Leslie doesn't release me, but she does not attempt to start a conversation either. It worries me, because of all the things I've known her for—being quiet was not one of them. She is too deep in thought. To distracted while the distinct sounds of growls and curses float in from the woods that surround us.

Most of them from my mate.

My friend's fingers dig deeper into my shirt, pulling me a little closer and bringing my full attention to her. My hand moves to her thick, short hair while I press a hard kiss into her forehead. A show of affection I do not give often.

"Are you trying to figure out how I can be this hot, and my brother that ugly?" I joke, a long snort leaves her, and her tense body relaxes just a fraction at my attempt at humor. Leslie has always expressed how much my subtle push from a negative direction has always made her more comfortable.

Even after I'd found the woman cut open from one ear to the other, I'd managed to calm her panicked body and for the last few moments, she'd had before she took her last breath I'd gotten a smile. The moment I'd changed Leslie, something inside of me had turned. No longer was I a lonely vampire, roaming the earth and hiding from the monsters of my past. I'd had a partner in crime, a shoulder to lean on when I felt unsteady.

At times we were like sisters, others one of us the mom, and one a daughter. It always depended on the situation. She'd shown me what caring about someone was like—after so long without a family I finally had someone to love. I hadn't much believed in a bond, or a mate when Alarik had pulled me up by the throat that day. Or when he'd shoved those long teeth into my neck and entwined our souls—even if only a bit.

But from the moment the woman, currently wrapped around me, walked into my life, I knew fate had given me a soul mate of some kind. An unbreakable line between us, that would never falter even in the toughest of moments.

Leslie is young, and when you've been on this Earth for longer than her great, great grandmother it's hard to befriend those with so little understanding. The girl who had been brought with Ivan and my brother had only proven that point. They don't understand; they are lacking not only experience in all aspects of life and survival but also a mindset that very few vampires have now.

Sure, there are some vampires from the same time as me, but not nearly as many as you would think. I had run into a few of my kind from my original time throughout the years, but when conversations were brought up about changing...well it just was not something we did.

I had a few vampires running around, or that had been as I don't keep up, from when I was younger and thought I could create companions. When I'd become too lonely and thought a one-night stand could become mine forever. How wrong I had been.

Leslie was different than them all. When I changed her...my entire view of humanity changed. My bitter illusion of humans and their lack of need in this world changed, where I'd never thought them useless, I'd never held much respect for them. I'd always projected my feeling of being weak in that state, onto the ones who'd I'd lived beside for centuries. Then my friend came into my life.

Her fight to live, after being slit open and having less than minutes to live she'd still fought her way into my view. She clutched my bloodied shirt, looked into my eyes with hers, and begged for another chance at life. After years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse the woman had a chance to be free of pain. She could have ended her nightmares with a shake of her head. She didn't have to call my attention. But when I offered a life of vengeance and much prettier men she had given a gurgled laugh that turned into another sob.

A light-filled those fading eyes for just a moment.

Then our forever started.

Years of friendship, of companionship, that I had craved for so long but given up on. How could a human so young, so destroyed, come into my life, and begin fixing the parts of me that ached to be whole? Between her and Alarik, my soul has become something unrecognizable from what it was one hundred years ago.

"I thought you were an angel that night," Leslie whispers, and I give her a strange look at the random explanation. She laughs.

"A bloodied angel, who kept asking to drink your blood?" She rolls her eyes, another ghost of a smile moving over her lips. Her body maneuvers so that she is no longer laying against me, instead of sitting up, and her finger moves to begin playing with the braids in my hair.

"Well, as bloody and weird as you may have seemed I knew by your eyes you were going to help me. You were beautiful, and back then the stars were so much brighter—they were like a halo around you. I could barely hear you, whatever offer you gave me whether it had been a death or anything—I knew you had a good heart in doing it. No matter what, I've always trusted you and believed you would...be there to help. To warn me of anything that could happen." Her story that begun so happily is changing, her voice going quieter as I try to prepare myself. A look of shame crosses over her face, that bottom lip quivering. My brows furrow in confusion. "I should have told you when I'd walked in that other vampires were there..."

