Tristan put his hand on my knee, I guess he wanted to continue but he could see that I was deep in thought. I put my hand on top of his and said,

“Go ahead.”

“I didn't know it until today, but Tyler and Cassie are mates. There is no other bond like it on this earth. You and your mate are two halves of the same person,” he said in a low and sweet voice then paused for a moment.

He pulled my hand up into the air so that my palm was facing him, he then held his own palm up facing mine. There was a short distance between them as he carried on speaking, “when you meet your mate you both become whole.”

He slowly moved his hand towards mine as he spoke until our palms were touching. He then entangled his fingers with mine, symbolizing whole.

“Once you find your mate, they’re yours for life. You will do everything you can to make them happy, and whatever it takes to keep them safe. Your life isn't worth living without your mate.”

He turned my hand around and kissed the back of it, before letting it go. My heart swelled up at the way he was describing the concept of mates to me.

That's exactly how I feel about him.

He reached forward and pushed my hair behind my shoulders, and then slid his hand down my neck, making me shiver as the heat from his fingers brushed over my skin. I closed my eyes and let out a low moan, he chuckled as he picked up my locket and then opened it. He brushed his thumb over the picture of me and smiled to himself. I reached my hand up to touch his face as a small tear fell down his cheek and I asked him with concern,

“Baby what's wrong?”

He shut my locket and brought his hand up to meet mine that was still placed upon his cheek. He closed his eyes and rubbed his gorgeous face into my hand, I smiled as he left a soft kiss on my palm.

“I'm scared that you will freak out and not love me anymore when I tell you what I am,” he said softly as he pulled my hand away from his face and dropped his head down.

I got up onto my knees and crawled towards him, then lifted his face up to meet mine. I placed a delicate kiss on his soft lips, and he let out a low sigh as I rested my head on his shoulder.

“I love you always, forever be mine,” I whispered our promise into his ear.

“I love you, baby,” he replied as he stroked my hair.

I sat back up and clutched his face within my hands.

“Whatever it is, I love you more than words can describe. I trust you and I know you will never hurt me. I know you will always love me and keep me safe.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as I opened my heart up to him, and it was hard to finish what I was saying before I cried my eyes out. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down.

“I am hurt that you didn't feel like you could trust me with the truth earlier, and that Tyler and Cassie are a part of it, or at least know about it. But I am sure you all have your reasons for not telling me,” I said as tears began to fall down my face. Tristan delicately brushed them away with his thumbs. “I know you were probably trying to protect me,” I paused while Tristan nodded in agreement, I then continued, “and I'm sad that you have to tell me this way, but I love you baby and I will always be here for you. So please whatever it is, just tell me,” I begged him.

He suddenly sat back, and my hands slipped away from his face making them fall into my lap. I watched as tears fell down his cheeks, I'd never seen him cry like that before, and my heart broke for him. He took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, then exhaled and said in a breathy voice,

“Freya, I'm a werewolf.”

***

Freya Rose

I sat in silence just staring at Tristan. I was in complete shock after he'd told me that he was a werewolf. His eyes were as wide as saucers while he studied my face, trying to work out what I was thinking. I took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.

“So,” I paused and raised my eyebrows at him. “A werewolf huh?” I questioned him in utter disbelief.

“Yup,” he replied with an emphasized pop of the p.

I didn't really know how to respond, so I just blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

“Wow. So, do you like, turn into a wolf when there's a full moon or something?”

I cringed inside, after I heard the stupid question slip past my lips. He smirked and tried his utmost to hold in a chuckle.

“Um... No, not exactly.”

Then it happened again, I just couldn't keep my damn mouth shut, it had a mind of its own. It seemed to think that it didn't need to consult with my brain before blurting out something stupid.

“Oh, do you have to chain yourself up before you turn?”

I rolled my eyes when the silly and completely irrelevant question floated around in the air like a bad smell. Tristan stared at me with a huge smirk on his face and a slight blush in his cheeks. I pathetically tried to come up with some sort of excuse, something, anything to try and explain why I’d just asked him that.

“I think I saw them do that on a Tv program once.”

