Page 57

Okay, I had to admit I was a little nervous about going to this party. On the one hand, it wasn’t just any old regular human teen party. It was going to be full of nothing but shifters, and it was at a werewolf—I mean, hound’s house. Was everyone going to be busting into their shifter forms? Howling at the moon? Sharing shifter traditions that I had no idea of and would look foolish not being in on the joke?

Secondly, I had only been to one other party in my life, only a few days before, and it had been because of me attending that party that I hadn’t been around to protect my mom from the vampire attack. Not that I really could’ve done anything to fend them off, and I’d most likely have died with her, but it still left me with a whole mess of survivor guilt that I didn’t know what to do with. And apparently, a stigma about parties.

But I couldn’t just avoid social gatherings forever. And I definitely needed to take advantage of any opportunity to make friends here.

There was also the tiny little fact that it was the hot dragon asshole that invited me to go.Withhim. Was this a date? I’d definitely never been on a date. Sure, I’d used studying after school as an excuse to fool around with guys a handful oftimes, but there had never been any sort of protocol outside finding a quiet corner to make out while we did hand stuff.

What was I expected to do on a date? And what if this wasn’t a date at all, and he only invited me out of pity? Then again, Tobias wasn’t the type to express, much less feel, any type of strong emotions, especially pity.

After a hot shower that relaxed me as much as was humanly possible, I almost jumped out of my skin when someone knocked on my door.

I cracked open the door enough to see that it was Ashlyn.

“Hey, what brings you to this neck of the woods?” I opened the door all the way for her and proceeded to wring my wet hair with my towel.

With a forced casualness, she strolled over to my bed and sat on the edge. “Oh, I just heard that you got invited to go to the party tonight.” The way she said it, I gleaned that she herself hadn’t been.

“Yeah, by Tobias, of all people,” I said. “I’m honestly debating going. I don’t even have anything to wear.”

The only clothes I had were my uniforms and the clothes I’d gone to the last party in. Seeing as that had been the worst night of my life, I had no interest in wearing them again.

“Oh, come on, you have to go!” Ashlyn encouraged, her short strawberry-blonde hair looking suddenly more orange. “If it’s a wardrobe problem, I’d be happy to loan you something cute. We’re the same size. I can bring you some options.”

“Really?” I asked, taken aback by the offer. “That would be awesome. I really appreciate that.” I bit my lip at the offer I was about to make. “Do you want to come with us?”

A smile lit in her amber eyes but didn’t reach her lips. “Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude. It’s kind of a big deal that Tobias invited you. He never dates. Well, not really.”

I huffed a sigh and sat down beside her with a shrug. “I don’t know. I really don’t even know if thisisa date. I mean, he probably just invited me out of pity or to make up for him being an asshole to me earlier.”

Ashlyn finally did crack a smile and laughed. “Uh, Tobias doesn’t apologize for anything. And he doesn’t do pity. If he asked you to go with him, it’s because he wants you to go. Honestly, he’s probably hoping to hook up with you. That’s more his M.O.”

“Oh.” Heat flared between my legs, but I didn’t know how I felt about that little tidbit. My attraction to him was, well, undeniable. Hooking up with him wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and that thought brought all kinds of delightfully dirty images to mind.

But I wasn’t about to be another notch on his bedpost. Although, I could look at it the other way and let him be a notch on mine. I had a bunch of teen mischief to catch up on, and my bedpost was sadly lacking in notches.

I shook my head. “Well, either way, I’m sure it’ll be fine if you go with us. It would be nice to have a friend there whodoesn’twant to have sex with me.”

Ashlyn giggled. “I mean, I wouldn’t go that far. You’re a babe. Give me a few drinks, and who knows what could happen.”

She winked at me, and we both erupted with laughter.

“Okay, let me go grab some cute stuff, and we can get dolled up together,” she said before skipping out of my room.

Seeing how much she clearly wanted to go, how could I not invite her? She’d been at the school a little longer than I had,and I was sure no one had ever invited her to any social functions. I knew what that felt like, both at past schools and definitely at this one.

Not only was it the right thing to do, but I truly wanted her there. There was a good chance Shea wouldn’t get the okay to come, and I needed a good female ally to provide an out for me if Tobias proved to be as big of a douche as I suspected he was.

After a few minutes passed, Ashlyn returned with an armload full of clothes. We spent quite some time trying on different things before we came to our decisions. She chose a fiery red dress that made her look stunning, and I picked a simple, cute top and skinny jeans. Not standing out was kinda my goal, but I did still look damn good. There was no way Ashlyn wasn’t going to stand out, though.

“So, is there a particular person you’re hoping will be there?” I asked in a casual tone.

Ashlyn paused the application of her mascara and flashed me a glance in the mirror. “Uh, why do you ask?”

I shrugged. “You’ve been at this school for a few months, and there is an almost absurd amount of hot guys here. I’m sure at least one of them has caught your attention. Unless you’re into girls?”

She laughed. “You know, that comment about sleeping with you…I mean, it would takea lotof alcohol for me to go there. You’re hot and all, but I prefer a lot more muscle and a lot less boob. And a dick. And apparently, unavailable asshole is my type.”

“Ah, so there is someone,” I said excitedly.