Chapter 18
Once the office door slammed shut everyone started arguing. I stood quiet. Confrontations like this always reminded me of the scuffles they had in my home growing up.
A couple of junkies fist fighting or my mom and Greg arguing loudly while he threw shit around the house. I hate it.
“You’re getting on my last nerve, Jasper. I swear to god” Devran warned. “Diego help me out here” Jasper asked his second in command.
“I don’t wanna get involved” Diego opted out.
“You’re such a pussy. You know he’s being ridiculous when it comes to her and I don’t understand why. Fine dude she’s a human so fucking what?!” my best friend continued.
“Jasper” my low voice went unheard. “It’s not your business. You aren’t her keeper” Dev shouted back.
“Guys” my low voice went unheard again. They were both grabbing at each other’s shirts just about ready for a fight.
“Yeah, I am actually” Jasper responded. He was thrown back and knocked a bunch of stuff off the side table along the wall of the Alpha’s desk.
“GUYS” I finally snapped. My voice ricocheted off the walls and all heads turned my way. I wanted to yell at them but tears came instead.
“Look what you did,” Devran yelled at Jasper before walking over to me. Without realizing what he was even doing he started wiping tears from my face. Both Diego and Jasper looked at each other.
“It’s fine, don’t cry. It’s over” he told me. His voice had calmed down.
“You see what I mean,” Jasper said to Diego in the background. Devran wasn’t paying attention, instead he was grabbing me a tissue. I tried to stop the flow of tears because I felt awkward doing so in front of them. Especially if Devran was going to do something about it. He’s so bizarre.
“Uh, Dev, I think Jasper’s kinda right. You seem off...are you alright?” Diego asked, finally siding with his other friend.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” they got his attention now.
“I’m just saying, well...the mood swings man” Diego shrugged.
I could see Devran’s nostrils flare. I didn’t want him to snap again so my hand reached out and just lightly touched his forearm.
It was enough for him to notice the contact.
He looked down at his arm then at me, and it was like a bomb was defused. I saw Diego and Jasper exchange a second look.
“Just, everybody get the fuck out of my office” Devran finally said, but his voice wasn’t shouting anymore. I didn’t hesitate to leave. Once we got outside Jasper tucked me under his arm as he always does and I felt safe again.
“You okay?” he asked. I nodded yes and hugged his torso, just needing the moment. He rubbed my back and walked me over to my cottage.
“Hey, what was that exchange you and Diego had? I saw you two whispering after” I finally remembered to ask. He froze up for a second which was unlike him and then he quickly switched his demeanor to seem nonchalant.
“Oh it was nothing” he brushed it off. I wanted to call him out because I didn’t believe him but I had had my fill of drama and just decided to let it go.
“You guys hang out far too often without me. I’m getting jealous” Mel’s voice sounded down the road. We were just about to walk inside so she joined us.
“I can tell by both your faces that something went down,” she laughed. We had no choice but to fill her in.
“Did you tell him about the other day?” Mel asked. I groaned and Jasper looked between the both of us. “Tell me what?”
I gave Mel a dirty look then had to retell the story of my going into Devran’s room to return his shirt only to find my ring from the Moon Goddess offering and to get caught right after. I had to tell him about the kiss. I left out the juicer details I told Mel but he got the picture.
“Okay, what in the actual fuck is going on with the two of you then. I’m so goddamn confused” Jasper got mad as I knew he would.
“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you’d get annoyed” I gave a pointed look to Melanie for opening her big mouth.
“And since when did we start keeping secrets? That’s messed up” he fought.
“I hate that you’ve been having to fight your best friend because of me. He’s a dick then he’s bizarre then he kisses me then he’s a dick again. I don’t know what to tell you!” I fought back.
“Okay guys, let’s all chill out” Melanie played referee.
“God, I hate this drama. I swear I’m about to move to the other side of town and tend to the chickens. Y’all will never see me again” I dramatically huffed.
There was a far side of town and those pack members weren’t often seen. We had farm animals there which is why we had so many fresh eggs around.
“Honestly, I can’t even blame you. You’ve tried avoiding him. It’s him” Jasper spoke normally now.
“Read the room babes. Devran likes Mira and hates her for it” she gave us a ‘duh’ expression. I had been fighting the notion but honestly it was the only thing that was starting to make sense.
He hated that he liked me and he was being a dick to everyone for it.
-
Since it was my birthday I dressed better than I would at a normal kickback. I had a black short turtleneck with long sleeves, a leather skirt with two zippers down the front, and some black knee high boots.
I did a dusting of the gold shimmer Melanie put on me before and light mascara. My hair always had it’s waves. I left it as was.
Mel wore high waist jeans with a tight bodysuit tucked inside. She wore big hoops tonight. “Yes, we look hot,” she grinned in the mirror. You knew it would be a good night when Mel made a comment like that.
Jasper met us at the house and we walked down to the clearing together once we were all ready. Jasper was dressed in his normal clothes.
“What’s in the bag then?” we asked, we were purposely the first to get there so we could start the fire and light the lanterns. We brought some blankets to spread on the floor to sit down since carrying chairs up here would be annoying.
“I have some bottles” Jasper unzipped his bag to pull them out. I liked brown liquor and Melanie liked vodka but he brought both.
When Declan showed up it was with a mini cooler he and Lyson were carrying so we could ice the drinks. They already had some beers in it. Melanie went and climbed on Lysons lap.
“Happy birthday” he nodded to me. I thanked him and poked at the fire to be sure it wasn’t going to go out. “I got this” Jasper shooed me away. Declan gave me a hug and wished me a happy birthday too.
Not even 10 minutes later Daisy and Grace showed up. That’s all of us. It was the perfect kind of kickback. The bonfire was going, drinks were flowing, and we had a good conversation as we sat in a circle around the fire.
