by Sara Dailey
My legs carried me up the stairs, and I did what I was expected to do. I refused to allow myself to think about anything other than just getting ready for the party. Pushing my conscience aside, ignoring the fact that what we were doing was completely fucked up, I touched up my makeup, ran a straightening iron through my hair, and turned to my closet to find something to wear.
With no time to spare, I stepped back and took a look at myself in the full-length mirror that hung on the bathroom door. An all-too-familiar feeling washed over me. Perfect hair, perfect makeup, and the perfect outfit covered up the real me. Underneath it all, there was a girl screaming to get out, a girl who would make the right decision. A girl who would refuse to be a pawn in her pack’s plan. But I couldn’t think about her right now. When the doorbell rang, I turned away from the reflection that filled me with guilt and hurried downstairs to greet the first of our guests.
By the time I’d made it to the foyer, Drew was already leading Becca, Shari, Sammy, Ryder, Cami, Teagan, and Aiden into the kitchen toward the makeshift bar. As the group filled their cups, I wandered in to say hello. They all, even Becca, politely replied, but Teagan came over and hugged me as if we were old friends. Somehow that simple act eased my discomfort, and I almost thanked her.
Teagan smiled and said, “This is your party. Let’s get you a drink.”
Reaching for a cup, I replied, “That is exactly what I need.” I filled my cup to the brim with the Sangria punch I’d made earlier and finally began to relax.
Alli and Cade arrived as I swallowed the last drop of my fruity concoction, and by the time I gotten my first refill, everyone else had arrived—everyone besides Luke and Gage. I may have loosened up a bit, but that didn’t stop the fluttering butterflies in my stomach. They were like butterflies on crack, and I cursed myself for being so damn nervous. Teagan must have noticed me surveying the room since she leaned over and whispered, “So have you heard from Luke?”
“No, but I think he is coming.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to appear indifferent.
My father had instructed me to talk to Luke today but that didn’t play into Operation Cold Shoulder, which after two cups of punch was sounding more and more like a fabulous idea. I had it all planned in my semi-fuzzy head. I’d say a quick hello if he happened to pass by, but other than that, I’d keep my distance. I’d stay in view, so he could see me, but I’d stick to the rules: no eye contact, no flirty smiles, and absolutely no touching.
Seconds later, Teagan nudged me lightly with her shoulder. “Well, speak of the devil.” I didn’t need to look to know who had just walked into the house. Even if she hadn’t said a word, I would have known that Luke Stanton had arrived. It was as if the air in the room shifted, and his presence filled my senses. Every nerve in my body was on high alert as he entered the kitchen to grab a beer.
My hungry eyes drifted his way, and when they met his, it took everything I had to stay on two feet. His dark hair was perfectly disheveled, and his chiseled cheekbones and crooked smile screamed beware of bad boy. Add that to his black shirt that couldn’t even begin to hide the rippling muscles underneath and the tattered jeans that hung low on his hips, and he was a walking recipe for heartbreak.
My God, he was beautiful.
His eyes held mine for a beat too long before he finally said, “Hey Scarlett.” With a beer in hand, he awaited my reply.
Tearing my eyes from his, I focused on Gage, who stood beside him, and replied, “Hey guys. Glad you both could make it.” Then, I refilled my cup once again and fled from the kitchen.
CHAPTER 24
Drew
Who the hell knew that there was this many people our age in this pack? By ten o’clock our living room and kitchen were jam-packed. We had the music going, compliments of Aiden’s iPod. I swear that fool has the weirdest taste in music, but whatever, people were dancing and drinking, and that’s what mattered. I’d asked Brian buy me a bottle of something for shots. Personally, I don’t touch the stuff, but I planned on getting Cade and Aiden drunk, so some hard liquor was a must-have.
As I began making my rounds through the party, bottle of Jaeger in hand, I ran into Becca. She was with a bunch of girls dancing to some crazy-ass hip-hop song about Humpty Dumpty or something. She reached out and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me in to dance with her. As she grinded herself against me, I offered her the bottle, and she smiled before seductively placing the bottle to her lips and taking a sip. Instead of handing the bottle back to me, she passed it off her friends. Perfect!
