Chapter Twenty
I scowled as Allie blabbered away with Lily as if they were already best friends.
Was I jealous? Damn straight I was.
Once Allie found out Lily was my best friend, she had an evil smirk on her face.
It was great. Not only was she trying to steal my mate, but she was going to steal my best friend too.
Lily talked to her excitedly, almost forgetting about me. She only included me in the conversation when she needed my opinion, to which I reply to with a shrug and an "I don't know."
I wasn't great at socializing. I'm sure you've figured that out already. I wasn't too big with making new friends either. Allie, though, was not my friend. When I laid my eyes on her yesterday, I knew we weren't going to get along.
Occasionally, she would send smirks my way. I really wanted to tell Lily what happened yesterday but she looks so happy talking to Allie. I shouldn't be so scared and insecure but I can't help it.
I had to get out of here. I needed to calm myself before Lily notices something was wrong. Allie can't know that she had that effect on me.
"Guys," I say. "I need to use the bathroom."
"Do you want us to come with you?"
I notice Allie roll her eyes. Lily was oblivious to her gesture. I wanted to glare at Allie but I refrained from doing so.
"No it's fine," I say. "I'll see you guys at the party."
Without another word, I quickly walked back up the stairs and toward Ryder's room. The house was huge but I managed to find my way.
But to my disappointment, his door was locked and I didn't have a key.
I growled in frustration and kicked the door, pretending as if it were Allie.
"Whoa there," I heard a male's voice come from behind me. "Why are you kicking Ryder's door?"
I spun around, slightly startled that I hadn't notice a person was there.
I opened my mouth to tell him I was Ryder's mate but who would believe me? I didn't even have a mark.
"I just felt like kicking a door," Was my lame excuse. "I didn't know it was Ryder's."
"Yeah, okay," He smiled. "I'll let you in if you like?"
I raised my brow. "Why? You don't think I'm one of those creepy girls after Ryder?" Because I'm pretty sure that's why Ryder keeps his door locked. He told me that girls who were obsessed over him sneaked into his room all the time.
"That's what I thought at first," His eyes filled with keen interest, "Until I realize his scent is all over you."
"You can smell him on me?" I asked. It was strange because if he could smell him on me, then other wolves could too. But they couldn't and it was strange that he could. Usually a female wouldn't have a male's scent all over her until they do some intense skin-to-skin contact or they mate.
"Yes," He replies with a knowing smile.
And then I realized he wasn't a werewolf. His scent was significantly different from wolves. I didn't know what he was though.
My heart pounded loudly against my chest and my wolf immediately became alert. Was he supposed to be here? Does he know I'm Ryder's mate?
"W-who are you?" I asked shakily and backed up against Ryder's door. "No... What are you?"
The smirk was still on his face and he smooths out his messy black hair.
"The name's Jayden," He says. "I'm a pureblood."
"Are you-" I went to ask but he shushed me.
"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"
"Well I don't want to attack the wrong person now do I?" I can't help but blurt out. My wolf was prepared to attack if he attacked. I mean, I just can't get bitten by a vampire on my first day! Even though purebloods were rare and stronger than werewolves, I wouldn't go down without a fight.
He chuckles, his cold blue eyes pierced through mine. "And you think you would win?"
"Probably not," I admit. "But it's worth the shot."
"You have a lot of guts for Ryder's girl." He steps closer and I plan on making a run for it.
"Who are you to him?" My feet were shifting to the right where I would escape. My anxiety was telling me to run right now, to get away from the dangerous vampire in front of me.
But I stayed put. I was interested in this conversation.
"There you go again with the questions," He tuts and shakes his head. "I'm just a friend."
"Just?" I asked, looking at him uncertainly.
"Just a friend," He says. "Now do you want me to open the door for you or not?"
"I-uh," I sputtered, surprised with his offer. "Yeah, sure."
He chuckled and gets out a key from his pocket. I stepped away from the door and he unlocks it.
"Why do you have his key?"
