"I feel like you're mad at me," I said after about an hour of silence on the very uncomfortable ride home.

"I'm not mad at you Amara. I'm just surprised," he said.

"I just feel like you're upset right now."

"I'm not happy about who your mate is. I won't lie about it," my dad sighed before continuing. "But I am happy that you found your mate. I never would have imagined that you would find yours so soon."

"What's so wrong with Joel?" I asked.

"He's a good guy for the most part but,"

"But?" I asked.

"He has his outburst I suppose you could call them."

"Outburst? What does that mean?"

"I can't get into Amara."

"Why not? I think I should know what exactly you meant about my mate?" I said, my voice having more attitude in it than I had planned, and judging by my father's look it didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm restricted from telling you. It's official elder business. I shouldn't have even said what I have so far. So drop it."

"But."

"I said drop it," my father said, his voice stern. His voice held a tone that told me if I dared ask another question I was going to regret it.

"How's he treating you so far?" He asked catching me by surprise.

"Good. Giving me mixed signals sometimes, but that's mainly because he's an asshole," I said quickly, covering my mouth with my hand as I stared wide-eyed at my dad, waiting for his next move.

I had never cussed in front of my parents before, so I was honestly nervous about what his reaction would be.

"You can relax, I'm not going to ground you or anything. You're eighteen, sweetie; I'm not stupid, you cuss. You've been cussing for years, and don't deny it; all kids cuss, regardless of what they tell their parents."

"Yeah, but I've never cussed in front of you or Mom before," I said, still feeling on edge.

"I wouldn't worry about your mom. She has the mouth of a sailor on her," my dad said, chuckling.

"Wait you're telling me that Mom knows how to cuss?" I asked laughing.

I don't think I've ever heard her cuss before, so hearing my father tell me that she cusses like a sailor, if not worse, is a huge surprise.

"Oh, she does; she just doesn't do it in front of you and your brother. Something that stuck with her from when she was growing up," my dad said shrugging his shoulders.

"Wow."

That was honestly the only thing I could think of to say.

"Yeah, it's really hot when she cusses," my dad said smiling as we pulled into the driveway in front of our house.

"And now it's gross," I said cringing as my dad laughed at me.

I reached for the door handle when my dad stopped me.

"I hope you know I am happy for you. It just threw me off a little bit. No father wants to know that their little girl met a guy that they like. Especially when I know this damn brat," my dad said, causing me to laugh.

"Thank you, and I promise that if he breaks my heart you have my full permission to kill him if you like."

"That's good to know, but just so you know, I wasn't going to wait for your permission," he said, smiling at me. "That is if you don't kill him before I can get to him."

I couldn't help but smile as we exited his truck, we barely made it to the sidewalk that led to our front porch before Joel came storming out of the house.

"It's about fucking time that you came back. You left me here all alone to deal with that fucking friend of yours," Joel said, I swear you could see smoke coming out of his ears.

"Well, which friend?" I asked already knowing the answer. Joel only got this mad when it came to Leo, and judging by the murderous glare I got from him I knew I was right.

"You know damn well who I'm talking about."

"What is it about you and Leo? Neither one of you seems to be able to get along very well, and when you do, it isn't for long," My father asked. It looked like he was trying not to laugh right now.

I swear, just then, I saw Joel's eye twitch as his attention turned to my father. It doesn't help that a few seconds later, Leo comes out onto the porch, holding a wrapped gift in his hand.

"There you are. Where were you, Amara?" Leo asked as he came down the steps to pull me into a tight hug. No doubt to piss off Joel.

"I left for a little bit with my dad," I said, hugging him back as I watched Joel from over Leo's shoulder. If looks could kill, Leo would be dead, right here and now.

"Explains why I couldn't find you. Here," he said after we pulled away from each other. He held his gift out towards me, I reached forward to take it from him, making sure to thank him before I opened it. My eyes widened as I stared down at my unwrapped gift.

"Leo, how did you get this?" I asked.

"I was fortunate enough to get it when it first came out. It was the last two copies as well," he said smiling.

"Thank you so much," I said hugging him again before returning to staring at my gift.

