The party was already in full swing when we arrived just as Noah and Dane had said it would be. There was a big tent set up in the middle of the clearing and people were laughing and carrying on with each other. Children were running around and screaming there heads off. It had been almost a year since I had attended any pack activities so it was heartwarming to be able to know that this was the first real event I was attending with my new pack.
Noah stood beside me looking over the crowd proudly, "So are you happy with your decision to join this pack?"
"I do feel happy and that's a new feeling—" I say back to him with a tiny smile, "It's been a long time since I've been happy—even before my rejection I wasn't very happy. Mostly I just did things because thats what other people expected of me. Now I do them because they're what I want to do."
"You're always surprising me." He whispers down to me and I can hear the smile in his tone. I peer over at him wanting to see for myself. He doesn't look at me but there is a ghost of a smile on his lips, "You are quite wise when you want to be. You know when you aren't throwing fits or trying to be purposefully obnoxious."
"And you were doing so well to..." I mumble to myself as I look away from him with a slight frown. A small silence grows between and I'm not sure which one of us is going to break it first. He nudges me with his elbow, "Go on and enjoy the party, it is for you after all." He suggests and I look back to him with a lifted brow, "I thought you said they liked to party—seems like I'm just an excuse." I tease. He rolls his eyes at me and pushes me away from him making me stumble a little, "You're annoying me—go enjoy the party Scarlett." I frown at him his voice turning a little cold. There he was wearing that unreadable expression again that made me want to understand what was going on in that head of his. I knew he wanted me, he'd made that clear by the heated kiss in his office but was that all he wanted me for? The thought made me cringe.
Before I could open my mouth and say something stupid Jane rushed out of the crowd and grabbed my hand, "Sorry Alpha but I'm going to steal Scarlett for a bit." He gave Jane a forced smile, "By all means—try not to get into trouble Scarlett."
I stared after him as Jane dragged me away, part of me hurt and confused by his sudden change but the other part telling me I should be relieved. Jane pulled me onto the dance floor next to Nadia and Christa. I did my best to push thoughts of Noah to the back of my head, deciding I deserved to enjoy this moment. It was the start of my new life and I wasn't going to let some grumpy Alpha ruin it for me.
"I'm going to get us something to drink." Jane yells and races off again. I turn to see that Nadia was dancing to the music with excitement and Christa was swaying awkwardly as if not sure what she was supposed to do. The sight had me trying to hold back laughter, "What do you call that?" I yell at Christa over the music. She looked to me in confusion, "What?"
"Do you call that dancing where you are from?" I tease and watch her face turn bright red. "Shut up! I wasn't really allowed to do things like this in my pack okay?" She says back defensively and I hold up my hands in mock surrender smiling at her, "Well you're not in your old pack anymore—so lighten up a bit. I mean look at Nadia—" I motion a hand towards her. She looks between us with a smile, a faint blush on her cheeks, "What about me?"
"I believe she has been drinking the punch..." Christa suggests and I laugh, which makes Nadia laugh as well.
Jane returns with cups for all of us, "Drink up ladies! Tonight we forget about all our troubles and enjoy ourselves."
"Cheers!" Nadia yells and clanks the plastic cup against Janes. I smirk, "Cheers!" I join in clanking my cup as well. Christa stares at her cup for a moment and with a reluctant sigh joins us. It isn't long before we are all dancing and laughing like a bunch of idiots. I'm not sure how many cups of the punch I've drunk but it's enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Enough to make my mind feel a bit foggy.
"I need to get some fresh air!" I yell into Jane's ear, "I'll be back." She nods her head with a bright smile before turning attention back to Nadia who was trying to teach Christa her dance moves. I shake my head with a small laugh as I wander out of the crowd. I spot the woods nearby and I make my way toward them without much thought. Once I'm a pretty good distance from the party I lean myself into a tree and take a deep breath. Now that I wasn't surrounded by people the thoughts of Noah started to swirl around my head. I could feel the frustration creeping back in.
A breeze whips around me raising goosebumps across my skin. I catch the scent of water on the wind and I that maybe a little midnight dip might be nice. I move through the trees following the scent until I reach what looks like a small pond. I smile to myself and then look around quickly before I start stripping out of my clothes. Once I'm free I wade out into the water which is much warmer than I had been expecting. I took in a deep breath before I sunk down under the surface.
When I pop back to the surface I hear someone let out a curse behind me.
