Ch. 21..25: The Werewolf's Vampire Mate Chapter 21-25

Chapter 21: See things for what they really are.

Beau.

He goes out of the room and I go into the bathroom to have a quick shower. The water is hot, and as I close my eyes letting it run over my body; I think about him and how far we have come. Being with him is easy, I don’t worry.

I get out of the shower and Lanis is sitting on the bed with a dazed expression. He is biting his nails. I didn’t know he had that habit. I smile because I am finding out more things about him and the more I find out, the more intrigued I am with everything that he is.

"Hey," I walk over to him and plant a soft kiss on his lips. He grabs my hands and holds unto them tightly "Is everything okay?" I am worried. He manages a faint smile. I can feel it, he is scared. My heart beats to his pain. He needs to talk to me "You can talk to me" I remember how his brother came to drag him earlier. I am only wearing one of his boxers.

"Something happened. Last night when I went to help Rus out. Some people died. I didn’t kill them; I swear." he is rambling. I don’t understand what he is saying but it is scaring him. I don’t want him scared; I will protect him.

"Whoa. Just breathe okay," I sit down next to him on the edge of the bed and he welcomes me into his arms. Tears fall down his face and I am angry with myself. Fuck, why does he always cry when he is with me. I am supposed to make things easier for him but it seems like all I do is make them harder "Why am I crying? Shit," he lets go of my hands and starts to wipe the tears off his face. He is spiraling.

"Babe. Look at me," I pull his face until he is looking at me. "Talk to me. I will never judge you" I assure him. He stops crying. Or at least he attempts to. "What happened last night?" I genuinely want to know. He mentioned something about people dying. That has me on alert.

"Rus was in a fix last night," he takes a deep breath and I nod for him to continue "He called me, apparently he messed with the wrongs guys at a bar. I went over to help him. When I got there, I found out that they were wolves," I open my eyes shocked from his words. He fought with wolves. That can’t be good.

"Do you know who they are?" I am worried in case its someone close to me. Shit, he talked about people dying. Did he kill my brothers?

"No. I didn’t want to fight with them. I made sure I was calm. They left" I nod. Okay, he didn’t fight. That means he didn’t do anything. Everything is okay.

"This morning they were found dead. Close to Russo’s. In the woods," my world freezes. My heart shatters into a million pieces. Two of my brothers found dead. This cannot be happening. I let go of him and he looks at my hands that were once holding unto him. My expression is shell shocked.

"You didn’t do this?" I manage to speak.

He nods "I swear on my life. I apologized. I made sure no one was hurt. Not even Rus."

I stand up from the bed "I need to go home. I need to find out who it is. Shit, father is probably looking for me everywhere," I run my hands through my hair and search around for something to wear. This is more than just me and Lanis and even though I believe he didn’t do this, if this is somehow linked to him in anyway it will cause a lot of trouble for us. No one will even agree to let us be together.

"Here you go," he gives me a pair of sweats. I didn’t even know he stood up. I grab the clothes from him and manage a faint smile "I promise it’ll be okay" I try to assure him but I don’t even know if I believe myself.

"Do you believe I didn’t do this?" he wants to know if I trust him. I trust him with my whole being. There is no doubt in my mind that he did do this. I believe in him 100%. "I do," I walk over to him after wearing his clothes. His scent fills me in completely "I trust you," I kiss him and he welcomes me wholeheartedly. I leave him and I know he isn’t sad anymore.

He only needs validation from me.

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

I get home and Rex is standing outside with a worried expression on his face. He opens his eyes wide upon noticing me "Where have you been?" he runs over to me. I push him away because I can’t think right now. I know there will be a meeting and that is where I need to be. I run until I am in the meeting room. Everyone is gathered.

They all have sullen expressions on their faces. I look around to see who is missing. I need to know who was killed and I need to know now. I count the faces and dread kicks in when I realize that Mali and Win are not here.

I close the door and it makes a loud bang which makes everyone’s attention to face me. Father frowns; he is angry but I don’t care right now "Where’s Mali." he’s the one I am most concerned about.

Mali is my cousin.

"Sit down" Father warns me. I oblige obediently. Taking the nearest sit to the door. I face the alpha and he continues speaking "This is clearly an attack. I have spoken to shames. He’s in charge of the autopsy. Once we get the full details, we will know what to do?" he is angry. Everyone in this room is angry.

