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As soon as I stepped out the door, I felt the eyes on me.

The morning has yet to come, but Jacob and I had played a game until about five. I did not really understand the game, so naturally Jacob won. He tried to make me lick his foot as punishment for losing, but luckily I escaped before that could happen. I will never understand him, either.

The air was chilly and damp, just to my liking, and all animals were silent with sleep. I smelled dog, so I thought Ivan must be close. However I cannot differentiate the scents too well. I only began to think of this fact when I had travelled a somewhat far from the backyard into the forested area behind the house- and Ivan was nowhere in sight. I sniffed the air again and still smelled the pungent odor of dog, but could not see any figures through the dark. I had failed to feed properly again, so my eyesight was not as good as it could have been. In fact, my head began to reel at that very moment, forcing me to stumble to a tree and lean my weight against it. My breath turned to long pants due to the lack of oxygen to freshen my blood. Oh, this headache… My body turned even more abnormally cold, my jaw chattered, and chills sped up and down my spine uncontrollably.

“Vincent?”

I tried to hold my head up, but it ended up falling back against the tree trunk. With hazy vision I located Ivan, but he was not alone. Two others stood by him, both males. One stood quite tall, thin and lanky arms crossed on his chest, light blonde hair short over his temples, diamond-blue eyes glaring at me like I was a disgusting half-crushed slug. The other male was shorter than both Ivan and the blonde, with short black hair and thick, muscular arms and darker blue eyes that, as best I could make out, held no emotion while he stared down at me. Ivan looked very worried, but when he started towards me the shorter man held an arm out to prevent him from moving forward. He struggled a moment with stopping, but never took his eyes off me. My head fell onto my chest again and all I saw was my pale, pale hands in my lap.

“You have five minutes to talk to him.” A silky smooth voice hit my ears and affected me like soothing music.

In a split second Ivan’s hand lifted my chin and propped me up. His face is very close, I notice, breath warming my neck. He lifted a finger to his teeth and poked a canine through it, spilling a few drops of blood down his skin. Before he could push it to my lips, I reached a heavy hand up and clasped it over the bleeding fingertip. I will not drink from him again, especially while other werewolves are watching. His reputation might be at stake. He growled and furrowed his brow in frustration. “Why the hell did you do that? Nevermind, we’ll do this after. I don’t have a lot of time to explain this and I didn’t want to tell you so soon. Unfortunately our situation poses as some sort of a problem.” I tried my best to follow along, ignoring my pounding head and spotty vision. His brown eyes successfully captured mine with their intensity and seriousness. “Listen close, Vincent. This is very important and probably very scary. Also very rare. You remember the genetic thing I told you about the other day? I’ve experienced it. This means I have a mate. That in itself isn’t uncommon or surprising in any way.”

I’m so confused.

“Vincent, pay attention, man.” He shook me slightly, his eyes a little wide and panicky. “I found my mate about a week ago. Great news, yeah? I also know for a fact that you have a mate too.” I felt my own eyes widen substantially. My drunken-like state caused my shock to probably expand to higher amounts than it would have were I completely healthy. How do I have a mate? Hamir doesn’t even have a mate. How do I get one? “You found your mate about a week ago as well. We both found our mates at the same time. That’s because… you’re my mate. And I’m your mate. So…”

He sort of faded off at the end. His brown eyes searched mine, probably for any signs of surprise/disappointment/fright. At first I was still just confused. He sounds afraid of the fact. Does he not like me that way? Or does he believe I will not be a good mate? The next thought sobered me quite a bit: how can a vampire be mated to a werewolf? His pack will not accept me, which means they will reject him as well. That’s why these pack members have come with him this time, to eradicate me.

“They aren’t here to hurt you,” he whispered, running a hand through my hair. “They just wanted to investigate you. I also got in trouble for taking the car…”

“Ivan, step aside.” The shorter black-haired male walked up behind him, still looking at me, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ivan’s eyes darkened, but he knelt next to me to make room for the man, who in turn knelt directly in front of me. My eyelids hung low over my irises and I swallowed thickly. “I’m Alpha Turner. This is my 2nd in command Bruno-“ he gestured to the unmoving blonde behind him, “- and we just came to make sure you aren’t a threat to my pack.” He moved to lift my head up for me, which I would have been very grateful for, but Ivan let out a low rumbling growl before Turner’s fingers could even touch my skin. He ignored it, though, and supported my head with his hand. Ivan tightened his hold on my leg at the act, but kept silent. “You don’t seem much of a threat. That’s not what a lot of my pack with think. Don’t you agree, Bruno?”

Bruno’s cold eyes didn’t waver.

