JoelI was exhausted. While the four course meal was being served, I busied myself cleaning up the lounge and ballroom, clearing away all the empty glasses, and putting the furniture back, no doubt only to be moved again later.I also helped out a little in the dining room. Mainly just bussing away the dirty plates.After the meal, Casper stuck to Miss Hartley like glue. I won’t lie - it hurt a little. I told myself it was because I liked Miss Hartley’s company and wanted the chance to talk to her again. But in truth I was jealous. I was jealous that she got to spend so much time with Casper.Why did he have to be so goddamn hot?!Towards the end of the evening I was stationed back in my cloakroom distributing coats out to departing guests. I only had a handful left when Miss Hartley appeared at the hatch.“Hello Miss Hartley.” I said, “I hope you enjoyed your evening?”“Yes, very much,” she replied. “I only wish I had managed to spend more time with you. Casper can be a bit…

Casper:“Stop stressing about it!” I said to Jamie, getting a little tired of his sulking.“But it wasn’t fair!” he moaned.I sighed and rolled my eyes. He didn’t see me though because he was laid out on his back on the grass with his arm over his eyes.“The green team won. They didn’t break any of the rules.”He opened his eyes and looked at me intently. “Of course he broke the rules! He pissed in my territory! How’s that not breaking the rules?!”There was just no talking my beta out of this one. He was fiercely competitive, as all beta’s are, but it drove me a little mad sometimes. It was, after all, only a game.“It’s not breaking the rules,” I said. “Sure, it was a little disrespectful, but I think that was the whole point. He wanted to distract you, and the best way to do that was to get you angry. No one thinks straight when they’re angry.”“Yes, but he also pushed you off that branch earlier. How can you not be mad about that?”I just shrugged.“SERIOUSLY!?!” he shoute

Casper:I checked my watch. Emily Hartley was due to arrive any minute.I’d tried to convince myself all day that this evening didn’t matter, that it was just another family dinner, but as I stood in front of the mirror, messing with my hair for about the 100th time that evening, I knew I couldn’t kid myself any longer.I just had to accept that Emily was likely to be my future wife, and my mate. Sure, she would never be my true mate, but over time werewolves could form bonds that were very nearly as strong as those who had found their true mate. It would just take a little longer.And it could be worse. Emily was actually really nice. And she was just like me in lots of ways. Like her taste in staff.I shook my head. I wasn’t to think about him today. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t think about him today. And I had sort of succeeded. As long as ‘not thinking about him’ was the same as ‘thinking about him’, because I had done not much of the former and way too much of the latt

Casper:I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling. I knew I should be up by now, but I figured that seen as it was my birthday yesterday, my dad would give me a little more time.I wasn’t hungover. Wolves didn’t really get hangovers. We did get dehydrated though and I had a slight headache because of it.I didn’t remember all of last night, although I remembered the majority of it. I remembered having fun, which was a nice change. It was probably the first time I had really let my hair down in a very long time. It was possible I had done a little damage with my fledgling relationship with Emily. I barely talked to her all evening. It wasn’t because I didn't like her company, but for one night I just wanted to forget about my responsibilities, and she was just a constant reminder of them.I hoped she would forgive me. I knew I would have some making up to do. Maybe I could send her a little something as an apology?Hmm, what would she like? I know what she’d like. She’d like my

Casper:Something was wrong.I paced up and down my room.Something was wrong, and I didn’t like it one bit.My Cub had never acted that way around me before. It was almost as if…. as if he was scared of me.Had I done something last night? Had I hurt him in some way?It seemed unlikely seen as though someone always seemed to be watching me, and no one had said anything about Joel being hurt.What if he was lying and he did get in trouble last night. I mean, it won’t have looked good for him, pelting his Alpha with cushions. Not that I minded in the least. After all, what harm would come to me from a few cushions? Plus, Joel combined with cushions brought back a rather nice memory…No, I couldn’t think about that now. I needed to know what was wrong with him.I walked out of my room, and headed downstairs to find Duncan.When I reached his office, I was surprised to find Joel’s two friends stood outside.They briefly looked at me in shock, then quickly lowered their heads.“Is D