Noel (completed!)

Chapter 23. The birthday celebration

An Alpha's heir turning 18 was a big deal to the pack so Michael's party was going to be big. Every pack member was expected to be there. I would've liked to help prepare the party but instead I was still in lockdown at Thomas's.

Amy has been attempting, unsuccessfully, to add a spell to my necklace so that it would hide my scent and stop me from showing my wolf without hurting me. All she had succeeded in doing was burning and shocking herself. She gave up, Concluding that whoever enchanted it was much more powerful than herself. Instead she gave me a stronger dose of my scent hiding potion. Once she was satisfied I left to my room to get ready.

Brian and Brie were already at the pack house and I was set to arrive with Thomas and Amy. We were suppose to arrive around 3:00. I had plenty of time to get ready so I took a long hot bath, enjoying my day off. When I was done I looked through my closet. I settled on a pair of ripped jean capris, and a tie dye fitted t-shirt. I put my hair in a pony tail and slipped on tennis shoes. I wasn't making a fashion statement by any means but I looked cute and I would be comfortable.

When I went downstairs Amy and Thomas were ready and dressed causally like I was thankfully. With my stomach full of knots we left the safety of Thomas's home. Thomas drove his car to the pack house.

When we arrived I was overwhelmed by the amount of people. I also noticed about half of our school was here, and they were all werewolves. Lilith was on guard being surrounded by so many wolves when she wasn't a part of their pack. I could feel her trying to push to the surface and had to gently remind her that it was our mate's pack and that she had to lay low. She reluctantly agreed and retreated slightly. If she were to push her presence to far forward, wolves around us would be able to sense her presence. Even without smelling our scent.

There was lots of food, but my stomach was too knotted to eat. Amy, Thomas, and I sat down at a table. We were all scanning the crowd for friendly faces, but I didn't find the one I was looking for.  We just tried to relax and fade into the background. There was lots of music and drinking so no one paid us any attention thankfully.

Finally, Michael walked into view. My stomach, already knotted with nerves, now added butterflies at the sight of him. I had to grip my seat to keep me from running to him. Michael was greeted by tons of people but he slowly made his way to us. I was so thankful when he finally reached us and sat beside me, casually throwing his arm over my shoulder.

Many of the pack members threw me dirty looks, I tried to avoid eye contract. They were doing it skillfully so that Michael wouldn't see, anyone he did catch he would glare right back and sometimes growl lowly.

Two people outright stared at me with hatred: Alpha Alan and Loren, of all people. I truthfully hadn't seen much of Loren since the beginning of the previous school year. Brian had once said something about her brother keeping her in check and after that we never really had an issue. In fact, until this moment I hadn't even really given her a thought since then. Her glaring at me agitated me though so I leaned over to ask in Michael's ear.

"What is Loren's deal?" I ask quietly. Brie and Brian also managed to hear me and chuckled.

"Loren is Brian's sister, hun." Brie explained with amusement in her voice. "She's not happy that I'm with Brian and even less happy, I'm sure, that you're with Michael."

"She was a late shifter." Brian explained, much less amused that Brie. "She, and most of the pack, deluded themselves into thinking she would be Michael's mate. I think that even now, with her wolf finally, she still seems to think they will be together. In denial. I've tried to tell her several times but she doesn't listen. I think she thinks since he's with you and you 'aren't his mate' then even if she isn't his true mate, that she still has a chance."