The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 82

HARPER

It was only a week until my birthday, and each day that past made it harder to get out of bed. I had my alarm set for 6:00 a.m. sharp each day to make sure I got out of bed, even though it would have been easier to stay in bed all day. I couldn't let myself give up. I had to get stronger and train so I would never be an inconvenience again. I needed to be able to protect myself. I needed to show Caulder I worked hard while he was gone.

I missed him, and the closer it got to my birthday, the more my heart ached. It was like the bond was starting to emerge, and it knew my mate was missing. When I thought about where he was, my chest ached even more, and something told me he wasn't okay, and there was nothing I could do to save him.

I had been fantasizing about the day I turned eighteen and felt the mate bond with Caulder emerge. It was supposed to be a joyful day, but without him here, I was dreading my birthday. A small part of me hoped he would magically return for my birthday, but that hope was dwindling.

After forcing myself out of bed, I made my way to the training area, and Blade was already there. The early morning class wasn't supposed to start for another half hour, but he was here early like usual.

"Do you ever sleep?" I joked as I approached him. From what I understood, vampires needed less sleep than werewolves, but I still hadn't seen him sleep.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he said with a laugh. "Those bags under your eyes seem to darken each day." He walked over to me and handed me a cup of coffee.

The cup was cool, which felt nice against the encroaching summer heat. I took a sip, and it was made to my taste exactly. Blade was good at remembering the small details. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the drink for a moment, taking solace in the small amount of peace I had been able to replace these days. Remy and Blade were a huge factor in that.

Whenever they had free time, they made a point to invite me to do something with them. They were constantly tearing me away from training and forcing me to relax. They were keeping the little bit of sanity I had left intact.

"Maybe you should go back to bed and skip the training session," Blade suggested, watching me closely.

I could feel his eyes on me. Everyone was watching me closely these days, and I didn't blame them. I was struggling with Caulder missing more than I wanted to admit. He had always been a constant in my life, even before we had started dating, so him not being around left a gaping hole that nothing seemed to fix.

"I'm okay. I don't want to miss a session," I said. My voice came out flatter than I had intended, but I didn't have the energy to fake my emotions.

"You've lost weight," Blade noted. "You barely sleep. You're not okay."

I nodded, not knowing what to say to that. He wasn't wrong. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'll be okay though."

Blade stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. The motion was unexpected, especially because he hadn't really hugged me before, but there was something about the hug that cracked the numbness in my heart. My eyes started to well up, and I tried wiping away the tears before they soaked his shirt.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into his chest.

"Don't be sorry," Blade said. "Your mate is missing. That would be hard on anyone, but you are doing your best to put one foot in front of the other. Just don't forget that you're not alone."

I wrapped my arms around Blade and nodded into his chest. I would've never thought that I would have become such good friends with a vampire, but he continued to surprise me at every corner. I was thrilled that he was Remy's mate.

"Is it time for a group hug?" Remy's voice rang from behind me.

I started to pull away, realizing that it was probably inappropriate for me to be hugging her mate like this. However, before I could break free, Remy wrapped her arms around me from behind, pinning me in a sandwich between them. My body relaxed under her touch, and I shifted so I was hugging both of them at the same time.

When I started to hear others approaching, I pulled away from the two of them, feeling just a little bit better. "Thank you guys."

"We're here for you no matter what, so don't be afraid to lean on us," Remy said, adding a wink.

I looked at her and pulled my lips tight. Caulder wanted me to look out for Remy, but the reverse ended up happening. Remy didn't need me to look out for her. She was strong and capable, maybe even more so than Caulder realized. Through all of this, she had become my rock, while carrying her own burdens.

"Now, where's my coffee," Remy asked, shifting her voice to be a little higher. She looked at Blade with doe eyes, and I knew she was completely enraptured by the man in front of her.

Blade rolled his eyes and laughed. He grabbed another cup of coffee and handed it over to her. "You and your coffee. You know, too much caffeine isn't good for you."

Remy made a point to take a long sip before sighing contently. "Maybe, but not everyone can function on as little sleep as you."

"Maybe if you went to bed earlier, you wouldn't be running on so little sleep."

Remy raised her eyebrows. "And whose fault is it that I didn't go to bed early?"

Blade shut his mouth, looking away from her. "Oh, look. It's time for class to start already."

"Uh-huh. That's what I thought," Remy said, giggling.

She really was happy with Blade, happier than I had seen her in a long time, even with all of the darkness looming over her. Part of me was happy she found someone who could make her smile like that, but I was also jealous. I missed smiling at Caulder like that. I missed falling asleep with him by my side. I just missed him.

-

REMY

I flopped onto the ground, trying to catch my breath. Blade had stepped up his game with training sessions, and he was working us to the bone. It was pushing me to grow stronger faster than I ever thought possible, but I was also exhausted by the end of the session.

I closed my eyes and took a moment to cool my body off while we had a short break. Blade was giving tips to one of our classmates that was on the football team. His name was Jake or John or something like that. Caulder would have known his name. He got along with all of our classmates, which was something I still struggled with.

It didn't help that everyone except Harper avoided me these days. I had heard whispers of my classmates calling me the cursed child. They blamed me for the attacks from that dark creature and avoided me whenever they could. Training was the one place they couldn't avoid me, even though some parents had asked that I be kept away from their children.

I didn't know how I would ever be able to lead the pack at this rate. The leader of a wolfpack had to have the trust of the pack or else everything would fall apart. Caulder had their trust in a way I didn't even know how to get.

"It's awful that they are making us train at this ungodly hour before school," one of the girls near me complained.

"At least we have some eye candy to make it a little better." I instantly recognized that voice as Julie's, which perked my attention.

After saving her, Julie had been unusually nice to me for a little while, but part of me knew that was fleeting, even though I hoped she had actually gone through a change. She had easily ignored me as the rest of my classmates started doing it.

As I listened to her speak, my body tensed. I didn't like where she was going with the conversation, but I stayed still, hoping I was jumping to conclusions.

"Who knew vampires were so attractive?" the other girl said. "You should go for it."

My fists automatically curled, hearing the girl talk about my mate like that. I resisted the urge to jump up, hoping Julie would choose to be the better person. I was sure she knew there was something going on between Blade and myself. We hadn't told the pack that we were mates or anything, but I never hid my relationship with him either.

"He did save me from that creature. Wouldn't that be such a cute love story? We met when he saved me, and then he fell in love with me when he trained me and learned how amazing I truly am," Julie said, lowering her voice.

They had to know I was able to hear them. They weren't exactly close to me, but werewolves had excellent hearing.

"You have to go for it," the other girl said. "It would be the love story of the pack, and everyone would be jealous of you!"

"They would be, wouldn't they?" Julie said. I heard her standing up, and I resisted the urge to jump up and tackle her. I couldn't behave like that, especially if I ever wanted to assume a leadership role.

"Hey, Blade! Can you help me?" Julie called out, waving him down.

I sat up, and my eyes locked onto her. Blade moved over to her, looking ready to help. I made myself take a deep breath. Even if Julie flirted with him, I trusted he wouldn't do anything with her. I just had to continue trusting he would handle it without me needing to get involved while resisting the urge to take my frustrations out on Julie.

Julie placed her hand on Caulder's chest. "I was hoping you could give me some private lessons. I could really use some one on one time with my form."