“We're fine.”
“Just fine? I find that hard to believe.”
“What do you want me to say?” I asked, looking across the parking lot towards the treeline. My eyes quickly watched, waiting for the darkness to appear.
“The truth. I find it hard to believe you, the most vocal guy in the group, to just agree to marriage with a human and be fine about it.”
I clenched my jaw. I knew there was no point in lying to Jay. All of the guys would see right through it. We spent a lot of time together, a lot of time watching each other so that we could instantly tell when someone was lying.
“I'm waiting for shit to hit the fan.”
“Nina is a sweet person, Frank. She's not your mother.”
I normally would have told him off, but after the past few weeks with Nina, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't argue with him.
“I'm in the middle of a party, so I need to go,” I said, ending the call without saying anything else. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and sighed, leaning against the wall.
“You feeling a little guilty there?”
I rolled my eyes at my wolf, hating his smartass. I pushed him aside and turned, pulling the door open, and stepped back inside.
I headed for our table when I noticed everyone had gotten up. I looked around, finding that the music had stopped, and the entire room was utterly silent.
I moved past a few people and headed toward the dancing area, where I found Nina standing near the punch bowl. The punch was spilled everywhere, and her outfit was soaking wet. I tried to move closer, not sure who was standing in front of her,talking. Jillian moved towards her, trying to help her, but Nina stepped aside from her.
I could see the fear in her eyes, the hurt that ran deep. She searched the space, and her eyes quickly landed on me. I was confused. I had missed something, but I wasn't sure what it was. I didn't even know what happened.
Nina hurried to the other door, making her exit. The space was quiet, except for a few people who were laughing. Otherwise, everyone else looked at me. No one seemed to even know what was going on.
“What happened?” I asked in a calm voice. A few people who were standing next to me seemed unsure. No one knew exactly what happened, which only sparked my anger.
“What happened!?” I asked louder, and the laughter that was there was gone. I moved past everyone, making my way towards the dancing area. I stormed towards the punch bowl and found Zanth with Jillian.
“It was just a mistake,” Zanth quickly stated. “We were dancing, and her hand slipped from mine. It all happened too quickly.”
I growled at him, which seemed to surprise him. I looked at Jillian. “What happened?”
Jillian looked at Zanth with anger. “He purposely let go of her hand, and she fell into the punch bowl.”
“That's not what happened,” Zanth barked back. “You're hardly a shifter. You really think he's going to believe you over me?”
I watched Jillian's shoulder drop, and I grabbed Zanth, yanking him forward. He stiffened up as I got into his face. “Shut your mouth,” I growled, watching his eyes widen in fear. “If youpurposely let my wife go into the punch bowl, so help you better pray I don't rip your arms from your body.”
Zanth went white as I let go of him. I stormed past him towards the doors and shoved them open. I searched the hallway, finding she wasn't there. I headed towards the exit and made my way outside.
I scanned the area and found one of her shoes. I headed over and grabbed it off the ground, heading straight in the direction of the trees. I felt my stomach twist violently, and I was not sure what to feel. I wanted to protect her, but I wanted her to suffer, didn't I?
I found Nina a few feet ahead of me, her back towards me as she stood in front of a tree. She was soaked.
“Nina, we need to get you changed. This is how you catch a bad cold.”
I walked closer and stopped just a few feet behind her. I knew she was likely going to turn around and yell at me since that seemed to be what we were best at. But my body tensed up as she looked over at me. She'd been crying. Her eyes were red as she wiped at her eyes, mascara smearing. I could see the front of her dress was soaking wet, and you could see the outline of her bra with the way the dress clung to her.
She straightened her back and scowled at me. “What do you want, Frank?” There was a bark in her tone, and I could see the anger swirling in her eyes.
“I'm trying to help,” I offered, waving her shoe. I softened my words, not trying to be an ass. I honestly felt bad seeing her like this. “You dropped this.”
She took a step towards me, yanking the shoe from my hand. “Great, thanks for that. You can go now.”
