Surprise by moonrise

Chapter 3 - Barbecue

He nods. “Of course Miss Sanders,” he says, “I´ll escort you to the barbecue.”

His words make me stop in my tracks. It´s normal to show the higher ranks some respect, but I don´t have a rank yet, so these formalities really aren´t necessary.

“Lewis, you really don´t have to address me as Miss Sanders. It´s just Charissa, or Isa for short.”

He looks at me, confused. When our eyes met, he looks to the ground immediately. “Sorry, Miss…. Charissa.”

Hearing him say my name with hesitation made me smile a bit. He seems such a strong, big guy, but that little moment showed his weaker side.

“And I´m not asking you to escort me. I´m asking you to come with me as a friend.”

His eyes suddenly shoot up to mine again, not backing down this time. There I go again with my big mouth. Why can´t I just shut up?

To my surprise, Jason chuckles and nods. I let out a breath of relieve. Thank god I didn´t just make a fool out of myself.

“Come on. Let´s go find my brother. I´m sure he has a spot reserved at the barbecue.” I tell him.

We start walking in the direction of the barbecue, Lewis stays one step behind me, like he is my bodyguard or something. Oh well, at least he seems to be relaxing a little bit.

“Congratulations on the new job, by the way,” Lewis says with a low voice.  

“Thank you.”

tI look up at him, smiling. I had almost forgotten that he saw me in the office and knows about the apprenticeship.

“And I appreciate you not screaming it out lout. No one knows about it yet. Not even my parents,” I add in a low voice, leaning a bit towards him.

He nods and I can see a smirk starting to form on his lips.

We arrive at the table my brother reserved for our family and closest friends. He is already there, but he hasn´t noticed me yet. So I decide to try and sneak up on him so I can surprise him with a big hug. I go around the table on my tippy toes, making as little noise as possible, but just before I get to him, he turnes around with a big smile and lifts me off the ground.

“You should know better by now little sis. I can smell you coming from miles away.” Emmet says, before putting me back on my feet.

“Congratulations Emmet!” I hug him as hard as I can.

“Thanks Isa.”

I turn toward Melissa and give her a hug too, congratulating her for her new post.

Stepping back from the new Beta´s, I look over my shoulder to see Lewis standing there awkwardly.

“Guys, you remember Lewis, right?” I say to Emmet and Melissa, signaling to Lewis to come closer.

“Why would we remember about a low rank gardener?” says a very familiar voice behind Emmet.

I look around Emmet and see my mother sitting at the table. She looks angry. I want to tell her to tone it down, that I invited him, but even before I´m able to start talking she stands up and shouts.

“What are you doing here lowlife? Are you here to ruin the barbecue we are having for my fabulous son? Shew, away with you! And don´t you ever come close to my daughter again!”

I look at my mother in horror. How could she be so mean to someone? How could she, former Beta, discriminate someone like that, just because they aren´t high rank?

“Mom!” I shout back at her. “How could you…”

“Don´t worry Charissa,” Lewis says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I have to go anyway.”

He looks me in the eye for just a moment, and I can see the hurt in his eyes. I press my lips into a thin line and give him a concerned look. He bows his head and takes his hand off my shoulder. “Congratulations Beta Emmet, Beta Melissa,” he murmurs, before turning on his heels and walking away.

I can´t believe what just happened. I turn back to my mom, furious. I give her a death stare, and sit down and taking a deep calming breath. Right now is not the time to argue with my mother. Tonight is supposed to be a celebration of the new Beta´s, and I don´t want to take that away from them.

I feel like someone behind me is looking at me. No better yet, staring. I turn around and see Lewis´ green eyes looking straight into mine. I can see the hurt in his eyes again, and I feel so incredibly bad for him. He didn´t deserve what my mother did to him. All he did was being nice to me.

“How does he have the nerve to associate with my daughter?” My mother says. She spits out the words like they are venom.

She is judging Lewis just by his rank, without even knowing him. She turned to me before continuing to speak.

“You don´t have to put up with him, dear. You can do far better. I´m sure you´ll find your mate at your birthday party. He´ll make sure that scum stays far away from you.”

My eyes grew wide, not believing what she´d just said about me or Lewis. I started to feel the anger building up in my core. The heat was expanding throughout my body and my hands are starting to shake. I´m going to punch someone or something if I don´t calm down quickly.

Calm down, I think to myself, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Calm down C, you´ve got this. Just breath. I repeat this phrase over and over in my head, and I notice I´m starting to calm down. The heat in my body is starting to retract back and my hands have stopped shaking.

After just a few more breaths I open my eyes. My parents, Emmet and Melissa are all looking at me with worry in their face.

“Did he…” my mother started, but this time I interrupt her.

“First of all, mother, I invited him, not the other way around. You didn´t have to be rude and assume things.” I started. My voice was sounding very strong and powerful, which surprised me. Now is not the time to let it throw me off my game, though, so instead I just continue.

“And second, I don’t need a mate or parents to decide who I spend my time with. I´m almost a grown woman and I can take care of myself.”

Then I turn to Emmet and Melissa, changing the tone of my voice and losing the power in it. “I´m sorry, but I have to go. I don´t want to ruin your celebration. Congratulations to the both of you. You will be great beta´s.”

Before they can say anything, I get up from the table and walk back to the packhouse. Behind me I hear Emmet call my name, but I ignore him. It´s not him I´m angry with, and I feel sad that this happened on the night of his big celebration, but it would get a lot worse if I didn´t get away from my mother. I will text Emmet later to apologize again and to see how I can make this up to him. Maybe he can squeeze me in for one of our famous Harry Potter movie nights one of these days.

As I walk to the packhouse, I go through the whole scene again. Why did I get so angry when my mother said those things about Lewis? It was like an anger I haven´t experienced ever before. Even when Jasper told my parents that he was gay and my mother laughed at him for an entire month, I never got this upset about it. And Jasper is my best friend. I barely know Lewis. This is so strange.

Once I get to the packhouse I immediately go to my room. As I arrive to our floor, I see that the door to my room is open.

That´s weird. I´m sure I closed my door before I left.

I slowly start opening my door, when I hear a noise inside. There is someone in my room.