The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 40

CAULDER

\tl couldn't breathe as I waited for Harper to respond. She had stopped crying, but now she was just staring blankly at me as she tried to process what I was saying exactly.

\t"You already know who your mate is?" she asked slowly. I could see the puzzle pieces lining up, and she knew what I was saying. She just didn't believe it yet.

\t"On the day of my eighteenth birthday, I felt the shift. I knew you were my mate that morning." I kept her hands pressed against my chest, hoping that the contact would make her see what I was saying was true.

\tHer breathing filled the air in the moments of silence, and it was almost agonizing waiting for her next words. "If you knew I was your mate, then why didn't you say anything before?"

\t"Because I didn't want you to feel pressured into dating me," I said simply. "I didn't want you to feel like the choice was taken away from you."

\t"Then why tell me now?" She looked confused, and her pain was still evident in her face.

\t"I can't lose you, especially knowing I didn't do everything I could. I need you to understand that there is no one else but you for me. Even if you choose to break up with me now, there is only you. Julie and every other girl doesn't matter. You are it." \tHarper nodded her head as she took in my words. She looked over at me, and her eyes were bright with clarity. "Before you knew I was your mate, did you have feelings for me?"

\tThis question threw me off. I didn't want to admit the truth, but there was no point in lying to her. Harper deserved better than that. "No."

\tMy heart pounded harder as the silence filled the space between the two of us. The sound of the rest of the students rushing to go home still lingered in the air, but it felt like everything happening around us was far off into the distance. Harper was my only

concern now.

\tThe silence around us became unbearable. I wished I could read her mind to know what she was thinking, but her face was expressionless as she worked through her emotions.

\t"Please say something," I begged. Even if she was angry with me and wanted to yell at me, it was better than silence.

\tHarper started laughing, which was the last response I had expected. She took her hands back and covered her face as her laughter grew louder. I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to understand what was so funny.

\t"Joke's on me," Harper cackled, wiping the residual tears out of her eyes. "I was the silly girl who fell in love with her best friend who would never see me the way I saw him. I was just always there on the sidelines, watching him go through girl after girl like a fool, and now you are forced to like me."

\t"Harper," I said quietly, realizing her laugh was from the irony of the situation.

\tl grabbed her hands and gently kissed the back of them. "You're not a fool. I'm the fool." Harper's laugh quieted as I spoke. "I'm the one who took you for granted. I never even thought to cross that boundary with you, because I thought you deserved better, and because I always enjoyed having you there. The girls I dated-if you can even call it that- they were only there temporarily. I never expected or wanted them to last, because they were just a distraction from the responsibilities I wanted to run away from. I have never once thought of you as temporary."

\tHarper started laughing again, and this time her laugh was deep-seated and full of depth. "Guess the joke is on all of those girls who hoped they would be the one for you, when the Moon Goddess wanted us to be together this entire time. No one else had a real chance with you."

\tl was still a little confused by her laughter, but I was starting to feel better. I didn't get the sense that Harper was going to continue with the breakup. I smiled at the thought, knowing Julie's plan failed.

\tl reached forward and stroked Harper's cheek. "Can we go home now?"

\tShe leaned into my touch, placed her hand on top of mine and smiled. "I would like that."

\tl placed a soft kiss on her lips, lingering for as long as I could. Her touch calmed my nerves, but my heartbeat was still out of control. It was always so hard to pull away from her, but now more than ever, I needed to take things slow with her. \tWhen I finally pulled away, I kept my hand on her cheek. "Let me just go tell Remy I'm driving home with you and give her the keys. I'll be right back."

\tHarper nodded slowly. "Okay." She was still shaking a little, and I could tell there was a lot going through her head. I didn't want to leave her, but I couldn't just abandon Remy here either. I would be gone just for a moment.

\tl stepped away from Harper's car when an explosion rang through my ears. A loud ringing sound drowned out everything else going on around me, and I found myself protectively covering Harper with my own body.

\tThe world around me slowly came back into focus for me. There were distant screams as students ran away from whatever that loud noise was. Harper put her hands on my shirt, and she was yelling something at me, but I couldn't quite tell what she was saying. Her words started to process in my brain.

\t"Caulder! We have to replace Remy. Caulder, focus. That thing is back."

\t-

\tREMY

\t"Run, Remy," Raven screamed in my head. I hadn't heard her voice in a couple of days, so that coupled with the urgency in her voice made me jump.

\t"What's going on?" I asked, my heart racing as I looked around the school parking lot to see any signs of danger, but everyone and everything looked completely normal. I knew not to take Raven's warnings lightly, though. \t"Run," she repeated.

\tWithout questioning her again, I started to run, unsure of where to go exactly. I had been waiting at the car for Caulder to finish his talk with Harper. The rumors of Julie's and his kiss were already circulating among the students, so I knew it was going to be a moment. Now I was running towards the school, hoping to replace a teacher or someone who could help with whatever was about to happen.

\tSuddenly, my vision went dark, and I stopped moving, unable to see where I was going. Everything went completely silent, and it felt like I was in another world. As I looked around, there was no one else around me that I could see. It was just a dark silhouette of the world around me. Then a flicker of light drew my attention to the sky.

\tl looked up and saw the moon shining down on me, full and large, which told me that this wasn't actually happening. Since my birthday, the moon had started to wane and was no longer a full moon. Then a shadow fell across the moon, slowly covering it, until the shadow turned red along with the rest of the moon. It was a blood moon, and as I stared up at it, I felt a growing buzz in my chest. It was like there was a power there, just waiting to be released.

\tThen an ominous feeling started to fill my chest. Something felt horribly wrong, but I had no idea what it was.

\t"Caulder," I tried to link, but the connection between the two of us was completely gone. I felt utterly alone, and it terrified me.

\t"Raven, what's happening?" She didn't respond to me either.

\tThis felt just like the vision I had had a week ago, only this one was longer and felt more ominous. I didn't like it, and I didn't know what else to do, so I started running, just like Raven said. I ran as fast as I could, but I felt like I was going nowhere at all. I ran until my legs started to ache beneath the red glow of the moon.

\tThen I heard it. Screams filled my ears, but they weren't the screams of terror. They were the screams of warriors throwing themselves into battle. They echoed around the empty space until the space was no longer empty. I saw two sides of the battle rush towards each other; wolves on the right, and vampires on the left. I couldn't breathe as the sight unfolded before me, and I had to close my eyes, because I didn't want to see the moment the two sides met.

\tWhen I opened my eyes, everything was back to normal. I was still standing in the middle of the school parking lot, and I hadn't run anywhere at all. Students were staring at me as someone honked at me to get out of their way. \t"What are you doing? Run!" Raven screamed again.

\tl glanced back at our car, and then an explosion rang out in front of my eyes, and this explosion was actually happening.