Amber

Dan opened the door and smiled his friendly smile. "Hello, Sarah, is it?"

Sarah shot me an extremely unimpressed expression. How was I supposed to know her first name was top secret?

"Nice to see you again, Dan," she responded in a tone that said exactly the opposite. I cringed.

"Surprised you're happy to see a vampire, honestly."

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so you're just laying it out there?"

"It's not much of a secret, from what I hear. Why don't you take a seat?"

She shot me another incredulous expression as she took the spot beside me. Dan sat down directly across from me as well so it was like I was caught between two warring factions. He looked towards her and asked in an overly solicitous tone, "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks."

"So, I heard you were interested in meeting me?"

"I am, yes. I want to know what your interest in Amber is."

He chuckled. "Well, I don't intend to use her as an unwilling snack, if that's what's concerning you."

Sarah glared. "That's one of the things that concern me."

He raised an eyebrow.

Sarah crossed her arms. "She's very innocent and inexperienced. She's new to this world, and I don't want her to be taken advantage of."

"You know, I'm right here, Sarah," I pointed out. I didn't need her to speak for me.

"I think you're capable of speaking for yourself," Dan commented, apparently not missing my reaction.

"I am," I agreed. Then I turned to my friend. "And if you're just here to be his overprotective minion..."

"I'm not here because of that," she said, looking even more irritated. "Did you tell this bloodsucker all about him, too?"

"No, I said nothing about that."

Dan looked even more curious. He was watching Sarah. "Then are you a werewolf? You're definitely not a fairy, I'd stake my life on it."

"That's none of your concern."

"You know, Her Majesty has a peace treaty with your Alpha Assembly, so I don't see what the issue is here. We're all legal and law abiding, right? Unless you're a rogue, Sarah. But I think not. You've got pack written all over you."

"Fine. I'm a werewolf."

"And what's your relation with this human?"

"She's my friend, and I look out for her."

"Yet you're far from your pack..."

"So you think."

"I know for a fact there're no packs in this area. There're only a few urban packs on the continent and this land is unclaimed. This is vampire country."

She groaned and cast me a weary look as if asking why I'd chosen this particular city. I wasn't about to feel guilty, since I hadn't made her come with me. She was the one adamant about sticking to me like glue.

He smiled. "You're here watching over a human..."

So it was obvious to him, too. It made all my other concerns about my relationship—or lack of a real one—with Sarah seem more valid.

He was watching her carefully. "Is Amber your mate?"

"What? No! No offence, Amber."

"None taken," I muttered. It wasn't like I was interested in her, either.

"Then you're watching her for someone. Let me guess, poor Amber got saddled with an overprotective high ranking member of your pack, and now you're on a mission to ensure she doesn't get hurt while she gets to pretend she's actually free from the supernatural world."

"What? It's not like that at all!" Sarah shot Dan a death glare. "I volunteered to go with Amber because I wanted to see the world!"

Dan raised his eyebrows. "And yet you're here, interviewing me to see if she's allowed to associate with a terrifying vampire."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "If you'd started sniffing around my other human friends instead, I would have done this exact same thing."

"How noble of you."

As I watched the confrontation, I couldn't help but agree with Dan, even though I felt guilty like I was betraying Sarah...and the alpha with my thoughts. I reminded myself that I didn't owe him anything, not because of a mate bond I had no say over.

"I didn't come here to explain myself to you," Sarah said. "I want to know why you're bothering Amber."

"He's not bothering me," I interjected.

"Amber was sitting alone in the club, and I thought she looked cute and a bit forlorn, so I decided to be nice and strike up a conversation. And I found Amber was enjoyable to talk to. Simple as that." He shot me an apologetic glance. "And I believe the feeling is mutual on enjoyable to talk to, although we'd have to ask Amber for her opinion, because she seems fully capable of forming her own."

Sarah glanced at me, as if reminded I was there.

"I do like talking with Dan. I can speak freely and we have things in common."

Sarah huffed. "You're set on being friends with him then?"

"I think I am. I don't have much in common with the humans around here."

She cast Dan a dark look. "There's nothing I can do about this, sadly, but I will say, if anything happens to Amber under your care, it isn't only my wrath you'll need to deal with."

"I can take care of myself," I muttered. We usually got along well, but Sarah's second-hand overprotectiveness was getting out of hand.

"I've no intention of bringing harm to Amber in any way," Dan said.

"Good." Sarah looked towards me. "Are you ready to come home now?"

I considered resisting just to make a point, but I had told her I was ready to go. "Yes." I looked towards Dan and deliberately said to make my point, "I'll text you later."

"Sounds good," he said as Sarah got up. I followed, and with a little wave towards Dan, I left the coffee shop.

"Greta leant me her car," she told me as we walked towards the little vehicle.

