Let's Play A Game, Alpha

20 - The Bonfire

I had done some pretty scary things in life, like eating food that I cooked with the one percent chance that I wouldn't get food poisoning or the most obvious one, dying my hair pink. People always say that you don't truly live life without taking a few risks, that without doing some slightly insane things, you wouldn't have good stories to tell when you're eighty years old and surrounded by grand kids. 

And your parents told you to never ever ever talk to strangers, whether it be an old man offering you candy or that suspicious old lady that lives down the street that may or may not be grinding up little kids to feed her one hundred cats. Even I was smart enough to teach Flora that.

Holding awkward conversations with beautiful supernatural monsters topped everything.

After one agonizing hour of Genie dragging me along to talk to complete strangers, where most everyone said something about my pink hair or being the "Alpha's Girl" (I suppose that was what I was known as by now) I finally put my foot down. So far, I had met most of Lucian's pack and some other werewolves that Genie insisted were important. Also, I could have sworn I saw Professor Stinklehoffen somewhere too. Grabbing a cup of soda, I walked to the campfire.

Genie had wandered off to talk to Vaughn. I took a seat on one of the logs around a circle of fire. The flames licked the white hot logs like starving children. It was mesmerizing to watch the flames dancing. It was strange to think about....fire, crucial for human survival yet one of the biggest grim reapers of innocent lives and burning homes to ashes.

Castleton was one of those places that was naturally cold, like Draycott. The deep midnight sky was devoid of any stars or the moon, but the air felt clean and crisp. I was the only one around the fire. It emitted a wonderful heat. Everyone else was glued to the side of their mates, talking and laughing like it was a fun festival instead of the forcing of my hand to be Lucian's eternal soul mate. The cup was crushing under how tightly my fingers gripped it.

Everyone else seemed happy. The couples looked at each other with pure adoration in their eyes. I didn't understand how they could just accept it. I was angry I did not have a choice to choose who I spent the rest of my life with. 

Lucian suddenly appeared beside me.

"Hello."

I jumped, almost splashing the drink onto the sweater from his sudden voice. The air seemed to get warmer when Lucian laid his hand on my knee. I could feel the heat from his palm soak through the soft material of the jeans. Disgust and something uncomfortable inside my stomach. I was angry, not at Lucian but at myself. Why couldn't I control my hormones around Lucian? The bond was changing things, things that I didn't want to, but it was still my body. Why did I have to act like a horny teenager who was starved for sex when he was around?

Lucian cleared his throat softly and moved closer so that our shoulders were set side-by-side. I tied scooching away but found that I was at the end of the log we sat upon.

"Cheer up, Victoria." Lucian muttered, staring at the barren sky. His grey eyes had taken on a strange glow from the fire. He glanced at me through the corner of his eyes and took a sip from the drink in his hand. I had to force myself to look away from how his Adam's apple bobbed. "Think like an optimist. You'll never get anywhere in life-"

"Like you're even going to let me live one." I couldn't keep the bitter tone out of my words. God, why did I say that? Lucian's fingers tightened on my leg. "Hey, I have an idea. If I had some plastic surgery to remove this disgusting animal mark off my neck, do you think this dumb fucking bond will be broken?"

Hormones? Bottled up rage over the unfairness I've had? A simple sentence had ruined our entire night. I hated myself. 

"Watch your words, little mate." was his cold reply.