“You sure about this? He is a vampire,” Gold says as she drives me to the gates of the pack house, and parks the car outside. I look over at Gold, who has a very sharp looking dagger clipped to the side of her thigh, tiny green shorts, and a long white top on. She looks like Lara Croft, but blonde.
“Also, my best friend,” I tell her.
“Just friend?” she asks.
“He never tried to be anything more. I’m still in shock that he thinks I’m his mate. We spent so much time together, watching moves after school, going swimming in the local pool every day in the hot summer. But he never made a move. He never acted on anything he was feeling,” I reply.
“What about what you were feeling?” she asks me.
“Honestly?” I ask, and she nods. “He was my friend, who I had a crush on, but never thought he would look at me like that. His parents are rich, he is stunning, and I was a foster kid with no money or future.”
“I get it,” Gold says gently.
“How can you?” I ask her, looking out the window.
“When I was about a hundred, I fell in love with a human man. He wasn’t my mate, just a charming man, and we quickly became friends. He knew what I was, although he shouldn’t have.”
“Did he not feel the same way about you?” I ask.
“No, he told me one day that he loved me, but didn’t want an immortal life. He also couldn’t watch me never grow old, while he did. He wanted normal,” Gold says, and pauses before continuing. “I left that day and went back twenty years later, just to see him once. He had a wife, two children, and he was happy.” She gives me a small smile. “You’re lucky. You both feel the same way about each other, and both will live long lives.”
When she puts it like that, I know she has a point.
“Thank you for telling me that,” I say.
“You’re my friend,” is all she says in response.
“It doesn’t matter in the end. I can’t have them both, and honestly, it would break me at this point to choose,” I say with a sigh.
“It’s normal for females to have more than one mate, but not across species,” she tells me.
“So, neither of them would ever accept-” I start to say, but then I realise I haven’t really thought about the idea of that, of them sharing me. How would that even work? Could it work?
“I don’t know, Harper. But Nikoli has waited a long time for you. I feel he would do anything to be with you. What he said last night, he was just angry,” Gold says sadly.
“He wouldn’t even look at me as he passed me on the stairs this morning,” I comment, and she sighs.
“I didn’t say he wasn’t a stubborn bastard,” she chuckles. I open my door and step out when I see Colton’s car pulling up to the gates, and Gold follows me over. The guards open the gates, both moving to stand on either side of Gold and me, as Colton gets out the car.
“Don’t be too long. Remember the wolf that is here waiting for you,” Gold whispers to me, and I nod at her before walking over to Colton.
“Hey,” I say, feeling awkward, and he chuckles.
“Come on, I have a whole day planned for us,” Colton says, and I don’t say anything to him as I get in the car and put my seatbelt on. There’s a weird silence between us as he drives through the trees and pulls into a small town. It has a shopping centre, a school, and a line of shops, but Colt drives past them all and parks in an empty space outside a zoo. The zoo isn’t a big one, but I have never been to one before, and Colt knows that. I once told him how I wanted to go to a zoo and see the animals.
“You remembered,” I say, leaning back in my seat and staring at the zoo entrance sign.
“Everything you told me, I remembered, Harper,” he says.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you are?” I ask him, and he turns the car off, both of us sitting in silence for a while.
“I wanted to. I really did, but I couldn’t mate with you until you turned eighteen. It's against the supernatural rules. I knew if I told you…if I told you I had been falling in love with you since I first saw you tripping over thin air on the sidewalk and helping you stand up, there would be a chance you would want something between us, and I couldn’t do that back then.” The silence between us seems to grow as I think about what he is saying. Would I have wanted something more? Most likely, because if I’m honest with myself, I never just saw Colton as my best friend. He was always something more to me, but I could never admit that.
“There was a rock,” I mutter the only response I can, and he laughs.
“No, there wasn’t,” he says, making me laugh too. I remember that day. He helped me up and introduced himself before walking off. Then he turned up at my school the next day, and everything else is history.
“What does it mean to be a vampire?” I ask him.
“I have to drink blood. Human blood, I need twice a week. If I feed on a vampire, I can go without feeding for two weeks because vampire blood is stronger. Although, I’ve only done that once, and it was from a glass at a bar,” he tells me.
“Wolf blood?” I ask.
“Never tried it, but there are some of my kind that hunt shifters for their blood. It’s meant to be a power boost or something,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m not like that, neither is any of my family, but I’m not going to sugarcoat the rest of my kind. They hunt humans, wolves, and other shifters for sport. Most vampires are evil.”
I like that he doesn’t hide anything about his kind from me. I wouldn’t ever believe that he is like that anyway; he is too gentle and kind from what I know of him.
“How old are you? Nikoli is two hundred years old,” I ask, knowing he could be any age and maybe what my foster parent said about him seeming older could be right.
