A/N: dress in question later in the chapter~
~~
Evangeline POV:
Mel was always late for everything.
Always.
She was just one of those people who couldn't be on time if it would save her life.
So naturally when I was ready to go out 15 minutes early I needed to find something to do until she texted me.
I picked what I always did.
I curled up with my brothers old blanket and stared at that picture I took of him and patty when he first got back from the lunar ball with her.
He had been so happy to find her. They were building a house together for their family. A few weeks in she got pregnant. Everyone was just incredibly happy.
Everett had that effect on people, his smile could light up an entire town. He was beyond kind and everything I ever aspired to be.
Patricia was perfect for him, she was sweet, funny, and ridiculously smart. She didn't even mind helping 14 year old me with my math homework when I was sure she had better things to do.
I was glad to have her in the family.
Glad my brother had her.
I was going to be an auntie.
Id even already started knitting a baby blanket for them.
A project I dropped the day they died.
I gripped the blanket harder. They didn't even die for some good reason.
There was no war, there was major issue they needed to check out. There was no real reason they were on patrol together. Patricia was pregnant she shouldn't have been on patrol at all.
But she was because they hated being away from one another. Their stupid mate bond made it impossible to think logically when it came to their other half. It always does.
If we didn't have it we would be better off.
Everett and Patricia didn't need some mystical bond to be right for one another.
All it did was get them killed.
It happens all the time. A wolf fights with another pack and their mates there. All they can think about is their mate, they worry and worry and worry and then they get their throat ripped out because they aren't focused and their mate gets murdered too.
To be that doesn't seem like a dream to me. Its a nightmare.
Might as well spare some poor sap of that by rejecting him. He gets to live, I get to keep my pack and fight to run it. Its stupid women cant run packs. They may not have alpha command but when a pack respects you, its enough. And unless my mate was an alphas son he wouldn't either, and even if he was its still a maybe.
They just want me mated because thats how things are done and they don't think a girl can run things.
Who do you think keeps the shit show my family has become running?
Moms always depressed and barely speaks anymore.
Dad's always trying to fix mom and occasionally forgets parts of his alpha duties because he's so worried about his mate.
Daughters a drunken whore who picks up the pieces before they have been on the ground to long. I practically live by the five second rule.
We're a mess.
I nearly jumped when my phone chimed, so caught in my musings I forgot I was going out.
I smiled a bit at Mels text: oh my gods I'm only 10 min behind schedule! Meet u outside of ur house in 3!! Girls night!!!!
I shoved the blanket into my bottom drawer of my dresser and the photo in the one on my nightstand.
I don't like them out. Too many memories.
Looking over myself one more time I smoothed out my inky waves of hair and nodded.
Time to get drunk and sing karaoke with my best friend.
~~
Melody stared at me as I walked over to her, "where do you even find these clothes Evie?"
I shrugged, "were wolves Mel, everyones seen everyone naked. It doesn't matter."
"Well yeah but that's shifting, this is going to a bar."
"A werewolf bar." I grabbed her hand and started toward the edge of our community, "I got long ass legs I like to show them."
"With your ass?"
I laughed, "that only shows when I want it to."
She rolled her eyes, Mel had always taken a sweeter sense to fashion than I have. Pastels and lots of flowy skirts.
I often wondered what we looked like next to one another to other people.
Then I decide they can all fuck themselves and even if we don't seem like it, my best friend and I are a perfect match, "I called us an uber."
"Cool!" she chirped. "Although they always give us the funniest looks when they stop at the abandoned house."
Theres an old abandoned house on the main road at the edge of my dads territory that most of us use to get ridges into human towns and the werewolf spots inside them. Sometimes humans use it to throw parties.
A few of which Mel and I got a little too drunk at.
"So.." she murmured, "are you planning on meeting someone again tonight orr?"
We discuss this every time we go out.
More often than not girls night was girls night and the answer was no. I loved hanging out with just Mel.
But lately... "I'm thinking yes, will let you know for sure later."
She beamed at me, "of course just remember to-"
"Tell you before I leave with anyone, text you when I leave so you know I'm safe, and call you at a decent hour to dish."
"Exactly!"
I smiled down at her, Melody was small for a she wolf standing at 5'5" but I knew from experience she could pack a punch when she was really really mad.
She gets really mad when she worries so I just try not to worry her because then she feels bad about getting mad.
I know she wishes I would deal with my emotional shit in a healthier way, but shes never judged me. And I'll always be grateful for it. Its not exactly smiled upon in the were community to have sex with unmated males outside of the full moon.
But there are always girls like me who do it anyways.
Mel doesn't need to be part of it, so I never even let her near my one night stands before we leave.
Last thing I need is one of his friends thinking they can get lucky too.
Male attention from someone not her mate makes Melody uncomfortable.
And when you make my best friend uncomfortable I have a really bad habit of breaking your arm.
Have done it like four times.
Not always the best move.
But...it does always work.
I wrapped an arm around the blonde, "before I even get into that shit though Mel, its me and you whatever wines cheapest and lots of karaoke."
Her laugh rang through the night air, "awesome."
Yeah. Awesome.