Chapter 25

Bane hadn't expected the turn of events that had occurred. Celeste ended up drinking far more than he had thought that she would be able to handle. Her tenacious spirit somehow wouldn't let her be beat out by him so easily.

Where it was pride or an honest desire to avoid spending time with him, the alpha wasn't certain. He just knew that for her health he couldn't let her drink anymore and thus much to many of the spectator's surprise conceded and gave her the win.

Alcohol made humans act weird or at least it made this one act that. Upon hearing him verbally admit his defeat to her, she laughed a little too gleefully. Making a remark about how he could no longer bother after this.

Despite saying this however, at the same time, she leaned over her chair so that she could rest her head against his shoulder. Her eyes had been rather glazed at that moment when she looked up at him. Somehow it was a mixture of awe and something else he couldn't quite read. The red did her cheeks well though he couldn't deny, she somehow looked even more stunning with the flush that spread across her cheeks from the alcohol.

He was so memorized looking into her eyes that he missed the movement of her left hand coming up to pinch his cheek. Even though it wasn't that hard of a pinch it still caused him to flinch and pull back slightly. What exactly did she think that she was doing?

"I just wanted to make sure you're real." She told him as the confused expression passed over his face.

"You look to perfect to be real, like something out a fairytale come to life." She continued, tilting her head back so that she could look up at his properly since he moved back slightly not sure that she wouldn't try to pinch his cheek again.

"And yet, you look human enough, you seem to be cursed at the same time." Now she was staring to lean towards saying something that he didn't want those around them to hear. It was bad enough that people were watching Bane get his cheek pinched by some overly intoxicated girl and wasn't reacting as harshly to her as he had to others in the past who had tried to throw themselves at him.

Luckily for him it was at that exact moment in time that Aster made his appearance with Jen and Tony. The former who didn't look to be quite sober herself. The sparkle in her eyes though showed that she was still in her right mind enough to know that she had finally gotten her chance to meet the man that she had been idolizing all this time.

She would've taken the chance to throw herself on him and hug him if it wasn't for the fact that she noticed Celeste was sitting there next him or rather only partly sitting in her seat and mostly leaning against.

"Jen, where have you been? You almost missed the magic man." was what Celeste had been trying to say but it came out more as 'Je n ere you be? Almo mis mag man'.

"Sorry, it took a while to find them, they had gotten caught up with some of the other VIP guests." Aster apologized while looking between the alpha and the girl who was his mate before glancing back at the two friends.

"It's perfectly understandable." Bane replied, not bothering to move Celeste from where she was leaning against him still trying to talk with Jen who only partly understood what her friend was saying since she wasn't fully sober herself.

The entire time that he spoke, his eyes were locked with Tony who was staring at him rather intently as well. He wasn't quite sure what the younger man was indicating with his expression. Whatever it was, it made Bane determine right then and there that he wasn't going to be letting Celeste go back with them.

"Are you two safe to get home by yourself? If not, I can have request a staff member to accompany you to make sure that you arrive back home safely?" The alpha inquired shifting slightly when Celeste tried to touch his face with her hand. He had tuned out whatever she was trying to say thus he wasn't certain if she was trying to get his attention or just or trying to move.

"I didn't drink anything so I'm safe to drive." Tony replied.

"I agreed to not have anything this time so I could take Celeste and Jen both back home when it was time to leave." He didn't miss the way his tone shifted when he said both of his friend's name.

"You don't need to worry about this one. She already said earlier that she would be fine spending the night with me." Bane told the other as he looked down at Celeste who starting to drift asleep. His wolf wouldn't allow him to leave his mate alone with the current state that she was in, especially not when the wolf knew that she would in close proximity to another man.

"I believe that's s too drink to have made that consent for herself." Tony pointed out taking notice of how wasted the little human was.

"She agreed beforehand. We just shared a few drinks while waiting for the two of you to come back." Bane explained, shifting so that his arm was now wrapped around Celeste's shoulders so that she could be in a more comfortable position.

"If you were so worried about her in the first place, you shouldn't have left her alone for such a long time. If I hadn't happened to spot the fact that there was someone trying to harass her, who knows what would've happened before you two returned." The gaze that he leveled the other with dared him to challenge on a decision that he had already made.

"Tony, don't worry. She'll be safe with him, he likes her after all." Jen suddenly commented causing both me to turn to her as she unsteadily put a hand on his shoulder. That wasn't the kind of thing that the Alpha needed to be let out in earshot of so many other people. He gave a meaningful look to Aster who knew that it was time for them to leave.

"I'll help you both out to your car." He told the two humans. Tony didn't want to move because he still felt like there was something about Bane that he couldn't trust and Jen didn't want to leave until she could at least shake the alpha's hand, she didn't come this far to the club to meet him and not even get a chance to shake his hand.

Aster ended up having to use physical touch to get both of the moving to head out of the club. He could tell that his alpha wanted them gone as soon as possible so he could figure out how to get his own little problem back to his apartment or some place safe.

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Bane knew that Celeste was unlikely to remember anything that had happened from the night before, but that had been the course of events that lead them to the current point in the morning.

She looked rather skeptical as she turned her head back to look at him as though she didn't believe that she actually won. He wouldn't have let her either if it wasn't for the fact that he was truly worried that something might happen since he knew humans unlike werewolves could suffer from alcohol poisoning.

"If I won though.. why am I here?" She asked as indicting to her current location when she said this.

"I didn't trust you to go back with that other male who was with you." Bane grumbled under his breath. He didn't care if it sounded petty to her, he didn't trust that human to make sure that she was well taken care of.

"You really didn't do anything to me?" She then asked, looking down at the fact that she appeared to be in a robe.

"You can't avoid seeing someone's body when you're having to change their clothes. However I didn't touch you if that's your concern." Bane replied

"I just didn't think that it would be wise to leave you in that dress considering it looked uncomfortable and it seemed like you had a lot of perspiration from alcohol. I read somewhere it can cause one to catch a cold and didn't want to risk you getting sick." He elaborated.

He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he was expecting when he looked over at Celeste who was being rather quiet, but it wasn't the surprised one that was on her face as she looked at the other like he had somehow grown a second head or extra limb. What was that about?