chapter 20: Emily and Quality Time

Obviously it didn't take very long to get to the familiar black house. The only ones who greeted us were Jacob and Jared.

"What's going on?" Kale seemed to growl. Jake shrugged.

"We're not really sure. They told us to wait for you. They're on Mavericks land."

"But we're not allowed there anymore--" I began.

"Maverick doesn't have a problem with it but we'd better get out there."

We nodded, following them to the mountain. We got there in a matter of minutes. Shane was waiting anxiously. He was fidgetting and looking around wide-eyed.

"Are you okay, Shane?" I asked concerned about the way he was acting.

His eyes found mine. He smiled, the way most people smile at eachother when they haven't seen eachother in awhile. I smiled back. He looked away, clearing his throat.

"Of course I am. Though, why it matters to you, I'm not sure." He spoke to the blazing fire.

"Shane--" I began, frowning.

He acted like he didn't care about me in the least bit, not even as a friend. Did mine and Kale's union do this? If it didn't, shouldn't I be even a little bit happy? I wanted the in love with me feeling to go away but never the friendship, never the love in that sense to go away.

"Jamie." He hissed at me through his teeth but he didn't look at me.

"So, these are the newly weds?" A female voice cut clearly and high-pitched through my ears.

I looked behin Shane, seeing a tell tan-toned female. Her hair was dirty blonde and was in a long french braid. She was very pretty, like all the girls I knew. Her beauty was almost intimidating. It just depends on if she's an Anabelle or an Anya.

Then I noticed her brilliant hazel eyes. Beside her were two males. One with short dark brown hair. He was bigger then the other one but they both had tan-toned skin. The other one had more of the female's color hair, dirt blonde but was just as short as the other guy's hair. They both had hazel eyes. They were werewolves.

"You were human not too long ago?" The female asked curiously as she stood beside Shane now. He took a subtle step away from her, becoming very stiff.

"That's right." I nodded. "It's been about nine months."

She smiled, seeming friendly enough.

"I hope you enjoy your new life. It should be exciting living in our world."

I nodded in agreement. "It already has been."

Kale watched them with wary eyes, standing so close beside me it almost seemed protective.

"Lovely." She continued to smile.

"Who exactly are you?" Kale interrupted our friendly banter.

"Oh. We haven't been properly introduced. I'm sorry." She apologized. "I'm Emily. These are my brothers, Zane," She pointed to the bigger one with the dark hair. "And Ivan." She gestured to the one with hair like hers.

Taking a good look, paying attention to detail, I could tell all three of them were siblings. She looked at us waiting.

"Kale and my wife, Jamie." He introduced us, smiling at me then was quick to turn a frown on Emily as he looked back at her.

"Is there a reason why you're here?"

"Yes. We heard from Shane that some friends of his were getting married. Surprise, surprise when we discovered his friends turn out to be vampires. We had to see for ourselves."

"Well it's true. So you can be on your way now." Kale informed them.

She was frowning now. She turned to Shane who winced.

"We also wanted to know if you'd like to come back with us."

"I'm perfectly fine where I am."

"But Shane, we still have unfinished business to attend to."

He shook his head.

"Come on Shane, don't tell us our sister isn't worth recconecting with." For the first time her brother spoke. It was Zane. His voice was bone-chillingly deep and even sounded threatening. Shane looked at me, instantly seeming to regret it and looked away back into the fire. Emily's head snapped to me and so did her brothers.

"Why do you want to stay where you don't belong?" Emily asked him, though her eyes penetrated into me. Kale grabbed me, pressing me into his side.

"I have my reasons." Shane murmured, then winced as if regretting what he said.

"You don't love me anymore." She didn't ask, she stated with a hiss. He looked at her.

"Let's not talk about this here."

Emily tensed. Her fists clenched.

"Calm yourself, Em." Her brother, Ivan urged.

