Evan had to admit that it wasn't as bad as he had assumed. There was only an hour left until midnight, but he didn't feel like going home, and maybe, just maybe, he was having a good time. The moment they arrived at the place, they joined Michael, who was also there with his family, and Evan even exchanged a few words with his mom, who was surprisingly happy to see him. Not that he thought he'd made a bad impression on her, but it wasn't often that Evan got along with an adult. And maybe that was true only in the case of his family.
Speaking of family, after a few glasses of champagne, his mom was more relaxed than ever and was currently laughing loudly with the other she-wolves in their pack, paying no attention to Evan. In fact, he hadn't heard a bad remark from her all evening.
Everything was great, almost perfect, but the perfect part was to be fulfilled only in a few hours.
"Stop frowning, dude." From Angie's tone, she too had a chance to taste the champagne and not just a little. Also, she called him dude, which she never did.
"I didn't frown until I saw you," he remarked, letting his friend lean on his side. He was surprised that she hadn't hurt herself in those heels, judging by the way she was swaying just now.
"That's mean." And suddenly it was she who was frowning.
Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Evan instead turned his whole body towards her so he could take her hands. "Come dance."
She immediately lit up like a disco ball and a wide smile broke through a grimace. She had been complaining to him all night that they weren't dancing, and it was supposed to be a party, but Evan didn't feel like dancing in front of all these people. That is, until now.
As he mentioned, there was an hour left until midnight and he decided to spend it dancing with his best friend. There was no better option. In addition, someone finally pulled Nelson away from the speaker, so they no longer played songs that, according to Evan, should have been long forgotten in the last century. The man was a great beta, but his musical taste was lacking.
"I have a surprise for you!" Angie yelled in his ear a little louder than necessary. She was grinning widely, and when Evan spun her around, her smile turned into a giggle.
"Oh, what could it be?" Evan's tone was somewhere between amused and sarcastic, as he had no doubt that whatever his best friend had in mind was just some nonsense that just popped into her mind.
"You're gonna love it." She stopped suddenly and almost rammed into Evan, but at the last moment, she blocked her hands against his chest. From the perspective of the passersby, it might look like she did it on purpose, but Evan saw her wobble as she did so.
"Come." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him as if he was trying to break free from her grip, but he didn't protest at all and let himself be pulled in an indeterminate direction.
Her steps were brisk, so she obviously had a clear goal in mind, but she still didn't share it out loud.
She only stopped for a small moment to look around and when her eyes landed on a black-haired boy in the corner of the room, she immediately strode towards him, dragging Evan behind her. Without saying a word, she grabbed the surprised Michael with her other hand and started pulling him. His dark eyes immediately searched Evan's, but he just shrugged, having no idea what was going on either.
"Is she drunk?" Michael turned to him again.
"A little," Evan admitted. At his words, Angie turned her head in their direction to glare at the both of them, causing her to not look where she was going and sway again. Fortunately, she was immediately caught by four pairs of hands.
"You guys are terrible," she commented as they helped her to her feet.
"We should have let her fall," Michael said, earning a slap on the shoulder from said girl. She frowned for a moment, but then she seemed to remember something again and a smile appeared on her face.
"I have a surprise for you two!" she shouted cheerfully. She even applauded herself, which made Evan laugh. He knew he was terrible when he was drunk, so he was glad he stayed sober today because the combination of the two of them would be awful. This way, however, he was having fun.
"I'm not sure I want your surprise," Michael assessed, but Angie just waved it off with a "Sure you do."
"Where exactly is the surprise?" Evan asked her as they went around in circles again.
"Oh!" Again, she looked like she had just remembered something great, judging by her tone and smile. "Outside. Just a short distance away." She motioned to the door to indicate that they had to go out.
Michael and Evan's eyes met again in silent conversation. When Michael shrugged, it was a deal. They had nothing to lose as it was unlikely that Angie was trying to lure them to their deaths and besides, they had to keep an eye on her anyway.
"Lead the way," Evan said in a theatrical tone that he knew would please her.
However, before she could grab their hands again, Michael was quickly at her side as Evan rushed to open the front door, playing the gentleman. Angie giggled and rushed outside, with both boys by her side.
"You're gonna love it!" she repeated her earlier words after taking a few steps. Evan shook his head in amusement, but apparently, it was finally enough for Michael, as he laughed out loud. Evan had to admit that wasn't something he heard often, especially not in a sincere and non-sarcastic way, but Michael seemed more relaxed overall lately.
"If you say so. We should hurry." Evan ran a few meters, turned, and stopped, waiting for his friends. Angie immediately accepted the challenge and ran towards him despite her heels. At the end, she jumped right into his arms, and Evan, not expecting it, could hardly stand it, but still laughed at it.
"You're so slow!" Angie screamed at the top of her lungs as if the black-haired boy was miles away from them instead of just steps. Michael rolled his eyes at her but finally gave in and ran towards them.