My body flies upwards, the tears start smearing her makeup and I try to shush her before she can go on. Her fingers don't leave my braids. She will not stop. She feels the need to apologize, and I cannot do anything to stop her from going through the pain of an explanation that she did not owe.

"When I came into the party, I just didn't know...I should have at least mentioned them, but everyone was having such a good time! Then, I saw you and you were so dressed up and looked happier than I think I have ever seen. When I looked around after a while, I realized they hadn't followed me inside and you didn't mention them. No one said anything about them." She is shaky as her fingers continue moving through my hair, something to distract her as she continues. "I had full conversations with him on the way through the territory. We laughed and joked about stuff the whole time, I mentioned why I was here and he just kept talking as if he isn't the one...the monster that hurt you.

I've never felt more disgusted in my life, Eira. He did so many things to you and your brother and your family, and even when I felt something was off about him, I still didn't put it together. I should have known—"

"Shut up," I growl at her, those eyes finding mine at my outburst of anger. "You did nothing to be sorry for, you didn't have any way of knowing who they were—so stop apologizing to me. You are with me, and everything is fine. Alarik and the rest of my pack will take care of them."

The sadness that sat in her eyes turns into something sinister once I've finished telling her to shut her lips and calm down.

"Your pack, huh?" I slap her hands away as laughter leaves us both. The door to my room opens, Valda's head pops in with a glum look etched across it. When I try to move from the bed, she puts up a hand and stops me, giving me a tired smile and shutting the door behind her as she enters the room.

"Everyone is okay, so don't worry. I just wanted to be here with you and make sure you aren't.... overthinking anything." I try to keep my face passive, but it doesn't work and the once cute moment between me and a friend dissipates into me needing answers.

"My brother, a vampire, is your mate. What is there to overthink?" She releases a shaky breath, staying a good distance away before shrugging. The most unsure I've ever seen this woman, and it's because of my brother.

"I told you it was a complicated situation," Valda says lightly, my raised brow has her throwing her hands up and moving to sit in the chair on the other side of my room. Her arms cross over her chest and I wait to hear about the male she rejected, the one who shares my blood.

"Did you not notice he looks just like me?" I question, curious as to how she missed that big red arrow. She groans and I know I should be more concerned with my mate and the pack than her failed mating, but I am nosey. Especially about this.

"I've only seen him a few times, Eira! And you know how long it's been since the last time I laid my eyes on the man—I didn't know he was about to prance onto our pack land and piss everyone off. I try to keep that man out of my head if you haven't noticed, and far away from Asger. He acts like a jealous child around that vampire." I don't push her to continue. Her heavy breathing telling me she needs a few moments to calm down and it makes sense to give that to her. She'd probably been dealing with him while I've been hiding away I the packhouse.

I watch her, being as patient as I can be as she closes her eyes and tries to extinguish whatever negative energy the newly arrived male has brought forth. He was still here, the brother I'd only just found out has been following the man who'd broken me—ruined me. How could someone ever love a man like that? A follower of a devil, but then again how could my mate ever be friends with that coven in the first place?

"Your brother isn't very good at letting things go, and I feel like now that he is locked up on our land, he will have some crazy idea that he can win me over. The whole time we dragged him to the cells, he was spouting all kinds of shit about you and me—about making things work out. He doesn't understand what his leadership has done, or that he's no better than him. I tried to explain the kind of man he has been with, what he's done to his family...but Xanth is brainwashed.

Nothing I said got through that thick skull of his. All he did was declare we would eventually mate, tell me Ivan will come back for him and talk about how bad of a person you are. That you left him, and the entire coven had convinced him you chose not to take him with you. He doesn't know the truth about anything." I bite my lip, the thought of doing the one thing I was good at a quick thought through my head.

One decapitation, or two, and this issue would be fixed. It's as if they can read my thoughts, and I received don't even think about it looks from them.

