I scrambled to my feet, leaning on my crutch and staring at him in disbelief, running a hand over my bolognese-smeared face.
His stupid laugh, which sounded so beautiful at the same time... it reverberated throughout the ground floor and almost drove me insane.
"Are we done now?" he asked, still smiling, and wanted to take a step towards me, but I immediately held up my hand, which fortunately forced him to stop.
"Just stay away from me!" I said in a strong voice, not avoiding his gaze for a second.
Any idiot knew never to look an alpha in the eye for too long... I didn't care. I wouldn't submit, even if he threw the whole cake at me.
"Oh come on, Jade," he breathed forgivingly and held out his hand to me again.
Did he hit his head too often as a child, or did he just not want to get it?
"You're an arrogant ass and I'll never let you mark me," I proudly replied and turned towards the stairs, but with one big step, he had blocked my way, which made me flinched easily.
"Shhhh," he suddenly whispered, getting so close that I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. "It'll only be a few moments," he whispered in my ear, sending tingles through my body. His scent of forest and perfume took over everything in me from one second to the next and with his closeness I had the frightening feeling that my mind would stop completely. I closed my eyes, then felt his hands firmly on my waist and felt like I was about to melt under his touch until I heard his soft giggle and widened my eyes in shock to meet his dark eyes watch.
"It won't be a difficult challenge once you're of legal age. You're already putty in my hands," he laughed, and immediately I clenched my teeth so tight my jaw began to crack.
"I'm going to take a shower!" I said angrily and this time my anger wasn't even directed at him, but at myself and my inner wolf, who was already begging for his touch. What was wrong with me? Apparently I fell on my head once too many times!
"You can't shower now," he explained, shaking his head. He wanted to take my hand, but out of reflex I immediately pulled it tight to my body. I didn't want him to trigger something in me again that I couldn't control.
"And why not?"
"Because we-"
A long ringing interrupted him and immediately I looked back and forth between him and the door in irritation.
"Did you think we'd party alone?"
He turned and was about to head for the door when I grabbed his white t-shirt at the last second.
"Who is in front of the door?" I asked uncertainly and suddenly felt my heart beating painfully against my chest. I didn't want to see anyone... At least not from here.
"Only Bene and Igor," he answered me and as soon as he wanted to take my hand, which was still clinging to his shirt, I pulled it back.
"Can't Bene come in on his own and the rest go away?" I asked and he just frowned in irritation.
"You want to celebrate alone with Bene and me?"
His gaze rested questioningly on my eyes and I couldn't resist a cheeky grin.
"Who said you shouldn't go too?"
He suddenly grinned as stupidly as I did, which now made me look in confused. I wanted to provoke him and not that he would also enjoy it.
"I'm not worried at all about my boys. They'd rather chop off their hands than touch you."
What did he just say?
He probably noticed himself how hurtful his sentence was and took a step towards me to look down apologetically at me.
"Jade, I meant that-"
"Never mind. I know what you meant by that," I said, and then avoided his gaze.
Of course, his words were that no one would dare touch the Alpha's mate, but here and now, with this fucking crutch, burglar's clothes and noodles in my hair, I felt really shabby.
But I really shouldn't give a fuck. I didn't want to please him and when I had encouraged myself with my inner monologue, I looked at the door, which he had already opened.
"Naaaa you," I heard Bene's voice and shortly thereafter, I saw him enter the house next to Silvan that he first looked at with wide eyes.
I followed his gaze to the ruined cake and all the pasta on the floor.
What was he thinking?
No matter what he thought, he didn't show it. With a friendly smile and wearing a white shirt, he came quickly to me on the stairs and held out a small gift to me. Only then did his gaze fall to my crutch and then to my foot.
"I kicked the bed," I explained sheepishly, accepting the gift with a polite smile. His eyes met mine and he just nodded. He probably didn't believe me because his eyes, so warm, suddenly radiated only pity.
"Hi," Igor then called from afar and stayed there.
"He's scared of you," Bene whispered, and I immediately had to think about yesterday, when everything was somehow different, but my thoughts were quickly interrupted again.
"But you already know that your faces are covered in Bolognese? Or is that a new trend from the internet?"
Bene laughed at his own joke and leaned against the banister next to me, while Silvan and Igor, who were standing at a distance in front of us, immediately joined in his laughter.
At that moment everything seemed so heartfelt that I couldn't help but let myself be carried away by Bene's laughter.