When the stupid song was over, I grabbed the Jaeger out of some girl’s hand and went in search of my two new best friends. I saw Aiden first. He was standing near the speaker dock laughing with Teagan and Alli. They all had a beer in their hands, so I let them be and scanned the crowd for Cade. I spotted him talking to Gage and Luke, so I hung back and waited. Cade would be easier to influence without his bodyguard standing next to him.
A few minutes later, Cade was alone and watching the conversation that had his mate smiling and laughing out loud. I walked over and handed him the bottle with a shrug. To my surprise, he grabbed it and took a long pull of the hard liquor. He tried to hand it back, but I put my hands up. “You look like you need that more than I do.”
Without responding, he took another swig and then handed it to me.
When “Ice Ice Baby” blasted through the speakers, I seriously contemplated smashing that freaking iPod into pieces, but once again, I told myself that all that mattered was that people were having a good time. I rolled my eyes as almost everyone started rapping along with the song and dancing, even Scarlett.
“Aiden sure is the life of the party, isn’t he?” I mentioned to Cade. Aiden seemed to be the only guy in the room who could actually dance, and he successfully got everyone on the makeshift dance floor riled up as he made his way through the crowed rapping every word while he moved to the beat.
Cade kind of laughed a little and reached out for the bottle again. This was my chance, since he seemed kind of pissed already. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but Aiden can’t run this pack. I mean, look at him. He’s more cruise director than alpha. And who the hell even has this shit on their iPod?”
Cade took another gulp before he muttered, “It comes down to birth date.”
“Screw that. What’s he, like a couple months older then you? It should come down to one thing: he doesn’t belong in that position and you do.”
Cade shrugged. “I hope the elders see it that way.”
“You’re going to let it go to a vote? Why? Just fight him for it. It’d be an easy win,” I suggested.
Cade stared at the crowd. Aiden was dancing and rapping in the middle. Everyone surrounded him, arms in the air, cheering him on. Cade’s jaw clenched before he threw his head back for another shot. Then he took a deep breath and admitted, “It’s complicated.”
I raised an eyebrow at him while I pretended to take a sip from the bottle he handed me.
“It is,” he said. “He’s my half brother, my mate’s brother, and it would kill Alli if I hurt him.” Cade chuckled to himself before he added, “And if he actually ended up hurting me, she’d kill him. I just can’t do it…he’s family.”
“Family? Does he see it that way? He’s trying to take something that’s yours. It’s been yours for eighteen years. Just because he’s a few months older than you doesn’t make him an alpha,” I pointed out and handed the bottle back to him.
Cade took one more gulp and turned toward me. With slurred words, he admitted, “You know man, you’re right. He would destroy everything my family worked so hard for if he tried to lead this pack. He doesn’t know the first thing about being a wolf, much less the alpha. I just hope that everyone will see that, before it’s too late.”
His eyes were well on their way to being glazed over, and the way he started talking with his hands told me my plan to get Cade loaded was a success. He handed me the empty bottle. “I need a beer. Want one?�
��
“Nah,” I answered, “but you go on and get you one. Looks like you’re going to need it.” And that was it. He stumbled toward the kitchen. I didn’t know for sure if he was as pissed as I wanted him to be, but he was definitely trashed. Mission accomplished.
CHAPTER 25
Luke
I’d been there for over an hour and “Hey guys, glad you could both make it” was all that Scarlett had said to me. I was the one who was supposed to be ignoring her, not the other way around. As much as I tried not to look at her, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Her hair was straight and flowing down her back. I’d never seen it straight, and I couldn’t stop imagining what it would feel like to run my fingers through it. To use all those silky, dark strands to pull her against me and force her to stop ignoring me.
Completely absorbed in my own dirty little fantasyland, I didn’t see Becca until she fell into me and proceeded to get right up in my face. Already completely smashed to the point of being extremely loud and obnoxious, she laughed at her almost-tumble to the ground and then grabbed my arm.
