"Bella," Leila squealed, her elegant black laced cocktail dress twirling side to side as she clapped in delight. The long sleeves were of net, and embroidered with flowers going from her wrist to the front her neck and around the back before circling her neck. The dress cut short by her knees and fastened at the waist with a metallic belt.

"Leila remind me again why we're trying on dresses?"

"Oh my Luna- I mean Nora, why can't we just spend an evening having fun?"

Its been weeks since I was back from the hospital and the days all went by pretty much the same and there wasnt a way for me decipher the days apart. I shake my head. "Okay, fine I suppose so."

It was so cute. Faded apricot in colour, bandeau pleated sleeves falling off my shoulders and sweeping the floor in entire floral lace gown. Maybe not appropriate for the weather but beauty is pain.

I lost count of days but my bump was slightly visible; it was almost as if I had a food baby instead of two twins growing in my womb. Maybe it was the dress, but I couldn't help but be freaked out that I'd be the mother of two humans in a matter of months. I could hardly take care of myself at 16, and...oh shit.

"Nora?" Leila's tone faltered into serious mode. She took a hold my shoulder, almost gasping from then sight of my hyperventilating. "Nora, deep breathes. You'll be fine. Whatever you're thinking, forget it."

Oh this wasnt good.

She looked more scared than me.

I wasn't very assured. What if I forget when to nurse them, or I make their diapers too tight? Or what if I forget their names, or forget their birthdays, or what if they grow up to become serial killers as famous as the Zodiac Killer?

This was a very valid reason to faint, and so I did, the world wrinkling from the corner of my eyes.

"Hey, hey I got you," Damon said by my ear appearing from behind, his hands pressed to my waist to keep me upright when I caught my breathe again. The colour was returning to my lost vision, and distorted shapes became sharper. "Calm down mio amore"

"I-I,"

"Nora, oh my gosh are you okay? I-Im sorry Alpha." Leila stuttered, standing not so close.

Damon must have had a good grasp on his wolf for he was calm when he said, "You're not to blame Leila. Nora here has some explaining."

"I-I wasn't feeling well?" It was more of a question. Leila seemed rested assured after a moments of hesitation but I could see Damon's lip refraining from speaking whatever was on his mind. "Why are you in a suit?"

"Why are you in a dress exposing more skin than covering?"

"I asked first," I frown.

Damon ignored me to say something to Leila in Italian, something I couldn't understand. "Im right here!"

Leila returned it with a mere nod and was about to turn away to leave when I called her out. "Wait Leila, I need to give you something."

Equally puzzled, both Leila and Damon watched curiously as I withdrew from him and stalked to the dresser and brought out the gift I had packed ages ago. "Leila, you've done for much for me and I've never got to thank you."

"Oh my Luna-"

"Nora."

"Yes right Nora."

"You must accept, you've not helped a fellow girl out in a time of need but also saved me and cared for me for the longest time. My sincerest thanks to you and you couldn't have had a better mate for Jordan. If he ever acts likes a jerk, you know which Luna to call," I embrace her, handing the wrapped box.

"I don't know- thank you Luna and I mean it, you deserve this title more than anymore. You're a true Luna to this Pack." She grinned, and then later added, "What did you mean by helped a fellow girl out in a time of need?"

"Oh," My face reddened. "The night of the appearance when I had creaked the bathroom door open and you handed me a...feminine product for that...um time of month?"

"Nora that wasn't me in your bedroom, I was downstairs the whole time," Leila said with a bit of concern.

"Huh?"

"That was me mio amore," Damon came around, pulling on my waist and pecked my scalp.

"You handed me-"

"The pad, I think you women call it," he smirked, and I wanted to bang my head against the wall until I died. "I think we should get going now."

"Where? What is going on?"

"You'll see mio amore," Damon urged, pushing me in the direction of door. The place was lit by a golden glow, the long cold halls always lit with the same chandeliers I still havent grown used too.

"Oof," The lacy train was tangled with my feet when we had rounded at the top of the staircase, Damon instantly stopping my descent with the iron grip at my waist. His eyes darkened dangerously, a blink later they had became normal.

Before I could register it he had brought us out foyer doors to the chilly night beyond, urging me it get into our ride which was a newly bought red Audi. He admitted he was feeling a lot of remorse for not pampering me yet, Damon had admitted just earlier today.

"Will you bother to speak to me and tell me where we're going!" I exclaim, leaning back with a hand to my tired stomach. I need some Cheetos..

"Do you ever refrain form thinking about food?" Damon mused, clicking his tongue when he saw the gleaming rays of moonlight on the water. We had driven for what seemed like 5 minutes.

