Little Wolf

New Friends

Ivy

Paislee’s behaviour tonight is nothing short of bizarre. What the hell happened in Utah? Watching her bestie dance with the gorgeous Wolverine man, Ivy smiles. They’re looking at each other like they’re desperately in love, never taking their eyes off of each other as they talk.

Of course Ivy is gobsmacked when the song ends and Paislee rushes over to their table, her eyes wild. “We should go!”, she breathes. What? “Why? Paislee, what is going on with you?”, Ivy demands, crossing her arms. “I don’t know, I think they put something in our drinks or something. I’m tingly all over and the smell of his cologne is stuck to me. I can’t smell anything else”. “Tell that to Wolverine. He’s coming over here”, Ivy tips her head towards the booth. “Our server delivered the drinks. She wouldn’t put anything in them, by the way”, Ivy rolls her eyes.

“Hi, I’m Luke”, the man smiles at Ivy, extending his hand. “Ivy”, she smiles back, shaking his hand. “Will you ladies be joining us?”, Luke asks Paislee. “We’d love to!” Ivy jumps in, grabbing her drink with one hand and her purse in the other. If looks could kill, Paislee just did Ivy in six times over.

Luke lets Paislee in on his side of the booth first, sliding in after her. The redheaded man nods at Ivy and takes a seat beside Luke. Ivy sits next to the woman who is across from Luke, her boyfriend on the other side. “Ladies, this is my sister Lucy and her… boyfriend Trevor. This here is Trevor’s brother, Tyler. Everybody, meet Paislee and Ivy”, Luke introduces everyone.

Ivy watches their new friends carefully. The redhead doesn’t seem to talk much, but they keep feeding him tequila shots anyway. Lucy is pretty nice and seems very interested in Paislee, which makes sense since she’s Luke’s sister, she supposes. Paislee seems to relax a little once she switches to bottles of beer and orders her second. Luke has his arm around the back of the booth behind her as they chat.

“Let’s shoot some pool!”, Lucy suggests once a table frees up in the corner, “Guys against the girls”. Tyler jumps up and hustles over to the pool tables to secure it. “I need to break the seal first”, Lucy giggles, grabbing her purse. “You girls need to go too?”, she c***s an eyebrow at Paislee. Paislee nods and Ivy agrees to go along as well.

In the bathroom, Lucy chats animatedly from her stall. When she emerges, she washes her hands and is rifling through her purse when Paislee comes out to wash her hands. “My brother seems to really like you”, Lucy tells her as she touches up her red lipstick. Ivy can see that Lucy is looking for something from Paislee. Paislee smiles shyly, “He’s very handsome”.

Throwing her lipstick back in her purse, it looks like Lucy has more to say but thinks better of it. She gets a faraway look in her eyes and then snaps her attention back to Paislee. “Come on, they’re waiting!”, she says, grabbing Paislee’s arm. “Ivy, do you shoot pool?”, she asks as they leave the bathroom hallway and head toward the pool tables.

Lucy

Lucy can’t figure this girl out. Luke thinks maybe she doesn’t even know she’s a werewolf. That seems… impossible. Surely she’s shifted. Surely her wolf talks to her. She’s eighteen after all. Lucy actually laughed out loud when they heard Paislee tell Ivy that she thought they put something in her drink. That’s the mate bond, baby girl.

Lucy argues with Luke in mind link, begging him to let her tell this poor girl that she’s a wolf, but he’s adamant that it’s not their place. Lucy is more determined than ever to find out more about this girl before tonight is over.

Taking the first shot, Tyler knocks three balls into pockets and lets out a howl. Ivy and Paislee look shocked that he’s finally made a sound - a big one. “Looks like Tyler found his tipping point”, Lucy chuckles. “What do you mean?”, Ivy asks curiously. “He hardly ever says anything until he’s had enough to drink. It’s like magic. He flips and becomes the life of the party, wait and see”, Lucy says in a conspiratorial tone before positioning herself to take a shot over the pool table.

