"What was what?" Geo asked, locking the door behind him. At least this way his parents would just think he was asleep or something. And no one else would try and go in there. It really must have just happened on the spot for Miki, if she forgot to even lock the door.

"That smell?" Alex looked at him curiously.

"What smell?" he started leading him down the halls again.

"Oh, come on!" Alex laughed. "The look on your face when you got out said it all!"

"I really don't know what you're talking about," he shook his head.

If Miki was gone for their plan of distracting everyone, that meant that there was someone who wasn't getting looked over. Geo would probably have to go and distract them as well now. Which was going to be annoying, but doable.

"Hiroko," he called out to her first. He was worried about Shiro. He knew that he was new to all the romance stuff. It was something that he never explored due to all the pack responsibilities. "How's Shiro?"

"I was hoping that I could talk to you about that," she said. "I got a bit distracted talking to the Luna and Delta of the Valor Pack."

"Is anyone watching the garden?!"

"I don't think so. If I stayed around there then they would have found me."

Great. This was supposed to be an easy plan. They all had one job: Distract and guard. It was supposed to be as easy as breathing for them. And now it was probably up to him to try and pick up the pieces.

"I'm going to try and sneak over there," Geo told her. "Mind distracting the Beta for me?"

"Sure thing," she told him. "Where's Miki?"

"She got her curse early this month, I guess."

"Where?!"

"Calm down. She's in my room. Her and Tammy will be safe." Even though his room is probably going to wreak for an eternity. He should just buy a new bed and sheets at this point. Thinking about sleeping in the same spot that those two were going at it made him want to throw up. Miki was practically his sister.

"You're distracted," Alex snapped him back to reality. "Did something happen when you went to that room?"

"No," he told him, then lifted up his phone. "Just had to grab this. It's just parties like these that are always so hectic."

"And you're sure that nothing was going on in that room?" Alex raised an eyebrow. Geo knew that he was onto him. But, if he said it enough times, he would probably believe him. That's what worked on his parents.

"Absolutely nothing," Geo smiled at him. "You should try our food though. The dessert's the best." He motioned towards the table of food they had. Hiroko was nearby talking to a small group of people. All of them he noticed came with Alpha Jett when he first arrived.

"Really?" Those bright blue eyes looked excited at it. "Which one's your favorite?"

"The chocolate one," Geo told him. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Well, that was easy enough. Geo used the crowd to hide himself as the beta got some food. Food was always very convincing.

"Jin," he mind linked with him. "Where are you?"

"Out back with the Gamma and his wife," Jin told him. "Wiatt's here too it seems."

"The talkative omega?"

"Yup," he answered. "He's just dancing, though. No need to be worried about him."

Okay. It seemed like the odds were in his favor. He quickly slipped outback to where the music was playing.

"You know," Alex popped up next to him. "You were right, I think I like the chocolate one the best."

How the fuck did he find him?! He was in the midst of a large crowd of people partying, most of them in kimonos just like his, and this guy still finds him?

"I had a feeling you were a chocolate person," Geo said. Acting nonchalant about this was probably the best way to go about this situation. If he showed his surprise then the Beta would definitely know that something was up. "Although, I don't think out here is the best place to eat it."

"And I didn't think that your bathrooms were out here," Alex said. That mischievous glint in his eyes came back.

"We have some since the party's so big tonight," Geo told him. "The bathrooms are pretty busy right now."

"Really?" he sounded skeptical of him. "Cus I'm pretty sure I saw one that was open inside."

"Well, I was going to do some dancing anyway," Geo said. "It gets kind of boring just listening to a bunch of people talking all the time, don't you think?"

"You're speaking my language," Alex smiled. He ate up that food pretty quickly. Geo was going to have to think of a plan to distract him again.

Wait. Alex was gay.

This might actually work out better than he thought.

"Teddy," he called for one of the members of the pack. Teddy hadn't found his mate yet, and he was the best at flirting with someone and not getting caught by the elders. They nicknamed him Teddy because of how cute he was. "I need your help."

"Am I going to be distracting the guy that's been glued to your side this whole night?"

"Please?"

"I'll try," the man said. "But it looks like he's only got eyes for you, Geo."

"I doubt that," Geo said. "He's known for wanting just about every guy."

"I think you're his guy at the moment."

"Please, Teddy?" he asked again. "I'll owe you one."

