The Emerald Storm of Her Return

Chapter 4 Party Time

Vinny and I made our way down to the huge main dining hall. It has an outdoor hall extension overlooking the lake, which is where some of the guests have gathered. Some are mingling, some are drinking, some dancing, and others are helping themselves to a buffet that I must say, looks freaking amazing. Above the buffet there was a huge sign that read; Congratulations Josephine! Welcome back!. I gaze into the sea of people that I haven't seen in six years. I keep thinking about how much I’ve changed, I didn’t even think about how much everyone else would have changed. The past six years have had more effect on some than others. I scan over people and pick out the ones that I am actually looking forward to chatting with. A few people I went to grade school with, my old teammates and coaches, and my best friend, Demi. Demi was the only person other than Vinny that I bothered to come to with anything and everything with. She was the only one that didn’t tiptoe around me like I would break down if anyone looked at me. She was my best friend long before my parents murder, and she helped me through it. She treated me like Jo Drescu, not a sad little orphan girl, and I was grateful for that.

Vinny hasn’t left my side, somehow his protectiveness has seemed to have gotten worse, I keep seeing him scowl at any guy that looked at me for too long. Seeing as he was the future Alpha, they quickly turned their gaze. Thank goddess he wasn’t with me at USC. It’s not like I was a skank, but I had a little fun. He definitely would have spoiled that for me.

As I briefly reminisce on my college party days, Vinny abruptly walks away, damn near knocking me over. As I turn to give him grief about bumping me he is already marching away. What the heck, he just went from eyeing me like a hawk to forgetting I was standing right next to him? I gaze ahead to see the cause of his outburst and what I see next immediately makes everything clear. He is now completely wrapped up in a passionate kiss with a 5’9, all legs supermodel with light brown hair that had gorgeous blonde highlights. Ah, his mate. I am suddenly uncomfortable at the sight of my cousin shoving his tongue into her mouth and quickly transferred my gaze to the crowd of people.

“Who is this short haired, bad b***h, that just rolled back into Sun Lake?” I hear behind me.

Yep, I missed how Demi greeted me.

I quickly turn to see her eyeing me with her hands on her hips and a smirk.

“You mean this bad b***h?” I ask, pointing to myself, also smirking.

We release our poses and laugh at our shenanigans already starting again.

“Gosh it’s so good to see you” I say to Demi.

“Ditto Jo, it’s good to have you back” Demi says as we give each other a big hug. Demi was a little taller than me at 5’7, with long dirty blonde hair that had the most beautiful natural big curls. Her bright hazel eyes were complimented nicely by her caramel skin. She was the kind of girl that didn’t have much chest to brag about, but made up for it with her big ole booty and thick legs, all muscle. Demi was a warrior in the pack, and the girl was made for it. It was pretty uncommon for she wolves to be warriors, but that didn’t apply to Demi, and everyone knew it. She always kept me in shape back in the day, and it helped me land a scholarship to play soccer. She was also the only one, other than my family, that I kept in contact with after I went to school. She even came out to visit me a couple of times. To say we had a lot of fun on her visits would be an understatement. I mean we’re wolves, and wolves can drink. I think she enjoyed getting away from the pack for a little. Because she always knew she wanted to be a warrior, she didn't really bother with much school after high school, which means she spends a lot of time in the pack territory.

“Luna showed me your room after it was finished last week, and I am ready for you to come do our family house whenever you’re ready.” Demi says to me, batting her eyelashes.

“You don’t have to bat your eyelashes at me dork, I’d be honored to redesign the Wallen family home.”

I loved the Wallens. They were my second family and I would do anything for them.

“Oh yay, dang that was easy,

I had a whole speech prepared.” She says to me, totally serious.

“Oh I don’t doubt that” I say, also serious.

As if their ears were bleeding, Demi’s mom, dad, and little brother all joined our conversation.

“Josephine! It’s so good to have you

back with us my dear!” Mrs. Wallen wraps me up in a hug.

“Welcome back miss Josephine,

and congratulations on your graduation” Mr. Wallen gives me a warm smile.

“Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Wallen, it's

so wonderful to see you all again.” I return their smiles.

I glance over at Demi’s little brother, Levi, who now towers over me, at 17 years old. Boy this kid shot up.

He looks up from his phone at me for two seconds to say,

“Hey Jo, congrats.” Before looking back down again.

“Thanks Levi” I say to him, despite him already not paying attention.

“Sorry about him, he has a new

girlfriend every week and his obsession

with talking to them 24/7 makes him rude.”

Demi says as she slaps him in the head.

“Dude f**k off” Levi spits at her.

Mr. Wallen did not approve of Levi talking to his sister this way. He was one of the head warriors, and was a tough wolf. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and gritted through his teeth,

“What did you just say to your sister?”

Levi immediately realizes his mistake and apologizes to Demi. The Wallens all head to the buffet table as we all see Vinny approach us with his mate.