"It’s obvious who did this. It’s the vamps. We should take two lives for the lives we lost" Uncle Fallon shouts with so much anger in his voice. I stiffen in my seat. They can’t start a war between both kinds. Not when I have all these emotions in me, not when I need him in my life.

"Calm down Brother. Let’s wait for the autopsy. We don’t want to start a war until we are sure" Father says.

"We can’t start a war" I speak up suddenly not wanting to encourage this. No matter what happened; we shouldn’t start a war with them. No one will win from a war. It is not worth it.

"if it comes to it, we have no choice" the meeting ends with fathers’ final words. Nobody is going to disobey him; they will only listen to him. As the people in the room get smaller, I stand up in an attempt to run away before he gets a hold of me "Don’t you dare" his voice is stern and cold. The shivers run down my spine. He knows I left last night; so, he obviously knows that I went to Lanis.

I remain standing, terrified of what he is going to do "Dad." I speak but he shakes his head and walks out of the room—stopping in front of the door "Follow me" I obey and we walk until we are outside. We keep walking until we are in the underground bunker. We get to the bunker. it is an underground cave. This is the first time he is letting me come here. When I was younger and I asked why he always used to say its adult stuff.

This doesn’t have anything to do with him believing I am old enough. Whatever he wants to show me must be a way to convince me that being with Lanis is a bad idea. He stops moving, the tunnel is dark so I squint my eyes to see clearer. My night vision kicks in. I look around and there are carvings on the walls. It’s all like a story, the evolution of our kind. It’s easy to understand. Once there was man and man became wolf. I keep walking tracing all the pictures carved on the walls. He watches me, but remains quiet. The further I go the clearer the story becomes. I see death, the contention. The pictures are too vivid. he wants me to feel the pain of the people that died in the contention. This doesn’t change anything; I don’t care about the past. I only care about my future with Alanis.

"Why are you showing me this?" I ask him because I need to know. I need him to understand that I can’t just stop myself from loving Alanis and I don’t even want to.

"You need to see the harm the vampires can inflict"

"Dad, they lost people too" I defend his kind. This was a war and it was between two not just one. They didn’t just start killing our kind for no reason. It was both parties that agreed to the fighting. So, he can’t just stand there looking all gloom and try to blame them alone.

"Do you know what happened? Don’t you want to know why the war even started in the first place" This is the first time he is talking to me about this. No one talks about why the killings occurred.

"You never tell me about it"

He nods. He walks closer to me and places and arm over my shoulder. He leads me to another room and there are chairs in this room. There is a fire place and it is burning out flames. "Sit down" he urges. I oblige and take a seat. He sits down on the chair next to me.

"We didn’t have any problem with the vampires. They moved into our town. They came and made themselves known. We have been here for 100 of years. There had been peace until they came. They started killing the humans. They were dropping bodies like flies all to quench their blood thirst. It had nothing to do with us, but we protect humans and we couldn’t just stand by and not do anything"

He looks at me for some sort of reaction. He wants me to be angry and yes, I am angry. They killed humans. All vampires do is hurt the innocent. That is the plight they have been dealt with. "We spoke to their elders. They laughed in our faces. They said we can share this town. That if we had a problem with it; we could leave. They asked us to leave the place we started. The place we call our home’’ he shouts "They had the audacity."

"Father," I plead. Desperate to stop him from telling me this story. I don’t want to think of Lanis is any other way. He is a nice person. He doesn’t kill people. He is one of the good ones.

"Your supposed mate is not so innocent" he speaks up and I realize I said everything out loud. Fuck.

"You have to know that every vampire is a murderer. They have all killed. It is in their DNA"

I shake my head "You don’t know that."

He laughs "He is a vampire and if you mate with him. That means you are accepting them all. You are accepting all murderers."

His words are affecting me a lot. He is getting into my skin. The fact that I hate vampires so much. They killed my mother, the killed my brothers. They killed my family and now I want to welcome one into my family. running my hands through my hair I release a heavy sigh "It’s not fair to do this to me"

His expression is calm "This is the right thing to do. I have to let you know that you will be making the biggest mistake of your life mating with that vampire. You need to know that being without a mate is the better option"

I shake my head "No it’s not" I hold unto the collar of his shirt. His scent fills into my nostrils "I will die without him. As long as he is alive, I will die if I am not with him." that is how I feel. I miss him, and I just left him. I don’t want him sad; I don’t want him angry. I only want to make him happy. He has suddenly become the most important person in my life. He means more to me than the man standing in front of me. That is how strong this pull between us is. That is what father doesn’t understand.

