A/N: Big thanks to PrincessofObsidian who made this awesome book cover for me!

____

Both Blair and I glanced at one another...well, I guess I glanced at her and she didn't know she was looking at me. She's blind, okay?

Once again, there was a knock at the door, more forceful this time. Now there was no way that the person on the other side of the door was Vincent, because he just would have barged right in.

I got off the mattress and swung the door open. It was already dark outside, making my eyes grow wide with the realization that I had spent countless hours talking with Blair. I guess I was just so grateful to be spending time with another human that the time flew on by without me noticing.

The dark figure standing outside shifted its weight from side to side.

"Um, Blair?" it asked in a deep voice. It was her mate Jack. Apparently because of the wolf-bro code, male werewolves weren't allowed to directly speak to female mates of other wolves. That's why Jack seemed nervous. Vincent wasn't anywhere I could see, but then again I couldn't see that far into the dark outside.

"I'm here," Blair said, slowly standing up off the mattress. She slowly made it over to where Jack and I stood, shuffling her feet the entire time. Why doesn't she have one of those red and white canes that blind people on TV have? She practically already has a seeing-eye dog thanks to Jack, but when she's alone, I imagine a cane would work just fine.

Blair eventually made it to Jack, who then proceeded to scoop her up into his arms, carrying her bridal-style. He nuzzled her and then whispered something into her ear.

Blair nodded.

"Follow us to Vincent," she said, most likely just repeating what Jack had whispered to her.

I nodded, receiving a glare from Jack.

Oh yeah.

"Sure," I said, making sure my voice was clear and loud.

Jack rolled his eyes, but then turned around and began to walk off, Blair secured in his hold. Maybe that's why she doesn't have a cane. He just carries her around everywhere, that way she really has no use for her eyes.

I followed, closing the door behind me. It was a pretty calm night. It was cold, but yet it wasn't so cold out that I needed a jacket. I've heard of lukewarm water, but now I'm wondering if I can attach the adjective to air as well. The stars were lighting up the night sky. Because there were no modern buildings or skyscrapers in the omega community, there was no light pollution, so the night sky shone with radiance, allowing me to see every celestial body. The moon was still big, so it provided a pale light for me to see, actually doing a pretty good job.

Jack led me into a nearby forest...well I suppose I can't call it a forest because it was more of a tree line since we were out of it around two minutes after entering it.

We came up to a river and there I saw a orange-ish glow off in the distance. Jack whispered into Blair's ear again.

"He said you have to continue on your own. Vincent will be waiting for you," Blair said.

Jack whispered something again.

"Oh, and uhh...Vincent said he'd be watching you as well."

That figures. I do have to admit, I didn't think about running off right now. But running away in a different territory at night, escaping from a blind girl and a werewolf who's forbidden by wolf-bro code to talk to me would be an easy feat. Maybe Vincent isn't as dumb as I thought.

"Thanks," I said as I started towards the orange glow, which I deduced to be a fire or lantern or something. I made it in a few short seconds, seeing that in fact it was a fire that created the glow. Vincent was standing right by it, putting another log on there to keep the flame alive.

He glanced up at me and a huge smile lit up his face, his teeth gleaming from the fire.

"Hey Mate," he cheered. He rushed over to me, enveloping me in his strong arms. He held me for a while, rocking back and forth a bit before releasing me from his vice grip. He then took my hand and led m over to a fallen log, sitting me down on it and taking the space next to me.

"So," I muttered, "what is all this?"

Looking around, I saw that Vincent had set up a little picnic sort of thing. There were little tupperwares filled with food nearby, and he had set up a huge fire to keep me warm. That was pretty much it, but Vincent had told me that he spent a majority of his money on my clothes and the rest on this thing.

I guess that was nice of him.

Vincent was still smiling at me. "It's our date Mate," he said.

I nearly choked on the air I was inhaling. "A d-date?!" I sputtered.

Vincent chuckled. "Yes Nora," he said. "Remember, I have to make you fall in love with me. Therefore, I figured why not start out with a simple date?"

"It took you all day to set up for a simple date?" I asked.