“Charlie, I would like to finally introduce to you, my cousin Jo.”

She immediately releases Vinny’s hand and gives me a huge hug.

“It is so nice to finally meet you, Jo! I have heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name. And can I just say, holy s**t you’re gorgeous, and those eyes my goddess!” Charlie says cheerfully.

Thank goddess she’s nice.

“Oh gosh thank you! It’s nice to finally meet you too, Charlie! It’ll be nice to have another she wolf around to mess with Vin here” I return her cheerfulness as I shoot Vinny an evil grin. Charlie laughed and gave me a “oh yes b***h” kind of look. Yeah, I can see us being good friends already. Vinny gave us both a disapproving look. He knows he’s in for it.

We engage in small talk for a few minutes before they dismiss themselves to get a drink. I decided to head over to my Aunt Tia and Uncle Sam, who were in conversation with a large group of people.

“There you are sweetie. I hadn’t seen you so I began to head back in and march you down here when I saw you had picked right back up with Demi, I see you girls haven’t missed a beat.” She says to me with a smile.

“Oh yeah, no surprise there.” I say back.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Tia lead the way up to the platform stage and begin getting the attention of the crowd.

There were about 300 pack members in attendance, which was about 100 shy of the total number of members in Sun Lake. We were an average to larger sized wolf pack, but there were still others that had hundreds more than we did. The crowd began to quiet down and turn their attention to the stage.

Here we go.

Uncle Sam steps up to address the pack.

“Good evening everyone! And welcome, on behalf of your Luna and I, we hope you all are enjoying the food, drinks, and excellent company! As you all know, we have gathered this evening to celebrate the return and graduation of the daughter of our former Alpha Phillip and Luna Maya Drescu, may they Rest In Peace.” Everyone bowed their heads in respect. “ Please join us in celebration as we welcome back, Josephine Ana Drescu!” Uncle Sam announced proudly as he motions for me to come join him on stage.

I make my way up to him and wave to the crowd with the fakest smile I think I have ever had. It wasn’t because I disliked the pack, I was just so nervous. It was time to finally face everyone again. I scanned the crowd in front of me. Everyone was clapping, some cheering, and others looked like they were only there out of respect for my parents, and Sam and Tia. Not everyone was the most understanding of my shutdown after my parents were murdered. Some felt like I was sulking all the time, and they didn’t really hide their annoyance or lack of understanding. Others felt like I was abandoning the pack by going away to school, and made sure to let me know before I left. Some even claimed that my parents would be disgusted to hear of my departure. Vinny and Demi got in the face of a lot of them, but they weren’t always around. I just ignored them and moved on, I didn’t have the will or the energy to argue with them.

I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. I didn’t want to be sad anymore. I spent the last six years pulling myself out of an emotional coma, and I was ready to embrace this life with a much better mindset. I decided to do something I had never done before, this was going to be my first attempt at showing the pack that a new woman stood before them. I cleared my throat, took a step forward, and addressed the entire crowd. I saw the stunned faces of the many pack members that had only ever seen me sulking in a corner.

“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone here tonight.” I begin.

“While I have been away for a while now, I am very excited to be back here at Sun Lake. Seeing all your familiar faces has been a wonderful welcome back to this extraordinary pack. I look forward to immersing myself back into life as a wolf, and becoming one all of you, and my parents, would be proud of.” The crowd began to cheer and I saw many shocked faces, but also excited to hear my pledge to the pack, and life as a wolf. I had never declared any type of pride in being a wolf after my parents died. But, like I said, I am a different person now. There were a few pack members that didn’t seem convinced, and still looked at me with disapproval. I knew I was going to have to earn everyone’s respect again, but what I wasn’t sure of, was how hard it was actually going to be.

The rest of the party sort of blended together after that. By the time I had finally made it back to my room it was midnight and I was completely exhausted. I quickly found some pjs in my luggage to throw on, and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. When my head hit the pillow, a slight moan left my lips, holy hell this bed was the definition of comfort. Before I could drift off to sleep however, a familiar voice appeared in my head.

“We’ll that went pretty well tonight huh?”

Lyanna decided to make her presence known, I knew it wouldn’t be long.

“I know I said I would wait, but after your speech, I figured you may have been talking to me too?”

I can tell she was skeptical.

“It’s like one mind” I say humorously, expressing to her that I’m glad she’s surfaced.

“It’s nice to hear your voice again, Lyanna.”

It was nice, part of embracing my wolf side meant getting to know my wolf, and I was looking forward to it.

“I’m even more excited to see what you look like.” I say, curious to know. Since she kindly waited while I was at school, shifting was never something that concerned me, until now of course.

“All in due time my dear, for now I’ll let you get to sleep, I know you’re exhausted.

I smile at the brief conversation with my wolf and begin to really relax.

Within about 17 seconds I was completely out. First night back, in the books.