Chapter 36
Aiden
“You can’t be serious.”
The psychopath in question does a twirl, causing the torn hem of her dress to flare out.
“You’re going to get yourself in trouble,” I tell her while I fix my suit’s bowtie.
“I can handle a bit of trouble.”
“Witch trouble?” I counter. “Because that’s exactly the type you’re going to get if you happen to run into a witch at this party and they don’t appreciate your costume.”
“They’ll be witches there?” Isabel squeaks, the blood draining from her face.
“No,” I say, but I can see the doubt set in.
I leave her be for now. Julian will talk some sense into her when he comes out—if he ever comes out. He’s been holed up in the bathroom forever, swearing he hasn’t scrubbed off his make-up, but I’m not too sure.
It’s just a costume party, but to Julian, I’m pretty sure this is much more.
To him, this is likely bigger than going away for a few days or stopping at IHOP for waffles. Not only are we sneaking into human territory for no reason other than to have some fun, we’re also going to be socialising with a massive crowd of humans.
I know he’s up for it, but I’m not sure if he knows that he is.
“Think he’ll be okay?” I ask Isabel, nodding towards the door. “Tonight, I mean?”
“He’ll be fine,” she whispers with a reassuring smile. “Maybe a little rocky at the start, but if you stay with him, which you will—” I nod at her pause and her smile widens, “then he’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be fine,” Julian says as the door swings open, “but I don’t know if you will be.”
Julian’s attention is entirely fixed on Isabel and her ridiculous costume, so he doesn’t see my jaw drop.
The suit was the best thing I could find to match mine, and I’m so glad I didn’t let the size of it stop me. The jacket fits fine, but the pants are a little tight, enough that they hug his waist. Paired with a loose button-up, he doesn’t just look handsome. Jewels looks sexy as fuck.
I’m dumbstruck.
“Take that off, Isabel,” he says, still eyeing our delta.
“Witches don’t get to claim witch costumes,” she protests, waving her wand around.
“They kind of do,” Julian replies. “Seeing as they’re witches. They’ll find this offensive.”
“Not my problem,” she retorts, turning her back to us. But it’s impossible for a wolf to ignore their alpha, and with both of us staring at her, she cracks. With a groan, she storms to her wardrobe, snatches something white and raggedy, and stomps into the bathroom.
While she changes, I ease my way over to my mate. He finally looks at me and immediately sucks in a breath. “Oh. Wow.”
“Wow,” I echo with a smirk. “That’s big coming from you.”
He smiles, and even with all his dark make-up, he still looks sweet.
While Isabel focused on the top half of Julian’s face for his make-up, she concentrated on the bottom half for me, crafting a skeleton jaw over my mouth so that my shades work without clashing with anything.
I wrap my arms around his waist, making sure he’s looking at me so he sees how serious I am. “You let me know if you need out.”
“It’s a party, Aiden.”
“Doesn’t matter. You need out, you tell me,” I repeat. This time, he nods, his smile so soft that Max rolls over with delight.
“So, what are we exactly?” Julian asks, tugging at the ends of his shirt.
“I don’t really know if there’s a name for it,” I admit.
“‘Dead dates’ maybe. I saw a bunch of this sort of thing online, so I thought we could put our own spin on it.” I let him go and spin for his perusal.
“I’m the prim, put-together dead date, and you’re the wrecked, troublemaker one. Just a bit of reversal play.”
His lips quirk at that before he tries to bite the smile back. “I’ll admit, it was a shock at first, but it’s growing on me.”
“Good.”
The bathroom door creaks open. Isabel re-emerges, thoroughly pissed and not afraid to show it, now wrapped in some kind of mummified getup.
“Nefertiti,” she announces with raised arms. “You are soooo lucky my make-up works with this. Let’s go.”
Sharing a secret smile, Julian and I follow her out.
In the dark, we creep towards my car, keeping quiet while Isabel makes a dart for shotgun.
Julian slips into the backseat without notice, and only when we’re all buckled in per Julian’s command, do I pull out of the lot and head in the opposite direction of either of the packs’ entrances.
“So, how exactly do we do this?” my anxious mess of a mate asks.
“Well, you see, the trick is knowing the patrols,” I answer with a grin. “Then you’ll know the small gaps between an area being searched, and that’s our window.”
“But someone’s always searching the entrances,” Isabel counters.
I chuckle, loving the innocence in the car. This would be fun.
Driving through the pack’s older roads, I carry on until the spot where the trees part just enough for a car to squeeze through. I cut the wheel, veer off-road without warning, and the sound Julian makes—Goddess, I’ll never let him live it down.
