The Heart of The Alpha King

Chapter 6

Evander’s POV

It’s 8:30 p.m. and knocking on the door to Aaron’s house. There was so much energy coursing through my body, unpacking and cleaning my room. I couldn’t sit down even if I wanted to. I got ready at my house, so I didn’t slow anyone down. Knowing these clowns, they won’t be ready and Aaron, Alonso, and Jalen are playing video games while Asher whines to Liam and Zach about what he wants to wear.

I opted to drive my mom’s armada to the party so that no one would recognize my truck.

Aaron opens the door in basketball shorts. Behind him, I hear yelling and gunshots from the latest Call of Duty video game.

See what I tell y’all. These clowns ain’t ready.

“Here you go. Already scowling and being uptight,” Aaron says to me while shaking his head when he sees me look him over.

I already see how this is gonna go.

“Have you at least showered yet?” I ask him. I get a whiff of some fresh body wash, so I’m assuming he did.

“Yes, Alpha, Sir, I took a shower. Thank you very much. We were waiting for you and Liam to get here to get dressed. I ordered us some pizzas too, since I figured you’d be so busy doing that neat-freak s**t to pay attention to eating.”

As soon as he says that, my stomach growls loudly. After spending the past year together, my guys know how I am. Gotta have things put in the right spot neatly and in their rightful place. Call me OCD, but I don’t like a bunch of s**t and mess everywhere.

I walk into the house and close the door behind me. Aaron’s already out of the entryway and into the family room.

“Is Liam here?”

“Yup, you’re the last one to arrive. Liam and Asher are upstairs getting dressed. Everyone else is eating and playing C.O.D.”.

I walk into the family room and grab a slice of supreme pizza from the box on the coffee table. Now he knows Mrs. Charlene doesn’t want us eating up in here, but it’s not my house and not my ass that’ll get beat, so I don’t say s**t.

I sit right next to Alonso, who’s trying to not get shot by some enemy insurgent on the game. He pauses the game and daps me up.

Alonso turns back to the screen. “I bet Asher’s upstairs staring at the clothes he brought trying to figure out wear,” He jokes.

“How much you wanna bet that fool is driving Liam crazy right now and sends Asher down here to ask us?” I respond. We all know Asher is so indecisive and if we’re late for anything, it’s because of him.

“I got ten on him driving Liam crazy and coming down here,” Jalen stands up pulling a 10 dollar bill out of his wallet”.

“Oh, I got 10 on it too,” I say, pulling a 10-dollar bill out of my wallet too.

Zach, Alonso, and Aaron do the same.

Just as we put our money in the pile, here comes Liam and Asher come down the stairs arguing. Like clockwork. None of this is anything new. We’ve had the same clown-ass shenanigans for years. We’ve been friends enough to know what’s gonna happen. Just like this bet we make every single time we get together. It always ends in the same outcome.

Watch this…

“Guys, help this fool out so he can stop bothering me about what to wear,” Liam says, exasperated, as he walks towards the sofa, already dressed.

“They wouldn’t need to give their input if you told me which shoes look best with this outfit,” Asher stands there holding out his clothes with 3 pairs of Jordans in his arms.

Jalen stands waving his hands in the air like he always does. “Just pick whatever. We all look fly, so it doesn’t matter what you wear. No one is gonna look at you anyway, bro. They all gonna be looking at me.”

We all laugh at Jalen because we know he always wants the girls to be looking.

Admiring the shoes in his arms, I decide to put Asher out of his misery so we can speed up the damn process and we get the f**k out of this house.

“Those shoes are clean, bro. You can’t go wrong with the all-black J’s.” I point to the Jordans in his right arm.

“See, y’all. Was that so hard to do?” Asher huffs out, looking over at Liam with a frown on his face. “At least I know Evander has my back”.

“You know that every time he gives you fashion advice, it’s because the rest of us don’t care and the Alpha is tired of waiting, right?” Liam’s tone has now gone from joking to annoyed.

Before Asher can start an argument with Liam, and trust me, these two clowns are about to argue over some dumb stuff, as they always do. Zach turns to me with the clippers in his hands.

“Hey Ev, come line my beard up for me real quick?”