I dropped my head down in complete embarrassment. My mouth finally ceased its tirade of naive and childish questions. I was beyond glad that Tristan didn't seem offended in the slightest. It was clear that he was finding my awkward questions amusing. He burst out laughing at me and even slapped his knee. I popped out my bottom lip and gave him my cute, sad face expression, in an attempt to make him feel bad for mocking me.

“You'd like that, wouldn't you? Any excuse to tie me up, huh baby?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

I bit my lip at the thought of him all tied up and completely at my mercy. When he saw me bite my lip, he lunged forwards and began to tickle me around my ribs. I giggled and tried to wriggle free from his tortuous tickly fingers, but it was no use. I tried a new tactic and wiggled my butt further down the bed. I playfully batted his hands away, each time they came anywhere near me. He moved even closer to me and positioned his knees either side of my hips, then grabbed both of my hands and pulled them above my head. I tried to struggle out of his grip, but the dude was so damn strong.

“There's no point in fighting me. You won't win. I’m a werewolf remember?”

He chuckled at me with a wide grin on his face. I saw that as a direct challenge and prepared myself for war.

“Oh yeah, it's on,” I said while giving him a determined stare.

I slowly pulled one side of my mouth up into a slight smirk, then violently thrashed around, attempting to free my hands. I felt my face flush while I huffed and puffed, pulling my arms either which way trying to break free.

“Ugh.”

I closed my eyes then threw my arms and head back onto the bed in defeat. When I opened my eyes back up, I saw Tristan staring at me with a big cheesy grin on his face. I hated losing, and all I wanted to do now was slap his stupid face, but I knew that he was just too damn strong, and I didn't stand a chance against him. I relaxed my body and whispered,

“Okay, you win.”

He let go of my hands and lifted one of his own hands to his head. Cupping his ear with his hand, he asked,

“I'm sorry, what did you say? I didn't quite catch that.”

I huffed and shouted back at him,

“Ugh, you win.”

He sat back onto his knees and dropped his hands to his sides. He then pulled his head back and let out an ear piercing and high-pitched howl. I frantically scrambled backwards onto the bed, pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them. Tears began to stream down my face, and I was shaking like a leaf. I stayed silent and just let my thoughts engulf me.

I guess he howled in the excitement of his victory, and I knew he wouldn't have wanted to scare me on purpose, but the sudden howl caught me by surprise. I had never heard anything like it in my life, and it instantly churned my stomach, raised my pulse, and sent my heart fleeing into my throat.

In over ten years of knowing Tristan, I had never felt scared of him before. To be honest, the tickling and play fighting took all of the seriousness out of the situation. It made me feel like it wasn't a big deal, and that we could carry on like normal.

How naive of me.

The reality of it all, he was a wolf. Snarling teeth, ripping animals apart, werewolf.

How do I know that he won't ever turn on me? I mean he has been acting very strange lately.

Multiple thoughts were running through my mind and it felt like I’d been silent for hours. I had no idea how to take all of it in, or what it meant for our future.

Do we even have a future? Can a human and a werewolf ever make it work? My thoughts were interrupted when I felt Tristan crawl towards me. He sat back onto his knees and reached around my back to pull me into his chest. I tightened up but allowed him to pull me towards him.

“I'm sorry if I scared you, baby,” he said in a low and concerned voice, then asked softly, “you know I'd never hurt you right?”

I gradually glanced up at him, then moved forward slightly and placed my hands on his chest. I stared into his beautiful blue eyes, they were flushed with worry and slowly filling with tears. I raised my hand to his cheek and wiped away a stray tear.

I wanted nothing more than to trust him. I should have known him well enough to know that he would never hurt me. But in all honesty, I wasn’t entirely sure what I thought. In my heart, I believed that he would never hurt me, but my gut was telling me something different, and I just couldn't shake it.

I decided to ease the tension in the room and lie to him, it was the only thing I could think to do in that tense moment.

“I know you wouldn't hurt me, babe,” I said to him, trying to be as convincing as possible.

He sniffed and smiled slightly. I could tell he was not completely convinced though, so I tried to make it more believable and said,

“I'm just a little bit overwhelmed, that's all. This is a huge change and it's going to take me some time to get used to it.”

