My knuckles still sting after punching Lachlan. What a dickhead for trying to pull something like that in front of everyone, on my territory, and in front of my mate.
I could see Zander tense and Jace flash through his eyes as he registered what happened. I'll say props to him for keeping his cool. Honestly, I was surprised he didn't finish him off after.
'Because he knows we can look after ourselves, we just proved that to him,' Kia snorts.
'I suppose,' I mumble back and head for the bar where Zander and his friends are currently posted.
Everyone starts talking, and the music starts back up again, forgetting the incident that had just happened 5 minutes ago.
I nod to Lui, who is looking after the bar. "What can I get you, Beta?"
"Shots, it's been a long night." I don't mind drinking, and tonight is one of those nights where I needed something a bit stronger than the average drink.
Zander leans into Dani and says something before the three boys scampered off to mingle. He moves closer to me as Lui serves me two shots of a dark amber liquor before disappearing over to the other end of the table to serve others.
"Wanna do a shot with me?" I ask, pushing one closer towards him.
He raises a questioning eyebrow and shrugs, "Sure, I'm no stranger to whisky shots."
I grab the other shot, raise it to him, down it quickly, and slap it back on the table. A sweet burn moves down my throat quickly as I shake my head, trying to get used to the taste.
"Are you okay?" Zander asks.
"Hmm, I'm a lot better now you’re here," I respond, giving him a sweet smile. I've been drinking for a few hours now, and that shot just gave me back the buzz I lost when Lachlan showed up.
Zander moves a little closer to where he was nearly touching my arm. The tension in the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife. His scent all around us, drawing me in and making Kia go crazy. After this morning and last night, it frustrates me that I can’t claim him as mine just yet. I am so nervous about him coming here tonight, nervous about us being around other people that isn’t in a school setting.
Zander smirks and lifts his hand to touch my arm as if he could feel the nerves rolling off me. Tingles dance on my skin where he touched me. I see his eyes go dark, and a gold rim formed as Jace pushes forward. I feel Kia moving forward in response to her mate.
Jace leansin and growls, "You have no idea how much I wanted to rip that fuckers head off when I realized what he did. If you didn't tell him to piss off or punched the shit out of him, I would have killed the little shit for touching what is mine."
Kia is purring with happiness as Jace claimed us as his. I see the struggle between him and Zander, trying to regain control.
It doesn’t help that Kia pushes forward to respond to him, bringing our hand up to his cheek to calm him down.
"We can take care of ourselves, my mate. You don't need to worry about us," she purrs.
I jump a little as someone squealed in the background with a loud splash as they were thrown into the pool.
"Pool Party!" someone yells while others around him cheer and run towards the pool.
I look around to see a few guys from my pack taking off their shirts and pants before jumping into the pool. I wonder if they realize how cold it is? I chuckle and shake my head when a few squeal and someone yells it is fucking freezing and moves to try to get back out.
I smile back at Zander, who is watching me curiously. He has regained control. There still a light rim of Jace in his eyes, just as I'm sure Kia is still present in mine.
"You look great, by the way, really great," he says, raking his eyes over my body, letting them linger on my boobs and the hem of my dress.
"Ash!" Someone calls out to me just as I am about to respond. I look over to see Ollie marching toward me with a pissed-off look on his face. Now, this could be because of one or two things. One because I'm here talking to Zander. Or two because he found out about what happened with Lachlan, or maybe a third, why Zander's pack was invited and is here in the first place.
"What's up?" I ask.
"Care to explain why Lachlan King just left with a bloodied nose?"
Next to me, Zander snorts and says, "no one told you yet?"
Ollie narrows his eyes and looks over to Zander, "I wasn't asking you," he growls.
Zander crosses his arms over his chest in defense with Jace flashing in his eyes. I can feel his aura pulsing. Not wanting any more bad blood between the two, I quickly jump into my explanation. "He slapped my ass when I stood up to leave when he rudely interrupted my conversation with Samantha so I turned around and punched the dickhead."
