"Don't wait up for me."

Easier said than done.

I laid awake in bed that night for hours upon hours, just thinking.

I felt guilty for being the one who said the hard stuff to Cain, for feeling like I had crossed a line. I mean, I barely knew the guy and there I was psychoanalyzing his emotional intimacy issues like they were any of my business. 

But that was the part that had me torn: I felt like those issues were my business. 

I had a sense of entitlement in regards to his relational problems given that I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with him. We'd tasted each other's blood for Christ sake. I'd saved his life and he had saved mine. We weren't strangers who had decided to hook up casually; we were practically soul mates according to his culture and tradition. 

I could finally understand from a personal perspective why relationship difficulty was near the top of the list of reasons people sought out therapy. 

A few hours went by of endlessly, mindlessly staring up at the ceiling. 

Despite the room being completely dark, I could still see everything around me as though the ceiling lights were on. Accompanied by the thoughts that plagued me, the clarity of my vision around the room made it impossible to sleep. 

When Cain came upstairs that morning to tell me that we would be leaving for the meeting soon, I was still as wide awake as I had been when he left the room the night before. 

Even though Cain's phone calls that night had only lasted about an hour or so, he never came back upstairs. 

As desperate as I was to apologize yet again for my prying, I gave him the space I'm sure he wanted. 

Seeing him that morning, however, I could tell there was more space to be needed. He was quiet and reserved, only talking when he absolutely needed to and never staying too close. It stung, but I resigned that he would warm back up to me when he was ready and there was nothing I could do to force that. 

When I went downstairs after getting ready, there was a large cup sitting on the counter next to an empty blood bag. 

I looked to Cain. He was standing next to the counter with his attention glued to his phone that was in one hand as he casually drank from a similar cup that was in the other. 

"Is this for me?" I asked, picking up the cup to glance inside, despite knowing exactly what the contents were.  

His attention never leaving his phone, he nodded. 

Trying to ignore the fact that I was being ignored, I took the cup and gulped down the blood before my body realized what it was and made me cough it back up. 

"You should drink that slowly." 

"It's disgusting," I argued, placing the cup back down on the counter as I grimaced. 

"You'll get used to it." 

While the taste itself wasn't bad at all, it was the psychological aspect of drinking blood that made it nearly unbearable to swallow. 

I felt my stomach lurch and I stopped myself from giving it another thought. 

Cain walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out an aluminum water bottle. He handed it to me. 

"This is for you. You'll need this throughout the day." 

I took it from him, trying not to think about what was inside the bottle. 

"It's time to go."

He grabbed his car keys from the table. 

I followed him outside to see an overcast sky above us. I could feel tiny drops of rain begin to fall as we made our way to his car. 

Not another word was said as Cain drove off of his property and out onto the street. A half an hour of a silent car ride went by before Cain pulled into a narrow alleyway. He drove up to a chain link fence that was pulled across the drive way and stopped. 

Jai came out from behind a door that was on the other side of the fence a few moments later and he pulled it towards him, allowing the gate to swing wide so Cain could drive through. 

At this point, the rain was falling hard between the buildings that we were sandwiched by. 

As Cain turned his car off, Jai pulled the gate back into place and locked it. 

"I need you to listen to me very closely," Cain said, using a low voice that immediately grabbed my attention. 

"These people in this building—they're not to be trusted. They don't want what is best for you or me, they want what is best for their people which is the only reason they're here. They're cruel at times and insensitive to the needs of those outside their own packs. They certainly are not my friends; they're just too scared of me to be my enemies." 

I raised an eyebrow as his face grew serious. 

"This meeting was necessary and I'm hoping it goes according to plan. But, if it doesn't, I've asked a woman named Zahra to accompany you throughout the duration. Listen to her if she tells you to do something and don't do anything she tells you not to."

"I thought you said that you didn't trust these people," I said pointedly.

"I don't trust many people if you recall," he said. "But Zahra is the daughter of the Pakistani Beta, Mohamad Gohar. They've always been loyal to our family and are strong advocates of peace. If anything disruptive happens, I would bet my title that they won't be behind it." 

When I said nothing, Cain pulled his keys from the ignition and sighed. 

"Ella, promise me that if anything should happen-"

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked. "You keep insinuating that you're expecting something terrible to happen. Why would you call the meeting if that's the case?" 

"You forget that this meeting is happening solely to draw my brother out of the shadows," he said. "If he's anything like other Vampires, he won't enjoy being in the light." 

"I don't understand how you can use innocent people as bait," I told him honestly. 

"They're not as innocent as you would believe."

He ended the conversation as he opened his car door to get out. I followed slowly and reluctantly. 

"Daniel still isn't here," Jai said to Cain from the doorway, his voice competing with the sound of rain hitting the roof. 

"When is he ever on time?" Cain asked rhetorically, walking around the car to the door that led into the side of a building. 

Jai didn't say anything else as I followed Cain inside, out of the rain. 

He navigated his way around the building with the knowledge of someone who had been there many times, the layout committed to memory. 

Turning a corner, I could hear voices that carried down the dark hallway. Among them were several dialects, tones and volumes. I couldn't tell if people were shouting or laughing. 

A woman in a black hijab, with an accompanying black jacket, t-shirt and black jeans greeted us at the door. The military-grade boots that were laced up past her ankles and the heavy eyeliner she wore attributed to a grunge aura she exuded. 

"Ella, this is Zahra," Cain said. "She'll be with you while we're here." 

