He watched her from the trees, just sitting under the willow tree until the evening sky turned pink. He watched her as she let her eyes close and her head lay back against the tree's trunk. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest beneath his coat as she breathed in deeply.

He hadn't the slightest idea as to why he kissed her in the hall, he tried to tell himself it was the beast taking control but it was far too easy to gain control again during the kiss which is unusual. When his beast takes control, it's hell stealing back the reigns. So he knew deep down the kiss was all him with just a little push from that beast inside.

And then there was the way she said his name. Although it was as if she said it to spite him, he wanted to hear her say it again and again. He wanted to hear her whisper it before she fell asleep and when she woke. He wanted to hear her scream it from his bed. He wanted to hear her speak his name as if it was the only word she knew. He'd always despised the name, for it came from the mind of his father, who used to spit it out of his venomous lips as if the sound of the name and sight of his youngest son left him disgusted. He never understood why. Hell, his own brother barely ever called him by name; the only time he had been with it slipping from one's lips was when his mother said it in that voice of hers.

He heard Maksim approach, coming to stand beside him and stare at the human girl out the window. He stayed silent for a long moment, just assessing her from afar before he spoke. "What have you done to her, brother?"

"Nothing."

"When I left, it didn't look like it would escalate into nothing."

"I did nothing, brother." He growled, emphasis lingered on the word 'nothing.' "Leave it."

"I will not leave it because like you something about her draws me in, and unlike you I'd like to see her live."

Alexei turned to Maksim with fierce eyes. "If anything happened to her I'd have an even more insane beast raging inside my head!" His long finger was pressed against his temple for emphasis. "I'd lose my own fucking mind if something happened to her."

"Then why do you constantly threaten her life?!"

"Because I can't decide whether I want her dead or pinned beneath me." The younger brother's words rumbled deep within his chest.

Silence blanketed them for a long moment. "What did you do?" Maksim emphasized every word, looking at his little brother with cold eyes.

Alexei ran his fingers through his hair, looking back at Grey who had moved to pull her legs up to her chest to rest her head upon her knees, hands tangled tightly in her long hair. "I kissed her."

Maksim had expected anything but that. He expected his brother to come home one day with blood staining his teeth, smelling of a sweet human. He had expected to hear of the death of the little boy in the house of the witch. He had seen his brother tear into the flesh of the human boy in the town. He expected the dark side of his brother, the vicious beast that everyone feared, he grew up around it and had seen it first hand far too many times to count. But not this, never in his life would he have expected to hear his brother kissed someone and ever be this frustrated over it.

.

After a long silence, all Maksim managed was a simple: "What?"

• • •

When Grey returned inside after the sun had long since gone away, the sky dark and filled with thousands of bright stars, her cheeks and nose were stained pink. The coat she wore was still wrapped tight around her and she'd expected to be alone - she wanted to be alone for once - but both brothers sat in silence in the living room area. In both theirs hands were small glasses of a clear liquid that could've been considered water but Grey was not dimwitted in any way and she knew it was vodka.

When she entered both their eyes fell upon her yet she found herself staring at Alexei. He stared back with eyes that seemed like they were staring right through her and into her soul. When his eyes left hers to trail down to his coat wrapped around her, she looked away at Maksim who was no longer looking at her but at the bottle of vodka he was using to refill his glass.

"Can I have a glass?"

His head spun around to look at Grey with a confused look. "You drink?"

"Only when I need to forget."

Maksim threw a glance towards his brother who sat in the lonely armchair on the opposite side of the room, staring at the drink in his hand with his other hand gripping the arm of the chair so tight his knuckles were white as the snow outside. He handed Grey a glass as she sat on the long couch in front of the fireplace, between the two brothers but just the slightest bit closer to Alexei. She hadn't noticed it but the beast did, it was rumbling inside his chest at the female he chose.

He watched her with those eyes of his as she stared at the glass she held with shaky hands before she threw it back like a shot, her face contorting in a cringe with the harsh taste. Maksim couldn't fight the smirk tugging at his lips when she held it back out towards him.

"You might want to take it easy." Alexei finally spoke up after her sixth glass when she discarded the coat she wore with a small laugh, throwing it to rest over the couch she was sat on. Grey looked at him with those naturally wide eyes and her cheeks pink from the alcohol and gave him a soft smile.

"I'm fine, beast." She hiccupped in the middle of the final word and Alexei rolled his eyes, Maksim watching on with amusement. "This isn't my first-" Her words broke with another hiccup and she giggled. "-rodeo."

Alexei set his glass on the coffee table and stood, moving towards a curious Grey. He held out his hand for her and she just stared at it for awhile before he grew impatient and gave a small growl as he grabbed her by the bicep and tugged her up. He pulled her out of the room without a word and up the stairs with little struggle.

He made it to her room without a word but she spoke as he opened her door. "Where do you sleep?"

"I don't."

"You don't sleep? Well shit! That's why your so grumpy all the time!" Grey stared up at him as he pulled her towards her bed.

He let go of her and pulled the covers back for her. "Come on. Go to sleep."

Grey opened her mouth to protest but the look he gave her made it snap shut and she pulled the coat she still held up to her chest. He noticed she still had it and cast her an odd glance.

"You know if you take something you're supposed to put it back where you got it." He deadpanned. "The owner might miss it."

Grey shrugged and moved past him to lay on top of her bed, ignoring the covers that had been pulled back. "I like how it smells."

Alexei tensed at hers words and with a final gruff goodnight, he left the room with a beast that needed to be set free far away from her. He moved down the stairs two at a time, trying to get away from the girl as quick as possible but Maksim stopped him at the end of the stairs, he gave his older brother a stern look as he glared at him with his arms crossed.

"The full moon is approaching you know."

Alexei was almost twitching, he couldn't stand still with the beast raging inside of him but his brother wouldn't let him pass. "You think I don't know that?! My control is less and less each fucking day. Now let me pass or else I'm going to march back up those stairs and take her where she lies."

"Don't be stupid." Maksim moved so Alexei could dart past. "I'm tired of cleaning up your messes."

With that, Alexei moved out the front door and into the trees, Grey's words from earlier haunting his head: Only when I need to forget. He was what she wanted to forget. Him and his lips on hers. But he knew even the alcohol couldn't make her forget, and all the bloodshed in the world would never make him forget.

For how could the beast forget the first female, the first human let alone, that could bring him to his knees?