"We can find a way to make him not alive anymore" my eyes open wide from the shock of his words. I jolt up from the chair and fold my hands in a fist. Anger seeping through me "Don’t you ever go anywhere near him" I grab him by the collar of his shirt. I don’t care that he is the Alpha. I don’t care that I answer to him. If he tries to hurt Lanis; I will kill him.

He doesn’t say anything. He is watching me with curiosity. My hands squeeze his shirt tighter. I am the angriest I have ever been "I will desert this family and everything I have known just to be with him. I will not fight this war you people want to start. I am old enough to make my choices and I choose him" I don’t recognize my voice. I have never had this reaction before. Just the thought of losing Lanis is making me crazy.

Father grabs my hand in his grip but I don’t cower. I stay firm on the point I am trying to make. He needs to know that I am serious "You will leave the pack for him?" he asks in disbelief.

I nod not backing down.

He laughs "Then you are a fool," he pushes my hands away from him and walks away with not another word. I stand in that room unsure of anything.

Chapter 22: Betrayal

RICK. (Beau’s Father)

I walk till I get to her tombstone. My heart aching from all that is happening. People are dying and it is happening all over again. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make everything okay. As the alpha of the pack, everyone is looking to me to lead them to the right path but what do I do if I don’t know what that path is?

i stop in front of her grave and my heart beats. No matter what happens to your mate. You will always feel them. I can feel her even though she is dead. He name is on her tomb stone. Loraine Foxly. Mother and beloved wife. She left me and now I am alone.

Beau doesn’t understand responsibilities. He has never understood. He lives for the moment but that is not how life is. He can’t just think about himself. He has to think of the pack. I need him to understand where I am coming from; no matter what I do, he will always see me as the enemy. I know what is going to happen. I can already see it. Once people find out about his mating, they will challenge him being the alpha. No one will accept him; they will try to dethrone him—even kick him out of the pack. I am only thinking about him and when I am no longer here but he doesn’t want to understand.

"Loraine" I say her name and release a breath of relief. Saying her name is pure bliss. I miss her so much. I want to know what she is thinking about this situation. What advice would she give me if she was still alive. I am worried that what I am doing will end up pushing my son away. Beau has always been rash and him talking about deserting is scarier than mating with a vampire. I don’t want to lose him because of my reasoning.

"What should I do?" I am desperate for some answers. If only someone could help me. Talk to me. Make me understand the right thing to do. "He is in love and I am making him let go of his true love. Is this the right thing to do?"

I know what Loraine would’ve said. She would’ve told me to be a good father. To support him no matter what.

How do I be a good father and protect him at the same time. People are dying again.

"I need you right now" I fall to my knees and the tears start to fall. As the alpha I am not allowed to cry. I always have to keep up the façade that I am strong enough but being here. Next to my one true love all the weakness that I have hidden all my life resurfaces and I know what to do. I know what I have to do. I have to support him. I have to be by his side through his challenges. He is my son. The most important person to me and I shouldn’t push him away. I attempt to stand up. I need to let him know that I accept him. My knees weaken and I fall back to the ground. A sudden sharp pain seeps through my chest.

"Fuck," I try to crawl my way back to him but all the strength in me is gone.

I Look up and a figure is sprawled blocking the rays of the sun. I squint my eyes and recognize the person "What are you doing here?" I manage still in immense pain. The person is smiling, like watching my pain is the happiest thing he has ever witnessed. I reach for them but my body has completely given up "Help me brother," I plead trying to hold them.

He laughs and my heart breaks from the betrayal. Suddenly everything is clear. Whatever is wrong with me is because of him "What did you do to me?" I manage.

He continues laughing and I feel his kick "You deserve this. You will die and no one will help you," the evil smile is heart breaking. I never knew he felt this way. I never know he wanted me dead. This is my family. He is supposed to be by my side. I am supposed to be able to count on me and now he is going to be the end of me. I can’t believe I wanted Beau to risk losing his one true mate for people that would rather see him dead.

I scream from the pain and he laughs harder "I really am sorry for this brother" he goes on his knees and my heart breaks that this is the last face I will see before i join Loraine. I close my eyes because I cannot die without Beau knowing that I accept him. I need him to fight for his love.

I connect my mind link to his with one last message.

Fight for him. Never let go of your mate.

He grabs until my neck in a choke hold and I feel the most intense pain as my body snaps away from my neck. The last person I see before I lose all the life in me is my Blood brother with the evillest expression on his face.

