Eric's POV

"You are being a little too quiet. I know we are looking for your best friend, but you seem to have too much going on in that pretty little head of yours. Care to share with the class?" I said to her hoping she would open up to me.

"It is all my fault, I know that I had orders to follow, but even I knew that I should not. If I had not followed the orders, she would be safe and happy with her mate at least for now. I know that the prophecy is scary, but have you ever seen her fight, to date the only one that has ever beaten her in a fight is James," she really did have a lot on her mind.

"We both know that this is about more than strength, Shelby is physically strong, and she is intelligent, she is guarded, and it takes time to win her trust. I am sure that she will give me a hell of a time when it comes to you. From what I hear she is very protective of you and everyone she holds dear, with the exception of her father. I think that you did the right thing, we all do. Even if you did not it was not your choice if you had disobeyed the Alpha you would have been hurt," I explained to her.

We walked in silence for a while just enjoying each other's company, I looked down at her hand and moved a little closer to her. I was planning on holding her hand when Darren's voice popped into my head. I looked over to Amanda to see if she was also getting the message, I saw her eyes glaze over too.

'We found nothing at the lake. Does anyone else have any luck?' Darren asked through our mind link.

'Nothing at the beach,' James replied.

'We are still looking on the trails, so far we have not seen her,' I replied.

'Can you get through her mind link?' James asked.

'Can you?' Carli replied with some attitude.

James just growled in response. 'Everyone search the trails she has to be here somewhere,' James said ending the link. I heard Amanda laughing, it was the most beautiful melody that I had ever heard.

"She has not changed a bit,"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Carli was one of the first missions that I had gone on. Normally I would find hybrids in a vision or when I got close to one and James or someone else would be sent to help them and let them know what was happening to them. Finding Carli was one of the first that James insisted that I had come with, he argued with his father. I was very reluctant to go, Shelby would have been better, she is better at helping people than I am, she usually knows what to say. Ever since I have gone on every mission, apparently I connect with people and they trust me..." her voice traveled off and her eyes glazed over indicating that she was in a mind link. I just watched her, she was so beautiful, her eyes were normally a sky blue but during mind links, they were greyish and still the most captivating I had ever seen. She blinked a couple of times and her eyes returned to their normal color. Her hand went into her curly blond hair. "I found her," she sounded sad.

"Why does that sound like a bad thing?"

"Only one of us can get up there and I do not know if he can use his wings anymore," she looked at me in the eyes and I could see one thing, fear.

"I'll call everyone, where is she?" I asked.

"A cave behind the waterfall on the mountain," I nodded.

'James?' I called in my mind. 'If you can hear me, we found her. She is in a cave behind the waterfall on the mountain,'

'Everyone be there if five,' James kept his reply short.

"Let's go," I said taking her hand and following her to the waterfall. "Did Shelby mind link you?" I asked her to break the silence of the walk.

"Kinda, she did not do it on purpose. She was asleep, it was like her wolf was calling out to me and not her. All I could really tell was that her wolf was missing James, but could not reach him for some reason,"

"I can not imagine that he had her blocked off. That is the only explanation for why she could not get a hold of him,"

"No, Shelby is stubborn, I imagine that she could stop her wolf from calling someone she did not want to talk to,"

"So, who is the only one who can get up there?"

"James, my wings are not strong enough with the current, and Carli is too small when she has her wings out,"

I looked up to the waterfall that we had finally reached. "I bet I could get up there, but then my clothes would get wet," I heard her laugh at my comment. Then her eyes went wide, and she turned around and lowered her head.

"Alpha," She said.

"It is quite alright Amanda, I am glad to see that you are having fun," James replied, I found it to be a little out of character him being a little soft on her, it probably had to do with her being his mate's best friend.

"How are you going to get up there?" I asked him.

"I am not sure, when we would come here I would fly her up there but I was ordered to have Amanda lock my wings away and we are not sure if I can bring them back as easily," James explained.

"Why can't Amanda just unlock them?" I asked and we both looked at her.

"Every power has its limits; I am not sure that your mind would survive if I had tried to unlock the ability to use your wings. Even if I could I am not sure that you would survive," Amanda explained.

"Do it. If it will help bring her back, I will do anything," James said causing both of us to look at him. I looked to Amanda to see if she thought it was possible, she was looking toward the ground, thinking.

"Are you sure?" Amanda's voice rang out. It was always dangerous to question an Alpha, but James would understand. He was not completely Alpha, he still had to graduate.

"Yes," James said looking into Amanda's eyes even from here I could feel his certainty.

"Ok" she sighed. "Watch in case anything happens," Amanda said looking at me.

"Be safe," I said nodding toward James, but not taking my eyes off Amanda. I sat down with my back against a tree so that they were in my sight. I thought about Amanda, one of my biggest fears was figuring out how to tell my mate that not only was I a werewolf, but I was also a vampire. Fate had a funny way of changing my plans. I wondered how my parents were doing, I have not seen them since I became a vampire. I would have to take her to them eventually, that would not be an easy conversation to have. 'Hey mom, meet my mate, also I'm a vampire now, great talk' that would get me killed in several different ways. I looked toward Amanda, she had her hands on both sides of James's head, as he laid on the ground. Her eyes are closed, her right eyebrow was twitching as she was mumbling something under her breath. I found her captivating, the way her curls fell on her shoulders, her tan skin was lit up by the moonlight. I could tell that she was trying her best to unlock his wings, but it meant that she was not able to protect them as well as help him.

