"Lubirea mea, talk to me."

I kept folding the clothes that were on my bed, not paying attention to the mountain of the man standing in front of the closed bedroom door. I hadn't shared a room with him in a few days, something I was sure he was moping about. Demetrius came by to tell me to go talk to him since Zander was snapping at everyone unintentionally.

Oops.

"Lubirea mea, come on." I could hear the pleading in his voice, but I stayed firm in my position. "I need to vacuum the floor soon," I whispered to myself, checking the carpet. I could hear a sigh of annoyance, which made me laugh inside because the ever-so-diligent and proper Zander D'Angelo did not sigh. He was simply too perfect for that.

"Eli."

I stiffened when I heard my actual name come out of his mouth. It sounded so dejected, so sad, and it made me turn around to face him. "...what?" I replied calmly. He looked so tired and pale, which made me want to hug him.

"I miss you." Zander lamented, taking a step closer to me. He was so close that I could almost feel the warmth from him, but the cold air was more than enough to wash that away.

"I miss you too," I offered a small smile, which seemed to comfort him, but there was no way I could erase the last conversation we had. It was something that needed to be done for us to move forward. "But until we talk about the sensitive things, we can't move forward," I muttered, and his eyes darkened. See, I didn't think that there were people who defied Zander's words or challenged him.

I would've been one of those too, but I wanted more from this relationship to be too meek to let it fly by.

So I asked another question. "Why haven't you talked to me about the mating process?" I had to find out from Cameron how vampires mate with their fated one. Of course, it was an intense sexual experience that involved a bite and sharing of blood. 

"I just wanted to make sure you were ready."

"Don't patronize me, Zander!" I snapped. "You just want to find every other reason to spit out instead of saying the real one! I'm not a fucking idiot," I growled lowly, watching him narrow his eyes. "Lety told me it was a way for me to get to know everything about you, but it seems you're still holding back," I clicked my tongue with a sigh, wishing he would just tell me what it was that was on his mind.

"If you don't want me to be your fated, just say that," I whispered, feeling a pout coming along. "But please don't string me along if you have no god damn intent on letting me see the real you. You know everything there is about me," I frowned, staring into his crestfallen orbs. "So it isn't fair that you won't share that sentiment. There is nothing in this world that could make me change my mind about you."

Then it went silent. 

It was clear that he was struggling with something as I could see the fight in his eyes, but it meant nothing to me because he wasn't telling me anything. Just something would help ease my worries.

But I got nothing.

"You know, part of me wanted to not ask anything because I was too scared to. I didn't want you to let me down like everyone else in my life did," I spoke, twiddling with my thumbs. "But this world is something entirely new to me, and you want me to trust you. After everything that has happened, you don't think I need to know anything? For safety reasons? I don't know who to trust here because I don't know anything."

I took a deep breath.

"You know, I'll give you some time to figure out what you want to do, but I need something from you, Zan, otherwise, this relationship will be pointless," I stated bluntly, hearing a sharp intake of breath from him. He didn't like that statement, judging by the sheer anger radiating from his form. 

"I had enough things go wrong in my life, so please," I grabbed my phone from my bed, ready to walk out. "I don't want you to be one of them. I have so much faith in this." There was something that had been bugging me since I found out I was his fated, and I wanted answers.

"You've never asked to feed from me, so are you feeding from someone else?" He shook his head no in response to my question. "Then why not from me?" He stared straight at me with those red eyes, a yearning for hunger evident in his orbs. 

He was still silent. 

"When you want to answer my questions, you know where to find me." That was all it took for me to exit the room as quickly as he came in. He knew not to follow me out because I was even more irritated than yesterday.

It made me think back to a conversation I had when I slept in the room with Kenzo and Cameron last night.

"Master's not a bad guy, Eli," Kenzo combed through my hair as I looked at my class schedule for the upcoming week. "He's just had a rough life so he can't be too trusting," I nodded with a small roll of my eyes because, hmph. 

"Yeah but, I haven't given him a reason to not trust me and it hurts that he thinks I'm someone not to be trusted," I hissed when Cam plucked a hair from my arm. "You asshole, stop that!" He stuck his tongue out at me, laughing to himself. "Quite the contrary. Because you're his fated, he wants to look good in your eyes, no matter what. It's disgusting, really," Cam smiled, his blonde hair falling over his eyes.

"Yeah well, who am I to judge someone by their past?"

And I meant it, I had no business to judge him by what he has done in his past because everything happened for a reason. 

I couldn't dwell on it though.

I stepped into the fancy hallway, embracing the black interior design when all of a sudden, I saw someone who I had been meaning to talk to.

"What's up, man?" I came up to stand beside one of the executives as he cleaned a sword with some clear liquid.

"Nathaniel, can I ask you a question?" I stalked up to the man in question, watching as he turned to look at me in surprise. "Sure, go ahead," He nodded and I had to look at him for a second. He didn't seem like a person who would judge by status nor did he seem like a person who would intentionally break someone's heart. 

"Why don't you want to be with Cam?" I raised a brow, watching him stiffen slowly. "H-how do you know about him and me?" He asked. "He's my friend. I'm bound to know when he's hurting," I folded my arms, trying to remain neutral about the situation. "I mean, I don't peg you as someone who would want to be of equal status, so what is the real reason? I mean, if you were so bothered by him not being an executive, you wouldn't even be his friend," I said and he sighed.

