Lia guessed she must have fallen asleep from exhaustion when she was moved, cause she awoke to a different hospital room.

Eyes squirting against the room's lightening, she felt her bed but frowned when she touched a soft mass of hair.

"God you scared me! " Lia exclaimed from surprise when she turned around, only for her eyes to meet with Asher's, who suddenly lifted his head off from her bed.

His mesmerising green eyes roved over her face and pounced on her eyes with an intensity that scared the hell out of her.

An IV was inserted in the back of her hand, so she used her other free hand to cup his face while he was sitting beside her bed.

"Asher " She murmured softly and that seemed to have captured his attention as he roused from his reverie.

Lia could tell he was disturbed, so she sat up intending to probe into what was bothering him, when he suddenly bent and kissed her with a ferocity that stunned her.

She stood still like a statue while his lips moved against her's. Lia was too dazed to react, what was going on?

His arm went to her waist while his other palm cradled the nape of her neck, pressing her further against his chest .

Lia could tell Asher poured out all his emotions into this kiss; he was tasting her like he was going to lose her.

With no choice left than to respond back, Lia nibbled on his lower lips for a while before deepening the kiss, plundering his mouth until she came up for air.

Heart pounding against chest, Lia was still reeling from the effect of the kiss when Asher asked a question that made her jaw drop.

"Why did you choose me? What do you see in me that you had to mark me as a mate? "

She watched him with a startled expression, what the hell was wrong with him.

"That is one odd question to ask me after the moment we just shared" Lia replied to him breathlessly.

He blinked twice as if recovering from whatever spell was cast on him "I'm sorry for asking that, I was not thinking right "

Asher apologized and tried to move away but Lia caught his arm. He stared at her hand, then glanced up at her face with a surprised and inquisitive look.

Looking him straight in the eyes, she told him "I don't know why I chose you, but I'm glad I did "

This time Lia kissed him, slowly yet sweetly but also to assure him, there must be a good reason why he turned out to be one of her mates.

"I feel like I'm missing out on something major, what in the world happened? " She asked as soon as she pulled away from the short kiss that left Asher hungry for more.

God, he had to control himself around her.

But his eyebrows furrowed together when he heard her question which prompted him to ask "You don't remember? "

Lia watched him intently, as if she were trying to find in his face the answer to his strange question

"Remember what exactly? Is there something I'm supposed to remember I'm not remembering ? "

"Sort of " He answered curtly

"I don't remember anything that happened for the past hours aside from that time I took sunshine and the time I found you in the cemetery… ."

Hesitating as soon as she reached that part, she lowered her head while apologizing "I'm sorry I hurt you "

Asher slowly lifted her chin " You don't need to apologize besides I hurt you too, else you wouldn't be on a hospital bed right now. Moreover, it's a good thing you don't remember what happened "

Her brows shot up "It's a good thing? "

"Yeah, trust me " he assured her.

It was absolutely better that way, he still hasn't dare to think of what Lawrence might have done with her in their lone time but he sure hoped it didn't go above the smooching - he still hadn't come to terms that Ben-no - Lawrence kissed his mate right in front of him.

"But you should know that everything happened because Ben let himself get possessed by a necromancer - unknowingly probably "

Though he wouldn't want her to know about that but it was obvious that particular fact would come to light soon.

Lia's jaw dropped open, "Ben?! " she squealed.

Well, the news was shocking but not entirely surprising since she knew Ben like the back of her hand.

Her sidekick was accident-prone and quite touchy so it really wasn't foreign to her.

"So how's he? "

"He's fine, just in the same ward with Trevo…" Asher trailed off as soon as he realized he had exposed more information than he intended.

He gulped as soon as he met Lia's firm and threatening gaze,

"Now Asher Nicoli " She said sternly "You are going to tell me what happened, else…." Lia faltered on purpose after making her point known.

Asher wasn't scared of Lia since he knew he was more powerful than her stengthwise, but women were one cunning creatures, it was better to stay in their good grace than anger them.

So he spent the next minutes narrating what happened although, excluding the kissing part of course.

"But you don't need to worry about your brother, he's totally fine. Just a few scratches and bruises " Asher tried to comfort her when he noticed her shell-shocked expression.

Unfortunately she shook her head "No, is not that "

Disturbed and confused, he asked "Then what? "

Her eyes twinkled with excitement "Did Ben have - no the necromancer - no the Lawrence in Ben's body, did he have cool powers? Ben has always dreamt of having badass ability "

Asher's mouth quirked and he felt the urge to facepalm, so this was what she was all excited for?

"Well " He pursed his lips "He's a necromancer and though his ability of reanimating the dead aren't always appreciated in the supernatural community but it's totally badass. Moreover Necromancers are also witches so I guess he has magic too. "Asher shrugged his shoulders uncertainly, but Lia had already digested the information she needed.

She smiled mischievously, who knows how Ben's expression would look like when she recalls what happened to him in case he happens to forget everything, just like her.

"So when exactly do I get to remove this? " She held up her bandaged hand for him to see "I feel totally fine "

Asher's face scrunched up " You have an amazing regenerative ability, I think two times faster than mine "

Lia's face lit up though she didn't let the smile get noticed "Is that a good thing? "

"Not exactly a good thing nor a bad thing either. " Asher told her.

"Good in the sense that you don't have to worry about scars and the rest of them but bad in the sense, it's quite difficult to hide healed up injuries from your family members " Asher explained.

Especially a family like her's with an overprotective mom, a brother who's taking up the role of a father and tries to act like one ; a family with no clue about the supernatural.

Well save her late dad who hid more secrets from them than they could ever imagine.

"But don't worry, the nurse in charge here is my acquaintance so she would manipulate your test result and assure your mom that your injury is a minor one, notwithstanding the bandages "

Lia smiled at him in appreciation "Thank you " she wondered what she could have done without him.

Asher sighed, stood suddenly and began to straighten the rumbled sides of his clothes.

"What's wrong? " She had her brows knitted together in both surprise and confusion.

He winked at her "You will know soon "

Then Lia picked up approaching footsteps and the frown deepened, who?

Without wasting time,the door snapped open revealing her mom, oh. Lia groaned inwardly, here comes the crying queen.

Immediately Jenny burst into tears as she premeditated and rushed towards Lia, engulfing her in a hug that knocked the breath out of her lungs.

"Am so sorry, did I hurt you? " Jenny drew back and examined her daughter meticulously . She had mistaken Lia's sharp intake of breath as a muffled cry of pain.

"No, I'm good, infact great " She tried to assure her mom but Jenny didn't believe her one bit.

"How can you be fine?! " She chided her "Look at your hand " and started another crying fit.

The role was reversed, Instead of her mom relieving her of the so called 'pains', Lia found herself trying to comfort and calm her down. She pinched the space between her eyebrows and sighed.

Her mom was really tearful, it's as if there's this additional and special tear duct gland in her eyes that produces her never-ending tears.

It took about five minutes for her mom to finally calm down and when she did, Asher came up with his stories which she bought without hesitation.

"Thanks for rescuing her Asher, you're quite a lifesaver. What could I have done without you? You're a very good person " She gushed out praises on him.

Yeah good person, if only she knows he's a vampire, Lia thought. No she shouldn't go there, it was obvious her mom's reaction would be epic.

"Ah right " Jenny remembered out of nowhere "Happy birthday sweetie "

Yeah, today was her birth...It was her BIRTHDAY!

Crap.