I brushed a wave of hair away from his face and he nodded to me in agreement. I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips, and he exhaled with relief. Pulling back to look into his eyes once more, I then asked cautiously,

“we will be okay won't we babe?”

With tears occasionally sliding down my face, I allowed him to pull me in to him and squeeze me tightly. My stomach began to settle as safety and comfort swept over me. I inhaled through my nose taking in his familiar scent and it instantly calmed my nerves. I still had no idea what would happen or what our future held, but I had loved Tristan for as long as I could remember. Sitting there in his warm embrace just felt so natural.

“We will definitely be okay. I love you, much more than you will ever know,” he said with raw emotion in his voice.

I sighed slightly. His words surprisingly made me feel a lot better. I rested my head on his shoulder and he squeezed me even tighter.

“Ugh, T,” I coughed out as his tight hug began to cut off my air supply.

“Oh, damn, sorry babe,” he said with a chuckle while letting me go.

He grabbed me, then collapsed onto the bed, pulling me down on top of him. He stroked my hair while we laid there embracing each other.

Knock, knock.

A light tapping noise on the door dragged us away from our peaceful moment.

“Hey, um, Tristan?” Cassie asked in a quiet and apprehensive tone as she opened the door gently.

I pulled myself off of Tristan and sat on the edge of the bed. Tristan slowly dragged himself up into a sitting position. She paused and glimpsed at Tyler to help. Tyler took over and asked in a sheepish voice,

“Uh, we heard you howl. Is everything okay?”

I watched Cassie and Tyler as they stood in the doorway of my bedroom. They seemed nervous as hell. Cassie was biting her thumb nail and looking around the room. She was obviously trying to avoid eye contact with both Tristan and me. Tyler had his head down and was looking at his feet, while he lightly kicked at my bedroom floor. Tristan broke the awkward silence first and said,

“It's all fine guys, she knows everything.”

He didn't bother to move and continued to lay on the bed. He had his arms under his head and one foot over the other. Cassie and Tyler gradually stared up at me warily. With their attention now on me, I decided to ask them a few questions.

“So, I guess if Tristan's a werewolf, that would make you one too Tyler?”

I sat there for a few seconds staring at him, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah,” he finally replied in a low voice, then peered back down to the floor.

My eyes scanned over to Cassie.

“And you're his human mate, Cass?”

“Yes!” she quickly replied then shook her head. “Oh... wait no,” she corrected herself then continued, “yes, I am his mate, but I'm a werewolf too.”

She stared at me with worried eyes. I stood up, folded my arms across my chest then slowly walked towards her.

“I am so pissed off right now. Either I'm really stupid for not noticing anything all these years, or you three are too good at lying to my face.” I said with an angry frown.

She froze instantly, not knowing what to do, and shot Tyler a terrified look. I giggled while throwing my arms around her for a hug.

“I'm only joking Cass,” I said reassuringly, and Tristan snigger behind me.

Cassie sighed with relief as she hugged me back. I stood back slightly and pointed a finger at her.

“You should've seen your face.”

I burst out laughing and Tyler joined in laughing too.

“You're such a bitch Freya, you really had me going there,” she jokingly snapped back while lightly punching me in the arm.

“Ow, what the hell?” I screamed out in fake pain while I held my arm.

Tristan viciously snarled while jumping off the bed and sprinting towards Cassie. I watched in horror as Cassie's face dropped in pure panic. Tyler quickly pushed her behind him then growled at Tristan. Tristan stopped in his tracks and stood up tall, before growling back at his little brother. The growl was so deep and ferocious that it made me jump backwards out of harm's way. Tyler hastily bowed his head to show his neck then whimpered. Tristan ignored his brother's submission and lunged at him. Tyler braced himself for conflict by raising both of his arms up to protect his face.

“Tristan, stop!”

I ran forwards placing myself right in between them both. Placing my hands onto Tristan's chest, I tried my best to hold him back. He was breathing so hard and his nostrils were flaring in pure anger. I looked up into his eyes and they were jet black.

“Baby, please calm down,” I begged him in a shaky voice.

He ignored me and tried to lunge at Tyler again. I lost my footing and began to slide backwards as he pushed against me.

