Today marks the day of a very special someone's birthday! Analissa is inspired by my very best friend in real life, and today is her birthday. SO, since this lockdown prevents me from giving her the birthday she deserves, my present for the time being is to throw her the best party ever here in the safety of these chapters. 
Enjoy the literary party of the century... and some new character development o.O

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Nova's POV

There has been nothing but talk for the past week at the clinic about what would be done for Ana's birthday. 

As far as I could tell, they were hesitant to let me in on it even though I knew her better than anyone who worked with her ever could. 

How did I know they didn't know anything? 

Very simple. Their grand plan involved a small little potluck in the break room of the clinic. Because, "Summers is very simple.. she wouldn't want anything else."

So naturally, at the next time I heard this, I had to disagree. 

Did she pretend like she didn't want to make a fuss? Yes.

Did she actually want someone to pull out all the stops and make one day for once all about her? Yes.

And that is exactly what I intended to do. Because she's the closest thing to a sister I've ever had, and this is what sisters do.. as least I think that's what they do.

Once I told everyone my plan, and that they would have to follow my lead since I lived with her for as long as I did and therefore know her better than anyone there did, they agreed somewhat begrudgingly but helped anyway. The hardest thing would be to avoid the hell out of her because at the slightest thing she smelled was off, she'd be suspicious. This had to be perfect.

~~

In the days leading up to the party, I made food and prepared for a party like I had never cooked and prepared for a party before. I made the bulk of it, but some of the girls from the hospital came to help while the guys who were in on it worked on getting the location set up.

Sadly, with the picnic/bonfire/backyard BBQ esque party I had planned, a lot of the food had to be prepped on the day of, because a lot of it was things like grilled corn on the cob, every kind of barbecued meat you can think of, fresh kebabs, fresh fruit and lots of sweets.

The cake(s) required the most time to make, it(they) was going to have to feed a pack of hungry, ravenous werewolves and cater to several tastes. The main cake had to be massive and be an eye catcher for the birthday girl.

When I ran into Hendrix, I told him about my master plan which he was happy to agree with, and asked that he tell everyone that they were all invited to this party... just don't tell Analissa. He agreed with me on the grounds that she deserved something amazing for all the hard work she does in the pack, and he commended me for putting it all together. Hearing him say that he is excited to see it in action made me even more pumped for this.

Colt had been strangely MIA for most of the process. What he lacked in presence, he made up for in willingness to help when he was available, and helping me make my already established ideas even better, planning for things I didn't even think about.

I went to Ana's house when I knew she wouldn't be there to find Ryan and ask a specific favor of him.

He looked puzzled when he opened the door. "Uhm.. Ana isn't here. Can I take a message?"

I just laugh, "no, actually. And that is precisely what I'm here about. I'm sure you heard about the party I have planned."

His face lights up before I can say anything else. "It sounds so much better than the date I had planned, your planning really puts my idea to shame."

"Take her on the date anyway. I was coming over here to ask you to distract her anyway while I put the final touches on everything. Just keep her away from the action at all costs."

He nods.

"What did you have planned anyway?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm gonna make her breakfast in bed, all her favorites. Then we are going to run together for a while, stopping at all of our favorite places in nature in a scavenger hunt kind of way. The last clue will lead to a special surprise."

"That's so cute," I chuckle. "She's gonna love that. Just follow the music and make sure you're here by sundown. Sundown is party time. Oh! And make sure she's hungry."

He smiles and thanks me, closing the door as I walk down the stairs.

I hurry home to start preparing for the last minute preparations. Cake, decor, etc.

Who else would I meet on my way but Colt?

"I was just on my way to see you," he mind links to me.

I smile to myself and pick up my pace running, engaging him into a race back to my house.

I liked not having to have a car. Who needed a car when you could just run as a wolf?

Cars were practical when things needed to be moved or when there were construction projects to be done, but for the most part, folks ran or walked.

