Her Viking Wolves(2)
In other words, I’m not exactly “love at first sight” material. Hell, I don’t even think I’m “love after months of getting to know me” material. But they say love works in mysterious ways. So here we are, I guess…
I slide another glance over to Kyle. He looks queasy. Almost green, like he’s going to ralph all over the blood-thirsty party goers below, any second now. I wonder if I should try to overcome my considerable self-consciousness in order to give him one really awkward pat on the back.
Luckily, my brother steps in.
“Don’t worry about it, man, we got you covered. This is just for the engagement party.” Clyde reassures my fiancé with a strong shoulder squeeze. “Tee and me already talked to Dad about this. There won’t be any Detroit pack rituals going down at your wedding in North Dakota. Which is why I told Dad if he wanted to do any of this shit, he’d better get it out of his system now. Tee wants a traditional North Dakota wedding. However you do it, that’s how she wants it to go down. Ain’t that right, Tee?”
Actually, my wedding plans aren’t even that specific. I don’t care how we get married. As long as I don’t have to get his wolf mark burned into my back and can make it through the entire ceremony without anyone’s blood getting spilled on my dress, I’m good. Seriously, that’s how low my wedding standards are at this point.
But I nod enthusiastically, throwing my brother a grateful smile. He’s so much better at this stuff than me. Sometimes it’s hard to believe we have the same parents, much less shared a womb.
“Okay, that’s good to hear,” Kyle says, giving both of us a shaky smile.
Down below, Yancey forces the sobbing prospect to his knees while Dad pumps his sawed-off Mossberg 500 twelve-gauge shotgun.
And Kyle visibly gulps. “Do we really have to watch this?”
“Fraid so, man,” Clyde says, giving his friend another shoulder squeeze, like he’s trying to transfer some of his self-possession on to his less bad-ass buddy. “You ain’t going to get any respect from the pack if you can’t even make it through a Party Favor.”#p#分页标题#e#
That’s for damn sure, I silently agree. Though I do respect Kyle for still being moved by the scene below. I’d grown numb to such things by—actually I can’t even remember a time before my first Party Favor. Only the Alpha King had changed. My dad holding the Mossberg 500, instead of my grandfather. And by this time next year, it would be my brother deciding who lived or died so that the Dark Wolves could “start this party off right.”
Kyle takes a deep breath. “Okay.”
He turns to me and tries to look deep into my eyes, instantly failing because sustaining eye contact is just not on my extremely short list of real life social skills.
But my handsome prince isn’t daunted and he tells the side of my face, “I’ll do it for you, honey. If this is what I have to do for us to—”
The sound of my father’s twelve-gauge explodes across Kyle’s solemn vow. Then comes a loud cheer as the prospect falls forward, the top half of his head now in bits and pieces on the stage’s black metal floor.
“Just smile and wave,” my brother says in a resigned tone. “Smile and wave.”
Which is what we do, smiling and waving to the crowd below like macabre pageant queens as they cheer the prospect’s death.
ARE YOU STILL AT THAT STUPID PARTY?
My watch lights up with a message from Iggle, the she-wolf I consider my closest friend, even though she‘s only twenty…and refused to come anywhere near this party.
“Nah, girl, that’s too much Detroit for me,” she’d said, when I asked if she was coming.
Despite our age difference, she’s like me, a Detroit wolf, who has always felt like she was born into the wrong pack. Like me, Iggle would rather code a gun for an awesome videogame than shoot one. And like me, she spends the majority of her time in her room doing just that.
But unlike me, she’s not the princess of our state pack. And also unlike me, she’s not three hours into an engagement party, but is instead working on the concept package for the Korean firm we hired to help us with the back-end for our next game, Ninja Shifters.
Lucky bitch, I think as I pull my phone out of the bodice of the ridiculous black leather gown Evelyn made me wear and type: Sorry. Yeah. Saw you downloaded the new material and will stay up late to get you my notes. Anything else getting in your way?
Other than you being at that party?
Yes, other than that, Iggle, I type back with a roll of my eyes. The problem with her having been gainfully employed by my company since the age of thirteen is she really has no concept of adult life problems, like having to accept invitations to parties you don’t want to go to. I’ll be back in my rooms as soon as it’s over.