“Tristan, please!” I screamed out while I reached my hands up and put them either side of his face. I yanked it down to mine, trying to divert his attention. “Tristan look at me, babe. I'm okay, Cassie didn't hurt me, I promise.”

He blinked a couple of times then gazed into my eyes. I softly began to explain,

“I was joking, she didn't hurt me. I swear.”

My hands fell from his face. He gently turned me to the side and lifted my arm to see if there were any marks. Satisfied with his inspection, he stroked my arm with his thumb.

“I'm so sorry. Please calm down,” I said while I shook again with emotion.

I couldn't hold the tears in any longer, I was scared to death. It was just like I’d just watched two dogs having a fight. It was so intense, and now that it was over, the floodgates had opened. I was just so glad that he'd calmed down, because I didn't know if I could have handled witnessing anything worse than what I’d just seen.

He turned me around to face him, then picked me up by my ass. I put my arms around his neck and legs around his waist. He pulled me into him tightly and nuzzled into my neck, inhaling my scent.

Ah, now I know why he always does that.

His breathing had calmed and was almost back to normal when he finally uttered the words,

“Baby don't cry. You're shaking like a leaf. I'm so sorry, please don't be scared of me.”

He sounded so heartbroken. I pulled my head up to look at him and his eyes were back to their beautiful deep blue color. I smiled nervously at him. I didn't want to be, but I was scared of him. There was no denying that. He leaned in and I cautiously allowed him to give me a soft kiss. He lowered me back down to the floor and said,

“I'm so sorry. I completely lost it when I thought that Cassie had hurt you. I couldn't control my wolf.”

“It's not your fault T, it's mine. I shouldn't have pretended to be hurt. I just didn't think.”

I turned around to Cassie. She had her face resting on Tyler's chest, and was sobbing uncontrollably. Tyler was stroking her back, trying to comfort her.

“Oh my God. I’m sorry Cass.” I apologized profusely. She turned her head sideways to look at me and sniffed.

“It's okay, Frey, it's not your fault. Werewolves can be really overprotective at times,” she sniffled again. “They get like that when someone hurts their mate.”

Her eyes widened as soon as the words escaped her lips. Tyler's face winced and he sucked in a quick breath.

“Mate?” I questioned in shock.

Tyler and Cassie exchanged looks like they were doing that mime thing again.

“Hey!” I snapped at them. “No fair! Stop having a secret conversation, through your mime link thingy,” I whined.

They stopped instantly, and both turned towards me with smirks on their faces.

“What link?” Tyler asked mockingly while Cassie was holding her hand over her mouth trying to contain a laugh.

“You know what I'm on about. Tristan told me you two mime linked at the table earlier,” I shot my answer back at him.

All three of them doubled over with laughter.

“What?” I questioned in a mix of confusion and frustration.

What is wrong with these people? I thought while furrowing my brow.

They were too busy laughing at me to answer, so I asked in a whiny voice, “What's so bloody funny?”

“Mind link. Not Mime link,” Cassie scoffed back in between snorts of laughter.

I could feel a heat gradually rising up from my chest and my face turned bright red with embarrassment.

“Oh right, mind,” I replied in a low voice. “That makes better sense than mime.”

I chuckled lightly, still mortified that I thought they were doing some sort of mime act. Tristan had managed to stop laughing and put his arm around my shoulder, then pulled me to his side. I reached my arm around his back and he said to me with a chuckle,

“you're so damn cute babe.”

I turned slightly and slapped his chest.

“Hey, you, shut up!”

He chuckled then kissed the top of my head and I could feel his giant grin through my hair. We were all bought back to reality by the sound of my mom shouting up the stairs,

“Hey, are you guys going to your graduation today or not?”

I panicked and shouted at the others,

“Crap! Look at the time. We best get going or we're going to miss our own graduation.”

We all quickly ran down the stairs and out of the front door.

Tyler and Cassie were laughing and play fighting in the back of the car, I giggled to myself as I watch them messing around and having fun. I then watched Tristan. He was holding the passenger side door open for my mom.

He was such a gentleman and very sweet. He was always doing nice things for people and was so darn polite. Watching him be kind to my mom melted my heart. It made me realize that this guy was the love of my life. There were so many things about him that made him perfect. Yeah, the fact that he was a werewolf was a huge deal, and scary as hell. But maybe I could trust him when he said that he will never hurt me?

