~~2 weeks later in a random club~~
~Music playing - Crazy in Love (Beyoncé & Jay-Z)~
"One. Two. Three. Go."
"Yaaaaayyyy. You're a rockstar cute butt."
"No. He's a Basketstar. Go Liam."
Like you heard, we are totally, completely, incandescently drunk.
Actually, we are here to celebrate Liam's three baskets, one of which was the winning stroke, against the Evergreen Medical College & Hospital. He was super fantastic today.
After the match, we wanted to celebrate so we got here. And this is our.... Ummm.... I don't remember which drink. This place feels like heaven. So free and so young. With the mind blasting music and so many happy spirits dancing and drinking heartily. One can definitely lose themselves here.
It's only been an hour since we got here and we are way beyond drunk. I feel so liberated, from the shackles of Derek's infinite beauty. Yeah, he looked super hot during the game. The way he tackled the ball, his movements were so graceful, not rough at all, the way he smiled when he collected the trophy along with douchey. How he came upto Liam to congratulate him. And how he glanced at me and his eyes, his eyes felt like they were trying to communicate something to me. I wish he had used his mouth instead of eye-talking to me. But then I melted and I wanted grab him and kiss him right there in the field, not caring who would see and who wouldn't. 'Life is short. Kiss the guy you like.' I thought but shrugged the thought away shaking my head.
So here I am, drinking all the way to get his beautiful face out of my head.
"Thankyouuuu guyss. I...am...belated." Liam said laughing and slurring his voice.
"It's elated you idiot." I said laughing out loud. Vallie and Liam laughed out joining me.
"You know you should....totally bang Derek. God he's soooooo hott." Vallie said.
"You think?? Would be the best day of my life." I said smiling shyly.
"Jeez what are you talking about?? Derek's gay. Told ya didn't I??" Liam said gulping another glass of whiskey in one go.
Vallie and I made faces and laughed.
"Think you're right. Else he wouldn't have rejected a sexy girl like me." I said and then there it was, a loud pour of laughter.
In the mean time the waiter poured us another round, I saw Alex and his band of minions entering the club. I drowned my glass of whiskey and smirked.
"Be right back." I said and walked towards Alex who was sitting alone while his minions went to get drinks and snacks.
Vallie and Liam were indulged in drinking but they concentrated their gaze towards me and douchey once they saw me sit next to him.
"Hiiii." I said smiling too much. I was drunk beyond limits and faking a smile only made me look funny.
My eyes and cheeks were red due to excessive laughing and I was only, I guess, 15 or 20 minutes away from passing out.
Alex turned his attention to me and smirked, "Oh hello, Amarra."
"Aww you know my name."
"I do." He said. "To what do I owe this pleasure??" He said gesturing that I was sitting next to him. "Cause last time I checked, you hated me."
"Wellll...." I chuckled. "That's probably ancient history." I said keeping my hand on the table and leaning on it.
"I see. And I also see that you're way beyond drunk and totally out of control." He said leaning towards me. And I knew what I had to do.
"Welll....you tried to get me out of control by spiking my drink in the Freshers party."
"Failed attempt. Agreed. And definitely not my finest performance." He said cockily.
"Totally. Derek said he handled you. What exactly did he do to handle you??" I smiled my signature charming smile.
"Where did Derek freaking Hale come from?? I thought the conversation was getting interesting." He leaned in more.
"It could. If you tell me why the fuck did you fucking spike my drink." I said. My voice turned from vanilla icecream to paprika in one second.
"Ahhh it was just a prank you know. Didn't plan it for something otherwise. Only for fun." He said smirking. I nodded glaring at him.
"Anyway did you ever find what happened to your Mustang??" I asked.
"What?? How did you know about it?? No one does." He asked in shock and I smirked back.
My eyelids felt heavy and lacked the strength to keep open. I was feeling dizzy. I saw Liam and Vallie sitting at a distance, horror laced on their faces. They looked sober. Like all the whiskey left their system in an instant. 'What are they scared about??' I asked myself.
And before I could answer my stupid brain, I felt a presence behind me. Turning from my seat, I saw the one and only Derek freaking Hale.
I quickly turned to Alex and asked, "Do you see someone behind me??? Or I am just seeing people?? I can't be that drunk."
"There definitely is someone behind you." He gestured and smirked.
I turned toward Derek and gave him the sweetest smile while he gave me a blank look. "Oh Derek. Sweet Derek. Are you following me?? Trying to protect me from darkness??" I said and laughed while standing from my seat.
Alex was shocked to hear terms of endearment for Derek coming from me. I was looking straight into Derek's eyes when he decided to speak.
