Chapter Nine

My face hurt.  It actually hurt, to the point where I thought my cheeks were going to tear open.  I hadn't laughed that hard in such a long time.

After everything that had happened lately, Bella decided it was about time we had a 'mateless movie marathon' where we were forbidden to speak about anything mate related.

That was fine by me.

She had even ordered Ray and Emma to act as if they hadn't met. Emma agreed because 'after all it's in aid of Rainie', as she put it. Ray on the other hand wasn't as easy to persuade, but after an hour of moaning and groaning and Bella's threat of cutting off his 'tinkie winkie' he finally gave in.

Nicky had picked out some horrors for us to watch and I had ordered the food, together with every flavored popcorn and drink available. 

I hadn't spoken to or looked in Mason's direction since what happened between us two weeks ago. Sometimes I could swear I felt his eyes on me, but it was probably just my imagination that had me thinking that.  I'll admit at first I was kind of sad at the thought of never speaking to him again.  We may not have known anything about each other and he may have rejected me, but we still shared that bond.  I was still waiting for the 'separation' of our wolves to fully begin and hoping it would speed up, but it hadn't. In fact, it had been having the opposite effect.  Emma said that it was because we had been in more contact so our wolves had grown closer to each other, even if Mason and I hadn't.

Oh joy.

Mason had obviously gotten on with his life pretty well.  How did I know that? I could feel it. Every time he kissed or hooked up with a girl it felt as if my heart was on fire.  It wasn't a feeling I could ever push to the back of my mind and concentrate on something else, so I would have to endure the pain for however long he endured his pleasure.

And let me tell you, sometimes it wasn't just a quickie in the closet.

I had introduced Jude to the guys and they all seemed to get on well.  Nicky was a little curious about him because he was human, but being next in line for Alpha, he wouldn't be very good at his job if he didn't.  Bella practically pounced on Jude the moment she met him - shocker, I know- but was politely turned away by him.  The next day she had set her sights on a senior she had no chance with. The normal for Bella.

"Chocolate and strawberry sauce on popcorn?" Ray's features scrunched up in that of disgust as he watched Jude pour half of the contents over his bowl. "You're just messed up, man."

Jude laughed. "Oh, come on!" He licked the excess sauce of his finger, "How can you not want to try this? It's sex in a bowl."

Boys and their stupid comments.

Jude had officially become the sixth member of our little group and surprisingly he fitted in just fine. He had no idea that we were wolves, but that wasn't something he really needed to know anyway since we had no immediate plans to shift in front of him. He had most of his classes with either me or Ray, he sat with us at lunch and he had even become my chauffeur to and from school. The attention he had on his first day hadn't calmed down. Guys still hated the fact he was hotter than most of them and the girls couldn't understand why he didn't pay them any attention.

"Harper," Jude called, snapping me out of my daydream. "Doesn't this taste like sex in a bowl?" He questioned, giving me that same heart stopping smirk I still hadn't gotten used to. Like usual, he was teasing me. 

I shrugged, popping a piece of chocolate into my mouth. "I wouldn't know, I've never tasted, or had, sex in a bowl before."

"Very funny, smart ass." He flicked a piece of popcorn at me and it landed on my lap.

"Wasting good food will get you locked up." I said, picking up the popcorn and putting it together with a piece of chocolate before putting my little creation into my mouth.  If you haven't tried it, you're missing out. It's heaven.

Jude watched my movements before mirroring them. Breaking a piece of chocolate off and sandwiching it with the popcorn before letting it work its magic in his mouth.  The result? Him tilting his head back and moaning. See, heaven. "That's better than mine." He said, excitement dancing in his grey eyes.

Bella bounced through the door balancing six cans of soda. "Shh, the next movie is starting and with the kind Nicky picked if you miss the first five seconds you might as well turn it off." 

Nicky was good at picking movies, Bella just hated horrors and would do or say anything to get out of them. "We don't have to watch it you know, Bell. We could put The Notebook on?" Before she could say anything, I was answered by a chorus of the guys deep voices all objecting to my brilliant movie choice.

Idiots.

"No it's fine." Bella huffed as she sat on the couch, tucking her legs under her chin, "I'll watch this horse crap, but if I can't sleep, my daddy's got a bullet with your name on it Nicky." She narrowed her eyes.

Nicky simply laughed at her threat. "You're dreaming if you think you could catch my ass."