"He forgets it most of the time so he usually comes after me cause I have a spare."
So they were actually friends. Right, Ryder mentioned this morning that he had a friend who was a pureblood.
"So are you that guy who's hosting the party tonight?" I asked.
"No, that would be Ryder's other friend, Caleb," He spits out his name with disgust.
"What's wrong with Caleb?" I ask, wondering how many purebloods there are in this city. We had none back in my old city. Well, this was Los Angeles after all. It's a lot bigger than my city.
"I heard my name," A voice randomly came out. I was startled again by the sudden appearance.
Jayden spun around and immediately glares at the guy with the blonde hair. He just suddenly appeared!
"Caleb," Jayden spits out and swings Ryder's door open.
"Jay," Caleb says with a smirk on his face. His green orbs swayed to me next. "And this must be Grace. Ryder's scent is all over you."
I drew to the conclusion that Ryder must have told Caleb my name.
"Do all purebloods have good noses?" I ask.
"Of course we do," Caleb replies. "That's why we find garlic horrible."
"So the myths are true then," I muttered to myself.
"Yeah they are," He chuckles. "We can ignore it though. It's just we find garlic repulsive."
"What are you even doing here?" Jayden asks Caleb and ignores our small talk.
"Victoria is looking for you," Caleb glances at Jayden with disdain. "I don't know why though. I mean, she obviously likes me better."
Jayden's eyes grow dark, something that creeped me out yet fascinated me. I mean, it went from light blue to a dark blue instantly.
Lily had told me one time that purebloods were beautiful and I was actually noticing that Jayden and Caleb were both beautiful-well in a masculine way. In front of me were two vampires who could kill me in a blink of an eye and I almost forgot what I came here for.
"She's mine, Caleb," Jayden growls possessively.
"You haven't marked her yet," Caleb states smugly. "Better hurry up before I do it for you." I had noticed that Caleb's green eyes had darkened as well.
That wasn't a good sign.
"Uh," I say awkwardly during their glare showdown. "I'm just gonna go use the bathroom now. I'll see you guys later."
As if just noticing I was there again, both their eyes snapped back to me, their eyes still dark. They looked kinda scary but I acted like I wasn't scared. I am the future luna after all.
"I'll wait for you out here," Jayden states. "Don't want anything bad happening to you. Ryder will kill me."
"I think meeting you is already bad enough," Caleb taunts.
"I think you better shut your face before I shut it for ya."
"I don't need any babysitting," I say and slowly made my way into the room.
"She's right. She looks like a pretty strong she-wolf," Caleb defends. Hah, if only he knew. "Plus, Victoria is waiting for you."
"Tell Vic to calm the fuck down and that I'll be down there soon."
I slowly shut my door but I could still hear their conversation.
"She's going to get mad."
Jayden scoffs. "She shows no emotion at all. What makes you think her being mad will affect me at all."
There was a pause before Caleb spoke again. "Actually, you're kinda right. Whatever man, I'm leaving."
"Finally," Jayden says.
I didn't actually need to go to the bathroom. I remembered that all I wanted to do was get away from Allie and Lily.
I wonder who this Victoria girl was?
Caleb's scent was gone in a flash and I was impressed. He left as quick as he appeared.
"Eavesdropping isn't good you know," Jayden says.
I jumped away from the door. Of course, how could I forget that he probably knew I was there the whole time.
There was no point going in here anyway.
I opened the door and Jayden was standing there, leaning against the wall. He wore a grey hoodie with some black skinnies that were hung down low. He looked like one of those dangerous punks you wouldn't want to mess with. I had also noticed that he had a couple of tattoos on his hands. Come to think of it, Ryder hung out with a lot of guys with tattoos and piercings and stuff.
"Why did you even go inside for if you did nothing?" Jayden asks with his arms crossed. He stood up straight against the wall and we started to make our way down the hall.
I shrugged. I didn't want to tell him.
"Who's Victoria?" I ask curiously.
"Pureblood," Jayden simply says. He still sounded a bit angry, probably from the conversation with Caleb.
