They both looked at me apologetically. Knight came up the steps. “Hope,” they both said together.
“I don’t need this right now.”
Christian and Knight looked at each other and then back at me. “We’re sorry,” Christian said. “I know you have a lot on your plate right now. I don’t want to do anything to make that worse.”
“I don’t either,” Knight added.
I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. I felt like they were both just saying what I wanted to hear.
“I meant what I said, Hope,” Christian said. “You need protection, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” He smiled at me before walking down the steps and leaving.
Knight was snarling in his direction. I tilted my head at him. He looked back at me and shrugged. “What? I’m a werewolf. I’m not supposed to like him.”
“Isn’t that immature of you?”
“You don’t understand. Werewolves and vampires don’t fight for the same team, Hope.”
“He saved me, Knight. Christian’s not a bad guy. He’s a good vampire.”
He laughed. “There are no good vampires. There are bad vampires and there are worse vampires.”
“I could say the same about people then. I’m sorry but I think you’re wrong. I’ve had foster parents that make Christian look like a saint.”
His look softened. “I’m sorry.”
“What was that?”
“What?”
“Your reaction. Christian wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
He rubbed his eyes in frustration. “I don’t know. I just saw him with you and it set me off. I couldn’t help it. None of this makes any sense.”
He could say that again. “Yeah, a lot doesn’t make sense right now.”
“I just feel this connection with you. A connection I’m supposed to feel with Hayden.”
I looked at him in confusion. “Huh?”
“We’re both alphas and we’re supposed to be mates. Our packs have a long history of being mates, but it’s never been alphas. If two alphas get together then the packs merge and become one. Apparently my mom was supposed to be Hayden’s dad’s mate, but they didn’t end up together. It passes on or something. It’s hard to explain.”
I think I knew what he was talking about. I kept feeling drawn to Knight. I felt like I knew him my whole life when I only knew him a few weeks. It didn’t make any sense, but when I was away from Knight I couldn’t wait to be near him again.
“Hope?” Knight said when I hadn’t said anything for a while.
“I feel it too. The connection between us. I didn’t know what it meant. I mean I thought I just liked you, but now that you say that how I feel makes more sense.” I stopped and took a deep breath. “Knight what does this mean?”
“I don’t know. I like you a lot Hope. More than I’ve ever liked anyone in my life. But I have a duty to my pack. And they want me to be with Hayden.”
I felt like he was stepping on my heart and crushing it. “I get it.” I didn’t get it. If he felt connected to me, how could he be with Hayden? Was it possible he had two mates? There was so much I didn’t know about myself yet. About the people I came from. I had so much to learn.
Right now I needed to be alone. I understood why Knight felt like he had to be loyal to his pack, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. He was choosing Hayden over me.
“But I don’t want us to stop hanging out.” He got closer to me. He looked like he wanted to hug me, but was stopping himself. “I can’t not be around you. I want to help you. I can’t let anything bad happen to you Hope. I won’t.”
I had his protection. But I didn’t have him.
Chapter 38: Hope
Tomorrow night was halloween and I still had no idea what I was going to dress up as.
The harvest was a big deal in Salem Point. They had a lot of festivities going on. Today Gemma was off from work so she wanted to go to the town’s festival of lights. We were meeting Dr. Drake there.
I texted Jade to make sure she was coming too. I planned on sneaking away from Gemma and Dr. Drake. I figured they could use some alone time.
The festival was packed. Everyone was here. Hayden included. When she spotted me the smile on her face turned straight. She wasn’t being such a bitch anymore, but she was still making it clear that she didn’t like me. Tegan was with her.
I wondered where the twins were. Or at least Aria. She was always nearby whenever Hayden was around.
“Gemma.”
Dr. Drake came walking up to us. He hugged Gemma and smiled at me. “Hi Hope.”
“Hey Dr. Drake.”
He laughed. “Hope you can call me Drake outside of school.”
“Right. Drake. Got it.”
“Having fun?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. This is so fun. I love bobbing for apples.”
Gemma rolled her eyes. “I had to drag her here.”
“Not a fan of festivals? You’d better get used to it. Salem Point has a lot of them.”
That’s the only thing they had a lot of. Salem Point was crawling with supernaturals. Hmm, I wondered if Drake was some kind of supernatural. If his nieces were, there was an obvious chance he was too.
I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Jade coming towards me. “Jade, what are you doing here?”
She looked at me like I had two heads. “I don’t know to be honest.”
I glared at her. She wasn’t helping my efforts of getting away from Gemma and Drake.
Gemma raised her eyebrow and gave me a pointed look. She was very perceptive when it came to me. “Hi Jade.”
“Hi Gemma. Dr. Drake.”
“Just Drake is fine.”
She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. “Yeah I’m not going to do that.”
Drake chuckled and smiled at Gemma.
“Go on,” Gemma said.
I smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she seemed surprised by. “See you later.”
“Be careful,” she said, calling after me as I walked away with Jade.
