Chapter 12
The depth of his eyes could drown you if you weren’t careful, being lined so sinfully with dark lashes that got you caught up. Our eyes had locked from over his grandmother’s shoulder.
I was dancing with her since she had lacked any partner and now the dance was coming to a close. I slowed to a stop and finally looked away once Gran squeezed my cheeks.
“Thank you, honey, for the dance” she let go of my face and went to sit down. I was walking off the dance floor when a hand grasped mine.
I quickly looked over and was relieved to find it was Jasper. He looked so handsome tonight in his white button up shirt and dark slacks. He had his hair styled too.
“You don’t escape a dance with me” he pulled me over. “Fine, one dance since it’s your special night” I agreed.
He kept his hand in the middle of my back and mine rested on his chest while the other sat in his other hand. We swayed to the music peacefully.
“This is seriously more beautiful than I imagined” I looked at our surroundings again. All the twinkling lights under the already twinkling sky were just perfect.
“I know, they did a good job setting up,” he agreed, his hazel eyes darting around at the same decorations I was just looking at.
“You’re going to be a great Delta” I whispered to him. I felt his grip on me tighten as though he was giving me a hug but we maintained our dancing position.
Just as the song was ending I felt a tap on my shoulder. By Jasper’s confused face I was worried. It was Diego standing there.
“May I have the next dance?” he asked. I peeked back at Jasper who shrugged at me. “Sure” I agreed.
“You’re wearing the necklace tonight. I’m glad,” Diego touched the pendant before taking me into our dancing position the same as I'd been with Jasper but more poised and less comfortable.
“Yeah, well I thought it looked nice with this large slit down my chest” I chuckled at myself. The dress wasn’t too revealing but it was definitely cut low. “I agree” he nodded, shifting his gaze from the necklace back to me.
“Congratulations by the way” I added upon realizing. “Thank you” he smiled, then continued to dance. Jasper was stuck dancing with some random person and he kept sticking his tongue out at me from over the woman’s shoulder which was making me laugh.
“Are you two dating?” Diego randomly asked when he noticed who I was laughing at and why. “No, he’s my best friend here,” I explained.
“I thought Melanie was your best friend?” He tested me.
“How is it that you know so much about my personal life already when you only just got here?” I turned the tables on him. He chuckled and spun us. “Well Mira, that’s my job” he pointed out.
His dark eyes glimmered with the way the fire flickered behind us but far enough away that it was only a dot in the reflection of his eyes.
When we spun again I was facing Devran’s way and saw him dancing with Grace. There were girls lined up waiting for a dance with their new Alpha. The guys only had to endure a certain amount of time, then they were free to party and do their wolf run.
“Thank you for the dance,” Diego said, turning me so that I was pushed right into Devran’s arms. Oh shit. Why was he waiting behind me? Why is he grabbing my hand and pulling me to him to dance? I was stunned into compliance.
“W-what are you doing?” I asked stupidly. He raised a dark brow at me. “Dancing” he stated arrogantly. I just darted my eyes down and danced with him even though he scared the crap out of me and I was confused as hell as to why he’d even want to.
Maybe he liked seeing me uncomfortable.
“You look stunning tonight” his voice came out low but still deep, as if he were telling me a secret. My eyes darted back up in surprise. “Um, thank you” I fumbled out.
I felt his thumb graze the material where he had kept his left hand low on my back. His right hand was holding my much smaller one in his and he used this position to keep our bodies closer than they needed to be.
“You aren’t going to compliment me?” he mocked. I sighed. He was in all black and he knew he looked good.
“I think the line of women waiting for you is compliment enough” I smiled tightly and continued to dance. Several of them were glaring daggers at me for cutting in line but I had never intended on dancing with him in the first place.
He smelled incredibly good and it was hard not to notice when he was holding me so close to him. His palm was pressed so low on my back and our chests touched which hadn’t been like that with the other two I danced with. He twirled me unexpectedly and crashed me back into his body.
