Chapter 22: An extended night

Amina's POV

The dark walnut dining table was beautiful set and decorated. The dinner I made was spread out in front of us and its fragrance was inviting. Carson stood up from the head of the table and began speaking. He thanked me for cooking then everyone for accepting the invitation. Grace spoke in turn from the other side of the table and mentioned, misty-eyed, how happy she was to have all of her family and friends safe by her side. They asked me if I wanted to say a few words and I politely declined.

“Alright, can we eat now?” Jason asked impatiently. “‘Cause seriously, I’m starving!”

“Dig in, everybody!” Carson replied, laughing.

In an instant, dishes were travelling left and right while everyone tried to fill their plates with everything the table had to offer.

“Are you deaf?” Anderson growled at Jason who was sitting front of him. “I said pass the bread!”

“No, I heard you.” He replied with a mouthful. “Here, Raleigh!” He said handing the basket to her and grimacing at Anderson.

“Mina, seriously it’s delicious! I could kill for these ribs!” Ryan told me as he took a bite of the stew.

Everyone else agreed and relieved, I was able to start picking at my plate. Everything was going smoothly. I forced myself to not look at Benjamin throughout the entire dinner. Being so close to him yet so far away was truly painful. He made it clear that he didn’t want me and I wasn’t going to put up much of a fight. All the guests at the table have known each other forever and the conversations flowed lightly and easily between them. I was sitting between Ronan and Sheila who were talking to about training tactics and new defence methods to keep the pack safe. I kept turning my head back between the both of them, concentrating on their discussion when Ronan finally noticed my wonderment.

“I’m the former Beta of this pack and my son is the current one. As Betas, we’re kind of like second in command so this stuff is very important to us.” Ronan explained softly.

“And I’m a Delta like Jason. There are a few Deltas but only Jason and I are head warriors. So it goes without saying, it’s important for me too.” Sheila smiled.

“So everyone in this pack has a tittle?” I asked her as Ronan’s attention was immediately pulled by Carson. I was a little embarrassed from my lack of knowledge of werewolves’ life but I figured now was as good a time as any to keep learning.

“Yes and it works the same in every pack.” She leaned in and pointed at her friends. “Ryan is the Beta and Roxy, being his mate, is now the Beta

Female. Anderson is the Gamma, third in command, and Raleigh is the Gamma Female. Jason and I are Deltas and Jenny, being mated to Jason, is technically a Delta female. But she never really accepted her role, because she’s a full human. The rest of the pack are either warriors or Omegas. Everyone has a role and everyone is truly valuable.”

My eyes widened in surprise near the end of her speech. I wasn’t the only full human at this table. I found myself instinctively leaning forward slightly, looking pass Sheila and Jason, and staring at Jenny who was immersed in a conversation with Grace and Roxanne. I made a mental note to speak with Jenny sometime. I brought my attention back to Sheila.

“And Benji is the Alpha.” I stated, not really asking.

“Yes.” She smiled taking a sip of her drink.

“So if he had a mate, she would be an Alpha Female?” I whispered to her, not wanting anyone to hear us.

She chocked on her drink slightly and laughed shaking her head.

“No. She’d be a Luna. Luna of the Blackwoods Pack. It’s a very big responsibility.” She added while taking a bite of her food. I, on the other hand, had no appetite whatsoever.

“Can… Could she be human?”

She smiled in a way that conveyed love and pity at the same time. “Well, it’s not completely unheard of…” She stopped and whipped her head forward to Benjamin who was glaring at her. “Sorry.” She said flatly and resumed eating without sparing me a glance.

“What was that?” I asked Benjamin.

“What was what?” He poured himself some wine nonchalantly as if I had not witnessed another strange habit of them.

I was annoyed at his response. ‘Does he think I’m that stupid?’ Ever since I arrived, I noticed how they all seemed to communicate in a way that was beyond me. It also felt like they always knew who was coming before they announced themselves and that they could constantly tell what anybody was thinking. On top of that, even though they had cellphones, they never seemed to bother using them.

“Why did she apologize to you even though you didn’t say a word?” I was speaking loudly , glaring at Benjamin while the entire table went mute.

“Because I noticed you know. I noticed all of you guys doing this a lot. What? Did you read her mind?”