She wasn't looking at Shane, she was still looking at me. No, not looking, glaring. What did I do?! I moved closer to Kale. Jake and Jared were suddenly at our sides. Jason, Anya and the pack were encirling us. All of them had tensed.

"It has nothing to do with her." Shane growled.

"You have never looked at me that way! Don't you dare play dumb with me Shane!" She continued to hiss. Kale tensed. Shane gave her a deadly look. I could tell both of them were about to change forms.

"Why would I fall in love with a blood sucking, hard as rock, ice cold vampire?!" He shouted but through clenched teeth.

I tried not to get offended but that didn't happen. He shot a disgusted glare at me. I flinched. He looked away very fast, too fast. It was like he meant to look at me like that for a longer time but couldn't.

"If you stay here with these vampires and dogs then you have betrayed your own kind." Emily threatened.

"Well, then consider yourselves betrayed."

Emily let out a hiss, so close to changing forms.

"If you shift and attack on our land then you can also consider yourselves unwelcome." Maverick let out, stepping between us and this new pack of werewolves.

"This has nothing to do with your packs." Emily spit.

"But you are on our land. Besides, our packs don't just consist of dogs anymore. You mess with one, then you mess with all of us."

This, coming out of Maverick's mouth, surprised not just me but everyone else as well. Emily continued to glower at only me.

"You and me will have a chance to talk, Jamie." She continued to use a threatening tone.

I felt a sudden longing to lunge at her. A sudden snarl came out of me. Kale spun me around, his arms held me tightly, my face buried in his chest. There was a silence that my growling cut through. My whole body was snappily tense.

"Mmm, she's a fiesty little thing." Zane laughed, amused.

"Just the way we like it." Ivan added.

They both laughed. Kale tensed even more. He gripped me tighter. Now he was growling. He was much better at controlling himself then I was. He had done it by himself for a very long time. I heard Jacob growling now. He was being held back by Jared, his control was terrible. Jason, Anya and the packs were even growling. There was a long delayed moment before Shane started growling too, as if he had been fighting it but couldn't any longer.

"Leave." Maverick demanded.

"Fine." Emily hissed. "But we'll be around."

There scent was still strong but became distant and only got further away. Everyone was frozen in place, not one of us moved. I didn't relax, neither did Kale. He didn't let me go but he finally spoke.

"You did good Shane, but you're going to have to try harder." Kale told him tightly. Shane must have nodded then answered.

"Jamie, whatever I say it's not meant to hurt you, ok?"

I waited, letting my body relax. As soon as mine did, Kale quickly did the same. His whole body was still alert. He loosened his grip. I turned, still in his arms, looking at Shane.

"What was that?" I frowned, still confused like I was before. Shane couldn't look at me.

"She thinks I refuse to go back with them, why I don't love her anymore is because of you. She's always been that way, jealous. She doesn't like when she doesn't get what she wants, when things don't go her way."

"It's too late. The damage has already been done. No matter how hard you try to convince Emily it has nothing to do with Jamie, she'll still come after her." Jason added when Shane seemed to be done talking. Kale, once again, tensed.

"They're werewolves." Jake stated.

"Very observant Nesskey." Jared told him sarcastically. Jacob shot a glare at him.

"You know what I mean." He muttered.

"I'm not human anymore. I'm not as weak as I was before--" I began.

"You're still just a vampire. You remember what I told you about our strength, don't you?" Shane interrupted me.

"I remember." I nodded. "But we have to be positive about this."

Shane laughed. "There's nothing positive about monsters."

"Shane! You know I hate that word!" I hissed angrily at him. He finally looked at me.

"It's true--"

"Then you're a monster!" He only nodded at my statement. "And it also makes me one too."

"No, Jamie. Never." He shook his head frantically now. Kale moved me further into his arms.

"Quit calling yourself that then." I pleaded.

Shane didn't say anything. After a moment Kale did, he let me go now. His arms dropped but he took my hand.

"Let's go."