“Luke!” she yelled as she pressed her body up against mine. “Come dance with me.”
I put a bit of distance between us and replied, “Not a chance.”
“God…My name is Luke, and I am so boring. I never want to have any fun,” she whined and then laughed at her own joke.
“Nice.”
She turned to Gage, who was standing by my side watching the Becca show. “Gage, tell him. Tell him that he is too damn hot to be so damn borrriinnnggg.”
I glared at Gage, warning him with my eyes not to encourage her, but he couldn’t help his sorry ass. “Luke, my friend, you are too damn hot to be so damn boring.”
That did it. I warned him, but he didn’t listen, not that I should be surprised. He never did, but I wasn’t going to let him off the hook for this one. It was time for a little payback. “Hey Becs, did you know that this is Gage’s all-time favorite song?”
Gage’s cocky grin quickly faded, and he looked like he just might kill me when Becca squealed and clapped her hands together. A second later, he was being dragged to the dance floor, and it was my turn to laugh at him. I threw in a little wave just to top it off.
Disaster averted, I wandered into the kitchen to grab another beer. Scarlett was leaning against the counter talking to Shari. As soon as our eyes met, she looked away, not even bothering to acknowledge me, which pissed me off. But that didn’t stop me from eyeing her gorgeous body from head to toe. This girl was temptation personified. All I could think about was running my hands—and if I was really lucky, my tongue—over every inch of her. It should be illegal to be so fucking sexy. Just looking at her made me hard, and I couldn’t control myself any longer.
“Hey good-looking,” Shari teased as I walked up to the two of them.
“Why aren’t you in there dancing the night away with Becs?” I asked Shari, but I could barely manage to take my eyes off of Scarlett.
Shari laughed. “Are you kidding? Someone has to stay somewhat sober to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. Like take advantage of your boy Gage over there. She’s practically dry-humping him on the dance floor.”
I turned to see if I could spot Gage just as Scarlett grabbed her cup and said, “Will you excuse me for a minute?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she took off like the house was on fire.
I stood there completely dumbfounded. Her hot, spicy scent, now completely embedded into my memory, washed over me as she squeezed past. My body responded and begged me to grab her and make her stay, but I somehow managed to control myself. I waited for her to turn around, to give me that look, the one that would tell me that she wanted me as much as I wanted her. It never came.
I figured that was it, then. She wasn’t interested. I should have been relieved; it was what I wanted after all. I thought it would be best to pretend that there wasn’t that spark, that insanely intense chemistry between us. I’d actually convinced myself that if she would stop flirting with me that I would be able to forget about her, but I swear to God, her walking away just made me want her more.
I watched as she disappeared into the crowd, and this unexplainable, anxiety-ridden pain formed in my chest. I tried to breathe it away, but it just traveled down past my stomach and turned into a pain I knew too well these days. A pain I would have to get Taylor to alleviate for me later.
Shit, Taylor. I looked at my watch to make sure I still had time to get to her house by midnight. I desperately needed Scarlett out of my damn head, and I was hoping that a night with Taylor would do the trick.
Shari decided to go check on Becca so I followed behind her, figuring I’d rescue Gage before I left. On the way there, I noticed Cade and Gavin standing by the stairs sharing a bottle of something. Cade drinking hard liquor was never a good sign, especially since there was an empty bottle of Jaeger sitting on the bottom stair by his foot. I hadn’t seen him drink anything except beer since we were fifteen and Gage stole a bottle of tequila from his old man. We all paid dearly for that, both from our dads and from the damn tequila.
“Luke! Man, when did you get here?” Aiden kind of slurred when we approached Becca and her new boy-toy. Gage would never admit it, but he appeared to be enjoying himself. Maybe he didn’t need rescuing after all. Aiden threw his arm around me, and announced, “I’m glad you’re here. You need a beer.” Obviously, he had already had too much to drink because I’d been here for a while, and we had already talked.
