Alaric stared at the two peepers with equal parts shock and disbelief. He recognized them as two of Lou's beta's that he had met earlier, Draven and Azreal, if he remembered their names correctly from the introductions they had given the night prior.
"She said it," Draven howled with laughter. "I can't believe she actually said it!"
"Help..." Azreal groaned from the other side of the door. It seemed like the thud Alaric had heard earlier was caused by impact with the elf beta. Draven's laughter only increased.
"Excuse me," Alaric walked to the entryway to address them. "What exactly are you doing here?"
"Witnessing the trainwreck Lou set up for herself," Draven chuckled. Hard as he was laughing, Alaric had a good look at the man's fangs. As he had suspected, Draven was a vampire. Then again, with his ivory skin, blood red eyes, and midnight hair Draven fit the stereo type to a T, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
"Honestly, I came for damage control," Azreal grumbled, voice still muffled by the door in his face. Alaric pulled it back only to find Azreal partially embedded into the wall. No wonder the elf had made no effort to free himself on his own. "It went better than I expected though."
"You're litterly stuck in the wall..." Alaric stated in disbelief. "How could it be any worse?"
"This was an accident," Azreal replied in a tone that was far to calm given his current predicatment. "Actually, it's pretty docile for Lou. You'll see what I mean as you get to know her. Actually, I'm surprised the door is still on it's hinges."
Not for the first time that evening, Alaric was begining to question his rather hasty decision. Now, he felt exhausted as his body ached in memory of the desire he'd been feeling only minutes ago. What a rotten end to such a decidedly chaotic day.
"Right," Draven cleared his throat and stared Alaric in the eye. "Now that's over with, we should probably get ready to go."
"Go where?" Alaric wondered.
"You heard Alpha Joe," Draven shrugged. "We've been dismissed for the time being, which is honestly a good thing. Lou's probably going crazy from being away from the pack as long as she has already."
"Aren't they here as well?" Alaric questioned. Most packs brought every member down to the lowliest of Omega's to the Harvest Moon festivities.
"It wasn't exactly practical," Draven replied with a wry smile. Alaric could sense the vampire wanted to say more, but held back. This annoyed him.
"Why not?" Alaric demanded.
"Try asking me again when you're more properly dressed," Draven replied with a smirk as he looked him up and down. "I can see why Lou is so smitten with you though. Damn man."
So saying, he seized Azreal by the front of the his robes and ripped him out of the sheetrock of the damaged wall with a pop. Azreal took the opportunity the dust the rubble from his clothes, and Alaric took that opportunity to get a better look at the beta. Now that he was paying closer attention, he recognized Azreal was only half-elf, and a spell-castor to boot.
Like most elves, Azreal had pointed ears, though they were shorter and less slendar than a full blooded elf's would be. He was also more broad and muscular, although a little shorter. Alaric couldn't be too critical of the man's height, however. Azreal was still at least four or more inches taller than him. His hair was a dark gold, and his eyes pine green, though his skin was much more tanned. Visually, he looked almost the opposite of Draven.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, luna," Azreal gave him a polite bow. "I will come back in a few minutes to pick you up."
"Alright," Alaric replied. He watched the pair go, then closed his door. As they had pointed out, it would likely be in his best interest to get dressed. Part of him hoped Lou would return and pick up where they left off, but as he replaced his robe with slacks and a polo, he knew it wasn't going to happen. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone, then hit the top number on his speed dial list.
"Alaric dear, don't tell me that you've already thrown in the towel?" His dearest friend, Roxanne Le Fay picked up and spoke immediately. "I understand that you detest your family, however you made a promise to your dear sister that you would... how do you American's say... stick it out?"
"Always a pleasure speaking with you too Roxy," Alaric huffed impatiently. "And no, I'm not throwing in the towel. Actually, it seems I will be staying in Astrea city indefinately-"
"Indefinately?" A hard edge appeared in Roxanne's tone. "If that less than charming arse you call 'father' believes he can bloody well hold you hostage in that pathetic excuse for the lavatory he calls a manor, you bet I'll scupper that plan when I go down there and-"
"Cool it Roxy," Alaric cut her off with a chuckle. "This doesn't have anything to do with my father."
"No?" Roxy questioned, though from the sounds of it she was calming down on the either end. "Very well then, Ric, blow the gaff. What's going on?"
"I'm not sure where to start," Alaric sighed.
He could well imagine how his best friend from boarding school would react to the news of his shotgun wedding, and it likely wouldn't be pretty. She was highly protective of him and clearly already looking for a reason to rain hell upon the city. As a powerful sorceress, he was confident she could do it too, and it was doubtful even Old Joe could do anything to stop her.
"You could start with the reason you've prolonged your stay," Roxanne suggested. He could hear the sound of her impeccalby manicured nails druming in the background. He had a sneaking suspicion she was already scheming.