"No, you two stay here." Maverick told us as him and his pack turned to leave. "We'll keep our eyes out on the perimeter." Then, as many times as before, they disappeared into the darkness.

Kale let out a sigh, having every intention on heading back to the beach house but deciding that Maverick was right. The majority of Jason's pack went back to their tents or took off deeper into the mountain. As for me, Kale, Jacob, Shane, Jared, Anya and Jason, we sat down around the fire together. No one spoke or even moved for a long moment.

"How was the honeymoon?" Jason asked, trying to lighten the mood. Kale and I exchanged a look and grinned at eachother. Jake and Shane exchanged a look and frowned.

"We won't go into detail." Kale promised.

"Thanks." Jake mumured sarcastically.

"I never knew you actually belonged to another pack, Shane." Jason poked at the fire. Shane shrugged.

"There's alot you don't know..."

"I didn't know that either." I admitted sheepishly. Shane's eyes found mine, he was quick to look away.

"You never asked." He mutered.

"Now I am." I looked at him curiously. We had talked about alot of things but somehow this never came up. Kale's leg was pressed against mine. It seemed like no matter what there was always a part of us touching. He stared into the fire. Eventually he looked up at me with a sigh.

"I was with them from the very beginning. They were my pack."

"Litterally your pack?" Jason couldn't help but to interrupt him. Shane nodded. He didn't take his eyes off of me as he continued.

"Me and Emily became very close throughout the years. There was a time when I truly did love her. My pack started getting bigger, more werewolves joined us everyday. We had territory all over the place."

"And what was so bad about that?" Jake asked now, seeing the very clear disgust on Shane's face.

"It's like I had everything, but no matter what there was always something missing. Finally, I decided to leave my pack. I didn't say anything to them when I left. Emily came after me once. We got into a fight and she never came back until recently. I wandered for a long time before running into you Jason. The reason I decided to stay is still unclear to me. I just know that I..." His voice trailed off, his eyes fell to gaze at the fire instead of me now. "I finally found what I had been missing." He finished in a low voice.

The only one that seemed to not be paying attention was Jared. He was kind of like Kale in a way, he got bored easily unless it was Kale that was talking. Kale shifted beside me. I rested my hand on his leg, trying my best to comfort him.

"Would you ever go back?" Kale asked suddenly. Shane slowly shook his head. "If it meant protecting her?" Kale continued with an edge to his voice.

I tensed beside him. I gripped his leg without even realizing it. He seemed to actually flinch. I guess I grabbed tighter then I assumed I had. Shane was staring, frowning deeply into the fire. I turned my attention to Kale who had already been looking at me. His hand was holding the top of mine that still gripped his leg tightly.

"I'm just asking." He spoke quietly. I loosened my death grip, forcing my eyes away from him and to Shane's frowning face.

"You don't have to do that Shane. If they do come after me--"

"They will." Kale interrupted. I ignored him.

"I don't want you to think you have to leave to make them go away." I wanted to shoot a glare at Kale but decided against it.

"It might come down to that." Jason insited. I looked at him. I had been expecting something like that to come out of Kale's mouth.

"No. It can't." I frowned.

"If it really does come to that, would you be able to do it?" Kale asked again.

My mouth opened. I was trying to speak. Kale put his arm around me, grabbing my head and pressing it into the side of his chest.

"Yeah. I can do that." Shane answered but somewhat hesitantly.

What was with them and leavine me? It wouldn't be like when Kale leaves me but I couldn't imagine life without Shane. Same goes for Jacob too.

"But it's not like that at all." Anya began. "Like we already said, it doesn't matter if he goes back to them or not, she's already set her sights on Jamie. She won't give up until she gets rid of what's threatening her happiness."

Our marriage obviously didn't make either of them decide to give up. Would Shane love Emily if it wasn't for me? Time was my best option.

"I don't want you to leave Shane." Maybe not the best idea but it just sort of came out. He was looking at me again.

