Chapter 27
“Wakey, wakey!”
My eyelids are heavy as I pry them open to find a face full of silky brunette hair dangling over me. Of course Sienna would be a morning person. Why on earth would I expect anything less from the little Italian ball of perkiness I now call my friend?
I turn to the clock with a yawn.
“How can you be so energetic after only getting three hours of sleep?” I ask, slowly propping myself up. The rays of sunlight are extra violent this morning, and I make a mental note to request some blackout curtains.
“How can you not be?” She bounces on her knees, shaking the bed. “Today is the day you officially get your freedom!”
I blow out a breath, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. “I’d hardly call agreeing to Thane’s requests, freedom.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “Then at the very least, get excited about getting a car.”
I peel one of my eyelids back just in time to catch her throwing a pillow at me. I snatch it in my hand before it has a chance to hit me in the face and toss it back at her with a wicked grin. Sienna lunges forward, grabbing a hold of my wrist and pulls me to the edge of the bed.
“Alright! I’m up, I’m up.”
The two of us make our way into the bathroom to freshen up, and I’m amazed at how natural it all feels with her.
Even last night, it was like we had known each other our whole lives.
We stayed up until 5 a.m. just talking and laughing like little kids.
I’m pretty sure I would’ve stayed up all night if she hadn’t begun stroking my hair.
She said it was a wolf thing, and it felt so good that I didn’t even feel the desire to stop her.
I never had a mother to play with my hair while I fell asleep, but something about Sienna doing it, healed a part of me.
“Last night was so fun!” Sienna squeals. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
I flash her a genuine smile in the mirror. “I’m actually glad too.” I gasp, suddenly remembering something she told me last night.
“Oddio!” she breathes, placing a hand over her heart. “What?”
I turn around and slip my butt onto the counter to face her. “You had sex with Kieran!”
“Shh!” She looks around frantically, even though we’re the only two around. “I told you that in confidence!” I throw my head back laughing as I replay the conversation. “It was just because of the eclipse. And if I don’t remember it, then did it really happen?”
“Well, I mean waking up in his arms naked seems like a pretty good indicator something happened. Besides, wasn’t it you that said, ‘sex is just a basic animal need’?”
She rolls her eyes at me for using her own words against her. “I was just saying that so you wouldn’t ruin Halloween with some internal shame spiral.”
My jaw nearly unhinges. “So you’re telling me what I did actually was a big deal?”
She pauses, looking at me like she regrets saying anything, but a moment later, she bursts into laughter. “You rode Alpha’s lap until you orgasmed, Fallon! In what world was that not going to be a big deal?”
I melt onto the floor, drowning in embarrassment. “Fuck, why did I do that?”
Sienna kneels down and pulls my hands away from my face with an apologetic look.
“Well, for starters, Alpha is like really freaking hot. Plus, you both have the bond of the bite, which I’m pretty sure is intensified because he’s a hybrid or something.
But besides all that, it happened almost two months ago.
I’m pretty sure he’s forgotten all about it by now. ”
“Stupid bond,” I mutter, picking myself up off the floor.
“Stupid bond. Stupid eclipse,” she agrees, and we both grin at each other.
“At least the lunar eclipses don’t happen too often. How am I supposed to rein in the overwhelming lust I feel when he bites me?” She flashes me a smirk in the mirror before biting her lip to try and hide it. “What was that look for?”
“Nothing,” she dismisses with a shrug. “You wouldn’t like my idea anyway.”
“If it keeps me from losing control with Thane, then I’m all ears,” I insist.
“Well, you could always hook up with Kole to scratch that itch.”
“Jesus, Sienna!”
She shrugs again. “Told you, you wouldn’t like it.”
Unfortunately, that’s not completely true, though I won’t be admitting that to her anytime soon.
Nor will I be telling her about what happened with Thane on the night of the eclipse.
Instead, I’m going to take a page out of her book and act like there’s not some connection pulling me toward Kole, and the only thing that happened between me and Thane the night of the eclipse was a bite.
If she can convince herself that Kieran and her just woke up naked together and nothing else happened, then I’m going to do the same.
I give Sienna a pair of my clothes to wear, and the two of us head downstairs. It feels weird being able to roam free, but it’s a feeling I’m more than happy to get used to.
“Hey, I was just coming to get you guys.” We both turn around to find Kole standing behind us.
“Please tell me breakfast is ready,” Sienna pleads. “I’m starving!”
