To my surprise, however, someone else interrupts us before I can pull away. And again, this someone is Celine. “Sorry for interrupting you,” she says evenly.
“What?” the girl snaps at Celine, and part of me wants to strangle her for using that tone with her. “Can’t you take a hint?”
“Oh, I absolutely can,” she deadpans. I can feel the alpha aura radiating from her, and the girl flinches. “But you are blocking the path to the restroom. Maybe you would like to take your flirting to a more private area.”
Wait, we are right in front of the toilets? I look to the side and notice she’s right; we are basically blocking the path to the restrooms.
Celine stares at me for a moment, then she turns to the girl. “Leave,” she tells her, and the girl scurries away. I’m not even sad she’s gone; I don’t want her anyway. I only want Celine. Fuck it, I only want her. For a moment, Celine and I keep looking at each other.
“I wonder what I did to you?” she says, taking me by surprise. She stares at me; her eyes are a darker shade of blue than my family’s. Liam’s eyes are almost icy. Hers are like an ocean, deep and comforting. “For months, I’ve tried to approach you and talk to you. All I wanted was an honest and open discussion with you, nothing more. But you never even gave me the chance to talk to you. You pushed me aside at every possible moment. All this time, I have been wondering why? What did I do for you to hate me this much? What did I do to have you treat me like I don’t exist? And you know what!? I just realized that I didn’t do anything at all.” She furrows her brows. “You are just pathetic!” she spits out.
I feel my heart break at the look in her eyes. For a split second, she let her guard down, and she looked hurt, like something in her just broke. And it was me who broke it. I planned to make her hate me, but now that she does, I don’t feel good.
She turns on her heels and leaves, returning to the crowd of people who eagerly greet her.
When I turn around to grab a bottle of wine to drown my sorrows in it, I catch a pair of brown eyes staring straight at me. They belong to a human, a human guy I know all too well because he just happens to be best friends with my Luna, which is probably why he’s here now, the only human amongst us. Next to him is Jun, who just keeps staring at me. “Wait…” Dave rasps out. “It’s you? You’re the mate who doesn’t want her? But you are Liam’s brother! How can you break Celine’s heart like that!? She’s such a wonderful person. She cares deeply for her pack, she’s fair and smart.”
“If she’s that great, why don’t you go for her?” I huff, pissed at how he talks about Celine with such fondness. I don’t care if he’s gay or not.
Dave looks at me, sudden anger flashing in his eyes. “You—”
Jun takes his hand, interrupting him successfully. “Come,” he says quietly. “Let’s go.”
“He’s not your mate, you know that?” I ask Jun.
“Dave might not be my mate,” he says calmly. “But he healed a part of me I didn’t know was broken. No matter what the goddess has planned for us, even if I find my mate, even if we break up, I’ll never forget what he did for me. I can treat someone with respect even when they are not my mate. You can’t, even when they are.”
I have nothing to retort, nothing.
All-girl Movie Night
*VALERIE*
“Ican’tbelieveit,”Marcel blurts out, eyes wide. “The princess is here in person!”
Aurelia blinks at him in surprise. “The princess? Is that supposed to be me?”
“Marcel,” Jazz frowns. “I told you, try not to act weird for at least five minutes. You promised!”
Marcel grins. “Sorry, but you could have prepared me better.”
“I told you who she is,” Jazz argues.
“I thought you were joking.” Marcel groans. “Princess, I’m sorry I haven’t prepared anything.”
Aurelia just laughs slightly. “Please, I’m just Jazz’s friend, and I’m grateful to be invited to your place. My whole family is celebrating with my cousin today, but minors can’t attend. Really, I’m happy I can be here instead.”
Marilou and I exchange a glance and giggle at Marcel’s expression of sheer disbelief. Eventually, Jazz manages to calm him down and shove him out of her room. Jazz invited us girls to an all-girl movie night where we each bring a movie of our choice. Aurelia’s brought an action movie with lots of gratuitous violence and sex. I haven’t heard of it before, but apparently, it’s like Game of Thrones. Marilou and Jazz went for rom-coms, Tori’s gone for fantasy, and I chose a Sci-Fi horror.
Aurelia looks at me, surprised. “That’s a genre you like?”
“Don’t get her started,” Jazz grins. “I have to watch every Sci-Fi movie with her, and she loves the ones where some unknown species are on board and kills everyone. We’ve watched every Alien movie like… three times.”
Aurelia grins. “Cool, wouldn’t have thought you were a fan of those, but hey, what do they say about still waters?”
For the first hour, we just chat and eat. Marcel made pizzas for us, and Jazz and I baked cookies. Tori brought some salty snacks along, and Aurelia provided popcorn—she claims she can’t cook to save her life. Marilou, however, shocked us all by bringing along a bunch of perfect mini-cakes. “My new creations,” she says proudly.
“I’m so glad you’re feeling better after the other night, Val,” Tori points out. “And you too, Marilou.”