Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

chapter twenty-nine.

April

Sunrise comes.

For a few hours there, it seemed like it wouldn't. The darkness felt neverending.

But, in spite of my self-inflicted heartbreak, the sun rises all the same. I get out of bed, shower and get dressed.

I know if I go to class, I won't be able to concentrate, but I have to get out of this room or I'll go insane. I don't want to eat either; my stomach is twisted and nauseous.

On campus, I wander aimlessly. Yesterday was an absolute catastrophe. How did I manage to implode my life so thoroughly in a single day?

Eventually, I find myself sitting at a bench, watching other students pass by. In the distance, I spot Harper and my guilt increases tenfold. I've practically ghosted my best friend and whilst my intentions might be pure, she doesn't know that it's out of concern for her safety. She probably thinks I'm angry at her for reasons unknown.

But I'm in no shape today to make it up to her. I get up from the bench and walk back toward my dorm, away from her distant figure.

Outside my building, I stumble to a stop.

Reed is here, standing on the lawn. His eyes lock onto me, his expression grave.

I can't move as he comes toward me. I am fully prepared to be yelled at in front of everyone, but I should know better by now. Reed wouldn't do that, not to anyone but least of all to me.

Instead, he stops a respectable distance from me and says, "I just came to make sure you were alright. That you were safe."

My heart squeezes painfully. After everything, he's still worried about me? Isn't he furious? Doesn't he hate me?

"I thought you'd be with him," he notes, his voice detached. "But the car has a tracker." He motions toward the parked sedan.

"Oh."

There is a moment of quiet. The low hum of chatting voices, a car driving along the road and a bird tweeting in a tree are the only things I can hear.

Reed shifts, his shoulders straightening. "Why aren't you with him?" he asks.

I try to swallow but my throat is closing over. "You were right," I admit shakily. "All along. He was manipulating me and I didn't see it."

Reed steps closer and there is a bloom of hope in his eyes, outweighed only by his deep compassion. "April..."

"I'm sorry." My voice is thick with emotion and once again, I'm on the brink of tears. "For leaving you like that. It was wrong of me."

"It's my fault too," he says. "I put so much pressure on you. I just wanted...I wanted you so badly that I suffocated you with it all. I should have listened when you said you wanted to postpone the mating ceremony. I'm sorry I didn't."

"I could have spoken to you about it more. But we were so happy and I was trying so desperately not to ruin that. And I ended up imploding it anyway." I brush away a stray tear that manages to escape.

"Were you happy?" he asks. "Before all of this? Tell me the truth, please."

I think of warm nights spent in the living room of the packhouse, of sitting at a campfire and swimming in the lake. I think of his arms around me in bed, of his mouth against my cheek. "Yes," I puff out on a breath. "So happy." The tender hope on his face grows. But he's asked for complete honesty and he deserves it, after always giving it to me. "But I also felt a lot of pressure. I wanted to be good to you and good to your pack and I wanted to stop a war with the vampires and it was all too much. Plus...I was thinking about Nik and the guilt was killing me."

He nods and looks away, his hands closing into careful fists. "I wish I'd seen it sooner."

"I wish I'd said it."

For a minute or two, he is lost in his own head. I study him, the strength in his jaw and the line of his nose. The golden glow of his skin and the warmth of his emerald eyes. Eventually, he speaks absent-mindedly, "I never imagined it would be like this. I thought it'd be easy, that the relationship would come so naturally between my mate and I. My whole life I've planned everything, every aspect of my pack's life and every decision I would make as a leader, but I could have never planned for you."

Feeling ill, I clutch my stomach. "I'm sorry I'm a disappointment, Reed." I mean it, truly and wholeheartedly. Imagine knowing you only have one soulmate in the whole world and that person is me.

His eyes snap back to me and his mouth presses into a hard, angry line. "You have never been a disappointment, April. Don't ever think that. In a million lifetimes, out of a million choices, I would always, always pick you."

Air is caged in my lungs; I can't exhale or move till I ask... "Even now?"

"Especially now." He surges forward and pulls me against him, engulfing me in the heat of his body. I hug him tightly, burying my face in his shoulder.

I always hated that living in New York with my parents never really felt like home. But it's ok, because I have found it in Reed's arms.

"Please forgive me," I shudder against him. He strokes my hair, kisses my temple and hushes me.

When I pull back, just enough to look up at his face, he says, "Anything you could ever do is already forgiven, April. Whether you're mine or not...I will always be yours."

There is a sad sort of resignation in his eyes. And I know why—we both do. It is clear now that no matter what I do, no matter what mistakes I make or how much I hurt him, he will always welcome me back with open arms. How horrible, to be so completely at the mercy of another's actions.

It means that I cannot make a mistake like this again, that I cannot hurt him again. The guilt of what I've done grows heavier in the wake of his complete and total forgiveness.

"If you're mine," I tell him. "Then I'm yours, Reed."

He cups my cheek and kisses me.

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Nikolai

From far across the street, I watch as April embraces her werewolf Prince.

Even from this far away, I can hear the fervent words they exchange crisp and clear. It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes, stride up to them and rip his pathetic heart from his pathetic chest.

But he is serving a greater purpose by staying alive; he is the key to April's immortality. Well, perhaps it will not be true immortality, but I will happily settle for a few centuries. The thought of facing her death in the next seventy years is unacceptable.

Yesterday was a blip. Unexpected, admittedly. I'm glad she's finally admitted that she wants me, but it would have been far more useful had she simply gone through with the mating ceremony. Then at least I would know her survival is all but assured.

The hatred and vitriol with which she viewed me yesterday still stings, like a burn on my skin. But in the grand scheme, it is irrelevant.

Once she's immortal, I will have an abundance of time to convince her that she belongs in my arms, not his. She may hate me now, but take it from me: a thousand years is a long time and her hatred will wither and die, as all things do.

And then, finally, she will be mine.

END. 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow! Thank you so much for reading Werewolf and Vampire Mate #1! Writing this book was a lot of fun and I'm very grateful for anyone who read all the way up to the end. 

It means a lot to authors to hear feedback from readers, so if you have any thoughts on this book, please leave a comment/vote. If you have any thoughts on who April should/shouldn't end up with, then I would love to hear that as well (I have an idea in mind, but I'm interested what you guys think). 

Thank you again for reading. Much appreciated.