“You’re a psychopath!” he says through huffed breaths, clinging to his seatbelt strap. “You’re a psycho—watch out for that tree!”
I do watch out for the tree, because I’ve done this a million times. Do I almost graze it just to scare the virgins in my car? Maybe. But what kind of guy would I be if I didn’t?
Bumbling through the woods, we pass through the pack boundaries and to the other side of the woods, while the two noobs in the car scream bloody murder.
My only regret? Missing Beckett’s reaction when Emitt does this with him.
“Okay, we’re almost there,” Isabel says as we roll down an exceptionally tidy human street, nestled deep in one of their communities. She turns around in her seat to face Julian. “We have to go over some party rules.”
Terror jolts through our bond. Of course he’d panic at the prospect of only just hearing about rules he surely would’ve memorised if we’d given him some warning.
“Isn’t this your first party too?” he asks nervously.
“I’ve been to parties in the pack,” she says, making my poor mate squirm as he registers he really is the only one doing this for the first time.
“Shouldn’t he just live and learn?” I ask with a grin. I’m not against prepping him, but I’d also love to see what a drunk and unencumbered Julian looks like.
“I guess,” Isabel allows. “But this is Julian. We can’t let him go in blind.”
“Fair. Rule number one, Jewels,” I say, glancing at him in the rearview mirror, “don’t eat the food.”
His blue eyes narrow in their blackened sockets. “What’s wrong with the food?”
“Do you go to a party like this to eat? No. So why is there food? Something’s in it, or it’s stale. Leave that shit alone,” Isabel explains, and I nod along.
“Rule number two—don’t exceed your fuck-it drink if all your friends are drunk.”
“Fuck-it drink?” he asks in adorable confusion.
“That drink you know there’s no coming back from,” I explain, only to meet more blank confusion. “As in, all bets are off when you take that drink. Everything goes to shit after.”
“I don’t know mine,” he replies nervously.
“Well, we’ll find it tonight,” Isabel says with a devious chuckle. “Park here!”
I pull into a spot down the street from the house, which is already glowing with music and light. The bass is so heavy, I feel its vibration as soon as I step onto the pavement.
“Fingers crossed the police don’t show up before Julian discovers his fuck-it drink,” I say.
With an excited squeal, Isabel spins towards us. “Are you ready, kids?”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” I retort.
“I can’t hear you!” she sings, making me laugh.
“Aye-aye, Captain!” I shout, and now Isabel is whooping as she swings her arm over her head.
“Wait!” Julian blurts, petrified. “What about the other rules?!”
“You’ll figure them out as you go,” I assure him, settling my hand on his shoulder. “They’re not official rules, Jewels. Just guidelines. Don’t worry too much, okay?”
“Okay,” he mumbles, taking a deep breath as he reaches up to straighten my bow tie. “This oddly suits you, you know?”
“And you,” I whisper, tilting his chin up to steal a kiss.
I swear the feeling of his lips against my own will send me mad with pleasure one day. It makes my entire body come to life, until—flash.
We jerk apart to see Isabel smiling widely behind her phone.
“I’m documenting the night,” she says with a shrug. “For you guys, and for the kids.”
“Kids?” Julian asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, your kids,” she replies like he’s an idiot before she turns and struts towards the house.
“The kids,” I echo, and Julian chuckles, taking my hand.
People are already drinking on the lawn, others in the massive tree out front, and there’s even some weirdo dancing with a blow-up zebra.
But the moment we enter the house, it’s sensory overload on crack.
To the right, people play beer pong over a dining table, and to the left, others lounge, shouting at one another over the music. Straight ahead, a dark room is lit up by strobe lights. The makeshift dancefloor, I guess.
As we pass the stairwell, some guys come sliding down the steps in laundry baskets, and I don’t even want to begin to think about what’s happening in the pool—I can smell the chlorine from here.
Julian and Isabel freeze beside me as they take it all in. To her credit, Isabel schools her features in no time, while he stands beside me like a pup on their first day of warrior training.
“All good?” I ask against his ear, making him jump slightly. He nods, and I’d bet anything that his cheeks heat beneath his make-up. He plasters on a brave smile.
“All good,” he says.
“Drinks!” Isabel shouts, pushing her way to the table covered with all sorts of liquor, leaving us to follow close behind. A few ounces of this stuff isn’t likely to do much to us, but if we got particularly creative with it, then we’d be no better than the humans plastered around us.
“Are you a vodka man, or a beer man?” I ask, turning to Julian, except I don’t know why I even bothered when he looks at me like he’s never heard of either. “Beer it is. We’ll start easy.”