6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Beth

Two Years Ago

The party gets rolling within a half hour, with Rourke basically spending all his time in the front hall, answering the door. I've had a couple drinks by the time he's back, just enough to feel pleasantly buzzed, and Annie's outside getting chatty with the stoners she was talking about avoiding before.

I'm not completely surprised. She's had a love-hate thing with one of them for a while now.

Carla's sitting at one of the patio tables talking to a couple of her friends from the debate team.

I'm pouring myself a third drink, just a soda this time, and I'm wondering if I'm only attracted to Rourke because he's an Alpha. I've noticed how some of the other girls have been reacting to his company, and most of them are visibly affected by his presence.

There's a magnetic pull there that I can't deny.

It's possible that's only because he's an Alpha, I guess.

God, I hate to think I'm going to be chasing Alphas for the rest of my life, just because they can make me feel like this, but I can't lie. If this is how it feels to be around an Alpha, then I definitely want to be around them.

I don't know what that says about me.

Right now, I don't care.

Chelsea steps back into the kitchen from outside, and I catch her looking toward the hallway before she comes back toward the table and glances at me. It's obvious she's just noticing me for the first time, and her gaze is as derisive as ever.

Oh great. Here it comes.

"Liz! What a surprise! I didn't know you were here!" Chelsea exclaims as she moves toward me.

"It's Beth, actually," I tell her, as I set my cup down and pick up a fresh bottle of cola. "And we got in right before you did."

"Oh … Would you mind pouring one of those for me?" She flashes her two-inch long baby pink nails and I wonder how the hell she gets anything done when she's wearing those things. "I just had new acrylics done and I don't want to ruin them."

"Of course," I murmur, as I hold the bottle close to my body. I'm having trouble removing the cap, but I'm not ready to give up on it.

"What a lovely dress," Chelsea tells me, now that she's had more than a second to study what I'm wearing. "Very … vintage ."

So, the school's queen bee thinks my dress is old and ugly.

I knew she'd have something to say if I ran into her.

She never misses a chance to make someone else feel bad.

"Well, I prefer the classics," I tell her. "They never go out of style."

"Hm." She raises an eyebrow at me, and the look she gives makes me wonder if the dress really is as ugly as she seems to think it is.

I thought I looked pretty good in it, but maybe I was wrong.

It's not like I can do anything about it. I don't have a limitless credit card from a rich father to fund a whole new closet full of designer labels every season, like Chelsea clearly does.

"I'm more of a classic guy myself." Rourke's voice from behind us distracts me.

I bump the bottle of Coke on the table trying to turn too fast, and the lid comes off with a tell-tale hiss, slipping through my fingers and bouncing to the floor. I gasp out a breath as the dark, fizzed up soda sprays a heavy line across Chelsea's perfectly tailored baby blue dress.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" I blurt, as the Coke continues to fizz over onto the chest of my own dress now that it's done with the initial spray. "That's totally my bad!"

Rourke holds out his hands to me, and I pass the bottle to him.

"Thanks," I mumble, as I realize my hands are wet and sticky.

"Are you crazy ?" Chelsea screeches. "This is Prada!"

"Then you'd better go home and clean it, before it stains," Rourke tells her, as he places the wet bottle in the kitchen sink.

He turns on the tap and motions to me. I move toward him, but I'm not sure what he's asking until he reaches for my hands and puts them under the warm water.

"Oh …" I murmur, as he squirts soap into my palm.

"Are you kidding me?" Chelsea fumes. "My dress is ruined!"

I glance up at Rourke and catch him rolling his eyes.

"If I buy you a new one, will you leave?" he asks her.

She makes an irritated noise and goes out back.

Even over the sound of the music out there, I can hear her rounding up her friends to get them to storm out of Rourke's house with her.

"What is her problem?" he mutters.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe she's hangry?"

He laughs lightly. "I bet she wishes she didn't come to this party now."

"Probably."

I realize his hand is on my back while I'm washing the Coke off my hands and forearms, and I don't want him to take it away. I take my time, and he turns off the tap when I'm done.

Chelsea and her friends are stomping their way into the kitchen when he's handing me a towel.

"I expect you to buy me a new dress," Chelsea says, her gaze levelled on me. "And to never speak to me or come anywhere near me ever again."

Ouch. I mean the second request is easy, but that first one? It's not like I have any savings, and I don't think my allowance will stretch to cover a Prada outfit for a spoiled brat.

"You'll get your new dress," Rourke assures her, his voice hitting a warning tone that makes me gasp in a breath. "But if you ever so much as look at this woman wrong again, I'll make sure your college applications get rejected. All of them. Even the backup schools."

