"I should throw a party."

Micajah spat out his water, putting his bottle down on his desk as he quickly rolled his chair away from the numerous books spread out in front of him. He grabbed the one that suffered the brunt of his surprise and shook it, trying to save what was left to the soppy pages.

Seneca sighed exasperatedly, slamming her forehead into her open notebook across from Micajah.

"What?" I craned my neck up from my brother's clearly unused pillows, my eyes flitting between the two of them. "I think it's a great idea."

Seneca exchanged a look with her mate before the two of them turned to impassively apprehend me from head to toe. They had this weird two-person custom study table complete with multiple shelves on the side. While Seneca's floor-space was dominated by a king-sized bed similar to mine, Micajah's room, thankfully the one in the middle of ours, just had a small twin with a nice mattress, leaving the rest of the area free to accommodate a sick stereo system, a super-large flat screen with a small, yet comfy couch against the wall, and of course, their table.

It was clear which of their rooms were meant for which purpose.

"Seriously." I laughed, giving up on straining the muscles on my neck and laying back on the fluffy mountain I had stacked behind me. "I think it'll give me the perfect opportunity to be alone with my mates and finally ask Nyah on a date. A real one."

Childish snickers from the overgrown babies I called my Alphas broke the silence, and I sighed. I couldn't help but think back to the supposed "date" I had just returned from. I did appreciate the thought behind their setup, but the effort had gone in vain. The meal had been uneventful—I had manned up and carefully eaten the burger after Nyah had ordered one for herself—and we had focused more on eating rather than attempting to talk. I didn't know what had been on their minds, but I had been too busy working myself up over the best way to come out and just ask Nyah on a date.

In the end, though, I had chickened out like the chicken I was.

On top of that. Nyah had been the first one to bolt out of the diner after we had finished, thus ruining all and any chances of me getting a moment alone. She had probably had enough of me and Theon for fighting over who would pay. Our friendly waitress had plucked the money out of both our hands when it had seemed like we were getting nowhere, and when she brought the change back, we realized that she had charged us both equally.

That was one way of settling it.

Too bad we hadn't been able to amicably arrive at that conclusion ourselves.

Suffice to say. I was more than unhappy with the poor ending to our date-like non-date.

"Wait. He's not kidding." Micajah's voice broke me out of my misery. "He actually wants to spend thousands of dollars on a party just so he could spend five seconds of it saying the words, 'Will you go out with me?'."

"Okay, one." I sat up, putting my Law textbook beside me on the bed as I rolled my eyes, "The party is perfect for so many reasons other than just me asking her out. And two." I threw my hands in the hair. "Who said anything about thousands of dollars?"

"Please." Seneca scoffed, "Name one time when you threw a simple bonfire or something with just beer and chips. Wait, scratch that, name one time when there had been less than ten types of alcohol in the menu."

"Well." I grinned, rubbing the back of my head. "I do throw some kickass parties, don't I?"

"Nuh-uh." Seneca stood up and walked over to the bedside table, grabbing the box of paper towels from it, "It's always me doing the throwing. You just like to insert yourself in the last minute and make everything ten times more extravagant than the original plan."

"Damn, remember that bash he threw on my birthday?" Micajah added, "I had never seen so many drunk teenagers at the same time before. It was like tuning into a real-life version of The Discovery Channel."

"Right." Seneca chortled as she glided back over to the desk, offering the box to her mate and grabbing a couple of tissues to help him wipe at the book, "The look on your face when we all jumped out and yelled surprise was hilarious."

Micajah looked affronted. "It was not!"

"Yes, it was!" Seneca chuckled, "But don't worry, babe. You still looked adorable."

"For the hundredth time, I am not ador—"

"Yes, you're hot and sexy. We get it." I interrupted, making sure to lay on the sarcasm thick. "Now back to what's important, I really need to make this party happen."

"Yeah, right." Seneca went back to her chair, picking up her notebook and lifting it high up to hide her face as she reclined back in her chair. "And I need some tacos. Both are impossible, so I don't see why we're still having this conversation."

It was past eleven, and none of the diners in the neighborhood were open.

