So Not What I Had in Mind

I smiled as I marched my way up the side walk towards the pack house. I could hear Casey stumbling nervously behind me her heels clicking on the concrete. God, she must be hella nervous seeing as she was the kind of girl who made walking in heels look easy, yet there she was stumbling.

Stopping in front of the large double front doors, I turned to look at Casey before I stretched out my hand. “Come on, girl! If you spend all day out here, then the guys will start to leave!” I told her as she reached out and took my hand leaving us in the same position we had been in on the first day at 3rd grade, but then it had been me who was too scared to move through the door. “Besides, I already picked out my bridesmaids dress and have compiled a list of wedding dresses you would look good in, so we have to go in or we won’t get to use them.” I said, only partially kidding, as I attempted to cheer her up.

Casey flashed a nervous grin before she smiled brightly at my disappointed glare. If she was going in there, she was going in there grinning like an idiot. When she was smiling to my satisfaction, I plastered a grin on my face and pushed open the door and pulled Casey behind me.

Immediately, the party went silent save for the rock music that was blaring from the speakers that were placed strategically around the room. All eyes turned on me, which was awkward, so I made sure to quickly step aside and shove Casey in front of me.

I watched as the wall of testosterone parted to allow Mr. Bane to the front of the crowd. There was a tall man next to him who I recognized from gatherings but had never actually talked to. Casey had told me he was the alpha, and that the few times he showed up at public outings his mate was never far from his side. Today I presumed the blond was somewhere in the crowd probably being watched over by some of the other pack members.

I was smiled at by both men and grinned back before stepping aside to allow Casey her spotlight. I mimed taking her photo as she hugged her father and shook hands with the alpha; she ignored me and nodded at something the alpha was saying before the three people in the front of the oddly-silent crowd turned to address us.

The first person to speak was the alpha. “Thank you, friends, for coming to this most special of occasions.” What was with people saying that super-lame line? “I am pleased to present the woman we are all here to see, Ms. Cassandra Bane.” A loud round of applause started up as Casey turned a bright red.

I was trying not to laugh. Casey hated her first name, said it made her sound like an old lady, and the fact she had just been introduced to a room full of hot werewolves that way was probably one of the main reasons she was embarrassed. Well, that and she had started blushing when she got called on in class. Confident Casey was not.

That’s okay, that’s why I was her best friend, and I had enough confidence for the two of us (and as a result, was often referred to as “that over-confident bitch”). I thought our friendship was hilarious; the big bad werewolf had gone from confident to shy, while I had done the opposite.

By the time the party had resumed, Casey had relatively begun to fade back to her normal color and was once again hugging her father.

Waiting for Casey to pull back, I walked back up to her and her father before resuming my spot slightly behind her. I was on full wing-woman mode today.

Mr. Bane flashed me a smile once he noticed me next to his daughter. “Hello, Marcy, you look lovely today.” He told me as he smiled at me. I smiled back. Mr. Bane was like a second father to me, and he didn’t appear to be much older than me.

Apparently, mating did something so that you aged at like tenth the speed of normal people.

“Thanks, Mr. Bane! And thanks so much for the dress! I totally owe you for that!” I told him, flashing my I’m-the-innocent-little-girl-that-you-remember! smile. He fell for it like he did every time.

Casey hated me for my ability to wrap people around my fingers, but truthfully, I would trade for her looks any day. The girl was supermodel hot, while I was only girl-next-door hot.

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Mr. Bane grinned at me again before kissing Casey on her cheek and turning to smile at me. “Well, I’ll leave you two girls to…intermix with the crowd.” He told us with an awkward smile before he headed into the crowd.

The second he was out of sight I started giggling like a maniac. “What on earth does he think we’ll do? Have you make out with everyone till you feel something other than severe discomfort?” I asked, possibly a little too loudly, seeing how many of the men turned to shoot me looks. This only made me laugh harder as Casey suppressed her own giggles.

“Do you know what would happen if I found my mate that way? Everybody else who I had kissed would automatically be killed.” She told me before she grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the dance floor. “Okay so, we are dancing and then going to get food. I need something to get rid of my nerves and running isn’t an option.” Casey grumbled as she stopped walking and started dancing to the music.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my best friend, and she is amazingly beautiful, but there is one area of expertise where Casey is severely lacking: she can’t dance, as in at all.

Right now was a good example. Instead of moving her butt and bouncing on her toes as most people would be doing, Casey was attempting to dance by raising her hands and moving her chest in a circular motion. One of her feet occasionally kicked out at a random point that made it look like she was kicking at the people around her.