"Damon!"

"Yes mio amore?"

"Where, are, we?"

"Get out."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me right," Damon jumped out his seat and rounded the car to my side, propping opening the door and beckoning me forward.

"Damon," I sigh, his hand clamping over my eyes. I gasp from how cold they were against my face, like getting the kiss of the breeze from a fridge when you open it in the dead of a massive summer heat.

"Walk," his lips caressed the stroke of my ear, whispering, my breathing going frozen under his captive. I heard what sounded like waves crashing against a dock, when the ground under shifted and was unstable, tipping side to side from the weight. Damon made sure to maintain our balance, urging me to descend further down some slopped deck with a hand pressed to my back to keep me from falling.

"Open," he whispered, drawing himself close from behind. I sucked in a breathe from how it felt to feel Damon press against my backside hard.

Biting my lip to withhold a sound, my eyes fluttered opened to the brightest of light and...balloons!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Something exploded, a loud pop noise and glittered streamers rained the sky. The place was of elegance; dark cherry wood and a lot comfy matching furniture, a single table of glass in the center with a gorgeous three layer chocolate iced cake with my name on it. Helium balloon covered every inch of the ceiling, the painted blue murals above unseen off for mot parts. And unsurprisingly, a bar in the far corner by an open deck where the waves could been seen hurling into the night.

I whirl on him. "You own a yacht!"

"Why wouldn't I?" He rematked then later smirked as an afterthought, bringing to press our heads into one together. "For you, anything," He added lowly just for us.

I gape, muffling a choked sob. Embracing him I ran a hand down his broad back, snuggling close into his neck. "Thank you."

"Ahem," someone cared to say, diverting us from our secluded moment. "We exist too you know."

Everyone was circled around us, formal attire and their Mates within close reach. Pack members from my brothers' Pack were all here, Betas and Gammas but none from Damon's pack despite those who I knew. They all lingered behind, giving room to my brothers, their Mates, and to those I knew from Damon's Pack. Even Emma was smiling despite her two males watching her and eyeing the other breathe. "Yes thank you, I just...I didn't even remember!"

"Um, girl, you're born on Valentine's Day. That's not something people really forget is it now?" Lia offered rather flatly. Kaden almost seemed to be inclined, if not for Damon's glare directed at him.

"True true, but can we get digging now? I'm famished," I rub my tummy for emphasis, mouth watering at the triple layer cake of chocolate goodness.

"That's our Nora," Zayn murmured, his dyed hair swept to a side. Now his hair as the colour was night sky, a glossy black all the way to the roots. "Thinking about food before anything."

I grin, nothing malicious but just goofy when I saw Leila inch a step closer. She was in the same fastened dress, hair cascading down her chest and barely glazing her naval. "Wait wait, umm. Alpha's Luna's,"She inclined her head to my brothers and Damon, two low growls from behind which I choose to ignore as territorial bullshit. "We have something else to present."

Hunter, who wasn't far and just behind his sister, rose an eyebrow questioningly. Everyone wasn't exactly sure, baffled just as much as Damon and I. She bobbed her head before slipping from us with Hunter behind her, his hands soon put up in defeat when passing Damon. Unable to resist I give a lovingly elbow, scowl attached afterwards.

"Alpha Damon, may you please step forward?" Hunter called, his voice being heard over the PA system.

Damon frowned, reaching out to hold my lower back with another hand in his pocket. He did as he was told, taking a step forward with me, the circular lights dimming to embers when down the the same direction we came, a streak of light shun as a beacon. My eyes adjusted naturally, the yellow lights above brightening again.

Leila with Hunter had rolled in another trolley, a cake similar as mine with three layers and even more icing glazing the side but instead had Damon's name on it and candles blazing a large 21. "We brought more cake!"

Damon's frown had flipped its course, mortifying into shock on his features. The scowl that came from me from the thought that his cake had better icing then mine made Damon chuckle

"We couldn't exactly find the right time to celebrate yours Alpha, so why not today?" Leila burned, her cheeks going awfully rosy. Hunter side hugged her.

In the moment Hunter looked so radiant, grinning boyish and not as if he were on the verge of withdrawal, not in the clutches of alcohol with a secret flask hidden in his coats folds. Leila has cried herself hoarse countless times for Hunter in the past month. When'd he be so drunk he'd fall silent, which was worse than if he were to scream and create a scene. I'd snap his neck for making Leila cry but Kaden and Jordan had promised beforehand with that gleam of violence in their eyes. It was Damon to prevent any of that.