"Please," she snorted, "I'd catch your ass and then serve it to you on a silver platter." 

"Guys, the movie's starting." Emma said.

Nicky, ignoring Emma, barked a laugh. "Babe, by the time you figure out what a silver platter is I'd be across the finish line." Ray and Jude oo'd and broke out into hysterics.

Bella's legs dropped causing her feet to hit the floor with a light thud as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you insulting my intelligence, chosen one?"

Jude momentarily looked at me with confusion all over his face and mouthed, "Chosen one?" I laughed and shook my head; I could hardly tell him she meant Alpha.

"Of course I am." Nicky stated. "Did I not make that clear?" He teased, letting his head fall to one side.

Nicky and Bella weren't mates, but I wished they had of been.

"I'll make something clear to you." Bella eyes drifted around us before coming to a stop at Jude.  The poor boy looked terrified.  A glint of mischief sparkled in her eyes before she suddenly reached over, grabbing the bowl of chocolate and strawberry covered popcorn and aiming it straight at Nicky.  He was barely up off the chair before he was covered head to toe in Jude's snack.

Nicky's lips twisted into an evil grin. "I'd apologize if I were you, Bells." All of our heads immediately snapped towards her and for a moment I could have sworn I saw shear panic on her face, but it was quickly covered up.

Planting her hands on her hips, she lifted her chin. "Not a chance." A second later she was sprayed with whipped cream. "You ass!"

"I told you that you should have apologized," He shrugged. "It's not my problem you didn't."

Picking up and shaking a can of soda she walked towards him, almost like a predator watching its prey. "I'll give you a problem, you jerk." Popping the cap of the can she aimed it in his direction.  Ray and Jude jumped out of the way, but not before getting a nice face full of cherry coke.  Both guys mumbled curses as they wiped their faces with their shirts.

"Oh, you think that's funny babe?" Ray asked Emma, who looked as if she was about to explode at any minute from holding in her laughter.  She shook her head.  "Well we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

Her mouth dropped and she was up from the couch in a blur, running around the living room, dodging furniture and the popcorn Ray had begun to throw at her.  "Rainie, help me!" She squealed, but I shook my head, this was too good. 

All I could do was laugh harder at the scene in front of me.  Nicky and Bella where circling each other, her armed with two freshly shaken cans of soda and him with a bottle of strawberry sauce and an evil glint in eye.  Emma was running around the room like a maniac whilst Ray was running, purposively following a lot slower behind her with a bowl of cheesy popcorn.  Jude was...

Wait. Where was Jude?

"You didn't think you'd get away that easy did you, Harper?" The warm breath that tickled my neck not only made me shiver, but shriek and bolt straight off the couch and across the room. Avoiding, skillfully I might add, the food that was now being thrown between Nicky and Bella, I turned to face him.

Shaking my head furiously, "I'm good to watch, thanks." I walked backwards until I felt my body hit something very hard and very unmoving.

Damn wall.

"Where's the fun in that?" He said inching closer to me. At a moment where I should have been looking for my escape route, I had instead found myself staring at Jude shamelessly.

How can one guy be this hot?

His blonde hair which normally fell freely across his eyes now clung to his forehead thanks to the drink Bella caught him with, though it still made him look completely model-like. The eyes that seemed to change shade depending on his mood were now a bright grey, almost silver and his lips where curved into a genuine, happy smile. 

My stomach danced at the sight of him and it wasn't your run of the mill butterflies, no this was a flock of birds flying around in there. "Seems you've run out of space, Harper."

Oh crap.

Me being the stalker I seemed to have turned in to was too busy lost in thought to notice that Jude now stood in front of me. "You wouldn't." I challenged.  He would and I knew it, I just needed to by some time to get myself away from him.

He took another step towards me, intentionally going slow which of course made me panic even more. It was funny when it happened to other people, seeing Bella covered in strawberry sauce, Nicky in popcorn and Ray and Emma in soda, but I didn't want to have to have a battle with the shampoo anytime soon.  Nope, watching was more than fine with me. "Oh, I think we both know I would."

Next thing I know, my cream shirt has changed to red. Why? Because it's covered in the salsa dip that Jude has just thrown at me. "You better sleep with one eye open." I warned, giving him my attempt of a glare which we've all discovered is not at all frightening or intimidating. I was about as lethal as a butterfly. Jude obviously agreed because he was doubled over in hysterics. "Right, that's it."

