Page 38 of A Female Alpha for the Lycan Prince

“Okay, enough family drama,” Dave claps his hands. “Let’s eat!”

Annie nods her agreement. “Say, Celine, is Harmony with you?”

“Yes, she’s waiting outside. She didn’t want to join us.”

“I’ll say hello later,” Annie beams.

Finn rolls his eyes. “I guess our whole entourage outside can meet regularly too. We can just book an extra table for them next time.”

I chuckle. “You came with your beta too?”

“Obviously, Anders wouldn’t let me come here on my own.” Finn nods. “But let’s not talk about pack businesses anymore.”

“Yeah, instead, let’s be impressed about Annie and Celine finishing college so fast,” Ella smiles proudly.

“How did you even do that?” Finn shakes his head. “With the amount of work you’ve had to do, it’s unbelievable you managed to graduate a few months earlier than usual.”

“We both did some classes online,” I point out. “It spared us a lot of time driving to college. And I pulled a few all-nighters.”

“Same here,” Annie chuckles. “But don’t tell Liam.” She smiles teasingly at Ella. “Or my Beta.”

“Very funny,” Ella mutters.

My father pulled a few strings, and Liam’s family did the same for Annie. It’s not that they handed us the degree or something like that. But they allowed us to hand in essays and papers earlier, attend online, and use the summer vacation for special credits. It might be a bit questionable, but with the workload we both face, it would have been impossible to continue being a full-time student any longer.

“Annie, say, where is your other watchdog?” Dave asks. “I only see Ella.”

Ella rolls her eyes and throws her tissue at him.

“Oh honey,” Dave inspects her in awe. “These are some nice muscles you got.”

Ella wiggles her eyebrows. “Cool, huh?”

“Let me touch them, please, please, please.” He makes puppy eyes at her, grinning when she gives in. She flexes her upper arm, allowing him to touch her biceps.

Honestly, I have to admit she’s made some crazy progress in a very short time. Annie seems to think the same because she smiles proudly. “Ella trains a lot,” she explains, full of pride for her Beta. “She’s our second strongest female warrior after Aryanna. Liam said she’s a natural.”

Ella blushes a bit but looks happy about the praise.

“So, where is your other bodyguard?” Dave asks once more towards Annie.

She smiles knowingly. “Jun is waiting outside. He didn’t want to disturb our friends meeting, just like Harmony and Anders.”

“Oh, really?” Dave perks up. He tilts his head. “If you excuse me, I’ll just tap out for a moment to have a cigarette.”

“You don’t even smoke,” Finn says dryly.

“How do you know?” Dave smirks. “I’m a mystery, you know.”

“Yes,” Annie says with a chuckle. “You are a chasm full of secrets.”

He grins. “Okay, see you in a moment.”

“Are you really going to sneak out right now to make out with your guy?” Finn deadpans. “Subtlety has a new name. But it’s not Dave.”

We all laugh. Dave chuckles too before he heads out to look for Jun. Annie told me a while ago they only date casually. Jun hasn’t found his mate yet and doesn’t want to hurt Dave by going too deep into a relationship with him.

An evening out with friends has helped my soul to calm down a bit. There are many bonds in this world I’ve noticed, aside from the bond with our mates. There is the bond we have with our families and the bond we have with our friends. Both of which can be a huge support system when needed. I’ve just noticed that, in my case, both of these bonds are very strong. They are strong enough to dull the pain coming from my fractured mate bond, at least a bit.