that Lyla used to be a member of one of the Royal Squads as well, but that she retired after most of her Squad died during an assignment. Alexia asks how it is possible they never spend time during the days of the Full Moon and none of them have an answer, it just turned out that way for some reason. “Do you think he still regrets getting his own cottage?” Alexia asks and I feel Conri shaking with laughter.Callen glares at Alexia while Lyla looks at me and apologizes again for overreacting, she looks at my baby bump with a smile on her face. “Still not near my due date, I am expecting a triplet.” I say, making her jaw drop and she starts laughing when she reads my shirt. “How did they come up with the idea for tonight’s dress code?” She asks and everyone points in my direction, so I explain to her what had happened a few days ago. She opens her jacket to show me her shirt and I am in stitches as I read, “Sorry, I don’t speak Bullshit.”