“I’m not depriving you. I’m saving you. You have no idea how terrible these games are. One, our team sucks and two, football is boring as fuck.”
“Please.”
She sighed. “Hope.”
“If I’m going, you have to go.”
“Then don’t go.”
I pouted my lips and put my hands together out in front of me.
She huffed. “Fine. If I must.”
I smiled and clapped. “You must.”
I closed my book and started packing up my things.
“Jeez, what’s the rush?”
“I want to run home to get changed.”
“It’s a football game, Hope. Not the winter formal.”
“No, it’s my first football game.”
She shook her head, but smiled. “Fine. Let’s go do this. I’ll just go with you. I’m going like this.”
I was trying to be a normal teenager for once. Or at least, what I thought a normal teenager acted like.
* * *
After I got ready for the game, Jade and I walked to the school with Knight.
She gets into a confrontation with Hayden that leaves her in tears from anger Hope walks away and can’t help the tears from falling
Makes eye contact with Christian
Walks away towards the parking lot
Chapter 24: Christian
Against my better judgement, I followed Hope out into the parking lot. She was crying and it was impossible for me to ignore that.
That stupid girl. I heard what she said to her. It was cruel and completely uncalled for. I hated girls like Hayden. Nine times outta ten they were insecure and hated themselves. So they treated others badly just to make themselves feel like they weren’t pathetic little nothings.
It just sucked that Hayden set her sights on Hope. She kept trying to hurt her. If she didn’t stop it, I was going to have to intervene.
“Are you alright?” I said once I got closer to her.
She jumped slightly, but took a calming breath when she realized it was me following her. “I’m fine. Just leave me alone.”
“I would, but I have this complex. I can’t leave a girl crying.”
She stopped and looked at me. “I wasn’t crying.”
I saw her crying. And I could tell by the sound of her voice that my eyes didn’t deceive me.
“Okay.” I thought it best not to argue with her. I didn’t want to upset her more or make her angry at me.
She blew out a breath in frustration. “I just hate that girl so much.”
“Hope, that girl is a vapid narcissist. Don’t worry about her.”
“I’m not worried about her. I’m just angry. She’s being a bitch for no reason.”
“A lot of people are like that these days.”
She gave me a look and raised one of her eyebrows. Her facial expressions were adorable.
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Myself included at times.”
I hated that I was just like the girl that hurt Hope. I treated Hope terribly when she first arrived. But these last couple of weeks I realized it was too hard to stay away from Hope. I was done pushing her away.
“At least you just ignore people. You don’t go out of your way to treat people like shit.”
“Still, I can be a bit more inviting. I don’t get close to people. Letting people in just feels like an invitation for heartache. Loss.”
I never admitted this to anyone before. Not even Elizabeth. Though, I knew she knew this about me already. She just didn’t feel the need to bring it up.
“Like with your parents.”
“Sorry?”
“Your parents.”
I forgot she knew about them. I didn’t think about them often. It had been so long since they died. It felt like a whole other lifetime.
“Right. Like with them.”
If I was being honest, that wasn’t much of a loss. I loved my mother, but my father was an abusive monster. He was a product of the time he was born into. He thought we needed to fear him, which left very little room in our hearts to love him.
“I should get home.”
I paused and tried to listen. I blocked out the noise of the screaming fans from the game. In the near distance, I could hear someone.
Someone was out there. And I smelled, blood.
I couldn’t let her go by herself. I had this terrible feeling in my stomach. I sensed that she was in danger. I stopped her. “Want me to walk you home?”
“That’s okay. It’s not far. I can manage.”
“I insist.” I smiled. “My way of making it up to you for being such a vapid bitch.”
She smiled. She had such a beautiful smile. “Sure. That sounds nice.”
It was a relief. Even if she didn’t want me to walk her, I would have followed her to make sure she got home okay.
Someone was out there, and I was certain it was a vampire. I knew exactly which one and I was going to kill him after I made sure she got home safely.
Chapter 25: Christian
As soon as I got home, I slammed the front door and went right to the living room where I sensed he was.
“Stop following her!”
Wyatt didn’t look up at me. He turned the page in the book he was reading. He looked uninterested in anything I had to say. “What are you going on about Chris?”
“Stop following Hope.”
His eyes darted to mine. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I could smell the blood on you. I might not be as strong as you, but I can smell blood from miles away. I heard you following her.”
He closed the book and rose to his feet. “Even if I did follow her, what would you do about it? Absolutely nothing.”
I growled at him. “Leave her alone.” I ran at him and pushed him as hard as I could manage, which was enough to send him flying back a few strides with my current state. I was livid.
He stopped himself from hitting the wall and laughed. “Wow. This is more than a little crush. You really like this girl.”
“What’s happening?” Elizabeth asked as she entered the living room and looked between myself and Wyatt.
“Our brother is smitten,” he said.