My mouth formed a little "o". No wonder Caleb and Jayden were fighting over her.
"Do you like her?"
"Why should I answer to you?" He says coldly. "All you've been doing is asking me questions."
"I'll answer one question for you if you answer my question."
"Fine," Jayden groans. "Look, I don't even know. One minute I like her because she's fucking hot you know?" I rolled my eyes at this. "Then the next minute she's a little spitfire and we start arguing."
"Okay," I say, processing what to say next.
"Your turn now," He says. "Why did you really go in Ryder's room?"
I contemplated if I should tell him or not. Well why not? I've got nothing to lose.
So, I started explaining how I got pissed off because this evil bitch was going to steal my mate and attempted to steal my best friend and why I went to Ryder's room for no reason. It took me a while and I let out all my anger through that. And yes, it felt great finally letting it out.
"You know," Jayden says awhile after I finished my rant. "I never expected Ryder's mate to be somebody like you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" We were nearing the backyard now.
"You looks so innocent and kind of cowardly at first no offense," He explained, "But once you want to speak your state of mind, you get really vivacious and kinda mean. It's unexpected."
I shrugged. "I'm just being me, I guess."
Jayden chuckles. "You seem a lot like Victoria."
"I do?"
"Yeah, if you just lose your cowardliness and boost your bad attitude just a tiny bit, you'll be exactly like her."
"She sounds like a very nice person," I say sarcastically.
"She is once you get to know her," Jayden says, almost smiling for real.
"You really like her don't you?" I smiled.
Jayden blinked at me and scoffs. "How should I know?" There was a faint blush that I could notice on his pale skin.
"That complicated, huh?" I laughed and we exit out of the house and into the yard.
Needless to say, the yard was huge.
"Tell me about it," He rolls his eyes.
Before I could say anything else, I had caught the eye of Ryder. He was smiling at me, but there was a little possessive glint in his eyes when he noticed who I was with.
He came over with a water bottle in his hand.
"Hey man," Ryder nods to Jayden.
"Hey," Jayden replied and they did their guy handshake with a 'manly hug and pat on the back' as I've seen Jason done before.
"Grace," He says and smiles at me. His eyes raked down my body. "You look beautiful."
A tiny blush formed on my face. "Thank you."
He gives me a side smile and kisses my forehead.
He didn't question why I entered the party with Jayden and I was glad he didn't. I didn't want to explain all over again.
"So hey," He begins. "I know it's sudden and we just met and all, but I want to ask you something."
"Are you going to get down on one knee and ask me to marry you?" I joked, feeling slightly more confident after Jayden and I's conversation.
"Knowing how whipped he looks, I wouldn't be really surprised," Jayden adds.
"Oh shut the fuck up man," Ryder glares at him. "Go suck on Victoria's face."
"Don't mind if I do then," Jayden smirks and walks away.
Ryder flips the middle finger at him and luckily none of the children playing around us had noticed. And now I notice how much people were here. They were staring at Ryder and I.
"So what did you want to ask about?" I asked him.
"You're going to be a big target, seeing as you have the strength of a normal she-wolf. And until you get the alpha female power, you need a bodyguard. So is it okay if I got you two female bodyguards to protect you seeing I won't be around all the time?"
I nodded. He was right. I was his mate and was part of the strongest pack in the United States. I was weak and I was an easy target if I'm not careful.
"Alright cool," He says. "I'll introduce you to your first bodyguard. Her name's Victoria."
Wait, did he mean Jayden's crush? My bodyguard was going to be a pureblood vampire?
"Do you want to meet her?" He asks and holds my hand. "She's here right now."
"Jayden says she has a bad attitude," I say when he guides me through the party and deeper into the backyard.
Countless of people wished him a happy birthday and threw me questioning glances. I knew most of them were also looking at my neck.
"If Jayden told you about that, then he must have told you she's a pureblood," He states. "Well most purebloods have a bad attitude, girl or not."
