Sam grabs a trash can and keeps removing glass from my hands while gathering the shards of glass off of the ground. Vincent rubs my shoulders while Eric brings over a damp rag.
Vincent looks at me with concern, “You're shaking, Eva.”
I sigh, “It's just too much!”
Vincent turns my face so that our eyes meet, “What is?”
“Everything!” I cry as I continue, “In the last two weeks almost my life has been insane. I'm losing control and I hate it!”
Eric kisses my forehead, “Let's slow down a minute. Let's address each issue one at a time rather than lumping them together.”
I sigh, “I killed people!”
Sam cups my face, “You killed vampires who used to be people. Very disgusting people at that. You saved a good kid too.”
“Could you have saved him and spared their lives?” Eric asks.
I shake my head, “No.”
“Then leave it in the past,” Sam says.
I sigh, “Then there's Katie, I worry about her safety. She has no abilities!”
Vincent cocks his head at me, “Well I worry about you and you have abilities.”
“I'm not…” I try to say but before I can finish he puts a finger to my lips.
He gazes into my eyes, “Don't even say or think it! Scum like Victor put that drivel into your head. Leave it in the past.”
“But I killed with malice today,” I tell them.
Eric says, “They deserved it. I know you saw what carnage they hoped for when the pack refused.”
I look down because I saw the bloodshed that they wanted Sam to find.
Eric commands, “Eva look at me! We saw and felt what set you off. It had little to do with who Victor had working with him and all to do with the fact they were going to kill wolves tonight because they hoped Sam was away. They wanted him to find the slaughter.”
“You stopped that,” Vincent adds.
Sam says, “Now put it in the past.”
“Don't say you're worried about the magazine because that's an easy fix,” Vincent says.
I tell them, “Yeah breaking into a bank, destroying files, and gathering condemning evidence will be just like a walk in the park.”
“Really? Think of what we are Eva. We can be shadows in the night and move undetected. It probably won't even come to that depending on what we can dig up about the vampires running it,” Vincent says.
Eric asks Vincent, “Not your first time committing a heist huh?”
Vincent shrugs, “May have done a few when I was younger.”
Sam chuckles, “Well take lead then Batman.”
l laugh.
Sam says to me, “Laugh all you want because you'll be Catwoman.”
Vincent yells, “No cats!”
We all laugh
Eric asks, “Better Eva?”
I smile, “Yeah.”
Eric says, “Sometimes you just have to let stuff go, you can't keep rehashing it. What's done is done and we should leave it there”
We hear Gran yell, “Cake time dearies!!!”
I giggle, “What? I'll never say no to cake!”
We go inside to the dining table. On the table is a huge three-layer cake. Each layer has a mix of colors and roses. The cake is white but accented with gold flecks. The roses are a deep red and a cream tinged with pink.
“Wow it's beautiful,” I exclaim.
Gran smiles, “I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure of colors.”
“Shakespeare said a Rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Meaning it is what it is. I beg to differ. Different colors mean
different things. A red rose means love everlasting while a black one symbolizes death. So a Rose can't be just a rose can it?” I say, “Just like this isn't a regular cake, is it?”
Gran explains, “No it's not just a cake. This family goes back many centuries and we have always carried traditions throughout the passage of time.
After a sacred union has been formed in both human and wolf form, a cake is made by the elder of the pack. Tonight we all will consume this cake to symbolize us merging into that union. It's more important tonight because not just two Alphasare now mated and gifted us a Luna but one is our White
Wolf returned. Eva, we welcome your family.”
She looks at Katie, Eric, and Vincent when she said that too. I couldn't help but be moved. Gran continues, “Into ours. We are all the Fall pack now and ready to assist our Luna.”
She cuts us each a piece. I don't know where this path of my destiny as a Luna will go, but I love the family that it has given me.
“I really don't know what to say, but I hope that whatever lies ahead that we will all get through it together,” I toast as I raise my fork before I take a bite.
The cake tasted amazing but I kept feeling that urge. Damn this haze really isn't something to take lightly!
Sam grins, “We have some things to discuss and Eva should rest. We have to leave tomorrow.”
We say our goodnights and go to the cabin. Vincent and Eric will follow shortly.
As we enter the cabin, Sam says, “I know this is a lot. I'm not used to having a mate. I want to protect you, but things are starting to pile up. Tensions will run high.”
So he feels it too. He feels that something is dotting our horizon, but who or what?