Taming the Hybrid Mate: Desired by Five Alphas-Chapter 198: Just a dream

Andria’s POV

Mel giggled and shook the bottle in his direction, urging him to drink instead if he can’t carry on with the dare.

The wolves chanted louder, pounding on the floor.

"Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Tristan didn’t want to.

I saw it in his eyes, I felt it in his movement.

In the way his shoulders tensed, in how his jaw clenched, in how he looked back at me.

But the chant grew louder.

He turned, closed his eyes and grabbed Alexa by the waist, drawing her closer to himself.

**************************

I shot upright so fast my vision blurred.

My breath tore out of me in sharp, frantic bursts. Sweat clung to my skin, dampening my hairline, sticking my shirt to my spine. My hands were shaking violently and uncontrollably.

The dream felt so real, and I couldn’t help what I felt. Tristan is kissing Alexa because of a game. Another wave of jealousy washed through me.

I can’t sit there and watch that happen; it will wreck me and our mate bond.

"Goodness..." I whispered to myself, dragging a trembling hand across my face. "What was that?"

Tristan grabs Alexa. The chanting. The pressure of all those eyes. The feeling of being forced to watch it. I was helpless in the wrong way, and Mel was instigating it.

It could be my insecurity and distrust getting the better of me, or the jitters that come with uncertainty about something like the game night Mel had introduced.

The anger and humiliation I felt in that dream were so terrible that I wanted to be swallowed by the ground.

I sucked in a shaky breath and forced myself to look around the room, grounding myself.

My familiar walls, my bedside lamp, and my clothes from the previous night were still on; it was all a dream.

I wasn’t at a game night, Tristan wasn’t about to kiss Alexa right now, not ever.

"Well, you sound like a jealous mate right now," Athena teased.

Heat crept up my face. "Of course I should be, if the wolf he was to kiss was Alexa of all the she-wolves in Ashwood."

I reached for my tablet and checked the time.

My heart dropped.

11:47 a.m.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I hissed under my breath.

I never woke up this late. Ever. My internal clock was better than any alarm. But today, of all days, I woke up late. I suppose I was more exhausted than I thought, given yesterday’s activities.

I blushed as I remembered what had happened in Sir Kaelric’s office the previous day and how the Alpha successor nearly had me with Sir Kaelric watching.

Somehow, I wanted to know how that felt, but I was also scared.

I threw my legs off the bed and immediately regretted it when the cold floor slapped against my bare feet.

"Perfect," I muttered, pushing up anyway.

As I went to grab a hoodie, I heard voices coming from Becca’s room.

They weren’t even trying to be discreet about their gossip; they were excited and chatting on top of their voices to the extent that I could hear some details of their gossip in my room.

I opened my door and walked to Becca’s room to find out what secret they were discussing, so early that they needed to be in a room and not in the sitting room, as usual.

Annoyance flickered to life inside me. "They better not be..."

I hesitated before I knocked on the door, probably to alert them that I was there. But as soon as I did that, I regretted it; I wished I had stormed into the room instead and caught them unawares.

Maybe I am just being overly dramatic about everything.

"Come in!" Becca’s voice chimed.

I pushed the door open, only to stop short. Mel and Becca had papers littered around with some snacks.

The room looked busy, and I wanted to know what was going on.

"What’s going on here?" I asked, but they both seemed absent-minded

My jaw dropped. "Are you two serious right now?!"

Becca and Mel looked up at the same time, eyes widening like they had been caught stealing or plotting murder.

"Aria!" they squealed, scrambling off the bed.

Before I knew it they were both squeezing me into a crushing hug.

"You are awake!" Mel said, giggling from ear to ear.

"We were worried you were dead!" Becca added, mockingly arching her eyebrow.

I groaned. "I’m going to kill both of you. Your voices were loud enough to wake even the dead."

They dragged me to sit in the middle of the mess of papers.

I stared at everything around me, snacks, scribbled lists, pen and their phones.

"What’s going on?" I asked again.

"Well, we are getting things ready for the game night," Becca said.

"You already started without me," I said, looking at them one after the other, trying to hide my disappointment.

Becca winced. "We were going to wake you up..."

"...but you looked so peaceful, and we didn’t want to disturb you," Mel added quickly.

"Peaceful?" I scoffed. "Was that why you two decided to carry out the plans without me? You are showing me your true colors."

Mel blinked. "Huh?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. Continue."

They exchanged a look, then Becca straightened her back like she was about to deliver a presentation to an elder.

"Okay, so," Becca began, flipping open the terrible notebook. "I already invited Allison and Khalil. Allison said she will try to drag Aven, her brother and his friends with her...you know, the Alpha successors."

I stared. "You know that I could have easily made them come thank Allison would."

"But you won’t want to go through that stress, Ari, we know you," they chorused.

Mel slapped her palm on the bed. "Anyway, I managed to invite Zade."

The air left my lungs in a single sharp exhale. "You what?"

Mel grinned. "He said yes."

Becca fanned herself dramatically. "Honestly, I didn’t think he would come."

"Why Zade of all wolves?" I asked.

"Just to make things a lot more interesting... calm down, it’s just a game night," Mel said.

I swallowed. "Okay... fine. Who else?"

Becca and Mel exchanged guilty looks, and I knew this one wasn’t going to be funny at all.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Mel cleared her throat. "Sooo... Alexa and Tricia heard about the game night..."

"And?" I said, voice dropping.

Becca winced. "They... asked if they could come."

I sat there staring at both of them for a while, the dream coming back in bits. I wouldn’t want what happened in my dream actually to happen.

The two girls who had spent months trying to make my life in Ashwood miserable with their schemes and gossip.

And now, Mel and Becca want to give them something more to talk about, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.

"No," I said sharply.

"But..." Mel started.

"I said no," I repeated firmly, my voice was firmer and louder. "Absolutely not."

Mel blinked at me. "Aria, I know that they haven’t been so good to us, but maybe this would be a good time to sort out the misunderstanding."