Due to Caleb, Cameron, Kate, Flora and Toby choosing after some time of partying the wolfsbane powder they obviously couldn't drive anymore and were seriously exhausting us – like always.
While Sean had Toby and Fynn thrown over his shoulders; Zack carried Enzo and Chat.
Lucien carried his red-haired sister and the brown-haired Gamma who were both just completely drunk. Leandra took Cameron simply and got watched with wide eyes from men and women – or some more horny.
Naika chose Emi because she was too small to carry the boys. My little dwarf sister.
Cassian was so kind as to carry some of my friends and carried Ethan and Zack on his shoulders who almost were in a comatose state of being drunk and they were the worst of them all. Just like always.
And then there was I who carried my younger brother over my shoulder.
Because Lucien lived not far from the Spotlight on and Kate almost next to him he just walked home while carrying the girls.
We others distributed the other drunkards between the cars and needed to squeeze them a little bit together because there wasn't enough space. Normally it was forbidden but, in another way, we didn't fit together, and we didn't want to drive two times.
Fynn sat on Toby's lap just like Jack on Ethan's. In addition to that were Caleb, Cassian and I in that car which would be driven by Cassian.
In the other car were Chat on Cameron's lap, Naika on Leandra's and Emi on Enzo's. In the font sat Sean and Zack – the older vampire drove the car.
»Be right back,« I said to Cassian after we buckled up everyone and ran my fingers through my shaggy blond hair. The feeling of being blond again was kind of unfamiliar because I had brown hair for a very long time – almost for all the years in Canada.
»Sure,« he murmured absent with his thoughts while he tried to buckle Toby and Fynn together.
Quickly I went back into the building and went backstage. Now everything was dark here because there weren't any more bands that needed to prepare themselves.
Just muffled, I heard the sounds of the still big crowd through the thick walls. The last band left an hour ago and now only the DJ played music.
It didn't take long for me to find the two guitar cases and the bass case. Quickly I grabbed the bag in which Jack always put his drumsticks and threw my guitar case on my back before I grasped the other two cases with my hands.
Suddenly I heard something rattle to the ground and looked up in confusion.
»Is there someone?«
Frowning, I looked around in the darkness but couldn't see or smell someone, couldn't even hear a heartbeat so I just shrugged my shoulders and left backstage. Probably nothing.
»Everyone buckled up?« I asked as I walked up to Cassian who leaned against his car and surprisingly had a cigarette between his lips. I hated the scent of those things and normally he didn't smell like them – my nose was too sensitive to not notice.
»Buckled up and ready,« he confirmed. »The others already drove off. I just waited for you.«
He blew out the smoke and followed me to the trunk in which I put the instruments.
»How merciful of you to wait for me,« I chuckled.
»Since when do you smoke?« Of course, I needed to ask, if not it wouldn't let go of me.
»Normally not at all. As stupid as it sounds it calms my emotions if they get too chaotic.«
For a few seconds I just eyed him before I nodded.
»I understood. I just wondered about it because you don't smell like those stupid things. A hint for you, I hate them mostly their scent.«
Disgusted, a shiver shook my body and made him smile. He walked over to a trashcan and threw away the cigarette after putting it out and then sat down behind the wheel.
»As I said, normally not at all. If I get such a moment, I normally sort myself out with training or ice crème but both of those weren't in my vicinity so I needed to get an emergency solution,« he explained laughing and made me slightly grin.
»Seems like we have after all something in common.«
With raised eyebrows he watched me while starting his car and getting out of the parking lot. Ethan could get his scooter tomorrow by himself. His own fault!
»In what way? I mean, we are mates. Sure, opposites attract each other but somehow, we need to have something in common.« Quietly I giggled and shook my head. I wasn't out for that.
»Ice,« I said. »I love ice. That's the best way to get rid of your frustration. Come on, I count to three, we both will say our two favorite flavors at the same time.«
I counted to three. »Cherry-cream and caramel-nougat!« we both said in sync and stared at each other, startled, before we burst out laughing heartily. Seemed like something didn't change from our childhood.
»I'm quite glad that they are all deep asleep,« Cassian laughed and threw a quick look to the backseats. How true his words were.
Fynn was completely cuddling himself at Toby who drooled and had his arms tightly around the blond boy.
Ethan had his head leaned backwards against the seat and his mouth was wide open and he snored quietly, while Jackson laid half on Caleb who leaned against the window and had a squeezed face.
»I think we shouldn't bring Jack and Ethan to their homes. Mrs. Copper will snap Jacksons neck and personally I don't want Ethan to get home looking like that.« As the memories of his father came up a disgusted chill went down my spine.
His father was a human and his mother the wolf in their family from which he had the genes. His mother got killed by an attack of rogues and Mr. Conner chose alcohol to cope with it. They weren't mates but they still loved each other very much which always fascinated me.
He was dependent for many years and got very aggressive when drunk. Often, almost every day, he hit Ethan. He didn't even need a reason or something that provoked him, he just did it as long as Ethan was in the same room – although no reason justified abusing their own children.
For Mr. Conner's own luck Ethan was a wolf with a great self-control, if not he would have probably torn apart his father in a fit of rage and loss of control and then would have sat in the blood of his own father – traumatized by his own doing.
Back then that pain in the ass begged me to not tell anyone that his father was abusing him because he didn't want to lose him too. However, someday Lucien's father – the current Delta – saw the bruises and wounds on Ethan's body.
When we got older our bodies healed faster but with the frequency of the beatings his body couldn't even start the process to heal him. It couldn't get any rest.