Vincent looked down for a moment. "I'm sort of a bad cook," he mumbled. "So it took a while to make the food because most of it burnt."

I began to laugh. That was actually kind of adorable. Here Vincent was, all confident and proud, only to mess up the food: the most important part of the date. "You're funny," I giggled.

Vincent looked back up at me and a wide grin formed on his face. "Well, the food still tastes okay. I had Jack test it out, so it won't kill you or anything," he smiled. "Just eat around the charred parts."

That part made me laugh even harder, which made Vincent's smile get even larger. He scooted a couple of inches closer to me, our sides touching. Vincent reached over to one of the tupperwares and handed it to me.

"I made you spaghetti," he said, giving me a plastic fork.

"Thanks," I said, actually pretty hungry. All I had today was that apple he stole for me. I stabbed the blob with my fork and began to twist the noodles around it. I then put some into my mouth, immediately tasting the charred bits of tomato.

It was awful!

The whole time, Vincent kept his eyes glued on me, expectantly. "Well?" he pressed.

Not wanting him to get all butt-hurt because I hate his spaghetti, I tried to just keep on chewing. But it was too hard! I gagged and spit the noodles back into the tupperware.

Vincent let out a little whimper. "Sorry Mate," he mumbled, his shoulders dropping.

After gagging a couple more times, I turned to him, actually feeling a little bad. He spent the whole day trying to make me happy, and I literally spit on it. I patted Vincent's beefy shoulder, still awed that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"It's okay," I tried to soothe him. "Maybe I'll cook for us in the future."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I inwardly cringed. Vincent perked up and looked at me eagerly.

"Are you saying there's a future for us?" he asked, grabbing onto both of my arms.

I stared back at Vincent's eager face, not knowing what to say. I didn't want to tell this man that I intended to ditch his ass in Florida, but at the same time, I found myself feeling bad for wanting to hurt him after all the trouble he went through just to make me happy.

"Uhh," I wondered. I looked around and spotted a glass bottle. "What's that?" I pointed at it.

Vincent looked down and grabbed the bottle. "Oh," he said, "Jack gave us this, as a sort of welcoming gift." He held it up, allowing me to inspect it.

"Does it have alcohol in it?" I asked.

Vincent nodded. "Maybe that'll ease things between us," he said as he started to look around for a bottle opener.

"But I'm not old enough," I said. I've never drank alcohol before, but I've heard that it lowers inhibitions, and that's all I have with Vincent! With those gone, who knows what'll happen!

Vincent smirked. "You know Mate," he said, "in the werewolf territories, the drinking age for humans is still 21, but they are allowed to drink underage with the consent of their guardians."

I scoffed. "You wanna call my mom and ask her if you can get me drunk?"

Vincent shook his head. "You're my mate, so according to werewolf law, I'm your guardian."

I scrunched up my face. "Eww! What, you want to be my dad now?" I shouted.

All I got in response from Vincent was a laugh. He kept on laughing for a long time, leaving me to sit disgusted.

"No Mate," he guffawed, "it just means that you're mine, that's it. So through that, I make decisions for you that a parent would for their child. I feel no paternal instinct towards you at all. All I feel is the need to be around you, to protect you, to comfort you, and to love you. Oh, and to keep you."

I had no idea how to respond to that, so I just kept my mouth shut. I remembered a story my father had told me around the time Danni was chosen to be a werewolf's mate. He said a baby in the neighboring territory was chosen to be mate to a full-grown, adult werewolf. The parents tried to keep the wolf away, but one day the wolf just snatched the baby and ran off, both of them disappearing off the face of the earth. My father told me that the wolf was raising the child to be his mate, molding it into the wolf's strongest fantasies.

"Hey Vincent," I said, getting his attention.

Vincent stopped looking for the bottle opener to look at me. "Yes Mate?" I could see his body get all jittery because I had said his name.

"Was there a wolf back in the old territory that kidnapped a baby it had chosen as its mate?" I asked. Maybe all werewolves know each other or something and Vincent would be able to elaborate on my dad's story.

Vincent audibly groaned and looked at me, cocking his eyebrow. "You don't actually believe that urban legend do you?" he asked.

