Jackson reclined on the bed as I stood up, his eyes never leaving me as I headed for the closet to find something to wear for the party tonight. It was still hard to believe that this room was mine. Jerome and the others had decorated it and filled the closet with more clothes for me. It was my room here at the club. Apparently all the coven members had a room here, even if they didn't live here full time.

I pawed through the dress side of the closet and felt my nerves rising again. Even with Jackson's calm and reassuring words, I couldn't help but be nervous about meeting the pack tonight. I kept replaying Alice's reaction when she found out I'd set things up for the coven to help Bane's pack. Even though they were there to help save the lives of her pack members, she couldn't get over the prejudice. I didn't want the pack to hate me, not now that I'd gotten to know them all. I cared about every single pack member and I didn't think I could handle it if they all started to hate me.

"Relax, Cecilia," Jackson called through the closed closet door. "They're going to love you just as much as they did when you were human!"

I smiled slightly at his words. I loved the fact that he knew I was nervous and was trying to make me feel better. His words were optimistic and more than likely not true at all, but I knew that as long as I had him by my side, I could deal with the pack.

Nerves back under control, I grabbed the dress my hand was already touching, ready to get down to the party before they made another comeback. It was a pretty, light blue cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline. The dress was perfect. I ran my hands across the sequins covering the tight fitting chest piece and smiled down at the flare of tulle under the empire waistline.

I slid the dress off its hanger and slid it over my head, tugging until everything was straight and where it was supposed to be. I dug through the shoes until I was able to find some low, silver heels that would perfectly match the sequins. I moved to the cute vanity in the corner and found some basic make up supplies. I would need to add some more eventually, but there was plenty there for the party tonight.

I could feel Jackson's impatience as I finished off my look with a quick and cute up-do. I swung open the closet door and walked out.

Jackson's eyes widened as he sat straight up on the bed. "Wow," he breathed. "You look beautiful, baby," he told me, getting off the bed and pulling me into his arms. He kissed me softly and I smiled as he pulled away.

"Thank you," I replied, running my hands down his arms as I pulled away from the embrace. I kept hold of his hands and asked, "You ready to party?"

He laughed. "I'm ready when you are."

I couldn't help stepping back into his arms and kissing him again. His thoughts seemed to be in line with mine as his arms wrapped tightly around me, pulling me close as he deepened the kiss. For a moment, I forgot all about the party downstairs in my honor and just threw myself into the kiss. All too soon, sense reinvaded my body and I pulled back slowly.

"I love you so much," he whispered, resting his forehead against mine.

"I love you, too," I whispered back, unable to take my eyes off of his glowing ones. I knew that Rafe was there with us as well.

"We'd better get downstairs before we get distracted again," Jackson suggested with a grin, pulling away but keeping my hand firmly in his. I allowed him to pull me from my new room and to the stairs where Xavier was waiting for us.

He eyed us sternly as we stopped beside him. "Stay here," he ordered. "I have to announce Ceci and then you can walk her down the stairs and into the club."

They were making a big deal out of the awakening party, but I knew that it meant a lot to them, so I nodded in agreement. "We will wait for you to announce us," I promised him.

He kissed my forehead as his mood instantly lightened, a grin gracing his features once more. "Welcome to a life of immortality," he cheered, before turning to bound down the stairs.

I shook my head with a chuckle and Jackson smiled down at me. "Your cousin is a little crazy," he told me.

I nodded in agreement. I'd grown up with the buffoon. "I know he is."

I listened to the sound of someone climbing up onto the bar, standard announcement protocol here and everyone in the club went silent. Xavier's voice replaced the sudden silence in a booming announcement. "You all know why we are here!" he exclaimed, even though the wolves very much did not know why they were there. "My little cousin, Cecilia, has joined us in immortality!"

I heard the deafening cheers of my coven and Jackson raised an eyebrow, looking down at me and distracting me from wondering how the pack had reacted. I just shrugged at him, thinking of the coven and how much they loved to party. "What can I say? They love me," I told him with a soft giggle.

His response was an eye roll as he dropped a soft kiss on my lips. "You're so adorable I can't stand it sometimes," he grouched, making me laugh again.

The cheering settled after a few minutes and Xavier continued, "Now, can everyone please welcome the newest member of our coven and the subject of tonight's awakening party, Cecilia Moore!"

