The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 4

CAULDER

\tWhen I woke up, the most wonderful scent hit my nose. My body creaked as I sat up, and my thigh throbbed, reminding me of everything that had gone down the previous night. Mom had mostly healed my wound, but I could still feel the phantom pain of the injury, which wasn't unusual for me. However, as the most wonderful scent hit my nose, I ignored the pains and aches in my body and crawled out of bed.

\tl pulled my bedroom door open and was shocked when Harper stood at my door with her hand raised, ready to knock on the door. Despite the early morning, she looked as beautiful as ever as her long, blonde curly locks fell over her shoulders, framing her face. Her bright green eyes shone with the shock of the door opening before she even had a chance to knock.

\tShe was wearing a light green sundress that matched the color of her eyes, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. Harper had always been a beautiful girl, but she was my best friend. I saw her in diapers, and there was a time when our parents had us take baths together. I never looked at her the way I looked at other girls. I had never even thought of her as a proper girl before, but as she stood in front of me, I was practically drooling over her.

\t"Oh, um, hi Caulder. You're up earlier than I expected." Harper smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. I could hear her nervous heartbeat pounding so loudly. Was she always this nervous around me?

\t"I smelled something delicious, and it woke me up," I said. I crossed my arms and leaned against the door frame.

\tHer eyes took in my biceps and shirtless form, and I could hear her swallow and her heartbeat a little faster. I was in tune with every little movement she made, and it felt like my senses were in overdrive. It must have been my wolf senses kicking in. Eighteen was the peak age for werewolves. It was the age they got a burst of power and could finally replace their mates.

\t"Um, I'm sure they are making something special for breakfast for your birthday." Her eyes flickered down to my exposed skin again, and her cheeks flushed a little. She bit her lower lip, and I could feel a feral growl threatening to escape. \tl c****d my head to the side. "Like what you see?"

\tHarper's eyes went wide, and her cheeks were now bright red. "What? No? Of course not."

\tShe pushed her way into my room, hiding her face from my view, but my eyes followed her with ease. She grabbed a shirt from my drawer and tossed it in my face.

\t"Put a shirt on. It's inappropriate to walk around like that."

\tl grabbed the shirt off my face and chuckled, making no motion to do such a thing. "You're in my room. I can be dressed however I please. I could even get naked if I wanted to."

I

\t"Don't be gross!" Harper said, but the way her eyes flicked to my torso, I had a feeling she thought about it for a moment.

\tl moved over to her, my body craving her touch. My head was a little foggy, and I didn't understand my sudden cravings for Harper, but every part of my body ached to touch her. I stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. \t"We could always get naked together if you want." I gave her a wink.

\tShe smacked my hand away and walked over to the other side of the room. "Stop it, Caulder. What's gotten into you? I don't plan on becoming another girl in the line of hookups you've had. I don't care if it's your birthday. I'll still kick your a*s."

\tl watched her move away. While she was rejecting the idea of having some horizontal fun, she didn't seem completely repulsed by the idea either. I had never thought about her like that, even through all of the nights we fell asleep together while watching a movie. She was just my best friend, but I couldn't stop imagining her doing something inappropriate with me. This wasn't like me.

\tl took in another inhale, and the sweet scent hit my nose again. This time I knew I was directly looking at the source. Everything clicked. Of course, Harper wasn't just another girl in the string of hookups I had had, and she would never become one of them. She was so much more than that. She was my best friend, and she was my mate.

\t"Will you stop looking at me like that and get dressed? Then I expect you to tell me everything that happened with you and Remy last night. Is it true that you got stabbed by a rogue wolf?" Her eyes looked down at my leg, and I knew she was looking for the wound, but I felt myself growing heated as she stared at me like that.

\tl swallowed hard, knowing why Harper thought I was acting strange. Her birthday was still a few months away. She would be eighteen soon, but she wouldn't feel our mate bond until then. I knew I couldn't tell her before that. She would only laugh and think I was just joking. We didn't have that kind of relationship.

\tl knew I was going to have to be patient and wait for her to turn eighteen and come to the same realization as I just did. These next few months would be absolute t*****e. I just wanted to snatch her up and-

\tHarper walked up to me, waving her hand in front of my face. "Hello, Earth to Caulder? You really are out of it. You should probably go back to bed."

\tl took a deep breath, and her scent filled me to the brim, exciting every inch of my body. "No, I'm just perfect right now."

\tShe rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever, weirdo. I'll just wait for you downstairs while you get your senses back."

\tBefore she could leave, I grabbed her arm, holding her close to me for just a moment longer. I looked down at her, and she looked back up at me, her doe-eyes looking wide with wonder, but there wasn't any fear in them. Her heart was pounding against her chest like crazy, and her skin was like silk beneath my touch. I wanted her more than I had ever wanted anything else in my life, and I just wanted a moment longer with her here, even if we just stood like that.

\t"Don't go yet." My voice came out soft and pleading.

