"I bet you, I can hit that frog with a rock," Ash says.
"What, don't do that, that's mean."
"You're a vampire, and you were worried about being mean to a frog," Ash laughs.
Ash and I sit by the pond on a log. We watch as frogs jump around. I lay my head on his shoulder. "You know I would be lost without you."
"I know," he smiles.
I don't think I love Ash romantically. He's like a perfect friend. I still care about him so much, I can't imagine anything happening to him and me not being able to stop it. I have to separate the vampires and wolves at all times.
"You long to be with your mark mate," he says.
"I do. I can't even begin to explain how I feel about him."
"Then why do you stay?" Ash asks.
"You."
"Me?" He asks.
"I know Ajay won't accept that you're nice, and I don't trust AB."
"I don't think AB would ever hurt me," Ash tells me.
"I think we're all disposable to AB."
"Really?" Ash seems shocked by my accusation.
"I do."
"You're staying to protect me," he grins and kisses me on the head.
"I am."
"And what are you going to do when the fight starts?" He asks.
"They won't be one."
"Eventually, they will be, and I'm a vampire, and I will kill the werewolves," he says.
"You won't."
"Zare, I will. You have to pick where you stand," he says.
"And what if you change where you stand?"
"I would never go against the vampire brothers," he tells me.
"You would kill Chetan?"
"I wouldn't have any choice," he says.
"You know that would destroy me."
"Then I think you need to think where you belong, Zare," Ash gets up.
"Then why the big scene the other day? Why did you grab Aanya by the neck?"
"I wanted Chetan to see. He wasn't your only choice," he tells me.
I smile. "He is my mark mate. So technically, there isn't any other choice."
"I have to tell you something, but you have to stay calm and not freak out," he tells me.
"Okay." This is going to be bad. Indeed, he knows AB'S plans.
"AB liked Ajay's reaction to me hurting Aanya. He plans to kill her," he confesses.
"What no." I stand up.
"I think it's out of our hands. I don't know what we can do," Ash says.
"I have to warn the pack."
"If you betray the clan, then your AB's enemy, I can't protect you," he tells me.
"I can't let Aanya die."
"Don't create a war between us, please, Zare," Ash grabs my hand.
"There already is one. You have to choose where you stand." I pull my hand away.
I waste no time dashing off into the forest. I ran as fast as I could towards the camp. The closer I get, the more my wolf feels her mate. They are all gathered by the campfire when I arrive. Cricket is playing songs on the guitar.
I change into my Vampire form.
"Zare?" Chetan says with a smile.
" Coming home?" Ajay says.
"I came to warn you."
"Warn us?" Ajay jumps up.
"What is he doing here?" yells Smoke, running towards me in his wolf form.
I look and see Ash approaching. I ran by his side.
" If you hurt him, I won't share my news, and you'll be sorry."
"I told you, I would kill him too, Zare," Ajay yells.
"Ajay, he's good. He warned me that AB plans to kill Aanya."
"How are three little vampires going to get through all these wolves?" Ajay laughs.
"They're stronger than you think."
Ajay walks closer to Ash. "Maybe we should kill him, send AB a message." Ajay eyes Ash.
"No, Ajay, please," I start to cry.
Ajay grabs Ash's neck with his hands. "Rip out his heart Chetan."
Chetan approaches with an evil smirk on his face. I ran in front of them. I hear Ash moan in pain.
"Chetan, please, if you love me, don't do this. Please."
Chetan looks at me for a long moment. I feel the wet tears streaming down my face. I am shaky, and my hands are sweaty.
"Ajay, let him go. You're making Zare upset," Chetan says.
"Smoke?" Ajay yells.
Smoke will kill him. He doesn't care if I am upset. I can't believe he followed me.
I close my eyes. Years ago, I remembered Ajay explaining to the pack that you should never bite down on someone's waist where their blood veins are. Because you can change someone into a werewolf. If they don't have werewolf genetics, they can become giant monsters. The scary werewolf you hear in horror stories. The ones that change when there's only a full moon. The ones that kill everything on site. You don't have the Killer Instinct to control when you change into a werewolf. You don't have the desire to protect, and it's not in your blood. It's not a family heirloom.
I didn't have time to think it through. I quickly ran over and bit Ash's waist. He screams in pain. Ajay drops him to the ground. He flops around like a fish screaming in agony. I see fur beginning to form all over his body. Then there was a gigantic werewolf. Except he had bright red eyes, and he still had huge fangs. He was ten times bigger than a regular werewolf.
" Zare, What did you do?" Ajay yells, pushing me to the ground.
Ash lets out a loud howl and leaps, standing over me.
I look up at him, and he licks me in the face. I laugh. "He's not dangerous ."
Ash changes into his Vampire form. "That was awesome."
Abooksigun walks forward. She looks at Ash with a red face. He looks at her in a way I never see him look at anyone. His eyes soften, and he smiles not as he smiles at me.
Then I see them kiss. My mouth drops open. What did I do? Ash is technically a wolf now. Can he have a mark mate?
"You have no idea what you just did," Ajay yells at me.
"Save my friend, that you were going to kill for no reason."
"Since you turn Ash into a wolf, an unnatural wolf, he can have a mark mate too, which means Abooksigun might not find her real mark mate," Ajay explains.
"Sorry."
"That's all you have to say, sorry Zare, you know we are never allowed to create an unnatural wolf," Ajay screams.
"You left me no choice." I feel my face turn red.
"I can't even kill him anymore, because that would hurt Abooksigun," Ajay barks.
"Well, then problem solved."
"For you, Zare, what if he hurts my pack?" Ajay says.
"I won't, I am not bad, I wish you guys no harm," Ash pipes up,
"Maybe I can just kill you for once again breaking my rules," Ajay says, inches from my face.
"Then so be it."
"Enough Ajay, you know hurting Zare isn't an option," Chetan says, helping me to my feet.
"Now we just have an extra powerful wolf on our side," Dev says.
"And Zare is home," Cricket remarks.
"Like anyone cares," Smoke rolls his eyes.
"We can all escape Chetan's sadness," Riya announces.
"Fine," Ajay rolls his eyes.
"Now I have a new clan to protect," Ash says with Abooksigun in his arms.
"We are a pack, not a clan, and don't forget I won't hesitate to kill you if you step out of line," Ajay says, looking at Ash.