Chapter 25

~Thomas’s POV~

I had to admit, the week was going much better than expected. Grady hadn’t blown the whole rape thing out of proportion, Jessie had accepted my apology and even went as far as to recommend to Carson that I be put back into my role in the fullest capacity as Beta even though the sessions still continued, the pack was celebrating its biggest party of the year today and I got to wake up to the Grady’s handsome face every day this week. Not bad at all.

I turned in a full circle surveying the turn out and smiled, pleased with it all.  There were at least three different packs here and so far I had yet to notice one hiccup. Everything seemed to be going well and the integration between packs was sure to please the council and the Alpha.

Speaking of Carson; he certainly did seem pleased; I spotted him close to the stage keeping up conversation with the Alpha of the Marcana pack; the great she-devil herself; Marissa Marcana and she also seemed to be having a great time.

I only wished  that this party extended to humans because I knew for a fact that the guys from school would  probably dub this the party of the year; sexy teenage girls, dancing in next to nothing, college chicks to die for, and free booze.

The only downside to them would probably be the  mass of adults milling about but werewolf parents tended to be  way more lenient than human ones and the kids and the adults had pretty much formed cliques of their own already anyway.

“Dude I’m telling you he won’t do it, look at him, he’s evil.”

I turned my attention to the voice that was unmistakably Grady’s. He and Laken were forcing their way through the crowd, drinks in hand while Grady tried to convince Laken of something…corrupting his innocent mind no doubt. They’d been hanging out a lot this past week which was certainly a surprise to me but it was good to see that my mate was finally over his pointless prejudices.

“He’s not evil you just don’t…” Laken’s reply was drowned out in the music and a second later they both disappeared through the crowd.

I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what that particular conversation was about. I was perfectly content to just stand in my corner, sipping my drink and watching what was taking place around me, but that was not to be the case. I heard her voice before I saw her face and a wide grin broke out on my own.

“Now what is the big bad Beta doing standing here all by his lonesome?” Katherine said and when I turned to the sound of her voice I was enveloped in a big hug. I held onto her and spun her around until she was laughing uncontrollably in my arms.

“Kat, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to L.A this weekend.” I said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah well, I broke it off with Terry so no point in going there anymore.” She said with a shrug, then grinned up at me.

“So where is he?” she questioned.

“Where’s who?” I evaded with an equally wide grin.

“Your mate, you jerk, he’s gotta be brave to put up with the likes a you, I wanna meet him.” She said and I laughed.

“I don’t know, last time I saw him he was  running around with Laken.” I said looking around just in case I could catch a glimpse of him.

“Ooooo running around with the Alpha’s mate, you better hope he really only got eyes for you hun.”

“Haha shut up.” I joked and took her by the arm pulling her through the crowd. Now that Kat was here it was officially a party.

I’d met her at the first pack party I was allowed to attend, which was when I was fifteen and I still had no clue what it was about her that made me like her so much, but I did. She was cynical, stubborn, a bad girl through and through and profanity was her second language. Everything about her should have been a turn off for me but I’d liked her instantly and if there was anyone in this world I could call a sister it would be Kat.

“Wow she’s cute, who’s that?” Kat asked and I glanced in the direction she was pointing.

“Oh no you don’t, that one’s as straight as an arrow and completely off limits to you.” I said steering her in another direction. Oh I probably should have mentioned Kat was a lesbian, another reason I probably liked her, because at least she wasn’t drooling over me like so many other females I knew.

“Honey, no one is off limits for me.” She said with a wink and pulled free of my hand. I watched in amusement as she approached Jessie who was standing by herself, drink in hand and subtly swaying to the music. Well I warned her.

“Hey sweetie what’s up?”

I turned to him when I heard his voice and we hugged briefly before I focused my attention on kat once more.

“Ugh, she’s here?” Rivers said, the disgust practically dripping from his tongue. I laughed.

“I honestly don’t know why you guys hate each other so much.” I said.

“You mean other than the fact that she’s a raging bitch, a conceited pig and a-” he began, face turning red as he described her.

“Okay okay I get it.” I said with a laugh, cutting off his words.

“What’s the witch doing anyway?” he asked nodding in her direction.

“Trying to pick up Jessie.” I said with a smirk and he chuckled.

“Didn’t you tell her Jessie won’t even date any of the guys here much less a female?” he asked and I could tell he was enjoying this.

