one

Goodbye

*FINN*

“Wineorbeer?”Daveasks while waving the menu.

“Depends,” Celine says, tilting her head and furrowing her brows, “do they have white wine?”

“They have anything you could possibly want, my alpha queen,” Dave grins.

Celine pouts exaggeratedly while throwing her long blonde hair back in a sexy shake, followed by a flirty wink at Dave. Dave’s grin broadens as he says, “I swear, if I were into girls, you’d have just made it into my top three!”

“You mean, I made it into your top three of your three female friends?” Celine asks, laughing. It’s truly a sight to see her laugh so openly. When I first met Celine at school, she was very serious and reserved. She still is on occasion, but on the whole, she is so much more open and relaxed around her friends nowadays. The last couple of years have been hard for Celine. She was the only heir to her alpha father’s pack. It isn’t fair, but being female meant she had to work harder than any man to prove herself worthy to lead the pack. Then she found out she was a quarter-witch hybrid. If all that wasn’t bad enough, it only got more complicated for her when she first met her mate, who is one of my brothers. Marius was going through his own hardships at the time and was treating everyone badly, but he was especially horrible to Celine because he was terrified of being loved. She almost rejected him, but eventually, thank the Goddess, he realized what an idiot he was, and they worked it out together. That’s a lot to happen to one person, which is why I’m so happy to see her laughing and having fun right now.

“Well, I can’t help it.” Dave puts an arm each around Annie and Ella. “I just love my girls.” Annie and Ella truly are the center of Dave’s life and his oldest friends. Celine knows that and certainly doesn’t take it to heart. “You are all my queens. Boss girl Celine,” Dave blows her a kiss from across the table. “my favorite Luna Annie,” He pauses again, this time to press a kiss to the sweet young woman on his left. "and last but definitely not least, my fiercest Ella.” This time he delivers a kiss to the short-haired woman on his right side, who’s Annie’s best friend and Beta. “You are all part of my personal kingdom.” Annie was my first friend in college and one of the few people not trying to get into my pants. I was so happy when we discovered she was fated to my oldest brother.

“Cute,” I tease. “What about me!?” I ask, pretending to be wounded. “Am I not worthy of your adoration?”

“Oh, Finni!” Dave beams. “You know I have a weak spot for you, my cute edgelord. Don’t tempt me.” He grins. “I often wonder what tattoos you’re hiding under all those clothes. Plus, I’ve never been with a guy who has piercings. I always wondered how it would feel if…” He ponders, resting an index finger on his lips. He’s smirking like the devil he can be as he asks suggestively, “You don’t happen to be pierced down there, do you?”

Ella elbows him. “Things we don’t want to know, Dave!”

“You don’t,” he says smugly, “but I do.”

“Sorry, Dave,” I answer. “I’m waiting for my mate. She will be the only one allowed to discover all my piercings and tattoos.”

“All wolves say that.” He sighs dramatically.

“What? That they keep their tattoos and piercings to themselves?” Ella teases.

He chuckles. “No, that they are waiting for their mates.”

“You and Jun really broke it off?” Annie asks sadly.

Dave turns serious all of a sudden. “We all know that wolves are destined to find their mates eventually. And when Jun finds his mate, he wouldn’t have stayed with me anyway. That’s the reality. I don’t want to be the reason his mate feels unwelcome or uncomfortable around everyone. They shouldn’t feel like they are breaking us up or like there is unfinished business in Jun’s life. It isn’t fair.”

I’m surprised by how astute he is regarding wolves. He and Annie’s gamma hit it off instantly when they met. But Dave is right. Jun is a werewolf; once he finds his mate, he will want to be with them forever. That’s why werewolves don’t normally have serious relationships before we find our mates. It causes too much heartache.

Dave grins at me. “You can join my harem, though, Finn.”

“Wow, I feel honored,” I snort as everyone laughs.

The waitress comes over to take our order. Two of us order beer, the other three white wine. We’re hanging out in a Greek restaurant tonight, which is a nice change since Dave usually prefers to stick to places he already knows. This is quite the adventure for him.

When I started college a few years ago, I didn’t think I’d end up with such an awesome circle of friends. But Annie literally picked me up like a stray pup and introduced me to her best friends, Ella and Dave. Then our group expanded to add Celine. We’re an odd mix containing a human, a lycan, and three high-ranking female werewolves.

This group has been such a blessing for me, and I will cherish these friendships forever. We manage to meet up every fortnight, which is great considering our various ranks and positions held.

“Show us the photos?” Dave begs Annie.

She giggles in amusement at Dave’s eagerness, but angles for her phone to show off the latest photos of her twin babies. My nieces are so cute. There is one photo of Liam with the babies where they have obviously been playing with chocolate. Everything from their hair, face, clothes, fingers, and especially Liam, is covered in brown smears. I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks. “Send that one to me, Annie. That’s going to be my new background image.”

“What did these two cuties do to Daddy?” Dave asks, grinning.

“Let’s just say we had a chocolate muffin explosion,” Annie says mock-seriously, sending the pic to my phone. “I wanted to bake something for Liam, but unfortunately, the twins got their hands on the chocolate ganache.” She smiles. “Dave, you have to meet my girls soon.”

“I would love to,” Dave agrees, grinning.