Party Popper

                                      Amelia 

I have a party in exactly eight hours and my closet never looked this confusing.

I wasn't sure what to wear to my birthday party later today yet, and I had so many alternatives to pick from, it was driving me crazy. 

My lips curled into a smile as I heard the footsteps outside my bedroom door. They always woke me up this way, every birthday I've had for the past eighteen years. 

I stopped throwing out clothes from my  closet and dived under the covers, pretending to be asleep. I didn't want them to meet me already up and about. 

I didn't hear their steps as they always tiptoe, but I felt the bed sink in as someone sat on the foot.

"Wake up, birthday girl!" Aiden yelled, pulling at my sheets and then tumbling into bed with me. 

I stubbornly stayed there, eyes shut tightly and inwardly dying of laughter.

"We know you're not sleeping." He said in a singsong voice, his hands going to the sides of my tummy and tickling me. 

The squeal left my lips before I could think, my hands going to stop his. 

"Stop—stop it Aiden." I laughed, my breath coming in short breathy pants. "I'm going to pee myself." I squealed.

"Stop that, Aiden." A deep voice chuckled at the foot of the bed, and I knew without looking that it was our dad. 

Aiden’s devilish hands went away and I gave him a mock glare.

I got up with the biggest grin on my face and rushed to my dad, hiding away from Aiden's wicked form beside my dad. 

"Careful, sweetheart, or you'll knock down the cake."

Oh, a cake. I hadn’t even seen it.

"Wow," My lips formed a round o as I looked at the candles. "It's so…pretty."

Aiden snorted, and I flipped him off, smiling.

"What are you doing up? It was supposed to be a surprise."

I shrugged. "I got up early. I'm so excited for today. And Aiden,” I shoot a warning finger at him. “remember you promised to stay away today and let me handle my own birthday party."

"I didn't agree to that."

"Yes, you did!”

“No Mel, I didn’t.”

My dad stood silently, not doing anything to stop our bickering, as always. 

"As the future Alpha of this pack, I'm allowed to be anywhere I want to be, Mel. You can't stop me."

I throw him a spiteful look and simply ignore him this time. Aiden enjoys pissing me off too damn much.  

Dad carefully placed the cake on the bed and I closed my eyes for a moment, wishing deep in my heart that I never stopped being this happy. I blew out the candles and Aiden whistled while Dad clapped, and I laughed at the childishness of the ritual. 

I cut a piece for myself, and then a piece for dad, not even looking at Aiden. 

"Heyy, where's my own cake?"

"Do you promise you won’t ruin my party?"

"Aww, come on! I'm not going to ruin it just because I showed up, Mel."

Ow I’ll need to end this quickly. My girls must be waiting.

"Amelia, be nice to your brother."

I cut a piece of the cake and popped it into his mouth in the most nonchalant way ever.

"Thanks Dad. You too, Aiden. But now, I have to get going."

“I’ll go, only because I want you to have fun today.”

Aiden leaves, but dad draws back and instead turns towards me. "Amelia."

I know there's a pep in my step as I walked to him, and hooked my left arm through his right arm. "Yes, daddy?"

His black hair is peppered with a few grey hairs, but dad still looks attractive as ever. I'm pretty sure Alphas have some kind of gene that makes them age slower. 

His eyes dart all over my face and then he gives me one of his gentle smiles. "Have fun today, but be careful and..."

I slid my arm free with a pout. "Daddy, not now. You know I'm taking Leslie and Nadia. We'll be fine."

"Won't you let your brother go—"

"Don't you bring Aiden into this." I was full on glaring now. No one was going to ruin today for me. 

"Okay fine." He threw up his arms with a small chuckle.

"Thank you." I wrap my hands tightly around him, gently leading him out of the room. 

I closed the door after dad and rushed to take a bath. My party won’t throw itself.

~

"You look fucking hot, babes." Nadia yelled above the music, making me laugh giddily. I felt hot too, I knew I looked gorgeous in the red halter top, and black leather skirt, topped off with thigh high boots. 

The loud music was making the entire place shake and I could hear a ringing in my ears. I didn't care. I was eighteen and I was going to have fun. 

"All right, everybody. Gather round!" Leslie yelled, while the Dj immediately tuned down the music.

Leslie walked in a circle around me, laughing as she brought a very big cake to me. 

"Now, let's sing the it, people!" Nadia yelled and they proceeded to sing a very off key chorus of the happy birthday song to me, with the Dj doing some weird beats in the background.

I blew out the candles to a cheer and Nadia slid a bottle of beer into my right hand, taking a big gulp out of her own beer. 

"You've gotta dance at least once before the party's over, Amelia." Leslie had one of my arms in both her hands while Nadia held the other. Together they pushed me to the dance floor nudging me with their arms to dance. I twirled and laughed, following the beat and finding my own groove. The girls hyped me up and I began a sexy twerk of my hips.

The music was loud, the alcohol going to my head, but the next minute, the music stopped. 

I stopped dancing long enough to look for what was making everyone stop and saw Aiden, standing with a couple of his minions behind him.

I let out a mental groan as I sashayed to him. "Aiden, we talked about this. No one's going to have any fun with you here."

Aiden would be alpha sometime in the future, he sure carried that aura of power and authority. He never just relaxed anywhere except with me and Dad, and already he had quite a reputation as a very serious, very scary werewolf.

I pulled him by the arm, trying to get him out of the large hall. "Come on party popper. No one's even saying a word with you here."

He yanked his arm from my grip and if I didn't know better, I'd think I had shit on me. I turned to him, "Aiden?" His hair was wet, and his face twisted in a scowl, he didn't exactly have a face that smiled a lot, but he never just frowned this deeply. "What's wrong?"

My hand flew to my lips as the worst thought occurred to me.  “Is dad okay?"

I could hear the hushed whispers from those around me and the open eyed stares as everyone watched, it was a little disturbing. 

I walked closer to him, trying to lower my voice.

"Aiden, what is it? Come on, tell me."

He opened his mouth and exhaled, and then shut his eyes with a pained breath. When he opened his eyes again, he didn't look at me as he always did. There was something else, something I couldn't exy, in his eyes. 

"Dad has made…an…an announcement, Amelia."

Amelia?

"You are my mate!"