A glass clinked, and I run around to wince as I found Kaden in the midst of a drink of his usual amber-ish concoction. The exact same thing Hunter struggled with, his older brother was freely indulging in. Hunter's eyes widened and Leila just froze.

Kaden rose a glass to cheers the air, motioning to us. "I paid for the alcohol, so pay before you leave bitches, except for you 11 but wait a second. Four of you can't even touch the glass, so might as well make a contribution and pay too."

"Oh I'll be making a contribution, with my-"

"Okay! Who wants what cake now?" Angel asked rather loudly, smothering the sound of Christina being halted by a kissing Xavier. The trio of girl had opted to wear casual summer dresses to compensate for their swelling stomach. Christina in bright an a long peachy pink maxi dress, Angel in a short mint dress shirt to her knees and Mia in a royal blue dress sweeping the ground with a high low skirt and train.

Hunter had dismissed himself, the colour returning to Leila's face when he had left and then refused a glass served by a waiter before slipping out. Ryan was cutting slices, being rather picky with sizes as he sliced the pieces and receiving snarky comments as he did by the others. He was looking maddeningly furious like he'd go on a stabbing rampage, I laughed. He was such a math geek, trigonometry his favorite somehow.

Someone's lips pecked the skin by my neck and I moan from the tingles he emitted, the shudder he sent involuntarily rolling down my spine.

He whirled me around, like how the protagonist twirls around his significant other in those ballroom dances. From the corner of my eyes I saw my friends and family flanked by their Mates and grinned by Damon's lips when we paused our kiss. 'If he is the big bad wolf, then I am the Moon he sings too.'

17 already and marked, mated and now expecting. It can be safe to say I was expecting this since last year but my heartless Alpha was certainly not part of bargain. He allowed me to guide how to lead his mouth, gentle, caressing and spark full. I was so proud with his progress, how I helped him become someone better from who he once was. I held his cheeks, tipping our heads together. We were both equally flushed, breathing slightly ajar.

"I'll get us drinks." Damon pecked my head, holding hands with me until he was far enough to drop it and left when I nodded.

I survey the view, savoring every second. Ryan was arguing over cake slices with an annoyed Rossi, and giggling crew of females and mentioning words like hypotenuse, adjacent and doing some math with the angles while his Mate watched amusingly from behind.

Lia and Kaden had taken to a love seat, her sexy red dress splitting from around her hips from both sides and flowing down the sides of his body and chair as she straddled him. I could clearly see tongue movement and nearly gagged.

Quickly averting my eyes I saw Jordan with Leila on the dance floor, hands laced and swaying together along with some other couples to some good old 2010 song. They shared the laughter, quirky eye gestures and I caught Leila's cheeks blooming once or twice as Jordan leaned to usher something into her ears for her only.

Xavier was with Christina, Zayn and Mia at the bar, the latter three dying with laughter at something Dr. O'Brien said. Xavier only shook his head, staring longingly at his Mate who paid him no heed as her attention was to the doctor.

My ears perked, whirling and seeing the deck outside where Hunter neared a paled Katharine. Her dress was a tight burgundy, hugging at her figure and cut by her high thighs. It made her skin appear almost milk white under the moonlight. Her bloodless lip painted matte red wobbled, and she looked as if about to cry when Hunter embraced her. They pulled away moments later, and I felt bad to watch as she laced a single hand with his and his other hands index finger was tracing the side of her face subtly. She gave a sigh and what could have been a moan. I shouldn't have witnessed their intimacy.

I was going to find a place to sit when Emma, fuming in her strides to appear before me, paused and smiled sadly. She was clad in a stunning blue-almost-appearing-black jumpsuit with flared pants, bell sleeves and glossy pencil heels, hair of mellow yellow braided around like a crown with a few strands slipping out. Her two Mates were across the room from one another. André, who was about a meter away with his Mate and two Gamma's, seeming to meet my alternating gaze between the two males only nodded in reassurance. He'd watch for them, was his silent promise when returned a warm smile. Slipping his drink and pretending to hear his rambling Mate, he watched Carter who didn't even seemed to not notice another set of predatory eyes.

"Hey Em," I said, leaning in for the hearty smack to each cheek. Poor Emma was flanked by the two males almost the entire time I was here, miserable as she must be.

"Hey, happy 17th! You made it!" Her smile couldn't meet her eyes. I keep my warm grin nonetheless.

"I guess, it wasn't hard to stay alive another year," I replied thoughtfully, looming an arm under hers as she walked us both two an secluded corner luckily not reserved by some horny Mates for a session. She helped eased me down before taking her own. "How's your brother?"

