“Nope. John Doe. He must have been passing through town. We’re covering it up. But, if this continues it’s going to get harder to keep this quiet. You know what this means don’t you?”
“Once again, there’s another vampire in Salem Point. And my guess is, we both know the reason they’re here.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “Hope.”
Chapter 4: Hope
When I got to Lexie’s house, I let myself in. They didn’t usually lock their doors during the day.
Lexie’s house had practically become a home away from home for me. I hung out here a lot. She was practically my best friend now. We had a lot in common. Minus the werewolf half.
Her sister was a different story. She still gave me a bitch stare everytime she saw me. Her loyalty to Hayden ran deep. As long as Hayden wanted nothing to do with me, neither would Aria.
“Lexie, I’m here,” I called out, closing the front door behind me. I took my coat off and put it in the closet by the front door.
Mr. Drake came into the foyer. He smiled. “Hi Hope.”
“Mr. Drake. How are you?”
“Fantastic. How about you? How was your break?”
“It was okay. It went way too fast.”
“I hear ya.”
Downside to being friends with the principal’s daughter. Running into him in his house. Mr. Drake was nice, but he was still an authority figure and I had the tendency to walk on eggshells around authority figures. Even if it wasn’t warranted.
The other Drake, his brother, was at my house all the time so I was used to being around him. He and Gemma were still going strong and I was their number one fan.
Lexie came up from the basement and joined us in the kitchen. “Finally, you took forever.”
“Sorry, I ran into Wyatt on the way here.”
She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t very team Wyatt. But only because she didn’t like his snarky remarks and attitude.
“Are you girls practicing witchcraft today?” Mr. Drake asked. He had a look of fear on his face. Even he knew I sucked at being a witch. I did leave a scorch mark on his attic floor, so the fear was justified.
“Not today,” Lexie said. “We’re just going to chill in the basement.”
He sighed in relief. “Cool, then I can go to the store without wondering if my house will still be here when I get back.”
“Ha, ha,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m only joking. From what I hear, you’re getting better.”
“If everyone says so.”
He gave me a reassuring smile before turning to Lexie. “I’m heading to the store to get some things for dinner. You girls need anything?”
“No thanks Dad.”
“Alright, I’ll be back in about an hour.”
“See you later,” Lexie said before heading back downstairs. I followed her into the back end of the basement that was set up like a second living room. I plopped down on the couch next to her. She picked up the remote and pressed play.
“I’ve been bingeing this show about time traveling super heroes.”
“Sounds far fetched.”
We looked at each other seriously. Thinking the same thing, we both burst out laughing. Our lives were far fetched. Why couldn’t time travel be real?
I was glad I was friends with Lexie now. It helped her out too. She wasn’t hanging out with Hayden, Aria, and Tegan so much anymore. She was branching out and I could tell she was happier that way.
Unfortunately she still hadn’t cut Tegan off. Baby steps. Self improvement takes time.
We watched the show in silence. It was actually pretty good. More funny, than dramatic, but a good mix.
After the episode finished, Lexie spoke while we waited for the next episode to start. “Hey, have you seen Jade?”
Here we go.
She continued. “I think she’s avoiding me. She said she was meeting with some girl. Considering she only hangs out with you or me outside of school. I figured she was making it up since you were coming here.”
“Actually, she said the same to me. She’s meeting some new girl named Francesca.”
“Huh.” She looked back at the TV as the next episode started. I could tell from the look on her face that she was questioning it. She paused the show and looked at me. “Who’s Francesca?”
“I don’t know. We’ll be meeting her tomorrow though.”
“Are they like friends or more than friends?”
I glared at her.
“What?”
“You two are ridiculous.”
“How am I ridiculous?”
“Why don’t you just dump Tegan and ask Jade out already? You obviously like her.”
She sighed. “Which is exactly why I won’t. You know more than anyone why I can’t be with her. She’s human and not a part of this world. It’s not fair of me to drag her into this.”
“I get it. I just think it sucks. You both belong with each other. I see the way you look at each other. It’s just not fair.”
“I know. But it is what it is. Life doesn’t always seem to be fair.”
“Nope. Not at all.” If life was fair, my mother would still be alive and vampires wouldn’t be coming after me.
She pressed play and we went back to watching the show.
It made sense why she wouldn’t want to involve Jade in this life. I didn’t want to either. I was taking a risk just being friends with her.
It really sucked though. Lexie and Jade were perfect for each other and it was obvious that they both felt the same way about the other.
I guess I should count myself lucky. All of the guys I liked were either vampires or a werewolf. They were already a part of my world.
Chapter 5: Knight
Today was the meeting with the other pack. They’re probably trying to start organizing my wedding to Hayden already.
Hayden got so tense whenever our packs were in the same room together. We still hadn’t told them that we weren’t mates. That Hope was my mate.
I actually understood why Hayden didn’t want to say anything. This meant that she wasn’t the true alpha to her pack. Hope was.