I wanted to punch him. If I could I’d snap his neck. But I knew I wouldn’t be strong enough to manage that. Not with how much blood he consumed.
“I had to walk Hope home tonight. Because I heard him trying to follow her.”
“I didn’t follow her!” Wyatt said. He glared daggers at me. He seemed angry at the accusation, which was odd. He usually liked to take credit for his demented behavior. He didn’t mind being accused of wrongdoings. “I’ve been home the entire night.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Elizabeth said. “He hasn’t left the house all night.”
Wyatt grinned smugly. “Besides, I’m not a fool. There’s something off with that one.”
“What are you talking about?”
He went to sit down where he had been sitting before I came in. He put his feet up on the coffee table and crossed them. “I tried to compel her when she first arrived in town. Nothing.”
“Could she be on hawthorne?” Elizabeth suggested.
“I thought the same. But then I did some digging. Turns out her mother and her aunt changed their last names after their folks left town. Their original surname was Warren.”
The Warren’s were a coven of witches that hated vampires. It went against the nature that witches so vehemently defended. Most witches felt the same, but this coven was different. They were formed for the sole reason of hunting and killing vampires. They wanted all vampires to be eradicated from the earth.
“You think Hope is a vampire hunter?” Elizabeth said in astonishment.
No. It wasn’t possible. She may have come from them, but that didn’t mean she was one.
“No,” Wyatt said. “She doesn’t strike me as a vampire hunter. I don’t think she could kill a fly, let alone a vampire. But she does descend from them.�
��
“Either way it makes her a witch,” Elizabeth said. “Do you think she knows she’s a witch?”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Are you certain someone was following her?” she asked.
“Yes. I could sense it. She was in danger tonight.”
“Well it wasn’t me,” Wyatt said. “And if you’re so certain it was a vampire, then that means we’re not the only vampires in Salem Point.”
Chapter 26: Knight
I got up early and got ready before Dad got up. I wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation with his hungover ass.
I didn’t understand what happened last night. Hope went off to get a drink and she never came back. She texted me and Jade that she wasn’t feeling well and that she was sorry but she had to leave early. I guess that could be true, but I had the feeling there was more to it than that.
I walked outside and locked the front door behind me. When I turned around, Hope was coming up the steps to my porch.
“Good morning Hope.”
“Hey Knight. I’m so sorry about last night.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s just that I had an argument with Hayden. I needed to get out of there before I blew up on her. I don't like being around people when I’m feeling angry.”
Hayden. That wasn’t at all surprising. It made complete sense now. I really couldn’t stand that girl.
“I understand. She knows how to push buttons.”
“Yeah, she definitely does.”
I wanted to stay and talk to her, but I had to go meet up with my uncle.
“I have to go have breakfast with my uncle. Maybe we can chill later.”
She smiled. “Sounds good. Have fun with your uncle.”
“Thanks.”
This meeting was going to be anything but fun. It had to do with pack business. I hated pack business. I wasn’t looking forward to the day when I’d be the alpha. My whole life was going to be about the pack.
“See you later Knight.”
“See you later Hope.”
* * *
The meeting was with Hayden and her father. We were sitting in the dining room of their home. There were breakfast foods spread out on the table. I wasn’t hungry. I lost any appetite I had when I learned I had to sit across from Hayden.
I was pissed for what she did to Hope last night. I don’t know what she said to her, but it was bad enough to make her leave without saying goodbye. She kept harassing Hope and it was getting on my nerves.
“You should eat something,” Caleb said.
“I’m not hungry.” I glared at Hayden. She smirked, taking a sip of her orange juice.
My uncle looked between us before speaking to Caleb. “You said there was an issue you wanted to discuss.”
“Yes. Hayden’s brought something to my attention. She says you might be taking an interest in the new girl in town. Hope Sinclair.”
I glared at Hayden. My nostrils flared. I wasn’t her property and I didn’t answer to her father. If she thought she could run to daddy and make me do what she wants she had another thing coming. I was an alpha. I didn’t need her or her father.
“We’re friends. Am I not allowed to be friends with girls now?”
“Of course you are,” Caleb said. “So long as that’s all it is.”
“And it doesn’t look like that’s all it is,” Hayden said.
I smiled at her and put my hands on the table. I looked right into her eyes, my smile falling. “It is.”
“Alright, let’s not let this get out of hand,” Uncle Gavin said. “Knight has no intentions of dating anyone right now.”
Hayden had a lot of nerve. She went around dating and screwing whoever had the nicest car and now she wanted to question me for hanging out with Hope? Screw her.
“Yeah, not like you.”
She looked taken back by the quipp. She looked at her father. He put his hand up to stop her. “They’re both allowed to date whomever they’d like. So long as they know that in the end, they’ll end up together when the time for the packs to merge comes.”
