I stared at my notes from science class as if it was an old ancient tablet with a language engraved on it that none ever spoke or knew about today. How is it possible that none of this not make sense? I wrote all of it. Myself. Today. Yet, as I continued to stare at them, they made no more sense than they had when I first tried to study this evening. Sighing, I set them aside. Perhaps my handwriting or note taking wasn’t the issue. My mind hadn’t stopped racing since I’d gotten home. It upset me Shaun seemed to have forgotten about me after school, but I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I was being stupid. Shaun didn’t owe me anything. In fact, until a couple of days ago, we didn’t even talk to each other and the kiss? Well, perhaps that was just what Shaun did. Go around and kiss girls. The thought made my stomach twist. That didn’t seem like Shaun. He wasn’t your typical cocky alpha that liked to play with girls like that. With another sigh, I leaned against my headboard and stare

At my request, the driver stopped at the corner of my street to avoid any drama with my aunt, or, at least, that was the plan. As soon as I stepped inside, my aunt turned and glared at me from the couch. “Where have you been?”With a shrug, I replied, “around.”She shut off the t.v. and stood. “Around? What kind of answer is that?”“An honest one.” Technically, I wasn’t lying. I had been around places: School, in a car, on the other side of town, in a vampire den. So I had actually been around.“Young lady, I demand you tell me where you’ve been and what you think you’re doing coming home this late.”This late? It wasn’t even eleven yet. Alisha and Declan both stayed out until around midnight. Unable to help myself, I said, “What do you care?”“Of course I do,” she said, and I caught the hints of a lie. “You are under my guardianship, after all.”“That didn’t matter to you a couple of days ago when I called you and you hung up on me.”My aunt scoffed, crossing her arms. “I did not.”“

I dropped onto my bed and let my head fall back. Shaun’s ‘I guess so’ kept replaying over and over in my mind. It hurt to hear him say that, because I knew how my cousin thought and she’d think that was him saying okay to a semi-date.My more rational side tried to assure me that Shaun didn’t mean it like that. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to my rational side at the moment. However, I wasn’t in the mood to go over and over everything Shaun said, either. Needing a distraction, I pulled out my English book to get started on homework. I’d just finished the first half of the assignment when there was a knock on the window. When I looked up, Shaun waved at me. What was he doing there? I set aside my text book and opened the window. “What are you doing here?”“Wanted to check up on you,” he said, crawling through the window into my room. “You seemed upset when you left.”“Because I was,” I admitted and sat back down on my bed. “Alisha was flirting with you and you did nothing.”“Of course

I leaned against the wall where my headboard would go if I had one, half watching a series on my laptop and half bored. At least the rain stopped, I thought as I glanced out my window. Just as another episode started, my phone lit up with a text. Weird. No one texts me. When I grabbed it, a smile broke out across my face. Shaun. How did he even get my number? Though, if I was honest, I didn’t care. He was asking me to meet up with him for lunch. I texted him back asking where to meet him and then tried to decide what to wear. I wanted to look good, yet did not seem like I was trying to look good. Once I was getting near the twenty-minute mark, I decided to dress in a muted rose t-shirt with jeans and black converse. I also brought my black hoodie in case the temperature dropped with all this humidity. Once I was ready, I read his reply, then re-read it. He wanted me to bring the pieces of the book with me. Why should I bring the book with me? Guess I’d have to wait and find out. Wit

“A vampire,” my aunt exclaimed, then looked at me and I caught a sense of betrayal. “You’re consorting with them… I… I got to tell the alpha!”“I… I got to tell the alpha,” Aunt Lauren said, her eyes wide. She turned to rush into the house, but only took a step before stopping. In a blink of an eye, Alec was in front of her. She gasped, jerking back, but when she met his eyes, my aunt relaxed and didn’t move. Aunt Lauren only just stared back at him.“What did—” I started, but he held up his hand.“You didn’t see a vampire here tonight,” Alec told my aunt. “Robin came home like she does every day. Now, go inside and spend your evening as you do.” Aunt Lauren nodded and walked into the house. I watched her until the front door closed. My stomach twisted into knots. “What did you do?”“I persuaded her to forget,” he said, walking over to stand next to me. “Neither of us wants the alpha knowing about our meetings.”“I see, and that’s it. You did nothing else?”Alec gave me a flat, almost