Only thing was, Hope didn’t want to be the alpha to anything, especially not a wolf pack. She just wanted to be Hope. She wanted to feel safe and she wanted her family and friends to be safe. She wanted a normal life. I felt terrible that I would never be able to give her that. She would always be a witch and a werewolf. There was nothing anyone could do about that.
I don’t think she understood how this pack stuff worked. If she would be honest with Caleb, she’d have the protection of the entire pack behind her. Plus the protection of my pack. No vampire would ever get their hands on her.
Hayden was standing by the steps of her house. I went to stand next to her. Things between us were rocky before, now they were just plain awkward. “Hey.”
She didn’t look at me. “What do you want?”
“Hayden, if we don’t at least act normal, your dad and my uncle are going to figure out that something’s up.”
Her eyes shot to mine. There was nothing but anger in them. “This is normal for us, remember? You hate my guts Knight. That hasn’t changed.”
She looked back at the pack conversing with each other.
“I don’t hate you.”
She scoffed. “Please, Knight. You’ve made no attempt to even get to know me because you hate me so badly you can’t even stand talking to me for more than five seconds.” She looked at me. “If how you’ve treated me isn’t you hating me, I don’t want to imagine what your true hatred feels like.” She excused herself and went to sit down at the table. Her father was about to start the meeting.
I went to sit next to my uncle. I felt this feeling in my stomach. I think it was guilt. Had I been treating Hayden like I hated her? I mean, what if the reason she was such a bitch was because I treated her with this preconceived animosity.
I didn’t like the idea of my pack wanting me to be with someone jus
t because they wanted us to merge the packs. But I didn’t seem to have a problem with it now that it would be Hope I would be with instead of Hayden.
That must have made Hayden feel like complete shit. That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t like making anyone feel bad. Not even someone like Hayden.
It’s not how my mother would want me to be.
The meeting had already started. Caleb was speaking, but I hadn’t been listening until I heard him mention the word vampire. “What?”
Everyone looked at me. I was clearly not paying attention. My uncle gave me a stern look. I looked at Caleb, who didn’t seem to care as much. “We think the vampire problem may be getting out of hand.”
“We have a vampire problem?”
“We do when bodies start showing up. So far, it’s only one. The council is reforming as we speak. If more bodies start showing up drained of blood and decapitated, we’ll have to take action.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn’t like the Hale’s, but I could tell that Wyatt and Christian did care about Hope’s safety. I didn’t think they would risk that by feeding on a human and killing them.
“That’s why we’d like you to spy on them,” Uncle Gavin said. “You and Hayden. We know you both go to school with two of them.”
I hated Christian and Wyatt, but I knew that Hope cared about them. I didn’t want to do anything to risk betraying her. But I couldn’t tell my pack that.
“Yeah, okay.”
“No problem,” Hayden said. She had a look of rage in her eyes. She liked this. No doubt she wanted a reason to make her new sister’s life hell. What better way than to run two of the people she cared about out of town?
All I’d be doing is keeping an eye on them. I did that already, so there wasn’t much of a difference. I didn’t think they were behind this attack anyway, so it’s not like I was going to have any kind of information to bring back to my pack.
After the meeting was over, I left with Bryce. He was a werewolf that already shifted before. His father was one of my uncle’s top wolves so we spent a lot of time together growing up.
“Hey, what’s up with Hayden?”
I looked at him carefully, trying my best to act normal. Did he hear something? It probably wasn’t the best idea for us to talk so openly in front of the pack. Werewolves could hear very well and focus in on a conversation if they wanted to eavesdrop. But we didn’t say anything too suspicious. “What do you mean?”
“Well, for one she didn’t make a comment about my hair being too big today. She’s always telling me I need a haircut every chance she gets. And for two, she’s been quiet lately. Quiet Hayden is scarier than bitching Hayden.”
He had a point. She did give off some murdery vibes as of late. I of course knew it was because she was pissed about her father cheating on her mother. But no one else in the packs knew that.
I shrugged. “She’s just pissed at me for hanging out with Hope.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that? Are you two a thing now?”
I nodded my head. “We’re just friends.” It was kind of true. But what we had together didn’t feel anything like friendship.
“But you want to be more than friends.”
I had to do a better job at hiding my feelings for Hope. I didn’t want any issues in the pack. “I like her, but Hayden’s my mate.”
“Come on, bro. It’s me. You can tell me the truth.”
I sighed and glared at him, but he didn’t back down. Usually Bryce stood down when I gave him a look. He knew one day I’d be his alpha, so he stayed in line. I think he was hoping he’d be one of my right hand men like his dad was to my uncle. “I like her, a lot. But she’s focused on school right now. And herself. So, it’s not going to happen. We’re friends for now, and that’s enough for me.”
It was enough for me. I just wanted Hope to feel safe and happy. Nothing more, nothing less. If we ended up together, I’d be the happiest wolf alive, but it wasn’t a priority right now. Her safety was.
