The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 5

CAULDER

\tThe bell for the end of the school day rang, and I waited in the hallway for Harper to emerge from her classroom. I leaned against her locker, waving and saying hi to all of the students passing me. Today almost everyone stopped to wish me a happy birthday. People made a point of wishing the future alpha a happy birthday, because they knew one day I would be in charge of them all. I didn't care about them today, though. Normally, I was a social butterfly, which easily made me one of the popular kids at school, but right now, there was only one person on my mind.

\tThe moment I saw Harper, my body lit on fire. I wanted to run over to her and wrap my arms around her, but I had to play it cool. She couldn't feel bond the way I did. Her mate bond wouldn't emerge for a few more months, and she didn't see me as anything but a friend. I had to change her mind, show her I was boyfriend material, because I wasn't sure if I would be able to suppress my feelings for her until her birthday. ad fallen for this smirk plenty of times before, so I was sure it would work on Harper. She walked over and stopped in front of me. She cleared her throat and

\tl forced myself to stay against her locker, and when she approached, I gave her my signature smirk. gestured to my locker. "You're in my way."

\tl looked her up and down and crossed my arms. "Uh-huh."

\tHer face fell. "Are you going to move?"

\t"I'll move if you give me a kiss." Most girls would swoon at an offer like that from me.

\tHarper shoved me away and started working on opening her locker. "What's gotten into you today?"

\tl should've expected the rejection. Harper wasn't like most girls, and I didn't know how to approach her. She wasn't taking my attempts at flirting seriously. I watched her fidget with her locker, and every part of her was perfect. Her hair fell onto her dainty shoulders. Her shirt hugged her curves in all the right places. I ached to reach out and touch her, but would never touch her without her permission.

\tl shrugged my shoulders. "It's my birthday, so I'm feeling a little spicy."

\tHarper popped her locker open and pulled her stuff out of it before shutting it again. She looked over her shoulder, making my heart pound. "I'm sure you have plenty of girls lined up to fulfill that need."

\tl grabbed my chest and turned my head dramatically. "Oh how you hurt me! All I ever wanted was a simple kiss from a pretty girl like you."

\tHarper rolled her eyes. "You're barking up the wrong tree, pretty boy."

\tl leaned forward suddenly, stopping my face inches away from hers. Her cheeks flushed, and I could hear her swallow hard. "Are you sure about that?" I lowered my voice, making it as seductive as possible. "Have you really never thought about what it would be like to kiss the most popular boy in school before?"

\tHarper leaned in, keeping the smallest gap between us. Her breath was hot against my lips, making my mouth water. I was ready for her to close the distance, and I couldn't breathe in anticipation of the feeling of her lips against mine.

\tShe whispered back to me, "No thanks. I don't want to catch any diseases." She pushed my head away with her hand and started walking away. "Come on. Remy is waiting for us already."

\tMy heart sank as she walked away. This was going to be more difficult than I originally anticipated.

\t-

\t"What took you so long?" Remy asked, leaning against the car. "I feel like I've been waiting here forever."

\t"We didn't take that long," I said, automatically moving to the front seat. Remy didn't even fight me for it this time.

\tHarper slipped into the driver's seat. "Caulder thought it would be funny to block my locker."

\tl could feel Remy's eyes on me as she buckled into the backseat. I could feel her curiosity eating at her. I would have to tell her Harper was my mate at some point, but I wasn't ready for that conversation. I also didn't trust Remy not to tell Harper, and I couldn't risk that happening. I wanted Harper to want me because she wanted to. I didn't want her to feel obligated to change everything because we were fated mates.

\t"Well, we had better hurry home. Auntie Rie and Scythe have been waiting for us to get ready for the party." Remy was bouncing up and down in her seat. This party was the highlight of her year, and I knew she would be buzzing all night.

\tHarper drove home, and the moment we made it back to the pack house, Remy jumped out of the car before Harper even put it in park. I laughed at her, taking amusement in my sister's excitement. I would have been happy with the three of us hanging out for the evening, instead of a grand party, but it was one of the few things she asked for every year.

\tHarper took the keys out of the car and looked over at me. She raised her eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

\tl shook my head, not even realizing I was staring at her. I needed to get it together, or I was going to chase her away before she even gave me a chance. "I wasn't looking at you in any way in particular."

\tHarper just blinked at me a few times. "Come on, Caulder. I've known you your entire life. I know something is up with you. Just tell me what's going on."

\tl sucked in a breath and held it. I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to scream to the world that she was my mate. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but our history and friendship held the words back. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the friendship we had spent so much time building. It would be best if we just stayed friends, and I waited for her wolf to fully awaken and realize that I was her mate. It was the safest option, but I didn't want the safest option. I wanted her. Now. \tShe continued to look at me, waiting for me to say something, so I said, "I like someone."

\tShe scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What's new? You're with a different girl every week."

\tThis wasn't going to work. I opened the car door. "Nevermind. I need to get ready for the party." I slipped out of the car and started heading towards the pack house. I had to get away from her before I said something I would regret. \t"Wait!" Harper ran after me and grabbed my arm. "Are you being serious?"

\t"Just forget I said anything." I tried to pull away from her, but she wouldn't let go of me.

\t"Caulder." Her voice was sincere as she spoke. "I wasn't trying to dismiss you. I've just never heard of you actually liking anyone before. You're not the type of guy who goes for relationships."