"Fine," he said. "But I'm going to be keeping you to that."

"Thanks."

He walked to the center of the dance floor that they had all made. Geo loved parties like these because of these dances that they'd all have. He loved to dance and get crazy. And it was usually the one time that his dad didn't have an eye on him to yell at him for something. Now that he was out of school, he knew that was going to happen more often than not.

"So, you like to dance?" Geo asked Alex.

"Of course!" Alex yelled over the crowd. "It's not a party without some dancing!"

"Good," he gave him a playful smile. "Because we have the best DJ in the city."

"Oh really?"

All Geo had to do was give the DJ one look and the song changed. The music dropped along with the lights at the moment. Then, with a flash, the lights came back on and the music turned to electronic. The lights flashed in time with the song and the crowd cheered.

That was when Geo and Teddy switched positions. Teddy grabbed Alex to dance while he used the flashing lights as a means to make it through the crowd. He didn't look back. If he did that, he would catch his eye or something.

If only he had normal clothes under this. He could just throw off the kimono to look different. A disguise would be perfect right now.

The fact that no one had been watching the garden for that long was worrisome. They were lucky that Shiro and Hiroko were the only ones who visited that garden. Geo was worried about there not being anyone standing guard. What if something happened? Shiro was depending on them to make sure that everything would be okay. After what he had seen of the curse's affect on him, Geo didn't want anything to happen to him. They were so close to getting the one thing that this whole pack had been waiting for.

He swore if he had to throw an Alpha off of him, he would. Consequences be damned.

"That was a really good plan of yours," Alex wound up next to him again, making him jump. "Bait and switch. Not bad. Only, you got my type wrong when it comes to guys."

"Look," Geo sighed. He didn't have enough time for this. "I have something that I need to do at the moment."

"Like interrupting Jett and Shiro?" Alex gave him an all knowing smile.

"No," Geo frowned. Was this guy onto him the whole time? "I needed to check on something. It's a bit hard to explain, but it should only take a few minutes."

"You know," Alex put an arm over his shoulders. "I have a feeling that our respective alphas gave us both the same plan."

"Plan?"

"Don't think I'm dumb enough to think that the light shit wasn't planned," Alex shook his head. "That was pretty cool, by the way. You're going to have to show me how you weasel your way around so easily."

"Oh, that's easy," Geo smiled again. "It's just like this."

A loud sound came from the other direction. He had timed it at the perfect moment for some of the servants to close some heavy doors to the trucks that they were using. As soon as Alex was distracted from that, he disappeared into the shadows.

Ha. Try and beat that.

He ran silently through the shadows that the trees provided. He made sure to duck low and try to hide in the fog. The fog was always your friend when doing things like this. And, as long as he stayed silent, Alex shouldn't know where he went.

The garden was pretty far off. It was the perfect spot for a private discussion because no one usually went that way. And it was still outside, which gave them more breathing room if they needed it.

They were still there. It looked like Jett was showing him something. He looked calm at least. It didn't seem like he was going to try and mark him. But mates always had that instinct. And it seemed like the Valor Pack were the ones keen to their wilder side.

Shiro looked happy at least. It was always hard to get him to actually be happy. Geo didn't know how the guy was able to juggle all the responsibilities that he had, but it really seemed to wear him down. He was sure that Alpha Sakdah wasn't helping him with that. He always loved to give Shiro more work to do.

Then they hugged. Geo could smell Jett's arousal even from as far as he was. That wasn't a good sign. If he didn't control it, that could mean that he was going to try to mark him again. And that would give Alpha Sakdah all the ammo he needed on him.

"Don't," he heard a familiar voice say. He looked over to see Alex giving him a serious look this time.

"How do you keep finding me?!" Geo just about had it up to here with this guy! Sure, he was fun to talk to at first. But the fact that he could find him better than even Shiro at some points was alarming.

"It helps when I know where you're going," Alex chuckled. "Look, I don't know what plan you guys have, but don't interrupt them."

"I'm only going to if he tries to mark him," Geo told him.

"Why?" Alex sneered. "What's wrong with marking him? It's what every mate does. Is his girlfriend going to have a problem with it or something?"

"What?" Geo shook his head. He completely forgot that they all still thought that Tammy and Shiro were together. "Shiro doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Don't play games with me," Alex said. "I saw her hanging off from him."