“Only eighteen, that I never lied about. I’m a born vampire, both my parents are turned and with fay magic, I grow at a normal rate until I turned eighteen. Otherwise I would have grown a year older every ten years, it’s a little complicated. I have one sister is also born; she can talk to animals,” he tells me.
“That’s an amazing gift,” I comment.
“It is. I never got a gift, but I’m stronger than any of my family, if that counts. And my dad is five hundred years old, and my mum isn’t far off that,” he chuckles, and I smile a little at him.
“Do vampires have a pack?” I ask him.
“It’s called a Coven instead, and we have our own royal family. So do the fay and the elves,” he tells me, and it's not even shocking me that there are other supernaturals now. Once you get to used to the idea that you live in a fairy tale world, and that you’re part of it, it all becomes normal.
“How many vampires are there in your coven?” I ask him.
“Just my family and one girl, who is seven, that we have taken in. My parents adopted her, so she is like a sister to me.” He pauses. “Most vampires don’t like how we live, and we have fought off a lot of them to stay alive,”
“I don’t get it.”
“We don’t kill humans, we don’t feed off them for a sport, like most our kind do. We have blood bags delivered. Most our kind think that’s wrong, that everyone should follow the old ways,” he explains.
“I’m sorry they are like that,” I say, shaking my head.
“I don’t see why they won't stop attacking humans; drinking from a bag isn’t that bad.”
“That’s, well, a little gross, but you do eat normal food too. I’ve seen it,” I comment.
“Yes, we can eat anything else we want.” He nods with a small laugh.
“Why didn’t you ever come out at night? Is that a vampire thing?”
“The glowing purple eyes and long teeth appear when it gets dark. I couldn’t risk you seeing me like that,” he says quietly, and I reach over, holding his hand like I always used to.
“The eyes were beautiful and unique. I didn’t see the teeth, but I’m sure they just add to how good-looking you are, Colt,” I whisper to him, and he tightens his grip on my hand.
“You’re a wolf now; immortal, like me,” he tells me firmly.
“Yes,” I answer. I haven’t really had time to process it yet – the idea of living forever – but I have to admit some small part of me is happy that Colt will always be at my side. That I won’t have to watch him grow old.
“And still my destined mate,” he says.
“And Nikoli’s,” I reply, just as calmly as his words were spoken to me.
“Harper, I don’t know this wolf, but I know you. I can see it in your eyes; you feel something for him?” he asks me.
“Yes, but it’s the same as I what I feel for you,” I say quietly.
“Why don’t we take it slow, all of us. If the wolf can deal with the fact I love you, then I can deal with the fact he is your destined mate. The fates wouldn’t have brought us all together for no reason, Harper.”
“You love me?” I murmur.
“I have for a long time. That’s not something new,” he affirms.
“You would do that for me? Deal with my feelings for Nikoli?”
“I would do anything for you,” he tells me, and I can see the truth in his eyes.
“Where are you staying?” I ask him, desperate to change the subject, if only for a second.
“My family bought a house in town; all of them are here. I would like to take you to see them. They were only cold with you last time because they didn’t know if I would ever tell you. If you would choose to stay human, and I would be alone for the rest of my life.”
“They just want you happy?” I ask.
“Yes,” he answers.
“I would like to meet them,” I reply. If they were just protective of their son before, then I get it. They must have been worried that I would end up friend zoning Colton or running away from him, if he told me he was a vampire.
“Next Tuesday?” he asks, and I nod.
“You know I had that gift for you, the one that wasn’t ready yet?” he asks, and reaches inside his leather jacket, pulling out a picture. “Here.” He hands me a photo of a couple holding a baby. The couple both have dark brown hair, and they are smiling down at the baby with a loving look.
“Who?” I ask, hoping for only one answer.
“Your parents. I found an old university friend of your mother’s, and she sent me this. This was her wedding day, and your parents came with you. She gave me her number if you ever want to talk to her about your mum and dad, but she said she doesn’t have any other photos that she knows about.”
Tears fill my eyes as I look down at the couple, my parents, who seem so happy to be holding me. This is something I feel like I’ve waited for years for, and Colton did this for me.
“Thank you. I just-” I pause, wiping my eyes. “Thank you.”
Colton doesn’t say a word as he lets me stare at the photo for a long time.
“Okay, let's go and see some animals. I imagine this is something they would have done with me as a child, and it’s perfect that I have this with me as I go. It feels like a little bit of them are with me, even if they aren’t,” I say, and he nods his head.
“They are always with you, Harper. We live in a world full of supernaturals and magic. There’s no way there isn’t a chance that they could be watching you from somewhere. Making sure you are safe,” he says softly, and then gets out the car before I can say a word. I don’t know if I believe the same things as him, that my parents might be watching me from somewhere, but a little part of me hopes. I spend the next few hours with Colton, and in some ways, nothing has changed. He still holds my hand and makes me laugh, but there’s something else now. It’s the way we look at each other, and the way he smiles at me sometimes. One thing I know for sure; I don’t want Colt out of my life.