Her older brother Zach was another Alpha, not exactly local. He had more influence on his Canadians Packs than American, his American one basically running itself in independence and he allowed it, monitoring the profits and business from afar. He always appealed as of more of a businessman to me than Alpha. Emma had described him as her twin but in male form, both sharing shockingly same features like eyes of emeralds and gloriously thick hair of gold. She was around here to purse her career in Law, deciding it was better to study here from a young age and then govern his American Pack as his official embassy.

"Not the best," she whispered, any leftover warmth had leaving her face. I scrunch my face in confusion, reaching out to hold her outstretched hand on the arm of her seat. It was hard to hear her because of the music but my wolf ears managed fairly. "He's getting worked up for no reason, always in his study or out on business. I haven't heard his voice or from him personally in ages. Renning our Gamma has been keeping me in the loop about Zach, and well-" she sucked a breathe, taking a glass from a waiter who had come to offer muttering her gratitude before saying, "Our Beta was killed Nor, in a car accident doing some of Zach's bidding in New York. Renning has been promoted to Beta instantly but Nor-."

She sighed, taking a large gulp. She had spoken of him so often though I can't recall the name now. Emma had recited how growing up she'd play with him and his younger brother, sharing cribs as babies since their parents were best friends. It was their trio she missed most of all and now she was alone, thrown into a new trio she didn't know what to make off.

"I'm sorry you had to loose them both," I make out, feeling actually awful. The Beta's younger brother was killed in some attack Em had told me of about back some time in December, during another one of Zach's task.

"It's just so frustrating you know," she huffed, sipping her glass. "Zach's always been in mourning. Always. We lost our parents first, then he looses his Mate, now his best friend and Beta along with his brother! He's always in mourning and faces this stuff alone and I worry so much. Nor I haven't told anyone of those two morons gawking at one another! Not even my brother whose been the strongest of us two knows I've found my Mate, or Mates in this dilemma."

I was at a loss of words so I kept myself quiet, watching her as she leaned over hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I'm so sorry Nor, this should be a time for fun and joy and I'm making it depressing for you. Ignore every word I've said so far."

"Em," I take her hand with the empty glass. "I'm always here if you want someone to hear, or more like rant too."

She looked content, looking a bit more youthful like she always had and lighthearted. Squeezing my hand with her other hand, she drew me in for a hug and I've never felt more complete.

Damon had returned just as she was wiping at her glassy eyes. Damon had even offered an handkerchief which she kindly refused, and sensing their Mate's emotions both Carter and Jace came hurrying. Emma swatted both, huffing and stalking away just as she had came with both Jace and Carter left to trail after, demanding answers.

"If you ever become territorial like those two morons, I'll have you thrown off this yacht to drown." I warned him as he helped me to my feet, then sweeping me off my feet to be in his arms.

"That is debatable," Damon said, returning me with his grin. He seemed to smile a lot more lately but its not like I am complaining.

"Who carries a handkerchief anymore?" I ask, just as he walks us pass the crowd and towards the glass just before the deck.

"A gentleman," He said, settling me to my feet again. Eyebrows scrunched, Damon merely gestured outside with his head, both hand lazily in his pockets again.

I heard the sound of the cackling, then saw the colour erupt the starlit night sky streaking it in colour one after another. It was more than gorgeous, like the canvas to a painting where the forest around us was a silhouette to the moonlights reflection gleaming in the water, the moon in the corner bright and vivid, and the fireworks working the colour.

I felt the presence of a pair of watchful dark eyes, turning my face and found Damon watching me rather than the show before us with the same kind of admiration I saw in Xavier's eyes while observing Christina as she laughed, saw in Angel's watchful eyes for Ryan from afar, saw in Lia's and Jordan's gaze for one another and saw in Hunter's longing eyes for Katharine.

Today was the night that I was waiting for in ages and it felt good to finally relish the moment. ...

"17 already and marked, mated and now expecting."

More like 17, and no MATE! Guess who else turns 17 today? *Ding, ding, ding! Signs of arrows pointing in my direction, cake with a male stripper appearing from inside, bottles popping and balloons everywhere.*🎂

...more like 17, eating Reese cups alone at midnight while doing PreCal homework, and have three quizzes to prepare for on my big day tomorrow.

Nora got it easy. *Sighs*

I have been writing this story from the end of 2017 and now its 2019. Just so you know, 8 chapter left for PTHA and 4 story drafts prepared!

The Author; xbookgirlx15