“I warned her but you know Kat.” I said then we both fell silent as we watched it play out.

Right now kat was working all her charms. Rather than acting all tough and badass like she always did she was playing the ‘innocent’ card. Acting all sweet, smiling at all the right times and when she giggled at something Jessie said, I almost choked on my drink.

“What’s going on?” Laken question as he walked over to us with Grady trailing not far behind.

“We’re watching kat fall to her doom.” Rivers said with a chuckle.

“That’s Kat? wow she’s hot.” Grady said coming to stand beside me and resting his hand on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

“You think anything with a pair a breasts and a slim waist is hot.” I told him and when he seemed to think about that for a second. We all laughed.

“She’s trying to get Jessie? But Jessie isn’t…” and Laken trailed off when he realized that was the reason we were standing here watching.

“Okay looks like Kat just told her she’s interested.” I said and we all looked back at the two.

Jessie was shaking her head and backing away, like something Kat said had offended her and Kat seemed to be trying to calm her down. She was saying something and she had her hands up almost in surrender and a moment later Jessie seemed to calm down.

“Are you guys spying on Kat?” a deep voice questioned behind us and we all looked to the sound. It was Carson.

“Yeah, she’s trynna pick up Jessie.” Laken said.

“But Jessie isn’t-”he started but fell silent when Laken shushed him.

I watched as the Alpha walked to where Laken stood and hugged him from behind, then it was back to watching Kat.

Things seemed to have gone back to normal between the two girls now. Well the conversation looked kind of stilted and awkward but, normal enough I suppose.

“What if Jessie’s actually into girls.” Laken suggested and we all looked at him. The kid was losing his mind, and at such a young age too…sad.

“What? It could happen.” He retorted but by now nobody was paying him any attention.

“A buncha gay guys standing in an awesome party watching an equally gay girl trying to land a bed mate, how is this normal?” Grady asked and was rewarded with a chorus of shushing sounds.

“Why are you even shushing me? It’s not like we can hear anything!” He retorted and was rewarded with more shushing. He sighed then turned his attention back to the girls.

“Wait a minute, is she…blushing?” Rivers asked in awe.

Kat was actually blushing..Kat...blushing. This night was just getting weirder and weirder.

Rivers took out his phone and snapped a picture and when I looked at him he shrugged “What? I can use it whenever I’m blackmailing her.” He said as if that was a normal topic of conversation and I shook my head.

“I wonder what they’re talking about.” Laken said.

“Probably skulls and graves and death.” Rivers answered and Laken rolled his eyes.

“What’s the point of being werewolves if you can’t even hear conversations just a few feet away?” Grady spoke up again.

“Shut up human.” Laken said and flicked him on the ear.

“And this is why I don’t have a pet.” Grady said with a shake of his head.

“What’s going on here?” another approaching voice asked and Rivers spoke up before he even knew who it was.

“We’re watching Kat try to land a lover.” He said and when we all realized who the voice belonged to we fell silent.

It was Kat’s Alpha; Marissa Marcana.

“Kat’s doing what?” she asked in anger and we all looked away.

Homosexuality wasn’t something that was tolerated in other packs. Ours was actually the first I knew of that allowed it and while Marissa knew that Kat was gay she went to great lengths to prevent her from acting on it, not that it was helping.

Carson grabbed her arm as she moved to go break up our little fun and she looked at him in surprise.

“It’s okay Marissa, Jessie isn’t gay so Kat’s not gonna get anywhere with her anyway.” He said simply.

Marissa, looked at him for a while seeming to consider his statement.

“Are you saying that my Kat isn’t smooth enough to get your Jessie?” she said with a glint in her eye.

“Well…” Carson replied with a grin and Marissa laughed.

“Twenty bucks says Kat can do it. That girl can charm the socks off the devil.” she said pulling out a crumpled twenty dollar bill.

“Fifty says she can’t. Jessie doesn’t play for that team.” Carson counteracted and pulled out a few notes of his own.

By now our group was reeling with excitement. Alright now it was on!

“You’re all insane.” Grady spoke up.

“Shhhh!” we chorused and he fell silent with a pout. I chuckled.

It was surprising how quickly it ended after that. Not five minutes after the bet was made, the girls were parting ways and we watched in varying degrees of pleasure as Kat turned away with a frown and headed in our direction, then stopped short when she realized that it wasn’t just me standing here anymore.

