Once we agreed I would join him, Lucien and I said our goodbyes and he was on his way out when I heard him bump into something... or rather, someone.

"Fuck me," an excited and rather impressed female voice said.

Oh god, did she just say that out loud to my brother?

"I'm sorry, miss- I didn't realise there was someone on the other side of the door," he started apologising before he looked down at the tiny red-head in front of him. "You are Scarlett, right? Riley's friend?"

I moved to my brother's side just to find Scarlett holding onto his torso as if she was clutching on for dear life. My very much attached brother might not have noticed the lustful looks that my best friend was giving him, but I knew exactly what was going through that head of hers.

"You know who I am?" she exclaimed with obvious surprise, her cheeks bright red in the meantime.

"Let's just say I might have heard a thing or two." Lucien smirked, and I knew he was teasing me, but Scar was probably going to assume that I'd been talking about her to him. Great- now one of my closest friends was going to be pining after my brother. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go. See you tomorrow, sis! And it was a pleasure to meet you, Scarlett!"

My friend finally got the hint that she should let go of him, but that didn't prevent her from following him with her gaze as he left my house.

"You did not tell me that your brother is hot, with capital H. I would love to get my hands on him again. Preferably naked," she said, licking her lips and closing her eyes, probably to imagine... actually, I didn't want to know what she was imagining. I finally understood how my brother must have felt last night.

"Don't you even dare continue," I warned her. "I do not want to ever picture my brother like that. Besides, he is not even your type."

"What? Since when is ridiculously sexy not my type?"

"Since you keep going on and on about muscly tattooed men with beards and long hair." Oh, I knew her type pretty well. Good thing that there weren't many motorcycle clubs in London or she would have quit her job in finance by now to become a biker groupie.

"True. But a girl needs to keep her options open!" She flashed her most innocent smile at me, probably hoping that I would give her my blessing.

"Sorry to disappoint but my brother is attached and, apparently, it's pretty serious. Like sister-in-law kind of serious. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"That's a shame! And I came to check on you. I wanted to make sure that you got home okay. Actually, that's a lie. Well, not entirely - I care about your well-being, but I wanted to hear all the juicy details about your sexcapade with Mr Sex-on-a-stick from the bar. He looked like he was ready to shag you there and then, audience be damned."

"Let's just say that I taught him a lesson about not always having things his way." I smiled smugly at the memory of last night. Yeah, it was a good night!

"You go, girl!" Scarlett wolf whistled, and I nearly choked.

I knew she was not aware of everything that I had just discovered, but her action caught me off guard.

"Hey, Scar, I need two favours from you. One, can you please give me a lift to my parents' place in Virginia Water? I left my car there yesterday, as I was not in the right mind to drive."

"Sure thing, Riley. What's the second?"

"I'm going to go away for a while. Lucien and I agreed I should go up to Scotland for a bit to find out more about my family and to get to know each other. Can you please keep an eye on my place and the mail? I don't know how long I will be away for and I would feel better if I know that someone was checking on things here now and then."

She looked sad about what I had just told her, but despite that, she gave me the biggest hug ever. "I will miss you! But I get why you are doing this. You need to do it. Just know that if you ever need me, I am just one call away. Plus, if your brother has friends who are hot like him, I would make the sacrifice to come to Scotland for you." Typical Scarlett. She always made me laugh, though.

"I doubt it, but I promise to call you if I see anyone that could be of interest to you."

"And what about you? What if you meet someone there?"

"To hook up with? Why not. Although I have enough on my plate as it is so I'm not really going there with this in mind. But that's the most that could happen- you know me, I don't do relationships. I don't think that any man could ever prove worthy of my trust."

"Famous last words." Scarlett laughed. "Never say never, Riley, never say never." And with that, we got into her car.

After a gruelling forty-minute interrogation on everything as we made our way to my parents' place, Scarlett finally dropped me off in front of their house. I still wasn't sure how I felt about all the recent revelations, but I loved my parents and I knew they loved me too. With that in mind, I knocked on the front door.