When we got back to the house, I shift and change while he isn't looking. He only sees me pull a shirt on over my stomach. He, however, shifts making sure I am looking at his perfectly chiseled body and abs you could grate cheese on, knowing perfectly well that I can't look away.

He smirks and sits on the counter as I look through my recipe box.

"What are we making?" He asks after he notices me thinking to myself a little too intently.

I verbalize my thoughts, "I know what kind of cake Ana wants, but I know it isn't everybody's taste. I want to make cake for every palate." My idea solidifies as I speak it.

He laughs, "how many palates are we talking about here?"

I put on some music and smirk devilishly. I hand him six recipes for six different cakes that I intended to make. 

Chocolate, strawberry, peanut butter, funfetti, lemon and blueberry cheesecake and a German chocolate sheet cake.

"You think you can pull all these off before the party tomorrow?"

"I know I can. It's Ana's actual cake I'm worried about..."

"You want to make seven types of cake?!" 

I just nod and make an "mhmmm" sound. "I gotta test out the kitchen you built for me somehow."

"You're crazy.." he mutters. "I'm so in. What can I do?"

I squeal in delight and discuss more with him how to split the work. It was a lot.. but Ana was a lot too.

"I want to test your ability in baking with the sheet cake, because it is the hardest to mess up," I giggle and hand him the recipe. He rolls his eyes. 

"And what are you gonna do?" He looks up from the tattered recipe card. 

I gather all the cards and put them in a pile, closing my eyes to shuffle one and pick one. "I am going to start with... the cheesecake!" I smile at the also tattered card. All of these recipes were crowd pleasers. This would be the most cake I ever made, but by God it was going to be a blast.

When I start on the cheesecake, I realize that pants are a no go. I go change into shorts and come back into the kitchen, toss my hair in a bun and get ready to bake my butt off. My oldies soundtrack comes on and Colt teases me when he notices me dancing a bit and even singing to myself, shimmying a bit.

Before I knew it, him and I were dancing the most goofy dance you've ever seen to "Little Bitty Pretty One" singing, "woah oh oh woah oh oh woah oh!" over and over. 

We are interrupted by a lemon and blueberry reduction on the stove that threatens to burn that I have to go and take off the heat. 

He finishes the sheet cake and brings it to me before it goes in the fridge. "Did I pass your test?"

I inspect it and take one of the pecans off the top. "I'd say yes. You can choose any of the others. I want to make all the batters first and bake them together. The hardest part is making sure the batters are all right. Baking is a breeze."

"I agree," he goes to look at the other recipes and starts on another one without a word. I just look up at him and smile for a bit as he works. I hug him from the side and push myself up on his forearm to kiss his cheek.

"What was that for?" He asks looking at me as he stirs something together.

"I'm just grateful to have you here helping me," I hug his arm. "It's an awful lot to do alone, and you're a good assistant."

He laughs heartily and smiles down at me. When the moment gets too full of tension, I snap away. "Get back to work, silly," with a smile as I put the cheesecake in the oven in a water bath, because this one needed to get done.

At exactly 3:00 AM, all the cakes were out of the oven cooling and I had started on Ana's layered cake. I had an image in my head of it, and I intended to make that vision real, and ten times better. 

Colt was laying on the counter with his hands on his eyes, rubbing his temples with his thumbs. 

I was on my third energy drink and was buzzing, screaming Elvis Presley at the top of my lungs.

He gets up and looks at me. He looks tired, but it was a cute look on him. I offer him a headache pill and the rest of my drink. He smiles and takes it, immediately looking more awake. 

"What are you doing now? You never told me what cake you want to make for Ana."

"That is for me to know..." I trail off as I put purple food coloring in until it is the right color, her favorite color "and for you to find out." I hand him a spoon of the batter. 

I continue without looking at him, "the cake will have four tiers, and will be the centerpiece of the table." I trail off again, "that means.. twelve individual sheets, hmmm... four times the normal buttercream recipe." I look at him and hand him the separate card for the frosting. "Could you quadruple- no.. quintuple this and split it evenly into five bowls?"