My grin widened. "Haven't you heard? Nothing is impossible."

~

"So . . . invite Chance Parker or no? He's the Alpha now, after all." Seneca looked up from her notepad, munching on only the best tacos in the planet. Granted, it had taken us a half-an-hour drive, and we'd had to take two cars since all three of us owned cars with only two seats and running in our wolf forms was not an option, but it was so worth it.

Plus, the bribe and some friendly nudging—namely me pointing out how wonderful it would be to invite the Alphas from all of the the east and make it a kickass wolf-only party—had finally made my friends come around. They were still antisocial when it came to new people who didn't concern them and preferred to keep our circle small, but as Alphas of the largest pack in the US, they could never turn down an opportunity to show off and simultaneously mingle with like-minded Alphas whose alliances might come in handy in the future.

Also, say what they may, I knew they secretly loved to let loose and have some fun from time to time. This might be their last opportunity to do so because college would start kicking our asses with its workload very soon.

"I really don't know." Micajah met my eyes, shrugging. "Last time we met, he ran out of the place like his ass was on fire. I don't think he'd show up after everything that's happened."

That would've been a wonderful sight. Too bad I hadn't had the opportunity to witness it firsthand. Watching people who hurt you get slapped in the face by karma was the absolute best feeling in the world.

And Chance Parker was just that. A bully who hurt my brother over and over all through his life. The worst part of it all, he was also Micajah's other half-brother on his dad's side, so technically, that meant that the three of us were brothers. Though, I'd be dead before I ever call a fuckface like him my brother.

"Yeah, me neither. Isn't he mated to that really cute guy who takes care of Victoria, though?" Seneca asked, nibbling on her lower lip in deliberation. Victoria was my and Micajah's biological mother, and I hadn't had the guts to go and meet her yet. I only found out her existence in light of the revelation of Micajah being my half-brother, and considering she was mentally ill and had also done nothing but made Micajah's life miserable, she didn't inspire any love in me.

I was curious, though.

Micajah shot his mate a look between a glare and a frown, "You haven't even seen him. So you wouldn't know."

"Well, it's true that I didn't. But my girl Nicole did, and I trust my source." Seneca grinned smugly, probably exaggerating to spur on my brother's jealousy.

"There was a time when you wanted to strangle Nicole. Now, she's 'your girl'?" Micajah laughed, "Anyways, he was a very nice guy. I'm surprised the Goddess gave an asshole like Chance such a good mate."

"The fact that he's mated to a guy is punishment enough for him." I swallowed the mouthful of my delicious midnight snack and continued, "For someone who's every word began with 'fag', I'm sure he's in hell over coming out and claiming his mate publicly."

"Says you?" Seneca waggled her eyebrows playfully, "You're mated to a guy you "don't want", too, remember?" The emphasis on the words 'don't want' was not lost on me.

"Of course." I rolled my eyes, "But I never have been, or never will be some homophobic asshole who bullies people. I'm only claiming that I'm straight. Saying that doesn't mean that I'm ashamed to publicly introduce Theon to someone as my mate. In fact, I'd do so fucking proudly." Woah, where had that come from? "He may be a cocky prick, but he's still meant to be in my life till I die, right? You're forgetting that I know what it feels like when people who're supposed to love you act like they're ashamed of you. I'd never put someone else through that."

My friends stared at me with wide eyes, stunned. I was pretty taken aback by the sudden burst of emotion too, but I was also thankful they were too shocked to comment on the last part. I just wanted to forget all that shit in my past had ever happened.

"What?" I take a bite of my taco self-consciously. "I was only saying the truth! Don't tell me you ever thought that I'd be assholish enough to deny the fact that he's also my mate."

Micajah was the first one to suck in a breath of air, breaking out of their momentary shock, "I'm sorry, bro. But yes." He licked his lips, his eyes taking on a half-apologetic look. "We did. But in our defense, we've never spoken about this with you. We really don't know what it is that you're thinking. Considering all the back and forth snapping, we assumed you didn't want Theon."

