Derek slowly falls asleep, me cuddling with him on the outdoor couch, around one a.m. When the sun slowly creeps into the sun he wakes up, he looks confused and dazed at first but smiles when he sees me. 

"Morning," he groans in a sleepy tone. I smile and press a kiss to his cheek, "did we stay out here all night?"

"Well yes, you wouldn't even let me move to grab you a blanket," I chuckle and Derek flushes in embarrassment. 

I stand up and look down at Derek who is pouting, his arms out wide making grabbing hands. "No, I can already smell breakfast downstairs, come on," I grab his hand to pull his lazy ass up but Derek pulls me down, onto his chest. 

"Five more minutes please," he mumbles, kissing the top of my head over and over. I sigh and give it, snuggling up to him. 

It feels much longer than five minutes before Derek's mum, Laura, calls into the room. "Breakfast is ready, you two!" 

Derek finally lets me go and we both make our way downstairs and into the kitchen area where food is laid out on the counter for us. "Smells really good mum," Derek compliments his mum, sitting down on a barstool. 

"Thank you, honey. Evangeline, would you like anything in particular?" She asks, facing me, a beaming smile on her face. 

I forgot how much I loved Derek's mum, she was always filled with such a bright light with a bubbly personality. Derek gets his dark and slightly curly hair from her, he didn't get her blue eyes, that came from his dad. 

"Uh, I'll have anything Mrs Lightwood," I respond, sitting next to Derek taking his hand in mine. 

She rolls her eyes and chuckles at me. "Evangeline honey, I've known you since you were born. Please, call me Laura," she smiles, dishing up a plate of pancakes for Derek. 

He takes the plate from her and thanks her, there are about six pancakes on his plate and I don't doubt he could finish it. Laura places a plate in front of me but I just stare at the plate.

"Not hungry Eve?" Derek asked, cutting into his pancakes. 

"Uh, well," I mumble, trying not to be rude, "my breakfast is just, different."

Laura gasps and begins apologising frantically. "I'm so sorry love! Your diet is completely different! I completely forgot!" She runs over to the pantry and throws the doors open, "what do you need?" 

"Just animal blood in a cup will do fine," I muttered, starting to play with my ring. Derek takes notice and starts stroking my hand with his thumb, effectively calming me down. 

Laura places a mug of red liquid in front of me and I take a long sip just as Derek's dad, Ace, walks down the stairs. "Morning son, morning love," he greets, kissing Laura's cheek. 

Derek clears his throat making them both look at him. "Dad, Eve is here too," he grumbles, a sour expression on his face. 

"I'm sorry Evangeline. Derek normally doesn't have girls eat breakfast with us," his dad chuckles and I smile uncomfortably, slightly jealous too. We all finish our breakfast with light conversation and soon Derek and I head back upstairs to his room to get dressed. 

"Love, could you grab my bag from downstairs?" I asked, standing there awkwardly. 

"Sure darling, be right back," Derek smiles, kissing my forehead before leaving me alone. 

I walk over to his bookshelf admiring his collection more, I am very impressed, his parents must have spoiled him with all this considering he's an only child. I then go over to his desk and pick up a plain black, hardcover book, this must be his diary. 

I open up to the first page and see the first entry was the first day back, he doesn't go into much detail, just about seeing the team but then he goes into massive detail about what happened that day in P.E. 

I skip a few more pages finding the entry about when we kissed for the first time on the football field, he talks about how great it felt but how he shouldn't allow himself to fall for me. Ironic...

August 15th 2018

Well shit. I can't believe I actually am writing this down, or that it actually happened. I kissed Evangeline, like an idiot. Evangeline fucking Ryder...

I told myself I wasn't going to interact with her anymore, that we weren't going to be friends, but Hell, yesterday I told her I missed her and today I kissed her. What was I supposed to do? She was standing there, demanding I tell her we are soulmates then I yelled at her and her face just dropped. 

It hurt me to watch her look afraid of me, tears in her eyes, and to know I did that, it hurt even more. But the way she didn't stop me when I stood close to her, how her body seemed to unconsciously move closer to mine, how when I made her look up at me her eyes just invited me to kiss her. 

And when she nodded her head, allowing me to kiss her, it drove me crazy, deep down knowing that I would be her first and last kiss, it felt like I was high. The sparks that flew between us when we kissed, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop if I kept going, so I did. 

Like a fucking idiot, I stopped and regretted it instantly, but I can't allow myself to fall for her. Because if I do, who knows what would happen. Evangeline Isabell Wilson-Ryder I will not let myself fall for you. 

