Chapter 51

"Where were you hiding all this time?" Gabriella asked, leaning forward, an elbow on her knee and another hand holding a drink. "Do you know how long King had been waiting for you? I told him, a thousand times to go home for once and you might find your mate there but he never listened." She cocked her head at him and gave him a stare.

Guess finding mate was similar to finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

"I was in Frostford. Someone didn't look close enough," I replied with a cheerful smile.

"I did..." He trailed off while tightening his hand on my thigh. "I recongized you the minute I saw you and I knew then and I know now that I only want you."

It was hot, hearing him being possessive about me. He nuzzled in my neck before his breath fanned up my earlobe. "Don't forget." He whispered lowly. No one heard us.

I drew my lower lip into my mouth while my body stiffened underneath his touch. "I won't." At least not the bits of the our first night together.

I heard a throat clearing before we settled back into our position. The heated argument between Gabriella and Rafael only lasted for a few minutes before they made things up—for the night.

I found myself ordering more drinks with the intentions of getting slightly buzzed and tipsy. I didn't want to get blackout drunk but I wanted to be gone enough to enjoy the night before it was over.

"Well, you're more than lucky to be an Alpha's mate. The men out there, our kind, are disgusting!" Gabriella stated, mainly to me but Rafael took in most of her words.

"I'm not disgusting, baby girl."

"You're among the worst."

I laughed while they shared dirty glances at each other. Whatever happened between them had to be something fascinating and big or they wouldn't be hating each other this much.

I straightened my back and turned my attention toward King who was the little fight displayed in front of us. "They were dating, weren't they?" I asked, throwing in my assumptions.

"For over two years..."

"Wow," My eyes widened, "What happened then?"

"Oh, nothing, they just began spiting each other—werewolf hormones. It began troubling the wolf when the marking hasn't taken place." His eyes were on his friend and his cousin while mine were on his.

Werewolf—what? I blinked hard and fast.

"Marking as in, the claim thingy?"

"Yes." His attention diverted to me. "Oh, don't worry, females only have the hormones, not the males." He quickly concluded and smiled at me.

Was I going to turn into a spiteful bitch soon?

I let out a nervous laugh before grabbing my drink off the table and gulping down the rest of it. My throat burned, the nasty scent of alcohol drifted to my nose and I squinted my eyes before shaking my head.

Hormones.

I needed to get more than buzzed to handle whatever was coming next at me. In just a few hours, I had learned more than ever. The way King lived his life was completely different, lavish in ways, beautiful and full of excitement. Although, he still remained a werewolf and being an half-animal didn't make a difference around here. I expected for him to be hidden in the shadows, running, fleeing from those that had known about his secret but it wasn't like this.

It was nothing as such.

There were people he knew and people knew him who were all the same—werewolves. It was out of world, a fiction as far as I could take my mind to but at the same time, it wasn't.

It was all real.

"You didn't tell me how you two met?" Gabriella questioned out of the blue.

She had began to terrify me. At one point, while she was raging over Rafael, I saw her fingers curl into claws and her teeth turn into sharpened canines. It was then King informed me that werewolves could turn anytime they'd wish and they didn't have to turn entirely.

It made a little sense as I had seen my fingernails turn into claws at several occasions.

"Umm..." King was silent. I stared at him, meeting with his confused gaze. He was uncertain on how to reply to his cousin. "We—we met at a party, it was a welcoming party Harden had thrown when I returned."

"Oh, that's surely a boring way to meet." She sipped on her drink.

I scoffed and shook my head as none of that was true. We met in the cemetery where he had bitten me.

Only if she knew...

I wondered why King wanted to hide the fact that it was his bite that changed me. Why couldn't he tell his own cousin? It wasn't like he had done anything bad except for turn me into a werewolf.

I was too drunk to think about it anymore.

"Can we pretty please dance?" I asked him, my eyes full of need and my lips pressed into a pout.

"Of course."

We finally freed ourselves from Gabriella and Rafael, leaving them both alone to kill each other. My hips swayed as adrenaline pumped into my veins. The alcohol took a greater affect on me.

King placed his hands over my waist and as the music changed, we slow danced with one and another. His fingers ran circles while his lips formed a mischievous smile as he continued looking at me with his eyes dilated.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," He shook his head. "I just thought you'd be more wilder."

I threw my head back and chuckled, "No," My cheeks flushed into a deeper red and I grasped onto his shoulders harder. "No, not at all. I'm pretty calm when I'm drunk."

"That's good." He placed his hand underneath my hair, closing to my neck before he pulled me into his embrace.

We swayed slowly while I rested my head on his shoulder and remembered the evening he had asked me to dance with him. It was also the first time we ever met, intentionally.

My neck stretched and my mouth remained a few inches from his ear before I whispered shyly, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

He curled his fingers around my hair and chuckled, "Of course."