"Is that what Cam told you?"

I nodded.

"That's not truly the reason though," Nathaniel sighed, rubbing his forehead. "What? Do you not like him or something? I mean, I can't get how you don't like him. You're always around him and he makes you laugh," I grunted, completely flabbergasted. 

"Nah, it's not that. I do want him to be my fated, but as things are right now, it's too complicated and too risky."

I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but a loud voice stopped me in my tracks. "There you are, cutie!" I saw Leticia before I heard her. She ran up to me and pulled me into a hug, crushing me with her boobs. "While I'm sooo happy to see you, I have something urgent to talk to you about." The look in her green eyes made me a bit hesitant to find out what this information was.

"Alright," I turned to Nathaniel. "This conversation isn't done yet, sir," I narrowed my eyes playfully and he nodded, telling me to go on with Leticia.

So I did.

"What's the matte—

I smelled her strong perfume before I saw her standing in front of me, deliberately cutting off my path. I came to a halt before her, feeling Leticia wrap her hand around my wrist. "You're in the way, bitch," She growled to the one and only resident mean girl, Ruby Drabek. She didn't seem to be deterred by Leticia's harsh tone as she continued to stare into my soul, almost as if she was trying to analyze me.

"Can I help you, Ruby?" I asked and she sneered at me before speaking. "You think you're the shit because you're Master's fated mate," Ruby flicked her blue eyes up and down, analyzing my form as if she was disgusted with me. 

I heard Leticia growl from the left of me and I grabbed her before she could react. I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries to be bothered. "Listen, Ruby, if you have a problem with my presence, kindly address it to your Master," I clicked my tongue in annoyance. "Not me. Maybe you should ask yourself why he never chose you."

I gave her a sharp glare and walked past her, having had enough. Leticia guffawed and I rolled my eyes, finding her antics amusing. She was the breath of fresh air that I needed along with my two friends because if I didn't have them, I'd go insane.

"That was sooo badass!! Look at you, finally making use of your balls," Leticia giggled and I rolled my eyes playfully. "Ah yeah, I just wasn't in the mood for it." Usually, I had a lot of time to put into people being rude like that, but today just wasn't one of those days.

"But yeah, what did you want to speak to me about, Lety?" I turned to her and once she remembered what she came to me for, her demeanor darkened. "I cannot tell Master Zander because this topic is very sensitive," I narrowed my eyes, having a clue of what she was talking about. "This morning on our usual security run, we found several dead vampires," She began. "Four of them were ours."

This wouldn't be something as important, considering that vampires were dying even before I met them, but Zander considered his vampires to be his family. 

"One of them was killed by Cecilia," She rolled her eyes and I sighed, wishing that I knew more about her and her relevance to be able to help more. "But the other three, Eli," She looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "W-what is it, Lety?" She was confusing me and I tilted my head, wondering what the problem was.

"The other three were killed by people you know."

She dug into her pocket and pulled out a torn wooden bracelet. "You recognize this?" She placed it in my hand and I could feel my lip trembling. Many years of memories came flashing through my mind and I sighed. "Yes, yes I do. I'm the one who bought this." Leticia raised a brow, urging me to continue.

"For Michelle."

It became clear to me what she was implying. Michelle was the one who killed that vampire. "Well, then it's clear she killed the other two that were found in the forest. They were all killed the same way," She explained and I thought back to the conversation at the diner I had with them. "See, I don't think it's just her. I think it's her and Hunter," I told her about the shared looks between them when the reporter shared the news of the dead vampires.

My heart hurt once more as I realized our friendship would've ended regardless because we were on two different sides in the same world. The entire friendship may as well have been a total lie.

"Damn. I know that's got to hurt to hear, Eli," Lety gave me a look of concern, reaching out to grab my hand. "It does, but nothing could hurt me more than their betrayal," I shrugged. "What about the last murder?" I changed the subject, and that was when I noticed her face softened. "This one might not be so easy to tell you."

I furrowed my brow as she pulled out her phone to show me pictures. "Our security camera happened to capture a picture at the border of East Ravenwood, just minutes after the murder of Cyrus, one of ours," My eyes widened and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I saw a face that I never thought I would see for a long time.

Tatianna, my sister, held a machete in her hand as she looked down at the dead body.

My hands started to shake as I handed the phone back to her. "That's highly fucking unfortunate." I stated emotionless, not knowing what to say about that. Of course, I still cared for her, but there was nothing I could do about it. Especially not with the way she looked at me that night. There was nothing in the world that could erase that moment. 

"Demetrius brought her in. She's being held in the cellar right now." Leticia informed me, and I nodded, not knowing what to say. My sister was killing people that were a part of the family that belonged to my fated lover. After everything, it was clear which side I would take.

Even after everything.

"E-Eli!"

I heard my name being yelled from down the corridor, and I turned to see a panicked Kenzo dashing down the hall. All of the vampires in the hall stared at him, especially Silas, who was lurking in the corner. 

"Hey," I grasped Kenzo's trembling hands as he looked into my eyes, his filled with tears and fright. "What's the matter?!" I questioned as he gasped and shook in front of me. His words were stumbling and slurring and he was fumbling over his lips, trying to find a way to tell me what he was going to tell me. It was clear that it was something that would change my life forever.

"Cecilia is here."