All because of a fake proposal.
He ducked out from under the table, almost crashing into someone. “Sorry!” he called over his shoulder.
He stole two bright pink cupcakes from the tiered plates and carried them to an empty spot in the middle of the party. A live band played cheerful music. The guests mingled, eating and chatting, several familiar faces around.
Mathlin pushed both cupcakes against his face, one over each eye. When the frosting had stuck properly to his skin, he pulled off the cupcakes, wiping his eyes so he could see.
Then he threw his head back, and made the loudest bird call he’d made in his life.
The voices ceased abruptly around him. Mathlin raised both cupcakes high in the air, swaying with his entire body. “I’m a wriggling tree,” he sang. “Swaying in the wind like a busy bee!”
A couple of phones came up immediately. Mathlin searched out Vigil, who was standing with a plate of food away from the rest of the guests.
“I found a tree to dance around,” Mathlin sang—his voice was what Titan would use to track him down. “Such a lovely tree for me and my wolfy—”
There came a loud roar.
It was powerful like a battle cry. Or a mating song. Mathlin’s insides quivered.
Across the grass, Titan stalked toward Mathlin, resplendent in his sparkling cape, wilting flowers clenched between his teeth. Plastic dicks bounced from the springs clipped in his hair. Black circles covered his face like a panda’s eyes, and golden tassels gleamed around his legs.
Titan stopped a respectable distance away and struck a pose, tossing his head.
Mathlin gasped the fakest gasp in the world. “Who are you?!”
“I am the Supreme Alpha Overlord!” Titan yelled around the flower stems, keeping them gripped between his teeth. “And this is my courtship dance!”
Mathlin gasped even more loudly. He pressed the cupcakes to his cheeks. “You may court me... But first, you’ll have to catch me!”
He flounced away in slow motion.
Titan chased after him with exaggerated strides—also in slow motion.
Yasmin’s guests were staring at them, several in shock. Among them was Yasmin herself, with her eyes crinkled and one hand covering her mouth.
Mathlin yodeled terribly, his voice cracking midway and his throat going dry. Vigil was still standing where Mathlin had found him... so Mathlin ducked behind the alpha, gasping when Titan stopped on his brother’s other side.
“Oh omega,” Titan sang, sticking his head around Vigil.
Mathlin stuckhishead around Vigil’s other side, so both of them missed each other.
Mathlin pulled back and checked Titan’s side—only for Titan to peer around Vigil’s other side. They missed each other again, like the main characters in those old, corny movies that used to air on TV.
They repeated this again, until Titan finally caught Mathlin on the same side.
“Aha!” Titan said.
“You found me!” Mathlin cried.
With the same exaggerated steps, Titan chased Mathlin around Vigil, tossing his head so his flowers scattered petals everywhere.
“What the actual fuck,” Vigil said.
They ignored him. Titan slowed to a stop and whipped around, wriggling his shoulders. “Omega,” he sang sonorously.
Mathlin clutched his chest. “Who are you, again?”
“I am the alphalest alpha of these lands,” Titan boomed. “And today I am proposing to you!”
