His to Claim (Published)

Oh, Bite Me? Bite You!

The party was already in full swing when we arrived just as Noah and Dane had said it would be. There was a big tent set up in the middle of the clearing and people were laughing and carrying on with each other. Children were running around and screaming there heads off. It had been almost a year since I had attended any pack activities so it was heartwarming to be able to know that this was the first real event I was attending with my new pack. 

Noah stood beside me looking over the crowd proudly, "So are you happy with your decision to join this pack?" 

"I do feel happy and that's a new feeling—" I say back to him with a tiny smile, "It's been a long time since I've been happy—even before my rejection I wasn't very happy. Mostly I just did things because thats what other people expected of me. Now I do them because they're what I want to do." 

"You're always surprising me." He whispers down to me and I can hear the smile in his tone. I peer over at him wanting to see for myself. He doesn't look at me but there is a ghost of a smile on his lips, "You are quite wise when you want to be. You know when you aren't throwing fits or trying to be purposefully obnoxious." 

"And you were doing so well to..." I mumble to myself as I look away from him with a slight frown. A small silence grows between and I'm not sure which one of us is going to break it first. He nudges me with his elbow, "Go on and enjoy the party, it is for you after all." He suggests and I look back to him with a lifted brow, "I thought you said they liked to party—seems like I'm just an excuse." I tease. He rolls his eyes at me and pushes me away from him making me stumble a little, "You're annoying me—go enjoy the party Scarlett." I frown at him his voice turning a little cold. There he was wearing that unreadable expression again that made me want to understand what was going on in that head of his. I knew he wanted me, he'd made that clear by the heated kiss in his office but was that all he wanted me for? The thought made me cringe. 

Before I could open my mouth and say something stupid Jane rushed out of the crowd and grabbed my hand, "Sorry Alpha but I'm going to steal Scarlett for a bit." He gave Jane a forced smile, "By all means—try not to get into trouble Scarlett." 

I stared after him as Jane dragged me away, part of me hurt and confused by his sudden change but the other part telling me I should be relieved. Jane pulled me onto the dance floor next to Nadia and Christa. I did my best to push thoughts of Noah to the back of my head, deciding I deserved to enjoy this moment. It was the start of my new life and I wasn't going to let some grumpy Alpha ruin it for me.

"I'm going to get us something to drink." Jane yells and races off again. I turn to see that Nadia was dancing to the music with excitement and Christa was swaying awkwardly as if not sure what she was supposed to do. The sight had me trying to hold back laughter, "What do you call that?" I yell at Christa over the music. She looked to me in confusion, "What?" 

"Do you call that dancing where you are from?" I tease and watch her face turn bright red. "Shut up! I wasn't really allowed to do things like this in my pack okay?" She says back defensively and I hold up my hands in mock surrender smiling at her, "Well you're not in your old pack anymore—so lighten up a bit. I mean look at Nadia—" I motion a hand towards her. She looks between us with a smile, a faint blush on her cheeks, "What about me?" 

"I believe she has been drinking the punch..." Christa suggests and I laugh, which makes Nadia laugh as well.