He looks surprised but takes it anyway and starts on it without a word. 

~~

While Ana's cake is in the oven, I start to assemble the others when they are cooled and frost them accordingly. Since they are all one tier, a recipe and a half of buttercream is enough to frost the ones that need frosting. We flavor them accordingly and make them look pretty with the according flavors... chocolate ganache for the chocolate one, fresh strawberry buttercream for the strawberry one, peanut butter scented frosting for the peanut butter one and just a light layer of frosting for the funfetti one, so that the sprinkles could be seen, and just enough for more sprinkles to be stuck on the sides.

We found a way to make them all fit in the fridge. We both stood in front of the fridge for a while to admire our work as we eat the cake scraps with the remaining buttercream.

When the timer goes off for Ana's cake, I take them out and start on the fondant decorations for the second layer, the colored buttercream for the third one, and a special surprise for the top tier and bottom tiers. This cake would be a clusterfuck of everything Ana loves.

"This is gonna be one cake?" Colt asks as he watches the crazy gears turn in my head.

"Yes."

He watches me for a while and comments, "how did you get so good a making those flowers?" he asks as I pipe a rose, scrape it off the pedestal and place it on a baking sheet with maybe two dozen other flowers all in different shades of purple.

"Practice."

When he continues with his questions, I try to distract him by getting him to fill piping bags with more buttercream. This does not stop him from jabbering.

"Have you always been this good at baking?" 

"Yes," the answer to this question was much longer, but I did not want to mess up this chrysanthemum. The focus I was putting on it started to give me a headache.

~~

The layers are finished by the time the sun comes up the next morning. I planned to assemble it at the party, because putting all four tiers together now would be a hazard. All this work could go to waste if the floor got to enjoy the cake because someone was clumsy. 

I yawn, Colt comes up beside me and tells me how nice it looks. I nod, half asleep at this point, covered in flour, food coloring and sugar.

He gets the layers into the fridge, I giggle at the sight of a fridge full of cake. 

I yawn again into my hand and fall into his arms when he picks me up to take me to the bedroom and place me down on the bed.

"I can't sleep, Colt. I have more to do yet," I mumble and struggle feebly against him.

"Like what?"

"I have to make sure everything is being set up properly and that Ana stays out of it, and-"

"A nap is what you need most right now. You can't function properly if you don't sleep for a while. I'll wake you up in a couple minutes, okay? Let me take care of things," he says softly and kisses my head after tucking some hair behind my ear.

I nod without thinking, without connecting the dots.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Around the same time that morning ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryan's POV

Mission: Best Birthday Ever.. activate.

Even though she slept like a log, I had to be careful getting up because this had to be a surprise. 

I close the door behind me and go downstairs to the kitchen where I finish everything and put it all on a platter to take upstairs at 9:30 sharp, when she usually gets up.

I put the platter on the bedside table and wake her with gentle kisses on her head, her cheeks, the tip of her nose and her lips until her eyes flutter open. I would never get sick of seeing those perfect brown eyes first thing in the morning. Fresh, clean, unsuspecting.

"Good morning, beautiful." She loved being called beautiful. "I hope you're hungry," I move so that she can see the tray I prepared for us.

Her eyes light up as she sits up. I open the curtains to let the sun in and sit on the bed, pulling the tray to us. 

I start to point to things to demonstrate the menu, "fresh squeezed orange juice, iced coffee, avocado toast with a fried egg on top, fresh cantaloupe, bacon and a stack of pancakes."

"Oh, and this," I pull a box from my pocket and open it, to reveal a bracelet with my gemstone in it. I wore one with hers in it. She gasps and offers me her wrist to put it on, and kisses me. 

She smiles at me, "you shouldn't have, babe. This is so nice!" She smiles wider at the food and takes a piece of bacon off the plate, doing a little happy dance as she reaches for the coffee.

After we eat, we shower and.. get to doing some slippery things. 