There was more cheering and I laughed as I wrapped my arm through Jackson's. He leaned down to kill me softly and then lead me down the staircase and through the door to the club.

They'd outdone themselves on the decorations. The spotlight was trained on Jackson and I as we opened the door, streamers were hanging down from every available surface, including the ceiling, and a huge banner hung above the bar, reading, "Happy Awakening, Cecilia!" All three disco balls were spinning, sending flashing, multicolored lights all over the club. Tables were set up with glittering tablecloths that also reflected the disco lights and the buffet table had been set up along the back wall with trays of snacks and various deserts.

The grin refused to fade from my lips as I took in the crowd. All the vampires in my coven were here, along with some that I didn't recognize, and it seemed like most of the pack was here was well. The scent of the pack hit me and sent my throat to burning something fierce. I know the grimace barely showed before I got it under control, but a vampire in the crowd, who Xavier had introduced as Blake the day before, pushed a goblet of blood into my hands.

I thanked him gladly and took a large gulp from the goblet. The burning in my throat diminished slightly and I smiled at everyone again, waving to them in greeting. "Let's get this party started!" I yelled and the vampires all cheered again, surging towards the bar and me. The werewolves stood still in shock as the vampires streamed around them.

"Eli should have told them what the party was for," I murmured to Jackson as the wolves shook off their shock and started talking amongst themselves, none of them moving towards us yet.

Jackson shook his head. "I wanted it to be a surprise," he said. "Eli agreed."

While it was a sweet sentiment, I wished he hadn't have bothered. Now, they were all going to have questions. They were all going to wonder how I'd survived, probably think that I lied to them all. I mean, I sort of did, but not when I first met them.

I put it out of my mind as the coven surrounded us. We worked our way through the vampires crowding around us. We visited with everyone for a few minutes, trading stories as we went. Every time my goblet emptied, someone was there to take my empty cup and replace it with a full one. I was going through them slowly, but we were almost to the werewolves and I knew I'd be drinking them faster when we reached them. I didn't want them to think I was a bloodthirsty monster, like they assumed all vampires were.

Jackson and I worked our way through the rest of the coven and I felt myself tense as we found ourselves in front of the pack, nervous of their reactions to me. Jackson rubbed his hand slowly against my back. Relax, Cecilia, he told me. Everything is going to be okay.

I took a deep breath and put on my best smile as we approached Eli and Alice. "Hi," I greeted them awkwardly.

They smiled back, more sincere than I had been and my smile morphed into a real one at their acceptance. "Hey, Cecilia," Eli replied. "I'm happy to see you alive and well."

Before I could respond, Alice attacked me with a hug. "I'm so glad you're not dead!" she squealed happily as her scent rose up and surrounded me. I hugged her back tightly, trying to ignore the burning in my throat that had increased tenfold the second she touched me. I could smell the sweet scent of her blood, hear her heartbeat and my mouth watered. I wanted it.

Thankfully, Jackson pulled me back into his arms and I gave him a tense, but thankful, smile before gulping down the entire goblet of blood that was still in my hand. The entire pack watched in shock, some even in disgust and I wanted to curl into Jackson's side. I felt absolutely horrible. I had wanted to show them how trustworthy vampires were, how all their assumptions were wrong but I had little control at this point and I really hadn't wanted them to see this side of me.

They'll get used to it, Jackson assured me. They're just not used to seeing someone drink blood, even from a goblet.

Thanks, Jackson, I whispered back to him in our minds.

Levi appeared at my side in a flash, making Eli and Alice jump back in surprise. He gave them an apologetic smile as he took my empty goblet and handed me the full one in his other hand. "Sorry about that," he said to the wolves that jumped upon his arrival. "I forget that you aren't used to our speed," and with those words he was gone again.

Alice seemed to brush Levi off as quickly as he disappeared, turning her attention back to me with a mock angry expression and a wagging finger. "Somebody's been keeping secrets," she told me, maintaining her distance after seeing how her hug had affected me.

I grimaced in response to her statement. "I didn't know until Xavier told me," I explained. "By then, you guys had all made it clear how you felt about vampires and I didn't want you to look at me differently. I figured it wouldn't matter since I had absolutely no intentions of ever becoming a vampire."

"And yet, here you stand," piped up a tall girl a few people behind Eli. Her voice was snide and she was glaring at me as she waited for my response.

