My Childhood Friend is a Werewolf

Chapter Eleven

Life continued on as normal for her. After the third week away from... everything... Emma was starting to doubt the conversation she had with Yoko. They'd had a girls' nights since, but Yoko hadn't acted any differently than she normally did. It lulled Emma into a false sense of complacency, helping to convince her doubtful mind that maybe it was all just a fever dream and she wasn't an omega or whatever.

And then the day before Yoko's birthday party arrived. She had finished putting together most of the bouquets; all that was left to do was set them up in Yoko's house in the morning. The amount of blooms and bouquets that Cyrus wanted for Yoko's birthday was enough to fill a banquet hall. She had been worried that her small team wouldn't be enough to get everything ready in time, so she speculated having to hire extra hands on the day-of, but Cyrus told her not to bother. He had already enlisted the help of several werewolves.

The way that he'd said that word so casually made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It was a small, but firm reminder that she could not be swayed by Cyrus' jovial demeanour. He was an alpha, a creature capable of snapping her neck in two like it was a twig. Emma was pretty sure he wouldn't do that, since he'd like his wife to remain happy, but it was a thought in the back of her head that stuck like spilled molasses.

"Oh, I also hope you'll forgive me," Cyrus said, "but Dren will be overseeing everything."

Her heart leapt into her throat. "Oh. Um. That's okay," she said. It wasn't, of course. Her stomach began churning at the thought of seeing him so soon, thinking of how she was supposed to react to him, or perhaps her body would react for her? Perhaps she had no choice in how she responded to him. Would she enter heat again? Would they need to supply her with more drugs? Anxiety began to build.

She pushed it to the side. This was a job, she reminded herself firmly. Sometimes you have to work with people you don't want to work with, but it's important to remain professional. Emma nodded to herself, doing her best to ease her own mind and stamping down the anxiousness.

Pushing feelings away... that was always a good idea, right?

"I promise you will see very little of him if that is what you want," Cyrus said hurriedly, sensing the hesitation in her tone. "He is only there to make sure the other wolves stay on task and don't get rowdy."

"It's perfectly alright!" Emma replied quickly. "Don't feel the need to change anything because of me. I'll be fine."

And that was how it went. The next morning came quicker than she ever wanted it to, and she barely got any sleep from the nerves. Her alarm rang at four a.m. to signal the start of her day. It was an absurd hour to be awake, but it was necessary for the amount of time it would take to load, transport, and offload everything, not to mention all the time it would take to actually set everything up. This was an endeavour that would take her the whole day, with only a small period of time to nap after high noon.

Her arms felt dead as she slammed the alarm blaring on her nightstand, feeling zombie-like as she ran through her morning routine and started up a pot of coffee. The truck and workers would get here soon, though her team was going to meet her at Yoko's house. It didn't take long for her to get ready, double-checking everything while sipping a small mug of coffee, before there was a knock at the back door of her shop.

Steaming mug still in hand, Emma went to open the door only for her heart to stop when she realised it was Dren standing there.

Several heavily muscular and tall men stood behind him, though it took Emma a moment to notice they were there too. "Oh, hi," she squeaked. One of them peered over Dren's shoulder, curiosity plain on his face.

"So this is her--ow!" His hair was brown and he was definitely younger, with bright hazel eyes. "Fuck, Dren, that hurt," he said, rubbing his chest where Dren had elbowed him.