Breea smiled and nodded as she passed me. My heart thumped in my chest. She had just spent sixtythree minutes talking to Beth. Now it was my turn to talk to her.

I moved down the hall towards Beth. Crazily my emotional state was shifting by the second. Calm, terror, wonder, fear, calm, fear, eagerness, tipadation, calm.

I sighed. The sigh was born of fear but I wouldn't have admitted it under torture.

Breea told me to stop fighting it, give Beth a chance, but was Beth willing to give me a chance?

I opened the door and stepped inside her room. I gave her a tinitive smile.

She smiled shyly back.

"Hi." We both said at the same time. I grinned.

"I'm sorry." She told me.

I shook my head. "No. It was my fault. I was being a jerk. I'm sorry. I don't even have an excuse." I told her as I positioned a chair by her bed. I sat down. I didn't want to burden her with my wacky emotional state.

She looked at the window. "I've been a jerk since you showed up at the hospital, Alex. I've been feeling emotionally drained and physically exhausted since you left my apartment." She glanced over at me then looked down at her hands. "Now I know why. Breea explained about us being mates." She sighed softly. "I don't- didn't believe in any of this. I'm not sure how I feel about it now." I could hear the sadness in her voice.

I reached out and took one of her hands. Her fingers felt cold. I didn't know what to say.

"What happens now?" She asked solemnly.

I shook my head. "I don't know. This is new to me too."

"Breea said we have to leave the hospital soon."

"Yeah. Ann is working on the paperwork for the properties. We don't know when I'll transform, so she's rushing it. Jeremy's taking care of the wire transfers now." I shook my head. "He didn't know much about hybrids. It's a good thing we met Breea." I had always thought of Jeremy as almost all knowing. This made me feel better in a twisted way.

"Yes. Do you want to complete the bond, Alex?" She asked. She searched my face. I nodded. "I'll be like you?" I nodded again. "Will... Will I kill people, Alex? I don't want to kill people."

I bit my lip. I remembered what it was like to be newly turned. I knew she wanted me to tell her everything would be fine. But I couldn't lie. She had to know that it wouldn't be easy. So I told her the truth. "I don't know. Some of us don't. But it's hard at first. Your changing so much. You're stronger, faster. You don't need as much oxygen. Your muscles feel different. Every breath and sound is different. You can smell better, hear better. At first you need to feed frequently. But over the years you need it less." I squeezed her fingers gently. "You'll have me - and Jeremy - to help you learn it all. You won't be alone."

"Can I still be in Ann's life?" She questioned with worry in her voice.

"I don't know. It depends on how you handle the blood lust. We can't put her in danger." I tried to deliver the statement gently.

Looking down at the blanket she nodded.

We lapsed in to an uncomfortable silence. Slowly the tension eased and the silence was quite. At some point I had reached out and took her hand in mine. I stroked a finger on the back of hand. She drifted to sleep. I just kept caressing her hand with my thumb.

I looked up as the door opened.

A nurse came in with an IV bad. She gave me a reassuring smile. I recognized her. She was frequently in and out of Beth's room. I watched as she hooked up the new bag to the machine.

"How is she? Really." I asked.

The nurse glanced at me as she closed a panel on the machine. She pushed buttons, the machine beeped.

"Better. Her red blood cell count is low. She's not dehydrated any longer." She smiled again. She tried to appear hopeful but it didn't reach her eyes.

I nodded. My heart constricted. Fate was playing with us.

Beth was dying as a mundane. But she could die if I chanced turning her. Fate had pushed us together, made us mates, made us want each other. Fate gave us hope but no guarantee that this would work out.

What would be the point if she died? If she lived and we completed the mate bond would it be forever? How long? Beth was completely human. But what was I? How would that effect the mate bond? Fate had neglected to give us all the needed information.

I had never wanted to create a convert. Now I had little choice. If I started the process and she died it would all be worthless.

That was if I managed to survive my first were transformation. A hysterical laugh settled in my chest. It wanted to rumble up. It was a struggle to keep it contained. But somehow looking at Beth's sleeping form gave me strength.

"Alex?" Ann's voice called me. Her tone said it was not the first time she had whispered my name.

I blinked. I wasn't sure when the nurse had left. I didn't know how long I had been lost in my thoughts.

Reluctantly I let go of Beth's hand and turned to Ann.

"You have it set?"

She nodded. She looked at her sister. She motioned to the door. I stood, leaned over and kissed Beth on her lips as she slept on. I had already made a step to the door when I realized what I had done.

I followed Ann to the waiting room.

We didn't bother to take a seat. "Jeremy has sent the money. I just need your signature." She smiled, but it didn't hid her sadness. She lifted up her bag. Resting it on her hip and strap she pulled out the stack of papers.

"The ex owners are thrilled this is going so quickly. They moved to Florida to soak in the sun and enjoy retirement."

We found the one chair that made signing paper accomplishible. She pointed. I signed. I barely glanced at the words on the page.