The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 33

CAULDER

\tl waited outside for Remy to emerge. I had no idea when she was leaving, but I knew it was late in the day. I was confident I knew how she was leaving the house unnoticed. I had taught her my trick for sneaking out not that long ago, and it had been proven

effective for me for years. I tucked myself away in the bushes and waited.

\tl had no idea how much time passed before she finally emerged from the pack house, just the way I had anticipated. I stopped breathing to make sure she didn't catch onto me. Her werewolf senses were much more keen than mine, so if she was paying close attention, she would easily replace me.

\tRemy kept low to the ground and looked around. She took a deep inhale, and she paused, her entire body tense. She looked in my direction, and my heart raced. If she caught me this early, I would have no hope of replaceing out what she was up to. After what felt like several minutes, she shook it off and continued moving forward. She was barefoot to minimize her sound, and I was impressed with how silently she moved. She was better at her stealth skills than I ever realized. It was no wonder she had been able to go in and out of the pack house without being noticed.

\tl started moving forward, making sure there was plenty of distance between us to make sure she didn't catch onto me. Remy had the patrol system down. She knew when the next guard was supposed to come around, and she made sure she stayed downwind of them, so they wouldn't pick up on her scent.

\tShe was still new to sneaking out compared to me, but she reminded me of myself, doing exactly what I had done to successfully sneak past the warriors patrolling our pack house to get away without our parents' knowledge. Remy was just like me in so many ways. If she wanted something, she would go for it, no matter the risk. The difference was we wanted different things.

\tl had expected Remy to meet up with another werewolf in town who was feeding her information, so when Remy started heading towards the edge of the territory lines, my heart started to race. If she had been sneaking out of the pack's territory this entire time, it would put her in even more danger if she was attacked, because she would be out of the range to link the pack for help.

\t"Harper, if you don't hear back from me in a few hours, I'm going north of the territory. I'll keep you updated." I made sure to link Harper the direction I was going, in case anything happened. Then she could send someone after us. I had my cell phone, but I wanted to cover all of my bases.

\tRemy shifted into her wolf form and took off. I waited until she was gone to undress and change into my wolf form as well. I sniffed around, trying to pick up Remy's scent to follow where she went, but it was fading quickly, and my sense of smell was not where I needed it to be. I had to hurry, or I would lose her trail completely.

\t-

\tREMY

\tl made it to the lake, and I was still in my wolf form when the fur on my spine rose. I could feel the shift in the air, and I knew something was wrong. I waited, slowing my breath so I could focus on the world around me. The slightest change in the breeze told me exactly where the attack was coming from.

\the lunged at me with incredible speed, but I jumped back just in time and snapped my jaw for a quick counter attack. My teeth sunk into nothing but air, but I was ready for another attack.

\tBlade appeared in front of me several feet away, and he started clapping. My heart raced at the sight of him, and it felt like all of the time I had spent waiting to see him again was worth it.

\tHe stopped clapping and slowly approached me. "That was impressive. You picked up on the techniques for sensing me incredibly fast. I'm impressed, wolf girl." He added a wink, which made the butterflies in my stomach go wild. "Do you want to train more in this form or your human form?"

\tl motioned for him to turn around, because I wanted to shift into my human form. He raised his hands and turned around, as if he could read my mind. I didn't even have to use my words for him to know what was going on in my head, and I wondered if Blade was just good at reading people, or if it came from our supposed mate bond.

\tOnce I was dressed, I skipped over to Blade and wrapped my arms around his back. He chuckled and turned to face me. He brushed a piece of hair out of my face before leaning down to kiss me. His lips made me forget about training all together, and I just wanted to stand there and kiss him all night.

\tlt was weird feeling this way about someone. All I had ever wanted to do was work hard to prove to everyone I wasn't just Caulder's sister. I wanted to be recognized for the strength I had and be seen for my potential as much as Caulder was, so boys weren't on my mind often. However, when I was with Blade, I didn't feel the need to push myself to a breaking point to prove to him that I was enough. It felt like he already saw me for who I was, even though I knew that made me a little crazy. We had only known each other for a few days. It also made it so Blade was constantly in my mind, even when I tried distracting myself.

