Chapter 1 – Gravens Party

I sat in my bedroom trying to concentrate on the romance story I was working on for my creative writing class, but it was impossible with the loud partying coming from the back-to-school bash happening at the Gravens house. My secret Beta- werewolf boyfriend Noah Graven was the one putting it on but I wasn’t allowed to go. I wasn’t even allowed to step into his house without his permission. I had grown up next-door to Noah and his Alpha-werewolf brother Liam. Noah and I had been dating for years but he forced me to keep my distance in public. Werewolves didn’t have human girlfriends. Or have sex with us. Humans like me were seen as scum. My phone buzzed with texts from Liam: You should see this. Then another text: Gravens party live stream! with a link attached. I opened it. The same music from outside my window blasted through my phone. Hot werewolf students were everywhere laughing, drinking, having fun. “And here he is, the master of this oh so fun ceremony. Mr. Noah Gravens himself,” someone nearby said with a giggle. The camera panned to show Noah throwing his arm around Ava, the captain of our school’s cheer team. Noah looked deep into Ava’s eyes, a burning longing right there for all the world to see. Then he leaned down and planted a deep kiss on her mouth. And he just kept kissing her. My heart felt like it was going to break into pieces. I thought Noah only saved those kinds of kisses for me. He’d said that he loved being with me. That he wanted to tell everyone that we were together when the time was right. But here he was making out with Ava. How could he do this to me? And suddenly, I’d had enough. I’d had enough of the hiding. And clearly, the lying. Because I could tell this wasn’t the first time Noah had kissed Ava. There was just too much familiarity in the way he held her. I grabbed my phone and stormed out of my room. I was going to show Noah that I knew he didn’t really care about me. I loved Noah, but he couldn’t treat me like this. He wasn’t my boyfriend anymore. Now, after this, he was nothing but my ex. I walked across the street directly towards Noah’s house. The music got louder and so did the pounding inside my chest. I was so nervous. I’d never gone over to the Gravens house, to Noah’s house, uninvited. But I guess there was a first time for everything. The werewolves outside could immediately tell that I was just a mere human, nothing special. The “nice” ones stared at me with arrogance. But the others were not so gracious. “What is this basic human girl doing here?” I heard as I walked into the house. “She should go back to whatever drab place she came from,” someone else said and let out a nasty laugh. “She’s so freaking nerdy. What’s someone like her doing here instead of having her face shoved in some boring book.” I tried not to let the taunts get to me as I walked through the crowd. I didn’t care what they said. I just wanted to see Noah. To talk to him. About us. “Ella. Ella!” I whipped around. Standing there in front of me was Liam. Around him were a group of hot female werewolves that clearly had a crush on him. Liam was Noah’s brother, but not by blood. They were both werewolves of course but Liam was an alfa, a much stronger and fiercer werewolf. He was also the only alpha werewolf and also happened to be the hockey team captain. Of course everybody loved him. “Hi…Liam. Where’s…where’s Noah?” I asked. I hated that I had stuttered. But it was because I didn’t know what to do whenever I saw Liam. Noah had told me over the years not to trust Liam, to stay away from him. And that’s what I’d always done. Liam frowned, “Last time I saw Noah, he was upstairs. In his bedroom. With someone. It’s not a good idea for you to go up there right now…” My heart began to pound faster. I turned and headed up the stairs, my feet moving fast. In the hallway, there were people everywhere talking and even making out. I tried not to stare. Even though that’s exactly what they all did to me. When I got to Liam’s room, I couldn’t help but hear the unmistakable sounds of a woman’s loud moans. Like she was getting everything she ever wanted. And more. “You like that, don’t you Ava?” That was Noah’s unmistakable voice. My heart skipped a beat. No. He couldn’t. I moved closer to the door and tried not to be too obvious. Noah liked to act as if my worries about all the girls he was talking to were just in my head. But now I had proof. He was cheating on me. I brought my phone out and hit the record button. I didn’t want anybody to see what I was doing. And even though it hurt, I couldn’t make a scene. I was a nobody. I wasn’t Noah’s girlfriend to these people, even though that’s exactly who I was. I couldn’t let my rage fly because they would all just laugh at me. “Ava, you’re a very hot girl, you know that right? I can’t wait to go to the next game with you. Show you off to the world and let everybody know that you’re my girl,” Noah’s words pierced my heart like a knife. But I stayed strong. Still, there was only so much I could take so I hit the stop button on my phone and found Noah’s contact number in my phone. And then, I sent him the recording. I wanted him to know that I knew everything now. I would no longer fall for all his lies. I rushed downstairs desperate to get as far away from my boyfriend as possible. At the bar in the kitchen I asked the bartender, “Please, can you just make me anything?” I wanted to forget what I had just heard. "Get her a Piña Colada,” Liam said as he sat in the chair beside me. “Her human nature won’t allow her to drink anything stronger. She only likes sweet things.” The bartender nodded. He started to make my drink quickly, like the pro he was. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spoken to Liam and yet, here we were side by side. “I hate you for sending that link,” I said, bitterness entering my voice. “I hate you.” The bartender slid my drink over to me and I took a huge sip. "Look, Ella, I thought you'd appreciate me helping you see the truth. Noah doesn’t care about you the way he should," Liam replied. He looked almost…sad about this fact. "Oh please. You're all the same. Heartless playboys," I said. My words were already slurring, and tears started to fall from my eyes. "I loved Noah so much and I was even writing a romance story inspired by our love story. But now, I’m never writing another word of romance again.” Liam leaned forward, his lips grazing my ears, " You don’t have to cry over Noah, Ella. Why not get back at him instead?”