Riding in Silver's car wasn't as bad or awkward as Rachael thought it would be.
Thankfully for her, he knew how to create conversation without it feeling forced. The journey was so short that he had only begun to tell her about when he had joined the pack- when he was a teenager- and why he was having a party- because he felt like it- before they were pulling up to his house and jumping out of his jeep.
"Smells like more people have arrived," Silver commented absentmindedly, opening his front door and letting her past.
She couldn't even respond to his comment because as soon as the warm air of his living room cocooned her, she was blasted with spikenard and coconut- her instincts torn between recognising her bonded, or her best friend who was looking at her in delight.
Her baser instincts won and her eyes first flitted over Jason, who was frowning at the figure behind her, then to Tina and Graham, who waved her over.
Her attempts to stay away from Jason were unfortunately failing and she berated herself for not considering the likelihood that he would be at Silver's gathering.
"Hi guys," she greeted her friends, thankful that they were already at the house.
"Hi, Rach." Tina greeted her back and then turned to smile at the man behind Rachael.
She hadn't even noticed that he had followed her.
"Thanks for bringing her, Silver." Tina continued.
Rachael turned around in time to see Silver nodding his head before her heart started to thrash in her chest as her bonded approached. She heard Tina take in a deep breath behind her and Graham mumble something in his mate's ear. Something too low for her to pick up.
Jason walked up to Silver, a low growl rumbling in his throat.
"Silver." He said, voice deep and clipped.
Rachael thought that Silver would take Jason somewhere else to continue their conversation but was shocked when he put one hand on his hip and cocked his head instead, asking: "what's up?" As if he couldn't smell the aggravation rushing off his friend in waves.
He must have though, she told herself. That would be the reason why he had slightly angled his body towards Rachael as if ready to step in and shield her.
"Can I speak to you outside?" Jason gritted out, staring at Silver meaningfully.
"Sure." He agreed, pausing before speaking his next words. "This is Rachael, by the way."
Rachael tried not to let the surprise show on her face. This was what she didn't want.
The party had barely begun and she was already regretting the fact that she had come. She was meant to be avoiding Jason, having him acknowledge her would make things worse.
She was going to have to fight a million times harder to break the bond if her wolf was convinced that the other party was interested. There was no way to get around it. All she could hope to do was leave the party afterwards and hope that the bond hadn't strengthened too much to undo her progress.
She looked at Tina, who stood up, obviously having the same line of thought. Her bottom lip was trembling as if she wanted to say something.
Jason's left foot started tapping on the ground, a pregnant moment of hesitation filling the area.
In that moment, Rachael wondered if the situation was as awkward for him as it was for her. Technically, the only contact they had had was him growling at her, and her serving him food. Despite the apologies of his packmates, he hadn't really done anything wrong per say. He was an alpha and she was an omega who had inadvertently challenged him by holding weird eye contact for too long so he had growled at her until she submitted. The way she was supposed to. He had thrown a chair at the wall, yet she wasn't sure how she was meant to feel about that.
If it wasn't for the fact that she had formed a one-sided bond with him, she could have acted like nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. It was best that she didn't arouse suspicion, make people wonder why she was so jumpy and strange around him. As far as everyone else was concerned, she was just a regular omega who did not have a strange attachment to the freckled alpha.
Being so close to him was making her head swim so she stuck out her hand before she lost her nerve. "Nice to meet you."
The urge to face-palm spiked.
He looked at her and then her outstretched hand, his scent shifting to something smokey; a few too many seconds passing before she realised he wasn't going to take it.
Instead, he nodded at her and shuffled backwards, body angling as if he was about to walk away.
She tried to force down the flood of mortification that overtook her, hand still outstretched and heart thumping. She felt like an idiot.
She was so embarrassed.
It wasn't like people even shook hands anymore.
She thought it'd be the perfect time for her throbbing heart to finally give up the fight.
Suddenly he let out a curse of frustration and fully faced her again, closing the distance between them and clasping her hand in his before she could drop it.
Fire flooded her fingertips and spread up her arm at the contact.
"I'm sorry," he rumbled, voice sounding raw. "That was rude of me."
Then he did something that caused Rachael's heart to kick into overdrive.
He smiled.
A real genuine smile, all straight white teeth and gum and the flicker of a tongue and bonfire and marshmallow and warmth and heat and- oh no.
"I'm Jason," and then he was pulling his hand away as though he had other places to be and walking out of the room, Silver in tow.
Rachael turned around and gave a questioning look to Tina, still reeling from the contact, the younger girl shaking her head as if Jason's actions were too inconsequential to bother explaining.
