Chapter 20

This week was so long, filled with so many exams. I'm glad it's the weekend. It feels nice that I'm starting to build roots and have my own group. I was never really able to do so back in Maine due to my… Well, sperm donor.

Right now, Emman, Chloe, and I were all waiting for Julian's initiation to begin. It should be soon since the full moon is out completely. Soon the alpha made his presence known, and we all bowed out of respect. He walked across the stage to the microphone.

"Hello, everyone. It's great to see all of you on this beautiful night, truly blessed by the moon goddess herself. Today is my nephew Julian Santiago's initiation ceremony into the pack. He has worked very hard to prove his place in this pack; I have prayed to the moon goddess in her temple, I have consulted the other leaders of our pack, and we have concluded that this young man has earned the right to call himself an alpha. Julian, please come to the stage and accept your title and take the oath to become a member of this pack." Everyone in the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. I shouted at the top of my lungs for me, and this amazing achievement. I still don't know a lot about the ins and outs of werewolves and their culture, but the little bit I do know, I know Julian definitely deserves to be called an alpha.

Once Julian was done reciting the oath and was accepted into the pack, another round of cheers rippled through the crowd. Soon after being given many congratulations, Julian made his way over to us, but he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes started glowing yellow; I kind of got scared because I have no idea what's going on. I moved into Emma's side, and she just had wide eyes, not paying any attention to me. Julian started stalking over towards us and brought Chloe into his chest and stuck his face in the crook of her neck; that is so weird. I went a little closer to see if Chloe was okay and if I needed to intervene, but Julian growled so loud, making me stop dead in my tracks. Emma pulled me back into her and wrapped her arms around me. My back was to her front as she brought herself to my ear.

"Don't go close right now. Werewolves are very possessive of their mates, especially when their wolf is out." I whipped my head to the side to look at her.

"Is Chloe his mate?" I whispered back.

"Yes, she is. Come on, let's go and give them a little bit." I looked back at my best friend to see he hasn't moved from Chloe's neck, and Chloe is softly caressing his back.

Emma and I made our way over to the alpha and thanked him for allowing us to come and watch the ceremony; then, we made our way to our car. Emma assured me that Chloe would either get a ride back home from Julian if she even left at all.

"I have to go to council meetings early in the morning, but I'll be back around three, then we can get ready to go to Chloe's for dinner." I grabbed her free hand and doubled squeezed it like a heartbeat effect.

"Sounds good to me. I'm going to go for a run tomorrow; I think I'm going to invite Lina." I smiled at this. I took my hand out of Emma's to send Lina a text and ask if she's up for running tomorrow morning.

"Who is this Lina person? We haven't been able to talk about her fully." I could hear a tone in her voice. Maybe, jealousy?

"Well, she's actually a vampire." Before I could say anything more, Emma slammed on the brakes, screeched the car over to the side of the road, and looked at me with wide eyes.

"She's a what?" Her voice was so loud that it caused me to shrink back in fear. Her features immediately softened, and she reached out for me, but I just scooted further into the door. She let out a sigh as she put her head in her hands.

"I'm so sorry, Mila. I didn't mean to scare you. I promise I'm not angry with you; I was just caught off guard. Please come here." She pushed her seat back to where I would have just enough space to sit on her lap. I hesitantly made my way over her side of the car and onto her lap, to where I was facing her. I didn't look her in the eyes, though; I just kept my head down. She let out another disappointing sigh, but not towards me, towards herself. I felt her gently raise my chin to where our eyes would meet, but I diverted my eyes away from hers.

"Mila, baby, please look at me." I took a deep breath then looked up to meet hers.

"I'm sorry for making you scared. So your new friend is a vampire as well?" She talked to me softly now. I just nodded my head.

"Tell me about her." I closed my eyes for a second while taking a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Once I felt more grounded, I opened my eyes back up and looked at her.

"Well, when I reached the end of my run, that ends at the beach, I just was overwhelmed and screamed. She came a short time afterward, making sure I wasn't in trouble. Afterward, she walked me to the main road, we exchanged numbers, and she said that her, I, and our mates should go on a double date sometime." I was starting to smile a little bit by the end. I saw Emma slightly smile too.

"I'm glad she was checking to make sure you're alright. I'm also glad she has a mate." I lightly slapped her shoulder and chuckled.

"Don't be jealous." She huffed but ended up laughing with me.

"Okay, let's get home. We both are going to have early mornings. I do want to meet this Lina soon, though, okay." I nodded with a huge smile on my face as I went back to the passenger side. It didn't take much longer until we were home and fast asleep.

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"I love you. I'll see you later." Emma gave me a quick kiss before she went out the front door to her car. I shut the door behind her and went into the kitchen to have a banana and drink the rest of my water before my run. Lina said that she'd be here in about thirty minutes.

I heard a knock at the door and got excited, knowing it was Lina. I haven't had a running buddy since Julian. I opened up the door with a smile and was matched by Lina.

"Hey, girl. Are you ready to run? I was thinking we finish our run in town so we can stop off and get some coffee or something; there's this really nice coffee shop." I smiled at this. I love coffee.

"Sounds perfect to me. I love coffee." We stretched a little bit then started running to the heart of town. It felt so nice outside this morning; I loved fall mornings.

"How have you been?" I took a breath before answering her.

"I've been good. My best friend Julian just moved out here; he actually found his mate yesterday after his initiation ceremony. His mate turned out to be Emma and my friend Chloe." Lina pretty much knew everyone in my circle. She and I talk a lot.

"Wow, that's amazing. I'm glad they found each other. Mates are a blessing. My mate, Hannah, is amazing. I don't know what I would do without her." I smiled at this. I'm glad all my friends around me are happy and loved.

"I felt that in my soul. Emma is amazing. Where's this coffee shop?" We had been running for a while now.

"Just another mile. I picked a good one just on the other side so we would run a little bit more. We'll stop right around four miles." I nodded my head and pushed myself a little harder. One more mile is nothing. Lina chuckled at this and easily matched my pace. Cheater.

Soon we made it to this cute small coffee shop. I swear it's always the hole in the wall places that are the best. As soon as we entered the shop, I was hit with the amazing smell of coffee and pastries. At that same moment, my stomach growled.

"Seems like someone's hungry." Lina chuckled. I shrugged my shoulders; I swear I'm always hungry. Once we got up the register, we ordered separately, then waited for our orders at a two-person table next to the window in the far corner.

"So, any word on that double date we talked about having?" Right before I answered, our orders arrived, and we thanked the young girl who served us.

"Yeah, a little bit. She's just been so busy lately. There's been a lot going on around the portals to Alium." Her eyebrows shot up at this news.

"Yeah, I've heard some word going around that the council has been receiving threats." I took a bite of my crepe and nodded my head.

"Is there any information that you can share with me?" I swallowed my bite and shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know, but I bet on our double date you can ask Emma yourself. I don't know too much about what's going on either, just the basics." I took a drink of my drink then looked back up at her. She looked like she was in thought.

"Yeah, I could definitely do that. Word says that someone got killed, is that true." I shook my head at this.

"No, no one has died so far. Close call, but that's it." She finished off her drink before responding.

"Well, at least no one died. I hope the council can get this sorted out fast." I nodded my head in agreement before finishing off my drink too. We left a tip for the server at the table then made our way outside.

" Amilia, what a nice surprise to see you after all this time." I stopped dead in my tracks. Everything in me froze, except the rising fear within me and my racing heart. I could feel my airway closing and my breathing becoming ragged, causing everything to spin around me. How? Just how? I didn't need to turn around to confirm my worst nightmares. He had finally found me.