“Werewolves can talk amongst each other through their minds. It’s called a mind-link. Once a werewolf is part of a pack, it’s another way of communicating with others.” Benjamin explained calmly.

“So all of you can do that?” I was flabbergasted.

“Well, not me. Obviously.” Jenny snickered.

“Excuse me.” I got up from my seat and was in the kitchen in no time. I half expected Benjamin to run after me but was relived to see the girls follow me in the room.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Roxy asked, worried.

“I just need a minute, that’s all.”

Raleigh, Jenny and Sheila stared at me while sitting on the island’s stools. Roxanne came over to me and hugged me. I let out a sigh when her arms wrapped around my shoulders and I started crying silently. It felt good being embraced by my best friend. Her hugs reminded me of home and our life together before we came to Jester. I had missed it.

“Aww, Mina! Don’t cry.” She said when she heard my sniffling. “I know it’s weird but after learning about werewolves… I have to say I’m surprised you’re shocked by mind-links.”

“I’m not.” I let go of my friend and wiped my eyes with a paper towel. “Frankly, I had a feeling about that.”

“Then what’s up?” She asked rubbing my back.

“It’s Benji. This afternoon, he…umm…” I was hesitant to keep talking as the other girls were in the room with us, hanging on to my every word. They all seemed nice but the fact remained that I didn’t know them yet.

“He rejected you, didn’t he?”

We all turned our eyes to Raleigh who had just spoken.

“Did he?” Roxanne asked me, concerned.

“No.- yes.- I’m not sure.” I stuttered back. “I think he did.”

Roxanne was pressing me as she became visibly more upset. “He said that he rejects you?”

“Not in those exact words.”

“Argh! He’s such an idiot!”

I turned my focus back to Raleigh who had stunned me a second ago.

“How did you know he was rejecting me?” I asked her with a weaker voice than I would’ve liked.

She looked over at Sheila and both ladies seemed rather tense and uncomfortable. They held their answer a while, debating if they should even speak or not.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you or overstep my boundaries, Mina.” Raleigh was fidgeting with her hands and could barely look at me. Any other time, I would’ve appreciated that her and I shared the same nervous ticks but, at the moment, I was simply too antsy for an answer.

“Well?” I insisted harshly.

“Benji told us he was going to reject you. Twice.” She put up her fingers to show the number two.

I sat down nodding my head. It was all too much.

“So everyone knows that I’m not good enough, huh?”

“No! This has nothing to do with you. He’s an idiot for even considering rejecting his mate. I can’t imagine rejecting mine if I were to ever meet him!” Sheila exclaimed, placing her hand on mine. “No offence, Roxy.”

“None taken. He is an idiot!”

“Well, he’s right. You guys don’t need a none werewolf for a Luna. I can barely protect myself. How could I ever hope to protect any of you?” I shared a look with Roxanne. She knew better than anyone how weak I could be.

“So what you’re human?” Sheila kept speaking. “A Luna’s job is not necessarily to fight off rogues or threats. That’s why packs have warriors like me. Like I said, Benji is being stupid.”

I looked over to Jenny who had been quiet the whole time. If anyone other than Roxanne could ever understand me truly, I had a feeling she could be the one. I tried to search for some sort of answers or advices in her eyes but she remained tight lipped. While Roxanne and Sheila debated on the best way to confront Benjamin, I just pictured myself in Mexico. Working and living far away from all of this. That’s when Jenny finally stood up and clapped her hands together once.

“You know what girls? I think we need to go out. We need to go dance, drink and relax. Who’s with me?”

Before I could say no, all of the other girls were cheering in excitement.

“I need to go change first!” Roxanne stood up and placed a quick kiss on my temple. “You too, babe!”

“Ouh! Can I borrow a dress from you, Roxy?” Sheila asked her, wrapping her arm around hers. Roxanne nodded and invited the other two girls to look through her closet as well. Jenny declined her offer as she was happy with her dress while Raleigh looked at me, smiling.

“I’m thinking if I have to raid someone’s clothes it should be you. We both have big asses.”

