When the sun went down, the drinks came out. Jared had brought his guitar and started strumming while Theo and Andy started a campfire. Eve and Beth were preparing food to cook on the fire while the rest of us played drinking games.

"Matthew! You were the last to touch the ground, drink up!" Kathy shouted, already slurring her words.

"No way! Jonah was definitely the last one!" Matthew pointed a finger at me.

"Oh, right," Kathy said as her face turned a shade of pink. She turned to April, then to Matthew, as if he'd said something offensive by pointing out I was last. She took another gulp of her beer," Didn't know if you were playn' or not. Drink up."

"Haven't played in a while," I waved my bottle in the air before taking a big sip. She was uncomfortable with the fact that I was newly mated to an Alpha and didn't have my mate with me. Almost everyone was. They probably thought something awful had happened. 

The best I could do was pretend that it didn't affect me. Although my body disagreed with my drinking choices. Asher and I were definitely more than a mile away, and I could feel it. I wanted to go back to the house and lie down, but that might make the others worry and ask Theo questions. And the last thing I wanted was for Theo to explain what happened. Or worse, try to lie.

I took another swig of my drink as my best friend came to sit down next to me. Ever since we got back to the hospital, his scent has been stronger than usual. It mixed in with the scent of firewood that mingled in the air around us. Maybe being mated made me more sensitive to other folk's scents.

"Hey," He said, scooting closer, until our arms and knees were practically touching. His bathing suit shorts were mostly dry now, and the temperature had dropped to the point that he needed to put his tank-top jersey back on.

"Hey, you smell nice," I commented as he opened a bottle of beer for himself. 

"And you sound drunk. Cheers to catching up," Theo clinked his bottle with mine and chugged half of it down.

The games and drinking continued until dinner was served.

"Wow, Eve, Beth, this is amazing!" Theo said, scarfing down his portion of dinner as if he'd never seen food before. 

"Thanks! It's called Shakshuka," Beth clarified. "My family would make it whenever we would go on long camping trips.

After dinner, April brought out sparklers, and half the pack ran around drunk playing with them, until there were none left. When the fire nearly went out, and there was no more wood to replenish it, Andy decided they should head home for the night, and, for the most part, everyone agreed. Except for Kathy, who wanted to start a wrestling match with everyone. She was coming up with a wrestler's name when Jared scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. Theo and I were the last to leave.

~*~*~

"Tomorrow, I'll try and find a way to fix you," Theo said once we were back in the house. He stumbled as he pulled off his shoes.

"I'm not broken, Theo. This is just life." I let out a heavy sigh. A mild headache had started to form at the forefront of my head, and I was glad we left the group when we did because I wasn't sure how much more I could stand the knot churning in my stomach.

"No, it's not fair! You don't deserve this." He placed both hands on my shoulders, and I wasn't sure if it was to steady himself or me.

I looked up at him with furrowed brows. "Are you saying I don't deserve to be happy?" 

I was drunk. We shouldn't be having this conversation now.

"No," Theo frowned. "That's- That's not what I meant. He's not right for you. He doesn't understand you. Doesn't know what will make you happy."

"He's my Destiny Mate," I growled. I didn't like how Theo was talking about him. 

"He's not right in the head. He almost took out your jugular." Theo's brown eyes looked down at me with earnest. He wasn't wrong, but he was ignoring the context of what happened.

"That was because you attacked him!" I brushed his hands away and took a step back. 

Theo laughed as if in disbelief. "You can't be seriously defending him now." He pointed to his chest. "I was trying to save you from him!"

"And look how well that turned out." I huffed out a breath and dropped my shoulders. "Whatever, dude. I'm going to bed."

I turned to leave, but Theo grabbed my hand and pulled me into him.

"What-" was all I could say before he kissed me.