Maybe, this can work?

A huge smile grew across my face as I imagined a mystical and exciting new future with my Alpha.

“Oi, move over!” I shouted while playfully shoving Tyler's shoulder, so that I could have some more room in the back seat.

Tristan started up the car and music began to play on the radio. It was Meant to be by Bebe Rexha and it was definitely the perfect song for how I was feeling at that moment.

I was a little scared of the new future that was ahead of me, but like the words in the song said, if it's meant to be it'll be. Cassie and I began singing in the back seat, Tyler was sitting between us with his hands over his ears. He screwed up his face like he was disgusted with our singing.

I personally think we sound awesome, so screw him.

We both ignored him and when the chorus kicked in, we sang at the top of our lungs just to piss him off.

Tristan gazed at me in the rearview mirror and he was smiling from ear to ear, he then mouthed the words, I love you. I put my arms around his shoulders and whispered in his ear,

“I love you always, forever be mine.”

He placed a soft kiss on my hand which made my heart burst with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I sat back in my seat with a big smile on my face.

My life is pretty damn amazing right now.

I stared out of the window fantasizing about our future when I heard someone calling my name.

“Huh?” I asked Tyler.

He peeked back at me with a confused expression, and replied,

“I didn't say anything, Frey.”

I furrowed my brow and shrugged, then turned away to look back out of the window. We pulled up to some traffic lights and waited for a few minutes. As we were waiting, I saw a tall, dark and handsome guy standing on the pavement. He was holding a huge bunch of beautiful red roses. I thought to myself that it was sweet, and that whoever they were for, was a very lucky person. I thought no more about it, as we drove away.

After a while we pulled up to another set of lights, and as I gazed back out of the window. I spotted the guy again and he was still holding the huge bunch of red roses, but they were definitely not beautiful anymore. Somehow in only a few minutes they had all withered and died. Most of them were now just pathetic stems. I glanced at the flowers in shock and confusion.

How did he catch up with us so fast?

I braved it and glanced up at the guy's face. To my horror, he was pointing right at me, and he had an evil, yet strangely seductive grin spread across his face. I gave him a terrified look in response, then my eyes grew wide, as he suddenly vanished into thin air.

Freya Rose

I decided against mentioning the creepy guy with the dead flowers. Today was meant to be a celebration day. To be completely honest, I barely believed what I'd just seen myself. I mean, moments before, I had just been fantasizing about a future with Tristan. Us as a family with a bunch of our werewolf pups running around in the woods. Maybe my mind got a bit carried away, and made the whole thing up?

We pulled into the parking lot of our high school. We only had one high school in our town. Jasper was a small town in Alberta, Canada. It was nestled in the middle of a national park. The skyline was delicately held by stunning glacier mountains, and there were five beautiful lakes. Each lake was a different shade of color, going from a turquoise blue to an aqua green, and the water was crystal clear. The woods were lush and were home to many different animals like, Elk, Deer, Moose, Big horned Sheep and Mountain Goats. It was a gorgeous place to live and raise children.

Being a tomboy when I was younger, made it the perfect place for me to grow up. Knowing what I did now, I guessed it was perfect for all of the werewolves in town too. Me, Tyler and Cassie would spend our summer's climbing trees, hiking, swimming in the lakes and camping in the woods. We had a great childhood and now we were all here graduating together. It was the end of an era and the start of a new future.

I had no idea what I wanted to do after high school, I would probably just get a job working with my mom. She worked in one of the many restaurants we had here in town. A lot of kids wanted to leave our small town and move into colleges in a big city, but that idea had never entered my head. I loved living in Jasper.

Cassie's family owned a guest house, so she was going to work there, and Tyler and Tristan's family owned a chain of hardware stores across the country called Cole's Hardwere ltd.

Oh, I see what they did there. They used were, as in werewolf instead of ware. I never did understand why it was called that. I'd just thought that they'd spelt it wrong.

Both Tyler and Tristan already helped out with running the business. So, they were never going to leave for college. I guessed they couldn't if they were part of a pack, and Tristan's going to be their Alpha. I wasn't sure if you could even leave a pack to go to college, or if you could move away at all. There were so many questions I had about the whole werewolf thing. Tristan was going to wish he'd never told me.

