EIGHTEEN

The only thing that managed to save me from my R-rated thoughts was when the bartender announced the start of the karaoke competition. Rheon grabbed my hand, and we hurried back to the booth to watch the show.

First up was a woman in her forties with an old Scottish folk song I didn't know. She was good, but not Susan Boyle good. Next was Craig, who so enthusiastically downed his beer before making a beeline for the stage. He sang another pub song that had the crowd cheering at the top of their lungs. A few more people had the guts to perform before the volunteering ended.

"Anyone else?" the bartender asked through the microphone and scanned the crowd. "C'mon, it's only ten minutes 'till happy hour!"

I felt a kick underneath the table and looked up at Seren, who nodded over at the stage. "Go on, give it a try."

"What? No!" I whisper-shouted in panic.

"You can't be worse than Craig."

"Aye, ya can't be worse than me," Craig agreed.

"Do you know any Scottish or pub songs?" Victor asked.

I shook my head fervently. "No, none... well, I suppose there's one but -"

Before I could finish my sentence, Craig jumped to his feet and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Alrighty, Angus, I have a lass right here who likes to try out!"

My body went numb when the bartender locked eyes with me. "Aye, what a beauty! Get up 'ere, lassie!"

The next thing I knew, Reyna and Seren had me by the arms and were dragging me to the stage while Rheon could only sit there and smile. Traitor. I bet this was revenge for beating him at pool.

"What's yer name, lassie?" Angus asked and held the mic to my face.

"Ash." My voice sounded a pitch higher than usual.

"And what are ya singin' fer us?" Unable to speak, I muttered something to him to which he responded with a broad smile. "Whit dae ye ken? A personal favorite of mines! Take it away, lassie."

He selected the right song and stepped off the stage to man the bar.

The beat started and the crowd cheered upon recognizing the song as The Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be. My eyes settled on the booth where the pack was anticipating the show. Counting down the beats, I opened my mouth and sang the first line.

"When I wake up..." I was stunned by my own voice when it blasted from the speakers. The last time I sang in front of a crowd was when I joined the school choir in ninth grade, and the only other times I allow myself to let go are in the car and shower. But dammit, I sounded good.

Gaining confidence, I stepped off the stage to parade through the crowd as the song progressed. Some of the older men wolf whistled when I hoisted myself up the bar, stepping over the beer and glasses while stomping my feet on the beat of the music.

The song forced almost every soul in the pub to sing along. The men at the bar raised their glasses in the air, spilling beer all over their hands and clothes although it didn't seem to bother them. Some younger lads grabbed their dates and were dancing through the tables while those who came alone formed a circle and were line dancing along with the music.

Jumping down from the bar, I slowly made my way towards the pack. After weaving through the crowd, I finally reached our table. Seren cheered me on from the top of her lungs as I hopped onto the corner to sit in front of Rheon. I was singing the final lines right at him with no regard for personal space. His brows arched when I grabbed onto his collar to pull him closer.

Our lips were close enough for me to taste the alcohol on them. His eyes were already half-closed when I pushed him back and bounced off the table, dancing through the people as the final chorus ended.

On the final note, I have returned to the stage just in time for the pub to erupt in cheers and applause. Angus pushed his way through the people and handed me a bottle of Johnnie Walker Whiskey, claiming I have won the competition hands down. After that, he announced lucky hour has begun and all the drinks were on the house.

Like one man, the people flocked around the bar like vultures around roadkill. With my prize in hand, I approached our table and held the whiskey towards Craig. "I think you'd appreciate this more."

"Aye, that I'll do." He grinned and opened the bottle, drinking its contents clean from the spout.

"You can sing," Rheon stated, clearly impressed as I took my place next to him.

"Two years of school choir finally paid off," I breathed and nearly downed my cider in one gulp. My hands were shaking with adrenaline, so I hid them under the table.

When Reyna and Seren placed two trays of shots in front of us, my throat started to burn just thinking about that tequila earlier. These shots looked different though. Some were layered with multiple-colored liquids, some had cream and marshmallows on top, some looked like plain water but if held to the light, appeared to be blue, and some had pink and blue sugar on the glass rims.

They were passed down until each of us had one of each type in front of us. I studied the four glasses skeptically, wondering if I would regret this in the morning. Turning to Rheon, I whispered, "Can werewolves get drunk?"

"No." He shrugged, "Our metabolism's too fast."

"Oh, okay."

Seren raised her first shooter, the layered one, in the air. "Cheers!"

Like one man, they all threw their heads back. Realizing I had to do the same, I screwed my eyes shut and downed the colorful liquid. It didn't burn as much as the tequila though, but the taste was still new to me.

They hardly took a minute to catch their breath before moving on to the next shot. I tried my very best to keep up, downing the last three almost in a row to at least seem like I know what I'm doing.

"I'm getting more." Seren grabbed my arm on her way to the bar. "You're with me, love."

The floor wobbled a bit as I followed her across the room, coming close to bumping into people on the way. While Seren was talking to Angus, I hopped onto a barstool to at least keep myself from swaying - or was it the room that's swaying? Could my eyes be swaying while the rest of me was steady?