Their friend obviously took this as a challenge as she jerked out of Evan's arms and ran down the road away from the others. Of course, they ran right after her, catching up with no problem, but still staying a few paces behind her to make her feel better.
That was their pace for the rest of the route until the brunette stopped abruptly and nodded to herself. Immediately after that, she took her phone out of her pocket and took a few steps away from them, covering the screen with her hand as if she didn't want them to see what she was doing.
"Angie?" Evan asked, but she just shushed him. There was silence for a few minutes until Angie let out a loud high-pitched whistle, and her face returned to its original enthusiasm.
"I think we should have had more champagne," Michael commented, looking at Evan next to him, and he couldn't agree more.
"So!" she shouted, "Are you ready for a surprise? Close your eyes and cover your ears!"
Both boys looked at her like she was crazy, but her gaze burned them so much that they finally did what she wanted them to do. The only sense they could rely on now was their sense of smell. And that was clearly Angie's intention.
Evan recognized the scent immediately.
He opened his eyes and, as if in a dream, turned in the direction of the scent he would recognize anywhere. And there he stood. Evan didn't hesitate for a second and ran towards him to throw himself into his arms, just like his best friend had done to him a moment ago.
Ryan welcomed him with open arms.
"I missed you like hell," he muttered into his shoulder, his arms tightening around him like he was going to break out of his arms at any moment. But that wasn't his intention with the way his hands held Evan like he was the most precious thing.
"I missed you more," he finally spoke, and his words warmed Evan's heart.
"Oh, really? I don't get the first hug?" Evan heard Michael's voice and finally remembered that he was there too, but he didn't really care that he saw them like this.
"Shut up!" he shouted back without even looking at him, and he felt Ryan's chest shake as he laughed.
"Hell no! I'm sure I have a lifetime right to the first hug. I'm his cousin after all," Michael countered.
And Evan answered without hesitation, saying for the first time, "I'm his mate."
It wasn't until a few seconds later that he fully realized what he had said out loud, but surprisingly, he didn't feel any negative emotions because of it. He was too content in his mate's arms for that.
"I thought so, but it's nice to have it confirmed firsthand," Michael commented, and Evan finally turned his head in his direction. He gave him a brief look before he shifted a bit and turned to the ink-haired boy who had his arms around his waist.
Ryan was grinning from ear to ear. Evan didn't have to be a genius to know that his words had caused this, and he was proud of himself. He finally did something right.
"So, mate." Ryan didn't say more, but just the way he said the word let Evan know how he felt. Plus, right after that, he moved even closer to him, even though Evan doubted that was even possible, and rested his forehead against his. Their noses were touching, and if Evan turned his head a little, their lips would meet. They had never been so close to triggering their bond.
However, before Evan could think too much about it, Ryan sensed that this was not the right moment and pulled away from him, but not letting go of his embrace.
"Surprise!" Angie finally spoke or rather screeched, and Evan laughed along with the others.
She and Michael finally took a few steps and approached the hugging couple. Evan started to pull away from Ryan, assuming he should have already, but as he moved, Ryan spun him around in his arms in one swift motion, and his back ended up against his chest. He then rested his chin on Evan's shoulder, and Evan wasn't about to protest. However, he couldn't prevent the blush that appeared on his face.
"If anyone ever told me we were going to be a family, I would puke." Michael commented, to which Evan responded with "Same." Despite their words, however, a second later they both burst into laughter.
"We're going to plan their wedding together someday, dude," Angie turned to him with a serious tone and slapped him on the shoulder like before. Michael obviously didn't like her plan as he looked horrified by her words.
"No wedding planning yet, okay?" Evan stepped in immediately.
"He said yet," Angie grinned from ear to ear, her gaze going to Ryan behind Evan's back. At that moment, Evan was glad Ryan couldn't see his face from that angle because he was sure he was as red as a tomato.
"Shut up," he mumbled and tried to lower his head.
"I don't know, the wedding sounds pretty cool. Marshmallow would be the ring bearer of course," Ryan laughed.
"Who the hell would take a cat to a werewolf wedding?" Evan stated, pulling out of Ryan's embrace to look at him. However, it was clear from his look that he didn't mean his words, he just wanted to get Evan's attention, which he did.
The second their eyes met, and Evan saw the way Ryan was looking at him, his cheeks changed colour again. He grunted and rested his forehead against his chest, hiding his reaction from everyone. Not that it would work.
"Awww." Angie was obviously their number one fan.
Suddenly a phone started ringing, and everyone automatically looked at Angie as she immediately pulled hers out of her pocket and instead of putting it to her ear, started tapping on the screen.
"I set the alarm clock." She raised her head to inform them. "We have exactly ten minutes to decide where we want to watch the fireworks from."
Ryan's gaze flicked briefly to his cousin, who immediately nodded.
"I think I know the perfect place."
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Thank you all for your kind words and congratulations. As a thank you, I have a chapter for you that will surely please you. 😉😉
There will also be a part three, so get ready for even more sweetness.