Ollie relaxes a little when he understood the disrespect that Lachlan showed.
"You're seriously questioning your Beta? How the fuck do you know she even did anything in the first place?" Zander growls.
While it is sweet and all for Zander to be pissed off at Ollie's questions, I understood why, plus Zander shouldn't really be questioning him. This is his land and territory, after all.
"Watch it, you’re on my territory. I have a right to know what the fuck is going on, especially if someone just attacked an Alpha heir that could lead to a war or issues we will have with their pack. You have dealt with Westfield yourself. You know what assholes they can be like." Ollie snarls back.
'Stop them before this escalates. Oliver doesn't know Zander is our mate. This doesn't need to go further,' Kia mumbles.
"Guys, it's fine. Lachlan was in the wrong anyway, and if anything does happen, we will deal with it then."
Both of their eyes snap back to me, relaxing a little bit.
"Get a drink, Ollie. It'll be okay," I encourage him.
Ollie watches Zander side-stepped around him to move next to me on the other side as he goes up to the bar. I feel Zander's hands move next to me, itching to hold me. I know he’s on edge, and I can’t comfort him.
He moves a finger across the hem of my dress around my thigh. A shiver goes through me even at his slightest touch. I could feel his eyes lingering on me as I look around, trying not to get myself so worked up around Oliver. Was he crazy trying something like this? As much as I want him, now is not the best time for teasing.
While I scan the crowd, I see a girl and her friend making a b-line directly for us.
Grace.
Hurt blooms in my chest and my eyes snap to Zander. Did he really bring her here, too? I relax when I see confusion in his eyes as he watches Grace. She isn’t wearing her usual skimpy outfits. Tonight, she wore skinny jeans and a low-cut top that barely covers her boobs.
"Baby, you haven't been answering my calls or texts when I try to reach you!" She half-shrieks and seems slightly pissed off as she approaches us.
"Firstly, I am not your baby. It's Alpha to you. Secondly, I have nothing else to say, or I would have said it."
"Well, I need to talk to you," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest and pushing out her boobs to make them look bigger.
"Talk here. I'm not going anywhere with you," he shrugs, grabbing his beer from behind him, and starts to drink it.
Her eyes land on me next to Zander, "Do you mind giving us some privacy?"
Kia snarls in my mind. 'I am not leaving this bitch with our mate.' I'm sure my eyes flash, making her known.
Zander replies before I could answer. "Beta Ashleigh does not need to leave. If you want to talk, Grace, talk."
"Fine, have it your way; I'm pregnant."
I feel the blood drain from my face. Numb. All I feel is numb. An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach. Zander's body stiffens beside me, coughing up the beer he was drinking. Ollie chuckles next to me, hearing the predicament that Zander is in.
I looked up at Zander to see his face pale. What does this mean for us? My mind spins with so many unanswered questions that I am afraid to know the answer to. For once, Kia remains silent. No smart-ass comment, no pushing forward to claim Zander as hers. This time there is silence, only silence. It worried me that if she is silent this is bad.
"What?" he mumbles, slowly processing what Grace had said.
"Pregnant, Zander, pregnant. It happens when two people fuck, which we did nearly every day. I tried to call you and get a hold of you for the last few days, but you haven't returned any of my calls or texts, and you were avoiding me at school." She says, waving her hands around dramatically.
My mind is spinning. I feel like I’m going to be sick. My heart aches. I thought we had moved past all of his exes and these problems. I understand that everyone has a history. I don’t want to hate him for that. Instead, I focused on something we could build together. But now that feels like it would never happen.
It’s probably a good thing we haven’t told anyone we are mates. I already feel humiliated enough right now, and no one knows.
I don’t want to leave him at this moment, but I have to, I have to get out of here. It is all just too much. It’s still early, only 11.00 pm, but I can't be here right now. I need to process this myself and figure out what to do. I don't even know the rules on all of this regarding mates.
So, I move between him and Grace and walk away without saying a word.
I feel his eyes boring into me. I can’t look back. I don’t want to look back and let him see the hurt he caused me once again.