I spin around quickly in the water to see Noah standing there. I let out a small yelp before I cross my arms over my chest and sink lower into the water, "What the hell Noah? How long have you been there?" I growl at him feeling extremely embarrassed. He looked away from and I couldn't be certain but I'm sure I saw blush on his cheeks, "Not long—I was wondering the woods and I caught your scent—" He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.
I watch him silently for a few minutes before a small giggle rips out of me. His hand drops and he looks to me hesitantly and I try to stifle my amusement, "Are you laughing at me?" He asks his voice sounding curious and also slightly annoyed at the thought someone would be laughing at him.
I shake my hand, holding a hand to my mouth but I know my eyes are sparkling with my amusement. I take breath trying to compose myself, "Why were you wondering around the woods? I mean other than creeping on unsuspecting she-wolves apparently." I tease. I wanted to be mad at him for his cold treatment of me earlier but now that he's standing in front of me I can't quite find the anger. Instead it's been replaced with the urge to keep myself in his presence for a little while longer.
He frowns at me, "I wasn't creeping on anyone—"
"Uh-huh." I say with a smirk, "You still didn't answer my question, though."
His frown deepens and he lets out a sigh, "I just didn't feel like being surrounded by people at the moment." I try to hide my disappointment at the fact that he is still so unwilling to open up to me but I pushed it away.
"Care for a swim?" I ask steering the conversation away from whatever was clearly upsetting him. His eyebrow shot up as her looked to me. I paddled around a little, "Unless the big bad Alpha is afraid of a little water." I tease with a toothy grin as I splash some water in his direction. I'm sure that any other time I wouldn't be this relaxed at the idea of skinny dipping with my mate but thanks to all those punches I'm feeling fantastic even the grumpiness of my mate couldn't ruin it.
I watched a smirk spread over his lips, whatever that was bothering him pushed to the back of his mind as he kicked off his shoes. He began to quickly unbutton his shirt and I ate up every inch of skin that he revealed to me. I licked my lips at the fact that I was practically getting my very own strip tease. I hear his deep chuckle, "You may want to wipe the drool from your face." His voice is husky. My eyes snap back up to his and I feel my face heat at the fact that I had been caught practically sexing him up with my eyes, "I'm allowed to look!" I snap and stick my tongue out at him childishly.
He pulls his shirt off the rest of the way, "I never told you that you couldn't but I wouldn't call what you were doing looking—"
I make a face at him before I dropped back down under the water trying to clear my mind from all the dirty thoughts racing through it. When I come back up Noah is already in the water a couple of feet from me, "So what spiked the sudden interest for a swim?" He asks.
I shrug my shoulders and glide further away from him. He watches the movements with dark eyes, "You're always running away from me." He states with a bit of a smile. I feel my cheeks rush with heat when I realize that I had in fact moved away from him without even meaning too. I eyed him thoughtfully, "Perhaps it's just in my nature to run when something dangerous is nearby." I suggest and watch his eyes focus on me like they would prey.
"Do you think I'm dangerous?" He asks in dark tone that makes me shiver with a strange excitement laced with fear.
"I don't think you are. I know you are." I say. At least to me, I think while I keep my gaze focused on him. He takes my words and smirks before moving towards me a bit, "That's probably one of the most intelligent things you've ever said." He comments and I resist the urge to roll my eyes not wanting to tempt him into punishing me.
"But it's nothing I can't handle." I say as I throw a challenging smirk in his direction. He lifts a brow, "If that's true then why do you runaway?"
I clench my draw together losing my smirk knowing he'd beaten me with that question. I stared him down, "I'm not the only one who runs away." I bite back defensively. He seems surprised by my words for a moment and quickly masks it as he usually did anytime he showed emotions. I blame it on the alcohol running through my system as I moved towards him, "Anytime we start to have any kind of conversation where we're getting along. You run away like a scared little pup with his tail tucked between his legs."
He clenched his jaw tightly and stared back at me saying nothing. I decided if he wasn't yelling at me then I should keep going, "Why weren't you at the party tonight?"
"I told you—"
"Why were you wandering around in the woods instead of enjoying the time with your pack? Don't feed me bullshit about wanting to be alone Noah..."
"I don't want to talk about this" He sounds frustrated.
"Is it so awful to be around them? They really respect and care about you Noah but you act like you don't even care—"
"Scarlett, that's enough" He growls but I'm on a roll there is no way I can stop now.