I smile to myself, Derek couldn't help himself clearly. I flip to the latest diary entry finding it to be what happened yesterday, when did he have time to write this? I'm about to start reading when someone clears their throat. 

I jump, slamming the book closed. I turn to see Derek standing there, my bag in hand with a raised eyebrow. "Do you enjoy going through my stuff?" He muses, leaning against the door. 

"I'd be lying if I said no," I grin. Derek walks over to me and drops my bag down then taking his shirt off. 

I glance down for a few seconds to admire his beautifully sculpted body. I smile to myself before looking back up at him. "Come on, get dressed," I giggle. 

Derek wraps his arms around me in a tight hug and I can't help but smile widely and enjoy the hug. I'm so glad to have such an amazing person in my life. 

* * *

I pull my off the shoulder, white shirt over my head as Derek tells us our plans for the day. First, we're going to visit some other people, then we're going to go to town, then finish the night off with dinner and a movie. 

Derek takes my hand as we walk into the kitchen to grab a drink before leaving. He walks me down the main pathway before we end up at the two stores they have, we walk into one of them and people greet Derek with a bow of their head. 

"Why are they bowing?" I whisper to him, holding onto his arm as I sip on my drink. 

"Because I'm the next alpha, it's like royalty, so I'd be like their prince," he tells me, grabbing some snacks from the shelf. 

I nod to myself, clinging onto Derek. He greets the guy behind the counter whose name is Alex, I introduce myself and Alex responds by kissing my hand and saying 'it's an hour m' lady' which was weird. 

As we leave, people also greet me and I smile awkwardly at them, Derek tells me to ignore it but I have a hard time doing so. Sure I'm used to the press harassing me and my family but people actually showing respect, now that's new. 

As we walk around the area a bit more, enjoying the morning, we run into Michael who seems a bit on edge. He quietly discusses something with Derek while I'm left to wonder a bit further down the track. 

I slowly walk down the path, taking in my surroundings. Out of nowhere, somebody appears in a cloud of yellow smoke, blinding me for a few seconds. When the smoke clears, X is standing in front of me in his usually get up. 

His face is covered by a hood and a face mask, dressed head to toe in black but this time, he's holding a gun at his side. I freeze in shock, my body tense as X steps closer. 

"Now, this is a warning not to mess with my affairs or-" he raises the gun to point it at my head- "the next bullet is going in your skull."

"Next-"

I'm cut short as the gunshot echoes through the air and I double over in pain as the bullet enters my side. I cry out in pain and fall onto my knees, pressing my hand against my side, X disappears as fast as he showed up and everything is hazy. 

I can already feel the healing process taking place, trying to cover my wound but I can't let it heal while the bullet is still in there. I shakily remove my hands from my side that are now covered in my own blood, I hastily pull off my now blood-soaked white shirt and throw it to the side. 

I raise my pointer finger and look at it for a second, taking a deep breath. Just as I hear Derek yell out my name and come running, I scream out in pain as I force my finger into the bullet wound, just deep enough to prevent it from healing. 

Derek collapses down in front of me and looks at my wound then back. He takes my face in his hands and wipes my tears. I hadn't even noticed I was crying, his face is filled with pure panic and he grabs my hand that has the finger inside the bullet hole. 

"No!" I yell at him, jerking backwards. 

"Eve you have your finger in your bullet wound! Let me take it out!" He yells back, going to pull my hand free again but I jump backwards and onto my feet, bleeding onto the forest floor. 

"I'm preventing the wound from healing with the bullet still inside," I tell him, wincing as my legs wobble slightly. 

Derek rushes over and prevents me from falling. "Michael!" Derek shouted, I hadn't even noticed Michael was here too, "go grab the medic!" 

I hear Michael shift and runoff as Derek helps me walk back to the house. Once we get there Laura throws open the doors and directs us inside even though I'm bleeding all over her clean wooden floor. 

They sit me down on one of their couches, towels have been laid out everywhere but that won't do a lot. The medic runs inside as well as Michael and Jason. She sets her things down on the coffee table and pulls her gloves on, she looks at me and tells everyone to get out. 

Derek doesn't listen and chooses to stay, she tells him to get out but he tells her he would rather be the one with the bullet in him than leaves my side. The medic sighs but pulls on her face mask and instructs me to lie down. 

I do that slowly with the help of Derek, he holds my hand as she slowly removes my finger from the hole. I scream out in pain as she does so but it isn't so bad as to when I put it in, that kind of pain comes later. 

