Party Invitation

Ouch. Ouch. I winced as I woke up with a torturous hangover. As if that was not enough, my body was also aching all over.

I now remembered how I had walked all the way back home from the bar in a fit of anger and confusion and in the light of the day, it was definitely a bad decision.

I flopped back onto the bed and only opened my eyes enough to take a look at my phone.

Because of the family thing, I had to ditch classes for the past couple of days and now that I am once again back to nothing and no one, college and my art was the only thing I had in life.

Forget everything and focus on the future. I took a deep breath and reminded myself.

I clicked on the notifications and was about to clear the dozen missed calls from Inara when I suddenly noticed a couple of calls from my mother. Now, this was something unexpected.

Hmmm? What made her call me, the jinx of her life?

My interest was piqued and especially now that I planned to run, I needed more details.

I searched to see if there were any texts from her and… there it was… just like always… a short and not so sweet one.

If it wasn't for the way she treated my sister, I would doubt if my mother even had a single maternal bone in her body.

Mom: Pack meeting tonight at 8 at the Alpha's house. Compulsory attendance. Formal attire.

As I read and re-read this message, a bitter smile crept upon my lips. Now I no longer had to wonder what this was about.

Even though nothing specific was mentioned on there, I am pretty sure that this was some sort of an engagement party.

I chuckled and got out of bed wearily. Nothing better to wake one up in the morning than the news of their mate's engagement with someone else.

It was time to get ready for breakfast. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and looked at the clock – it was almost 11:00 am.

I stretched and looked for some clothes to wear. I was quite desperate for some coffee and breakfast as I was hungry as hell.

It took me half an hour to get out of the dorm and I dragged my tired ass to the campus cafe.

It looked a lot less crowded than usual as not many people were here but I was staying here for at least one more week.

I needed to collect my certificates, my transcript, my degree letter and fill out a bunch of other paperwork before I can finish the graduation process.

And after that, it would be 'get the hell out of this country' time!

When you are a wolf, it is not so easy to run away from your pack. Though I doubt they will even care if someone like me leaves, it is still better to do proper preparations.

As I was planning my getaway in my mind, a loud thud sounded to my right and I turned around to see a familiar angry and yet cute face.

"Hey, Inara." I sheepishly smiled.

"Don't hey me! You jerk!" She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I know that you were busy with your family and stuff but you texted me a cryptic message saying you are leaving and then you go awol??"

"What the fuck Klara?"

"Do you know how worried I was?"

I sighed taking a sip of my coffee. Perhaps I should have called her back but I was really not in a mood to speak to anyone.

"Sorry babe. Needed some alone time. I promise I will text you back the next time."

"It's fine. It's fine. I was just worried is all." She instantly switched from the angry mode to her usual warm and loving mode.

Inara was such a big softie. Only Goddess knows what I would do without her.

We both started wolfing down some calorie rich food and I filled her in on everything that happened.

Of course, I left out the parts about me and my family being supernatural creatures who could shift into human form and animal form and I called our mate bond an arranged marriage alliance.

Unfortunately, Inara was a normal human being and I couldn't share everything with her even though I badly wanted to.

But apparently what I shared was enough to make her angry.

Bang. She slammed the coffee mug on the table after hearing what happened.

"Your family is completely nuts! How could they suddenly change the bride like this?"

"First of all, this arranged marriage shit is really weird and on top of that, they pull a stunt like this?"

I sighed softly and shook my head. I had no explanation to give to her.

"And you have to attend this engagement party today evening?"

"Maybe it's not their engagement party?" I weakly smiled.

"Ughh... Klara dear, I don't care what party that is. I definitely don't understand your weird family customs and traditions, but you are not going like this!"

"Nope! No way!"

She stood up and dragged me along with her before I could gather my bearings.

And soon afterward, we arrived in front of an elite boutique store in the city.

"Girl! I don't have the cash to shop here!" I freaked out as we walked in and saw the price tag on the first dress.

The dresses were of course legitimately beautiful and elegant and I literally couldn't peel my eyes off of them, but there was no way I could afford any of them.

"Damn girl! You should be the only chick with a silver spoon who left the spoon at home? They put you through all this weird shit and don't even give you enough pocket money."

"I feel like if I ever meet your mother, I would probably chew her head off," Inara grumbled. She then walked closer to me and whispered. "Don't worry, I have a plan."

"One of my classmates got a dress from her and returned it the next day. As long as the tag is intact, we are gucci. Comprende?"

Ummm... Normally I would hesitate to do something like this as I didn't give two shits about these kinds of fancy things.

But I saw the naughty smile on Inara's face and it was terribly contagious.

Besides, who wouldn't want to look their best when attending their ex-mate and their sister's party?