Tristan parked the car and got out first. He walked around to the passenger side door and opened it for my mom, then held his hand out for her to take.

“Thank you, Tristan,” my mom said as she took his hand and stepped out of the car.

Tyler and Cassie left the car as well and started walking towards the school, hand in hand. I opened my door then swung my legs around and placed my feet on the floor. I held my hand out cheekily waiting for Tristan to notice. Tristan walked back around the car and stopped when he saw me. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at my cheekiness.

I managed to keep a straight face and stayed looking serious, he laughed and walked towards me. I stretched out my hand further, but to my surprise, he swatted it away. He bent down and put his shoulder on my belly before placing his hands around my back and lifting me out of the car. He stood up straight, and as he did, he threw me over his shoulder.

“Ahh Tristan. Put me down,” I begged.

“Nope,” He replied with a pop of the p.

He chuckled as I kicked my legs and wiggled around. He then placed his arm over the back of my knees, so that I couldn't move them anymore.

“Stop fighting me, babe. I thought when I pinned you to the bed earlier, you would have realized, you can't win.”

He playfully slapped my ass, and I slumped over his shoulder letting my legs and arms drop down in defeat. Tristan laughed his head off and walked me through the entire parking lot like that. I put my elbows on his back and held my head up as he walked me through the school. Everyone gorped and giggled at us as we strolled passed them. Tristan laughed even harder seeming very pleased with himself. I huffed and rolled my eyes.

He is going to pay for this later, that's for sure.

Tyler and Tristan's parents were already at the ceremony and were sitting in the front row with Tristan and my mom. Cassie's parents were there too with her twin sister Jessie. She wasn't sitting with us though, in fact, she didn't even acknowledge us at all. I didn't really care, but I did feel sorry for Cassie. This was supposed to be a happy day and a huge achievement in her life. It was an experience that she should have been able to share with her twin sister.

“Hello students and family,” a girl’s voice began to address the crowd, making us all take our seats. I looked up and saw Amber Wade starting her valedictorian speech. She appeared snooty and smug. I really hated that girl.

She was really pretty, and she knew it too. She had olive skin, with bright hazel/green eyes, gorgeous long black hair and an amazing figure. But her personality was just awful. She enjoyed bullying anyone and everyone.

“Ugh, it's Amber fucking Wade,” I whispered to Cassie.

She sniggered and tapped my arm gently. She swiftly spun her head around to look at Tristan, remembering how he reacted to her playfully hitting me earlier. He smiled at her and she sighed with relief. When she turned back around, I asked her a question,

“Can you mind link, Tristan, or is it just a mate thing?”

She raised her eyebrow raised and replied,

“No, it's not just a mate thing. We can mind link anyone in the pack. Why?”

We hushed for a second when Amber glared at us. Once Amber glanced away, I began whispering to Cassie again,

“Oh cool. Can you tell him something for me?” She nodded her head in response, so I continued, “tell him that I love him, and he looks freaking sexy today.”

She giggled and turned to face Tristan. After a few seconds, he laughed and winked at me. Cassie was staring at him and concentrating, I guessed she was listening to what Tristan was saying to her over the mind link.

She suddenly and violently shook her head at him, and he burst out laughing. He was so damn loud that people began to stare at him. My mom gave him a confused look like he'd gone completely mad. Cassie blushed and shot me a sideways glance.

“I am not going to repeat what he just said.”

She sat up straight in her chair and tried to concentrate on Amber's speech.

“Oh, it must have been really dirty if you’re willing to listen to this horse shit,” I said with a chuckle while I pointed a thumb at Amber.

I thought that Tristan must have been trying to say something else to Cassie through the mind link, because she was frantically waving her hand behind her back in annoyance. She then turned around and shot him an evil stare. Tristan cracked up again, and his laugh was loud enough to put Amber off of her speech making her scowl at him. Her scowl eventually found its way to me and Cassie. I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

“I'm sorry. Am I interrupting your conversation, Freya?” Amber boomed over the mic while pointing her scrawny finger at me.

