**Xaviers POV**

The sea of black could be seen from miles away as the casket was lowered down to the ground. The sun tried to shine through the dark clouds of grey, but the day reflected upon everyone's mood.

I didn't want to be here. I couldn't be here. It just brought memories of what could have happened, and it made tears threaten to spill from my eyes.

I couldn't cry. Not in front of the whole pack. Not in front of the whole family. I was the hybrid. I was supposed to be strong, not weak. But here I was, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

I felt a heavy hand come down on my shoulder, and I looked up to see my dad staring straight at me. He gave me a small look of sympathy, before he gestured down to my balled up fists, which made me relax them.

"I can't be here..." I whispered as the air started to be tainted with salt. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"I understand honey. Go. I'll cover for you." My moms comforting words came from besides him, and I bent down to hug and kiss her cheek. I hugged my dad, and weaved my way through the crowd, feeling eyes on me.

When I finally left the thick part of the crowd, my feet took me straight to a corner. I didn't have to look to see where I was going; my feet were dragging my body to my destination like a magnet, and I couldn't stop myself. When I finally reached the first line of trees, did she step out, and stretch out her arms for a hug.

I didn't hesitate. I closed the distance between us and engulfed her petite body into my arms, burying my face in her hair. She hugged me back, and I relished on the fact that this was the first time she had initiated contact since the change. Since she became one of us.

"I'm sorry, Xavier," she breathed as she stepped away, looking down at the ground. I could feel both my wolf and vampire side trying to take over me, so I could take our soulmate back into our arms and never let her go, but I remembered I had made a promise. She turned, she kept her part of the deal, so now I had to keep mine, even if it tore me apart.

"You have nothing to apologize. It's nature. Everyone has to die at some point, and it was just her time. But as a member of the royal pack, I had to attend. I just didn't want to be there for long..." I trailed off, not wanting to say the rest of the sentence. She understood me though, because her eyes widened, and she nodded.

"I'm sorry.... for that."

I gave her a forced smile. "You're alive. That is all I care about."

"Alive and free," she breathed and looked behind my shoulder. "I will be here until tomorrow, and then I'm officially free."

I gulped and gave her another forced smile. "You must be excited."

She nodded enthusiastically. "I am! I can't wait to see world. I thought I was going to miss out on a lot, but now that I don't have to worry about time, I can see everything!"

She laughed and twirled around gracefully, giving me a memory I would never forget.

Gosh, she was so beautiful. Her brown hair flowed freely, and bounced around her as she danced. The blue eyes that captivated me the very first time were now full of life, and not worry about living. The change brought out a side of her I hadn't seen, but it was still her. She was just more freely, and preppy, but she was still Eva. My Eva.

Even before she turned, she was beautiful. It only took me days to fall for her without realizing, and then the knowledge that the love I felt for her would only increase because of our soulmate connection made me happier. But now she was leaving. She was leaving me, just so she could live.

A hand shaking back and forth in front of my face brought me back from my trance, and I stared at her sheepishly. It was now my turn to apologize. "Sorry."

She shuddered and grimaced, clearing her throat as she rubbed it. "How long does it take to get used to this thirst. I swear I fed not even an hour ago and I'm thirsty again."

"Let's go hunt." I suggested as I took a step backwards. "Let me just grab a few wolves and we can go."

Her eyes widened. "Is it safe?"

"With me, you are perfectly safe."

***********

**Eva POV**

"Let's go hunt!" He suggested as he stepped backwards, pointing behind him with his thumb. My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped as Dimitris words from days ago echoed in my mind.

'Don't hunt alone. I know you won't do it, but you are a newly turned vampire, and you can hurt someone...' I didn't understand him until he laid a hand gently on my still achy body and looked me in the eyes. 'You can lose control and kill a person. Hunting people is illegal...'

"With me, you are perfectly safe," he assured me when I voiced out my concerns.

"I wasn't talking about me..."

He sighed, and took the step back. His arms went up in the air as if he was going to place them on my shoulders, but instead, he dropped them to his sides again in an awkward manner and clenched his fists. "I will look out for you. You will not lose control when you're with me. Besides, you have your last lesson today. If you're not confident you can hunt by yourself, we can't let you go."

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. "You're right. I'm ready. Let's go."

As I followed him around the pack, I kept quiet and my eyes trained on the ground. I was a guest; a stranger only staying to control my thirst, so I was technically interrupting a funeral for a pack member. I had to pay my respects.

Smelling all the different scents in the air made my nose twitch, and a sneeze wanting to come out, but I controlled it. There was a hint of dirt in the wind, and I could almost taste the salt that rested around us.