Fallon.

Chapter 23: Death of the Alpha.

Beau

I jump up when I hear it.

Fight for him. Never let go of your mate.

Father sent me a mind link. Something is wrong; I can feel it in my bones. I am still in the underground cave. I have been staring into space unsure of what to do. Terrified by the message, I run out and into the house in search of him. I check his room and everywhere else. He is nowhere to be found.

"Rex," I walk into his room and he jolts up the bed. "Have you seen the Alpha?" I ask. I am getting scared because he wouldn’t send me a mind link from a distance unless it was important. He sounded like he was in pain. What if something has happened to him?

"No."

"Shit." I run my hands through my hair. I walk out of the house and rip my clothes off my body. I turn immediately in need of a higher sense. Once I am fully turned, I inhale trying to find his scent. I run into the woods as I catch a glimpse of him. Looking around I search desperately for him. I feel it in my bones, something has happened to him. He is hurt and alone and the last thing I told him was me deserting him.

I howl loudly letting my cries fly into the sky. I run until his scent gets closer. Smelling blood; I stop with shivers running down my fur. His blood is strong making me not want to explore this any further. I am terrified of what I am going to find. I stop in front of the entrance to the graveyard. I know he is here; his scent is too strong. Turning back to my human form, I take a deep breath. "What is going on?" I turn around and Rex is at my back. I didn’t know he even followed me.

My mind must have been too fixated on finding him.

"Father sent me a link. He sounded like he was in pain and his scent is here. There is so much blood," I tell him because I am still so scared. I don’t want to find him anymore. I don’t want to find him in the way I think he is.

"You think someone hurt him?" Rex questions.

I shrug "What if he is dead? The blood scent is just too strong," I sniff again and the smell is urging me to go forward.

"We should go check. He might be hurt," Rex takes the first step and I follow him at his back scared of what we might find. I am a couple of inches behind him. My eyes are closed because I am still scared to look. My smell sense heightens. The smell is disgusting, almost like death.

"Fuck," Rex cries and the tone of his voice has the hairs on my arms standing. The shiver in my spine is to the bone. I know it is not good. I don’t want to look. I can’t open my eyes. I feel the pain before even knowing what has happened.

"Who did this? Beau open your eyes," Rex pleads with so much desperation etched to his voice. His voice is shaky.

"I can’t," I manage.

He walks back to me and grabs both my hands in his "We need to get the others," he cries still holding unto me. I shake my head because I am frozen to the ground. I don’t think I can move from this position. I know he is dead. Someone killed my father.

"Is he dead?" I ask just to be sure.

"Yes," Rex pulls me to the exit of the graveyard "Come on, you don’t need to see this" I follow him unsure of what to do. How to react. My father is dead. I open my eyes as we reach the gated exit of the cemetery. I don’t know what compels me but I turn around and I see him. His body is a couple of feet away from his head. I stop and Rex sighs when he notices that I have seen him. "Let’s go Beau. Come on," he tries to pull me away from the view but it is too late. This image will forever be etched to my memory.

I push his hand away from my arm and walk back to the body. His eyes are open. I can’t imagine what he must have gone through in the last minute. The pain he must have been in. Tears fall from my eyes and onto the cold ground. He died beside mother’s grave. He died alone. "Dad" I cry hoping this is just a dream. I want to wake up from this nightmare. I would take anything for this to be a dream, I’d do anything for this not to be real "Please wake up daddy," I plead desperately.

Rex is next to me and he is crying too. I can’t focus on anything at this moment. He sent me a mind link knowing he wouldn’t be able to tell me in person. He didn’t want to die without accepting me and Lanis. I’d take him being alive over anything "Daddy," I continue still crying. I don’t know how to feel. I am so numb right now; still in disbelief.

I hear shrieks which makes me turn; a lot of people are gathered; I didn’t even know when they came. The only person I see is Isabella. She is standing by the corner unsure of what to do. I need her warmth; she has always been the only person to be able to comfort me. I need her right now. It is almost like she reads my mind because she walks over to me and I am in her arms. We are both crying. This is affecting her as much as me. Dad was like a father to her too. "I’m so sorry baby," she cries into my arms.

At this moment I am completely lost. I don’t know who did this and why they did this but I will find out and I will kill them.

Chapter 24: Take the pain away

Alanis.