Leo and I had one very big thing in common, and that was our love for reading. Leo had talked me into reading this vampire series about a year ago, claiming it was the best series he had ever read. I doubted it was the best until I started reading it, I had read all five books in a week. My eyes had been so sore and strained afterward but it had been worth all of the pain. We have been waiting for what has felt like forever for the last book to come out, and when it finally did, they kept selling out the moment they hit the shelves.

"Have you read it yet?" I asked.

"Not yet, I wanted to wait until you started yours so that I wouldn't risk spoiling anything."

Joel walked over to where I was, taking my book from my hands as he examined it. I watched as he flipped open the book, reading the blurb for it.

"Vampires?" He questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, vampires. The main character falls in love with a werewolf in book one, and they have to fight to protect one another because his pack wants her dead, and her coven wants him dead. So they run away, trying to find a safe place so that they can finally be alone and just be happy together," I said.

Joel raised an eyebrow at me as he looked the book over again before handing it back.

"Remind me to bring a few books over; if you like this book, then they should be right up your lane," Joel said; this time, it was Leo's turn to raise his eyebrow at Joel.

"You read?" Leo asked.

"Yes, Leo, I read. Contrary to what you may think, I had a very nice education, an expensive one at that. Just because I'm an asshole most of the time and a brute doesn't mean that's all I am," Joel said as Leo and him locked eyes.

"I wasn't trying to imply anything, I was just simply asking you a question. I didn't take you for the romantic type is all."

Joel mumbled something under his breath, something that I couldn't even make out with my enhanced hearing, but that didn't stop Leo from saying something.

"Do you have something you want to say to me?" Leo said in a threatening tone.

"Oh, trust me, Leo, I have quite a bit I'd like to say to you, but for the sake of my mate, I'm trying to keep my mouth shut, so I advise you to do the same before I quit trying."

"Joel," I yelled at him before his gaze met mine.

"Am I interrupting something?" A soft feminine voice said from behind us.

We all turned to see who had spoken, just for there to be a woman standing there that I didn't recognize.

"Katie?" My dad happily said as he walked over to her, pulling her into a big hug.

I turned my attention back to Leo who was staring at me with a pained expression on his face. It was at that moment I knew he had caught onto Joel's words earlier, no doubt something Joel wasn't sorry about. Leo turned away from me as he made his way back inside the house. My gaze landed on Joel who was staring at the door with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"My God, Amara, is that you?"

I turned to see my dad and Katie standing in front of me, waiting for my response.

"Yes ma'am," I said.

"Geez I can't believe you're grown now. Feels like yesterday I was helping your dad change your diapers," she said, smiling at me, and it was at that very moment it clicked with me on who exactly she was.

She was the Katie that my dad had told me about earlier, the Katie who had been his mate when he still had a wolf.

"Mom, why are we here?" A boy around Elliot's age asked, well more like whined.

"Because it's Amara's birthday sweetie," she said.

"Who?"

"Ok, you know what? How about you go find your Grandma and Grandpa," she said as he happily left to go inside.

"I swear to everything holy, Casey, I'm going to murder him," she exclaimed.

"My son is close to his age; trust me, the feeling is very mutual," my dad groaned out.

"Elliot isn't that bad, Dad," I said, trying to defend my little brother, knowing my dad wasn't wrong; Elliot was a demon spawn.

"Bullshit and you know it. You're just taking pity on him."

"I'm so sorry we're being so rude, aren't we? Hi, I'm Katie," Katie said as she introduced herself to Joel.

I felt so guilty at that moment because I had completely forgotten that my mate was standing next to me.

"I'm Joel. Nice that someone noticed I was here," Joel said as he sent an accusing glare my way.

"My bad," I said my voice low.

"How does one forget their mate that is standing right next to them?" He questioned making me feel even worse.

"My goodness, you already found your mate? Congratulations sweetie," Katie said.

"Thank you," I said, starting to feel overwhelmed. I felt like everything and everyone was coming at me right now.

Everything was just too much at the moment, everything was happening so fast.

"Would it be ok if I stole Amara away for a few moments, I'd like to give her her gift now," Joel asked my father.