'Tears,' the voice inside my head told me, which brought back memories of the past week.

~~~

"Are you sure you want this?" Dimitri spoke softly as he stood above me. I felt like I was on my death bed —which technically I was since I was still laying down in my bed, dying.

I nodded, looking over at Xavier —who stood at the foot of my bed— for a few seconds before looking at Tatiana. "Yes. I'm sure."

Dimitri spoke a few words I did not understand to Tatiana, and she nodded. He then bent in half and gently placed a kiss on my forehead as he whispered "Welcome to the family..." before he stepped to the side.

"Will you please leave?" Tatiana asked Xavier, who hesitated, but after a stare down, left. Tatiana sighed deeply, and then stared at my fragile body. I gave both her and Dimitri a weak smile, before she lifted her hands over me and whispered, "somnum..." as I knocked out.

When I awoke the next time, my body ached.... but not in the sick type of way. It felt like I had had the worst type of exercise in my entire life in the span of an hour, and my entire body was on shutdown. But what hurt the most was my throat. There was an indescribable itch present, and as much as I swallowed, it wouldn't go away. It took me a few moments to remember exactly what had happened, and then my burn made sense.

I was thirsty. I was a vampire...

"Here." My bead snapped to the soft voice that spoke on my left, and I sat up so quick, I knew that if I had still been human, I would have given myself whiplash. But I wasn't. I was now a vampire.

"Yes you are," Dimitris voice spoke again as he handed me a red bag. I immediately knew what it was thanks to the years of spending my time at the hospital, and I felt my heart race. My eyes widened in shock, and stared up at him as he probably guessed what was on my mind. "Yes, your heart still beats, and it will, forever. Don't think about it too hard."

His last comment could have been for my new life span, or for my new diet. I wasn't quite sure. I stared down at the bag again, feeling my mouth water just looking at the bag. The ache intensified, and then I found myself —almost as if it was instinct— lifting the bag of blood up to my lips, and then sinking my teeth into the corner, as if I was biting a piece of a burger.

At first, I wanted to gag as the cold, thick liquid landed on my tongue. But then as it ran down my throat, a moan escaped from my lips as I pressed the blood even closer to my lips, trying to get the sweet thing even faster. In seconds, the bag was empty, and surprisingly, not all over my face. I slowly took out the piece of plastic I had bitten off out of my mouth, licking the excess, which surprised me a few seconds later.

"Did I just..."

"Yes. Yes you did, but it's normal. Do you still feel thirsty?" He asked as I handed the bag over.

"I'm... I'm not sure. I think I am, but I don't feel like embarrassing myself in front of you again."

He laughed and began to walk towards the door, motioning for me to follow him. Again, in seconds, I was besides him, surprising myself with the speed I had arrived, and wobbled a bit. "Woah."

"You'll get used to everything, but for the next few days, you will have to be extra careful." He sighed, turning around to face me again. He had been walking down the empty hallway, which confused me since they were always busy with roaming people. I could smell the different scents lingering still, and there was one that smelled amazing, but I couldn't focus on it since he stopped out of nowhere.

"Why?"

"Your thirst."

"Oh." That was all he had to say for me to understand. I gulped, feeling my throat begun to burn again, but I didn't think twice about it. This wasn't the time to start getting crazy again.

"For your first hunt, I will teach you. We will train you how to control your thirst before we introduce people to you again, so for now, don't hunt alone. I know you won't do it, but you are a newly turned vampire, and you can hurt someone..." He laid a hand gently on my still achy body and looked me in the eyes. "You can lose control and kill a person. Hunting humans is illegal, Royal or not Eva, ok?"

I understood, and he continued walking. When we stepped outside, my eyes wanted to devour everything. It all seemed so... clear. And the smells... they were everywhere. I could still smell appetizing scents in the air, but they were clouded with aromas of grass, water, flowers, stuff like that. I think if I wanted to, I could focus on one thing and know where it was.

"Focus, Eva." I heard some snapping, and instead of getting mad, I was shocked I could hear it from where he was standing. In the few seconds I had paused to gawk at everything, he had walked so far, he looked like a toddler. But I could hear him perfectly fine, as if he was standing right next to me.

"Sorry," I murmured and began to jog to catch up. Of course, with my newfound speed, I found myself getting there in seconds, surprising myself once more. "This isn't going to get old anytime soon."

"Eva..." Dimitri warned before he began to run. With a second of hesitation, I began to follow him, and gasped when I couldn't see him anymore. I tried to hear him, but his steps were as light as a feather, and mine were crunching, snapping every fallen branch available. I groaned, and took a deep breath to calm myself.

"What would a vampire do..." I whispered to myself. "What would a werewolf do... you've seen dogs sniff when they are trying to find a place to pee... no, don't do it Eva... fuck." I didn't know if it would make me look weird, but I had to try it out. So with a quick glance around my surroundings, I took another deep breath and began to sniff. Like before, there were faint scents, but there was a strong, fresh one. Trusting my newfound instincts, I began to follow it, and soon found myself facing a smiling Dimitri.

"Good job. You just learned how to track. You figured it out easily." I blushed, not wanting to tell him how I had thought of doing that. "Now, to hunt. As you can probably tell, you have not seen another vampire or werewolf. I have asked them all to stay away from the southern borders for a while so you can get used to it. When I feel like you're ready, I will bring them back, okay?"

I nodded and then he spent the next two hours teaching me how to hunt. He told me what to do and what not to do. And when we caught some teenagers disobeying, I faced away from the blowing wind, hearing hearts pounding that made my mouth water.

"Let's get your back inside so I can come and punish them. I will tell Xavier it's-"

"No!" He seemed surprised by my outburst, but I quickly continued before he could question it. "I'm actually tired for some miracle, and I would like to rest."

"That's fine Eva. I'm actually impressed with your first hunt. You remind me of someone actually."

"Who?"

"My wife..."

~~~~

"Eva?" Xavier's voice snapped me out of my memories and I focused back on him, seeing that we were not alone anymore. A few of his cousins were surrounding him, already stripping to phase to their beast form. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Yup. Just lost in memory of my first hunt." I winced, knowing he didn't have a good memory of that day. I didn't see him until day 4 of my change, and that was because Dimitri wanted to see if I could hang around a wolf since I was used to being around vampires. And since Xavier was a perfect guinea pig, he was one of the first people I smelt...

"Okay then. It will be a good run, so I hope you don't have any plans here soon."

"Nope. Just a meeting with the Kings, so let's go!"