*******STORY START*******

I had finally gone a long while without talking to any of the guys after what I learned from Chase. Escaping them all was like escaping knowledge about anything having to do with me and my mate and whoever the alpha was. By now I had reduced myself to doing absolutely nothing on a Saturday night even though I was seeing dozens of social media posts commenting on the "hottest party of the newest year" which was the eighteenth birthday party of exclusive Mr. Chase Cane.

January fourteenth marked the day the world apparently stood still in order for a bunch of teenagers to attend an epic party of mass proportions. I was actually shocked at the number of people attending especially considering how exclusive Chase and his boys were. I was certain that despite the number of attendees, none of them really knew his birthday was actually tomorrow instead of today. But that was none of my business. I just sighed and spun in my chair until I felt a cloth thrown on my face.

"What is this?" I asked Zoey who stood in front of me in party clothes.

"A New Years gift from me to you," she answered with a smile under her glossed lips.

"Let me guess...they didn't fit you," I guessed, even though the tags were still on them. She gave me a look.

"Just put them on," she demanded. I rolled my eyes and hopped up from my chair to change from my lounge wear into the denim pants and green blouse.

"Yay. They fit. So I can take them off now?" I said. She gave me the same look as earlier.

"We're going out," she announced.

"If you think you're dragging me to the stupid party—"

"I'm not, I'm not. I just want some sister time for once without Micah," she said. I narrowed my eyes.

"Really?" I asked doubtfully. It almost warmed my heart for her to say that because I really did feel aloof from here recently considering she spent her time with Micah and I couldn't stand him.

"Really," she assured. Yielding to her request, I grabbed my shoes and was quickly hauled off by her to treat me as a doll to put make up on. I decided not to complain for once and then we were out the door with only a safety warning from our mom.

***

Within the last sixteen years, I should've learned how conniving Zoey Lindros really was. I should've taken the new clothes, her positive attitude and the deviousness that lurked behind her eyes as hints.

"Relax. Nothing will happen," she assured as soon as I caught on to her plan and began complaining. She was suddenly greeted and dragged away with one of her friends, leaving me alone in the driveway I had no idea she had enough space to fit her car on. Instead of being at Chase's house, we were at a grand mansion. I could see the flashing lights from the backyard and hear the music thumping as people were seen everywhere within the glass walls of the house. There was a balcony over the large garage and then a door on that same side partially covered by the backboard of a basketball hoop that a few guys were using for a pickup game. The house was a modern beauty rivaling the gorgeous wooden cottage the pack owned. It almost made me want to leave the hood of Zoey's car in order to take a closer look. It's not like I could walk home considering it was so far from the city that there didn't seem to be any close neighbors for noise complaints.

"Hey. I thought you said you weren't coming," Jasmine greeted when I took my first five steps in the building and immediately ran into her.

"I did," I groaned.

"What?" she frowned.

"Jasmine—oh. Hey, Alicia," Eli greeted while tackling Jasmine around the waist to where they nearly lost balance. I could tell he was at least slightly drunk, but even though Eli was nice and fun, I didn't want to deal with him or any of the other guys. Though I thought I could normally tolerate him, I still hadn't talked to him along with the others for weeks so I just began to deepen myself within the party and walk past them.

"Wait," I heard Eli shout over the loud music. I turned back to him even though I knew his natural concern and curiosity mixed with alcohol would lead him to asking me unwanted questions. He closed the distance between us and looked down at me. "Does he know you're here?"

"I hope not," I smiled sarcastically before walking away. And let the party begin.

***

"How dare you come to my brother's party and not say hi to me," I heard a familiar voice say as I was getting ready to leave the party altogether after going my fair share of scoping out the wonderful architecture and exploiting the party for a drink or two. I could hide myself away from those who I didn't want to see, but Carina was different. Her voice made me stop and turn back to her, which also meant Zoey had to stop since I was walking with her.

"I'm sorry. I was forced here and swore myself to silence," I said before laughing with her and hugging her so she knew she wasn't intentionally supposed to be collateral damage because of her brother. She looked past me, at Zoey.

"Oh. This is my sister Zoey," I introduced. They shook hands and I finally realized this was the first time they actually met.

"Carina Cane," Carina said to her with a kind smile. "I've heard about you here and there."

"Really? Because I didn't even know Chase had a—"

"Well we're gonna go ahead and go. Nice running into you!" I interrupted while trying to turn Zoey's shoulders. It was nearly midnight now and I was really trying to steer clear of the birthday boy. I don't know how I managed to do that the whole night, but I had a feeling Wes and Mason had something up their sleeves to put him at the center of attention and I wanted to be nowhere near it.

"Wait," Carina said.

"I'll meet you in the car," I told Zoey. She nodded and then left out of the door. I reluctantly turned to Carina.

"Have you talked to my brother?" she asked.

"No. And after the information shared last time, I don't think I want to," I said. "And please don't try to get us talking—"

"I'm asking you because I haven't seen him around here," she informed.

"Well it is his party and there are a lot of people here so literally ask anyone else..." I suggested. "Good luck with that."

"Alicia," she said in a warning tone. "You don't know where he is?"

"No. How would I know? Where do normal teenage boys go before on birthdays?" I figured. She gave me a look with a raised eyebrow. "Look. I haven't seen or talked to him since the day at the house."

I guess that wasn't totally true. I had to see glimpses of him from afar at school and even tonight, I had seen him on his grand pedestal getting cake shoved in his face while people sang Happy Birthday to him. But it's not like he could look back at me considering there were constantly girls flirting and grinding up on him for his "big day." Now that I thought about it, if Chase was a normal teenage boy, Carina would be able to find him upstairs in bed with any given girl.

