“How long is he going to be unconscious?” Nadira paced the floor near the couch where Cooper lay.

“I should have knocked him out with my fist!” Adrian growled, pissed that Cooper shot him.

“Well, he warned you! You should’ve listened!” she reprimanded Adrian as he rubbed his shoulder where Cooper’s bullet hit him. When they arrived back home, she had to be the one to dig the bullet out of his shoulder. Once the bullet was out, Adrian’s body began to heal immediately. He would barely have a scar.

“How much did he see?” Nicu demanded, storming into his office with his infamous scowl on his face.

“He saw Toma kill the rogue,” Nadira said softly, biting her lip nervously.

One glance at Nicu and she knew that he was pissed at her. She had left the mansion without telling anyone, unprotected, and with a human. She already got chewed out by Toma in the SUV on the way home; she didn’t think she could handle getting yelled at again.

“What were you doing in the park after dark with the human?” Nicu asked, sitting down behind his desk.

“We were on a date. We just went for coffee and were going for a walk,” she answered, plopping down in one of the oversized recliners. “It was harmless.”

“A date? Where did you meet this human?” Toma inquired from his side of the office. He leaned against the wall by the window, waiting for her answer.

“The other day at the diner when the girls and I met after work. He’s a nice guy, he’s a cop, and he’s —”

“Human.” Nicu cut her off.

Cooper groaned from the couch. Nadira rushed over to him. He winced as he tried to sit up. “Be careful, Cooper. Don’t sit up to fast,” she said softly, slowly helping him to sit up.

“What happened?” he asked, blinking his eyes at her. “Where are we?”

“You’re at my family’s home.” She sat next to him on the couch, gripping his hand. She felt horrible that he had been dragged into this. Their date was going great until Toma just had to kill a rogue vampire in front of them. She didn’t know how she was going to explain to him what happened.

“How the hell did we get here? The last thing I remember is—” he stopped, looking around the room, noticing her four older brothers in the room.

All of them were dressed in their black attire they wear when they were out patrolling for rogue vampires. The Olaru brothers were warriors and looked every bit the part. Toma, Adrian, and Teague were positioned around the room, still armed with their weapons. Nicu moved from behind his desk to stand in front of his desk. She gripped Cooper’s hand tighter, not knowing what her brother would say.

“Mr. Cooper, my name is Nicu Olaru. You’ve already met Teague and Adrian and our other brother over there is Toma,” Cooper nodded to each brother.

“Nicu….” Nadira stopped what she was about to say when his gaze flickered to her. She swallowed hard, mentally kicking herself for interrupting him as his hardened eyes moved back to Cooper.

“There has been a misunderstanding tonight,” Nicu started again.

“There was no misunderstanding. Your brother Toma killed a man in front of me. He decapitated the man that he was engaged in a fight with.” Cooper stood up; his body stiffened as he looked around the room. “I am a police officer and I am obligated to arrest him,”

“Tell me, Detective Cooper, how much do you know about our dear sister?” Nicu asked quietly, changing the subject. Nadira’s anxiety grew because she knew that a quiet Nicu was the most lethal side of him.

“I know enough,” Cooper responded coolly, not backing down from Nicu. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.

“Nicu! No, please don’t do this! Not now!” Nadira rushed to Nicu, pleading with him not to tell Cooper that she was a vampire. In the short time they spent together, she had really come to believe that he was her Fated Mate. She wanted to tell him on her terms, since she knew that humans were not aware of vampires. She wanted to break the news gently to him for fear of how he would react.

“Move, Nadira,” Nicu said, pushing her towards Teague who gently held her back from Nicu. “You may think you know enough, Mr. Cooper, but I assure you, she is quite different than your average human female.”

“I’ll do it!” She cried out, breaking free from Teague. She quickly moved in between Nicu and Cooper. She stared up into Cooper’s beautiful trusting eyes.

“What is he talking about, Nadira?” he questioned her, looking around at the large men in the room.

She swallowed hard, glancing at Nicu whose stone-cold glare made her quickly turn back to Cooper. “He’s right, Cooper. I’m a little different,” she paused. “I’m a little older than you think” she began.

“Ok, so what are you thirty?” he asked, confusion clouding his face.

“A little older than that,” she led off. His eyebrows rose sharply; she knew that she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. “I was born different than you.”

“In what way?” he asked.

“Nadira! Get to the point!” Toma snapped, causing her to jump. Cooper’s eyes narrowed at Toma before turning back to her.