An hour later, we left the club and got on the jet to go back to Frostford as the twenty four hours had passed by. They were the quickest twenty four hours of my life. It almost seemed like a minute had only passed by since I got inside the jet with King and departed from the town.

I didn't want to part ways—not now.

Maybe I was too drunk.

"Are you going to leave me alone once we land? Will you run away from me?" I questioned, my head over his lap and his fingers tracing over my hair.

He lowered his eyes and gave his head a shake, "No. I will not, pup." His thumb brushed across my flat forehead as he continued, "I'm not running away or leaving you."

"Promise?" I was drunk.

"I promise." He wasn't.

I closed my eyes for a minute, swirls and stars rushed into my throbbing head before I opened them again. The jet hadn't taken off yet. It was still going to take a few good minutes before we would be enroute.

"I had a good time." I announced in a low voice.

"I wanted that for you." He smiled at me, his face still lowered to mine.

I wanted to kiss him but I was too weak to arch up and slam my lips against his. It could wait until I regained my energy—or not.

"Can you kiss me?"

He placed his hand underneath my head and raised it up from his lap just a little before lowering his mouth to mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him quickly, tasting the watermelon juice he had drank earlier while he tasted the bitter alcohol lingering in my mouth.

When his mouth parted away from mine, I ran my tongue over my lips and sealed them shut.

"Go to sleep. It's going to be a long way back and you've to go home sober, my little pup." He said while his fingers continued to rake through my hair.

I before immediately and when I woke up, I found golden street lights racing in front of me and my vision blurring. Jumping up straight, I placed my hand over my chest and glanced at my surroundings. No tall buildings or structures?

My eyes raced across the place—a car, I was inside a car, with King by my side. Where were we?

"Frostford. We landed an hour ago." King replied, his hands flat on his lap.

I returned to his lap, placing my head over his thighs while I struggled to retrieve my memories. Last night. It was amazing but the throbbing headache was not so much of a fun.

"Do you want something to drink or an aspirin?" King asked in a low strained voice as if he needed some rest as well.

"No, no, it's not that bad." I replied, rubbing my forehead.

The pain wasn't terrible, instead it was bearable and I assumed it had to do something with the wolf inside me and the immense strength I had been gifted with.

Too many thoughts.

Focus.

"You're going to drop me home?" I questioned, wondering if King had other plans, plans that would make me happier than ever. Spending time with him was eye-opening. It made memories that I could never forget.

"Yes."

"Can I change your mind about that?"

He smiled and his chest rumbled slowly, "You can but I'd rather not try. You have to go home and you're still a little tipsy. We'll talk once you're all sober."

I rolled my eyes, "Ugh, okay."

"Don't be sad," He ran his thumb across my cheek and frowned. "Go home, get some rest and I'll be right here when you wake up."

I nodded and sat up straight. My stomach rumbled with hunger and in need of a good meal but I didn't want to eat right away as that was going to force the contents inside of my stomach to spill out along with all the alcohol I had sipped on.

Once we reached to my street, Arnold parked the car nearby my house and King gave me a quick hug before we parted ways from each other.

He watched me fade into my home before his car raced out of the street. As soon as I entered, warmth embraced me from all the sides and I took a deep breath. It smelled like croissants, tulips and fresh juices—everything my Aunt loved.

From what I could assume, Aunt Carol was asleep.

My legs ached as I stepped them over the stairs and went up to the second portion of the house. Upon hearing my footsteps, Beatrice rushed out of her room and smiled in joy.

"Oh, you're back! And you can barely walk!" She exclaimed, grabbing my elbow and helping me up the stairs.

I wasn't sore, just a little wasted.

"Had a little too much to drink..." I trailed off while getting inside my room and falling over my bed.

Her gaze dropped, "How was it? I want to know everything." She hopped onto the bed beside me. "And, by the way, our research and assignment is called off due to some internal issues. We all will be returning to Hildon in a day or two." She continued, a pout over her face while her brows came together in confusion.

I took in a quick breath while staring at the ceiling with my eyes wide. Wait. What? It had been a few hours since I had informed King about Beatrice's assignment and after those few calls, it was called off.

"Oh, that's unfortunate. You should stay here for a little while longer." I suggested to her. It was good having an old friend around.

"Yes, I'll probably stay for a couple of days but I'm just disappointed. I retrieved enough information to complete my research paper and suddenly, it's called off!" Her lips lined straight, anger hummed through her words as she tapped her feet on the ground.

I shrugged in response, "Sometimes it happens. It's just life. You don't know what's going to happen next." I slapped my hand over my head, rubbing the corners and soothing the headache before it got any worse.

Only if I could spend another night with King.

Unfortunately, I had to sleep alone in my bedroom, with my thoughts and memories.

The entire time, the past twenty-four hours, I tried to avoid thinking about something but now that I was away from King, I finally had some time to think about it.

The concern about my parent's sudden death that took place almost seven years ago.