Jackson growled threateningly at her in my defense, but I put a calming hand on his chest. "Yet, here I stand," I agreed. "I made the decision to save Jackson's life, knowing what would happen, knowing that he might hate me for it. But I wasn't going to let him die when I knew that I could save him."

The girl snorted and rolled her eyes, causing even Eli to glare at her. "Why don't you leave, Alexa," Eli growled at her. It wasn't a suggestion, but a command that everyone in the vicinity felt clearly. She had some serious attitude, but she knew better than to try it on Eli. She huffed and turned on her heel, leaving the club.

There was a slightly awkward pause before Mason pushed forward and cheerfully announced. "Well, that was awkward!"

I grinned happily at the sight of Mason and the knowledge that he wasn't going to act any differently around me than he had before. "Hey, Mase!"

"Cecilia! My girl!" he responded, jumping forward to pull me tightly into his arms and spin me around.

The burning in my throat increased again, but after Alice's hug I was prepared for it. The scent of his blood filled my senses and even as I wanted a taste, or more, I kept myself together and when he released me I took a large gulp from my goblet.

Mason eyed my reaction with a grin. "That was much better!" he praised.

I cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion. I had no idea what he was talking about. The burning wasn't any better than when Alice hugged me and his blood was just as potent as hers, both of them smelling better than the blood in the goblet.

"You didn't drain it this time!" Mason clarified and I laughed as I realized that he was right. I hadn't drank the entire goblet after he hugged me. I was nearly overwhelmed with relief that he was still acting exactly as he had before I'd died. I didn't know why I was so surprised. He'd done better than anyone else in the pack when I introduced him to Xavier and Levi at the beach.

"I would just like to say, I'm really happy you survived," Mason said, leaning forward to grab my hand and give it a quick, happy squeeze. "And, I think everyone here just needs to suck it up and deal with the fact that you're a vampire now," he added with a pointed look at the pack of wolves behind him. "You sacrificed your life for our beta and they should all recognize that and thank you, not act like stubborn babies."

I laughed and couldn't help yanking Mason in for one more hug, completely ignoring my thirst this time. "You're amazing, you know that?" I asked him when I pulled back and took a sedate sip from my goblet.

He nodded. "I know."

There was some murmuring behind him that I could now pick up with my new hearing and I knew that the pack was still wary of me and not sure they could accept me, but they were also thinking about what Mason had said.

Jackson gave me an encouraging smile as he led me through the pack to greet and chat with any that still wanted to talk to me. I could admit that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but Jackson wasn't right about them all accepting me either. None of them, other than Alexa anyway, were rude, but they all stayed an arms-length away from me and were careful about what they said. It also didn't help that I could now hear them murmuring about me after Jackson and I moved on to the next group.

Even going better than I had expected, I was feeling very discouraged by the time Jackson and I made it out of the crowd of wolves. They weren't happy with the situation and it was upsetting, though it shouldn't have been. I knew that they weren't going to be happy and I didn't regret my choice at all, so I shouldn't let it bother me. I had never planned to become a vampire, but I didn't regret it.

Truth be told, I was actually enjoying it, though I was a little too scared to admit that to the pack. I knew when the bloodlust settled down to a more manageable level, that I would enjoy it even more. What upset me the most, was that the pack couldn't see that I was the same person, just not quite the same species. Other than my new abilities and the new appetite for blood, nothing about me had really changed. I was still the same person they'd met the first time Jackson brought me to the pack house. But, I would probably win the next food fight with Mason now.

The vampires caught my mood almost immediately. Levi swooped in front of Jackson and I as we made our way back to the bar and grinned as he cut us off. "A dance, my fair lady?" he asked me in a posh accent as his arm swung out and his chest dropped in a low bow. His hand was outstretched and waiting for my own when he straightened.

My mood lifted in an instant and I couldn't stop the giggle that escaped my lips at his antics. I placed my free hand in his and leaned back and to the side to kiss Jackson's cheek in farewell before Levi pulled me away. Just because the werewolves were being scaredy cats didn't mean I shouldn't enjoy my awakening party.

I heard Jackson's chuckle in my mind as he caught that thought. It's not nice to refer to werewolves as scaredy cats, Cecilia, he told me.

I tossed Jackson a playful grin as Levi spun me onto the dance floor. I only speak the truth, my love.

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