Everyone instantly glared at me, making me sink down into my chair with embarrassment and cover my face with my hand.

“Well, I'm waiting!” She snapped while placing her hands on her hips.

She then snarled at me, clearly growing more frustrated with every passing second. Her face was turning bright red, and it seemed like her head was about to explode. I finally built up the courage to take my hand away from my face and saw that everyone was still staring at me. Tyler and Tristan were in fits of laughter.

Jerks

My mom was shaking her head in disapproval, and Cassie was just staring at me all wide-eyed. She clearly wasn't going to help me out of this, at all. Feeling brave and a little bit cocky, I stood up from my chair and shouted back sarcastically,

“Waiting for what exactly? Did I make you forget which bit of the speech you were reading?”

She scowled at me, daring me to continue my defiance, so I did.

“Why don't you ask Elsa to help you out? After all, she's the one who actually wrote the speech you're trying to pass off as your own.”

I instantly regretted saying it when I heard gasps and tuts from the crowd. Elsa threw Amber a worried look, but Amber didn't even notice her. She just kept scowling at me, and it seemed like at any second, she might have spat flames at me.

Tristan and Tyler were beyond help by that point and were laughing so hard, that they had tears streaming down their faces. Their mom Clara was so embarrassed, but their dad Aiden was trying his best to keep a straight face. Cassie just dropped her head into her hands, and Amber's parents looked like they wanted to murder me. I decided to do the only thing I could think of to fix it.

“I'm sorry Amber. That was uncalled for, and I sincerely apologize for my outburst. Please continue with your lovely speech,” I shouted out trying to sound as sincere as possible.

I saw my mom smirk and shake her head again, so I continued to try and apologize some more,

“Oh, and I’m sure you wrote it all by yourself!”

I gave her a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. She was not happy at all, it was hilarious. She straightened up, flipped her hair over her shoulder and carried on with Elsa's speech.

“You did the right thing apologizing. You don't need to lower yourself to Amber and my sister’s level, you're better than them,” Cassie whispered.

She glanced over to Jessie and smiled at her slightly. Jessie just rolled her eyes in response then looked away, making Cassie lower her head. I held Cassie's hand and gave it a squeeze. I then sat back in my chair and zone out into my own thoughts, there was no way that I was going to sit there and listen to miss prissy pants, Amber, ramble on.

Cassie was a beautiful and kind girl. She had stunning blue eyes and long, wavy, light blonde hair. She had this cute little freckle on her nose too. Her twin sister Jessie's facial features seemed almost exactly the same as Cassie's, except that she had green eyes and even lighter blonde hair. They used to be stuck together like glue when they were little. They never went anywhere without one another. They even used to dress the same, it was really cute, but that all changed when we were thirteen.

That was when Jessie began hanging around with Amber and Elsa. From then on, she didn't want to be seen with me, Tyler, or even her own twin. Cassie was devastated for a long time, she said she felt like an arm had been cut off. We all tried to stay friends with her, but Jessie turned into a bitch and began picking on Cassie all the time. She was being especially nasty to her and embarrassing her in front of everyone. I guess she learned a thing or two from mean girl Amber.

She eventually took the nastiness a step too far. A few weeks back she began dating Cassie's longtime crush, Landon Wade. On the day of their eighteenth birthday, to add further insult. Cassie had been in love with Landon for as long as I could remember. I definitely understood why. He was an extremely attractive guy and very fit. He had olive skin, dark brown hair and stunning hazel eyes. He was such a sweetheart too, surprising really, considering that nasty bitch Amber was his little sister. But I could have killed him on Cassie and Jessie's birthday.

While I was at Cassie's house giving her, her birthday gift, in strolls Jessie all loved up with Landon. Jessie and Landon both knew how Cassie felt about him. She'd never had the guts to ask him out, but it was obvious to everyone that she was besotted with him. When she saw them walk in, all over each other, she burst into tears and ran into her bedroom. I tried to comfort her, but she asked me to leave.

I guessed it was a good job that Tyler went around there that night, and they found out they were mates. Cassie didn't seem bothered at all about Landon and Jessie anymore. It was a blessing because she was absolutely heartbroken that day, but I think the mate bond with Tyler was stronger than whatever she had felt for Landon.