“I was born a vampire,” she blurted out, holding her breath, waiting for his reaction.

Cooper looked at her for a second, searching her face. She kept her face free from emotions. “Ok, funny. But really, what is going on Nadira?”

Her incisors extended, breaking through her gums. She smiled a soft smile knowing that her small fangs would show. A low gasp escaped Cooper as he backed away slowly; his eyes locked on her mouth. She knew what would come next; her heart broke a little at the thought that he would not want to have anything to do with her. She was certain beyond a reasonable doubt that he was her Fated Mate. She was destined to spend the rest of her life with Cooper.

Her heart wouldn’t feel as if it was being torn in two if he was not for her. Her brothers just couldn’t let her have just a little happiness. Damn them! Her chest became heavy as a look of horror passed his face. Rejection hurt like a bitch!

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” she quickly tried to comfort him.

“Those aren’t real!” He pointed at her mouth, shaking his head in disbelief. “Vampires aren’t real,” he said, looking around the room. Her brothers chuckled at Cooper’s reaction.

“Oh, we’re very much real, Detective Cooper,” Teague said, bearing his fangs. Cooper moved slowly towards the door but Adrian flashed quickly to the door, blocking the exit.

“Stop it!” Nadira screamed at her brothers knowing that they are having a field day tormenting a human. She ran over to a panicking Cooper, quickly reaching up to grab his face, forcing him to look at her. Hating herself for what she had to do, she stared into his beautiful eyes using her vampire compulsion. “It’s okay, Cooper,” she said softly. Her vision blurred from unshed tears. She felt his body relax as her compulsion commanded him to relax.

She reached inside of his mind, finding all of his memories of her — her standing outside the nightclub speaking with the police officer, her smiling at him in the coffee shop, her looking up at him laughing at something he said during their walk. Tears streamed down her face as she erased tonight’s events from his mind. She witnessed his initial reaction to her in the diner, after he turned and spotted her at the table with her friends.

Not having the heart to erase every memory of herself from his mind, she left his first glance and impression of her knowing that after tonight, they would probably never meet again. She knew it was a little selfish of her, but she wanted to leave at least one impression of herself with him. Once she was done, his glazed eyes just stared off into space, in a trance, waiting to be released from the compulsion.

“I hope you guys are happy. Please take him home, unharmed,” she said quietly, holding back her sob as she quietly left the office.

* * *

Cooper opened his eyes, wincing at the small elephant stomping around on his brain. Headaches first thing in the morning sucked. What the hell? He rolled over in the bed slowly, staring at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, praying that the elephant trudging through his brain would cease.

How the hell did I get in the bed and why am I still fully dressed?

He couldn’t remember climbing into the bed last night. His phone chirped, signaling a text. He rubbed his hand across his face as he grabbed the phone, looking to see who it was. Sam. Banging could be heard from the front door. He cursed, rolling out of the bed, stumbling to the bedroom door.

“Hold on!” he yelled out as he slowly made his way to the door. He glanced out the peak hole, seeing his partner standing outside. “Hey,” he said, opening the door.

“What the hell? Why haven’t you answered your phone?” Sam demanded, pushing his way into the apartment.

“I must not have heard my phone. What’s going on?” he asked, combing his fingers through his hair, shutting the door.

“We need to go to the coroner’s office. Dan said he has something for us.”

“Let me jump in the shower,” he said while Sam plopped down on the couch. Maybe the hot water would help his head. He had absolutely no recollection of last night’s events. He tried to remember any part but a slow ache formed in his brain, causing him to wince.

Twenty minutes later, Sam and Cooper were in his car, heading to the coroner’s office. Sam noticed Cooper’s quietness. “What did you get into last night?” He asked.

“Nothing, that I can remember,” he responded, glancing at Sam. He had the weird feeling that something did happen but he couldn’t put a finger on it. The last thing he remembered clearly was getting dressed. After that, his memory had been wiped clean.

“If you were drinking that hard, you should have called me.” Sam chuckled.

“No, I don’t think I went anywhere last night,” he looked out the window, watching the city fly by. He remained quiet for a few minutes as Sam maneuvered the traffic effortlessly.

“You okay?” Concern clouded Sam’s voice, making Cooper glance at him.

“I think so,” he tried to smile but failed. “It’s probably exhaustion. I knew I was running on fumes. It probably just caught up to me; that’s all.”

“Let’s swing by the diner and grab some coffee,” Sam said, flicking his turn signal on. A young woman’s face flashed into Cooper’s mind.