"She's not his girlfriend," Geo said. "Look, it's a long story."

"I've got time."

Geo sighed. This guy was persistent. He missed when he was simply flirting with him.

"It just started out as a rumor," he explained. "And then they just never said anything against it."

"Then why was she hanging on his arm?" Alex asked.

"Look," Geo pinched his nose. This was too difficult to explain. "I can't tell you everything, alright? Just please, take my word on this. They aren't dating."

"And why should I take your word on it, Trickster?" Alex got that smirk back on his face. Geo liked that a lot better than the sneer. That reminded him too much of some of the elders here.

"Because if Shiro was dating someone," Geo said. "He wouldn't be talking to your alpha for this long, or looking at him all lovey dovey."

"Why doesn't he want to be marked?"

"That's for him to answer," Geo shrugged. "I'm just meant to stand guard."

"Your pack is weird," Alex shook his head. "You know it's not good to wait to mark each other, right? That's kinda why we were trying to hurry this along."

"There's a reason," Geo sighed. He wasn't sure how much of this he could take. Luckily, Alex didn't try and get him to leave the area. They both just stood there watching the garden for a second or two.

"Who was the guy you were trying to hook me up with?" Alex asked.

"I wasn't trying to hook you up with anyone," Geo rolled his eyes. "It was meant to simply distract you."

"You're way too good at that," Alex told him. "But you still didn't get my type right."

"And what's your type? Since you're being so adamant about that."

"You."

What? He was thrown off by that. As much as he thought the guy was handsome, he wasn't exactly ready to jump right into another relationship. Not with his eighteenth birthday being so close. He didn't know whether he was going to find his mate right when he turned or not, but he was hoping to kinda stay hidden until after Shiro became Alpha. That way he wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the curse.

"Well, I'm sorry," Geo said. "But you're not my type."

"Yes, I am," Alex smiled at him. His stance oozed confidence. The typical Valor mindset. Geo had learned that well from school. Many students from Valor were overly confident about the dumbest things.

"No, you aren't," Geo slitted his eyes.

"I'm not going to be as toxic as that ex of yours."

"I'm not interested."

"I can't fake cry, so that's a plus."

"I'm still not interested."

"I'm good in bed. I think that gives me an A."

"That gives you a D," Geo raised an eyebrow. "And I'm still not interested."

"What if I gave you the D?"

"Oh, fuck off," Geo couldn't help but laugh. This was all so dumb. "What are you, twelve?"

"Oh, if you like jokes like that, I've got loads more," Alex smirked at him.

"I'll pass."

"You sure?"

Holy crap this guy was more talkative than Wiatt. Before Geo could say anything back to him, though, he heard faint laughter coming from the garden. His head snapped back there to see Shiro and Jett both walking out, looking at them.

"What are you two doing over here?" Alpha Jett asked. He was looking mainly at Alex. He was sure that they were mind linking or something.

"Oh, just thought we'd join in on the fun," Alex put his arm over his shoulders again. "Since the both of you decided to put us on the same task."

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked him.

"Well, I thought it was kind of funny just how easy it was to distract your friends," Alex said. "Besides this one, of course."

"I'm not a 'this one'," Geo shrugged the guys arm off. Shiro seemed more than amused by this. If it were anyone else, he'd be pissed off at them. But it wasn't very often that Shiro looked this happy. So, he'd take one for the team, he supposed.

"You were trying to distract them?" Shiro asked.

"We figured it'd be best to have your privacy," Alex explained. "But I have a hunch that you two think alike when it comes to these situations."

"Did you plan on distracting my pack?" Jett looked at Shiro quizzically.

"Yes," he answered. "Hiroko was supposed to guard the garden, though."

"She got sidetracked with Bree," Alex answered.

So, this was a plan? That they all got caught in the middle of? It made sense why it was so difficult to shake Alex off. Also, why the guy was standing in that hallway right when he was talking to Jimmy. Of course, it was obvious now that he was also trying to hit on him.

Geo sighed again. This was too stressful for a night that was supposed to be fun.

"Come on," Jett said. "This might be better talked out than anything else."

Geo followed them, looking up at the stars as they walked towards the house. He hoped that his mate wasn't going to be as difficult as this. He hoped that he could have at least one thing easy, for once in his life.

He hoped that this would soon be over.