Running past him I had one destination – the kitchen cupboard - and I was on the hunt for anything and everything I could use. Looking back over my shoulder I could see all three guys had cornered Bella and Emma.  Finding the perfect weapon, I crept back out until I was standing behind the three unsuspecting idiots.  Three, two, one... 

* * *

Thirty minutes later the room was covered in our food and we didn't look any better.  Thankfully my parents were out at a dinner party hosted by Nicky's father so we would have plenty of time to make sure it was clean. Not that they would notice, whenever the guys come over we always hung out in the summer house and my parents hardly ever went in there.  

Tom and his wife Elle, would host the party once a month. It was a 'formal gathering for the older pack members' actually meaning it was the adult's night to get drunk and act like teenagers in fancy clothes.  We used to go, every kid did, but most of us would either fall asleep from boredom or leave about an hour after we arrived.  After a while Tom, our Alpha, decided it wasn't necessary for us to be there. Besides it wasn't as if they discussed anything important. All the important issues where dealt with at the pack meeting.   

Crap! A bowl of whipped cream quickly headed my way so I grabbed hold of Jude's shirt and pulled him in front of me.  Throughout our food fight, I had realized he and Ray made good food shields.

I was about to run back out into the food battle field when I was caught off guard. Spinning round to face me, Jude pressed his body to mine, trapping me against the wall. "Not this time, Harper." He whispered in my ear. Damn this guy can make me shiver.

My wolf gave out a little growl, but it was barely heard.  Exactly the way she had been for the past two weeks. She hadn't disconnected from me, but she wasn't her usual self.  She was in pain and there was nothing I could do to help her through it. Not even running took her mind off it.

"I-I don't know what you mean." I stuttered, internally rolling my eyes. Well that was smooth Rainie, well done.

His warm breath brushed my neck. "I think you do." Oh, boy. Jude's hands rested palm down against the wall on either side of my head and his face was inches from mine. Taking a step forward, his muscular body pressed even harder against mine and everything around us became nothing but a blur of color and sound. Every thought and feeling floated out of my head and the only thing I could focus on was Jude's lips which where inching closer to mine.

Well, that was until warm, melted brown liquid trickled down my face and through my hair. "You jerk!"

"What?" Jude said innocently. "Chocolate looks good on you." The pad of his thumb ran over my lips, lifting a layer of chocolate before he put it to his mouth and licked it off. "It makes you look even more delicious." He winked, and I could see him suppressing his laughter.

Okay so I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it. He poured chocolate all over me. Pressing my hands firmly against his chest – wow – I used a little of my wolf strength to push him to the floor. Taking the only chance I would get, I grabbed the nearest thing to me, which happened to be a bowl or sour cream and chive, and dripped it all over his hair. 

Jude lay flat on his back, whilst I sat with my legs either side of his waist and a self-satisfied grin firm on my lips. "Haven't I already told you not to waste food?" I slowly shook my head, feigning disappointment.

Basking in my arrogant win didn't last long and before I knew it, Jude's hands were on my hips and he had spun us round so that he was now the one straddling me. "Didn't I tell you not to think you got away with it that easy?" He countered.

My lips pouted. Damn! I had no way out of that one.

Just as I was about to give in to defeat, my attention was caught by Jude's mouth-watering smile. The genuine smile I had only seen a few times, the smile that made me smile in turn. "You know what, Harper?"

"What Taylor?"

"You're pretty cool for a nerd." He teased.

I waved it off. "Dude, I'm cool full stop." He laughed, planting a kiss on my head. Looking back down at me, I felt lost in his gaze. It wasn't the same as it was with Mason, where the fire burns inside of me and my heart pulls, but it was nice.  It was a safe feeling.

Leaning down for a second time he inched his face closer to mine, before his soft lips brushed a kiss on the tip of my nose. "You're too cute for your own good." He whispered into my ear. "And so is that little nose of yours." 

Have you ever been in a situation that you wish you could freeze, rewind, edit and then play again? That's exactly the situation I found myself in. Sometime things happen and it wasn't meant to be, or things happen when it's not a good time. Like now for instance. 

It wasn't a good time for my parents to walk in.

It wasn't a good time for my Alpha and the Alpha of the Harbor Pack to walk in.

And it certainly wasn't a good time for my mate to walk in.