“Sure man, let’s go to the bathroom.”

Taking the clippers in my hand, I line up my beta’s beard.

Inspecting my handiwork, Zach brushed off the few hairs on his shirt. “You think everyone’s ready or those two fools went back to arguing?”

“I think everyone is ready. It’s not like Asher doesn’t know what to wear now. If he’s not ready, I’m gonna hit him upside the head. We’ve been waiting to see everyone long enough.” I glance down at my watch and notice it’s almost 10 p.m.

Zach and I walk back into the family room where everyone has gathered and is now dressed and ready.

“I don’t know about you but I’m ready to see everyone and find a lil hunny that I can run up into tonight,” Jalen says with his signature mischievous smile.

“Of course, you are, horn dog,” Aaron says, slapping Jalen on the shoulders.

“Hey, all of us aren’t in a committed relationship like you two fools. Some of us like tasting different flavors now and then.”

“Yeah, well, you better hope one of those flavors hasn’t spoiled and bites you in the ass, my dude.” Aaron scrunches up his face and waves his hand in front of his face like something stinks.

Sighing, I stand up and walk over to the bar to grab some shot glasses.

“Hey, it’s time to wrap this s**t up. Everybody is ready. Grab your beer or shot glass so we can toast to being home.”

The guys grab their preferred drinks. We toast and, of course, take pictures to post on Wolfgram after we show up at the party.

****

We arrived at the party around 10:45 p.m. I park outside the two-story home. Aaron and Alonso throw the passenger doors open and bust out of the SUV like bats out of hell. Like they’re crazed and hunting for something. Where they’re headed off to, I don’t know. The looks on their faces are vaguely familiar and, if I had to guess, the song of Selene is pulling them like a Siren towards their destiny.

As soon as we walk up the driveway, we’re bombarded with kids from school. I dapped up a few teammates from the baseball team and make my way towards the side of the house. One of the guys I see is Drake, whose birthday we’re celebrating. I wish him a happy birthday and tell him good luck in finding his mate.

As I walk towards the backyard, I’m bombarded by a bunch of she-wolves.

Damn, they must’ve figured out I turned 18. They better get the f**k on. I’ve already found my mate. I’m about five seconds from shoving them away when I spot Ebony standing near a drink table talking to a girl from school.

I walk in her direction and as soon as she sees me; I gesture for her not to scream.

Giving her a ‘church hug’ I pull back and greet her. “Hey, Ebony. How’s it going?”

“Welcome home, Ev. I’m good. You look great. When did you guys get back?”

“We got back this afternoon right after the pack run. We came to the party to surprise everyone.”

"Oh, they'll be surprised all right," she said. Imani is inside with Zuri and Jayda. I just came out here to get some fresh air, since it’s stuffy in Drake’s house.”

Zach, Jalen, Liam, and Asher finally enter the backyard, looking disheveled.

Zach walks up to me, fixing his shirt and frowning. “Man, why’d you leave us back there to get attacked by those needy girls?”

“Yeah, man, they kept pulling on our clothes and s**t. I love it when a girl pulls my clothes off, but damn, not all of them at once,” Jaylen complains.

“Bro, I wasn’t about to stand there and see any of them. I’m trying to find my sister.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I use Imani as an excuse. I want to see her. I’d rather see my mate first.

“Hey, long legs. Long time no see,” Jalen says, giving Ebony a hug. Leave it to him to flirt with someone.

Ebony blushes at Jalen’s nickname. “It’s good to see you guys back. I know Nilah and Monique will be thrilled to see their guys.”

I head inside, greeting more kids from school as I walk further into the house. The music is loud. Ebony was right, s**t, it’s hot as hell in here.

Kids are in the kitchen eating and playing drinking games while others are in the den playing pool and spades. I search for the owner of the smell that I’ve been missing for a year. I walk towards the family room where all the furniture was moved to make a makeshift dance floor. In one corner of the room, some guys are playing spades and dominoes.

Usher’s song with the City Girls ‘Good Love’ is playing through the speakers.

On the makeshift dance floor, I spot Imani and Zuri dancing with each other.

Turning my head to the right, the scent I’ve been searching for hits me strongly.