The wind is so loud that the branches by my window hit it loudly. The rain pours heavily and I feel a twinge in my chest. Something is wrong—asides the fact that two people are dead. I’ve been waiting for any news on how they died but nothing has come up. The worry is eating me slowly and I miss him. I wish he was here but I know he needs to be home. With his family.

I don’t know why I feel like something terrible has happened but the rain in the night sky is not helping matters. I sent Beau a couple of texts to make sure he is okay but I haven’t heard anything from him yet. Hearing a loud knock on the window, I walk over to it and he is standing on the branch drenched. I open the window hurriedly. He jumps into the room and that’s when I see the tears. He is crying. The water dripping unto my carpeted floor mixes with his tears.

"What happened?" it has only been a couple of hours since I saw him. Does he know the people that died? Of course, he does. They are his family. I feel more guilty now, knowing I was somehow involved even though I didn’t kill them. What if they didn’t have to deal with Rus? They might still be alive. He walks so slowly and rests his chin on my shoulder still crying. I wrap my arms around his waist and his tears become louder and messier. I don’t care that he is getting me wet, I don’t care that he is a mess right now; I just want to be there for him.

He stays in my arms for a while and I hold him until he is ready to let go. Beau doesn’t let go as he smashes his lips to mine. The kiss is angry. I can feel it "Babe" I try to pull him away from me but he is too strong. He slides his tongue into my mouth and pushes me to the bed. I don’t know what he is doing. He is still crying and now he wants to take off my clothes. "Stop," I hold him by the waist.

He pulls away from me but only briefly "I need to feel something other than anger. Please let me," he is still crying and my heart is hurting from the pain in his eyes. I can’t say no to him. If he needs this then I will give myself to him with no objections. The love I have for this man is too strong. Him being in pain is making me in pain.

I kiss him and he closes his eyes taking control of the situation. He starts to unbutton my shirt and I watch him as he struggles to kiss me and do that at the same time. I grab his hand; he is trembling on top of me. "What happened?" I ask him. He ignores me and pulls at my shirt; he uses to much force that the buttons come off and fly everywhere. He doesn’t seem to care because he just continues trying to get me naked. His lips move to my neck and I have mixed emotions. I want to enjoy his touch but I can’t when he is in this state. I need to know what is wrong. I wish he could just talk to me.

He reaches for my belt and unbuckles it. He is quick to take my clothes off. This is not about him wanting to feel. It feels like he wants to have sex. He knows we can’t.

I watch him wanting to see where he is going with this. He doesn’t stop until I am naked. His eyes stare at me hungrily and I understand why he is doing this. Somehow sex is a coping mechanism for him, whatever is going on must be too much for him and he wants to forget about it.

I wish I could make him forget about it. I want to be that comfort for him but I also know that giving him what he wants right now could make me lose him forever. I can’t take that risk; he is all I want in life. Still kissing him; I run my fingers through his hair, in a way to let him know that I am here for him. He stops suddenly and we look at each other. The tears in his eyes have stopped but the sad expression on his face is still there. I continue my hand movements on his hair and he closes his eyes. Taking steady breaths. No one says anything, I don’t have anything to say. He knows my heart and I know he will talk to me when he is ready. After a couple of seconds, he rests his head on my chest and I continue my gentle strokes on his hair. It seems to be helping him and I will do anything if it’ll make him feel better.

He remains quiet and after a while, I hear his slight snores. I look at him and his eyes are closed. Thank God he is asleep. I needed him to calm down and I guess whatever I just did, worked. I place him on the bed but he holds unto me and opens his eyes "Don’t leave me" he sounds like a child and I just want to take care of him.

I hold him again and he continues sleeping. I close my eyes because I have to be in this position until he wakes up. I have to be in his arms; I have to be by his side.

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

I open my eyes to the blaring of the sun and suddenly the rain from last night is like a vivid dream. Beau is still holding unto me tightly. He chest rises and falls against my arms. I am glad he slept all night; he was in a bad state of mind last night and I still don’t know the reason why. It has something to do with the death of the people in his pack.

I let go of him quietly and this time he doesn’t budge. He is probably mentally tired from all that is happening. I put on my clothes from last night—even the ripped shirt and walk out of my room. Eligio comes out of his room at the same time as me and smiles warmly "Good morning," he walks over to me.

I manage a smile. My door is slightly open and he peers into it with a smirk "Is he okay?" he asks.

I nod "Yeah, he just had a rough night."

I close the door and that gets a laugh out of him "Everyone heard you guys last night," he tells me. It is impossible to get any privacy in this house. You know the saying the walls have ears? Well, the hearing in my family is exquisite. Everyone has heightened hearing. So, everyone is in everyone’s business.

"Well, you guys chose to listen in. I got to go make something for him to eat," I walk to the stairs but stop "Has anyone heard anything about the bodies?"

He shakes his head "Father is waiting on the autopsy result," he tells me.

I sigh and run my hands through my hair "I’ll talk to Beau when he wakes up,’’ Eligio nods and follows me downstairs. I make eggs and sausages for him and go back to the room with the tray. He is awake and seated on the bed. He is in tears again.

This is torture. Watching him hurt and not being able to do anything. I drop the tray on the bed and he looks at it almost like he is unsure of what to do with it. I sit down next to him "How are you now?" my voice is calm; I want to comfort him. Let him know that he can trust me.

"Not okay," he answers honestly.

I place my hand on his shoulder and he grabs it tightly "Is this about the murder?" I inquire.

He shakes his head and wraps around my arms again crying. Fuck, what is going on? This is a lot and I can see the struggle it is taking for him to hold on. "He’s gone. They killed him" he cries into my arms. Suddenly things get clearer as he tries to open up to me "They killed my father. What do I do, I don’t even know what to do. He died and the last thing I told him was that I was going to desert him."

His father is dead?

Chapter 25: Spiraling

Beau

I am weak.

I pull the covers over my head, feeling numb to everything. Alanis doesn’t know what to do. He is walking on eggshells around me. I completely understand why but I just need the space to breathe. He has done a lot for me; just being here with me is plenty. I am so tired of crying.

I hear is footstep around the room but I can’t muster the courage to look at him. I told him everything. I still can’t believe it. I don’t know what to think. It is all surreal to me. The fact that I only have memories of the man I look up to. The fact that I can’t talk to him, or hold him anymore. In the blink of an eye I lost my father.

The door to his room opens and I hear the voices. They are whispering but their words are clear as day "There is some footage from that night. I think you need to see it," Someone says but the voice is unrecognizable.

Alanis replies "Come on, let’s take it to your room," I hear them walk out of the room. I stand up from the bed in search of my phone. I find it on the floor and see a bunch of missed calls. Mostly from Rex but I see 2 from uncle Fallon.

Why Is he calling me?

I dial his number and he answers the call on the first ring "Where are you?" his voice is stern and very cold. The hatred I feel for him hits me instantly. I am not in the mood for any attitude from him. My father’s body isn’t even cold yet.

"I just needed to breathe. Just give me a day."

He laughs into the phone. How can he be laughing right now? Nothing about this situation is funny. "You need to come back right now. Decisions need to be made. Your father is dead," he reminds me like somehow in the span of a couple of hours I have forgotten the most painful thing to ever happen to me.

I sigh at his words because he is only interested in moving on and choosing the next alpha. I haven’t even fully come to terms with all that has happened. I am still grieving.

"I can’t come home right now. Please uncle. Just give me a couple of days. I am begging you," I beg him desperate for an escape from the reality I am in. He laughs again and frankly his laugh is fucking pissing me off. "You have no choice. We need to make arrangements. Bury Rick, choose a new Alpha" I freeze at his words because suddenly the reason why he is so concerned is clear. He just cares about the title. He will find a way to prove that I am not ready for the commitments.

I know for sure.

"Please give me today. I just need one day."

"Just one day," he ends the call without waiting for my reply. I drop the phone beside me on the bed and Lanis walks into the room. He smiles probably happy that I am awake and not crying.

"Hey," he moves closer and stops at the edge of the bed. He eyes are looking everywhere but at me. He is scared to do or say the wrong thing "How are you feeling now?"

Like shit.

"Okay I guess," I lie because I want him to stop worrying. I get up from the bed and walk over to him. The smile is still on his face. For the first time today, I notice how tired his eyes looks. There are dark circles around them. All this is probably exhausting to him.

"Do you want to eat something. You didn’t touch the breakfast I made. I could whip something up for you," he is still worrying about me. This man in front of me is the best thing to ever happen to my life. He doesn’t push me to talk, he doesn’t care about anything but me being okay and that is all I need right now. I grab his hands in mine and the smile on his face widens. He likes my touch. The sparks fly and dance around my tummy because this is all it takes to get me excited with this man.

I lean forward and plant a soft kiss on his lips. He closes his eyes wanting more from the kiss and I give it to him by sliding my tongue into his mouth. He moans into my mouth and all is suddenly forgotten in the world. No matter what I face; I know with him I will be okay. The earth could move, the ocean could overflow but as long as Lanis is by my side, I will be okay.

His heart makes a thud and I feel it as he gets closer to me. We are chest to chest, lips to lips and I feel ecstatic. I am suddenly thankful to the gods for giving me an opportunity to feel this.

To be loved by him.

We kiss for a while. Just being in each other’s arms. It feels like the blissful caress of cool cotton sheets. When we pull away from each other; we are both smiling. "Hi," he voices out still smiling. His voice is husky and deep. I like the way he sounds when he is hot and bothered from my touch; it drives me crazy.

"Hi," I reply calmly.

He reaches for me and brushes a strand of hair out of my face. I grab his hand in mine and the squeeze is comforting "Thank you for everything" I tell him.

He furrows his brows "For what?" he asks confused.

I plant a kiss on his right cheek "For being an amazing boyfriend," I kiss his left cheek "For holding me all night while I was a mess," I kiss his lips "For loving me."

He chuckles "I like it when you call me your boyfriend," he is crimson red. How is he full of color when he is with me? This is a man that is usually as pale as snow all the time. But when I hold him, or kiss him, his cheeks turn a fiery red. I will never understand.

"Well get used to it. Cause you can’t run away from me," I wink and his cheeks get even redder.

The door opens and someone walks in. They all have a problem with knocking in this house. It is the same person from earlier. Alanis moves away from me and I roll my eyes confused as to why he is embarrassed. The person coughs nervously "Father wants to see you two."

Lanis raises a brow "Why?"

"Just come dude. Bring your boyfriend" he leaves the room obviously uncomfortable with my presence. I can totally understand him but my hatred towards his kind no longer exists.

Alanis sighs and runs his hands through his hair "Shit, you don’t need this right now. You can just wait here; I’ll explain to them" he is trying to get me out of whatever they want to talk about but the fact that they are including me makes me happy. They seem more accepting than my family.

"I can go down. It’s fine," I wave my hand in the air.

He smiles "You should put on some more clothes" I look down and realize I am in nothing but my Boxers. The fact that I couldn’t tell just shows how out of it I am. I grab a couple of his clothes and we walk out of the room together. This is the first time I am walking in his house. The walls are a beige color, there are pictures on the walls. They all look expensive.

"Don’t say anything offensive. You can’t call them blood suckers," he is warning me but there is a terrified expression on his face. I don’t intend to be rude to his family. I want them to accept me because I am not going anywhere.

He leads me down the stairs and we get to a room. Everyone is already gathered. There is a total of nine people in the room. They all look up when they see me. Their expressions are unreadable. The only person in this room that has a smile on his face is the one that called us here. They are all beautiful people. There is a girl I recognize; she goes to school with us.

"What is going on?" Lanis asks.

He grabs my hand and leads me to an empty seat. I sit down sweating from all the nervousness. I don’t want to say the wrong thing so I need to wait till they tell me why they wanted me here.

"Hello Beau," the oldest looking man speaks up. I am guessing this is his father.

"Hi," I mumble.

He smiles "You’ve been a frequent visitor at our house. We haven’t officially met," he walks over to me and stretches his hand "I am Cranwell. His smile is warm and kind. I feel like I can trust this man. His hair is gray around the edges but brown everywhere else. His eyes are also brown, but there is a spec of gold in both.

"I am sure you’re wondering why I asked to see you."

I nod.

"Well you are part of the family now. I wanted to officially welcome you to our family," my heart does a dance at his words because I didn’t expect this to be so easy. They don’t seem like accepting kinds but they are treating me like family already. "I spoke to one of the Eli’s," he looks away from me and faces Alanis. The expression on my boyfriend’s face is eager. Like is has been waiting for this moment for a while.

"And?" he asks.

"They have accepted this mating. They have arranged a meeting with Beau. He needs to be present for the meeting," they are talking like I am no longer in the room. Alanis nods immediately.

"When is this meeting?" I blurt.

Cranwell looks at me again still smiling "on the 15th"

I frown "That’s in a week."

He nods "Yes, is there a problem?"

I shake my head immediately. I don’t want to say anything that will get on his nerve. I will have to make the time for this meeting. The guy with the scariest face scoffs so loud that I turn and face him. The anger in his eyes is evident. He seems to have a problem with me. Maybe he is not as accepting as the others. I look at my boyfriend and he is glaring at the man. He has a problem with him too.

