A shriek escaped from the back of my throat the second a pair of arms snaked around my waist and lifted me up from behind. I knew exactly who it was, as my boyfriend Liam spun me around in the middle of the school courtyard. I was caught off guard by the unexpected surprise.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" I playfully smacked Liam's chest as he turned me around to face him.
His arms tightened around my waist, pulling me to his chest, as his head rested at the crook of my neck. Every inch of my body was covered with goose bumps as Liam took a deep breath, taking in my scent as his nose tickled against my skin. "I just wanted to see you before I go to lacrosse practice," Liam playfully bit my neck, causing me to giggle.
I cupped his cheeks, pulling his face in front of me as I instantly locked my eyes with his ocean blue eyes. I could list several reasons why I love Liam, but one of my top reasons would be his breathtaking ocean blue eyes. His eyes always expressed how he felt and right now as I looked deep into his eyes, they were soft, gentle, and filled with so much adoration as he held his gaze with mine. I couldn't help but smile knowing how much he cares for me, and possibly loves me too.
"So," Liam pecked my lips. "I was thinking," his soft lips pecked mine again, causing me to giggle at the sweet gesture. "I'd like you to go," he smiled as he pecked me one more time. "To the pack meeting tonight," he finished before pecking me once more.
My heart dropped to my stomach. I felt my back muscles tighten at the thought of walking into a pack meeting filled with supernatural creatures who could kill me in an instant. Well, I knew they wouldn't all kill me, but I knew one would definitely want to slit my throat with his claws.
"You want me to go to your pack meeting?" I gulped.
"Yeah. I figured since you already know about me, and I've told you about my pack, it's time you officially meet them." Liam's thumbs began rubbing small circles on my lower back, trying to ease my anxiety, which I'm sure he could sense with his darn wolf senses.
"Are you sure?" I bit my lip after I heard how shaky my voice was.
"Yes," Liam pressed a soft kiss on my forehead, making my eyes close at his warm touch. "You are important to me and I want them to know that."
"What if they don't like me?" I whispered with my eyes still closed.
"Babe," Liam's hands slid up and down my back, trying to wash away my worry. "They're going to love you, okay?"
"Did you already tell them I'm coming?"
Liam shook his head. "They don't know. I kind of want to surprise them," Liam smiled.
Liam's picture perfect smile has always been contagious, but not this time. I was too worried to smile. "Are you sure that's okay? I mean don't you have to run this by your alpha?"
Liam scoffed. "Scott will not have a problem with this. If anything, I think you should be worried about Stiles. He has trust issues, but don't worry. Stiles is going to like you almost as much as I like you," He grinned.
I sighed knowing Scott would definitely have a problem with me attending a pack meeting uninvited. But I couldn't let Liam down and crush his excitement. So I just nodded lightly. "Okay."
Liam tightened his grip around my waist, squeezing the air out of my lungs as he gave me the biggest bear hug. Before letting me out of his grip, his lips found their way to mine for a long and sweet kiss. "I'll pick you up at 7!" Liam yelled as he jogged to the locker room.
***
I squeezed Liam's hand with my clammy hand as his other free hand knocked on the wooden front door. The back of my neck was hot, flushed with redness I was sure. Small beads of sweat were forming on my forehead and I had never been so happy about having bangs to hide my sweat from Liam. I heard footsteps growing closer to the front door, making my heart ready to explode from my chest.
"Babe," Liam tugged on my hand. "You have nothing to worry about. It's going to be fine."
The sound of the doorknob twisting and opening stopped me from responding to Liam. Scott opened the door, his bright smile instantly fading to a frown the second his eyes laid on me. "What is she doing here, Liam?"
"Well, I figured since she knows about me and now you guys, I wanted to officially introduce you guys," Liam smiled as he pulled me inside Scott's house by the hand.
Scott sighed as he closed the door. "I wished you had talked to me about this first before bringing her over."
"I told you," I whispered at Liam as I slowly slid myself behind Liam, who only gave my hand a small squeeze.
"Why?" Lydia asked. "It's not a problem. I mean she's Liam's girlfriend. You've had Allison as part of the pack."
"She was a hunter," Scott defended.
"Malia," Lydia argued back.
"She's a werecoyote and needed a pack," Scott debated.
"Kira," Lydia crossed her arms. Before Scott could argue, Lydia continued as she stood up, "She was just a girl you liked when you introduced her to our pack. We didn't know she was a fox yet."
Stiles padded Scott's shoulder. "I know I'm usually the one that doesn't trust people easily, and that usually makes me look like an ass, but dude, quit being such an ass about this and welcome Y/N."
"I'd like to say I'm glad you're here." Scott sighed. "I'd like to say it."
"So say it," Liam lips formed into a tight straight line as he clenched his jaw.
Scott shook his head. "I can't do that."
"Why not?" Liam's voice deepened.
"Because I'd like her more the less I see her."
And there it was, I thought to myself as I saw Lydia's jaw drop and Stiles' eyes widen at Scott's harsh words. Liam's hand escaped from my grip as his fingers curled into tight fists, making his knuckles white. The vein in Liam's forehead made an appearance. I had never seen that before. I had never seen him this angry before and I knew I had to calm him down before he would do something stupid to his alpha.