\t"I could be." I stopped trying to pull away, and I just stood there, looking at Harper. She didn't take me seriously, because to her I wasn't boyfriend material. I was the guy who f****d around with girls because I was popular. She was the last person I wanted to see me that way, even though she had valid reasons for that image. \tHarper pulled her lips tight. "Look, I'm sorry. You're a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend."

\t"Do you mean it?" I didn't want her to tell me what I wanted to hear because she was worried I was offended. I wanted to know the truth. If I ever had a real chance of swaying her opinion of me, I needed to know what she honestly thought of me.

\tHarper shrugged and looked down at the ground. "You are a great friend. If you treated the girls you were with more respect and stopped messing around... Sure. You'd be an amazing boyfriend." She looked back up at me, and we shared a moment just staring at each other. I wasn't sure what it meant, but it made my heart race.

\tShe took a step back and tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away from me. "So are you going to tell me who this girl is?"

\tl chuckled. "Not a chance."

\t"Oh come on! I thought we told each other everything," she whined.

\tIt was a struggle not to give into her every wish. "Nope. You don't get to know until I know if she likes me back."

\t"I could replace out if she likes you back."

\tl laughed even more. Oh, if only she knew. "Nope. I'm good."

\tWe started walking into the pack house, and she bumped me with her shoulder. "Well, you should ask her to dance tonight. That would make any girl fall for you. A dance under the stars with the alpha's son would make any girl swoon."

\tl smiled down at her. "I'll keep that in mind."

\t-

\tREMY

\tRie finished the last curl in my hair, and then she released me to finally look at myself in the mirror. I twirled around, looking at the way my dark green dress sparkled in the light. I felt like a forest fairy, and I loved it. My red hair was curled perfectly, and my makeup complimented my outfit better than I could have hoped for.

\t"Thank you so much!" I giggled, bouncing up and down. "Have you ever thought about doing this professionally?"

\tHarper shook her head. "Don't give my mom any ideas."

\tRie approached us, looking at me in the mirror. "I have too many things to do for your father and mother to do something like this for a living. Besides, I get to do this plenty with the parties for the pack house." She fixed a curl that had fallen out of place. "You remind me so much of your mother."

\tl furrowed my eyebrows. That was not a compliment I had gotten before. My red hair looked just like my father's. Caulder was the one who shared our mother's brown hair. "Really?"

\tShe laughed. "Not so much the looks, but your personality is similar to hers. She is strong and brave. She was on the quiet side of things for a long time, just like you."

\tl looked back at Rie incredulously. "No way. She's always running around, talking to people like it's nothing."

\tRie smiled at me. "It took her a lot to get there, but you remind me of her, especially when she was around your age. I did her hair on her birthdays, too."

\tHarper hooked her arm around me. "Mom, stop being so sappy. It's time for the party to start. Come on Remy. Everyone is waiting."

\tHarper pulled me towards the stairs, but not before I caught one last glance at myself in the mirror. I had always seen my father when I looked in the mirror, but I never felt like I would live up to his standards. He put his all into making sure the pack was a safe and happy place for everyone, and he still somehow had time to spend with his family. I admired him greatly, and I wished I could take on the role he had in the pack. Part of me knew I would be good at running a wolf pack if I was just given a chance, but that would never happen. Caulder was the first son and the firstborn, so it was his destiny to be alpha.

\tl wouldn't even be the luna of the pack. That was the position Caulder's mate would take on when he found her. I didn't know where that left my future, and my parents never told me what role I would play. I could be Caulder's beta, but that somehow felt wrong. I wanted to replace my own place somewhere. I didn't want to always live in Caulder's shadow.

\t"Caulder likes someone," Harper said when we were out of earshot of her mother.

\tMy eyes practically popped out of my head. "What are you talking about?" Caulder had never crushed on a girl, as far as I knew.

\tHarper grabbed my arm. "He admitted that the reason he was acting weird today is because he likes someone. Has he mentioned anything to you?"

\tl stopped and looked at Harper. Caulder told me everything, but I hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him one on one today. If Caulder had a crush on someone, there was a chance it was because of his mate bond showing up. He had never taken dating seriously before, so I couldn't imagine that just changing overnight without the mate bond.

\t"No. He hasn't said a word to me. But I did notice him acting weird today." I looked at Harper up and down. "Although, he has been acting weird towards you specifically."

\tHarper blushed at the thought. "There's no way it's me. He has never looked at me like that before."

\tl shrugged. "I could see it. I think you two would make a good couple." This wasn't the first time I had this thought. Harper and Caulder were perfect for each other. She didn't put up with his ridiculous ways, and Caulder made her laugh in a way no one else ever had. Caulder was the Alpha's son, and Harper was the beta's daughter. It was a match made in heaven, and if they were in fact mates, I would be incredibly happy and jealous at the same time.

\t"Do you really think he would ever ask me out?" Harper said. She blushed even harder. She had never mentioned a crush on Caulder before, and she had laughed at my subtle suggestions of them going out in the past. She simply brushed off my comments, saying Caulder was too much of a playboy for her, but maybe she had been in denial. Or she had been afraid to admit the truth, since Caulder and I shared everything.

\tl shrugged my shoulders. "Why not? He would jump in front of a bullet for you."

\tHarper twisted her hair and looked at the ground. "But would he take me seriously? You of all people know how he treats the girls he's with."

\tl chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment. "With you, he would be different. Maybe that's why he's never asked you out before."

\tHarper paused for a moment and bit her lip. "Maybe. But let's stop worrying about this. Tonight is about you, birthday girl, and your party is waiting."