"Jayden was pretty nice," I shrugged. We reached the food table soon and he wrapped his arm behind my waist.
He looked surprised. "He was?"
"Yeah."
"I met Caleb too. He was friendly."
"That's kinda strange. They're usually cold as fuck."
"It's probably cause I'm awesome and they wanted to be nice to somebody like me," I joked again.
Ryder chuckles sexily and his ocean blue eyes met mine. "That's probably so."
He had taken the chance to check me out already so now it was my turn. His hair was styled neatly and pushed back and he wore a white dress shirt with some short khakis. I could see his tattoo peaking out from his unbuttoned shirt.
Man, was he hot. I still can't get over the fact that he was my mate.
We continued to make our way through the party. It was set up really nice. There were a lot of food and tables for people to sit at. There was also a pool area and a path leading deep into the woods.
We were heading to the path. A couple of people were just sitting there on the grass, talking to each other.
Before I knew it, we ended heading under an arch with rose vines growing on it and into a quiet garden. It was kind of big and there was a fountain in the middle. It seemed like something you could only see in the movies.
"Wow," I say astonished. "It's beautiful."
"My mom planted all of these flowers," He says.
"She had the time for all of this?"
"Apparently she does," Ryder chuckles. "Victoria should be here somewhere."
I heard a sigh come from somewhere and a girl stepped out from behind the fountain.
She wore a tight black dress that hugged her curviness. Her long black hair was curled and thrown to the side and she was slightly tanned.
"What do you want Ryder?" She snapped with her arms crossed. Then out came Jayden, who was also behind the fountain.
"Just wanted you to meet the girl you have to protect."
Her dark eyes snapped to me and she examined me from head to toe. I shift uncomfortably under her gaze.
"She looks too preppy for me," Victoria says. "I don't think I can stand her."
Ryder sighs and rolls his eyes. "She's not that preppy. She listens to bands that you like."
"Hm is that so?" She continued to look me over. "How much are you paying me?"
"$50 an hour."
"That's it?" She huffed.
"Yep," He says.
"Seems too little for babysitting a girl."
"Maybe, but I know you need it."
Victoria narrows her eyes on Ryder. "Fine, I'll do it."
"You'll also be working with somebody else. She needs two bodyguards."
"Who's my partner?"
"I'll tell you later," He says. "This is Grace by the way."
Victoria's eyes snapped back to me.
"Uh, nice to meet you," I say, a bit scared with her look.
"Yeah, sure," She says coldly.
Jayden wasn't lying when he said she had a bad attitude.
"Don't let her get to you," Ryder says and grabs my hand. "Also my mom got you enrolled in school. You'll be starting with us on Monday."
He leads us out of the garden and I glanced back at Jayden and Victoria. They were whispering to each other quietly so I couldn't hear what they were saying.
"We only have two classes together, and that's art and health. Apparently all the classes you took were too 'smart' for me to take, as stated by my mom," He looked at me with pride. "I didn't know you were a valedictorian type of person."
I shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal. I mean out of me and Jason, one of us has to be smart."
Ryder grins at my remark. "Dad was really surprised when he saw your grades."
"You think that'll get him to accept me?"
"Maybe," He says. "He said he wanted my mate to be smart, not that it would matter if you were or weren't."
"What types of grades do you get?" I asked him.
I don't think I asked him the right question because he suddenly had an embarrassed look on his face.
"I get mainly D's and C's."
"Oh," I say. "It's not bad. At least you're not failing."
"That's easy for you to say," He shrugs.
I didn't reply. I didn't know how to.
Great, he was upset now. He had that same look on his face that I saw when we were driving to the airport.
I wanted to reply and say I was sorry but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to upset him any further. Plus, if I apologized, he probably would've lied and said it was fine.
We reached the backyard soon enough. A group of guys were calling Ryder but he just waved them off.
"You want to get something to eat?" Ryder asks finally.
"No," I say and let go of his hand. He looked at me surprised. "You go ahead and talk to your friends. I'll go find Lily."