He grabbed a half-empty beer off a nearby table and shoved it in my hand. “Come on bro, let’s take this party outside to the fire pit. It’s hot as shit in here.”
Following the guys outside, I was hoping I’d run into Scarlett again, but I didn’t see her. I shook the thought out of my head and reminded myself, Taylor, you know, the smokin’ hot piece of ass waiting for me! I’m supposed to be figuring out a way to get out of here for Taylor!
I decided to stick around for a few more minutes once both Cade and Aiden made their way outside. Before I ran off, I needed to make sure neither of them started any shit. It was surprisingly warm standing around the fire, and thankfully everybody appeared to be getting along and having a good time. Even Cade and Aiden were talking and laughing, not with each other, but in the same vicinity. But all too soon, the entire climate changed as soon as a few girls came outside to join us.
Becca staggered over our way and announced to the group, “Look! Alpha one and alpha two seem to be getting along so well…almost like they were, oh I don’t know, brothers.” She giggled to herself and slapped Aiden on the back.
I glanced over at Aiden, who was still smiling, but the raging storm in his eyes told a different story. Cade wasn’t smiling at all.
“What did I say?” Becca feigned apology. “All I meant was that it’s nice to see that you two have finally figured it out. I don’t even know what Marcus was thinking. Cade is clearly the only choice for alpha.” She turned to Aiden and continued, “I mean really, Aiden. Did you think you had a chance? You may be hot as hell, but alpha material? I think not.”
“Stay out of it, Becca. Nothing has been decided yet,” Cade warned.
“That’s a shame. Oh well, so a fight then? Like they did back in the good old days! I guess it won’t be much of a fight though, will it Cade? Poor Aiden doesn’t really stand a chance. Just try not to kill him when you’re ripping him to shreds,” Becca said, looking over at Aiden with pity in her eyes.
And here we go. This is exactly the reason why I needed to be here instead of screwing Taylor’s brains out. Fuck!
“Becca,” I warned. She looked over to me and smiled innocently. I marched over, and she practically fell into my arms. I picked her drunken ass up, tossed her over my shoulder, and started for the house. As I was carrying her in, I heard some of the guys laughing and then Gage cooed, “Oh Luke! You’re so strong! My hero! I love all your rippling muscles!” I turned around and flipped the guys off.
I carried
Becca straight through the kitchen and into the front room, attracting the attention of some of the girls. I laid her down on the sofa and Shari took over from there. As I turned to go back outside, I saw the time on the television. Damn it! I glanced down at my watch only to have it confirm that I had less than an hour to make it to Taylor’s by midnight.
I was just about to find Gage and tell him that I was leaving when I heard shouting coming from the yard. I ran back outside and stood at the back of the small crowd that had gathered since I’d left. I didn’t know who had started it, or even how it started, but it had evidently escalated very quickly, and I’d gotten there just as all hell was breaking lose.
“You think just because it’s your damn birthright to be the alpha means you actually have the balls to run this pack?” Cade yelled, standing toe-to-toe with Aiden in the middle of the crowd.
Alli pushed herself through the throng and abruptly stopped when she saw what was going on. Her hand flew to her mouth. She stood there frozen as she watched her mate and her brother prepare to beat the shit out of each other. Just then, Teagan came rushing out the back door with Scarlett following close behind. Alli knew better than to get in the middle of two male wolves, but apparently Teagan didn’t. Thankfully, Scarlett grabbed her arm and held her away from them.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Aiden returned, bumping his chest into Cade’s.
“You heard me, bro. You want to fight it out? Let’s do this. I’m ready to end all doubt around here. I’m going to be the next alpha, and if I have to kick your ass right here in front of everyone, then that’s what I’ll do,” Cade threatened.
I needed to intervene, but I wanted to give them a chance to decide that this whole thing was ridiculous, that this drunken backyard fight would do nothing to settle things between them. It would only intensify things. But I knew that wouldn’t happen when Aiden pushed off of Cade’s chest and said, “Well, now’s your chance. Come on. Come at me, bro!”