"Enough now. You're coming with me." He said sternly holding me by my elbow, ready to drag me out from the club. "Liam and you.... Follow me." He said and Liam and Vallie stood up from their seats to follow him out.
He dragged me out, followed by Liam and Vallie but not before staring angrily at Alex who was totally amused by the situation.
"Bubye lover boy. Glad to see you back in the game." Alex shouted on top of his lungs and Derek left without even acknowledging.
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~~The Hales and Andersons~~
The history of the Hale and the Anderson family goes way back, like 100 years back. They were the two extremely powerful werewolf clans that existed back then.
Their power and loyalty towards one another was unquestionable. That's what drew Talia and John to each other. Talia was a powerful Alpha and John was a beta werewolf.
Although, their marriage was fixed when they were two years old, they eventually fell in love with each other, spending every possible minute together, even helping each other out during the full moon.
Grandfather Hale and Anderson got them married at the age of eighteen and Talia had her first born Laura at the age of nineteen.
Until then, Talia was still a beta werewolf, her father being the Alpha of the Hale clan. John and Talia were considered soulmates, but things changed when a few months after Laura was born, Talia's father died. He was hunted down and shot by a bullet laced with yellow wolfsbane.
The yellow wolfsbane is a rare kind of wolfsbane and if shot, the result was only death. Atleast it was in those days.
When Grandfather Hale died, the power shifted automatically to his only child, Talia Hale, making her the Alpha of the Hale clan. Talia was always a very strong leader, she was devoted to her clan as well as the Anderson clan.
People loved her and that was what concerned John, as he was not exactly loved by the clan members. John was the second son of his father, so after his death the Alpha status shifted to John's elder brother, Richard, who wasn't a great leader but was honest and tried to keep the clan together.
John, on the other hand, was growing impatient. He wanted power just like Talia and Richard had. But the road to power isn't easy and those who try to usurp it always lead to bloodshed.
John, being power hungry, conspired with a few hunters indirectly leading them to Richard and got him killed, finally winning the alpha status.
Although, no one suspected John of getting his own brother killed, Talia knew of his indiscretions. When she confronted him, she was abused and beaten by John. She was pregnant with Derek during that time. She couldn't take John's violent behaviour. And that was the end of Talia's perfect relationship with John.
Talia gave birth to Derek a few months later cutting all ties of emotion with John. They were husband and wife in name only, for the sake of their family and their clans.
It was then that John had an affair with a local waitress Emily, who ended up getting pregnant and that's how Alex Anderson came into this world. John kept Alex after Emily ran away a few days after delivery. She left a note saying that she didn't wanted to be a mother. The only good thing John ever did was that he didn't abandon Alex.
On the other hand, Talia was devastated with John's betrayal. But when John showed up at her doorstep with a week old child, she couldn't turn him away.
She took care of Alex and that's how both Derek and Alex grew up together in the same house, Derek being elder by a year and a half.
As they grew up and Derek got to know that Alex was his half brother and what his father did to Talia, Derek began hating John and even Alex to some extent.
A year later Talia got pregnant again, after spending a night with John in a moment of weakness. Even though he was not a good man or a good husband, she still loved him ever since she could remember. It isn't easy to forget your first love, now is it????
She would have regretted it but she ended up getting pregnant with Cora. Her happiness had no bounds. She actually thought that she and John had a chance. She thought that Cora would reunite their family. But John had never changed. He was still as wicked and power hungry as he always was.
Now that John was the alpha of the Andersons, he grew more and more wicked with each passing day. He never cared about his children or his clan. The only thing that mattered to him now was usurping the power of the Hale clan.
But Talia Hale wasn't one to mess around with. She never gave up and eighteen years went by like this, Talia defending her alpha status and protecting her people and, John losing his clan members gradually. He was acting crazy.
He was jealous of Talia's popularity. Every werewolf wanted to be in her good books, she was that powerful and respected. And he did something out of anger and jealousy that he shouldn't have. He got her killed by one of his men. It was a bullet laced with yellow wolfsbane. She didn't survive.
After Talia's death, John tried to claim the Hale clan but the Alpha status shifted to her first born, Laura, making her the new alpha. John tried to convince her that she couldn't do it alone as she was only twenty years old, but Laura knew better.
Talia had been training her ever since she was fourteen years old. She was a well-trained alpha werewolf. She declined John's offer after dropping a hint that she knew he had gotten her mother killed.
How she knew is a story for another day. But Laura never told anything to Derek, Alex and Cora. She couldn't break their heart by telling the truth.
John Anderson is still in his children's lives but only from a distance. Laura never lets him get too involved.