"What? Are you sure?" He asks.
"Yeah," I tried to smile. I didn't want to upset him any further. He needed somebody to cheer him up and I can't do that for him.
"Okay," He says uncertainly. He leans and kisses my forehead. "If anything happens, just call me."
"Don't worry," I say and I watched him walk away to his friends.
I then decided to go find Lily. I texted her and she didn't even reply. Then I decided to call her but she didn't pick up.
Not only was I alone but everybody was looking at me too because Ryder just kissed my forehead.
Embarrassed by the attention, I walked away. I listened to the music and watched as everybody danced to the Macarena. It seemed like they were all family.
I wonder if the pack will even accept me as their Luna.
As I kept walking around the party, I felt even more alone. Children were laughing, adults were chatting with each other, and teenagers were talking with their friends. I should be making friends by now but I feel like I'll say something wrong. Like I did with Ryder earlier.
That's when I saw Ryder again. He was laughing in a group of four, chatting among them. In that group of four was him, Alex, Lily, and Allie.
I get sick when I watch her place her hand on his chest, laughing at something Ryder says.
I did this to myself. I should've just stayed with Ryder. But he probably won't be laughing like that if I were with him.
Allie notices me and smirks. She says something to Ryder and wraps her arm around his neck. She hugged him. And he wraps one of his arms around her back, probably out of friendliness.
I felt my face grow hot and my heart started to hurt.
Before they noticed me, I walked away. I thought I heard somebody say my name but ignored it.
It was worst than earlier. My heart was pounding loudly. I didn't want anybody to see me have a panic attack.
I rushed away, earning some questioning looks from other people.
I couldn't process what was going on. I know, I may be overreacting. Allie was just trying to get to my nerves but it hurt. It hurt a lot.
What am I even doing? I should be fighting for my mate and my best friend. I should've walked up to her and told her to get her hands off my mate. But I couldn't. I ran away like how I did on the first day I saw Ryder.
I see the path to the garden and I go through there. Maybe the scenery will calm me down.
I could feel tears threatening to come out and I quickly wipe them so nobody would see, not that they would even care.
Nobody was there when I reached it and I took that opportunity to take a seat on the bench. I took deep breaths and tried not to think about Allie and Ryder together.
I wanted to kill Allie for touching my mate but deep down inside, I knew that she could probably make him happier than I could if she were his mate.
A meow came in front of me.
It was Cole, the cat Ryder let me have.
"How did you get out here?" I asked.
"Meow," He yawns and purrs. He walks up to me and I pick him up, placing him on my lap.
"At least I have you now," I say and smiled. "I guess I'm not really alone."
He meows and purrs when I pet him.
I was talking to a cat. It was a new low for me but at least it was distracting me.
My phone buzzed and I read the text message. It was from Ryder.
Ryder: "Hey I thought I saw you somewhere. You should come over. I'm by the food table. This really annoying girl keeps flirting with me and it's gross."
Was he talking about Allie?
"Cole," I say and smiled while I typed a reply. I hit send and received a message thirty seconds later.
Ryder: "Babe, you're a lifesaver haha. I'll see you in a few. Love you x"
Even if it's just through text, he said he loved me. It may not really mean much to somebody but it meant a lot to me.
He meows and looks at me, a gesture that looked like something a human would do.
"I'm an idiot." Because it's true. I was an idiot. I just assumed things and I felt like one.
Cole meows and shakes his head. I started to wonder if he could actually understand me.
I didn't put a thought to it though. I felt like somebody was watching me. No, I felt more than one person watching me.
I think Cole noticed it too because he started hissing. He gets off my lap and runs off into a bush.
My eyes widened and I get up.
I guess I had no choice but to go back to the party. Being alone creeped me out and my wolf was on high alert.
As I exit, I take a glance at the garden for the last time. The smell was weird. I felt as if I've smelled it before. I could be hallucinating but I thought I saw yellow eyes staring at me in the shadows of some trees.
I shrugged it off and walked quickly back to the party.