“I’m aware of my duty,” I said. “I don’t need Hayden micromanaging me. I think she needs to leave Hope alone.”
Her father looked at her. “Is there a problem between you and Hope?”
She crossed her arms. “Nope.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he wasn’t going to discuss this with his daughter in front of us. “There’s another matter we need to discuss. It seems that a family of vampires have moved into town.”
Hayden and I both looked at him in surprise. “Who?” she asked.
“The Hale’s. There are three of them. You go to school with two.”
Christian. It kind of made sense. He had that dark personality that I imagined vampires to have.
“I knew there was a reason I hated her,” Hayden said.
“We’ve suspected for a while, but it’s been confirmed. We’ll watch them for now. If they do anything to cause trouble, we’ll have to discuss taking care of the problem. The last thing we want is another faction war in Salem Point.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Uncle Gavin said.
I wasn’t alive for the last faction war, but it sounded brutal. It ended with all vampires leaving town.
I wondered why they would come here. Maybe they didn’t know this town wasn’t big on vampires.
Christian had been hanging around Hope. I saw him staring at her from time to time. I didn’t like it when I thought he was just some guy. But now that I knew he was a vampire, I couldn’t stand the idea of him being anywhere near her.
Chapter 27: Hope
When I got to school, Christian and Elizabeth were arriving at the same time. Christian drove a black BMW. I was surprised Hayden hadn’t tried to jump his bones yet. They oozed money. You could tell they were loaded even without the BMW. The way they carried themselves. You’d have to be blind to not be able to tell how well off they were. That didn’t matter to me. But to Hayden having money seemed to be a prerequisite to date her.
Aside from that, Christian was gorgeous. Especially now that he was being nicer to me. We still had a while to go before I’d call us friends, but he wasn’t looking at me like I was a plague anymore.
Christian and Elizabeth came up to me outside of the school. “Hello Hope,” Elizabeth said.
“Hi Elizabeth.” I looked at Christian. “Hi Christian.”
He smiled. “Good morning Hope.”
What a difference a smile made. It was like looking at a whole new Christian. He was so different when he wasn’t being an ass.
“How was your weekend?” Elizabeth asked.
“It was okay. It got better.”
Christian and I shared a look. He was so kind the other night. He made me feel so much better after what happened with Hayden.
“Mine was uneventful. Although, I did have to play referee between Christian and Wyatt. You know how brothers can be.”
I didn’t. But I knew how Wyatt could be. It didn’t look like he and Christian had the best relationship with each other.
“Sorry to hear that,” I said.
I saw Knight coming towards us. He looked...pissed. Which was odd coming from him. It was like he and Christian switched roles.
“Hey Knight.”
He smiled at me. “Hey Hope.” His smile fell when he looked at Christian and Elizabeth. He looked so hostile towards them. It was weird. Knight was usually the nice one.
“We better get inside,” Elizabeth said. She looked at Knight like she was challenging him before she started walking towards the school.
Christian hung back for a moment and glared at Knight. I looked between both guys. Something had to be going on between the two of them.
“Is everything okay?”
Christian smiled at me. “Everything is great. I’ll see you later Hope. Knight.”
“Christian.”
After Christian walked away I walked closer to Knight. �
�Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’ll see you later.”
He walked off before I could question him further. What was going on with Knight this morning? He seemed so on edge. It definitely had something to do with Christian.
“Well, well. The guys are fighting over you.”
I groaned at the sound of Hayden’s voice. She, Tegan, Aria, and Lexie were walking towards me.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than to keep taking jabs at someone that doesn’t give a damn what you say?”
“I think you do give a damn,” Hayden said. “But what do I know? See you around Hope.”
She walked into the school with Tegan and Aria. Lexie stayed. “Sorry about that. I know Hayden is a pain.”
“You’re friends with her.”
“I wouldn’t say friends. It’s more of a frenemy situation.”
“I don’t know how you do it. I don’t think I could manage to even be her frenemy.”
“It takes a lot of years of practice. But once you get to know Hayden, you get how to manage her.”
It’s like we were talking about a bomb. People were giving this girl way too much power.
“I’ll have to just take your word for it.” I had no intention of ever getting to know Hayden enough to know how to manage her.
“Hey, there’s a party in the woods this Friday night after the game. You should come.”
“Is Hayden going to be there?”
“Yes. But, a lot of people are going so you might not even run into her.”
I wanted to keep trying to socialize and be a part of the Salem Point community. I wanted to do things normal teenagers did. That’s the only reason I was contemplating going. “I’ll think about it.”
She smiled. “Cool.”
Jade came over to us. “Hey Lexie.”
Lexie smiled at Jade. “Hi Jade.”
They looked at each other for a bit too long. And I think that Jade was blushing. No, she was definitely blushing. She finally looked down and away from Lexie.
Protecting Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Bloodmoon Series Book 1) Page 8