“No, I was just coming to tell you guys breakfast isn’t ready,” he teases, tossing an arm over her shoulder.
Sienna turns to me as the three of us start walking. “Vampire assholes, am I right?”
Kole peeks over her head at me, and I look up with a smirk. “They’re the worst.”
“And don’t you forget it,” he chirps, turning to us with a smug look before pushing the dining room doors open with his back.
The smell of maple syrup instantly makes my mouth water, and the second I see the stack of French toast, I practically skip to the table.
“Oh, so now you’re a morning person?” Sienna quips, as she pulls out a chair and takes a seat.
“Nooo. I’m just a French toast person.”
“Really?” Kole asks, holding out the plate with the stack of them. “These are your favorite?”
I nod, grabbing three triangles off the top. “Whoever thinks waffles or pancakes are superior is just wrong.”
“Noted.” Kole nods with an odd amount of seriousness.
I flash him a confused look, and he clears his throat, taking a seat.
While he and Sienna start talking about some sort of wolf drama, I stuff my face and try to piece it all together.
Eventually, my mind drifts off into a daydream about swimming in the ocean, and their voices fade away.
I’m so deep in thoughts of summer that I nearly jump out of my skin when Thane bursts through the doors.
“Let me see it,” Kole says, leaning back in his seat.
Thane hands him a stapled packet of papers before grabbing a sausage link off Kole’s plate.
“Is that the contract?” Sienna asks, eyeing the papers Kole is flipping through.
Thane turns to me and pulls out a pen from his back pocket. “You ready to sign?” he asks, clicking the pen and handing it to me.
When I grab it from him, our fingers brush against one another, sending an electric current racing down my arm straight to my chest. For a split second, his eyes seem to dilate, but when I blink, the yellow in them shines bright.
Kole slides the papers over to me with a nod, and even though I made my mind up about this arrangement last night, my heart is still hammering at the idea of making it official.
By the time I get through reading the whole thing, I want to sprint from the room, but I can’t keep running.
For once in my life, I need to stay right where I am.
Even if that is in a house full of deadly beasts.
Sienna must notice my hesitancy, because she reaches over and squeezes my forearm reassuringly. Thane’s signature is already inked on one line, so it’s just me who needs to sign. I draw in a deep breath and exhale the fear and uncertainty suffocating me.
This is the right choice. I know it in my heart.
Before I can psych myself out of it, I quickly scribble my signature on the line below Thane’s.
The three of them seem to relax the moment I lift the pen from the paper, and honestly, it feels like for the first time in a long time, everything isn’t falling apart.
Not at all how I would’ve expected to feel after signing a contract linking myself to the only hybrid vampire-werewolf to ever exist, but I guess I’ll take it.
“Alright.” Kole picks up the contract and hands it to Thane, who is still looming over me. “Now that the boring part is over…” He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out a pair of keys, dangling them in front of me. I quickly snatch them up and shoot out of my seat with a burst of excitement.
Sienna is hot on my heels as I race out of the house. I abruptly stop, and she runs into my back, catching me before I go tumbling down the front steps.
“We’ll get you something faster when the snow melts,” Kole chimes from behind us.
I turn to him, not bothering to hide my huge smile. I’m not even sure I’d be able to with how excited I am. I’ve never had a car, let alone one as nice as this.
“It’s perfect,” I say to both Kole and Thane before hurrying down the steps to the midsized white SUV with a gigantic red bow placed on top of it that must’ve been Kole’s idea.
I slip into the driver’s seat, running my hands over the light beige steering wheel while Sienna climbs into the passenger seat. Even though the car was part of the agreement, it still feels like a gift.
“Let’s take her for a spin!” she squeals, reaching back to put her seatbelt on.
“Hey! Not without me!” Kole shouts from the top of the steps.
“Then get in!”
In a breath, he’s sitting beside me, and Sienna’s in the back seat, looking all kinds of pissed off.
“Hey, asshole! That was my seat!” Sienna hisses, kicking the back of the seat she was just sitting in.
Kole turns to her with an arrogant smirk. “Do I really look like the kind of guy who would ride in the backseat?”
She scoffs and rolls her eyes at him. “No, you look like the kind of guy who has to overcompensate for his small—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Kole growls with a threatening look.
“I think you just made her point,” I taunt, winking at Sienna in the rear view mirror.
“Just drive.”