"So, you remember how Werewolves have a tendancie to arrange marriages, particularly between higher ranked wolves and established families?" Alaric said hesitantly.
"That is very commonplace in high society world wide," Roxanne scoffed. "It is hardly unique to you American's, or you wolves for that matter. Frankly, Alaric dear, it's rather arrogant for you to suggest as much."
"Yes, sorry," Alaric sighed in frustration. "My point is, Roxy, please be open minded."
"I make no promises," Roxanne replied. Alaric sighed. He had expected as much from her.
"Roxy, I am married," He stated glumly. He heard the sharp intake, and held the phone away from his ear, bracing for the onslaught to come.
"YOU'RE WHAT?!" The distance didn't spare Alaric's ears from Roxanne's shrill shriek. He idly wondered, and not for the first time, if the woman was part banshee.
"Married," Alaric confirmed, bringing the phone just close enough for the reciever to pick up his words. "Roxy, please, I asked you to keep an open mind-"
"You are married?! How did this happen? When did this happen? You have some explaining to do!" She huffed.
"If you could let me talk, I could answer those questions," Alaric snapped impatiently. Roxy was a dear friend, but at times she could certainly be a pain in the ass. "Are you ready to listen?"
"Fine," she said after a dramatic sigh. "Proceed quickly."
As quickly as he could, Alaric shared the details of what had happened over the span of the last twenty-four hours. He left out his embarassing encounter, however, not wanting to risk unleashing Roxanne's wrath upon Lou.
"You are sure you are fine with this?" Roxanne said after processing the story for a few moments.
"I don't know Roxy," Alaric sighed. "It all happened so fast, and frankly, I've never been in a real relationship."
"What do you call those two months you were seeing that swedish model?" Roxy asked with a mixture of amusement and accusation. "Oh, what was her name..."
"Svanhilda," Alaric replied impatiently, "And no, that wasn't a relationship. I could hardly consider it a joke!"
"You seemed quite smitten at the time," Roxy disagreed with a chuckle. He could hear the smugness oozing from her words.
"Roxy! Please, focus!" Alaric snapped.
"Fine, fine," Roxy sighed. "So, you're having doubts. What are you going to do about it?"
"What else can I do about it besides make the most of it?" Alaric replied. "I will need your advice though."
"The great and illustrious Alaric Winters asking me for help?" Roxanne gasped dramatically. "Well this is certainly a first."
"Stop making me sound like some kind of diva," Alaric groaned.
"Never," Roxanne replied. "Now, what is it you need?"
"You know what, I'll send you a text," Alaric whispered as a knock sounded at his door. "It sounds like I need to get going."
"You better, or I will hunt you down personally," Roxanne promised. With a sigh, he ended the call and opened the door. As promised, Azreal had arrived to retrieve him.
"Are you ready?" he questioned.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Alaric replied with a forced smile.
So saying, he retrived his luggage and followed the beta out the door to where Lou and the others were waiting. He was shocked to find that Draven wasn't exaggerating, Lou and her betas were the only four pack members that had attended the gathering. It also seemed they had traveled there on foot.
"Oh good, you're here," Lou gave him a wry smile, then averted her gaze. Alaric frowned at her behavior. "Let's get going then. If we hurry, we'll get there by night fall."
"Might I make a suggestion?" Alaric gently touched Lou's arm to get her attention.
"Sure," she replied. He could hear her heart rate accelerate, but she was still refusing to look at him. Was this really what it was going to be like between them from then on? He was going to have to find a way to fix that.
"I could pay for a taxi," He suggested. He didn't want to sound like a complete snob, and honestly he thought it might be nice to take a stroll around the city, but he wasn't keen on the idea of dragging all of his luggage that far.
"A taxi?" Lou seemed less than impressed.
"Hey boss," Draven looked back and forth between her and Alaric, "You know, not all of us can turn into giant dogs that run at the speed of light-"
"Wolves," Maud corrected him with a growl.
"Yeah, whatever," Draven shushed her. "My point is, a Taxi would be nice."
Lou looked them over coldly, and for a moment Alaric worried she might be the type of hothead to refuse a request out of spite. After considering it a moment, however, she nodded.
"It'll be faster this way, anyway," She sighed. "Draven, Azreal, I trust you two to get him home safely."
"You aren't coming with us?" Alaric blinked.
"I... prefer other methods of travel," Lou replied, shooting him a devilish grin. His jaw dropped when she stripped out of her clothes and tossed them to Draven. "Keep track of those for me too."
Moment's later, she had shifted into a great black wolf with blue streaks running through her fur. He gasped as he realized as a wolf, she was the size of a car. She gave him a wink, the dashed off, a second, smaller wolf tailing after her. He realized as Azreal collected a second set of clothes from the sidewalk that it had been Maud.
"Is she usually like that?" Alaric wondered.
"Honestly," Draven snorted. "Usually she's worse. Now... about that taxi..."