“What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously when she was standing close enough.

“You should’a just listened to me.” I said with a laugh.

“You failed didn’t you?” Laken asked.

“Of course she failed.” Rivers responded.

“I think that’s my fifty you’re holding Marissa.” Carson said and plucked the cash from her hand. He was grinning from ear to ear as he held his winnings. Then he handed it to Laken who pocketed it with a shrug.

“Am I missing something here?” Kat asked, her eyes narrowed.

“We were just discussing the fact that you now have fifteen hundred hours of community service to do when you get back to camp.” Marcana said to her then turned to Carson with a smile.

“Good call Alpha.” She said with a wink then turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Kat just stood there her eyes wide with confusion and Grady chose that moment to speak up.

“Hi I’m Grady.” He said, grabbing her hand and pumping it enthusiastically.

I was pretty sure that when she looked back at this day, Kat would surmise that we were all crazy and she would be better off finding new friends.

……………………………………

If I made even the slightest move to my right, I would fall out of bed thanks to my mate who was sprawled across it like it was his to begin with. I suppressed a groan as I pulled myself into a sitting position and stretched, then I looked over at Grady who was still lost in his dream world. I didn’t blame him though, we fell into bed at around four this morning after partying all night with the other packs.

Too bad we had to get up early though. As was tradition, the other two packs had been given housing for the night and we were expected to have breakfast with them at 10. It was now 9:30a.m which meant, a quick shower for me, then I’d head out.

I figured Grady would be sleeping in today so I didn’t bother waking him. I just leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead, did my toiletries and fifteen minutes later I was out the door, making my way to the hall where we would have breakfast.

I spotted Kat and the others the moment I entered and went over to their table.

“Hey dude, where’s Grady?” Kat asked before I could even properly take my seat.

After the whole Kat/Jessie fiasco last night, Grady had quickly become the center of attention in our little group which wasn’t surprising considering the fact that he was the king of all party animals.

“Sleeping.” I answered and grabbed a roll from the bread basket in the centre of the table.

Only Kat, Laken and Rivers sat at our table, while Carson sat with the other two Alphas across the room.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” she asked and I shrugged.

Today was the day the packs usually hunted together but after fights broke out last year during the hunt the Alphas had done away with it so now everybody was free to do as they pleased.

“I’m gonna hang out with Jake for awhile, Carson says he’s letting him go back home tomorrow.” Rivers said with a smile and bristled.

Even his name annoyed me. The little fu-

“Too bad he couldn’t hang with us this weekend.” Laken said dragging me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah right, the other Alphas would have been outraged. A human knowing their secret. Jake would have been dead before he could even find the punch bowl.” Rivers spoke up and we all nodded.

Grady was the only human in history to be invited to a pack party and that was only because he was mated to a wolf.

“Carson’s gonna be with the Alphas all day today so I guess I’m hanging with you guys.”

“Maybe you can go down to the lake.” Rivers suggested.

“Or we could go off camp, go have fun in town.” Kat said with an excited gleam in her eyes.

“But nobody is allowed to leave camp during the pack weekend.” Laken told her.

“Who says anyone has to know.” Kat said again, her voice lowered and a smile playing on her face.

“No way, I’m out, my days of breaking rules are over.” Laken said quickly and I winced remembering the last time he’d broken a pack rule.

“Ah come on Laken, don’t be such a party pooper.” She said but Laken shook his head adamantly.

“And I’m the Beta, how would it look if I broke my own rule.” I told her.

“Oh yeah.” She replied biting off a piece of bacon.

“We’ll just wait until Grady gets here he should be up any minute now, he’ll know what to do.” I assured them.

………………………………………..

~Grady’s POV~

I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and glanced at the screen. It was a text message from Thomas. He wanted me to meet him in the hall in fifteen minutes.

Ha! Fat chance of that, it was 11:45a.m, every muscle in my body was sore from all that dancing the night before, I was tired as hell and I was going back to bed. I dropped the phone and pulled the blanket up to my chin then buried my head under my pillow. They’d just have to do without me today.

Exactly half an hour later I woke up to Thomas dragging me out of bed. So much for my beauty sleep…

                                                              AUTHOR'S NOTES

HERE YOU GO PEEPS! 

Read my book  "What the Alpha says..Goes" for Laken and Carson's story!

ENJOY!

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited.