I had literally no words for David at the moment. He said that he wanted us to work. The only problem to that statement is that there was no us to work out. We had never been an item other than me going to him whenever I needed comfort. Part of me felt like I was only doing that because it was expected of me and he was always there when I needed him. The other part is that I just needed to keep my space at the moment.

"David," deciding that honesty was the best way to go, I got his attention, "There is no us to work out."

He looked a little disappointed by what I had to say and it was understandable. David grew up with this whole idea that there was this one person solely meant for him. I didn't grow up with that thought. I needed more time to understand all that was going on and he needed to understand that.

"I appreciate the space you have given me, David," I told him, "But I'm going to need more time. I hope you can understand that."

All he did was nod his head. He didn't say anything and it kind of made me feel bad. Maybe even a little bit guilty, but I couldn't change my mindset just to make someone else happy. I needed to put myself first since I could only rely on myself in this new life. This was the first time I was actually away from family and I was starting to realize what some college students must feel when they leave home for the first time.

There was a soft knock on the door and neither of us got up to go get it. Instead we listened to the door open, making us both look to see who it was. I was surprised to see yet another familiar face and was even more surprised with how green his eyes had gotten. His eyes were pretty much the same color green as Jack's.

"What did you do to get eyes like that," I asked Jared as he walked fully into the room.

David didn't seemed pleased to see him, "You have some timing to show up now."

"I waited until after you got rejected, but I would like some time to catch up with my friend since it's been a while since I saw her," Jared responded to David. He then sat down in the chair opposite of him with an expecting look. David rolled his eyes and got up from his spot to leave the room.

We watched as he left the room, none of us saying a word until the door was completely closed. As soon as I heard the click, I looked at Jared, "Now answer my question. How did your eyes turn into ones that Jack has?"

Jared let out a sigh before he answered, "I may have brought my fists to a knife fight." He then got up to lift his shirt to show me the stitches on his abdomen, "I might as well have been an animal at the butchers."

I could feel my face twist into a pained expression, "I'm sorry to hear that. Was it because of Katelyn?"

He nodded as he took his seat once again, "I really thought she would change for me. Turns out she had a lover who was expected to kill me on our wedding day. She was only in it for the money."

My heart broke for him. He had really thought he had found someone who loved him enough to get married. It just turned out that the rumors were true and he got the worse punishment for his choices. Jared was too nice of a guy to deserve something like that. Then something else popped into my head.

"How did you get a hold of Ricky's blood to save yourself?" I asked him.

"The hospital and a pint of it in storage specifically to give to me if anything like this happened," he answered, "It was in my record to give it to me no matter what in order to save my life."

"I thought they couldn't do that unless you consented to the whole joining the family," I mentioned.

"I did. With all of the rumors going around about Katelyn, I couldn't be too safe," he explained, "I'm glad that I did but my mother isn't too happy about it. She worked so hard to keep us away from this life."

"At least you can see your mom," I said mostly under my breath, but I forgot that Seadonnas had better hearing than a normal person.

Jared let out a sigh before he said anything, "I know this is hard on you. It usually is hard on all of us to turn because we get cut off from our families back home. But the government has it's guidelines that we have to follow in order to have protection from them if anything were to get out."

Like the shooting. That was something I didn't want to say out loud, but I couldn't help but have it cross my mind. The media covered it as a random act of terror while everyone in the family knew the truth. With how hostile the world has been for the past few years, it was believable to think that people were just retaliating for who knows what. No one was going to question when all of the police and media said that is was nothing to be scared of.

Suddenly the door to my room bursted open and Jake came running into the room yelling, "Finally!"

I braced myself to be tackled, but instead Jake stood over me with a pout on his face. He then held out his arms towards me. I ended up letting out a small chuckle as I got up from the couch to give him the hug he needed. Due to my pregnancy, it wasn't the life squeezing hugs that he usually gives. Instead he held on like I was his lifeline.

Jake then looked over his shoulder at Jared, "You can leave. Leah is mine now."

"Jake, we talked about manners," Jordan whined as he entered the room to stand next to Jared. All it did was make Jake stick his tongue out at him. I didn't realize I missed my best friend as much as I did until he was standing right in front of me. Or, at least hugging me like his life depended on it.