\tShe blinked at me a few times, and I knew she was searching for the right words. Finally, she settled on, "Okay." Her voice was soft, and even that made me crave her more.

\tl was tempted to lean down and kiss her, but the door to my room flung open, completely breaking up the moment.

\t-

\tREMY

\tHarper flew back away from Caulder, and I c****d my head to the side, confused by the way she fled like a scared deer. She and Caulder had been close, but that wasn't that strange to me. Harper was our second best friend, and she was always around because she was one of the few pack members that lived in the pack house with us, since she was Beta Rie's daughter. We had all had many cuddle puddles over the years, and she was like a sister to me.

\tThe strange part was how red Harper's face got and how Caulder looked at me panicked. Something weird was definitely going on between the two of them.

\t"Were you two about to kiss?" I linked to Caulder.

\t"You should have knocked," Caulder said out loud, ignoring my link.

\t"I never knock. You know that. I just came in here to see if you were ready to go to breakfast?" I narrowed my eyes at Caulder. I would let the moment pass for now, but I was sure as hell going to interrogate him about this little incident later. I planned on talking to Harper about it separately, too. I needed her perspective on things, too. I knew she had never even thought about kissing Caulder before. He was too much of a ladies' man for her. She wanted something more serious than what he could give her. \t"Okay, I still haven't gotten the details of what happened last night." Harper straightened her posture, her cheeks returning to their normal color. She had snapped back to her old self again. "I'm dying here. I overheard my dad telling my mom that you two snuck out and came across some rogues. I'm not sure what part of that story is more unbelievable to me: that Remy snuck out or that you two actually fought off rogues."

\tl laughed at our friend's face. She was staring at me with complete disbelief. "I have an adventurous side."

\tShe raised her eyebrows and stared down at me. "Since when?"

\t"Since always. I just don't act on it like Caulder." I stuck my tongue out at her.

\t"Uh-huh." Harper walked over to me and linked her arm in mine. "Come on. Let's go get food while waiting for that one to get dressed."

\tl threw Caulder the peace sign before leaving his room with Harper. Once the door was closed behind us, I looked at her. "So are you going to tell me what that little moment was between you and Caulder just now?" \tHarper's face started blushing again. "There was no moment. Caulder was just being weird."

\t"He's always weird. What's new?"

\tHarper bit her lip and chewed on it for a moment. "He was looking at me... differently. I don't know. It was just odd. I've seen him look at other girls like that, but never at me."

\t"He probably just had a dirty dream or something," I brushed off. Caulder had made it clear a long time ago that he saw Harper as more of a sister. She was never even on his radar for a girl to go after.

\tHarper awkwardly laughed and twisted her hair between her fingers. "Yeah. You're right. So tell me all about what happened last night! Did you really come across some rogues?"

\t-

\t"Do we have to go to school today? Can't we ditch? It's our birthday after all," Caulder complained as we left the breakfast table. The bags under his eyes told me he got just about as much sleep as I had last night, and he seemed to have lost the energy he had before. \tMom looked at us with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, you two have already gotten away with that excuse once. You've used up all of your birthday wishes on me."

\tShe would never admit it, but it was obvious Mom was still upset with us from last night. Even though I was with Caulder and didn't want to go to school, I wasn't going to push our luck. We were lucky our party hadn't been canceled after everything that happened.

\tl grabbed Caulder's wrist and started pulling him towards the front door. "Come on. I'll drive. It won't be so bad."

\tBefore Mom could pester us with kisses in front of the others roaming the pack house, we pushed through the front door. School was one of the few places we weren't required to have a warrior escort, and I knew it was only because all of the teachers at the school were trained in case of an emergency. Even though eyes were always watching us, school was still a nice break from the pressure of the pack house.

\tAs I walked onto the front porch, Harper snatched the car keys from my hand. "I'm driving. Since it's your birthdays, I will be chauffeuring you two around."

\t"Hey!" I complained. I had been looking forward to driving, since usually Caulder was the one that took that roll, but Harper was already climbing into the front seat of the car.

\tCaulder seemed to perk up with Harper's presence, and he quickly took the front seat, completely ignoring my call for shotgun. Harper was right. Caulder was acting a little weird with her, and my suspicions started to grow. I climbed into the back seat and sat in the middle, so I could lean forward and watch the two of them closely.

\t"Put on your seatbelt, Remy," Caulder said, pushing my face back. I quickly licked his hand, making him whine and call me a child.

\t"You really have turned into a rebel," Harper chuckled. "What has gotten into you, Remy?"

\tl shrugged. "I guess I realized I was tired of sitting on the sidelines. Caulder is going to be the alpha of the pack, but there are no expectations from me. I want to make something out of myself."

\t"You're supposed to get wiser, not crazier, as you get older," Caulder teased.

\tl rolled my eyes at him. "I'm just taking a page out of your book."

\t"All right, children. That's enough. I refuse to play mediator with you two today," Harper said. She was smiling brightly, and I knew she secretly loved our banter. If she didn't, she would have stopped being our friend a long time ago.