“You owe me for this,” Jade said. “Town gatherings are not my thing.”
“Gatherings in general aren’t your thing.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you hungry?”
“For gross festival food that is probably going to make me sick?”
“You are such a downer.”
“I am not. I’m just stating the obvious. The workers are volunteers that don’t give two shits about food safety.”
I shook my head. Jade was such a stickler for the rules. She could lighten up a bit. And that was saying a lot coming from me.
“Fine, how about candied apples? I don’t think there’s many foodborne illnesses you can get from candied apples.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Oh, come on.” I grabbed her arm and intertwined it in mine. We walked together arm in arm until we got to the cart for the candied apples. I stopped when I saw Hayden and Tegan. This time Aria and Lexie were with them. Tegan had her arm around Lexie. I looked at Jade and could tell right away that she was upset.
“Maybe we should get popcorn balls instead,” I said.
“I’m not very hungry.”
I turned to Jade. “Jade I…”
“Hope, just drop it. I’m fine.”
I cringed. Jade and I hadn’t had any kind of argument before. She was pretty easy going, but I guess I pushed her buttons too much this time. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. I’m going to run to the bathrooms.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be right back.” She walked off before I could follow her. I felt terrible. I was a terrible friend. I shouldn’t have pushed Jade so hard. I didn’t anticipate Lexie and Tegan getting back together.
I felt like someone was staring at me. I looked around. My eyes landed on light blue devilish eyes. Wyatt.
I walked over to him. He was sitting on a bench i
n the middle of the town square. “Hello Hope.”
“Following me again?”
He laughed. “You are so full of yourself. It’s a festival. I love festivals.”
I snickered. “You do?”
“Yes. The harvest is a wonderful time of year. Crisp leaves, the beautiful smells, drunk teenagers that I can feed on.”
My smile dropped. “You’re disgusting.”
He shrugged. “It’s in my nature.” He looked around at the people of Salem Point.
“Where’s Christian?”
He looked at me in bewilderment. “I’m not my brother’s keeper. He’s probably off eating a squirrel or something.”
That wasn’t a pleasant image. I tried not to think about Christian feeding on poor little animals. It was better than people I guess.
“What about Elizabeth?”
“Again, not her keeper either. They are old enough to take care of themselves. Older than old enough actually.”
He could say that again. Centuries old. Still thought that was crazy.
“Yeah, I guess they are.”
“So, I hear you’re an oddity.”
“Sorry?”
“An oddity. Rare. One of a kind. Strange.”
I put my hand up to stop him. “I get it.”
He laughed. “I think it’s cool. Witch and werewolf. Now that is something. I knew you were special when I first met you Hope, but I never expected this.”
“That makes two of us.”
He got up and came closer to me. “Hey, don’t worry. It’s a privilege. You’re one of a kind.”
“Vampires are coming after me because of what I am. This isn’t a good thing Wyatt.” His cavalierness was getting on my nerves. He had no idea what it was like to find out you’re something that is viewed as a threat to a whole group of people. It was nerve wracking.
“Don’t worry. You’ve got my brother, a werewolf, and an ancient vampire looking after you. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He smiled devilishly. “Although, my brother isn’t exactly someone I’d want in my corner.”
“Why, because of the animal blood?”
“Well, let’s just say I’d never choose him for dodgeball.”
I shook my head. He was so mean to his brother. Christian deserved to be treated better. “Why do you treat him so badly?”
“Don’t talk to me about how I treat my brother.” His tone changed in an instant. He looked at me in anger. “My brother isn’t a little saint. He’s the reason I’m stuck for an eternity with him.”
“It’s not like he meant for that to happen.”
He looked at me in disbelief. “His little girlfriend killed my family. He brought that bitch into our lives. This is all his fault. He’s lucky he’s my brother. Otherwise, I’d have killed him a long time ago.”
“Is everything okay over here?”
It was Caleb, Hayden’s father. I smiled at him. “Yeah, all good.”
He was glaring at Wyatt. Wyatt smirked. “Good to see you Caleb. Enjoy the festivities. I’ll see you around Hope.”
Wyatt walked off. I turned to Caleb. He was looking at me weird. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Yeah, I swear.”
He nodded. “How are you liking Salem Point?”
“I like it. It’s nice here.”
“Yeah, it’s a great town. Great people.”
“It’s very homey.”
“Yeah, it can be.” He looked around awkwardly. “Just be careful though. Not everyone in Salem Point is trustworthy.”
I tilted my head. I was about to question him further, but Lexie came over. “Hi Mr. Wilson.”
“Hi Lexie. It was good talking to you Hope.”
“You too.”
Lexie came closer to me.
“What do you want?”
“How did you know about us?”
“Someone told me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t want to say.” It was none of her business. I didn’t have a problem with Lexie, but if she was going to go reporting to Hayden and the others I wasn’t going to say one word to her.
“Christian? Elizabeth?”