"I..." He swallowed back his pained voice. "I won't unless there's nothing else I can do."

"We'll figure something out. Don't worry about it." Jacob said confidently.

He was looking at me but somehow I knew he was secretly comforting Shane. Shane knew this. He looked over at him, nodding very slightly then staring back into the fire. It was almost like the blazing fire was like his security blanket. He relaxed everytime he gazed into it.

I smiled at the comforting words coming from Jake. He suddenly smiled, looking completely embarrassed. He knew I caught him. He also knew I wouldn't say anything unless the three of us were alone. I wasn't exactly sure when that would be.

"It's good to have you both back." Jake did his best to change the subject.

"Back to trouble." Kale sighed, slidding me even closer to him.

"She does cause alot of trouble." Jason teased.

"My fault again." I sighed, resting my head on Kale's shoulder now.

"It's good to know that some things will never change." Shane laughed.

"I'm going to bed." I murmured, standing up.

"No." Kale chuckled, grabbing my arm. "Stay my love. We'll stop picking on you."

"Doubt it..." But I sat back down anyways.

I was teasing just as much as they were but it still really bothered me that I was the cause of all this trouble. I had a feeling that nothing was ever going to be normal about this world I chose to come into.

"Well, how are we going to deal with this now? We can't just kill everyone that comes after me." I spoke, staring into the fire. I didn't look at any of them.

"There's not too much we can do right now. We're dealing with werewolves, we have to remember that." Anya seemed to be the only one willing to answer me.

"But this is going to turn into another fight?" I finally looked over at her.

"That's up to them." Kale murmured beside me. My eyes foudn his and stayed there. "We're going to protect you no matter what it takes, even if that means doing things you hate." He told me firmly.

I wasn't going to be able to change his mind if it really did come down to that. Him and the others were set on protecting me as if I were still human and couldn't defend myself. Then again, Shane did say that werewolves were a hundred times stronger then vampires and shapshifters put together.

"No need to worry about this right now, Jamie or any of you for that matter." Jason interrupted my thoughts.

"He's right. We all know there scent now. We'll catch them long before they catch us." Kale agreed.

Everyone became quiet. Everyone became tense at the thought of not knowing exactly when they'd be back. Getting rid of one enemy only seemed to lead to another...

~#~#~#~#~##~#~#~#~#~##~#

A few days passed with no sign of them heading back to us. Everyone was still on edge though. Kale, as always, stayed by my side constantly. And when he wasn't, he was always nearby. I could always feel him there, watching me protectvely. That wasn't anything strange and neither was the fact that Shane and Jacob clung to my side.

It had been awhile since they were like this. They hadn't done this since the last time it was just the three of us, the last time Kale had left me. I wonder if there would ever be a time where we would have to do that again. I hoped not. Just thinking about it made the empty feeling come back.

"Are you even listening to me Jamie?" Shane's frustrated voice brought me back from my head. I shook my head. And smiled as if I were guilty about something.

"No. I'm sorry. What were you saying?" I looked at him as if consentrating on only him. He rolled his eyes.

"I said, since Jake and Kale are going hunting soon, do you want to go into town? Get our minds off of Emily's pack?" He asked.

I glanced up at Kale. He had been staring emotionlessly at Shane. He looked at me when I turned to him. He shrugged.

"It's up to you..." His voice trailed off a little. "It probably would be a good idea." He muttered quietly, not wanting either of us to hear him but he knew better.

When I though about it, he was right. It wasn't a good idea sitting around waiting for him. As much as he wanted me to go, he didn't want me to be around blood when I wasn't thirsty. It was starnge because our feeding schedules were the only things that didn't coordinate with one another. When my eyes were bright and green, his were hauntingly black, like now. When his were bright and blue, mine were piercing black.

I didn't dare look in the mirror when they were like that. Of course every once in awhile my eye would catch a mirror. The first time I saw myself truly thirsty I honestly almost screamed. I looked scarier then the first time I saw Kale's black eyes. My eyes were completely black and wide, almost looking sunken into my face.

