Clubbing Gone Wrong
Winston tilts his head at Emilia's words. "What exactly do you mean? You felt nothing? Like you just don't love him any more?" He asks with clear confusion. "No, not that. It's.. I still love him obviously.. But I didn't feel the mate bond.. I thought I was supposed to feel something when I saw him today, like sparks or something.. " She confesses with sadness in her voice.
Winston falls silent while he looks for the right words to say. "So that's what it was.. Well you know, you have had a pretty eventful day. Maybe it's temporary. And even if it's not, you had to have known that there would be a possibility that he wasn't going to be your mate, right? You guys didn't discuss what you would do in that kind of situation?" He asks calmly.
Emilia brightens up, "well actually, he and I had agreed to stay together even if we weren't mates! I completely forgot about that. Thanks Win!" She says before hugging him and running back to Jak's position on the dance floor. "Yeah.. No problem Em." Winston says to himself, an unknown emotion swirling in his eyes as he watches the couple make up and walk off toward the seating area.
"So we're not mates.. That's why your expression changed when you saw me earlier. Well alright, that doesn't change anything for us. No matter what, we'll be together forever, right?" Jak says after listening to Emilia's explanation. "Of course we will! I love you Jak." She replies happily.
The happy couple kisses and then orders some drinks and a tray of onion rings. Unaware that they were being watched from afar by a pair of golden eyes. They happily chattered away for a few hours and then Emilia excused herself to use the restroom.
She walks into the women's restroom and does her business. She hums happily while washing her hands and heading back out, towards her beloved boyfriend. An intense scent of dark chocolate and wilderness causes her to halt.
Emilia's eye search the room for the cause of the smell, it doesn't take very long to find the source as a tall man with entrancing golden eyes and dirty blonde hair catches her eye. She tilts her head as they make eye contact, a foreign emotion stirring within her.
As if drawn by an invisible force, Emilia's legs force her into the mysterious man's direction until she is face-to-face with him. She remains silent as she stares at him, trying to decipher the meaning.
"So it's true. Interesting." He says as he reaches a hand toward her face. Emilia instinctually recoils from his touch. The man's eyes flash with hurt at her reaction but it quickly turns into curiosity in those magnificent golden orbs. "I won't harm you. On the contrary, I'm very curious about what my mate is doing in a place like this instead of being in my arms." He says with a husky voice as he reaches his hand toward her once again.
Flying in like a whirlwind, Winston punches the man in his jaw. Snarling protectively, he places himself between Emilia and the strange man. "Wait." Emilia says but is ignored as the man lashes back at her brother with his fists. Hearing the commotion, Cedric and Jak rush over to see what's going on.
Winston punches the other man once again, causing blood to splatter from his nose. Emilia grimaces at the sight but remains still otherwise. She feels unsure of what to do at this moment, defend her brother? Or defend the man who called himself her mate. She admits she feels a strange connection to him but he's also a complete stranger to her.
Cedric takes one look at Winston's victim before pulling his brother away and looking over to Jak. "Take Emilia to the truck right now. Get her out of here." He commands the younger male. Jak does as he's told and ushers Emilia out of the club.
They don't make it very far before a familiar looking grey wolf stops them in their tracks. Emilia, still in shock about the golden eyes man, stares blankly at the wolf. "Move out of our way." Jak demands. The wolf simply growls in response. "Shift and fight me then." Jak snarls impatiently. The wolf refuses and lunges at Jak's legs.
Jak kicks the wolf away and tries again. "Shift." He says angrily. The wolf still refuses and lunges again. Emilia snaps out of her trance as she quickly shifts and flings the grey wolf away from Jak. The wolf recovers easily and snorts in amusement.
"Em, don't get involved. I'll take care of this fool, just go home." Jak says coldly. Emilia ignores him as she launches herself at the grey wolf. The two roll around in an attempt to dominate the other, the sound of snapping jaws and snarling rings throughout the parking lot.
"Emilia!" Winston shouts as he arrives on the scene. The she-wolf continues to ignore everything around her as she tussles with her former comrade. The grey wolf finds an opening and uses it to sink his fangs into Emilia's hind leg, causing her to wince in pain.
Without thinking, Winston shifts and tears the other male off of his sister and into the air. Emilia snarls with frustration at her brother for intervening in her fight. The grey wolf stands and, seeing that he is heavily outnumbered, decides to retreat.
Emilia won't let him off that easily as she gives chase through the parking lot of the club. She skids to a halt in the nick of time as a car speeds straight toward them. The grey wolf was not so lucky as a loud BANG sounds and the wolf's body is flung into the air.
Emilia becomes completely still, all of her senses blurring as her brain tries to register what had just occurred. Winston shifts back and lifts his sister up, hurrying her to the location of their oldest brother's truck. "Jak! We need to go right now!" He shouts at the younger man.
Jak shakes his head in an attempt to clear it. "Go ahead of me. I'll clean things up here." He shouts back and watches Winston put Emilia into the truck and speed off into the distance.
Emilia remains silently in a trance, still in the form of a wolf, throughout the entire ride home. She can't seem to get her thoughts in order as she stares off into the distance. Her older brother stops the car and seems to be trying to say something to her but she is unable to hear his words.
"Em… alright, I understand. That was a lot to take in, let's just get you safely into bed." Winston says as he lifts her into his arms again and brings her into the house. Winston takes Emilia all the way up the stairs and places her into bed while carefully pulling the covers over her body.
"I'll stay here with you. Kick me when you want me to leave, alright?" He whispers gently as he pets his sister's black fur soothingly. Winston continues petting her as he continuously replays the night's events in his mind. He wants to know who that gold eyed creep was and why Cedric made him back off like that.
Two hours later a gentle knock sounds at Emilia's door. Winston looks over to his sister, seeing that she's sound asleep, he leaves her side and answers the door. "Shh, she just barely fell asleep." He whispers before Cedric has a chance to speak. Cedric nods and takes a peek at Emilia's sleeping form. He tilts his head at Winston when he notices that she's in her wolf form.
Winston carefully shuts the door and begins explaining everything that had happened in the parking lot. "She's been like this ever since. It was as if she couldn't understand or hear anything that was being said. Hopefully the shock wears off by morning but either way I think it's best if I stay with her until she recovers." Winston says.
Cedric nods in understanding, looking towards Emilia's door with concern filled eyes. "Alright, you stay with her. If she's still like this in the morning then I'll handle explaining things to mom and dad, it's probably better that way. I'll leave my phone on so text or call if either of you need anything and keep me updated." Cedric responds back.
Cedric turns to walk away but Winston stops him. "By the way, have you heard anything from Jak? Or maybe you saw him on your way home?" Winston asks. Cedric tilts his head, "I haven't seen or heard from him since before everything happened. Why? Wasn't he with you and Emilia in the parking lot?"
Winston grunts with confusion. "Well he was with us in the parking lot but he didn't come back with us. He acted strange and said he was going to stay behind to clean up the mess and that he would meet up after." Cedric shrugs, "maybe he was too tired and decided to just go straight home?" Winston shakes his head. "Nah, he still would've or at least SHOULD have checked on Em once he finished. I'm telling you Ced, he was acting really weird." Winston says with a voice full of concern.
Cedric pats his brother's shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing. It was probably a bit of a shock for him as well, you know? Let's not worry about it for now and just focus on making sure that our little princess makes it through this safely. Goddess help us, this was just a one time thing." He whispers the last part under his breath.