The Beta's Redemption.

4.

Ivy ~~

For a while after that very hurtful incident, my vibe was gone. Destroyed. Rent in pieces. Tattered. Pulverized. Drowned at sea. Burnt to ash-

“Here.”

I slowly angled my head at my best friend to see her stretching a glass of some purple liquid to me. “What’s that?”

“It’s a drink, she-wolf.” She pushed it into my hand. “You look so downhearted, so I had Miss Pitt give me some space to brew something in the kitchen. This would help.”

I peered at the liquid, perceiving it but finding nothing out of place. Considering the fact that she’d done some witchery on it, its odorless nature just made it all the more suspicious. “What spell did you put in this, Marie?”

“One that would help put your sad, soppy self to rest and bring out your happy, reckless self into the limelight.”

“In other words,” I lifted a brow. “You drugged the drink?”

“Call it what you must. Just ensure you drink it,” she replied, flipping her hair and walking away.

I stared at the glass for about two more seconds before shrugging and tossing its content down my throat. It burned, but only slightly, and soon I got a super heady feeling, as though I was on Cloud Nine.

If what I’d heard people say about cocaine was true, then it felt like I’d taken some sort of paranormal white heaven.

‘Damn, Maria,’ I thought as the feeling spread round my body. ‘You sure know how to make a girl feel better.’

I sincerely can’t describe what happened after that in clear statements, but I can say that I had the best night/dawn of my life. I partied hard; belly dancing with the Minotaurs, wine ponging, participating in Seven Minutes in Heaven, allowing myself to be a piñata for some other drunk guys, and many other acts that currently are not coming to mind.

Maria was nowhere to be found at the end of the party, even when I tried her number. And my high hadn’t ended, so I decided to hop into my car and drive off to the pack house myself.

I sincerely don’t know how I arrived at the house unscathed since I was driving haphazardly, but I guess all things went well.

At least, they were going well, until I bumped into this odd tree who had black hair.

Like, who creates trees with black hair? Witches and their crazy experiments. I made a mental note to warn Maria about the tree later.

“Yo, tree! Get yourself out of my way!” I yelled, staggering on my heels.

“If anyone is a tree here, it’s you, Poison Ivy,” the tree replied.

I blinked in shock. Trees could talk now? And so rudely, too!

Oh dear. We were going to have a discussion with the magicians about this!

“How rude! I’ll have your head for this!”

The tree looked condescendingly down at me. “Not with that drunk state of yours, you won’t,” it replied.

The nerve!

‘Hit him! Show him how terribly strong you are!’ some voice inside me yelled, and I had the urge to follow its advice. So, I let out a loud cry and kicked out with all my might, but the tree seemed to have supernatural strength and held my leg before it hit its mark.

Before I knew it, my back was to the tree’s front, and two of its branches were holding my stomach firmly.

“Now, quiet,” it said, with a voice far too masculine for my liking.

“How on earth do you sound like a man, you stupid tree?” I grunted, trying to weasel my way out of its grasp but failing.

“I imitate voices.”

My initial struggle ceased, and I attempted to look up at it in awe. “Really?!“

“Yes. Lots of voices.”

“Can you imitate my voice?!”

“Not if you’re so loud.”

“I promise not to be loud,” I replied with what I hoped was a pleading gaze, and I heard the tree give a low chuckle. Wow, it had a really wonderful chuckle. So wonderful it made Gertie whimper in pleasure.

Just then, I perceived a very fruity smell, and my brain seemed to have been knocked off with an overload of ecstasy. It almost felt as though I’d taken another swig of Maria’s brew again.

I think the tree felt it too, because it immediately released me and stepped back, causing me to fall to the floor. The ecstasy disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

“Hey! You stupid, tree? How could you just drop me?!” I yelled.

“You-“ it looked at me, and I perceived horror coming from it in waves. Why was it horrified? Did I have termites on me? Was it scared that they would eat its leaves?

Oh no. I had to calm the tree down. I stood and took slow but unsteady steps towards it. However, for every small step I took, it retreated in large steps.

That was when I found that the tree had only two roots, which baffled me even more. What sort of tree had only two roots, which were flat on the ground?

I had to speak to Mother about it. This was crazy. Those witches were biting more than they could chew.

I tried to take one more step, but then I stumbled and fell. With my fall came a much appreciated blackout.

When I woke later on, I found myself in my room with a splitting headache. Groaning, I sat up, and like all illnesses and injuries that werewolves incurred, the headache disappeared without a trace. That didn’t stop me from gulping the Advil by my bedside only Maria would have had the mind to keep for me.

Maria.

All traces of tiredness fled my body as I rushed out of the room and slammed right into my best friend.

She cussed as she stood straight again and glared at me. “You ever look where you’re going?”

“Um, hi, Marie.” I smiled sheepishly. “I actually stepped out to look for you.”

Her stern look softened and she hugged me tight. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to take you home. You must have had a rough journey.”

Rough? What…what had happened after the party?

I briefly remembered belly dancing with the Minotaurs and maybe yelling obscenities into the night sky, but that was all.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my head.

“Thirteen hundred,” she answered, releasing me. “You must have fallen asleep as soon as you arrived home from the party.”

“I must have,” I echoed, still rubbing my head, but it felt like I was missing one important detail of the day. However, I shrugged it off and went with her into the room.

Later that afternoon, I was with my mom and Maria in the pack lounge recounting what had happened during the party last night, cringing whenever Mom laughed at my recklessness. Maria was halfway through another embarrassing moment of mine when someone walked up to us.

“Luna, Damon Steel, Beta Steel’s son, is here,” a deep voice said, and we all looked up simultaneously.

My eyes clashed with those of the stranger, and my heart jumped into my throat, for the heady feeling hit me once again.

The man merely blinked at me before bowing to my parents.

“Welcome back from college, Damon,” Father said warmly, while Mom beamed at the man. “You’ve grown quite a lot.“

Black hair. I blinked multiple times at his hair, wanting to know where I’d seen it before.

“Thank you, Luna,” he was saying, and my ears latched on to his voice.

It was all too familiar. Too, too familiar.

“What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a Leprechaun belly-dancing,” Maria whispered in my ear.

I was about to reply, but what I heard made me stop dead in my tracks.

“I found out earlier this morning that your daughter is my mate, Luna.”

At that point, the entire lounge went silent, and everyone, including my parents stared at him in surprise.

“Are-“ my mom swallowed, looking at me with a troubled gaze. “Are you aware of this, Ivy?”

“I -“ my words caught in my throat.

“She’s not, Luna. She was drunk at the time.”

My ears burned red, and Maria looked at me, her mouth agape.

“How -“

“However, my reason for coming here is not for that. I came to tell you, Luna,” he went on, seemingly unaware of the fact that he’d just interrupted Mother’s speech, “That I will not accept her as my mate.”