If it weren't for this oppressive feeling of homesickness that painfully clung to my heart... but I probably didn't have time to think about it anymore.
"10, 9, 8...
Fuck!
****
Everything around me was kind of in slow motion. I heard the count down to three happily, held my breath in suspense and just took in everything in a daze, like I wasn't really there mentally... like this was all just a wicked dream.
While I was watching Igor opening a bottle of sparkling wine, Bene clapped his hands next to me and when I looked at Silvan, he came up to me with a gift, which was really nice with the pink packaging and the white bow looked like ... but I only had one wish, and it would certainly not come true...
Looking into his dark eyes, I suddenly felt my heart beating faster and faster, but the faster it got, the slower everything else seemed, which was really frightening to me.
"All the best," I heard Bene's voice next to me, as if under water, and then, completely overwhelmed, I was handed Silvan's gift, which I looked at briefly in my trembling hand before the slow motion disappeared and I became master of my senses again .
"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly, putting his hand gently on my arm, making me jump and drop the present in shock.
Suddenly there was this tingling sensation that I didn't want to feel. A warmth that took me completely and all my senses were only focused on him. His smell, which hadn't changed but for me at that moment was the most intoxicating thing I'd ever smelled. One more look into his eyes and it was like a spell that I could only break free of by concentrating on all the horrible things he had done to me in a very short time.
Images of my brother swam through my head. I saw the two masked men again, one of whom pointed a gun at him. Reminded me of my helplessness, my desperation and the anger. Heard the Alpha's voice again, who simply ordered him to be killed, and not wanting to show any weakness in front of them, I started crying bitterly, looking down in shame.
"I want to go home," I begged, crying and my voice shaking. I covered my face with one hand protectively while I grabbed the banister with the other to steady myself on my leg. I didn't want to look at him again, didn't want to have this feeling of belonging to him, which was slowly but surely spreading inside me. It was just awful and totally unacceptable.
"Jade," Silvan whispered softly, and when I felt his hand on my arm again, driven by desperation, I reached out and slapped him, causing the other two to breathe deeply.
"I told you not to touch me!!! I want to go home right now you bastard! Do you really think I'm going to celebrate my birthday with thugs like you?!?!"
I glared at him angrily, wiping warm tears from my face while he just stood there, frozen, glancing at the others.
Yes, I had slapped him. And yes, his pack had even seen that. I just hoped he'd had enough of me and would just bring me back because I was just starting to lose patience with all this chaos.
"Jade, go upstairs immediately!" Bene said with wide eyes, but I was frozen.
It all happened so fast and I couldn't really understand what was going on. Silvan's eyes turned dark, almost completely black, and then I heard this loud, menacing growl that crawled deep out of his throat and went through my marrow and leg.
My pulse was racing and for the first time I watched in horror as another wolf transformed.
"Get up!" Bene shook my arm angrily, forcing me to take my eyes off the black wolf who was staring at me with hate. He had a look in his eyes that I was sure he was capable of anything at that moment.
He growled menacingly, snapped several times in front of me and then it was Igor who stood protectively between me and Silvan to talk to him calmingly and to shield me from him.
"Jade!" Bene yelled again and I immediately took a deep breath, turned around abruptly and hopped up the stairs as fast as I could.
I was shaking all over, afraid of death, and tearfully dragged myself into the bathroom to quickly lock the door behind me and take a deep breath. This oppressive feeling of not really being able to breathe made me grab my chest in panic.
"Oh my god," I whined in terror, then sobbed, sliding my back down the door to sit on the cold, white tiles.
I kept hearing the sounds of battle from below until I covered my ears, closed my eyes, and hummed softly to myself.
"because maybeeeee, youre gonna be the one that saveeees me...."
For minutes that felt like years, all I did was hum the song my brother used to sing to me when I was little and the monsters under my bed were my biggest concern. I now knew that these imaginary monsters were nothing compared to the real ones that surrounded us on a daily basis.
Just thinking about him, his security and the melody in my head had the power to calm me down to some extent.
I pushed back the thought that without the other two, the Alpha would probably have ripped my head off. Denied that I wasn't at home and denied everything else.
Just not that song in my head.
At some point, and I didn't know how long I had been sitting there, I tipped over onto my side, lay on my back and then fell asleep shaking and tears, which finally brought me the peace I sorely needed....