I laughed in agreement and we all made our way to the dining room to announce our plans for the night. The men pleaded with their mates to let them come and after a commanding effort of resistance, the girls cracked under pressure. We changed and met the guys and Jenny in the driveway. All I could hear for a minute were whistling and playful cat-calling from the boys to their mates. Both Roxanne and Sheila were wearing mini-skirts that showed off their long legs and Raleigh had borrowed a green and black body con dress with cut out sides from me. All of the girls looked incredibly hot. As for me, I opted for a reddish long sleeved party dress with an open back. I kept my hair in a bun but changed my yellow platform heels for a pair of black stilettos. I could feel Benjamin eyes burning holes throughout my body. His stare was heavy and when I walked pass him towards Sheila, I noticed him biting his lips and rubbing his neck with his left hand.

“Mind if I hop in with you?” I asked the tall blonde

“Mind? You have no choice!” She laughed and that’s when I noticed all the mates had taken separate cars.

“It’s to go home together…so they can have sex alone later.” She answered my silent question when she saw my face.

“Oh!”

“Yeah. Now let’s go so we can find you someone to have sex with as well!” She said loudly enough so Benjamin could hear. We heard him growl in dissatisfaction and he shot the most murderous glare at Sheila as he watched us get in her car.

“You’re gonna get in trouble for that, aren’t you?” I asked her, amused.

“So much trouble! But it was totally worth it! Have you seen his face?”

We laughed and talked together all the way to the club which was located right out of town. When we pulled up in the parking lot, Sheila parked her car between Ryan’s and Benjamin’s truck.

“Before we go down, Benji wants me to let you know that this club is not on our territory. Multiple packs come here, so sometimes it gets rowdy in there. So just stick with us, okay?”

“Benji?” I asked, ignoring the rest of her speech. She tapped her head and I realized he must have talked to her through the shared mind-link.

Once Jason and Jenny arrived, we all went inside the club. There was nothing absolutely special with it. For all intent and purposes, it resembled any other clubs I’ve been too before. There was the same loud thumping music, the same strobe lights pattern, the same smoke machine clouding our visions, the same bar station. Because it was supposed to be a club for werewolves, I was expecting so much more. Benjamin lead us to the far end of the club where multiple booths were set up, protected by velvet ropes and bouncers. One of them nodded at Benjamin as he pulled back the rope, letting us in the VIP section. A sexy waitress came up to us and leaned her body onto Benjamin and placed two kisses on his cheeks. I immediately tensed up involuntarily at the scene playing before me. She took his drinks orders purposely cramming her big boobs in his face. I felt sick with jealousy. ‘*What a slut*!’ I screamed internally. I watched her walk back to the bar, swaying her hips seductively and I looked back at Benjamin, curious to see if he was staring at her too. To my surprise, he eyes were glued on my face and I could see the smirk forming on his lips. He seemed to be enjoying my jealousy.

“Let’s go dance!” Jenny stood up eagerly while pulling on her mate’s arm. They both dashed to the dance floor, closely followed by Raleigh and her mate, while the rest of us watched them get down to the beat. The busty waitress came back to our booth and set down a large bottle of vodka and handed Benjamin his own glass of whisky. She bent down again to whisper something in his ear. I was furious.

“Why don’t you just sit on his lap?” I spoke up, catching the attention of all around me. “It mean, you're almost there anyways.” I spat out at the stunned waitress. I couldn’t control my rage. He told me he was the only one for me a week ago and now, he was practically making out with another woman in front of me.

“Leave.” He ordered the waitress and she did, but not before staring me down. I raised my eyebrow at Benjamin and he held my gaze, biting his lips.

“That was badass, girl!” Roxanne and Sheila were tapping my legs, proud of me.

Sheila stood up and begged me to go dancing with her but I refused. I didn’t feel like dancing. In fact, I didn’t feel like being here. I had reluctantly accepted to come to not disappoint the girls. After a few seconds, she shrugged her shoulders and disappeared into the dance floor. I was left alone with Benjamin and a newly mated couple. Right on cue, Ryan and Roxanne began making out heavily and there was nothing else for me to do but drink. I poured myself a shot of vodka and chugged it down. I winced from the burning sensation the hard liquor left in my throat. I poured myself a second shot then a third and finally a fourth. I was about to pour myself a fifth shot when Benjamin’s strong calloused hands stopped me.