Chapter 6: Just Peachy

"WHAT?!"

I moved directly for Malissa's mouth, covering again in an instant. As soon as she calmed down, I let go, but her expression of utter shock didn't leave her features.

"Nia, you can't be serious. Please tell me you're not serious."

I moved her away from the edge of the building and glanced around before rubbing my temples. When I didn't respond, Malissa understood it was silent affirmation.

"F*ck…" she whispered, running a hand through her natural curls. "When did you find out?"

"As soon as he showed up today," I started. "I had been feeling off all day…I thought it was due to the ritual but when I saw Leo, well…it was like something clicked. I-I don't know how to describe it."

Malissa paused and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head, as if she were processing everything I had said.

"Well, maybe we should take this as a good sign, yeah?" she spoke up, a smile crossing her face like she had just come up with an idea to solve all of the world's problems.

"How so?" I groaned, sliding down the side of the building to sit on the ground. I leaned my head against the structure, immediately prompting static in my dark waves.

"Well, you mated," she started, whispering the last word as she took a seat beside me and smoothed out my hair with her hands. "That's an accomplishment, and one that means you don't have to leave. We have to tell your parents."

She went to stand when I grabbed her hand to pull her back down.

"Not yet," I cautioned.

"Are you crazy?"

"Not crazy," I said, trying to calm her down. "Just…waiting for the right moment."

"Right moment my a*s. You just don't want to tell your parents it's Leo."

"Can you blame me?" I answered, exasperatedly.

"No," she continued. "But with a scenario like this, will there ever be a right time?"

She wasn't wrong. I could hold off on this for as long as I wanted, but eventually they'd have to know.

I huffed, defeated. "I hate it when you're right."

"Isn't it a delight?"

She giggled and squeezed my arm before standing and wiping the back of her pink silk dress.

"Come on," she replied, sticking her hand out to help me up. "I think we both need a drink."

"Agreed," I answered as I grabbed her hand and let her lead me back to the festivities.

***

"And then I said…'Honey, tomorrow is inevitable. Live for today.' You can't find happiness if you're stuck in the past, right, Ni?"

I lazily turned my gaze to Malissa, who polished off the last inch of rum in her glass.

"Cheers to that!" I replied enthusiastically, lifting my glass to clink it against Marissa's and the other's who had appeared to listen to her drunken tail.

Everything around me was distorted as my vision grew blurrier with each swallowed drink. Soon enough, one person began to split into two, and I had to admit, I was starting to feel better about everything. Sure, I was going to be stuck with a raging narcissist for the rest of my life, but at least I got to stay with my people, and there was nothing I could imagine to be better.

I smiled to myself as I listened to Malissa's epic and enthusiastic retelling of her almost rise to fame. I lifted my foot to shift my weight from my right leg to my left, but I caught myself off balance and wobbled backward, bumping into another body.

"Oh, sh*t!" I called out with my drink spilling over the sides of the glass onto the pavement below. "I'm so sor—"

I turned around to see a pair of golden eyes looking back at me. They turned upwards and the smell of pine and lemongrass hit my nostrils.

My face instantly transformed into a scowl. "Oh, it's you," I said, my voice coming out just as annoyed as I appeared. "Nevermind."

I went to turn back to the conversation when I stumbled and instantly found a pair of hands touching my elbows.

"Having fun, are we?"

I looked into his eyes and my face soured at his cocky grin. I wanted to slap it off so badly.

"That's not your concern now, is it?" I retorted.

"It is if you're going to bump into me and spill your drink all over my shirt."

I glanced downwards and focused my eyes to see a wet stain growing on his abdomen.

"Oh, f*ck! Here, let me help you."

"No, no, it's fine, really," Leo said, shrugging it off. "It was old anyways."

Old? I wouldn't have guessed with the way its crisp edges fit his physique perfectly, accentuating all of the good parts of him. And man, were they good.

I gulped and he satisfactorily smiled watching my eyes trail his body.

The alcohol mixed with his scent was driving me mad. I could hear the voice inside my head yelling at me to break my gaze away, but I couldn't for the life of me. Both my physical and wolf forms were ogling him, unashamed.

Then, I felt the heat of his body as he took a step closer and leaned toward my ear.

"All you have to do is ask, princess."

This nickname instantly snapped me out of my reverie and I took a step back, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I said to not call me that," I snarled.

"But yet, here we are."

"Yeah, well, not for long," I muttered as I turned to return to the party.

Just then, a hand grabbed my arm lightly and I growled, spinning back around.

"I swear to the Moon Goddess, Leo…"

But instead, I was met with the soulful eyes of my father.

I quickly fixed my appearance and bowed my head as he let go. "Father, I'm sorry. I thought you were—"

"I know exactly who you thought I was, Nia," he said, more of a warning than an actual statement.

I looked at Leo, who chuckled under his breath softly as he averted his gaze. Wonderful.

"It's good I've found you two together," my father started. "I have a proposition for you both, and I need your full attention."

His eyes shifted to me when he said this. He knew I was trashed, but that never stopped business. "Come with me," he stated, leading us out of the pavilion to the unoccupied grassy hills.

We stopped short of a nearby house and waited for my father to continue speaking. I had knots in my stomach. Did he know of our mate bond? I prepared myself for his response.

"As you know now, Leo will be staying with us for some time. The Bloodmoon pack…well, let's just say some of the Nature Eclipse members are hesitant about it. I need you, Nia, to help the pack adjust for the time being and report any disobedience back to me, clear?"

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded. It was the only applicable response when he was giving orders and directions, and the only correct one upon realizing he didn't look like he knew anything.

"On top of that, I would also like to ask you one more favor." He paused, and I felt the weight of the request already coming. "I need you to take Leo out tomorrow morning and show him around the town. A lot has changed since he's been here and I believe face to face interaction will do good. How's that sound to you?"

My father looked to Leo first, who smiled and nodded in approval.

My father then looked at me, expectantly. "Nia?"

Leo's smile shifted into a grin followed by a small lip bite. He really did know how to push all of my buttons—good and bad.

I looked at my father and grit my teeth. I felt like I was signing a suicide pact.

"Just peachy."

"Great," my father said, clapping his hands together. "Leo, let me show you where you'll be staying."

Both Leo and my father gave me looks as they left—my father's was unrelenting whereas Leo's was playful. I wasn't sure which was worse. So, I slammed down the last of my drink that was still in my hand and returned to the party.