"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same." – Elbert Hubbard

"A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden." -Unknown

No amount of sorrow could ever compare to the deep pain that David was feeling. Seeing him cry in his small bat form broke my heart. This was more intense than when I found out Ethan cheated on me with my slut bag of a sister. I remember Melody telling me that it's possible to have a second mate. If that's true then maybe David can have a second chance at love. The only problem that stands is if David is ready for that.

"Hey, Serenity. What are you doing out here?" Melody asked walking over to me. His eyes trailed down to where I was holding David. Oh god, I can't help it his little bat form is just so adorable!

"Caring for this cute broken heart," I said.

"I figured. Note don't tell Sean that your hugging David likes that. Alpha males can get jealous over the smallest of things."

"But lying to him is worse."

"So, you don't mind if Sean rips that cute bats head off?"

"Okay. Not telling him is a good thing. And thanks for that horrible image"

I decided to take David back with me and Melody but I was careful enough not to wake him. Hiding him from everyone is a little tricky, to say the least. Having the staff look at me while I'm carrying a bat in my arms would have me stop and answer questions that I didn't want to answer. Putting David down in a makeshift bed with small blankets I look to my side to see Melody worried looking at her phone.

"Everything all right Melody?"

"It's Darren. He hasn't texted me back in an hour. I'm also getting a really bad feeling that something has happened to him."

"The mate thing?" I asked.

"No. A woman's intuition."

Is she being sarcastic or real with me?

"Look, Melody. I'm sure Darren is fine and will call or text you soon. Right now, we only have one more horse to mend then we can go back home Sean and ask him. Or ask David where Darren is at when he wakes up."

Melody gave me a hard look. "Why don't we wake him up now?"

"Please don't act heartless now Melody. David is going through a lot right now. And I don't want to see those bat tears again. Do you want to see a cute bat face cry of heartache? Because if I remember correctly you cried your eyes out watching Marley and Me."

"Okay. You promised never to bring that up."

"I promised you a lot of things, but here we are now."

We both stared angrily at each other till our laughter filled the room stirring awake David from his little nap. We were both so caught up in our laughter not noticing that David had transformed back into his human form.

"Oh, the shame! What am I going to tell Sean and Darren that their mates are slacking on the job!" David gasp with a fake hurt look like he caught us doing something illegal.

"What if I tell Sean you were sleeping on the job when you're supposed to be protecting Serenity?"

"Touché," David said.

The day rolled by with just me, David and Melody heading back to see Sean. Melody was still feeling uneasy about still not hearing anything from Darren. David tried to calm her by saying Darren is a very strong capable wolf who can handle himself. That helped only for a tiny bit. Seeing as how this is Melody's first relationship, I can understand how she's feeling. Though I also need to understand that she's a supernatural being with powers so anything can happen and I most certainly won't be ready for that.

"Just listen to me and David. We are sure that Darren is fine and he's probably just busy with Sean working. They are very hard-working men." I explained.

"Hey, what about me? I'm a very hard-working man too."

It's so cute how he puts in like that. I and Melody both know that David does a lot of work protecting Sean's pack.

"Yes, yes we already know," Melody said patting his head like a dog. The other thing about Melody when she's stressed or worried, she would start to mess with others. Looks like it's David who will be messed with and not me. Thank the lord!

"You're lucky to be Darren's mate or I would have sucked your blood out."

"David, I been meaning to ask. Do you still drink human blood or animal blood?"

I have to know because I have not seen him drink from any human or animal but I have seen him once drink a glass cup full of blood.

"Well, in the beginning, I used to drink from humans every night but then I switched to animal blood when my beloved died. Now I drink blood substitution that we vampires invented."

"What the hell is a blood substitution?" Melody asked.

"It's this red powder that you pour into the water turning the water into blood."

"So basically, it's like kool-aid?" I said trying to contain my laugh. Just picturing David in a kool-aid commercial crack's me up! Make's me wonder if Sean thought the same.

"You are Sean's mate. He said the same words you did when I told him about it."

Thank you, moon goddess, for matching me up with Sean. On that note, I need to learn more about the moon goddess. I also like to know about the mate thing with vampires and mermaids. The only thing I know is that the moon goddess is worshiped by the wolves making wonder what other mythical beings' worship. When we made it back to Sean's office because David said he would be there we saw him on the phone talking angrily.

"I don't care what it takes! I want you to find him!" Sean growled handing up the phone breathing heavily.

"Sean...is everything all right?" I asked walking over to him rubbing his back gently as arms wrapped around my waist.

"I have some terrible news everyone."

"What happened?" David asked while Melody was getting even more worried.

Sean shook his head, his eyes now on Melody. "Darren has gone missing."