\t"Okay, so what do you want to work on first?" Blade asked, keeping his arms wrapped around me.

\t"Do we have to train? I was thinking we could just spend some time together." I pushed my lower lip out, trying to look as cute as possible. The back-to-back nights of lack of sleep were starting to get to me, and my body felt worn out. An easy night would be greatly welcomed.

\tBlade brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. "We should train for a little bit. If anything happens, I want you to be prepared. Then we can rest, or you can go home. You look like you haven't slept in days."

\tl groaned in response, knowing he was right. It was clear my parents were worried about a vampire attack, and if that happened, I wanted to be able to defend myself and others. But I was also exhausted. \t"Fine," I reluctantly agreed.

\t"And when we are done, I brought you something." Blade let go of me and started pulling away.

\tl quickly grabbed his hand. "Wait. What did you get me?"

\t"It's a surprise." He gave me a wink before lifting his hands up.

\t"Why can't you tell me what it is now?" I was excited by the idea of Blade bringing me a gift. I wasn't used to that kind of treatment, so it made my patience thinner than normal.

\t"I'll tell you what. If you can land a hit on me, I'll tell you what it is. If not, you have to wait until we are done training." He took another step back, and his entire aura shifted to something fierce. The more I fought Blade, the more I realized that he was on a completely different level than me. There was a determination in his blood that showed all of the years he had spent training so he could get stronger and fight for what he believed in, but it was different than my resolve. I wanted to get stronger for my family's approval. He wanted to get stronger to stop a vampire from trying to destroy the world.

\t"Just one hit?" I asked to clarify. Blade had been working with me on understanding a vampire's speed, so I could learn to avoid attacks and use the speed against the vampire. According to him, a vampire's speed was both his greatest asset and his greatest downfall. If it came down to strength alone, most vampires wouldn't win in a fight against a werewolf.

\t"Just one hit. Think you can manage, wolf girl?" Blade taunted.

\tOne side of my lips curled up. Blade was one of the strongest opponents I had faced so far, so I knew it would be difficult to land a hit on him. However, he underestimated my abilities. I was a fast learner and quick on my feet. If I only needed to hit him once, I was sure I would be able to do it.

\tl dashed forward and feigned a punch to the right, but then I twisted to the left at the last second. My hand nearly hit Blade in the face, but he bent backwards, and all I hit was air. I moved towards him, throwing punch after punch, trying to throw him off in any way I could, but he continuously dodged my attacks. I was much too slow in my human body, and I knew I would have a better chance at hitting Blade as a werewolf, but that wasn't the deal.

\tThis strategy wasn't working out, either, so I knew I had to try something else. I lunged forward again, this time pretending to trip. I fell through the air and braced myself for the impact, hoping my instincts were correct. Sure enough, before I hit the ground, Blade caught me in his arms and pulled me to my feet. I took the split second of distraction to hit him in the arm.

\t"Ha! I win!" I shouted, thrilled my little trick worked on him.

\tBlade instantly let go of me and glared at me. "No fair! You tricked me."

\tl shrugged my shoulders. "You're the one who fell for it."

\tBlade narrowed his eyes. "You're going to pay for that." Before I knew what was happening, he spun around me until he was behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and pinned me against him, so my back was flushed against his front.

\tl felt Blade's teeth brush against my neck, making a shiver run down my spine. The contact of his mouth against my neck made me lose my focus, and his breath on my neck made my lips quiver. It made me realize that no matter how strong I got, it would be nearly impossible to beat Blade in a fight. His touch alone made me want to stop any violence towards him and just hold him instead.

\tBefore Blade could continue touching me, a loud snarl echoed through the forest, and the scent hit my nose. I looked over my shoulder and saw Caulder's wolf form staring at Blade with killer eyes. Caulder lunged forward, ready to tear out Blade's throat. \t"Caulder, no!" I shouted, but it was already too late.