"So are we really going to stand here and act like this is normal," scary man snaps.

Alanis laughs "Well this is more normal than anything that has to do with you" he is intentionally trying to get on this man’s nerves. They must have history. I don’t know what it is but he doesn’t look at him the way he looks at the rest of the family. Scary man walks over to Alanis and breathes into his face "You watch, you will never get the end you are so desperate for. This will not work and you will cause more damage from this situation" he sounds like he knows something.

"Fuck off," Lanis pushes him which gets him caught off guard on the ground instantly.

"Darrien," the other brother warns him.

So, his name is Darrien. Darrien seems to be the most aggressive one in their group. He reminds me so much of myself. I always have snarky replies to everything. He doesn’t seem dangerous; just very angry. He stands up from the floor "You’re a fucking asshole," he nudges Alanis and I go into protective mode. I know he is not going to do anything to him, but my subconscious reacts so fast that even I don’t expect it.

I stand between them glaringly. Darrien laughs because this must be amusing to him "Ha, boyfriend to the rescue," he reaches for me and I grab his hand before he can touch me "Back off," I warn sternly.

The smile is still on his face "Be a good doggy and chill the fuck out," he uses his other hand to pat the top of my head and the anger in me erupts viciously. With everything that is going on in my life right now; this idiot just has to come out and add to it.

I grab his hand and push him so hard that he hits his back on the wall. No one in the room was expecting me to get angry so when I leap forward and grab him by the neck, they all try to pull me away but my grip is too strong. I want to hurt someone so bad. I want to let out all the anger in me and this vampire is the scapegoat.

He groans out in pain as I squeeze harder. The paleness of his skin becomes more evident as I suck the life out of him—if that is even possible, considering he is not human. He grabs my fists in an attempt to loosen my grip. I squeeze even tighter. I am on beast mode. I feel Alanis before he even speaks. His touch on my shoulder is soft. He is the only one that can calm me down and it is working. He pulls at my heart strings and suddenly all the anger in me is gone.

Darrien coughs as I let go of him and everyone is watching me with shock ridden expressions. I take a couple of deep breaths but all my attention is to Lanis. He smiles warmly and I feel better. Resting my forehead against his I control my breathing "Just breathe," his voice soothes me.

I don’t care that everyone is watching me. All I see is him. His eyes give me a comfort that I know I can always rely on. "Fuck man, I was only kidding" Darrien finally speaks up.

His hair is tousled "I’m sorry," I manage not really sorry. This man is a jerk and he should never pick on my boyfriend; hope he’s learnt his lesson. Lanis grabs my hand in his "He needs to rest." he is talking about me.

His father sighs "We need to show him the footage from that night. Maybe he knows who is responsible."

I furrow my brows. Lanis interjects "Not right now."

"Why?" I ask unsure of his reasons for keeping this from me.

"Babe, you need to sort things out at home first," he reminds me of the one thing I have been unable to forget. I shake my head because I don’t want to think about that right now. I know I need to go home; I need to figure out who murdered dad but right now, this could be a good distraction.

"I know. But you have no idea the implications of their deaths. My pack is already talking about a war. We need to find out what happened to them"

"They don’t actually think we had anything to do with this?" Cranwell asks.

I shrug "They know it’s a vamp. They think this was intentional. I need to show them the footage. Who did this?" I ask.

Cranwell walks to the desk and grabs a flash drive from the top drawer. He opens the lap top and inserts the drive. I walk over to him "There is a lot more footage that got lost but this is all we have" he explains as he plays the video.

I watch the scene play out. Alanis and his friend are close to the door. Mali and Win are opposite them. They are talking but there is no sound in the video. My brothers look angry. Like they want to attack but the scene that plays out warms my heart. All I see is the man I have come to love, and the way he handles everything. There is no anger in the way he is communicating. He is speaking calmly and trying to calm down everyone. I watch him as they walk away and I watch him as he goes back into the bar. My eyes go to the direction of the woods, in an attempt to see anything else. The door to the bar opens and a figure walks out. He is dressed in a black coat and a black hat. His face is fully covered. I watch as he walks to the direction Mali and Win went. He stops for a second and turns around. The camera grabs his face immediately. There is a smile on his face, but his eyes are hidden from view. I don’t know who did this but this is the person we should be looking for.

This is the person that wants to start the war.

This is the person that might have killed my father.