"You wouldn't dare …" Chelsea starts, before it sinks in what he's just threatened her with. She blinks at him. "Wait, what? You can't do that."

I feel as shocked as she looks when Rourke gives her a mean smile.

"You know who my parents are. You know how much influence they have. One phone call, and your future looks a whole lot different than you expect it to. Don't cross me."

"I'm … But she's just …" Chelsea starts.

"She's not just anything," he practically growls. "She's my mate ."

Chelsea goes pale and her friends drag her past us while her mouth works, but no words come out. I stare at Rourke, and he picks up the towel when it falls out of my hands.

He finishes drying off my arms and then he finally meets my gaze with a soft sigh.

"That's not how I wanted this to happen," he says, sounding a little different.

He opens his mouth and runs his tongue over his teeth.

They look sharp.

I'm reaching up and running a finger over his new fangs curiously before I can think twice about it. The nip of pain before my finger wells with blood snaps me back into my body.

"Did you just tell her I'm your …" I start, before he puts his hand on my wrist and sucks my finger lightly. Feeling his tongue against my skin makes my cheeks burn. It's so intimate. It might only be my finger, but it might as well be any other part of me.

He releases my finger, and kisses it, kissing my hand next and my wrist.

"You're my true mate," he admits. "I felt it from the first second I saw you."

"No way," I whisper, knowing he's about to really kiss me and wanting it so badly I can barely think straight.

His teeth are sharp. That means he wants to mark me, or he needs to mark me.

I'm not sure which, and it doesn't really matter.

All I know is there's no way in hell I can let him bite me, even if every single part of me thinks it sounds like heaven.

It's too much, too soon.

I'm only seventeen. We both are.

This is more than I ever could have dreamed possible, and if anyone could change my mind about being too young for all of this, it's him.

I've never felt this attracted to anyone before.

He's the only guy who's ever made me feel like this.

And he's telling me I'm his destiny.

That's what true mates are.

They're fated to be together forever.

He gazes at me as if I'm something to marvel over.

Those sexy eyes are a dark blue with silvery flecks and I'm the one they're fascinated on.

Not the queen bee of our school, not one of the other popular girls or cheerleaders.

Me. The klutzy class clown.

The girl who's usually invisible until she does something unintentionally attention-grabbing.

I'm the one the Alpha wants above all others?

Fate has to have a part in that.

I can't help but smile.

He just told our queen bee that I'm his.

He threatened her to get her to leave me alone.

Everyone's going to know about this.

They'll all know the hottest guy in school is mine.

He smiles back at me, his gaze drifting to my lips.

"Can you feel it?" he asks, his voice soft, as one of his arms wraps around me.

"I was all yours the second you laid eyes on me," I admit.

He lets out a relieved sigh.

"I didn't expect this," he says, as he brushes my wavy hair back from my face.

"You mean, when you arranged this party?"

"I hoped you would come. I meant I didn't expect to meet my mate here in Sapphire Valley. I wasn't even sure that true mates were real."

But now he is, and it's because he met me.

"I'm not an Omega," I blurt.

He laughs. "I don't care."

It sounds like he really means it.

"You're mine, Beth Moore. I don't care if you're an Omega, or a Beta, or an Alpha. This is what fate feels like."

"We can't …" I start, not able to get the rest of the words out.

My skin flushes and he strokes my cheek.

"I'm not saying we have to go upstairs right now, and I don't need you to wear my mark to know you're mine. I know it's a lot. All I'm asking for is a chance."

"A chance?"

"A chance to get to know my mate."

"Is this you trying to ask me out?"

He laughs. "I guess it is."

" After you basically already told everyone I'm yours?"

"Everyone?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Chelsea and her friends will make sure it gets spread around school."

He shrugs. "Well, I did admit this didn't go like I'd planned."

"How should it have gone, exactly?"

He leans in. "Something like this."

His soft kiss steals my breath and makes me feel like I'm floating on air.

I wrap my arms around his neck, moving in close and kissing him back.

When he breaks away to draw breath, he gazes down at me, and I know.

No matter how improbable it seems, Rourke Mariner was always meant to be mine.

"Okay, that definitely worked," I admit.

"It did?" he asks, sounding amused.

"I'm not saying I'm ready to be marked, or anything, but I feel a little more open to the whole true mates idea now," I tease.

He smirks back. "Just a little?"

"Maybe I just need a bit more convincing."

"I'm sure I can manage more of that."