The Story That Followed After

• 33. The Story That Followed After •

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"He's going to just stand there and not tell her anything until midnight comes?" Arnelle heard as she sat down on a chair and looked to the side. There stood Zachary, wearing a white polo shirt, fitted dark jeans, and dark brown boots. He had been looking over at Janice, who had been looking spectacular.

Her red hair had been let down into loose curls and she wore a long, light brown, flowy dress with long sleeves, made by Arnelle's mother. She even wore sparkly gold heels that lit up the grand room with the slightest of light hit it. Dominic had been by her side at every moment, greeting people nicely and helping them take photos with the birthday girl.

Amanda had forced him to do this, only because Michael had told her that he overheard him talking to Zachary about leaving the party early—just to watch a movie he'd been dying to see.

"I believe so." Arnelle answered with a slight shrug. She watched everybody in the room—from Adriel's sulking face, to random pack mate's happy expressions. She shook her head slowly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Didn't Marcus tell you to bring them together?" He asked her, his golden eyes twinkling with question.

Arnelle slowly turned to him, raising an eyebrow. Slowly, she let out, "He must be so pissed off at me right now." She shrugged her shoulders and looked down to inspect her blood red nails. "I tried to put some sense into him, I even put them in various situations where they're alone and together..." she glanced up at Zachary and said, "I know you don't like hearing that cause you're—"

A hand clamped over her mouth and Zachary had gave her a pointed look. She rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away.

"Point is, I tried. I'm here to see what's to happen, and how this situation will be dealt with. If anything goes to far, I'll have to step in." She leaned back into the chair and saw Zoë hug Janice tightly, before handing her a present. AJ had gone to give her a hard kiss on the cheek, and she smiled before nudging him away. "I just hope nothing stupid happens, honestly."

Zachary tapped his fingers on the table and watched her, too. "I hope she rejects him."

.

Adrianna had stood next to her twin, and the adults, along with their uncle.

"I just had this really bad feeling..." Diana began as Alexander caressed her arm, holding her in a protective way.

"And, can we agree that every time Diana says that, something happens?" Their mother asked, a worried look on her face, as she turned to Michael. "We have to do something about that—even if it isn't happening yet."

Michael nodded his head and held up his hand, then pointed towards Emmanuel. "I want you to start heading over towards the North East of our territory. There hasn't been a lot of vampire, or rogue appearances. You should be good on your own, even though you know how to defend yourself well."

"You want me to head there right now, Michael?" Emmanuel asked him, his hoodie slowly slipping back, revealing his unruly, blonde hair. Quickly, he added, "I'm not scared, far from it. I mean, should I just leave when an important celebration is happening?"

"Nobody said you were scared, baby bro." Adrian teased and Emmanuel sent him a lazy gaze.

"Adrian," Michael drawled out, his tone hard. He turned to Emmanuel and said, "Emmanuel, I need to know whether James is willing to train us with the two people he keeps mentioning. I can only do so much when it comes down to preparing for this war." He grabbed onto Emmanuel's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "I know you want to be here for Janice's party, but I want to be able to celebrate everybody's birthday without a potential threat, or at least know how to take care of ourselves."