---
As the evening progressed, it became apparent to Rachael that she was slightly scent drunk.
Sitting in a seat that she knew Jason had been in at one point, judging by how strong his scent was against the medium grey settee, the emptiness in her chest had given way to a soft, plushness that made her overly giggly and easily impressed. As she threw her head back, laughing at another joke Graham had told, she couldn't find it in her to mind. It was the best she had felt in weeks.
She glanced over at Jason every once in a while, a light smile dancing on her lips, as he sat over on the other side of the room with tattoo-man, Leon.
Every time she looked over he was eating something, moving to grab more food every time his hands were empty. She couldn't criticise him for that. There was a seemingly endless bowl of food in front of her too, one she didn't remember picking up in the first place, or refilling, but she couldn't stop eating from it. All she knew was that the more she ate, the more that feeling in her chest grew.
She stuck another chip in her mouth and tuned back into what Graham was saying, only to find that he was looking at her expectantly along with the other four people sitting around the coffee table.
"Sorry?" She asked after chewing the chip and swallowing.
Graham raised an eyebrow, "I was asking what you're doing for Christmas."
She raised her shoulders lazily, reaching for another chip and noticing for the first time that her bowl was almost empty. "Might visit my parents or something." She said, frowning down at the lack of food.
She still had another week to decide what she was doing for Christmas and since she didn't know if she was working on the twenty-fifth yet, she couldn't make any concrete plans.
"Oh, down in London?" Silver directed at her, running a hand through his hair to remove the strands from his forehead.
"Yeah. That's what I did last year anyway." She responded, getting distracted as she saw Jason getting up from where he was sitting and looking in her direction.
The four sitting around the table looked up at him as he and Leon approached them.
Leon came and joined the group, squeezing himself between the other omega girl and Silver with a playful wiggle, while Jason stood next to the coffee table looking at the emptying bowl on Rachael's lap.
He bent down to scoop up her bowl with his free hand, the other hand occupied with a half eaten hot dog, before his eyes flicked absently to her face and he seemed to realise that she was watching him. He stared at her as if to ask 'you want some more?'
She nodded dumbly at him, answering his silent question, and he grunted, shoving the rest of the hot dog in his mouth and walking over to the food table with her bowl in hand. Silver followed after him but not before making eye contact with those around the table, lips pressed into a thin line. Rachael didn't take the time to ponder on his expression as she became preoccupied with watching Jason pile up her plate with two servings of everything and a handful of chips.
Silver blocked her view of him as he reached the other man to talk, so she was forced to return her attention back to the group. They were all once again consumed in their own conversations.
She waited until Silver and Jason returned, the latter placing her full bowl of food in front of her and taking a seat beside Graham.
She paid little attention to the following conversations, instead shoving handful after handful of food in her mouth and tuning into the low, chesty rumblings that Jason made as he followed suit.
"It's so good," she expressed between mouthfuls when Graham gave her a puzzled look.
It was only when Jason stood up, reaching over for her bowl another time, that it dawned on her that she had eaten everything.
Again.
Tina interrupted. "I think you two have eaten enough," the blonde commented, eyebrows drawn together.
Her words caused Jason to pause and straighten up, the beginnings of a growl forming at the back of his throat.
Graham shifted and put an arm around Tina's shoulders. "I hope you weren't thinking about growling at my wife," he said. "I think we've all noticed how much you've eaten tonight."
Silver took the opportunity to jump in. "I agree, you don't want to hurt yourselves. Haven't you two ever heard of pacing?" He tried to diffuse the looming tension but the smile he gave didn't reach his eyes. Rather, he ended up looking mildly constipated.
Jason looked away from them and down at Rachael, taking a step back.
All she could smell was him.
Gosh, she was still hungry.
"It's getting late anyway," Tina said, hopping off the sofa with a stretch, "got to pick up Liam from Granny's place."
A burst of noise followed, the others voicing their agreement, standing up much too fast and reaching for their coats.
"We'll drop you home." Tina said, grabbing Rachael's arm and hoisting her up from the chair where she sat slightly disoriented.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay." She voiced, following Tina in pulling her coat and scarf on.
"Great party, Silver." Tina shouted out behind her, looping her arm through Rachael's to lead her towards the front door. "Thanks for the invite."
"Yeah, thanks Silver." Rachael called out, still confused by the change of pace.
As she stepped foot off the premises, failing to get a final glimpse of Jason, her stomach cramped painfully from the onslaught of her previous overeating and she groaned.
"You're feeling it now aren't you?" Tina clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You'll thank me later." She mumbled lowly, more to herself than anything.
Rachael didn't respond, feeling the symptoms of a headache as her senses returned to her.