"I have to feed!" I had gasped, turning to Kale. "I'm terrfying!" I had been wondering if I scared Kale everytime he looked at me when I was like that but he laughed.

"You're beautiful, Jamie."

"Are you even looking at me?!" I asked, surprised.

"You know I am, darling. I don't know what you see when you look at yourself but it doesn't even come close to terrifying."

"You're right. I'm hideous!"

He continued to laugh.

"Think the term you're looking for right now is crazy."

"Am not." I murmured.

He kissed my forehead as he had done so many times before.

"Whatever you say. Let's go feed you, sweetheart."

I nodded in agreement as he took my hand.

"We might as well." I shrugged, finally answering Shane's question. Kale dropped his arm from around me.

"Keep her safe." He warned Shane who nodded. "And I'll see you in a little bit." He informed me, taking my face into his hands. Our eyes locked. His black eyes didn't even make me flinch anymore like it used to. I tried hard to hide it but it never worked.

"I miss you already." I breathed into him. He smiled.

"But I missed you before that."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Why are you trying to one up me?"

"Because it's fun." He grinned still. He pulled my face to him, kissing me for a long moment.

"Love you, Jamie Vandera."

"Love you too, Kalsaban."

"I hate that you know."

"I know." I smirked at him.

He kissed me again before letting me go completely. He took a baby step back from me. He looked at Shane who was standing behind me now with Jake.

"Keep her safe Shane." He repeated somewhat slowly as if making sure he was understood.

"I always will." Shane nodded.

Kale stared at him then finally looked back at me. His mouth was tight until eyes met mine, a sudden smile was on his face. Then he looked behind me again.

"Come on. I'm starving."

"Me too!" Jacob moved past us, messing up my hair.

"Have fun." I giggled, paying Jake back by messing up his hair now. Within a second they were both walking away.

"You too!" Kale called over his shoulder. They took off in a flash. I turned to Shane, needing to leave before it hit me that Kale had just left.

"We'll take Jake's car." He said grabbing my arm. I groaned, realizing running wasn't going to be an option.

"I hate cars." I pouted as he led me out of the tents. He chuckled.

"I know you do. That's why we're taking it." He teased.

"Well thanks so much Shane." I rolled my eyes behind him as he pulled me along.

We were at the far tent, mine and Kale's. Shane had interrupted a moment alone we were having, quickly followed by Jacob. We were in the main field now, where the gianormous fire was blazing as always. Shapeshifters were wandering around, some sitting at the fire, some just smiled at us, others waved, few said anything.

"Now where are you two going?" Anya asked curiously.

"To town." Shane shrugged.

"What for?" It was actually Jared who asked, frowning and sitting off to the side of some of the pack that were sitting around the fire. His arms were crossed.

"We'll probably catch a movie..." I said thoughtfully.

"Or go shopping."

"Shopping?" I frowned at Shane.

"We'll talk about it in the car." He sighed.

"Shopping? Why would we go shopping? A movie is just fine..." I murmured pretty much to myself as he continued to pull me behind him.

"See you in a bit, dolcetto!" Jason called. I glanced over at him and Anya.

"Bye guys!" I said coming out of my murmuring for a moment.

We both took off down the trail, getting to the bottom of the mountain and to the Scion in moments. We got in at the same time. He started the car, speeding off.

"What do you mean shopping?" He seemed to be waiting for the question.

"I figured I'd buy you some new clothes." He shrugged with a smirk.

"Why?" I glared at him.

He looked at me as if it should have been obvious.

"You seem to be running out." He muttered.

"No. You're not going to buy me clothes! I won't let you!" I crossed my arms.

His head fell back annoyed as he shut his eyes.

"We haven't had any time alone like this in months. I just don't want to spend it in a dark theatre." He complained.