As far as I can tell so far, she has no idea about the party planned. 

When she asks about what the plan was for today, I hand her a slip of paper which she unfolds and opens.

"What runs all day but never walks; often murmurs, never talks; has a bed but never sleeps; has a mouth, never eats?" She reads aloud and makes that adorable thinking face.

"What is this?" She asks and looks up.

"It is a scavenger hunt, baby. What do you think the answer is?" 

"A.. river?" She smiles when she realizes she is right and shifts into that beautiful red wolf that I've always loved, running out the door into the woods.

Perfect. This way, she would be distracted.

I shift and run after her until we reach the river. I sit on a rock and wait for her to join me. 

She comes up next to me and nuzzles me, "you brought me here for a reason, didn't you?" 

"The picnic where I pushed you into the pond when we were little, remember?" I ask without actually saying anything verbally, only looking at her who also remains silent except for tired panting. 

She bumps me to where I lose my balance and fall in, similar to the way I pushed her when we were pups.

I get back onto the rock and shake vigorously, getting her almost as wet as I am. "There is another clue here for you, baby. Go find it."

She hops off and sniffs along the bank to find the other note that I planted the night before, opening it and reading it to me. "What is it that is not burnt in the fire, and cannot be drowned in the water?"

"What the heck?" She tilts her head and brings the note to me.

"Think about significant places for us.. I can give you another hint if you want."

She nods, and I say, "In the spring becomes thin, in the winter becomes thick."

"Ice." She answers immediately and scrambles off the rock, running still further away from where the party would be towards the foot of a mountain that always had ice around it.

She finds the next hint tucked into a bush, "not so fast. What about this place?" I ask before she can open it. 

"This is the place you told me you loved me for the first time," she smiles again, looking like she is remembering things.

"I still love you, Ana. You know that right?" I put my snout on her shoulder.

"I love you too, Ry," she reciprocates by putting her snout on mine, a wolf hug.

"Read the next one."

"It can be grown in your yard or bought at the store and is given for love when less is more?" She smiles immediately. I couldn't see it, but I can always tell.

"Flowers." She takes no time to figure this one out, gasping when she realizes where we're going. It was a bit of a run, but it was her favorite place.

We walk to this place, talking on the way about anything and everything. She says thank you over and over. Even though I wanted to take her out for a night on the town, the party was a better idea. Besides, this was more intimate.

When we get there, she waits for me to come beside her before continuing up the hill until we overlook a meadow of purple flowers that dance in the wind. Her wolven eyes full of admiration.

"What about this place?" I ask softly.

"This is the place where you proposed, and where we said 'I do," she looks from the field to me. I bury my snout in her belly, taking her to the floor, breaking her fall with my paws.

She shifts, and then I do. She was the most relaxed version of herself I had seen in a long time. She cranes her neck up to put her lips on mine where they belonged. 

I intended to stay here until sundown, and take her back in time for the party. The run back would tire us out enough to where she would be hungry again. 

"I bet you have a picnic basket somewhere here, don't you?" She smiles knowingly. 

I nod and get off her so I can help her up and we can find it and watch the clouds for another hour or so until it was time to go back.

Nova's POV

Colt did wake me up, as he promised. He came back with his truck while I was in the shower. I got out just in time to help him load the cakes safely into the bed of the truck, securing them down so that they would be safe.

I felt a lot better. 

By the time we got into town, everything was set up better than I ever could have organized. 

"What did you do while I was sleeping?" I mutter as we pull up.

There were huge tents up that would be sheer enough to see the stars from under, a dance floor was being set up, a humongous bonfire was being started and garlands and banners were being put up all over the place.

He chuckles under his breath and gets out, coming around to open my door. "I got everyone working." 

I am immediately hit with the amazing smells of BBQ, smoke, roasting meat and the sounds of laughter and general merriment. The bar was being set up, plate after plate was being set on the table, full of piping hot food. 

There was enough space at the center for each of the cakes to go. I eagerly begin to unload them and ever so carefully set them down.

