A Beating Heart

Pieces That Don't Belong

"What are you doing to me?" I whisper as my chest constricts and releases, over and over. I know this feeling. I've had this feeling. More than six centuries ago. "My heart... it's...Shay what's happening?" I feel like she can give me all the answers. The look on her face tells me that she knows more than she's told me, but it also is saying something else. She's scared and I don't know why.

She releases my hand and feeling is gone just as quickly as it came. She stands from the couch, releasing a long sigh as she moves with grace towards the kitchen. She runs a hand through her long locks and turns back to look at me, the pain evident in her face.

"We can't be friends anymore, Colby." She murmurs softly.

I stare at her momentarily. I'm trying to read her right now, to figure all this out.

"What exactly is this creature you say can kill me?" I question, staring at her from my sitting position on the couch.

"It means different things to different people." She shrugs, looking everywhere but at me as she leans on the kitchen counter.

"What does it mean to you?" I ask, standing up from the couch but not making a move towards her.

She finally looks at me. "It means that I can hurt you Colby, and I don't want to take that chance when it comes to you. I don't like that there's a possibly that I could do something to harm you."

I take a step towards her. "I don't think you'd ever hurt me." I shake my head.

"You don't understand." She steps back as I take another step forward, shaking my head.

"I do." I nod. "Shay, you're..."

"No, Colby. You don't!" She raises her voice a little. "I need you to understand how dangerous I am to you. What I could do to you if..." She pauses and looks up at me with tear filled eyes. She stares at me like she has the biggest secret in the world to tell me but she doesn't know how.

How can things with this girl be so damn complicated and we haven't even shared our first kiss?

"You can tell me, Shay." I beg. I need to know what's so heavy on her heart.

She shakes her head and sighs. I close the distance between us, grabbing her face to force her to look at me. Electricity pulses. I ignore it.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." I urge.

She looks down briefly then back to me. "This is so complicated." She breathes.

I choke out a laugh. "I think that's an understatement." I quirk a brow and the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes spring loose. I wipe them away with my thumbs.

The sensation of touching her is becoming painful but I ignore it.

"Shay, tell me what's going with you please."

"I can't," She shakes her head.

"Why not?!" I nearly shout. I'm over this, all of it. All of the secrets need to stop now. My parents, Drake and now Shay... I can't deal with it anymore. "I need to know." I drop my hands from her face and stare at her. I'm begging her with my eyes to just come clean.

"You'll want to leave once you know." She whispers.

I grab her face to make her look at me. "I'm not going anywhere." I shake my head.

"Can I just," She pauses and stares at me.

"What?" I murmur.

"Just," She holds up her index finger signaling me to wait. "I need to do something first. Don't move okay?" She asks and I nod quickly. I don't know what she's about to do but the anticipation is killing me. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and takes a step forward closing the rest of the space between us.

I lick my lips as she releases her bottom lip from between her teeth.

"Colby," She barely whispers and I finally realize what she's about to do.

I close my eyes in anticipation. She wants to kiss me. Something I've wanted to do to her for the past...God knows how long.

When our lips touch it's like nothing I've ever felt before. My whole body feels like it's on fire and electric currents continuously run through me.

"Your lips are so much warmer and softer than I anticipated." She whispers into my mouth. I smile into her lips and pull back to look at her.

"Was that a compliment?" I quirk a brow.

She giggles and nods. "Sorry, I could have said that better." She leans forward and kisses me once more but it's over far too quickly. I whimper a little as she pulls back from my lips and leans her forehead against mine.

My hands snake their way up her sides, arms, then cup her face. "I'd like to kiss you forever." I whisper. "I've never felt so... so alive Shay. You make me feel incredible." I mutter honestly.

She closes her eyes as she soaks in my words, her forehead still against mine.

She sighs and I know what's coming next. "This doesn't change anything. We can't be around each other Colby, you have to leave and never come back." She says, barely audible. I can tell me she doesn't mean the words as she's saying them. It's almost like she's rehearsed them over and over in her head before actually saying them out loud.

"I can't... I won't."

She pulls away from me and moves out of reach. I take a step forward but she holds up her hand to stop me. "You can't be around me anymore because I could kill you. The Lycanthrope is my true form and I can't control it. It was a defense mechanism put in place by my people to protect us."

"Protect you from what?"

"You," She whispers. "Your kind. The Vampires."

"Wait," I narrow my eyes. "So shape shifters have been around since the 1300s?" I question.

"Yes."

"And you were aware of this from the very beginning?"

"No." She shakes her head. "I've only recently learned the full history of my people."

I shake my head and run a hand through my hair. I don't think I fully understand this entire thing still.

"What do your people have to do with Vampires?" I ask.

She opens her mouth then closes it quickly, then opens it again, and closes it again.

"Shay what is it?" I can tell there is something heavy weighing on her mind right now.

"I can't tell anything else." She shakes her head.

"What? Why?"

She shakes her head, "this isn't my secret to tell, Colby."

I scrunch my face. Not her secret? "What does that mean, Shay?"

She stares at me intently, then bites her lip and turns away. When she turns back to look at me her eyes are blazing, "Colby, you'll have to talk to your mom."