Something is telling me to turn the other way and, of course, I don’t listen. I shouldn’t look forward. All I see is red. Ace pushes forward, ready to rip someone’s head off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my beta and gamma freeze.

Behind me, I hear the word MINE, but I don’t register whose mouth it comes from.

It takes everything in me to control Ace. Somehow, my feet stay rooted in the spot I’m standing in and I can’t stop looking. A growl rumbles from my chest that shakes the dancefloor.

In front of me, my mate is dancing, throwin’ it back on another wolf that ain’t me.

Jayda’s POV

Drake’s party is in full swing by the time we arrive. Of course, when we get to the house, we take more pictures to add to Wolfgram. Ebony has up getting our model poses on.

I send a text to Noah, letting him know I’ve arrived. The girls and I head inside of the house. Drake’s house is packed with wolves from school and some of the neighboring packs. I greet some girls I know and walk into the kitchen to grab some snacks. Ebony sees some friends she knows and points to where she’ll be in the backyard.

My phone buzzes with a text from Noah telling me he’s in the den playing a game of spades.

The girls and I headed in Noah’s direction. Imani, Nilah, and Monique decide to get on the makeshift dancefloor. Beyonce’s Savage remix is playing through the speakers. Zuri and I find Noah and his friends.

Spotting me and Zuri, Noah stands up to give me a hug and offers his chair for me to sit in. Noah greets Zuri, and she gives him a smile.

“You guys wanna play spades?” Noah asks me and Zuri.

“Uh, well, I don’t know how to play spades,” I say with a sheepish grin.

Noah and his friends pull back their heads and look at me with shocked expressions on their faces.

“I know how to play. My dad and brother taught me.” Zuri says, making me look like the damn oddball in this situation. Humph, lil heiffa.

I know that’s like a Black folk’s rite of passage to know how to play spades. I just don’t know how to play okay.

Rolling my eyes at my friend, I turned back to my ‘situationship’ buddy.

“We’ll just watch you guys for now.” I took note to ask my dad to teach me how to play so that I could learn how to play with Noah on a date.

Zuri and I watch the guys play for about thirty minutes before we get bored.

“Come on girl, let’s go dance a bit with each other.”

“Do we have to?” Zuri sighs and pouts, looking at her phone.

“Well, the faster we get on the dancefloor the sooner we can leave and you can get back to whatever nerd boy you were texting.”

“He’s not a nerd boy, and who says I’m waiting on a text from him, anyway?”

“Uh-huh, you can fool others, but you can’t fool me. You’re gonna tell me all about Nerd Boy later. Let’s dance.”

We make our way to the dance floor and spot our friends.

Beyonce’s Cuff It is thumping through the speakers and the girls and I are doing the latest t****k dance to this song because you know you gotta do the dance. I look up and notice Noah has joined us on the dance floor. Shoving my phone in his hand, I tell Noah to record us while doing the dance.

Outside, there’s some commotion and people leave the dancefloor to go outside. I’m not paying much attention because my girls and I are having fun.

Taking my hand and grabbing me around my waist, Noah decides it’s time for him to show me his dance moves. Okay, this guy can dance. Let’s see if he can keep up. I turn around, keeping my back to his front, and I wind my hips and get low as Usher’s Good Love plays through the speakers.

Now, I don’t know what it is, but something is telling me I should probably stop throwin’ it back on Noah, but I clearly am not paying attention to my inner ‘spidey’ senses.

Next thing I know, the crowd parts like the Red Sea did for Moses while leading the people out of Egypt, which causes Noah and me to be the center of attention. That’s when I notice Zuri trying to get my attention, but it’s clearly too late.

Suddenly Venus perks up and starts wagging her tail. The smell of leather and tobacco, which fills my nostrils and nearly knocks me off my feet, assaults my nose.

I recognize this familiar scent and it’s the scent of the person who I’ve yearned for over the last year.

There’s only one person to whom that scent belongs.

Those eyes belong to none other than f*****g Evander Josiah Knight.

His eyes are pitch black with anger as I look at him.

Shit.

He’s the last person I thought I’d see at this party.

Wait, who is growling back there?

Did someone just say MINE?