"Auri!" My dad seemed shocked that I was there. "We didn't think you would want to see us anytime soon."

My mum ran over from the kitchen and practically threw herself on my neck. "Oh darling, we are so, so sorry for everything. I wish we could turn back time and take better decisions, but I hope you can forgive us. We love you so much, sweetheart, and we would give anything to make you happy."

I could feel her tears on my shoulder, my blouse wet from the teardrops that were rolling off her face. I didn't mean to upset them like this - I knew they had to make some tough calls and I wasn't going to hold that against them. I just didn't know how to handle everything yesterday, but now I was calmer, despite my lack of sleep.

"Hey, mum- it's okay. Please don't cry. I promise I am not angry. I just needed some time to think about everything. It's all fine, don't be sad - I don't like seeing tears in your eyes." I was trying to reassure her but my words only seemed to make her cry more. "I met with Lucien this morning and we sat down to talk. That's a start, right?"

"That's wonderful, " my parents replied almost in unison. I had always been in awe of how attuned they were to each other.

"Well, I am glad you feel this way because I've decided to join him in Scotland for a little while. Not sure how long yet, but I will take things as they come."

My dad's expression suddenly darkened. "Darling, you know we will never try to stop you. This is your decision and we will respect it. But this world that you are going into is dangerous. And there are more things that you have not come across yet than just shifters and warlocks." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Just be safe, Auri! The bracelet we gave you- please always keep it on you! It can protect you, although its protection is limited."

I nodded to show him I understood what he was telling me. I was brave but I was not stupid, so I knew I needed all the help I could get to make it into this new world.

"We take it you prefer to keep your current look?"

"Yeah. Grey hair does not really make it easy to keep a low profile when necessary." I laughed at how easy it was now to joke about the fact that I had two looks that I could pick from.

"Understood. But if you ever want to reveal your natural look, just touch the bracelet, think of your natural hair and say Revelare. Do the same to hide it but just think about your normal hair colour." That sounded easy enough! Maybe magic had its use, after all.

My mum held my hand while my dad was explaining everything. In a funny way, it was like a déjà vu from the day I left for university and my dad was giving me the full lecture on what I needed to be careful with there. And to think that he was worried about me getting drunk or hooking up with the wrong guys, knowing that there was this whole crazy parallel world out there.

"When are you leaving, honey?" My mum gently squeezed my hand when my dad was finally done.

"Tomorrow night." I knew they wouldn't be thrilled about my sudden departure, but the sooner I got on with this, the better it was for everyone.

"Will you join us for dinner tonight then, Auri? Please say yes," she pleaded and I couldn't help but think how I really needed to grow a thicker skin for all these pleading eyes I had to deal with lately. But the reality was that I wanted nothing more than to spend the evening with them.

"I would love to."

It was so nice to go back to our usual life for a little while and pretend that we were the normal, rather average family, which I always thought we were, that I somehow ended up staying the night as well.

After grabbing some breakfast with them the following morning, I went into the office to speak with John. He was not happy about me going away either, especially for an undetermined period, but he knew I never took leave on personal grounds, which is why he figured out rather quickly that this was a pretty big deal for me. So big, in fact, that he gave me the whole day off.

I had little to pack and Lucien had insisted that he would take care of everything once we got to the pack, but it was still nice to have the time to get things at home ready for my long departure.

As the evening came, I started feeling anxious about the whole trip. Was I making the right choice by going up north with Lucien? Who the hell knew! I certainly didn't. But I owed it to myself to give it a go.

Still, I couldn't help but feel nervous. The kind of nerves you get on your first day at a new school or the first time you speak to your crush, not knowing what would happen.

Come on, Riley- you're a badass woman most days. Pull yourself together.

Yeah...except, no matter what I told myself, I had this nagging feeling that I was about to get more than I bargained for.

Lucien's black Land Rover Discovery pulled in front of my house right on time. I threw my stuff in the booth before jumping into the passenger seat.

He looked at me and smiled. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be!" And we drove off into the night.