“Who bought you that necklace?” he asked, clearly already knowing the answer.
“Your Beta” I answered honestly. I don’t know what kind of trap he was setting me up for but I wouldn’t be caught in a lie.
“And the dress?” he asked. “Your Delta.” He looked me in the face for a moment but I had to dip my head down. I couldn’t look at him from this close.
“Interesting” he said, but he sounded annoyed. When the song ended I motioned to step away but he held me in place.
“Tell me, what is it that you do to get these guys to buy you things?” he asked accusingly.
“I don’t do anything. This dress is a gift from my best friend for being his plus one tonight, and as for Diego...you’ll have to ask him because I was just as shocked as you are” I explained.
The alcohol I'd been drinking must’ve finally kicked in because I said all that without fumbling over my words. I wasn’t oozing confidence but I was less of a disaster with my stuttering and nerves that he always pulled out of me.
“Dev” one of the girls called out to remind him they were waiting. He eyed her and said nothing before shifting his gaze back to me.
“Is now really the time for an interrogation?” I asked, wanting to be let go of so I could enjoy the rest of my night. “Who says it’s an interrogation? Maybe I just enjoy dancing with you” he challenged me unnecessarily.
“You’ve literally told me how much you despise me and how disgusting you think humans are, so no I don’t believe it’s because you enjoy dancing with me” I answered. He eyed me over and chuckled to himself.
“You’re different tonight. Bolder” he acknowledged aloud.
“Well you have a lot of alcohol at this party” I stated truthfully. He actually laughed. It freaked me out. I wasn’t about to be dancing around laughing with the Alpha.
He is literally crazy and his vendetta is against me. I know his kind. Never trust even a seemingly innocent moment.
When I finally caught Melanie’s eye in the crowd I gave her a face that told her to get me out of this. She gave me a face that told me I was on my own. Now that Devran was Alpha people wouldn’t be challenging him. I was screwed.
Jasper kept looking over at us as confused as I was but he was busy dancing just as much. I could feel Alpha’s eyes on me but I continued to look around at the crowds of people.
If I couldn’t escape the proximity the least I could do was avoid eye contact. He caught onto that quickly and released the hand that was holding mine to tip my chin.
“You can’t avoid me. I’m everywhere now” he smirked.
“Why are you doing this? Are you trying to scare me?” I asked.
“Why, are you scared?” he replied with a question of his own.
Both his hands were at my back now which forced me to rest mine on his chest. He was so firm I tried to ignore it beneath that sexy black shirt of his.
Once the second song had finished people started calling out Devran’s name which forced him to let me go. I bowed my head to show respect in front of his people and went to walk away before being caught by the waist and brought back to him.
“Thank you for the dance,” he whispered in my ear before releasing me. I swallowed hard and quickly rushed off to the side where I knew Mel was.
“Okay what in the actual fuck?” she asked. We clasped hands and rushed off for some privacy where we could actually talk without wolf ears around.
I told Melanie everything about my bizarre encounter with new Alpha Devran. “Well, if my theory is correct-” she started but I quickly covered her mouth with the palm of my hand.
“No theories” I stopped her.
“Oh come on M, the whole pack just watched you two twirl around for two songs” she waved her hands around like the crowd in the distance would agree with her.
“To interrogate and intimidate me. You don’t like looking at the whole picture huh?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and played with the fabric of her dress while she thought.
“He said you were stunning,” she pressed on.
“As a start to interrogate me about the gifts” I countered.
“And why should he even care about that huh? Jealous maybe?” she continued. I wouldn’t let her win this.
“Wrong. It was another start to accuse me later of brain washing his friends or something.” She thought about my logic for a moment but tossed it. “There’s something there. I haven’t put my finger on it yet, but I will” she promised me with a look.