"Is it so awful to be around me? Do you hate me that much?" I practically shout.
He reaches out and grabs onto my arms in strong grip startling me. He is looking down at me with a dark gaze that says I've gone to far this time. I feel my heart thrash rapidly inside my chest and I find breathing to be difficult. The last question had been for my own sake. The one thing that had been on my mind all night and the one thing my heart desperately wanted the answer to but had been to afraid to ask. Now that I was full of liquor the question had just tumbled out of me and there was no way to take it back.
"I can't do this Scarlett!" He growls down at me, "Every time I'm near you I think of Claire and all I feel is guilt! But I can't—"
"What?" I interrupt him feeling my heart sink in my chest and my eyes widen in horror. All the memories of the past are flying through my mind, those words echoed through my head like a thousand knives piercing my soul, "But you said—" I say breathlessly. Suddenly the anger takes over and I start to thrash around in his hold, "Let go of me! You're an ass!"
"Scarlett, calm down..." He says to me.
I glare up at him I'm sure my eyes are dark, "If you do not let go of me I am going to rip you apart with my teeth. If you think I'm kidding go ahead and try me—find out how serious I am." My voice sounds venomous even I'm a bit shocked.
"Just shut up and let me explain..." He sounds annoyed and not the least bit concerned by my threat.
"I told you to reject me in the beginning but you wouldn't. Instead you marked me and now you want reject me? You really are a heartless bastard aren't you?"
His eyes widened at my words, "I'm not reject—"
I growl loud, "I told you to let go me!" I bring my legs up and kick out at him, hitting him right in the stomach. He gets knocked off balance and loses his grip on my arms. I take the opportunity to wade quickly out of the water not caring that I am naked as the day I came out of my mother. There is loud splashing behind me and I hurry up my pace but I don't get far before I am tackled down to the ground.
I try to get him off me but he's overpowered me with his weight, "Get the hell off me Noah!" I screech in frustration as angry tears begin to fill my eyes.
"Not until you shut up and listen to me!" He growls into my ear his hot breath hit my skin causing gooseflesh to rise. I grit my teeth against the sensations coursing through me, "Go to hell!" I growl back at him. He growls again as he grips me and flips me over so that we are nestled together chest to chest with absolutely nothing between us. His dark eyes staring down into mine challenging me to fight him more. I glare up at him my eye moving over his face and I feel my wolf rushing towards the surface. My thoughts have put her into distress and she wants to get to her mate.
Maybe it was the fear of facing rejection again but I felt myself shrinking back in my mind and allowing my wolf to take over to possibly shield me in someway from in the incoming pain. That was a mistake because once I was shoved back and she was in control I saw what she planned to do. Before I could pull the reigns back on her, she had me pushing my head up into the crook of his neck and biting into his flesh. Claiming him as mine, as ours.
Now he cannot reject us, She thinks proudly.
I am completely speechless as I feel the bond between us tighten around me to the point where it feels like it's hard to breathe. I register Noah's hiss of pain in my mind. I retract my teeth from him and gently lick the wound. He stumbles off of me, falling onto his back on the ground next to me. I quickly sit up turning to him is concern, "Oh my god Noah, I'm sorry—I'm sorry." I find my words spilling out as I look down at him. His eyes are clouded a bit and he seems slightly out of it as he looks up at me but he doesn't say anything. His eyes slowly flutter shut and I curse myself. I can't believe I was so stupid now I've seriously done it.
It isn't long before Dane, Christa and Jane are rushing through the trees. I'm sure that Dane must have sensed something was wrong with Noah through their Bond. Dane was the first to move towards us hesitantly, "Scarlett?"
I look up towards him and I knew I must look terrible, "I didn't mean to—it just happened. I couldn't control it." I ramble. Dane looks from me to Noah who is laying unconscious, "What happened?" He asks me calmly as he moves closer.
"I marked him."
Dane stops moving and looks to me and then back to Noah, "Uh—well...I'll help you get him back to the house. He'll be fine..." He tries to reassure me. I nod my head blankly still trying to come to terms with the strange turn of events, "He's going to be really angry with me when he wakes up—"
Dane chuckles, "Probably—"
"But it's not like he didn't earn this—in fact I'd say were even." I say as I look back to him my heart clenching tightly. Great, now it was going to be even harder to fight my feelings for him.