“So what do your parents do?”, Lucy asks Paislee, who is seated on a stool along the wall. A pained expression flickers across her face before she sucks in a breath, “My dad was a paediatrician, and my mother was a school teacher”, Paislee answers. “Was? Oh honey, I’m so sorry. What took them?”, Lucy asks before taking a swig of beer. “Drunk driver back in December”, Paislee answers with a sad look in her eyes. Lucy pats her arm before Paislee stands to take her shot.

The band is ramping up into a heavier lineup of songs, and Tyler is now bouncing his head and singing/shouting along, to everyone’s delight. “Do you think they died before getting the chance to tell her?”, Trevor links in. “It still doesn’t make sense”, Lucy shakes her head. “Well I’m telling you, it’s like I know her or something. Tyler’s right”, Trevor says before turning his attention back to their game.

Paislee

She’s a terrible shot, but Paislee is enjoying the game. She finds Luke to be… comforting? She can’t put her finger on it, but she definitely likes being around him. The tingling sensation she had before has faded, yet the scent of his cologne remains strong. Watching Tyler open up now that he’s tipsy, Paislee smiles. She likes these people, they’re so interesting.

When Maria comes around for last call, Paislee is genuinely disappointed that the night is over. Luke wanders over to the bar, and Paislee watches him as he talks to Maria. She winks at him before he walks away, and Paislee feels a crushing urge to rip the server’s head clean off. Whoa there.

“Can we drive you home?”, Luke asks when he returns from the bar. “Okay, thanks”, Paislee answers before digging through her purse for her wallet. “Oh no love, Luke already paid the bill”, Lucy cuts in, reading her mind. “You what?”, Paislee gapes at him. Luke throws his head back and belly laughs, “It’s nothing. Come on, let’s get you home”. “Um, well thank you”, she mumbles, falling into step behind him.

Luke veers off towards the washrooms with Trevor, and the rest of them make their way outside to the parking lot. Tyler lags behind, dancing and singing as he walks. “Oh hey there, pretty lady”, a man says as he approaches them, his eyes fixated on Paislee. Behind her she hears what can only be described as a growl, and suddenly Luke and Trevor are in front of her, blocking the man from advancing toward her. The man puts his hands in the air, “Sorry fellas, I didn’t see her mark”, he shrugs as he walks away. “Do I have a mark on me somewhere?”, Paislee hisses at Ivy. Ivy’s eyes are wide, her mouth in a silent ‘O’ as she shakes her head.

Piling into the truck, Paislee sits between Luke and Ivy. His thigh is touching hers, and that tingly feeling re-emerges. The drive to her house is short, only about ten minutes. When they pull in the driveway, Luke jumps out and holds his hand out for Paislee to help her out. Ivy skips ahead past them and into the house, leaving the door ajar.

“I’d like to see you again”, Luke murmurs in that sexy voice of his. Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she hands it to him. He punches his number in and then sends himself a text before handing her phone back. Gently, he pushes a few strands of her hair off of her face before leaning in to kiss her. When their lips touch, it’s like fireworks exploding. Paislee feels her heartbeat quicken and before she knows what she’s doing, she wraps her arms around his neck and presses herself into him. He groans a little under her lips before pulling away gently.

“Call me”, he tells her before making his way back to the truck. Tyler has relocated himself to the front seat. The music is cranked now and he’s singing at the top of his lungs. “Bye Paislee! Nice to meet you!”, Tyler yells as they speed off down the driveway.

Ivy pokes her head back out the door, “Holy sh*t! How was that kiss? Tell me everything!”, she squeals as she yanks Paislee inside by the arm. “It was… it was… breathtaking”, Paislee sighs as she leans against the door after it closes. Giggling, they chat over some chamomile tea before heading up to bed.

“You’re going to text him, right?”, Ivy asks as they drift off to sleep. “Mhmmm”, Paislee answers as she nods off. The last thing she hears as she fades is the woman’s voice from her dreams. “Mate”, the woman whispers.