So this is how twisted the Hales and the Andersons are.
__________________________________
~~BACK AT THE CAMPUS~~
Derek dropped off everyone to their respective rooms starting with Liam by calling Scout, then he helped Valerie up the stairs to her room and atlast he picked me up in his arms and carried me to my room.
Well, I had almost passed out but I knew of Derek's presence. And I knew he won't leave me until next morning.
"C'mon off to bed." He said sternly, his jaw clenched. I was drunk beyond limits but I knew that look. That was the "scary Derek" look. I had no intention of provoking him just yet so I did what I was told to do.
I sat on the bed and he helped me lie down. He took my phone from my hands and plugged it into the charger. 'Hmm so responsible. So chivalrous' I thought to myself and smiled.
I was laying down with eyes closed and didn't realize when sleep took over or you can say when the effect of the million vodkas took over.
~Third person's P.O.V.~
Derek was sitting in her room with his legs sprawled upon the little space that was left on her bed, his eyes never leaving her beautiful face. She was sleeping peacefully or so he thought. He has a thing for this girl and no matter how much he wanted to stay away, he just couldn't.
He wasn't going to attend Alex's team victory party at the club until he overheard Liam talking on the phone with Valerie and her. They were planning a celebration of their own or 'we are getting hammered tonight' were the exact words.
Derek willed himself to not go but atlast he did. And what a timing you could say, she was about to get caught for the 'Mustangopolitan' situation but he stopped her.
He cannot forget how drunk she was, her beautiful brown eyes so hazy, her cheeks were pink because of all the stupid laughing, her lips too glossy and kissable, her coffee brown hair dishevelled.
Despite all that, she looked beautiful.
He was looking at her and she stirred breaking his reverie. She turned in her sleep, her back facing him now. The duvet had slid down to her waist. Derek stood up from his very comfortable seating position and pushed the duvet covering her from neck to bottom.
He looked around in her room. The wall next to the bed was decorated with fairy lights in a random pattern. The window curtain rod had a big yellow dreamcatcher hanging from it, swaying side by side in the light breeze. There were two small picture frames on the nightstand, one was her with her parents and the other had a picture of a guy who might be her brother considering he resembled her father. And Amarra is a carbon copy of her mother.
Derek sighed at the thought that her parents were dead.
The desk was scattered with books, notebooks, pens, highlighters, a sketch book, and colour pens. He turned his gaze to the wall next to the door, the one decorated with numerous pictures. He remembered seeing those the night of the freshers party. They were polaroids pinned to a picture board.
He saw her in every picture, she was smiling in some, laughing in some, making weird faces in some. Above all, she looked in love with her life.
Derek was completely absorbed studying her in the pictures when his eyes traced the three pictures that were pinned at the bottom. She was with a guy who looked older than her but he was in almost all the pictures. And she seemed a little too close to him in these three pictures.
There was something in those solo pictures of her with that guy that made Derek oddly uncomfortable. He could see the love in their eyes for each other. He wondered what relationship she has or had with that insanely beautiful and extremely hot guy.
Derek wasn't one to get jealous but those pictures twisted his heart a little, if not a lot.
Derek turned around to see the beautiful drunk girl who was still sleeping but her position had changed from before. She was sleeping on her stomach and the duvet had again shifted down to her waist.
He got to her and stooped down on his knees, removing the few strands of hair from her face. He smiled admiring her beauty.
But it wasn't just her beauty that attracted him. It was so much more. It was her innocence. Her charming like chocolate smile. The sparkle in her eyes whenever she saw him. The sun in her hair. The flowers in her words. Moreover, it was the fact that she wanted him.
After Jenna, no one actually wanted to be with him, casting him as a loner and damaged goods.
Even here in college, Alex had told everyone about his past. So no one wanted to be with him. Not that Derek liked anyone.
Haha!!!
His good as dead heart has started to dance on the rhythms of love once again, all thanks to this beautiful drunk girl. And even though he likes it, he will never admit that he is falling for her.
__________________________________
Hello readers,
Here is a brand new chapter of ALWAYS BETTER TOGETHER for you all. I know I am late but I had a festival to celebrate so got delayed. But better late than never. Isn't it???
This chapter is mostly about Liam, Valerie and Amarra's friendship. I think I am going to call them LAV. Cool right.
Then there is the family history of the Hales and the Andersons. This family history part was important to introduce as you will be reading more of Derek, Alex and their family.
Infact the more Amarra and Derek unite, the more the story will focus on the Hales and the Andersons.
There's also a third person point of view depicting Derek and his line of thoughts.
So enjoy reading the chapter everyone. And don't forget to VOTE.
With love,
Preeti