"This might take a few minutes," she muttered and slid another shooter glass towards me, "Try this in the meanwhile." I was past arguing at that point and down the thing without a second thought. The moment it hit my throat; my eyes widened. Seren grinned. "That's good, right?"

"The best thing I had so far." I nodded in agreement.

She chuckled and slid another one towards me. "You're adorable, have another."

I don't know how many of those shots I had, it could be two, it could be twelve, but the world was starting to spin and almost everything I saw made me giggle. The man with the moustache, ha, funny. The bartender was telling jokes - what's his name again? Anguish? Angelfish? Whatever. And that woman at the end of the bar...or was that a man?

Seren eyed me strangely when I burst out laughing, pointing at a man with a beard that reached his chest. "There's a bunny in there. Look! It just waved at us."

"Alright, let's get you back to the table." She snorted and hooked an arm around my waist.

However, as we turned around my eyes landed on a girl standing next to Rheon. They were talking and she was making it her mission to get him to look at her boobs which, if I might add, were almost plummeting out of her top.

"What the ass?" I muttered before wiggling out of Seren's grip. As unsteady as I was, I marched towards the girl and yanked her away from Rheon by the back of her top. "Excuse you, get away."

The girl staggered before regaining her balance. The look she gave me could ignite an entire continent. "What the hell? Who do you think you are?"

"Someone who's gonna whip your ass if you don't get the hell away from my man."

"Ladies, why don't you calm down -" Rheon stepped in to prevent a fight from breaking loose, but she ignored him and took a step towards me.

"And what are you going to do about it? Punch me in the face?"

And so, I punched her in the face.

All heads turned to us as the girl staggered backwards, touching her cheek to find it was bleeding. Uttering a war cry, she launched herself at me and tackled me to the floor.

The crowd around us started to chant 'fight, fight, fight' and somewhere Craig shouted, "Hit 'er, lass! Twist 'er nipples!"

Dots clouded my vision when she scored a punch on my cheek. Not just one but two. I blocked her next hit and shot upwards, headbutting her. While she was holding her bleeding nose, I flipped us around and straddled her. Just before I could land a solid punch to break her nose for good, a pair of arms were dragging me away and out of the bar.

"I think you've had enough for one night." I recognized Rheon's voice and thrashed in his grip.

"Let me at her! I'll make her eat her own hair!"

He snorted. "You'll make a fun werewolf someday."

He helped me into the backseat of his car, making sure my seat belt's on before driving us home. Every few minutes, I would doze off, my head dropping to the side and hitting the window, thus waking me up again. Through my blurry vision, I noticed the castle coming to view.

Rheon stopped near the entrance and scooped me into his arms bridal style. I tried wiggling out of his grip. "I'm not a baby, I can walk."

"You can barely stay awake, Ash," he chuckled as we entered the castle, "I don't think I trust you on your own feet this moment."

My head bounced as he climbed the stairs one by one, reminding me of riding a seesaw. Time passed with every blink. One blink, we reached the top of the stairs. Two blinks, we reached his bedroom door. Three blinks, he was lying me down on his bed and sitting down at the end to remove my shoes.

"I think I'm in love with you."

His hands froze with my laces between his fingers, meeting my eyes in complete and utter shock. "What?"

I hummed and snuggled deeper into the fluffy pillows. "Yeah... the first time I saw you - damn that was awkward with my phone and... and... why the hell is my ringtone Single Ladies? I wasn't even single then. But I saw you and the first thing I thought was 'I'd tap that'. I just wanted to jump your bones and climb you like a tree. Did you know trees have feelings?"

He sighed as he removed my left shoe but smiled as I rambled on and on and on.

"You're like, super hot and you have broad shoulders and you're a gentleman... like Prince Charming. And I'm like Cinderella because I ran from you that night at the wedding. But you're also like, super cute. You remind me of a capybara combined with a puppy. Does that mean you sometimes chase your tail? Wait..." Peering past him, my eyes widened, "Oh shit, you lost your tail! We need to go back; we need to go look for it!"

"Oh no, you don't." He pressed me back against the bed when I tried getting up. "The only thing you're going to do is lie here and get some rest. Goddess knows you're going to have a hangover tomorrow."

He left me for three seconds, heading to his bathroom and returned with a glass of water, two pills, and a damp cloth in his hand. Rheon helped me sit up so I could take the pills, rubbing soothing circles into my back. After I finished, he placed the glass on the nightstand and started cleaning the cut on my cheek. I didn't even know I was bleeding. That bitch must have hit me harder than I thought.

When he was satisfied with his work, Rheon started tucking me in. Even in my drunken state, I couldn't help but feel drawn to him. Every inch of him was breathtakingly beautiful and I found myself gently playing with his hair while he adjusted the pillows under my head. "I think I'm in love with you."

"You said that already," he pointed out, "Maybe you can say it again tomorrow when you're sober."

"No, tomorrow it'll be different," I yawned and snuggled into the covers, "Tomorrow I might not be in love with you anymore... tomorrow I might actually love you."

I didn't stay awake long enough to see his reaction. My eyes slowly drooped, and my head fell to the side. Rheon muttered something under his breath - something about love - but I couldn't make out what it was before everything faded to darkness.