Apparently she already knew. “How’d you know that?”
“I don’t want to say.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Cute.”
She smiled. “Hayden knows about them. Her dad told her that they’re vampires.”
“And you’re a witch.”
“I am. What does that make you?”
“Complicated.”
“How’s it complicated?”
“Look, if you’re just going to go blabbing to Hayden and your sister…”
“I’m not. I promise.”
I don’t know why, but I believed her for some reason. I think I was just desperate for someone neutral to talk with about all of this. Someone who wasn’t interested in protecting me. Someone to just listen. “I’m half-witch, half-werewolf.”
“That’s different.”
“I told you. Complicated.”
We sat down at the bench that Wyatt was sitting on before. I continued. “I just found out. I come from a long line of vampire hunters. My coven, can’t believe I just used that word, doesn’t like vampires and how they exist. They sound like a bunch of bigots to me. I don’t want any part of it.”
“Okay. Then you don’t have to be. You decide if you want to be a witch. Now the werewolf part, I can’t really help you with that.”
“It’s not that simple. There are some people after me. Vampires. I’m being dragged into this. And I don’t want to talk with my aunt about this because I don’t want her to freak out that I’m in danger or worse put herself in danger because of me.”
“I can help you.”
I looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not an expert, but I do know witchcraft. I can teach you what I know if you want.”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch. If some vampires are coming after you, that puts the town at risk too. My father used to be a hunter. It’s how he knew your mom. He’s in danger too if these vampires come to town. He’s a skilled hunter, but he’s still human.”
I didn’t want to be a part of this world, but I had no choice now. I needed to know how to defend myself. I couldn’t always depend on the boys in my life to look after me. I had to be able to look after myself.
If Lexie was willing to teach me the basics of witchcraft, I’d be a fool to say no. “Okay. But I don’t want this getting back to Hayden and the others.”
“That’s fine. It’ll just be between us.”
“Cool.”
She nodded. “Where’s Jade?”
“She went to the bathroom.” I looked at her a second. “So, you and Tegan are back together?”
“Sort of. We’re trying.”
She didn’t seem very happy about that. “You sound thrilled.”
“I just don’t know if I have it in me to go through dating her again. I like Tegan, but she’s always going to be more loyal to Hayden. I know it’s stupid, but I just want to feel like I’m more important to her than Hayden.”
I smiled and nodded my head. “It’s not stupid.”
Jade came back. She smiled at Lexie awkwardly. “Hey Lexie.”
Lexie’s face lit up. “Hi Jade.”
These two were infuriating. Get a clue would you?
Chapter 39: Hope
I went home with Lexie the next Monday after school. Luckily Aria was hanging out with Tegan and Hayden at the diner. I didn’t want to have to deal with Aria and I didn’t want her to know that Lexie was teaching me magic.
“Want a soda or something?” Lexie asked when we walked into her kitchen.
“I’ll take a water if you have any.”
She smiled. “No, we don’t have water.” She shook her head and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and a diet soda for herself. She handed me the water. “We should go up to the attic. My mom keeps all of the witchy stuff up t
here.”
“Where is your mom?”
“Work. She’s a nurse.”
“That’s cool. Does she work with my aunt at all?”
“No. She works at a private practice. She should be home in about an hour so we should hurry. I’m not sure if she’ll be cool with this.”
“Why not?” I followed her up the steps to the second floor. She stopped at the top and looked at me.
“She doesn’t like magic. She thinks it dangerous. She’s kind of right.” She walked towards the next set of stairs that led to the attic.
It sounded dangerous, but vampires were trying to kill me so performing magic couldn’t be anymore dangerous than that.
When we got to the attic she opened a chest and took out some candles.
“What are going to do exactly?”
“Today we’re just going to try a simple element spell.”
“Which is?”
She laughed. “Element spells control the elements in nature. Air, water, earth, and fire. Today, we’re working on fire.”
“Shouldn’t we maybe start with something a little less dangerous?”
“Don’t worry. All we’re going to be doing is lighting this candle. Just, without any matches.”
She placed the candle in the middle of the floor and sat down cross legged on the floor. She gestured for me to join her.
I sat down across from her in front of the candle. I was so nervous. What if I sucked at magic? What if it was too hard for me? I would be a weakling forever and always have to depend on the guys to protect me. I wasn’t the damsel in distress type.
“Okay, so what do I do?”
“First, you need to chill.”
“I’m chill.”
She lowered her eyes at me. “Girl, you are the exact opposite of chill. I can feel the tension coming off of you. Magic takes concentration and a lot of it. You have to relax.”
“Okay, well I don’t know how to do that. There are psycho vampires coming after me, I just found out I’m a witch and once I have sex I’ll be turning into a dog so I’ve got a lot going on in my mind.”
She looked like she wanted to laugh. “That all?”
“Seriously?”
“Close your eyes.”
I huffed in frustration. If she was going to make me meditate this was going to be a waste of time. “I don’t know if…”
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