When every cake but Ana's is down, I carry one tier at a time with Colt's help to the table to set them down individually. Other older women in the pack stop what they're doing to glance over at us as we place the layers on each other, each one being smaller in diameter than the last. 

When I finally get a chance to have a look at my masterpiece, I am blown away. It is the most beautiful cake I have ever seen. Women and children stop and ogle at it as well, asking if I really made it, how I did it, if they can get the recipes I used, etc. I laugh and say yes to all of them and watch everyone moving around like worker bees in an attempt to make this the best party the pack had ever seen.. all for their favorite medic. 

~~

"Quick! They're coming! Everybody hide!" Came the whisper-shouts from another nurse from the clinic as the lights dim, making everyone hunker down and hide.

When Ana and Ryan get close enough, the lights flash on and everyone jumps out saying "surprise!" 

Ana's look of utter joy makes all this work worth it. She looks genuinely surprised and hugs Ryan, and then runs to me hugging me tight, jumping up and down. 

I laugh and hug her just as tight. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you! This is so awesome!" She squeals and looks beyond me to the table of food. I don't follow her eyes, but when her jaw drops, I know exactly what she is looking at.

"I know you like red velvet... this is purple velvet. And there is a surprise inside for you," I nudge her. "The top and bottom layers are decorated with a purple and gold mirror glaze, the second one has those ombre buttercream flowers I piped directly onto the cake, and the third layer is white fondant with handmade fondant flowers."

"It is so beautiful!" She nearly screams and hugs me again. 

She gasps when she sees all the cakes, "how many are there?" 

"Seven in total, including yours," I giggle and point to all the other cakes, telling her what they are and explaining why I made them. "My present to you is all the leftover cake."

She smiles and hugs me again, this time almost cutting off my oxygen supply. "This is perfect. Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure.. now go eat! You must be starving," I laugh when she bolts off to the table, filling a plate with a bit of everything. 

Colt comes up behind me and puts his arms around me. "She's right you know. This is a great party."

"Oh shut up.. you helped," I smile up at him.

"I did, but you had the idea."

I leave it at that and smile at Alpha Hendrix as he and Luna Amelia come with interlocked arms, looking happy as ever.

"Quite the party you started here!" Hendrix laughs.

"It was a pleasure, sir! The rest of the pack did the work, I only planned it," I say honestly. I didn't do a lot of the hard work. 

"Don't listen to her, Hendrix. She was up all night last night baking all the cakes you see at the center of that table," Colt chimes in. I elbow him.

The night was going very well, as expected until Ana pulls me off my seat on Colt's lap to the dance floor. Her laughter and silliness forces me to join her in a dance that felt ridiculous but brought me back to high school dance. It probably looked terrible for onlookers, but I was too giddy in the moment to care. 

When I look over at Colt and notice that he is no longer looking at me, but at another girl I don't recognize, I continue to dance until the song ends and Ryan taps my shoulder to be let in. 

I gladly allow him, as I was ever so curious to see what the deal with this girl was.

Colt's expression goes from sour, to sweet relief when he sees me approach, pulling me into him, closer than usual. "I didn't know you could dance," he leans down to say into my ear so that I can hear him over the music.

I laugh, "there is a lot you don't know about me." And I would have continued to be flirty were it not for the expression of utter distaste that came from this stranger.

He sighs. "Nova, this is Thalia. Thalia, Nova." His voice changes when he says her name. In a bad way for her, but in a good way for me. 

Why did that name sound familiar? 

Oh....

Was this the Thalia who is obsessed with him? 

The way her eyes darkened upon hearing my name gave me the answer I needed.

"Nova! Come on!! It's time for cake!" Ana says and eagerly pulls me away from the awkward conversation, which also pulls Colt since he was attached to me.

"That looked bad.. is everything okay?" She whispers just loud enough for me to hear but with a smile plastered on her face, so that Thalia who was still watching us wouldn't think anything of it.

I just nod, still confused.

