I shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"Hey! I am, yeah. You must be Emilia?" I asked, smiling at the girl.

She nodded, "Yeah,"

Walking over to one of the crates, she hopped up to sit on it and patted the one beside it. Taking the invitation, I walked over and mimicked her actions.

"So, you're the human my brother's dating then? The one that came in here that full moon?" she questioned, her brown eyes penetrating.

I nodded silently, pushing a strand of ebony hair from my face. Absentmindedly, I picked at the hem of my t-shirt. Who knows where this conversation was going. Was she mad I was dating her brother? And worse, that I was a human and not a Wolfblood?

"I thought he'd end up with a Wolfblood instead. Maybe even Jana," she shrugged, as if reading my thoughts, "Especially since he hates humans for the most part,"

My head snapped up and my eyes met hers in the bit of moonlight drifting in from a small window above.

"Matei...hates humans?" I asked in a small voice, uneasiness creeping into every nerve in my body.

Emilia simply nodded in answer, swinging her legs back and forth across the crate, her boots hitting the wood with rhythmic thuds. Why would he keep something like that from me? Why didn't he say anything?! So why had he even dated me then? Was it just some game to him? Did I really mean...nothing at all?

All of these thoughts swirled in my head before Emilia finally broke the silence, turning to face me.

"You're different though. He told me you were special...and different from other human girls he'd met," she told me, her voice softer now.

Her small face gazed up into mine intently and I could tell that she meant that. I felt a weight lift off my chest then and I smiled down at her, bumping her shoulder playfully.

"What else did he say about me?" I joked, biting my lip.

"He said you're not an open book. You're hard to read...hard to know. That you close yourself off because of where you've grown up...how you've grown up..." she admitted and I frowned slightly at the darker turn in conversation.

I shrugged, feeling my walls come up again.

"Maybe I've always been like that. Maybe I just don't like telling everything to someone I haven't known very long," I said guardedly but she just smiled at me.

Her hand found mine in the darkness and she squeezed it gently.

"I know what it's like...to grow up like that. Matei and I..." she trailed off for a moment before resuming, her brown eyes growing misty, "We're orphans too..."

I furrowed my eyebrows. I...I hadn't known that about him...

"He never told me that," I whispered, more to myself than Emilia.

She smiled sadly and nodded, squeezing my hand harder.

"What I'm trying to say is we know what you're going through...and I think Matei sees a kindred spirit in you that he's never found before..." she said, her voice warm.

I glanced over at her, tears already forming in my eyes. I did something unexpected then. I gathered Emilia into a hug and the younger girl hugged me back tighter. My cheek rested against her soft brunette hair and I patted her back before releasing her. Tears trickled down my cheeks and I brushed them away with the back of my hand.

"Thanks for that, Emilia," I said, my voice hoarse from more unshed tears.

She smiled up at me, "Anytime, Jemma."

I looked up at the entrance and then back down at her.

"I guess your brother's not coming then," I laughed and she chuckled, shaking her head.

"No, I guess not," she shrugged as I hopped down from the crate before turning back to her.

"It was nice meeting you, Emilia, but I better be heading back to the orphanage before my headmistress starts getting worried," I told her, waving as I turned to leave.

"It was nice meeting you, too!" she called after me, her voice reverberating on the stone walls as I made my way outside.

The cool air hit me in the face and I breathed it in gratefully. The breeze blew through strands of my hair as I stood there, looking up into the night sky full of bright, twinkling stars.

"It's so beautiful..." I breathed out.

"Yeah, you really are..." another voice said, interrupting my thoughts.

I whipped back around to be met with cocoa-brown eyes and I grinned.

"Matei."