Shade’s POV
I forced myself to move. This took some effort, frozen as I was into a statue of deepest despair.
“Tristan...” I said first. He still gazed at me curiously.
“Yes, Shade?” he answered nervously. Thomas was watching us both, the sadistic enjoyment plain on his face.
I lost my tongue somewhere along the thought process. Moments passed in silence.
“Oh, Nightshade. I’m rather disappointed in you. I thought that you were more eloquent than that,” Thomas said in a happily sarcastic, condescending tone.
I ignored him. Tristan was my focus now.
“Tristan...” I began again. “What he’s talking about... I am not what I seem.”
“What do you mean?” he asked warily.
The pain was tearing me apart. Was I only allowed a few months with him? Was that really and truly all that Fate was going to give me? I shuddered, took a deep breath, and continued on despite the horrific ache ripping my silent heart to shreds.
“I am not what I seem. I’m not seventeen. I’m not even human,” I choked out.
He stared at me, shocked. His mouth gaped open like the mouth of a fish out of water, but he said nothing. Finally, after a few minutes had passed, he ventured to ask the question I was dreading.
“If you’re not human...” he began, but faltered and stopped. Then he started again. “If you’re not human...then what are you?”
He waited with trepidation for my answer.
“Tristan...I am a...” I gulped, then finished. “A vampire.”
Tristan’s POV
A WHAT?! Did she just say that she was a vampire?!
Automatically I flinched away from her.
I saw the agony cross her beautiful, inhuman features and immediately felt awful.
“A...a vampire? Are you sure?” I asked, still in disbelief.
A wry look came onto her face, but the pain was still there underneath the dry amusement.
“Yes, Tristan, I am one-hundred percent sure that I am a vampire,” she answered, speaking as if explaining to a kindergartner for the tenth time that two plus two equals four.
“Well...do you know what they want with me?” I asked with a glance toward Thomas.
“Yes. They are werewolves. They want revenge on me, so they plan to make you into a wolf too,” Shade explained.
I looked at Thomas in shock. He had a smug, supercilious smile on his face, and he nodded smugly.
“But...aren’t...vampires”-I stuttered over the word-“and wolves enemies?” I asked.
“Yes. That’s why it’s the perfect revenge,” Shade uttered quietly.
All I could do was stare at them both.
Shade’s POV
I couldn’t tell Tristan the greater part of the wolves’ revenge. The look on his face when he found out...the very recent memory shattered my soul.
“You can’t let them do that to me,” he said, panic clear in his voice.
“That’s why I’m here,” I said to him, stepping closer. My heart wrenched in my chest when his eyes widened and he shrank back, ever so slightly. I stopped short, not wanting to frighten him.
He knew that he had hurt me, I could tell, because remorse showed in his eyes. I needed to control myself better.
“Thomas,” I said, addressing the Alpha. “Please...let Tristan go. You’ve had your revenge, I assure you. I swear you can keep your territory. I’ll never set foot on it again,” I promised solemnly.
“A tempting offer, Nightshade. But I think not. Somehow, I just don’t think you’ll survive a match up with the pack all on your own, so it is more to my benefit to simply kill you and change him,” he sneered at me.
I tensed. I would battle for Tristan. I cared not for the fact that he now seemed terrified of me. I couldn’t let that happen to him. I would fight.
“Come fight me then, coward,” I snarled.
Thomas crouched, but then cocked his head toward the entrance of the cave.
I heard voices and smiled.
My backup was here.