Turner again ignored the silence. “Normally I would kill any vampire on sight. You’re a special case.” Ivan’s fingernails nearly pierced my skin at this statement. “…You’re invited to one of the pack’s social gatherings two days from now. Ivan will take you. Your family is also welcome. Ivan will announce your mating there, and I will make sure you are respected as the mate of my 4th in command. But if you so much as hiss at one of my pack, I assure you I will end you right then and there." His eyes hardened, his voice held authority I'd never heard before, and he made it clear he was not to be crossed. Though he is extending a friendly-enough welcome now, he will not forever keep up the facade.

As he stands up he motions to Ivan, who replaces his hand in holding my head up. He turns to Bruno, who uncrosses his arms and stands a little straighter under the piercing gaze of the alpha. All I see is Ivan’s tanned face, but I hear the stern voice in the background. “You will make sure he is treated as one of our own, and you will do the same. I will not tolerate any mistreatment.”

I sensed them leave. Ivan’s face was blank in the dark. He pressed against his open finger again and lifted it to my mouth. I was too weak to protest, but soon enough I was not as freezing and could see better immediately. His hands were still very warm. He plopped down between my legs, looking a little dejected as he glanced up at me from his downward gaze. “So… What do you feel about all this?”

I played with my thick knuckles as I thought it over with a now rational and sensible mind. “I had not expected to have a mate,” I whispered. “Especially a werewolf. I hope I am not lowering your status or respect in your pack, though I’m sure it is not improbable. Your pack will also not accept me, knowing the average werewolf, and if you do somehow force yourself to accept me, you will be alienated from your pack. I do not know how to… to help the situation… Also intimacy will be very difficult, since heat pains me after long sustained periods…” Speaking of heat, it covered my face and throat. So many assumptions. How can I be loved by something that hates what I am? And even if he could… how would we live together? His pack would avoid me, but he must belong to one. I’ve heard that being a rogue wolf is extremely difficult on the mentality of the wolf. Who am I fooling, he’ll never be able to mate with me.

I saw his hands untangle mine in my lap, felt their heat piercing my skin. “I accept you as my mate, which means I’m going to love you better than anyone ever can. I hope you can accept me, even though I’ve treated people with your… condition pretty horribly. I’m a higher-ranking official in my pack. I’ll make sure no one disrespects you. We could even leave, if you wanted. I don’t need them. It doesn’t matter, whatever you want to do. I’m just… just happy I found you.” He sighed heavily. His hand crept cautiously around my waist and gently tugged me forward as he glanced questioningly up at me.

I froze for a moment. The heat didn’t transcend too much through my clothes, but it had been a long time since I had been… intimate with someone. But something deep within me told me that his warming presence was something I needed, or at least should attempt to embrace. So I hesitantly shuffled forward off the tree and into his hold. Two things happened: I felt instantly safer, and Ivan’s face broke into a bright and slightly more confident grin. He rested his forehead on mine lightly, our noses brushing. The heat probably had the same intensity as it always did, probably still puckered my skin in 3rd degree burns, but it calmed me down immensely. I felt a smile of my own slip onto my face. “Wait until Harim hears about this,” I whispered through a low laugh.

He chuckled with me. “There are some things we need to talk about that will happen because we’re mates,” he said as he nuzzled his nose into my cheek. His heavy scent still smelled exactly like every other dog, but perhaps there is something… different, about it now. “I will eventually have to bite you. You don’t have to bite me back, because the tradition started way back when in the primitive stages of the world, when it was obvious who the mother of a child was. But for the man, it could be any guy. So the guy marks the girl, and therefore any of her children as his. It’s like the woman getting the man’s last name in a marriage- which most werewolf couples do anyways. I would love to hear your first name followed by my last name.” He smiled goofily and I had to laugh at his enthusiasm.

“This seems reasonable,” I jested, ignoring the now-painful burning sensation on my skin.

His face became slightly more serious. “We’ll also both go into heat. Well, I’ll go into a mating frenzy or something, and you’ll go into heat. In your first heat, your body kinda prepares itself for reproduction. Are you freaked out yet?”

I shook my head, though my breathing tightened significantly. “Vampires can experience a similar process. I never thought I would, though. It frightens me a bit, as I’ve heard it can be quite painful, specifically the ‘heat’ part. Some vampires who have gone through heat have been burned from the inside-out. It isn’t deadly, but it is apparently very torturous.” I shuddered at the prospect of overheating all over my body. Goodness, this is all moving so fast…

He looked me straight in the eye, solemnly and with complete surety. “We’ll figure it out when we get there,” he whispered. “I’ll be there with you through all of it. Maybe your master knows some tips.”

I didn’t even think of that. But I’m sure Hamir would be able to help. “I believe he does. I am excited to explain this to him,” I whispered excitedly.

We sat together in the forest for a long while, at least until sunrise, just sharing a contented silence. I didn’t realize that the whole time, while I had my eyes closed in concentration and forcing myself to endure the heat from his closeness, Ivan was looking at me lovingly the entire time.