When a wolf ran through the clearing I almost shrieked. “Who the fuck was that?!” I asked, while everyone else was still looking around.
“Someone on a wolf run, it’s fine” Jasper chuckled.
I hadn’t expected it and wasn’t sure if it was an intruder of any kind but they must’ve recognized the scent because they all started talking again. Then we heard twigs snapping. Everyone went quiet again.
“Someone’s coming,” Declan pointed out. “A lot of someone’s” Jasper stood up to look around. “Oh no” was all I heard him say.
I leapt up with nerves. I thought maybe a rogue had broken through their territory and now we’re out here ready to be picked off. Instead it was worse.
“Hey fuckers, no invite?” Diego called out. Behind him was a bunch of Jasper’s friends. Trevor, Matt, Tommy, Diego, and of course Devran.
“This is supposed to be low key guys” Jasper told his buddies.
“How the hell did they find out about this?” I whisper-yelled to Mel. Daisy chewed the side of her cheek making herself look suspicious.
“I’m sorry! My brother kept asking. I slipped” she apologized. Stupid Daisy told stupid Diego who told stupid Devran.
“Happy birthday Mira” Trevor hugged me. I rarely ever spoke to these guys anymore. Before Devran came back from training I did hang around them more because I hung out with Jasper’s friend group. But lately, not at all.
I got a few more birthday wishes and then they threw down a second cooler full of alcohol and started seating themselves around the fire.
“We’ve got music” Matt pulled a mini speaker out. I don’t know what it was connected to but it worked.
The five new guys added extra noise to the once chill kickback but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves so I just ignored Devran and decided to enjoy my day.
Everybody cheered and took shots in my name before we started playing games or telling stories. They were playing a drinking card game. I decided to join but needed to be told how to play.
It’s called Kings and the rules go as follows.
If you pull a 2 it means you get to pick someone to drink, 3 is me meaning you yourself has to drink, 4 is floor which means you have to tap the floor and whoever does it last has to drink, 5 is guys, 6 is chicks, 7 is heaven meaning you have to raise your hand and last to react has to drink.
8 is pick a date so that for the rest of the game whatever you have to do they have to do, 9 is rhyme which can be a hard one. You start a word and it starts going around the circle. Someone needs to rhyme a word with it and whoever fumbles drinks.
With the higher cards you can do things like make a game rule, pardon a friend, or place a dare. They made that part up themselves; they say it isn’t a part of the normal version of King’s but it sounded fun anyways.
Everyone decided to participate since it’s more fun that way. Since it was my birthday they let me draw from the deck first. I drew a 3 which meant I’m the one who had to drink.
Next to me was Jasper, he drew a 5 which means all the guys drink. It went on that way around the whole circle. We had to hit the floor, Daisy lost that round. We had to rhyme, Tommy messed up the flow when he couldn’t think of a word that rhymes with clock.
The bigger the buzz we got the more intense the game got. We were hollering at each other and laughing our asses off when someone messed up or started arguing that they raised their hand to the sky first.
Melanie drew a queen which meant she could either make a rule or place a dare. I saw the glint in her eyes from across the circle and she said, “Birthday girl, I dare you to kiss one of the guys.”
My jaw dropped for her evil betrayal. Jasper snorted a laugh and the girls giggled. I looked around at everyone and had no idea who I should kiss. It’d be awkward to kiss Jasper. He’s too much like a brother to me. I would never in a million years kiss Devran.
Since I was stalling Trevor raised his hand, “I volunteer.”
A couple people laughed and I shrugged. “Whatever, sure,” I said, crawling over to where he was sitting. Everyone’s eyes were on us but only one particular pair burned.
Trevor stood up so I did too. When his head dipped down our noses touched before cold air replaced the heat from Trevor’s skin. I opened my eyes and saw Trevor on the floor.
Devran was standing there, chest heaving, clearly having just tossed his friend to the ground. I looked up at him wide eyed and so did everyone else.
“I knew it” I heard Jasper say, but to whom I don’t know. And about what, I wasn’t sure. “Uh, I guess Alpha volunteers” drunk Mel tried to lighten the mood.
“What the hell” Trevor said at the same time. He stood up and dusted himself off. He couldn’t exactly have a standoff with Devran without directly challenging his leader, so with a scowl he retook his seat.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to him. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me behind a tree.
“Better question is what are you doing?” his angry voice was low enough that the others couldn’t hear. I heard their muttering voices and I’m sure they were all trying to figure out what was going on.
“Playing a game on my birthday, which you crashed” I pointed out. “And why exactly wasn’t I invited? Don’t want the boss at your birthday party?” he crossed his arms.
“We aren’t turning this onto me. You just threw your friend to the ground. Why?” with the alcohol fueling me I could have this conversation.
“Because I can” was his lame response.
“No, a real answer” I refused to accept that. His jaw ticked. “Tell me right now or I’m going back there and finishing what I started” I added.
“Are you threatening me?” his voice got a notch louder. “How is it a threat unless you care if I do it?” I trapped him. He set his jaw and would say nothing. I took that as my cue to leave, and I did.
“Everything okay?” Jasper asked, standing up to meet me halfway.
“Yup, everything’s fine. Trevor” I looked down at him to see if he was still game. Trevor looked over his shoulder at his Alpha who was still standing off in the distance. He looked around and shrugged, standing up again.
“Oh yeah, games back on,” Melanie hooted. I put my hands on Trevor’s chest so I could stand on my toes and give him a peck. I wasn’t planning on making out with the kid.
As soon as our lips touched and only barely I lost the sensation of them again. I stumbled back when the force of something knocked straight into Trevor and tripped me.
Tommy pulled me so I wouldn’t fall backwards into the fire. Instead I landed on my bum beside it.