Some Mate You Are...
Twenty-Four Hours: Marvel Pt. 2

When Aida and I arrived at the Wolf’s Den, the place was fairly empty which was not too surprising as we were a little earlier than usual. That was fine with me though, I was not looking for any attention tonight, in fact, I wanted the opposite.

I quickly walked to the bar and ordered a couple of shots for Aida and myself. I needed to dull my senses and being a wolf, that would take quite a bit of alcohol. I slammed the shots back quickly, before ordering another round. After drinking those in one big chug, I decided to allow the shots to settle in before taking anymore, but I was not going to stop drinking. So instead of another round of shots, I chose to grab a cocktail. I ordered one called Wolfsbane, I do not know what was in it, but it tasted great, and I knew that it was one of the stronger cocktails on the menu being the brainchild of the owner.

I was starting to loosen up now, I barely even noticed the knot that had been in my stomach since I confronted Enzo. The music playing through the speakers helped to distract me and I dragged Aida onto the dance floor. We were starting to have a lot of fun. We kept to ourselves, and I shooed away every wolf that attempted to get my attention. The last thing that I wanted was to be accused of seducing other males while giving my mate an ultimatum.

After a little more dancing and a few more drinks, I was really starting to relax. I could feel myself becoming more accepting of whatever the outcome of this twenty-four hours was going to be. There was little that I could do about it now. I certainly was not going to beg Enzo to choose me. I would just let it be what it was going to be, warts and all. I was determined not to dwell on Enzo for the rest of the night.

That was, until Tyrus and Daray came walking into the Wolf’s Den. I froze when I saw them, my breath catching in my throat. I was certain that Enzo would come waltzing in after them. But when he did not show up right away, I tried willing myself to relax some, but my nerves were on edge.

“Tyrus!!!” Aida squealed in excitement, running to her mate, and jumping into his arms.

He grasped her tightly, lifting her off the ground for a moment, as he was equally happy to be in her presence. They took a moment to give each other a long, slow kiss. And I had to fight the feeling of jealousy that threatened to overwhelm me. What I would not have gived to have a mate who greeted me in such a way; a mate that longed to hold me in his arms and desired to spend time in my company. I sighed in disappointment, but quickly attempted to right myself so that I would not ruin their moment.

“Hey, Marvel, how are you doing?” Daray chimed in, distracting me from the mates and their passionate display.

“I am alright. How have you been?” I responded, trying to will myself to sound confident when I spoke.

“I’ve been pretty good. Same old stuff.” He paused for a moment, obviously weighing whether or not he wanted to say what he was thinking.

“Are you really doing alright though? I talked to Enzo; I heard about what’s going on.” He spoke carefully, obviously worried about upsetting me.

I simply shrugged in response. Not really certain what I would say. I was obviously not fine. But I did not really want to voice it out loud anymore tonight.

“I just want you to know that I am here for you if you need me. I know that I give you a lot of crap sometimes, but I do consider you a friend. Heck, I’ve known you for most of our lives. And for the record, I think Enzo is being an idiot.” He offered with a light chuckle.

I appreciated what he was saying and could not help but crack a small smile at his words. He was not wrong, I may have considered him to be part of Enzo’s crew, but I did consider him a friend as well. He really only teased me when Enzo was around, and I knew that it was all in good fun in the end. He was never trying to actually bully me or make me feel badly.

“Thanks for that, Daray. I will keep that in mind.” I finally spoke, before pausing to look around. “Speaking of Enzo…is he coming here tonight?”

“Yeah, he is.” Tyrus interjected before looking over my head to scan the visible areas of the bar as well. “Actually, I was under the impression that he was already here.”

“What?!” I all but shrieked as I spun around, looking frantically about the place.

I was not ready to see Enzo yet. I was terrified about what he would say to me when I did. I was trying to be strong; I really was. But losing one’s mate was an upsetting prospect, even if I may have been better off in the end.

“We haven’t seen him.” Aida pressed. “So, you must be mistaken, Tyrus.”

Aida did her best to sound reassuring and she was right; we had not seen Enzo. We had been there before the bar started to become crowded, we most certainly would have noticed him if he came in. Though, admittedly, we had been drinking quite a bit.

“Well, I’m not hanging around for him to show up and dump my ass in front of all these onlookers.” I asserted.

With determination, I walked straight over to the bar and jumped up, placing my stomach on the top of the bar as I reached over the ledge. I felt around, swinging my arms wildly, until I found what I was looking for. I grasped the bottle and brought it back over with me. I was happy to see that it was mostly a full bottle of rum. I dropped a fifty-dollar bill down on the counter and walked back to where Aida, Tyrus, and Daray stood.

“I’m out of here. Have a good night.” I bid them farewell with a salute using the bottle instead of my hand.

Without another word, I headed towards the door. I could hear Aida give Tyrus a quick goodbye before she was running up alongside me. I marched back to my bedroom and did not relax until we were both inside with the door bolted shut behind us. I began to pace the floor again as I popped upon the bottle and forced myself to take several large chugs.

“I cannot believe that I almost ran into him.”

I took a few more chugs before Aida yanked the bottle free from my grasp.

“Let’s not dwell on that, okay?” She suggested, softly. “Let’s just treat this like any other girl’s night. We’ll have a few more drinks and watch some goofy movies. Let’s just try to have some fun. We’re not going to talk about Enzo anymore. As a matter of fact, let’s not talk about any males for the rest of the night.”

She brought the bottle to her lips and took a large drink, causing her to cough as she choked it down. Then she passed the bottle back to me. I offered a half-hearted cheers to her suggestion before chugging back more of the rum myself.

“So, what movie should we start with?”