The Delta spoke to his father and listened to his pain and after that he begged Ethan in tears for forgiveness. Ethan wasn't angry, no, he hugged his father and told him that he felt the same pain and anger because of the loss of his mother. But he coped with his anger in another way than alcohol.
His father then went into a closed off clinic and got off addiction. He got out five years ago if I'm not wrong.
However, I knew Ethan and knew that he didn't want to show his father how drunk he was. Not because he feared his father could get a relapse but because he didn't want his father to find out that he lost himself a bit in the alcohol out of frustration too, although his mother was now eleven years dead.
He just didn't tell his father that he also chose alcohol on a few occasions.
»Then it would be best to go to your or better said to the house my Dad gave you guys,« Cassian decided, and I nodded distractedly.
I didn't know much about the bond between mates, only that the attraction was strong and that we needed to mark each other with a bite in the nape, if not both or one mate for being too weak would die within three days which made it quite difficult with human mates.
And that most wolves lost their minds if they lost their mates. Or the bond was so strong that they would die because of the loss of the other half of their soul.
I was unaware of it before because before Cassian I couldn't imagine how strong the mate bond really was. It wasn't love that felt from this attraction, more of an unknown feeling that always haunted my mind.
In particular when he wasn't at my side, thoughts about him always haunted me. I always compared him to others and asked myself what he was doing and how he felt. And then there was this tingling inside of me that made me go crazy on one side but on the other side it felt damn right.
Lastly, his lips haunted my senses and forced me to kiss him again, but my rationality won and my shame paired with my shyness that I hated in such moments and loved at the same time. But I was sure of one thing.
I didn't want to know the pain to ever lose Cassian.
»Kyran? Are you coming out?«
Confused, I lifted my head and met Cassian's green eyes. He already got out of his car and was about to buckle off Caleb.
»Oh, uh, yes on my way,« I stammered, shortly overburdened and then unbuckled Toby and Fynn, who I carried one at a time into the house and into their room.
Zack and Sean helped to carry Ethan and Jackson who they put on the couch in the living room. We put Caleb there too and somehow, the three shared one blanket – it was the only one we had left.
Sighing I fell down on my bed and immediately Coffee jumped onto my belly and sat down. »Nice view above there?« I asked, amused and my kitten looked at me with a tilted head.
Slightly smiling I rolled my eyes and looked to Cassian who stood in the doorframe. »Even though Coffee is a cat, I like her.«
Laughing I nodded and she jumped down and cuddled herself against Cassian's legs. Grinning, he squatted down and petted her fur.
»Well then, Coffee. I will drive home now.« She looked up to him as he stood up again and I sat up too.
»It's late,« I said. »Don't you want to stay over?«
Surprised, his eyes went wide and he looked at me speechless. I was even surprised.
Did I really offer him to sleep here and with the biggest probability inside my bed to that which wasn't even that big and avoiding body contact was impossible? Fuck!
»I don't need to if you don't want to, Kyran. I can just drive home,« he said and jingled his car keys.
»Come one now. I already made the offer, just accept it!« I thundered and crossed my arms and pulled a sulking grimace. I was insecure about it, but I already asked him and that must have meant something. And I didn't want to chicken out.
A slight smile appeared on his lips before he went to my bed and let himself fall down on it.
»Aside from that, I would have forced you to come here tomorrow.« Confused, he looked over to me and tilted his head. »Why?«
»Very easily,« I laughed.
»For the most part in this house are just drunkards and my drunk friends are never friendly in the morning. And if you don't want me to get a broken arm or some other broken bones put some distance between Fynn and I. And Coffee should stay inside my room until Cameron sobered up. I don't want to risk some kind of escalation between him and her.«
Laughing he shook his head and took off his jacket that he put on the chair in front of my desk. »And what if I want to see Fynn and you fighting again?«
Right away I pulled up my eyebrows and removed my black sport shoes which I threw at him. Sadly, he defended against both. Damn it.
»Because you would try to get between us at some point. Or do you think I didn't notice you trying to get between us at the training?«
»You noticed that?« he asked and blushed around his nose – what, I needed to admit, looked cute.
»That was the reason why I transformed myself. If not, I had thrown Fynn off me in some other way. But in the end, that move got me a win. Still, yeah, I noticed it.«
Insecure, he walked towards me with a few steps and had this tormented look on his face. Cautious he lifted my shirt and touched my scars with trembling fingers.
Immediately I grasped his face and cupped his cheeks in my hands and forced him to look into my brown eyes.
»Stop it,« I ordered strictly and looked firmly at him.
»I can't. The guilt eats me up,« he breathed desperately and closed his eyes before he grimaced.
»Cassian. Hey, look at me. Cassian!«
He ignored me and shook his head in denial when I called him. Sighing I leaned my forehead against his chest and let my arms fall down at my sides.
»Cas,« I tried the last name I could come up with and that made sense to me.
In our childhood I always called him by that nickname. I could feel how he flinched and took a deep breath.
»Cas, it's okay. Do you hear me? Stop sulking in your guilt. The day was long and I'm fucking exhausted. Technically, I don't want to go to bed with this alcohol smell but I'm even too tired to shower now,« I grumbled and felt him slightly nod.
Carefully I grasped his hand and pulled him to the bed and laid down and pulled the blanket over me just to hold it up a bit so he could join me. Before that I had turned off the lights.
He crawled under the blanket and as I said before, the bet was too damn small for two people.
Yawning I turned to the side and saw that Coffee rolled herself to a ball at our feet.
»Are you going to keep calling me by my nickname?« he asked quietly into the darkness.
»If you want me to,« I answered just as quietly.
»Yes.«
»Then, good night, Cas.«
»Sleep well, Kyran.«