"Henry, where are you going with this story?"

"Just listen Alix. I know it may make you uncomfortable, but, just listen and if you have nothing to say after all of it... then, we can part ways."

Alixandria said nothing and Henry took that as his sign to continue.

"The next day I went into work, Amber was there, and she was there every day since then. I hate to admit that we got very close, Alix, and I'm sorry."

"So, what happened? Did you—"

"No, no." He shook his head repeatedly as if trying to convince himself nothing had happened between them either. Then he looked at Alixandria with wide eyes. "Instead, I figured out what she was."

"What do you mean?" It was then Alixandria felt immersed in Henry's story. Idris had mentioned before he wasn't the only one of his kind.

"That night you went out with Camilla to Logans, I also went out. It was supposed to be a hangout with a bunch of coworkers, but when I got there only Amber was there."

"Hey Henry." Amber came off her seat and wrapped her arms around Henry, leading him over to the booth beside her.

"Where is everyone? I thought we were all meeting for drinks?"

Amber shrugged her shoulders in nonchalance, taking the seat opposite Henry's. "Guess they must have forgot." She smiled to herself.

Henry half thought about leaving. This felt too private, as if he were on a date with Amber, but looking at her dashing smile, he felt ease settle over him and the thought of leaving was out the window.

"You okay? You seem nervous."

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." Henry wasn't sure if he should be honest. A part of him wondered how Amber would react. "I have a girlfriend Amber, and this feels a lot like a date."

Her jaw went a bit tight before she loosened it into a smile. "Oh, ok." She looked away a bit sad. "Well, let's leave then, we can do something else instead."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Come on, follow me." She stood up and sashayed away before Henry could protest.

"Where did she take you?"

"Logans."

"What! Why?"

"Why do you think Alix?"

A beat passed before Alixandria finally understood. "She wanted you to see me... with Idris."

Henry nodded his head. "I was enraged when I saw you two. The way he looked at you, hugged you, touched you as if you were his." His jaw clenched tightly from the memory.

"So, it was you that took that picture?"

He nodded his head, "I figured I'd confront you about it in the morning, because the alternative was me going in there and beating his face in, and I was, but Amber stopped me. So, instead, I just ran off. I was so angry Alix and hell, I...I just..."

"You what Henry?"

Fuck, Henry hated recalling what happened next. "I went into a bar and looked for any drunk idiot to provoke and it worked, only when I got kicked out it didn't end there. The man and his friends were about to jump me in the alley and... damn Alix, I felt so angry I wanted to feel pain... but... that pain never came."

"I'm sorry, Henry." Alixandria suddenly remembered that morning and how he'd excused his red fists as a simple boxing incident at the gym, but the reality had been much more grim.

Henry said nothing. What happened then didn't matter now.

"Amber showed up before the first guy could touch me."

"Are you an idiot!" Amber shouted at Henry as she flung a 300-pound man against the wall. "You see the woman you love with another man, and you punish yourself?" As another man approached her, she moved impossibly fast behind him, gripped, and twisted his arm before shoving him to the ground.

"Get the hell up." She was finally in front of Henry who sat on the ground too stunned to speak.

The other men, seemingly as afraid, ran off leaving Henry there with Amber.

"Wh- H-how did you?" He stood up and moved away from her. "Amber, what the hell are you?"

"Now you are asking the good questions." She smiled happily as if she hadn't just defeated a group of men all much bigger and stronger than her. "I've been waiting for you to figure it out, but you've been too preoccupied up your girlfriend's ass to notice."

"Notice what?"

"Well," She stepped a little closer, her warmth wrapping around Henry. "only that I am your real soulmate."

"M-my soulmate? Amber, I don't understand. How the hell did you lift that man like he weighed nothing?"

Amber groaned, perhaps annoyed that he had completely ignored her confession. "That's cause I'm a vampire." She said it as if she were talking about the weather.

