Emerald's POV-
I rode up front with Jody and August sat in the back. Jody had been practically talking the entire time complaining about work and his student loans.
"So you never did tell me what happened with you and Keith." Jody said making me sit up some in my seat.
I flicked my eyes to the rear view mirror and of course August was already looking at me.
"Oh well you know how guys are. They only want one thing and if they can't get it from you then they'll go looking for it somewhere else." I said keeping my eyes on August's in the mirror.
Jody laughed and sighed after a minute.
"I'm sorry hun, but between you and me it's kinda fun giving it to them every once in a while." He said mischievously making me laugh and break eye contact with August.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Erase that from your mind little girl." August said and goosebumps scattered down my arms from under my sleeves.
"August likes to pretend he's a virgin." I said to Jody making him bust out laughing.
I looked back at the rear view mirror and August was giving me a stern look. I could see the black trying to swallow the blue in his right eye. Anala always starts pacing around when she thinks Zeb is coming out.
"Maybe he's saving himself for that special one." Jody said wiggling his eyebrows at me.
I scoffed and turned to face the window.
"There is no special one." I mumbled under my breath to myself.
"Jody do you have a mate?" August asked making me turn away from the window.
"Nope, but maybe one day I'll find him or he'll find me. Either way works." He said casually as if it were no big deal.
"How do you know it's a he?" I asked playfully.
Jody scoffs and looks at me with a serious face.
"Trust me baby girl it's a he."
I laughed and surprisingly so did August.
"What about you Alpha? Have you found your Luna yet?"
August didn't say anything for a minute and I wish I wasn't so happy so I could feel some sympathy for him.
"It's complicated." He finally said and Jody nodded his head in understanding.
"Isn't it always? What about you Em?" Jody asked and I rolled my eyes.
"What about me? You know I don't have a mate."
"I know that sour puss, but if you had to make a guess. Who do you think your mate would be? What does he look like? What does he act like?" He asked and I groaned even though I couldn't actually feel any aggravation.
"I don't know and I don't care to know. I'm perfectly content without a mate and honestly I don't even believe in that mate bond stuff."
"Well aren't you just a bucket of rainbows?" Jody said while turning down another road.
"What do you mean you don't believe in the mate bond?" August asked and leaned forward in his seat.
I let out a sigh and leaned my head back against my seat and looked at August through the rear view mirror. I kept my calm exterior on to hide anything in my face from him. Not that I needed to because I felt great right now.
"I think it's a load of horse shit August. You're telling me that if some random guy came up to me and claimed to be my mate that I'm suppose to just go along with it and let this person mark me? I'm suppose to just willingly hand over my private thoughts, my memories, my emotions all in the name of love? That's not love. Thats handing someone full control over you. I'm not being brainwashed into thinking that I can only be happy with one person because some fake woman in the sky said so."
His eyes went back to their normal color and he looked at me as if he didn't know who I was for a minute. Like he didn't recognize me.
"How long have you felt this way?"
"Always and nothing is going to change my mind or convince me otherwise."
He stayed looking back at me with soft eyes and when I turned to face the window I could hear him slide back in his seat. We stayed riding in silence for another thirty minutes before we pulled into a street with lines of cars parked on the side of the road.
"Damn parking is always ridiculous here." Jody said annoyed while he tried to find a free space to park.
"Who's all here anyway?" I asked trying to recognize any of the vehicles.
"Everyone. Including Seth Barkley." Jody singed to me making my eyes go wide.
"What? I thought he was away at university?"
"Mmm I don't know I just heard it through the grapevine." He said and I suddenly felt very thankful that I decided to practice today to help keep my nerves calm.
"Who's that?" August asked and I shot Jody a look that said to shutup.
He of course did not.
"Seth is Courtney's older brother er.. have you met Courtney yet?"
"Oh he's met her. How do you think we got invited?" I said in a snarky tone.
Jody only laughed though.
"I see anyway Seth is her older brother and Emerald has basically been fantasizing about him since forever."
My face would probably be as red as a tomato if I could feel embarrassment right now.
"Shutup Jody! I do not fantasize about him. He's just very.."
"Hot? Sexy? Smokin?" Jody tried to finish for me.
"No! I was going to say nice. He's a very nice guy that's all."
Jody snorted and continued to pour my darkest secrets out.
"Don't you remember what you used to say to me all the time?" Jody asked and I started to shake my head no at him.
"You used to say Seth was yummier then bacon." He said howling in laughter.
I knew I should be embarrassed, but I didn't feel it. I still ended up slapping Jody's arm for betraying me.
"You can forget about me leaving you anymore tips."
"Oh please bitch, your little five dollar tip doesn't pay my bills so keep it." He said back and I rolled my eyes at him.
I knew it would be a mistake, but I snuck a glance at the rear view mirror.
When I did I immediately looked back out of my side window. August was sitting on the edge of his seat and he basically had white and black eyes right now. I couldn't tell if it was jealousy or just him being overly protective since he's known me since I was a kid. It couldn't be jealousy. It wouldn't even make sense for him to be jealous over me.
I wonder how he saw me. What does he see me as? I was worried he'd see me as like his adopted niece or cousin or something cringe like that. After all what would a man like him ever see in a girl like me besides just that.
A girl.
Jody finally found parking way down the road which meant we'd have to walk back down to the cabin, but the air outside was nice and not too humid. As we walked down the road I looked up to see the moon was almost fully in the sky. It wasn't full yet, but it was getting close. Seeing it always made Anala want to howl. It's the only time that I truly struggle to hold her back.
'Quick! Call to her!' She demanded and let out a low growl that reached my throat.
"What is it?" August asked lowly in my ear and I snatched my head back to look up at him.