Rolling my eyes at her embarrassment, I reached out and grabbed her hands. “We’ve been over this before! Dance like a normal person or don’t dance at all!” I grumbled to her as I flashed an apologetic smile at one of the guys Casey had narrowly avoided kicking in the shin. “Copy me!” I finally gasped after Casey failed to improve.

I, at least, had some dancing skills. I mean, I was no Michael Jackson, but I was at least able to dance without causing bodily harm to myself or others which is more than I can say for Casey.

Doing my best to not laugh at Casey trying to copy me, I kept one eye on her while the other scanned the crowd of men around me. “Just think, Case, somewhere in this room is the guy who is going to take your virginity!” I whispered to her in a voice that was way too loud given the hearing of the people around me.

More than one startled look was directed my way as some of the men moved away from us. Well then, my best friend is too good for you anyways! Rolling my eyes at them, as more men eagerly moved to take their spot, I turned my attention back to my bright-red best friend.
“Marcy! Stop talking like that! Besides, maybe your mate is here too, and do you really want to look like an idiot in front of him?” She asked me, causing me to snort and roll my eyes.

“Casey, I’m going to make an idiot of myself in front of everyone, it’s a fact of life.” I told her completely ignoring her other statement.

I, in no way, wanted a mate. I mean, I can understand wanting one, and honestly I completely love the idea of never getting cheated on or broken up with. But the fact that you could never have a one night stand, never randomly get drunk and strip on a bar? Yeah, I was totally not for that. I wanted to live before I settled down.

And before you ask, those things are both on my bucket list which Casey judged me for but whatever, she had skinny dipping on hers. She could at least be a little more outgoing, right?
Casey finally seemed to be dancing normally when I saw a guy walking towards us. His eyes focused on the back of Casey’s head. “Heads up,” I mumbled to her before nodding in the direction of the guy.

Casey went rigid for a second before she turned her eyes scanning over the guy before she plastered on a smile. Not her mate, bummer.

The guy reached us and extended his hand which Casey gladly shook. “Marco Maddison, Alpha of the Howling Moon Pack. I figured I would come and break the ice.” The man told my friend before he took a second to flash a smile at me. “I figured I would come and wish you a happy birthday.” He said. His words sounded slightly accented.

I took a second out of my busy schedule to wonder where he was from before deciding that avenue of thought was useless. There were members from packs all over the world.

Casey smiled and looked at the ground refusing to meet the Alpha’s eyes. Apparently that was challenging his control or something. All I know is that whenever I try to look either the Beta or Gamma of Casey’s pack in the eyes, it always ends up with me looking at the ground. (Oh, Gamma is the third in command. Apparently wolves mark the top three positions of their pack with the Greek alphabet.)

“Thank you, and thank you for coming.” She mumbled as she blushed bright red.

The Alpha seemed to understand my best friend’s nervousness and with one last smile turned and left.

However, he had opened the flood gates, and soon Casey was swarmed with guys who wanted to introduce themselves, and more importantly, see if she was their mate. After a couple of seconds of standing awkwardly behind my friend, who was becoming more and more flustered as more people introduced themselves, I decided that I was feeling parched and that meant Casey was probably dying since she was talking. Albeit not that loudly or often.

“Hey,” I said when there was a lull in the horde of men. “I’m going to get something to drink. If I’m not back and you find him, you had better come get me.” I told her.

Casey flashed me a smile as another guy approached her, this one as attractive as the rest of them. I flashed a smile back before I turned and headed towards the bar that rested in the corner of the room, out of the way of the dancers, but not too far that it was a hike to get drunk.

Flashing a smile towards the mated man behind the counter, I leaned on the bar and put my weight on my forearms, giving my poor feet a break from the stilettos. “Hey, John, how is Lucy?” I asked him.

John’s tiny mate was heavily pregnant with their first children. Yep children, plural, the 5’2” human was about to have three kids, all at one time. I mean dang! The kids put together would probably be taller than their mother!

John grinned at my question as he leaned opposite of me. “Good, although she has been a bit moody these past couple of weeks.” He laughed.

“She is 8 months pregnant, so it’s not like you can blame her.” I laughed back.

John nodded in agreement before straightening. “So what can I get you and the birthday girl?” He asked his smile still plastered on his face.

Okay, so here’s the thing about the werewolves. They don’t pay much attention to the human part of the world; I mean why bother when you can turn into a wolf? Anyway as such, they knew very little about the human body and the laws concerning underage drinking. Meaning, while I was at Casey’s I was allowed to drink as much as I want.

“Two gin and tonics please,” I said as I straightened up, my feet giving me hell. The shoes might be cute, but damn did they hurt.

John quickly made up the drinks and placed them in front of me. Flashing me another smile as I took them and moved towards where I had left Casey. Unfortunately the crowd still surrounded her, making it look like we were going to be here a while longer.