Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

4. Girls just wanna have fun 🌶️🌶️🌶️

RILEY

"Aurelie Boswell, open up! I am not planning to wait outside forever- you have sixty seconds to let me in or I will start with the alcohol on my own."

Yeah, that nutter outside was one of my closest friends for some reason. Somewhere in between crazy student union nights at uni, painful hangovers, and many broken hearts and bad hook-ups, we had become friends for life. Scarlett had been one of my rocks over the past seven years, and was one of the few people who knew that I was adopted and that my biological parents were dead. With her crazy, bubbly personality, she was also the right person to cheer me up and bring me back from the insanity that I had just been put through.

"Okay, okay, I am coming. Don't you dare start without me," I shouted as I walked towards the front door.

As soon as I let her in, she gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before she made herself at home on the sofa in my living room.

"Right, tell me what's wrong. I know we love to drink, but drinking like this in the afternoon is a tad much, even for you and me. Talk to me."

She patted the seat next to her on the sofa and motioned for me to join her. This was going to be a heavy conversation, and I needed some liquid courage first.

"Let me pour us two large glasses of wine first." I grabbed the bottles from her and made my way to the open space kitchen. A minute later, I was back and handed Scarlett her glass.

"To alcohol- helping humanity get over its problems since forever!" We clinked our glasses to honour Scarlett's toast.

"So, where do I begin?... Long story short- I have an older brother who has, apparently, been looking for me all these years and has now finally found me."

"No way," Scarlett gasped as if she had just watched some movie plot twist. All she was missing was a pack of popcorn in her hand. "Are you going to meet him? How did you find out?" She definitely sounded way more excited about the whole thing than I was.

"He showed up at my parent's house when I went over for our monthly lunch. Turns out that he was already in touch with them earlier this week and the three of them must have had the whole thing set up for today."

"And what happened when you met? Are you going to meet the rest of your family? What did you talk about?"

"I don't know... I might have kind of run away from the house mid-conversation." I gave her a sheepish look with my admission.

To be honest, my reaction was justified, especially given all the additional information that I couldn't share with her. Still, I had to admit to myself that it was not my finest moment. I had been in so many high-pressure situations at work and never once had I let the circumstances cloud my judgement or influence how I reacted. But today was different- this was not work, and it was not fighting. It was about finding out that nothing was as I thought, at least as far as my family and my origins were concerned. On top of that, it turned out that I was neither human nor shifter, seeing as I didn't have an animal inside me any longer.

A doubt crept inside my mind- was I now going to be an outcast in both worlds, never fully fitting in either?

I shook my head to make that thought disappear. It was all just crazy. I knew I saw those memories, and I saw my mother change my look with just a word and a touch, but I was still not sure that this wasn't all a dream.

A very long, emotional, complicated dream.

Scarlett must have seen how preoccupied and anxious I looked because she nudged me with her shoulder to grab my attention. "Look, it's understandable- this whole thing comes completely out of the blue. But I know you will figure it out. How about I help you take your mind off things? What do you think about hitting that new bar in Clapham? I heard that they have a dance floor. Nothing like alcohol, music, and dancing to heal the soul."