"Take that back," Liam gritted between his teeth.
"No," Scott crossed his arms.
"Why are you being such an asshat?!" Liam scowled.
"Because she's not a part of the pack. She doesn't belong here."
"Liam," I grabbed his hand and tugged him towards me. "It's okay. I'm gonna go. You stay for your meeting and I'll talk to you later."
"No!" Liam grabbed my wrist before I could walk around Scott and towards the front door. "Scott needs to apologize."
"I'm not doing that," Scott crossed his arms.
"Oh, yes you will!" Liam jabbed his finger on Scott's shoulder. "I will not have some asshole talk to my girl that way. I don't care if you're my alpha or not, Scott."
"Liam-"
"No," Liam cut off Scott. "I love Y/N, okay?" Every muscle in my body stiffened at his words. He had never said that to me before and I wasn't sure if he meant it or it just accidentally slipped out of his mouth during a heated argument.
"I wanted to officially introduced you guys to her because you guys are my family. You are huge part of my life and you are all important to me, but so is she. I just wanted her to be a part of something that's really important to me and who I am now as a person."
"Liam," I tugged on his hand, signaling him to look at me. When he did, I let out a deep sigh. "There's a reason why Scott doesn't like me and I probably should have told you before you dragged me here because I know why Scott hates me."
Liam's eyebrows furrowed forward as his head shook lightly. "What are you talking about?"
I bit my lip and flickered my eyes towards the angry alpha. I took a deep breath before speaking. "Hayden is the most popular girl in school. I mean she made school history by being the first sophomore who made captain on the varsity soccer team. And well, I wanted to be her friend. Who doesn't want to be friends with the popular girl?" I looked up at everyone, who all stared at me to continue with my story.
"Anyways, I wanted to join her clique. The only way she said I could be her friend was if I keyed a motorcycle she pointed at and then slash the tires afterwards. It was stupid, and totally wrong, but I don't know why I did it." I shook my head. "No, I know why. I wanted to be accepted. I wanted friends. Being an army brat and constantly moving to different high schools is never easy and a lot harder to make friends. So I did it and Scott caught me."
"And she got away with it," Scott added bitterly.
"No, I didn't." I defended myself.
"Yes, you did." Scott folded his arms to his chest again as his face hardened.
I shook my head quickly. "No, I didn't," I repeated. "The next morning I came to apologize to you, even though I knew you wouldn't accept it, but your mom answered the door. I immediately explained what happened and told her I'd pay for the damages. All of it. That's why she didn't press charges."
"So that's why you've been working every weekend and taking double shifts when you can?" Liam asked.
I nodded my head. "I didn't tell my parents because it was my fault. I didn't want them to pay for my mistakes. I wanted to take full responsibility for my stupid actions. I already paid back the paint job quote the auto shop gave your mom. I almost have the money to pay your mom back for one of the tires, and I know I still have to pay for the other one. But trust me, Scott, every other Friday I get paid, I cash my check and give it all to your mom."
"Wow!" A small whistle escaped from Stiles' lips, causing all of us to turn towards him. "Liam smashed his coach's car and Y/N keyed Scott's motorcycle... Talk about dating someone similar to yourself."
Liam gave Stiles a death glare as his nose flared. He turned around to face me, his face much softer, "Why didn't you tell me?"
I turned back to Liam. "Because I was afraid you wouldn't like me after I told you."
Before Liam could say anything, Scott finally spoke up and repeated Liam's question. "Why didn't you tell me?"
I turned around to face Scott, but I couldn't look at him in the eyes. I was ashamed of what I had done and I didn't want to look at him with what I was about to say. "Because I think doing bad things out of peer pressure looks worse than just being a bad person in general. So I let you believe I was a bad person and not some stupid girl who got pressured to do something stupid just to fit in with the cool kids."
I saw a pair of shoes in front of me; I looked up and saw Scott looking at me. "I'm sorry."
"What?!" My eyes widened. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's me."
"I know, and you're right," Scott nodded. "But I'm sorry too. I had no idea you were paying my mom back. I had no idea why you did it and now that everything makes sense, I get it. I mean I don't exactly approve of you destroying my bike, but I appreciate you for taking responsibly and I respect you for paying for the damages out of your own pocket."
I felt warm tears pool around the edge of my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Scott."
"I'm sorry for being such an asshole to you," Scott wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back. Normally this would have been totally awkward, as this is technically the first we officially met, but it wasn't. His hand rubbed up and down my back as I sniffed against his chest.
"We're okay," he pulled me away from him and locked his eyes with mine. "And, Y/N?"
"Yeah?" I mumbled under my breath.
"Welcome to your first pack meeting." He grinned.
I couldn't help but smile at Scott's welcoming. Liam grabbed my hand but before he could pull me to the couch, I held him back. His eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?"
"You love me?" I grinned.
Liam bit his lip and nodded. "That's not exactly how I wanted to tell you but I do," Liam's hands slipped to my cheeks and pulled me in for a deep but soft kiss. "I love you," he whispered against my lips.
I smiled. "I love you too."
Liam grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch next to him and Stiles.
"So how did you two meet? Is there like some sort of AA meeting for kids who trash people's vehicles?"
Liam grabbed the pillow behind me and smacked Stiles in the head before Scott started the meeting.