I stared at him. He looked at me. His hazel eyes screamed misery. I growled at him. He smiled. He's known me long enough to know when I growled it was a sign of me giving in. And he convinced me it would be a good bonding experience.

"Bonding experience." I shook my head not able to help the smile that spread across my face as I stared out in front of me. "I can't believe you said that."

"I can't believe you're laughing at me."

"I'm not!" I laughed, really not meaning to. He sighed.

"Can I ask you something?" He gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"Always." My laugh subsided at the tone of his voice.

It took him a second to actually ask it.

"You can't get mad." He seemed to suddenly be glaring at the road. I gazed at him. He glanced at me. "Promise?" He asked unsure. I sighed.

"Okay, I promise."

"Well, I'm just curious about a few things..."

"A few things?"

He nodded. I waited. He swallowed.

"If you weren't in love with Kale, would you be in love with one of us?" He asked in that small voice he used when he seemed anxious about what he was saying.

One of us being him or Jacob of course. I subconsciously looked down at my wedding ring. He looked at me.

"Completely rhetorical. I'm just curious about it, honest."

"Shane," I finally sighed. "You guys are three totally different people. You are so much like me, sometimes it scares me. You understand things about me that most people don't. Jacob, he's always been there for me, excepting me even though I was human. It's nearly impossible for me to see myself being in love with anyone but Kale. I'm never lying when I tell you and Jacob that I love you both. I'm not lying when I call you two my best friends."

"But why love him?" His voice was even quieter now. I continued to gaze at my ring and smiled.

"He protected me and excepted me from day one of me coming into this world as a human. It's not just that; there's almost an unexplainable spark, like a burning-blazing hot fire between us. It was like I was born to be with him. As if my whole life, every little thing that ever happened to me only brought me closer to him. He gets me in ways that even you don't, that nobody ever has. He is my everything, because he is everything I ever hoped for."

"You hoped to fall in love with a vampire?" He teased now.

"I hoped that someday, someone would truly love me for who I am and nothing else."

"He found you first." He muttered bitterly to himself.

"What do you mean?" I sighed, but already understanding.

"If it would have been Jacob, or me--"

"I still would have found him. We still would have met. Something deep down inside just knows it."

"There would be no winning then?"

"It's not a game." I frowned at him.

"You know I didn't mean it like that." He looked at me anxiously. I nodded, then shook my head.

"I guess not. I'm sorry Shane, for everything."

He shrugged. "Don't be. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad."

We didn't speak for a moment. We sat in silence as the town came into view.

"What was the other curiousity?"

He waited a second.

"Do you regret being turned?" He asked as if choosing his words carefully.

"Not at all." I had a feeling Kale wasn't the only one thinking that I would regret it, and I was right. "I'm still just trying to get used to it though."

"I never want to hear you scream like that or be in that much pain ever again." He breathed out. I looked at him, never thinking about how this effected Shane or Jake. I was really selfish, wasn't I?

"I never wanted you to see any of that. That wasn't fair for any of you..."

He shot me a small smile as we pulled into the overly populated mall parking lot. I let out a groan.

"Are you sure about this?" I complained once again. His smile widened.

"Positive. We'll be fine, I promise."

"But what if I hurt someone?" I asked in a small voice like he had been talking in earlier. He shut the car off, looking at me.

"You? Jamie? Who always stubbornly tries her best to keep everyone from fighting?" He laughed. I didn't. He noticed this and sighed. "I'll make sure you don't. Now come on, we don't have very long."

He then jumped out of the car. I followed quickly behind him. A few humans passed us. I absent mindedly grabbed Shane's hand, moving closer to him.

"You're alright." He tried not to laugh.

We headed into a few stores, getting alot of stares. Most people were looking at us in awe, some seeming bitter. We didn't pat attention to them. I was glad I was able to ignore them like that, surprised really. It always surprised me when the smell of human blood rushing through their bodies didn't tempt me at all.