"A vampire?" Henry grew quiet for a moment as he looked her over, then behind her where the men had once been. Then he started to laugh. "Okay, I get it. This is all some sort of prank."

Amber suddenly grabbed his arm with her hand and Henry felt his body ignite with animalistic need. Without thinking, he craned his neck and pulled Amber into a furious kiss which she returned just as hard. Heavens, she tasted sweet and the longer he had her, the more frenzied he became. He didn't just want Amber, he needed her and as she was wrapped in his arms, all he wanted to do was take this woman and fill her with pleasure.

Soulmate... the word echoed in his head... vampire...

Below him, Henry felt Amber moan, as he hadn't realized he had pulled her up into his arms and pushed her against the wall so he could settle between her legs.

Soulmate...vampire....

"No!" Henry abruptly pulled away from Amber. Almost immediately he felt his body cry out for her. "W-what the hell was that? W- What is this?" He looked at his arms and his body which felt as if it was fevered and on fire.

Amber stayed pressed against the cool wall as she recovered her breaths. Her lust-drunk eyes half opened to meet his. "I know it's hard to understand, but Henry..." She walked towards him and placed her hand against his cheek. Little sparks of electricity tingled his skin from her touch. "That is called a pull. It's a feeling soulmate's get. It draws us together."

"Soulmates." Henry closed his eyes and felt guilt and shame. Yes, he had seen Alixandria with that other man tonight, but she had done nothing like him. He'd practically taken Amber here in the alleyway. Henry placed his hand on Amber's arm and pushed it away. "Amber, Alixandria is my soulmate, I- besides everything, I love her."

"Then you're an idiot." She stepped back, crossing her arms over each other.

"Excuse me?"

"You're so blinded by her that you can't see that she doesn't deserve you." Her voice slightly broke. "Just as I am your soulmate Idris is hers."

"That's a lie."

"Is it?"

"Tell me what you really are?"

"I told you, I am a vampire!"

Henry fell silent. He tried hard to remember every instance he had been with Amber. She was ethereally beautiful, she was able to fight off those men with supernatural strength and speed, and...

"Why did no one show up tonight?"

"I compelled them not to come tonight." She said bluntly. Not trying to conceal anything that she was or could do anymore. "I— I wanted to spend time with you."

"You knew Alix was at Logans, didn't you?"

Amber nodded her head. "I've been tracking Idris for days since I heard he had found his soulmate, there are rumors about mates, so I made my way here."

"What rumors?"

"Your soulmate is not just your partner. We also have soulmates who are our best friends. So, it's rumored that when a vampire finds his mate, his friends might find their mates within their soulmates friends."

"I don't understand."

"Simply put, Camilla is Alix's best friend, which is why Ben, who is Idris's best friend, came as well, because there would be a high chance that he could be Camilla's soulmate... and he was right. So, when I heard that, I knew there would be a high chance that one of Alix's friends or family or someone close could be my mate... little did I know, it was her boyfriend who was my mate."

"So, you are a friend of Idris then?"

"Don't offend me." She scoffed, "however..."She began to explain and the more she talked the more Henry had felt an iron fist clutch at his chest and fire brew in his veins.

"Shut up!"

"Don't talk to your mate that way."

"You're not my mate!"

"Whatever you say sexy," She began sashaying away, "but this game of cat and mouse won't last much longer 'cause I'll do whatever it takes to get what I want...and baby doesn't play fair."

"What does that mean?" He called after her.

"See you soon lover."

"So, this Amber, she's your soulmate?"

Listening to Henry talk, Alixandria realized there were a lot of similarities between what Henry felt around Amber to how she felt around Idris, such as the feel of the pull, and that agonizing and primal need to be next to them.

However, to Alixandria's surprise, Henry shook his head. "No, Alixandria, that's just what they want us to think. You and I," He took her hand in his very gently. Henry's warm fingers stroked over hers. "For just a second, forget about them, forget about Idris and think of everything we have been through and tell me..." He took her chin in his hand. "Tell me what you feel."