"You don't know where he might've gone?" Carina asked, hopeful.

"Try somewhere around the pack house. There are fields around there plus a clearing in the middle of the forest where it's easier to see the stars and he usually likes thinking out there," I informed but actually hoped Chase wasn't in trouble or anything.

"Thanks," she said with a smile that seemed more secretive than it let on. "I'll be sure to look there."

***

She informed me of this right when I got home, nearly half an hour later.

I was already tired from the party and now I was on the brink of anxiety because Chase was apparently missing. I was ready to just climb the stairs, kick off my shoes, and go to sleep.

"You know, instead of sending my sister to our spot, why didn't you come find me yourself?" I heard a voice say. I looked to see Chase sitting at my computer chair in the dark successful enough to scare me half to death.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered with my back to the door I stood against.

"I felt extremely heartbroken at the fact of my friend decided to show up to my birthday party and not even as much say 'Happy Birthday' to me," he said while standing up. He was still dressed in his dress shirt and jeans from the party.

"Well I felt 'extremely heartbroken' at the fact of my friend telling me that I'm unwanted by my mate," I retorted in a mumble.. "And plus, I'm not obligated to tell you Happy Birthday until it's actually your birthday."

He shrugged but continued to near me.

"Alicia, I told you that you would hate me when I told you," he reminded. I looked off. He cupped my chin and made me face him. "And now you hate me."

"Bummer for you," I figured, jerking out of his grasp and walking around him. "Get out of my room."

"Get out of your room or get out of your life?" he asked.

"Both preferably," I answered in a lie.

"Well good thing it's my birthday not yours so I get what I want, not you," he replied, making me scoff. I pulled off my shoes and socks before I laid down on my bed and Chase walked over. "You're just gonna ignore me being here and get ready for bed?"

"I don't see why you're here, Chase. You and your games won okay? I'm exhausted—"

"Games?"

"Yes. Your games. You want chances, you don't want chances. You're mad at me and then you want to snuggle up to me. We're 'best friends' and then we're not. Your moods change more than just on full moons. It's freaking ridiculous," I clarified. He looked down on himself because he knew it was true, "so then why the hell are you here instead of at your party full of people?"

"Because you're my friend and I promised you," he answered. "And like you said, they don't know me anyways. I didn't even want the party, but you know Carina and the guys. They insisted."

I just rolled my eyes and continued getting ready for bed. I gave him a rude expression when I grabbed my pajamas, which caused him to turn around and give me privacy so I could change.

"Do you honestly hate me?" he asked in a whisper.

"I already told you that I could never truly hate you, but that doesn't mean I won't try to," I started and began walking towards my bed. He saw the movement from the corner of his eye and finally looked towards me again. I tried to avoid direct eye contact though. "After six months, I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not ticked off at you and Carina and Kayla and Wes and April and Jaylen and anyone else involved in this werewolf bullshit. From the time I caught you staring at me to being told my supposed 'mate' doesn't want anything to do with me. I've had it, but I think we're past hatred at this point don't you think?"

He kneeled by my bed.

"I suppose I should thank you for that," he whispered with a sweet and light grin that eventually fell. "Don't worry about all that other shit."

"Yeah. I've tried," I assured. I flashed a fake smile and then playfully rolled my eyes.

Then Chase stood up, hopefully meaning he'd leave now.

"I don't know what my sister or friends have planned since midnight it coming up...so I'll talk to you tomorrow I guess," he concluded. He was hesitant about something for a moment and then he suddenly leaned down to kiss my cheek. I wanted to pull away as soon as I sensed him getting near me, but I couldn't move for some reason. "Good night."

"Good night," I whispered back. He kissed my cheek once more and a warm sensation spread just like when I spent the night at his house. I could tell I was blushing which only led me to believe I wasn't completely over having a crush on him. He opened the window and jumped off the windowsill after giving me a confused look. I didn't even worry about the two story height considering he was a werewolf. All I cared was that the window closed with the wind after he left.

I was glad it did because two knocks were sent to my bedroom door before I could even get up.

"Lili? You alright? I thought I heard voices," Zoey commented in her pajamas.

"What? I think you're just tired or something," I humored. She shrugged before closing the door and heading back to her room. I sighed.

Just like every other time I was angry at Chase, it's like my body forgave him. I acknowledged that I couldn't hate him, but something was telling me it was because I would always seem to be drawn to him. Weeks of avoiding him and the topic of my mate only let my mind wonder more if it was actually him who was Alpha and him hiding behind a personified lie. It was the only thing that would make sense at this point...or the only reason I wouldn't completely chastise myself for continuing to have feelings for someone like him.

So I needed answers.

Even though Wes had a poor excuse, I could only guess that they just weren't allowed to answer that question any more than they were allowed to tell people about the werewolf secret in general. But that didn't stop me.

I was making the favor up, but I figured it was worth the shot. Maybe she'd go with it.

If I was in real life conversation with her, I'd glare or maybe even slap her with that stupid question.

She stopped replying so conveniently that I stopped waiting in order to change into my pajamas and climb into bed waiting for a sleepless night of wondering about her response. I finally rested in a spot to go to sleep and right as I was seeing a dream of giant, colorful Roanoke puppies prancing in a town made of candy, my phone vibrated from my bedside table. I groaned at the ruined moment but grabbed my phone.