I was also surprised that I enjoyed shopping with Shane. Well, I enjoyed spending time with him. He talked non-stop, as always. I missed this, more then I thought I did. But he had bought me way too much and he even insisted on carrying everything.

"Okay Shane, I think I have enough clothes now." I informed him quietly.

"Just one more store." He begged. I frowned at him.

"We've been to over six--"

"But just one more let's us spend just a little more time together." He interrupted me. I let out a groan.

"One more." I gave in.

He grinned and dragged me into a nearby Wet Seal. No one was in here except for two workers. Probably because it was getting late. Both of the girls seemed to look at us stunned as we walked in. They froze, giving eachother a wide-eyed look. Once again, we ignored them.

"What about this?" Shane asked holding up a long red shirt that I could easily wear as a shirt-dress. It was actually very cute.

"How much is it?"

"It doesn't matter."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing the shirt before he could hide it behind his back. I found the tag.

"No way!" I let out. "Thirty dollars? I don't think so! That's ridiculous, Shane!"

He shook his head, grabbing it from me and putting it back.

"Here. This is only ten dollars." He held up a skirt. I burst out laughing.

"Yeah because there's hardly any material. How short do you think that would be on me?!" He only smiled. I grabbed it and threw it back. "You're out of your mind." I muttered. He shrugged.

After awhile we both decided on two shirts that were pretty perfect for our lifestyle and a pair of jeans. I handed the girl over the counter my clothes. Both girls seemed nervous. Neither of them had even walked up to us and we were there for a good 20 minutes.

"Did you find everything okay?" The girl seemed to whisper. Poor thing.

"Yes we did." I nodded then looked at Shane. "Thank you, for all of this, even though I wish you wouldn't have bought everything."

"We got some time together, that's all I wanted. I can replace money, I can't replace you."

One of the girls at the counter let out a gasp.

"Oh!" We both looked at her. "Are you two married?!" She was staring at my left on that I had absent mindedly rested on the counter and began drumming my fingers.

"No." I laughed then noticed her smile.

She was looking at Shane now, well gawking really. He wasn't paying attention to her at all. He was looking at me. I glared at him. He frowned confused.

"Have a nice night." She sighed, handing me the bag.

"You too." I sighed back, taking it from her.

"Shane! That girl was staring at you!" I whispered excitedly as we left the store.

"I know. Pretty creepy!" He cringed.

"Minus the creepy. She was really pretty! You should have asked for her name!" I scolded. He sighed deeply.

"She had a name tag, there would be no point."

"You could have talked to her or at least looked at her." I frowned.

"Jamie!" He laughed. "I'm not the least bit interested in humans." His tone was distgusted. My eyes widened.

"Wh-what?" I gasped, confused.

"You were the only one. First and definitely last. And I'm not into vampires either!" He pointed out then chuckled. "With one exception."

At that point I knew for a fact I would have been blushing so hard that my skin might have started on fire.

"That's just annoying." I glared at him again.

"What is?"

"The fact that you won't even look at other girls."

"Maybe someday." He shrugged. It was unconvincing.

"Soon, hopefully."

"Doubt it..."

"You won't even try?"

"Not right now."

"I want you to be happy, Shane. I want you to feel the way I do every single day being with Kale. I wish both you and Jacob could be happy."

"We're fine, Jamie. We're getting through it. It's been difficult for both of us but every day gets easier. Seeing you happy, it makes us happy. And I'm not just saying that to make you happy." He spoke as we headed out of the mall. He opened the door for me. "Now let's get you back to your husband."

To my surprise there was no edge or bitterness to his tone. It was actually kind of playful. I nodded with a sudden smile.

"That sounds like a great idea!"

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So there's no picture in this chapter but it's kind of like a book trailer that I made for Secret Desire. If you can't see it on the chapter just watch it on youtube, where it says "watch on youtube" obvi you guys are smart enough to figure it out haha