"Yeah sure, I'll come get you when it's time," my dad said.

Joel grabbed my hand and started to drag me away into the backyard.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're running away," he said smiling at me as we entered the woods, only stopping once we reached a nice shaded area.

We were far enough away from the house that no one could hear us, but we could still see the house. Joel pulled me towards him, until I was flat against him, with his arms wrapped around me.

"You ok?" He asked, his voice soft.

"Just a lot," I said, wrapping my arms around him.

"I'm sorry about the stunt I pulled with Leo. It was uncalled for and I'm sorry. I know you're not happy with me right now about it and you have every right to be upset with me."

"It was a dick move, Joel," I said as he sighed.

"I know it was, but I couldn't stand watching him making those damn goofy eyes at you."

"Goofy eyes?"

"You know what I mean," he said as I smiled against his chest.

I tilted my head back so I could look up at him. He stared down at me with a small smile on his lips.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I was going to have to tell him eventually just not like that."

"I know."

"Wait I thought you were supposed to be giving me my gift?" I asked.

"That was just an excuse to get you away," he said.

"So you don't have anything for your mate. Wow," I said trying to make him feel guilty.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing."

"Meaning?"

Joel looked over to the house, looking around before he grabbed my hand dragging me further into the woods. We stopped once we were far enough away that we couldn't be seen anymore.

"Joel?" I asked as he pushed me up against a big oak tree before his lips made contact with mine.

Joel pulled away from me as he reached under my dress, grabbing the waistband of my underwear. My heart skipped a beat as he started to slowly pull them down.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I grabbed my panties, trying to pull them back up, but Joel had too strong of a hold on them.

"I'm giving you your first birthday gift, or at least trying to," he said, smirking at me.

"But I."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to fuck you, well at least not yet, that is. I'll save that for a later time."

I watched as Joel lowered himself to his knees, looking up at me as he removed the death grip that my hands had on my panties before he continued to remove them. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest right now.

"Relax baby, trust me, you're going to enjoy this," he said as he tossed my panties to the side before spreading my legs apart. "Pull your dress up and hold it there."

My face was burning as I reached down and pulled my dress up as he told me to. My lower half was fully exposed to him and I had never felt more excited, nervous, or terrified in my entire life. I watched as Joel sat there, not saying anything before he smirked. One of his hands went behind my knee as he hoisted my leg over his shoulder before I felt his mouth come into contact with my skin.

I couldn't help but gasp at the sensation; until now, I had never felt anything like this before. The way his tongue felt against my clit caused chills to course through my body. I had heard that oral sex felt amazing but I never would have thought it would feel like this. Either the mating pull was enhancing the pleasure, or Joel was just very experienced in this department. I wouldn't be too surprised if he was just experienced with the way he had pleasured me with his fingers just a few hours ago.

My legs trembled as that same feeling from last night formed in my stomach. I was getting close, and judging by Joel's movements, he knew I was as well.

"Joel," I moaned out as I threw my head back.

My body began to shake as my orgasm hit me, and when it did, it hit me hard.

"Fuck," I gasped out as Joel continued to circle my clit with his tongue. At this point, my legs were shaking to the point that I didn't think they'd be able to support me much longer.

"S-Stop," I pleaded with him as I pushed his head away from me.

He slowly removed my leg from his shoulder as he stood back up. My body was still trembling as I tried to catch my breath. His arm wrapped around my shaking body, pulling me flat against him as his lips left gentle kisses on my neck until he reached right beside my ear.

"I never would have imagined that you would taste that good, darling," he said, his voice low and husky sounding as he nipped at my ear.

A chill ran down my spine as I held onto the fabric of his shirt. Joel had me feeling things I hadn't known I could feel, my core was throbbing with the need for him. I may be a virgin but I couldn't ignore the need I had right now to have him inside of me.

"Joel," I said my voice shaky.

"Hmm?" He hummed out as his teeth nipped at my neck, the spot where our mark would be later on.

"I, I don't want to stop," I admitted, feeling my entire body ignite under my confession.

I could feel Joel's body shake against mine before he groaned out one word that made my stomach flutter.

"Fuck."