Chapter 6: Hope
I spent the whole day at Lexie’s. By the time I was walking home it was getting dark out. Probably not the smartest idea, but it was only a five minute walk home. Plus, chances were Wyatt was lurking in the shadows. He didn’t always make his presence known, but I caught glimpses of him following me.
I was constantly being watched. Like a prisoner. This was my life now and I was afraid it was always going to be my life.
Maybe I was better off moving to some remote island where vampires couldn’t get to me. Cloak myself and live at peace on some beach for the rest of my life.
But that wasn’t the life I wanted. There was no way in hell I was going to allow the vampires to scare me into not living my life. I was finally happy and no vampire was going to take that away from me.
As I walked, I could feel someone following a few strides behind me. I took a deep breath and picked up my pace.
I didn’t dare look back. Rule number one, don't let them know you know they’re there. It gives you the element of surprise.
The presence got closer and closer until I turned around and grabbed his arm swiftly. Christian smiled at me. “Better.”
He pulled his arm from my grasp and went to grab me. I lunged back, making sure not to lose my balance. I put my arms up and got in the fighter's stance. This was a thing between me and Christian now. He followed me and tested me to see if I was any better at combat. Although, he wasn’t using full force on me so it wasn’t like it was a true test of how I would do in a real fight. I’d probably already be dead if he was a real threat.
I landed a jab to his face, which didn’t even break skin. He glared at me. “Stop holding back. I heal quickly.”
I punched him again, this time harder and drawing blood from his lip. He touched his lip and smiled. “That one actually stung.”
I tried to kick him, but he grabbed my foot and pulled me into him. He turned me around and put me into a choke hold, but didn’t put any pressure onto my neck so it wasn’t actually choking me. “Better, but not perfect yet.”
He let me go. I turned around and looked at him in frustration. “Then not better.”
“Better, but you still need work. You’re moving faster. Why aren’t you using your magic?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
He shook his head. “Hope, you have to train like it’s a real fight. You’re a witch. You have powers. Use them.”
“I don’t have the best control Christian. I could be trying to give you a headache or a heart attack and end up setting you on fire.” So far I was pretty good at that. I set things on fire like it was nothing. Now, where that fire ended up and how big was a whole other story.
“It’s all about intentions and focus.”
“Easy for you to say.”
He smiled. “I know. But I’m not lying. You’ve improved a lot Hope. You’ll get there.”
I smiled back. “Thanks. I have a lot of great teachers.”
Between Gemma, Lexie, Christian, and Wyatt, I could become a hunter if I wanted to. Even Drake was giving me pointers from his hunting days. He was human. If he could kill vampires and live, surely I could.
We walked in silence together. We were almost at my house.
“I was thinking I might start drinking a ration of blood everyday.”
I looked at Christian. “But you don’t like drinking from humans.”
He nodded his head. “I don’t. But it’ll make me stronger. For you. You need me at my full strength, Hope.”
That was amazingly sweet of him, but I couldn’t ask him to do that. It was wrong. He shouldn’t have to sacrifice his moral principles for me. That’s not at all what I wanted.
“You don’t have to do that. I know how much you don’t want that.”
“But I’d do it for you. I need to be able to keep you safe, Hope.”
We smiled at each other. “That’s sweet, but I’m getting better at fighting and not too much better at witchcraft, but I definitely
have putting things on fire down, so I should be okay.”
We arrived at my house. We walked up the porch steps and stood outside the front door facing each other. “I can’t ask you to do something you’re against for me. It’s not fair to you Christian. If I didn’t care about you, I’d say go ahead. But I do care about you and I can’t let you do that for me. You can’t sacrifice yourself for me.”
I looked into his eyes. His eyes always got me. They were mesmerizing. It wasn’t the color. It was the emotion I saw in them. Christian’s eyes were truly a window to his soul.
I had so many amazing guys in my life. Was it wrong that I didn’t want to choose just one of them?
Chapter 7: Hope
I waited at the top of the steps for Drake to leave. I didn’t want to interrupt Gemma and his goodbye. She was working nights the rest of the week and they weren’t going to be seeing much of each other.
Once she kissed him goodbye and I heard the front door close, I came down the steps. “Morning.”
“Good morning,” Gemma said. She was extra bubbly this morning. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Just doing fruit today.”
We walked into the kitchen. I grabbed the container of chopped fruit from the refrigerator and grabbed a bowl from the cupboard. “Having some?”
“No, thanks. I’m going to take a nap after you head out.”
I started scooping some fruit into the bowl. I felt her eyes on me. I looked up at her. “What?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
“I just want to make sure. You’re not always very vocal about how you’re feeling.”
I rolled my eyes and closed the container. I put it back in the fridge. “You sound like your boyfriend now.”
Shrink talk. I hated shrink talk.
“Excuse me, but I did do a psych rotation, so I do know a thing or two about avoiding emotions.”
“Aunt Gemma, I’m fine. I swear. As fine as a witch-werewolf hybrid with countless enemies can be, anyway.”
Saving Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Bloodmoon Series Book 2) Page 2
