I began pacing up and down my living room. We had returned from Montana two days ago and I've been ghosting my friends. The only one I haven't ghosted was Matt since he's my boss. I just told him the standard things, withholding basically everything I found. It pissed me off that I did my job so well.

I was becoming anxious since I decided to end my friends' suffering and texted them to come over. I told them that we needed to talk. More like I was going to yell at them for lying to me for years. I was dreading the encounter because a small part of me was hoping it wasn't true. I wasn't a werewolf. And I wasn't a Queen. But, everything began to seem like wishful thinking at this point.

I groaned when I heard the knock on my door. I took a deep breath before opening it to reveal the worried faces of Jade and Zayn. They quickly moved inside to avoid any unwanted eyes.

"What's the matter?" Zayn asked.

"Why have you avoided us?" Jade got straight to the point.

"Oh, don't worry guys. I'm about to let you have it." I closed the door and moved to my living room.

They looked at each other confused and sat on my couch. I began pacing up and down while shouting many curse words. Zayn wanted to say something, but Jade told him to allow me to calm down. Calm down? Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! Hell, no!

"You've guys had lied to me from the moment I met! You've been my secret werewolf guards forever and never told me! Are we even friends?! Do you even like me or do you pretend to because of your job?!" They were dumbfounded. "And what's this about a werewolf Queen? Guess what? I'm her! That's me! Does that make any sense to you?! I can't even shift! Why you may ask?! Because my mom had some voodoo lady put some black magic shit over me to suppress my wolf or something! Like I've never even seen someone shift! Only in movies and that shit looks painful!" I stared at them.

"May we respond?" Jade stuttered.

"No!"

"I think we should."

"Shut it, Jade! I'm not done!"

"Please, we want to explain." Zayn pleaded. I nodded at him.

"Yes, we are your guards, but our friendship with you is 100% real. We pledged our lives to your safety and that includes Matt." She wasn't surprised that I knew about him. "We traveled with your mother to America to escape those bloodsuckers." I winced at that. "We went to a witch and pleaded with her. She felt remorseful that a child would have to grow up without a father, so she agreed. She did a spell on that." She pointed at the bracelet I never take off. "As long as you wear it, your werewolf side will be bound. With it bound, your wolf scent will be virtually untraceable-"

"Then why do vampires keep saying that my smell is orgasmic?" I realized my mistake the moment I asked the question.

"Vampires?!" They jumped up. "What vampires?" Jade demanded.

"When did you have contact with one? Did they hurt you?" He whizzed towards me with remarkable speed. Zayn began examining my body.

"I'm fine." I pushed him off, but they were still waiting for an answer. "I was attacked in an alley and Lara saved me."

"You know she's a vampire?" Zayn inquired. "You can't be around her anymore!"

"Yeah, but she's a good one." I tried convincing them.

"No vampire is a good one! They killed your dad for crying out loud! They killed our king! The vampire king is ruthless!" She was furious. "I'm contacting Matt to pull you out. This is too dangerous." Jade took out her phone, but I snatched it from her.

"No! I've known she's a vampire for quite sometime and she's been nothing but kind and gentle with me. If she wanted to kill me, she'd have done it after I barged into her office with the experimental records." I left out the part of her being my mate. "Please, I can do this. I'm asking you guys to trust me. I'll be safe." I promised.

"This goes against everything we swore an oath to. Matt needs to know." Zayn urged.

"I think he's already aware that she's a vampire." They groaned. "When I speak about Lara, his mood sours. He spits out her name like it's a curse. Believe me, he knows. You can tell him I'm aware of everything, but do not allow him to pull me out of this mission." They nodded, signaling I was correct.

"Fine." Jade said through gritted teeth. "But, we will be contacting him right away."

"Fine." I said back with an attitude. "I need some space." They called for me, but I ignored them and went to my car.

I slammed the door shut and pulled onto the road. I was so annoyed with them. Yeah, I expected them to become overprotective, but not so overbearing and demanding. I put my phone on silent after ignoring five of Zayn's calls.

I pulled into the familiar parking lot of the condo. I guess I subconsciously drove here. I sat in my car and texted Lara if I could see her. She responded right away. She wasn't surprised by my sudden appearance.

"Can you believe them?!" I spent the entire elevator ride ranting about my friends. The elevator dinged and we stepped out. "All they talked about was oh vampires are bad. They're the enemies. They killed your dad. The vampire king-" I ranted when I saw the rage emanating from Lara.

"Yes." She allowed her keys to clang onto the countertop. "Yes, I can understand their disdain for my race. The king is a vile creature. Not even a person, just a dark entity taking on the form of a man. That is a person whose creator rues his conception." She spoke with such venom.

Every time I'd mention the vampire king in one of my rants, Lara would immediately radiate hatred. Her disdain for the man ran so thick that it got me worried. I mean she is a vampire and he is the king so shouldn't she not hate him as much as she does? I remember them speaking about issues with rebel vampires, so that makes me believe they're not apart of the resistance groups against his reign, right?

"But, yeah..." I tried to change the subject. "They did explain what the witch did to me." That peaked her interest. "This bracket has been something that I've never been able to take off. Even in missions, I'd have to wear it." I stated. "Apparently, the witch bound my werewolf side to this. So, when it's off then my wolf will be free."

I shrugged and sat on her couch. She stood a moment staring at me in turmoil. I looked at her in confusion, resulting in her taking a seat next to me.

"Would you want it removed?" She didn't look me in the eyes.

"I mean, wouldn't you?" She turned to me. "All my life, I've felt like a piece of me was missing. Something that didn't make sense. I always felt different from my siblings and this is why." I pointed at the chain. "It makes me feel like I've been caged against my will, so yeah I'd want it off." I rested my head on a pillow.

"I can remove it for you."