"That was nice of her."

"I don't know why you need a vampire to be friends with, I really don't," she complained. "We've got perfectly good friends already."

"You've got perfectly good friends already. I just sort of orbit around you."

"What? You don't like them?"

"I like them. They're nice, but I'm not close to them. I thought I'd be able to fit in around the normal humans, but it seems like I don't fit in anywhere." I wasn't sure I was explaining what I meant properly. "I don't know what it is that I like about Dan, but I do like him. He's the first person I've felt comfortable with other than you or Oliver since..." I tried to remember the last person I had felt comfortable with. There had been moments with Alpha Devon, and before that...I couldn't think of anyone. There'd been rare moments of kindness from the other hunters, or maybe even Jesse wasn't awful occasionally, but it had never been enough to offset the misery I experienced.

She nodded. "Well, he seemed civil enough."

"I don't think he'd dare start something with the werewolves when there are treaties with the vampire queen," I pointed out. I didn't believe he was going to do anything bad to me either way, but she'd find this argument more convincing.

She sighed. "It's not like I don't trust you, but vampires are so...I don't know. They're unpredictable. I just want you to be safe, and I know you think it's because of my cousin, but I'd feel this way even if you weren't his mate. I mean, of course I do think about what would happen to him if you died or something, but I don't want you to get sucked dry by a vampire and left to rot because it would devastate me. You've never really gotten a chance to live your life, and I think you deserve that much at least."

"I really don't think Dan—or Lydia for that matter—seem like the suck dry and dump a body type. Dan told me the royal laws are pretty strict about how they have to treat humans."

"And who is Lydia? You know another vampire?" She looked horrified at the thought.

"Yeah, it's her coffee shop."

"I didn't even know there was another vampire there." She looked disgusted, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the fact she'd failed to notice or because of more vampires in general.

"Really?"

"They don't smell like much so they're hard to detect. They move eerily silently, too, like they were designed to get past werewolf defenses."

"I didn't know that. I mean, I knew they're fast and strong, but the hunters were more focused on how monstrously evil they were whenever Sigmund Triste gave his rousing speeches."

"You know Sigmund Triste?" she asked, looking surprised.

"Uh, I mean, I know him to see him, and I was forced to listen to him speak whenever there was a public gathering. But know him? Not really. I doubt he could even pick me out in a crowd. I'm more surprised you know of him."

"He's infamous for his kills. He's not the top guy in the hunters from what we can tell, but he seems to be a bit of a figurehead of an enforcer."

"He was the leader of the group I grew up with." I decided to tell her more about my new friend. "Dan thought his queen would be interested in speaking with me."

"What?"

"He figured my tale of woe could be used as a rallying cry."

"He's probably not wrong. But you should stay away from the vampire queen. From what I hear she's been obsessed with starting a war against the hunters for longer than we've been alive."

"I'm surprised that you werewolves wouldn't want a war. Don't you hate the hunters?"

Sarah shrugged. "All I know is there isn't a lot of support for standing up to them from the other packs. Our pack has lost more than most, and not just people they had official excuses to take."

"Well, I told Dan I would think about it, but I don't think I'll do it. It wouldn't really help with my fit in amongst the regular humans plan."

"Because that's going so well."

"What do you mean by that?" Dan had made a similar point. Maybe they were both right. I was terrible at pretending to be a regular human. I just couldn't seem to get close to them without Sarah's assistance. I didn't know how she did it, because I just couldn't detach from the lies it took to keep them oblivious. How did you get close to people when you couldn't be honest?

"You're set on making friends with a vampire. And you live with a werewolf."

That wasn't all my fault. "A werewolf lives with me, and I'm not set on it. I just like him."

"In a romantic sense?" she asked, a distinct note of censure in her voice.

"Don't even start with me." I didn't think I felt that way, but she needed to keep her nose out of my business.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you," she said.

"Or Alpha Devon?"

"Both of you, actually. You'll never find someone more devoted to you than he would be."

I exhaled. "Because werewolf instinct forces him to be."

"It's not just that. It's the pull to someone compatible, and then things progress from there. Most werewolf couples end up living happily together after they get all their drama and pride out of the way." There was a wistful note in her voice.

Maybe she'd grown up with fairy tales about happily ever after, but I hadn't been so lucky. No one had tucked me in with sweet stories like the good parents did on television. "I'm not talking about this anymore." Sometimes I thought I felt the pull towards him, too, especially when I woke up from dreams about him, but the idea that it was the bond controlling my mind made me feel cornered and powerless. I didn't like it. I didn't want some impersonal fate, or some interfering goddess to choose my destiny for me.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I just don't want that vampire—or my cousin—to come between us."

I nodded. "I don't want that either. Just let me make my own choices, and everything is fine between us."