She has to force my open wound to stay open so she can reach in and grab the bullet, she tells Derek that this will hurt like crazy because most of my muscle tissue has already grown around the bullet. 

It only takes ten minutes for everything to be over but it was the longest ten minutes of my life, spent in agonising pain. Once she's done, she loosely stitches the wound close and puts a bandage over it, by this point a lot of blood has covered the couch and I feel really bad. 

I try to apologise to Laura but she tells me to shut up and that it's fine. Derek helps me sit up and move to another couch that isn't covered in blood, he also pulls off his hoodie so I'm not sitting in just my bra and jeans.  

"Who did this Evie?" Jason asks, sitting beside me and stroking my free hand. 

"X," I groan, shifting slightly. I can feel that it will be healed by this afternoon but it still hurts, it's not every day I get shot. 

Derek abruptly stands up and begins walking away, I try calling his name but he doesn't stop. His dad suddenly stops him from walking further. "Stop, you have no idea where this man is and even if you find him what are you going to do?"

"I don't care, I'm going to rip his head off his shoulders," Derek grumbles, trying to move past Ace but is stopped again. 

I grip Jason's hand tightly in fear as I can feel how angry Derek is getting at his father. I force myself to stand up and walk over to Derek, I place a hand on his shoulder and force him around to look at me, he looks like he's ready to hit me but his face softens when he realises it's me. 

I don't say a word and wrap my arms around him, pressing my cheek into his chest. It takes him a few seconds before he wraps his arms tightly around me, stroking my hair and kissing the top of my head. 

'I'm sorry' 

I snap my head to look at Derek but he hadn't said anything. Did I just hear him in my head? Impossible.

* * *

That afternoon the medic, Lillian, had taken my stitches out and told me I should be fine. Laura grabbed me a snack and I could already feel my strength returning but Derek didn't let me out of his site so I spent time with him in his room, mainly cuddling and watching Netflix. 

"Derek..." I mumbled, looking up at him. 

He turns off his phone and looks down at me, cupping my face in his. "Yes, darling?" He asked, stroking my cheek. 

I sighed and moved so I was sitting up, facing Derek. "I'm worried..." I trail off, looking out to his balcony, "after what Lucifer said yesterday, and then what happened today, I'm worried about what this X guy is going to do." 

Derek sighs and sits up straighter, I follow his movements so I'm now sitting in front of him. Derek holds both my hands in one of his, the other hand pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. "Evangeline..." he starts, "I told you that my family and I will handle it."

I recoil in shock, is he serious? "Are you serious?" I question, pulling my hands from his, "Derek, X told me that if we, I, continue to mess with his plans that the next bullet will end up in my head." 

Derek's face morphed into shock as he leant forward to grab my hands but I pushed myself off the bed, and he followed. "Eve, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" He asked panic and worry evident in his voice. 

I sigh and turn around to face him. "I'm sorry, it just slipped my mind in all the chaos," I mumble, looking down at my fingers that are playing with my rings. 

Derek takes my hands in his and tilts my chin to look up at him. He places a gentle kiss on my forehead then engulfs me in a tight hug. "This is only more of a reason for you to stay out of this," he said, hand stroking my hair. 

"You know I can't do that Derek," I whisper into his chest, holding his shirt tightly. 

He sighs and pulls back, holding onto my shoulders, eyes watery. "Do it for now okay? I know I won't be able to stop you but please, for now, let my family and I figure it out" he begs, a tear slipping down his cheek. 

I nod, brushing his tears away. I cup his face and soak in the warmth that is radiating from his skin, taking in the moment, feeling the sparks bounce between my fingertips and his beautiful sun-kissed skin. Derek smiles at me, not a full smile but it's enough to make my heart flutter. 

His eyes sparkle like a thousand stars as I stare into his gorgeous brown eyes, my favourite pair of eyes. My eyes flicker down to his pink lips and I can't help myself, I pull his face closer and push my body to his and kiss him. 

Derek is caught off guard for a second before kissing me back, both of us desperate to feel each other. No space is left between us as Derek holds me closer to him, the sparks now turned into fireworks exploding on every surface of my skin, my heart beating so fast I'm sure Derek could hear it. 

We stumble backwards until my legs hit the edge of his bed, we both fall back onto his bed, not letting go of one another. We soon break away for air and Derek looks down at me breathless, his brown eyes now looking black. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asks, stroking my flushed cheek. 

I nod shyly and smile up at him, completely sure of where this is about to go. Derek smiles back down at me and presses his lips to mine again, taking in the moment entirely, savouring every sensation, my favourite sensation. Derek is my drug and I'm officially addicted.