I jumped back. "It's a fake story?" I asked in disbelief.

Vincent nodded and grabbed another Tupperware, opening it and sniffing inside. He handed it to me, showing that it was a brownie. I smiled and took it.

"The real story," Vincent began, "was that, yes a werewolf got a baby as a mate. However, the baby's mother died during birth, and the father was emotionally distraught, neglecting the infant. Therefore, the wolf did whatever any sensible wolf would do: he got his mate out of that situation so that he could protect her.

"And the whole conditioning part the humans made up is ridiculous. I know for a fact that the werewolf has his mate being raised by a human female because he doesn't know about human child care. And the baby is now in her preteens and healthy and a normal child, all thanks to that werewolf rescuing her."

Wow. This brownie is actually pretty good. Oh, and Vincent's explanation was pretty eye-opening as well.

"So, do humans make up a lot of mating horror stories?" I asked him.

He nodded, his eyes locked on the fire. "I heard one about a werewolf breaking his mate's legs so that she couldn't run away from him. That's a lie. No wolf would ever physically harm their mate. It's impossible. Even if he managed to, the guilt would be so overbearing, that for the rest of his life, that wolf would be waiting on that human hand and foot as repentance. And no wolf would kill his mate's human boyfriend. That's against the law, and would make the mate fearful for their own life. At most the wolf just tries to look intimidating to scare the boyfriend away.

"And no wolf in their right mind would try to tear apart a human marriage. We value the bond that humans forge with one another. So if a wolf's mate is already married, then yes, he'll always be hoping for a divorce, but that's about it. At most he'll just be that creepy neighbor that checks in every once and a while to make sure his mate is safe.

"All we want is love. That's it." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I could not get over the fact that, all my life, I've been being fed lies about werewolves being monsters to their mates, when in the end, Vincent was right: they just wanted love. And they all just wanted their mates to be safe.

Holy crap. I've been blind like Blair! But to reality, not the real world...uh, I guess those are the same things, but still anyway.

Here I was, being a bitch to this man sitting by me, all because I was fed lies by my own species. And all he wanted for me to love him back. And no matter how many times I tore his heart to little shreds and stomped on them, he stayed right by side. Sure he kidnapped me, but I'm sure the way he sees it is him protecting me from Jason because I had told him that Jason scares me sometimes.

Holy shit! What an epiphany!

I looked over at Vincent, who sat perfectly content with his arm snug around my waist. He stared off into the stars now, a lazy smile on his face. I got him demoted to the lowest of low ranks in the werewolf community. He can't afford any clothes because some crappy shorts. But yet, he's happy!

And all because I'm by his side. Because he loves me.

The old me sparked in my brain, telling me that he was probably making up stories so that I'd feel comfortable around him. But then, how does that explain Blair? She was in a dangerous position, and Jack saved her. He took her away, all within an hour of meeting her, just to keep her safe.

An idea popped into my head. There's only one way I can figure out if this epiphany I'm having is all a bunch of bull thanks to the stories or if it's sincere. I didn't really want to do this right now, but I figured that I should attempt to get over it, as it's the least I could do for Vincent.

I cleared my throat and Vincent looked down at me.

I really had no idea how to do this, so I just did the first thing that popped into my head. I reached up and grabbed a fistful of Vincent's hair, yanking his head down to me. He yelped at first but was then stunned silent when I put my lips on his cheek.

Yeah, I guess I should have done his mouth, but I don't like him that much yet. He's just starting to grow on me...like a tumor.

Vincent let out a growl, but this one was of approval, his inner wolf telling me he liked what I was doing.

Then we both heard a louder growl, a more animalistic one.

In a split second I went from pecking Vincent on the cheek to tumbling about twenty feet away in the field. It had felt like someone threw me, and I looked up, out of breath and feeling banged up, only to see a huge werewolf in his full form hunched in front of me in a protective stance. I could tell from the dark fur it had that it was Vincent.

Out of the trees came a much larger werewolf, snarling in our direction and baring his teeth.

It was Jason.

He positioned himself to attack, and that's when Vincent charged at him.

__

A/N: I don't think I'll be able to update next week because I'm moving. Sorry!