"There's no way I'm half vampire!" I gasp.

Max only nods at me. I want to believe him, but that means that everything I grew up to be isn't what I actually am. "But how? If you're telling the truth, that means one of my parents isn't my biological parent," I whisper, my eyes meeting Max's. I concentrate on the red rings, knowing that if I was really half vampire my eyes would look like that too. I don't want to believe that I was only related to one of my parents, and even having that thought in my head felt like betrayal to both of them.

I think about both of them, already putting the pieces together to figure out who my biological parent is. I guess my dad, because there's newborn pictures of me with him, yet I've never seen any pictures with my mom from the day I was born. "My mom," I say quietly.

"Yeah," Max agrees, his eyes revealing sympathy.

"But why? What happened to the mom who gave birth to me?" I refuse to call her my real mom. Yes, she gave birth to me, but I never knew her. I don't hate her at all, and of course I'll call her my mom, but I'm not going to call her my real mom and act like the woman who raised me suddenly isn't my mom. Lacey will always be my mom.

"If it's the same circumstances as me, she would have died giving birth to you," Max tells me.

"So you never knew your biological mom either?" Max shakes his head. "What happened?" I have so many questions about all of this, and it seems like Max has all the answers. It also makes me seem dumb. How am I supposed to know any of this, though?

"The pregnancy was really, really rough on her. I was taking so much of her energy, and her body wasn't prepared to grow a half werewolf, half vampire. I slowly drained her of all her energy, to the point where she couldn't even get out of bed. When she gave birth to me, it was too much for her body to handle. She died." I don't know if I should say sorry or not. I can see that talking about it doesn't affect him too much, probably because he never actually met her.

"So that's what would have happened to my mom, then?" I ask. He nods. I think about it. It did make sense. A lot of sense, actually. "Will it happen to me?"

The thought came to my head and came out of my mouth before I even truly knew it was a thought. I look at Max again for the answer, hoping and praying it was a no. I didn't want to die during childbirth. I wanted to raise a family someday, not die after just getting it started.

I let out a breath I didn't know I holding when he shook his head. "No, you are a hybrid already, so you'll be able to handle a hybrid growing inside of you. You'll be just fine." I bury my head in his chest, not able to think of any more questions for him at the moment. He hugs my close to him, as if he senses my worry and discomfort. He probably does, actually.

"I'm confused why my dad never told me," I whisper.

"I don't know why, either. Maybe he wanted to wait to tell you when you were older."

"Maybe," I shrug. Once again, I look into Max's eyes, and realize that one of the only ways to know the truth is to check my eyes. I get off the bed, Max's arms not letting go of me for as long as possible. It makes me smile and mentally aww in my head.

There's a mirror right by the door into my closet. I walk over to it and see that Max is telling the truth. My eyes, which were normally a warm hazel tone, are now a couple shades darker and surrounded by a red ring. Just like Max's. I feel him come up behind me and snake his arms around my waist. He's a good head taller than me, which makes me the perfect chin rest for him. He pulls my back up against his chest as he rests his chin on the top of my head. I smile. "You're right." He just nods, pulling me tighter against him. I twist around in his grasp so I can wrap my arms around his neck and pull his face to mine.

His lips feel soft against mine, and I never want the feeling it's giving me to go away. Every cell in my body is igniting at his touch, begging and craving for more of it. I know no matter how much I get, though, it will never be enough.

I pull away for air, gasping for it as I rest my forehead against his chest. "Wow," I sigh.

"Wow is right," Max agrees, and I feel him bury his face into my hair. "Come on." He leads me to the bed and lays down in the middle of it, pulling me down on top of him. It's completely non sexual, even if both of us are turned on. His arms wrap innocently around my body and hug me to him tightly, and somehow he manages to throw the blanket over us. We're facing each other, and I bury my head into the little crook of his neck. It's the most comfortable position I have ever been in, and I think I'm going to cry whenever we have to get up. I never want to leave his arms.

I fall asleep right away, Max trickling from my thoughts and into my dreams.

I wake up the next morning and almost do cry. Max is no where to be seen, and right away I wonder if I had dreamt all of it. I sit up and notice a note laying on the bed next to me though, right in the middle of the sheets where it was obvious Max had been lying. It's written in blue ink, and the letters are loopy yet still neat.

B,

I'll be back as soon as possible.

M

I smile at the simplistic note. There's nothing especially endearing or special about it, but it only makes me love it that much more. I set it on my nightstand and curl back up under the blanket. It's warm and soft under here, and I just want to wait for Max to come back so we can curl up together again. I never get the chance though, because Mara comes bursting into my room.

"It's graduation day bitch!" She squeals, pulling back the blankets and letting in the cold air. My body temperature is naturally heated, but the comfort of the blankets felt better than the open air.

"Ugh, give my the blankets back," I groan.

"Hold on a second!" Mara says, and I watch as she inhales deeply. "You hoe! Who's the lucky guy?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The blankets are covered in a male scent." Her eyes rake around the room and land on the note on my nightstand. She grabs it, and I let her. "Who's M?" She asks, looking up at me once again and raising her eyebrows in a suggestive way.

"My mate," I laugh, gently snatching the note out of her hand and placing it back on the nightstand.

"WHAT!"