I packed some things into a gym bag for my very first sleepover. Yes, call me a late bloomer or whatever; I don't care. Better late than never, right?
I mean, all my closest friends were guys and... okay, there was Jessica and Lizzy…
Come to think of it, I have no idea why I had never been invited to a sleepover. Savy's been to lots of sleepovers. And Savy's hosted a whole bunch of sleepovers at our place. Sometimes Savy would ask if I wanted to join them. I would for a very short while, and it would be fun, but I would get sleepy at bedtime and go to bed.
The only times I stayed up after 10 p.m. would be times of great necessity, like incomplete homework due the next morning or, more recently, meetings and rogue attacks.
Whoever told me high school was a whole different league wasn't kidding.
I pulled out a long-sleeved black t-shirt and black yoga pants. Now with Rebel here, I had to change in the bathroom. I mindlinked Killion as I went, "Can you spare me a black top? Make that a full outfit."
Killion should be around the same size.
Once changed, I came to get my very dark blue, lightweight, waterproof puffy hooded vest. (Yes, I was still hoping for a chance at dart-gunning the rogues.)
There was a knock on my door.
"Come in," I called casually.
I had been keeping my cool about my mate in my bed by simply pretending he wasn't there. I felt I was doing really well too.
Rebel decided to get up from the bed behind me just as Killion pushed open the door.
"Goddess, you know my clothes are going to be too large for you... Oh, pop. Rebel?"
Rebel growled, almost snarling from behind me. He took the two steps needed to reach us, and, wrapping one hand around me from behind, he used the other to shove Killion back roughly. "Mine."
Killion nearly stepped back out the door, but I grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Sliding out from Rebel's grasp, I grabbed the doorknob and shut the door. Let's not let this get out of my room just yet.
But apparently, doing this put Killion too close to me for Rebel's liking. He slammed Killion against the door, and of course Killion just had to kick back.
Rebel sidestepped and kneed Killion, who swung an uppercut at his handsome jaw. Both guys made contact, and they were exchanging blows.
Within seconds, they had crashed down together and rolled across the room in a scuffle. I barely managed to jump out of the way.
Rebel was bent on damaging Killion's face, but the older guy had other ideas. Grabbing my quilt, he managed to throw it over Rebel like a net and jump on him.
They fell over on the bed.
As much as Rebel was out for blood, Killion seemed to be trying to cushion Rebel.
Rebel wasn't to be caught easily though. He managed to free an arm and struck Killion directly in the face.
"Oh, pop!" Killion swore as he pulled away from the bed. "Pop it, Rebel."
"F*** off, beta," Rebel told him as he tried to untangle himself.
And then something in Killion just snapped. He charged at Rebel.
Rebel made a grab for him; the both of them tumbled back over the bed.
"You knew who I was? You killed my parents, you *** ** * ****."
I realized at this moment that Killion would require a whole lot more substitute cuss words besides "pop" to reintegrate into respectable Lycan society. In the light of what just came out of his mouth, it had occurred to me that the f-word was actually one of the more harmless ones in his vocabulary.
"Like hell I would, you ****, you ********* **** ***," Rebel growled.
In Rebel's case, I admit, I just randomly wrote stars. I couldn't spell out what he said, not so much because it was that bad, but more so because I had no idea what he said. It was all ancient Lycan, a specific dialect too. And honestly, he could have been asking, "How is your mother?" and I wouldn't know, except that I'm quite sure he wasn't.
Killion understood it clearly though. He was furious.
Savy burst into the room. "What are you doing?"
Her eyes widened at the two men fighting, and she screamed.
They froze.
Noises of rushing feet headed to my room.
"Bathroom now," I ordered, and Killion all but dragged Rebel into the bathroom.
I scooped up the clothes that Killion had brought with him and tossed them into the bathroom after them.
Everyone else charged into the room.
"What happened here?" Beta Lucas wanted to know.
He searched the room with his eyes: the completely rumpled bed, the quilts on the ground, and things knocked over on the nightstand...
Savy stood next to me, wide-eyed but silent. She slipped behind me.
I think by now she figured it was a false alarm, and I could tell she also realized that she had probably exposed me to some kind of secret mischief by accident.
This had never happened before. Savy and I had always been as thick as thieves, and Savy had also always been the more surreptitious one.
"Urm... Sorry. A cockroach..." Savy said weakly.
"Where?" demanded Ben, ready to strike.
Savy looked at the bathroom... which at this point had started emitting growling noises followed by a loud slam against tiled walls, and the sound of broken glass.
So much for making the place look unsuspecting. And then the shower came on.
"Urm, yeah, Killion is taking care of it... the cockroach." I mumbled.
No one believed me.
Mum crossed her arms. Dad started growling. Beta Lucas looked ready to charge into the bathroom.
Harvey and Ben looked uncertain, torn between not exposing whatever I was trying to hide in the bathroom and charging inside to apprehend the threat.
"Should I go help him?" Harvey asked finally when the growling and snarling didn't stop.
A loud punch was met with a grunt from inside.
"Sounds like a pretty big roach," Ben smirked.
He must have figured out that whatever was inside was not a threat to my safety. Ben, who had always run next to me growing up, would know. I think he might be the only one who could find this situation amusing at the moment, though.
There was the sound of a heavy bottle of shampoo bouncing off the tiled wall and bursting on the bathroom floor. The burst was accompanied by the sweet smell of flowery happiness, aka my expensive shampoo.
The roach cursed... in ancient Lycan, no less.
I didn't quite understand it, but Beta Lucas grimaced.
"Classy roach you got there, Sam," Ben smirked.
"Shut up," I punched Ben in the arm and stormed toward the bathroom door.
The broken bottle was the last straw. Those two could have broken each other's noses for all I care, but my shampoo!
I pulled open the bathroom door, my hair flaring, grrrr... They better cut it out right now.
But at that moment, my mate stepped out, fully dressed, albeit damp from the steam.
Killion dragged himself out behind him, soaked to the bone. There was also a large bruise over his cheekbone.
"Wait," Killion said before anyone spoke. "He only got the upper hand because I didn't want to hurt your Luna—"
I growled. Killion realized the audience and modified, "—tic... I didn't want to hurt this lunatic."
"You're just getting soft," Rebel's voice rumbled in retort. "Life must be good to you here."
"Yes," Killion grinned. "The princess is very, very good to me."
This earned him a snarl, and Rebel grabbed Killion by his wet collar.
"Enough!" Dad alpha-commanded.
Everyone froze. Rebel released Killion.
"Can someone explain what is going on here?" Dad asked. His voice was leveled, but I could sense his wolf was pissed.