"You know it is rude to stare," Darren said drawing my attention away from the two of them.

"You're her mate, aren't you?" Carli asked.

"Yes," I said, glancing back over to her. She looked like she was sleeping, but I could see the slight sweat building upon her forehead.

"So, she is in the cave behind that waterfall?" Darren said looking up at the mountain.

"Yea," I said taking my eyes off her for a minute, to look at the other two.

"I can get up there," Carli said, causing both of us to look at her confused. "Just don't look ok?" she asked as she went behind a tree.

"Any idea what she is doing?" Darren asked.

When she came out from behind the tree, she was wearing a low-cut pink dress with navy blue accents and she had a gold tiara with a bright pink gem in the middle. "Stop staring guys, it's embarrassing. This is just one of my battle gears, it allows my wings to be stronger and my power to shine a little brighter," Carli said as a pink blush spread across her face.

"Sorry," I muttered looking over to my mate who was still struggling with the alpha.

"If I had known you looked like that then I would have been nicer to you. I think you and I could have a great relationship," Darren said.

"I'll pass" she replied looking annoyed. She walked to the edge of the lake that formed at the bottom of the waterfall. "I'll be back," she said taking off flying into the air.

"Are we supposed to just wait here?" Darren asked me.

"I guess so," I replied.

"What is she doing to him?"

"You know how James's blood use to smell weird. When we all learned that we were hybrids or were made hybrids, James came and recruited us. We have never seen James's other side, everyone in the pack has seen his wolf, no one has ever seen his other side," I said. "I think that the smell has something to do with that side,"

"Except for Amanda, she has seen his other side," Darren corrects me. "She does not talk about it though. Whenever I asked about it, she said that she could not talk about it,"

"I wonder why that is,"

Carli's POV:

When I got to the cave my wings were exhausted, I looked around and did not see anyone. I decided to change forms back into my human form. I walked around the cave and saw a little firelight; Shelby must have started a fire to keep warm. "Hello," I called into the cave.

"Carli is that you?" Her voice called back. She sounded sleepy.

"Yes, it is"

"Did James send you?"

"Yes, he did,"

"Go away,"

"I just want to talk,"

"Fine, but don't come closer,"

"Shelby," I said as I took a step closer. I would just get closer while she was talking so that she would not notice. I knew that she probably had her back to me, but I also know that if I made too much noise that she would hear.

"Carli please, don't come closer," She sounded scared.

"Shelby, what happened?" I asked her.

"I don't know what is going on. I keep having flashbacks of James and myself, it is scaring me. Amanda told me that we use to date, but I do not know how I could have ever dated him. He is stupid and I hate his smirk. The way he takes an easy on me in training, he slacks off, and how no matter what he does or how he looks everyone falls at his feet. I hate the way he walks with such confidence, yet he can not pass all of his classes." I took steps closer to her. I could see the fire, but I still could not see her. "He is annoying and constantly has a girl hanging on him. He is such a good kisser and drives me insane by just looking at me," I could hear her crying in the cave.

"You two were close when I meet the two of you," I said. "I remember the two of you almost always being together and having to cover for you when you were sneaking out to go visit him," I tried to help while getting closer. I could see her back facing me.

"I hate him," she cried out.

"Do you?" I asked her. "Do you really hate him?"

"I...I..." It was good that she could not answer, I knew that she still loved him. It had nothing to do with her mate bond to him, she has loved him all her life.

"If you can not answer that I don't think you hate him. I think that you hate how you miss him," I said as I finally could see her, but I had to take a step back after I saw her wings. They looked like angel wings, they were big, white, and covered her body. She turned to look at me, I could see the tears that had rolled from her eyes. I could not believe the sadness that emanated from her eyes.

"What was I to him?" she asked.

"You are everything to him, no one ever saw him smile the way he did with you. I have known him for years and I have never seen him the way I see him with you. No matter what he was by your side. Why do you ask?" I responded.

"James and I would be a strong couple; my father and I are both strong and we are second only to James and his father. It is hell living with him, I am a possession to my father. Something pretty, to be seen, a prize to be won. Everything about me is meant to be perfect, I would not be surprised if he were in on the memory wipe. I doubt he liked me with James because that would mean one day I would outrank him and he could not control me," I saw a tear roll down her face and I pulled her into a hug.

"Why?" was the only word that came out of my mouth. I was angry, I felt the need to get her out of her father's house. I would have to talk to James about getting her a place of her own.

"When my mother disappeared, he changed, he was no longer the loving father that spent time with his family. I guess he thought that he could buy me and keep me as a prize, little does he know I have been taking college classes since I was 14. Now at 16, I will graduate both high school and college," she explained.