"Fuck no." I snorted, "I've been saying I don't want him in the sense I don't want to ride him like a cowboy." 'Liar, liar, liar.' My wolf cried, but I ignored him and forged ahead. "I'd like it if he could put aside his ego and try to be friends with me. It would make things much easier with sharing Nyah."

"Point taken." Seneca grinned, "No talks about cowboys. Or reverse cowboys. Or crouching cowb—" I shot her a look, making her go silent with a smirk.

"So, tell us, brother." Micajah started, his grin just as playful as his mate's. I braced myself for more dirty talk, but what came next surprised me. "If you're so ready to accept Theon as a "friendly" mate—" he made air-quotes, clearly conveying how ridiculous he thought my suggestion was, "—why don't you invite him on your date as well? Why this talk of asking out only Nyah? Don't you think it's unfair?"

'Yeah, Ezra. Why?' My wolf shall be hereon named as Micajah's echo.

"You're right." I sighed begrudgingly, "I'll think about it."

"And we're just humoring you." Seneca chimed in, shaking her head. "I know for a fact that Nyah would strangle you if you mention leaving Theon behind."

"Sheesh," I said, my voice oozing with dry sarcasm. "So glad to know my friends knew I was going to make a fool of my self but didn't stop me."

"Hey!" Micajah punched my arm. "We can't interfere all the time. I think you have enough drama as it is."

"True that." I sighed, "Let's get back to the list." The list and all this talk about Alphas brought to surface a dull memory, a reminder of someone I had been friends with a long time ago. Certain events had made us lose all contact, and despite the fact that there were slim chances of her deciding to come, I knew I had to take a chance. "Add in Alpha Tatum Karas and Angier Wellington."

Seneca froze. "But she doesn't—"

"I know." I shrugged. Micajah's eyes darted between the two of us in confusion. "But it's just an invite, right? Who knows? She just might decide to come."

"True." She scribbled down their names, before looking up at her lost mate. "I'll fill you in later."

"Sure."

My phone beeped, and I glanced down to see that it was a text message from Nyah with a simple 'Goodnight'. My heart soared as a tingly feeling of happiness wrapped me. I knew that in her eyes, I was no special than her other mate, and that he must be looking down at a text from her as well at this very moment, sharing my emotions.

So I decided to do what I knew was the right thing. I found a cute gif of a sleeping cat and sent it to both Nyah and Theon, with the words "Sweet dreams."

I was done trying to be petty. Things with Nyah were only going to work if I tried to play nice with Theon.

Keyword being 'tried'.

"Ezra?" My brother called, making me look up from my phone. Seneca took my hand in hers, squeezing it quickly with a smile that spoke volumes of the lifelong bond we'd built. "Anyone ashamed of you doesn't know what they're missing out on. You're a butterfly in a world of brown bugs."

"Okay." I smiled, genuine and filled with warmth. "You really need to work on your analogies, but love you, too, guys."

Just then, my phone vibrated yet again. I glanced down and swiped at the screen eagerly, and to my surprise, it was a text from Theon.

If it was possible, I felt like I was flying higher than I had just been a moment ago. The fact that not just one, but both my mates were thinking of me made me feel complete. It dawned on me that if a simple message could make me feel this way, the night we finally marked each other would be spec-fucking-tacular.

I couldn't wait.

All the more reason to throw a party.

Ch 6 and 7 posted!

QUESTION: Should Tatum's squad meet Ezra's squad in this Party 2.0? Should we also include Nora (Cage's ex-BFF) and her mate, Daemon this time?

I was dealing with some personal shit, guys. No, I wasn't busy. Just out of it.

For the record, ARRANGED MARRIAGES IN REAL LIFE IS NOT COOL. (I think my fellow Indians know what I'm talking about. And to those of you who are confused, yes, arranged marriages do exist. Google it, lol.)

Don't worry, though. I finally managed to convince my family that I didn't like the guy. (phew) The horror, though. I thought my life was over. And yes, again, I'm 19 (almost 20) and talking about getting married in 2 years cause that shit is real too.

Hope y'all don't hate me. Please be nice and show this chapter some love and also