She looked at me blankly. 

"I'm interested to know why a grown woman requires a babysitter," she said. 

"As am I," I added, looking in Cain's direction. 

He said nothing else as he pushed past the two of us, Jai on his trail and opened the double doors we stood in front of. 

"Is he always so moody like that?" Zahra asked me. 

"I just thought he was in a bad mood when I met him, but it's been a few months so I guess that's just his personality." 

She cracked a smile before gesturing for me to follow her. 

We walked inside the room, heads turning as Cain and Jai entered first. 

The large room went completely silent. 

While I expected to turn and see everyone's attention focused on Cain's commanding presence, what I didn't expect was to look around and see every set of eyes in the room on me. 

I immediately turned away, trying not to look anywhere other than the back of Zahra's hijab as she led me to a small leather couch that sat on the other side of the room. 

As she sat down and I sat next to her, I looked up to see that there were still several people who were watching me closely. 

There were probably forty people in total, all of them sitting around a large, oval mahogany table. 

It looked like a United Nations conference with all of the different tribes and nations present in the room. Some people, whom I assumed were Betas, sat in chairs at the table with an accompanying chaperone standing closely behind them. 

My eyes landed on a young South Asian girl who was likely the daughter of the Indian Beta who had been killed just weeks before. She sat in a chair that engulfed her small frame. The aged look on the face of the man who stood behind her made it seem like he was more of a babysitter than a bodyguard. 

She could not have been older than six or seven.

I shot a sharp look at Cain who had just noticed the girl himself. 

He would now have the blood of a child on his hands should things go south as he expected them to.

Cain took a deep breath as if he was about to say something, but was interrupted before he could speak by a man that stood suddenly from his seat at one end of the table. 

"Tell us why we are here," he said, feigning confidence. I could see his hands shaking by his side. 

His eye contact with Cain did not hold long when Cain narrowed his eyes. 

"Let's not play ignorant," Cain said. 

The man's gaze dropped before he sat back down in his chair. 

"You all know why you're here," Cain said, sitting down in a seat at the head of the table.

"Why are Betas being targeted?" A woman asked, her English broken and voice shaking. 

"I'll tell you if everyone is finished interjecting," Cain said sternly. 

Everyone in the room took a gulp and shifted nervously in their seats. 

"I'm here to confirm suspicions that Beta Chen of China and Beta Agarwal of India are both dead. They were killed..." 

Cain's voice trailed off as he looked solemnly to the young girl who sat in the chair looking at him with an innocent and frightened expression. 

"If I may," spoke up the girl's chaperone. "Anvi only understands Marathi." 

Cain nodded and I could see the sense of relief that crossed his face.

"As I was saying," he continued, turning his attention to the others around him. "Both men were killed."

"How?" Asked a male voice from one of the seats in the middle of the table. 

"Vampires." 

The entire room erupted into a frantic panic as everyone looked around in disbelief, mumbling amongst themselves. 

"Quiet," Cain said. 

And just like that, it was silent again. 

"I am pleased to inform you that those responsible are dead." 

I thought of Zak and my eyes began to water. I blinked quickly and the tears cleared from my eyes. 

I wondered what the people in that room would think if they knew who I was, who my family was and what they had done to the people in that room... to that poor girl's father.

"Unfortunately," continued Cain, "I was only able to eliminate half the threat. Those responsible for the deaths of our Beta allies were not responsible for the plot against us, merely pawns used to carry it out." 

"So we are still in danger?" A blond man sitting to Cain's right asked in a thick Australian accent. 

Cain nodded slowly. 

"I believe these creatures have been waiting for a very long time to commit this plan and I fear it will not be an easy bullet to dodge." 

"Creatures? You mean Vampires?" 

Cain nodded again. 

"The threat against us has been leveled specifically at the pure blooded. I believe the end goal is to eventually eradicate the entire Lycanthrope race." 

Murmurs and angry whispers began to echo around the room once more. 

"Why have you called us here if that is the case?" 

"Are we not fools for gathering together when we should be thinly dispersed?" 

"Why pure bloods?" 

"Who is behind it?" 

As Cain stood to his feet to silence everyone once more, a knock on the door behind him sent everyone quiet before he could say a word. 

The large wooden door opened slowly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room, Cain included. 

A man as tall as Cain with hair darker than midnight stepped into the room. 

I saw Cain's body go rigid as his fists clenched. 

It wasn't until the two were standing side by side that I could see the resemblance and I realized who I was looking at.

Jacob. 

He was thinner than Cain but still boasted a lean, athletic build. His skin was pale in contrast to the black sweater he wore, evidence he had been dodging sunlight for many years. A dark, closely-shaved beard accentuated his high cheek bones.

The most notable thing about Jacob, however, was not his build, beard or his skin: it was his eyes. 

As if they were indeed burning, his irises were glowing red like embers. 

It was then I realized they were fixated on me. 

"Ella," he said, his voice deep but modulated. "I've heard so much about you..."

I felt my breath leave my lungs as he took a step in my direction. 

Cain's hand shot out quicker than I could register his movements and grabbed Jacob by the throat. 

Pushing him against the wall, Cain smashed the drywall behind Jacob's body from using so much force. 

Jacob however, wasn't fazed. 

He calmly looked at Cain as if he was waiting for Cain to drop his hand and release him. 

"Who are you?" A man asked, standing from his seat. 

Jacob looked at him and gave a devilish smile. 

"The one behind it."

- - -