Bonfire

Story

 The cold hair nipped against her skin and she shivered. Borrowing herself further into the sweater she had on, she wished she had taken up fire magic.

The place she lived often had weird weather. One day, it was fine. The next? It was freezing.

Her hands shook as she grabbed on tight to the leash she had put Max on. He barked at her expectantly, and she smiled down at him.

"Just a few more minutes bud– Are you excited to play?" She asked. He responded with some more yips.

They came to a stop in front of a gate that was crawling with vines. Greenery seemed to take over the place and infected any cracks it found.

This was the entrance to the pack's territory, yet she still was uneasy to go through it. It felt like she was walking into an abandoned area, and she did that enough with her job, she didn't need to do it with her free time.

She took a breath and pushed through the gates. Looking around, her eyes quickly caught who she was looking for.

Around a pit with flames licking out of it, there sat three werewolves. One was Roxann, and the other two were people she didn't know.

She walked over to where the group was laughing with a shy smile on her face. They all looked over at her.

Roxann got up when she saw her, a bright smile was placed on the werewolf's face.

"Amalia!" She cheered. "Thanks for coming along."

Amalia chuckled. "Thanks for inviting me."

She settled down on one of the logs and looked around. The dude eyed her. "You brought your pup?" He asked. She blushed a bit, "I was told to," she said, defensive. He responded with a smile.

"Cool! Let me go get the others!" With that, he rushed off.

She was able to learn the names of the other person there, and the one that joined them later.

Piper was the girl's name, and then Willow was the one's name. The dude, Alex, she had learned was his name, can rush back with two huskies at his feet.

She beamed at the sight before setting her dog down, and letting him lose.

He immediately rushed over to where the other dogs were, and she chuckled as they immediately greeted each other and started to play.

Alex took a seat on the log once more.

"Alright!" He started with a smirk. "Who wants to play 'truth or dare, drinking addiction'?"

She raised an eyebrow as the rest responded with cheers and whoops.

"Let's do this!" Roxann shouted as she leaned back and rolled out the cooler.

"Around a lit fire? With dogs?" Amalia asked, "Are you all sure that's safe?"

"Eh, we've been doing it forever," Alex waved her off. "Besides– Roxann never gets drunk enough to lose her senses– She'll take care of us."

"Whole reason she's the alpha and not that one dude– You guys remember the man who tried to become an Alpha?" Willow piped up, meanwhile, Roxann was glaring at the others.

"I can get drunk any time I please," she snapped with an eye roll. Amalia chuckled. She rested a hand on Roxann's shoulder.

"I think it's sweet."

Roxann paused when she said that. She was quick to turn away from her and focus on getting a drink, muttering something along the lines of "It's going to be a long night."