"Sorry wasn't me, Anala gets antsy when she sees the moon." I explained and August looked up to see the moon in the dark inky sky.
"Zeb is the same way." He said and I don't know why, but hearing that made me smile.
I walked in the middle between August and Jody and when we got closer to the cabin you could feel the beat vibrating from the house from loud music. When we started to walk up the driveway I finally did spot a vehicle I knew.
Keith's.
I'm not a big fan of alcohol, but sometimes it's necessary and tonight I had a feeling it would definitely be needed.
Jody opened the front door and we all walked in and tried to squeeze through all the sweaty bodies that were dancing and grinding on one another. The music was way too loud to even think let alone speak to anyone. The lights were cut low and there were long twinkly lights outlining some of the walls and doors to illuminate some of the house.
I followed close behind Jody and tried not to let anyone rub up against me. It wasn't hard for August to get through the crowd. People automatically moved out of his way for him and I knew it was because his dominance had shifted the air. It was that Alpha affect he has and even though I was used to it, I could still feel it just like everyone else.
We finally made our way to the very large open kitchen. There were beer cans, red solo cups, and multiple bottles ranging from vodka to tequila on every counter top. There were even Jell-O shots all arranged in different colors on a large circular plate sitting in the middle of all the mess. In one corner were a couple of ice chests and even though it was less crowded in here there were still people talking and some making out not caring who sees.
"So miss priss what would you like to start off with?" Jody asked while he looked for some clean plastic cups that hadn't been used yet.
Before I could respond August answered for me.
"She can have water."
I looked at him and threw my head back laughing.
"Beer is fine with me Jody thanks." I said while staring down August.
August looked at me and my eyes went wide when he grabbed my arm and pulled me far enough away from Jody so he couldn't hear.
"You're too young to drink."
"You don't know that for sure remember? You said so yourself I could be twenty one." I said back with a cheeky smile.
His eyes darkened at me and he kept his expression serious.
"You're not drinking Emerald." He said as if it were even his say so.
I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms. I wasn't annoyed by the way he was talking to me because I couldn't be, but that happy pill effect doesn't stop this smart mouth of mine from running.
"You know I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a strict father. I guess now I know."
This time though August did drop his serious facade and he grinned at me instead. It forced me to break my shell and I smiled seeing that he took my joke well.
He leaned in closer to me and put his lips right next to my ear. I could feel his breath on my skin and the stubble on his cheek tickled mine.
"If I were your father I'd have you bent over my knee right about now little girl." His voice was low, but it had something else to it.
Something dark and metallic that usually isn't there. He pulled back from me and I could see now he had one solid white milky eye and one solid black. It wasn't August.
"Zeb?" I asked barley loud enough for even me to hear.
August blinked his eyes and his one black one went right back to being it's usual dark blue.
Anala was howling and scratching like a dog in heat suddenly and I instantly became aroused. My cheeks felt hot and my hands.. fuck my hands! I looked down to see my finger tips glowing green right under my skin.
Before I could even close them though August put his much larger ones over them and held them tightly. His hands no longer had the wraps on them so I knew he could feel the heat from my fingers. I looked back up at him and I knew I was burning him. I knew he could feel it and that it was hurting, but he never showed it in his face. He was just standing there taking it and looking at me.
Why is he always looking at me like that?
Like he's trying to see inside of me.
"Here you are my dear."
I looked up and quickly snatched my hands from August. Jody was holding out a cold glass beer bottle and I took it from him and let the glass cool my hands off. I muttered a thanks and took a swig of the alcohol. It's disgusting, but sweet at the same time.
"What do you drink?" Jody asked August.
"Nothing I guess I'll be the responsible one tonight." August said sounding annoyed.
Jody snickered and took a sip of whatever was in his red cup. Suddenly I heard the awful noise saying that awful nickname out at an extremely high pitched volume.
"Emmy!!"
Thank the moon I'm still practically high on happiness.
Courtney walked in from the sliding glass door that led out back. She was wearing a red two piece bathing suit. The g string type that basically allows you to walk around with your entire ass out. Her long blonde hair was now in loose curls and down around her shoulders. She wore matching red lipstick and if you guessed black stiletto heels you are one smart cookie.
But as much as I knew it should bother me. It didn't. Not even a little bit, in fact I thought her body looked amazing in the swim suit and even though her legs were naturally long the heels did seem to somehow add even more length to them. Good for her I thought.
I smiled up at her literally because of the height and it wasn't a forced one either. I felt good still and even if it wears off I planned to at least get buzzed from the alcohol.
"Courtney! I love that color on you!" I said to her and I watched her fake smile drop in shock at first.
"Oh? Thanks! My mom bought me like one of these in every color. Did you bring a swim suit?" She asked me and I shook my head no and took another sip of my beer.
"Well you're more then welcome to borrow one of mine Emmy! The top might be too big for you though." She said and giggled as if it were an innocent thing to say.
I smiled at her and chuckled.
Yes I am the head girl of the itty bitty titty committee and you know what? I'm okay with that because I have no bra on right now and nobody can even tell that I feel free as a bird and comfortable.
"Mm there's my man! You look so good." She cooed and tried to put her hand on August's arm.
I watched as he moved a little away from her and closer to me. I just sipped on the cold beer and acted as if I didn't notice it.
"I'm sure you're a nice girl, but.."
"Ahh ah! No buts! Come dance with me." She said interrupting August.
She grabbed his arm and began dragging him away from me and Jody. I watched as he took a look back at me, but he let Courtney take him outside where the pool and the rest of the party was going on.
Still don't feel anything. That's good I don't want to feel anything. I looked up to see Jody looking down at me giving me pity eyes.
"What?" I said and cocked my head to the side.
"Come on." He said and grabbed my hand and led me away from the kitchen and away from Courtney and August.