"Did they have any luck, with the search?" I question, trying to change the subject before I get yelled at for thinking murder is the answer to everything. Which, it usually is—but they don't get that.

"Alarik is worried that there are more vampires out there, waiting for something. They lost his scent a few miles in but picked up a lot when the wind got stronger for a few minutes, so be prepared to not leave this—"

Speak of the Lycan and he shall appear.

Valda is cut off by Alarik bursting through the door, his teeth elongated as his eyes move around until they settle on me. He's sweaty, breathing heavily and by the color of his eyes I know he's more beast than a man at this moment. No one speaks or moves while he sits there and takes me in. Slowly, his body calms until he can speak without a growl in his voice.

"You both can leave now." His dark eyes never move, but the Lycan and vampire don't waste time hauling themselves from the doorway while trying to avoid touching his monstrous frame in the process. When the door is close behind him, I bite my tongue, not sure of what to say.

I doubted a joke would work as well on Alarik as it did Leslie, and I was not interested in testing that idea. The first step he takes in my direction is met with a widening of my eyes, unsure of how to respond to this man in such a strange situation. I'm given one more look of lust before he makes a brisk walk to the bathroom—shutting the door and obstructing my view of him entirely.

Was he okay?

All my earlier thoughts that revolved around Ivan and my brother fade, until I'm back to the basics of trying to figure out our next step. Tonight would've been the perfect night to finish the bond. Alarik could have wrapped me in his arms, carried me here, and set me down on the bed. Either that or I would have jumped his bones on the porch and been forcefully carried up the staircase.

After everything that happened, I doubted tonight would be the best time to express my sudden change of heart and willingness to be his—finally. I'm talking myself out of it as I hear the shower running, telling myself that there is no way he would take me seriously after the hellish experience we'd just endured. I make the last-minute decision to throw caution to the wind with extraordinarily little thought.

My fingers rummage through drawers until I pull out a pair of lace underwear, and the matching bra that Leslie has sworn I would one day need. Little did she know, I would be using them to seduce a big Lycan into finishing the bond. Swiftly I shed my clothes and pull on the small garments that cover almost nothing.

I finish off the overconfident attire with a robe, and as I tie the strings, I hear the shower turn off. My hands are shaking, with fear or excitement I am unsure. I'm leaning against the dresser by the time he makes his way from the bathroom, and I barely keep my eyes off of the water dripping down his exposed chest. Only a towel covers his lower body, so easily accessible.

My mouth practically waters.

Alarik doesn't seem to note my change of attire, instead, he seems even more concerned than when he'd walked in the first time. Our eyes meet in the reflection of the mirror, my lack of speaking seems to be disturbing him.

"Can you at least speak, Eira?" His tone is demanding, and that kills the confidence I'd had only moments ago. What was I supposed to do? Turn around, rip off the robe and beg him to mate me? As if. "This back and forth game is killing me, you know? One moment you're all over me and look at me as though you are ready for everything. Then you just stand there and look sick."

He's growling, moving around the room in a hurry as if the cover on the bed needed to be fixed now. I finally turn from the mirror, following his every move with a lump in my throat. I ache to express everything to him but fear the rejection. He continues the rant he'd just begun.

"If you still don't want me then all you have to do is say it, I know we've practically forced you to be here this entire time but I thought you'd grow to like me. Now you won't even speak to me. If you are never planning on mating me then now is a perfect time..." I drown out everything else as I watch him get worked up.

His hissy fit bringing a smile to my face before I reach for the tie of my robe. He hasn't shut up and only does his mouth stops moving when the distinct sound of cloth hitting the floor echoed through the room.

Silver eyes turn on me, quickly. All the anger dissipating from his gaze, shock has taken its place. I try to hide how shy I am as I stand barely covered in front of him, my body humming with desire as I keep myself from leaping onto him.

Alarik stands to his full height, releasing the covers he'd been fixing and continuing to look at me with an almost unhinged jaw. I take a few steps forward, a small giggle leaving my mouth as I proceed to freak out on the inside.

"I thought you had more to say, mate?"