I agreed to shut her up and headed back to the party. The guys were finally free and the real party started for us. We began drinking and laughing, and once the old folks and young kids went home we got rowdier too.
The music was fast paced now and people were dancing on each other. Mel had run off to go dance with Lyson the minute her parents left.
“Whose dragging down a table for pong?” Diego shouted out to some of his friends but since he wasn’t too far away I heard him. Jasper, Daisy, Grace and I were all sitting together, just beside where Diego and Devran were with their friends.
“Go, hang out with them. I’m fine here” I forced Jasper to join them. He didn’t need to feel obligated to babysit me. This night especially should be shared with his other friends.
“Okay, come take shots with us” Grace pulled me up. Those girls were my age anyways and I decided I’d be staying with them for the foreseeable future. We cheered and had some shots before the girls started dancing.
The music got good and I knew I could move well to it. I joined them and we started having a blast.
“Devran is so hot it’s insane” Daisy tried talking to us over the music. Seeing as we were in the middle of the mountains they had no qualms about keeping it very loud.
“Ugh, I know,” Grace agreed. I kept quiet.
“He’s looked over here. You think I can get him to dance with me?” Daisy asked. Daisy is Diego’s sister but she has the hots for her brother’s friend. They all grew up together so I guess I understood the close knit circle compared to the other kids our age in town.
“He’s looking,” she gasped, causing me to peek over my shoulder and catch eyes with him. “Damn it, you made me look and he just saw me” I huffed.
“Let’s go over there” she looked between the two of us. Grace shrugged and I was drunk enough to be fine with it. Jasper was there after all.
“Miraaa” he cheered when he saw me coming. “Oh my gosh, Delta Jasper, hi Delta” I dramatically greeted him with total sarcasm dripping. The group of guys had overheard and started laughing.
“You’re going to keep doing that aren’t you?” he asked, tucking me under his arm and squeezing me until I squirmed. “Ow” I whined.
“Come on, let’s take a shot together” he pulled me by my hand to the table. Taking two random cups he poured us something brown and handed one to me.
“I’ll do the toast” I said, “to you Delta Jasper. You’re the best” I smiled genuinely at him and we clinked glasses.
“I am the best,” he repeated before downing his drink. Everyone in the group was drunk and started dancing around. I kept getting bumped into but I didn’t care I was having such a good time.
When I turned around during one of my dances I crashed right into a chest and started laughing, “opps” was all I said. Devran looked down at me and I smiled which threw him off.
“You’re drunk,” he pointed out the obvious. “I am” I agreed. He rolled his eyes at me but didn’t walk away. He just stood there and I wasn’t about to start dancing again because we were very close and it would look like I was intentionally dancing on him.
“Mira, look” Jasper shouted before doing the worm on the ground. I bursted into laughter holding my sides. “He’s an idiot” I heard Devran chuckle to himself.
“You aren’t drunk, are you?” I asked. “No, I’m not,” he agreed. “Why? You don’t like drinking or you don’t like losing control?” I asked, challenging him.
“You don’t want to see me with any lack of control” he warned.
“Tonight is mainly about you. Celebrate yourself” I said with a shrug. His eyes were lit up with fire but I couldn’t tell which kind. “Oh yeah? You think I should be celebrated?” he asked.
“Well I wouldn’t call myself your number one fan but you’ve accomplished something today” I hiccuped and covered my mouth realizing what I had just said.
“Oh you aren’t a fan of me?” he chuckled, but it was probably calculated. He’d use this against me tomorrow.
“Okay, I need a drink” I declared before walking off. When I grabbed the bottle and leaned over for a cup I felt the bottle being taken from my hand.
“I’ll have another drink but you probably shouldn’t. Human tolerance and all” Devran made sure to point out.
“I’m doing just fine thank you very much” I tried reaching for the bottle again but he pulled it and poured one for himself.
“Fine, have your drink but you’ll have to make a toast for me” Devran handed me the bottle in challenge.