Ana gets to cut into it and gasps in delight when she pulls the slice away to reveal three separate colors of cake inside as well as three colors of buttercream to contrast the cake. The bottom most layer of the tier she cut from was a darker purple color with a white buttercream between it, and a lighter shade, followed by a middle shade of frosting and the darkest shade of purple frosting under the lightest cake layer. Every tier was like that. Ana's reaction made the extra work so worth it.

The rest of the night is spent laughing, eating and drinking. We party into the wee hours of the morning, and though I was unable to get Colt to dance with me, it was still the best night of my life and much needed after all that had happened these past few months.

People start to leave, thanking me, wishing Ana a happy birthday even though she now slumps over Ryan, partly drunk and ready for bed.

Ryan takes her over his shoulder, thanks me one more time and starts to walk back to their house.

I can't remember being this satisfied on such a grand scale... ever. I don't think I'd ever seen so many people making s'mores at the same time. We went through several bags of marshmallows. The bonfire was large enough to where it would have been a sin not to make s'mores. The best thing I saw was Colt who made a s'more with a hunk of chocolate cake between the cracker and marshmallow, which inspired a chain reaction.

All the food was a huge hit, everyone was able to eat their fill and I got probably fifty requests for cake recipes. Almost all of the smaller cakes were gone completely, the large cake had some decent damage done to it, but enough leftovers for Ana. 

Since mostly everyone had gone back to their homes, I cleaned up what I could and packed up some leftovers for myself to take home since nobody else took them.

I cleaned what I could with Colt's help, and assigned another task to him while I went to tend to the bonfire to make sure it wouldn't escape its given boundaries and burn the whole pack to cinders. 

Because it was reduced to glowing embers with the occasional flame, I became hypnotized, looking into the dancing flame as it hopped over embers with such careless precision and tact whilst remaining so graceful and effortless.

My trance is interrupted by an unfamiliar figure that comes from the other side of what was once a mighty bonfire. When it gets closer, I see that it is Thalia. I scope the area for Colt in case she tried to pull something. He was nowhere to be seen. 

She had an air of fakeness and mendacity about her that irked me before she even began to talk.

"So, you and Colt, huh?" She glimmers a fake smile which her eyes betray. Her eyes translate pure evil. What was worse is that not even her smile could hide it. The smile, actually made it even worse. 

This was bad..

"Uhmm.. if he has it his way, yeah," I try to lighten the mood a bit.

She growls and shoves me with all her might into the embers behind me, stepping closer, her eyes now shine black in the light of the dying fire. Not a dark shade of brown. Black.

They say that embers are hotter than the fire itself, and my hands and thighs were feeling it.

She presses further into me, forcing my arms down onto them. I yelp out in pain and grit my teeth, too weak at this point and in too much shock to be able to push her off me, or even change our position. 

"He is mine, you lying whore. Understand? Stay the fuck away from him or this.." she pushes me down further now making me scream, hoping to get Colt's attention, "will be the least of your worries."

"Nova!" I hear Colt scream from a ways away. 

"I'm warning you, bitch," she growls as she steps away and runs to the cover of the woods as Colt runs to my aid, helping me up, brushing where the embers were.

"What the hell happened?" He booms, I wince.

"Thalia was here.. she shoved me," everything in me wants to cry, partly because it hurts, partly because of the situation itself.

"She what?" His voice drips venom. 

"You heard me!" I sob and allow him to pick me up as gently as he can, which still hurts and hurry me to the car where he sets me down in the passenger seat and drives me to an unfamiliar location, taking me out of the car as gently as before and going inside.

"Where are we?" I say before I pass out from the pain.

"Safety." He fades.

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WOW! That was intense!

To my beloved Ana who shan't be named, I love you so much, bb. I wanted to have this chapter out by 12 so that it would still be the 17th, but I got a little carried away. There are 5169 words in the chapter. That's a lot more than I usually write, haha.

This was for you, girl. I hope you enjoyed it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Love, El.