Author's Note: It's been far, far, far too long! I am so sorry that this has taken forever! I won't bore you with all the reasons why it has taken me so long to update this story, but just know that I'm back and I fully intend to update regularly!

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do NOT own The Covenant or any of its characters. Trust me, if I did, I would be Mrs. Caleb Danvers. I do, however, own the storyline and any original characters within this work.

The kids from Spenser knew Savannah, Paige, Ember, and Lacey as four best friends who were really more like sisters. They were a unit, and a formidable one at that. They were perfect counterpart to the Sons of Ipswich.

Their former peers, most of them anyway, would be shocked and saddened to find out that they barely interacted with each other at Ipswich High School.

The origins of the rift traced back to the "incident-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of," which ultimately resulted in the four girls being forced to attend public school in what was a not so subtle parent mandated separation from the Sons. The forced switch in schools resulted in Paige, Ember, and even Lacey giving Savannah the silent treatment. Isolated in a brand new and scary environment, Savannah forged her own path. She made a life for herself outside of her role as the oldest Daughter of Ipswich. The other girls did the same as well.

Savannah didn't blame her friends for taking their anger out on her. Neither did Caleb, for that matter. They had been uncharacteristically careless and it had cost them dearly. What no one else knew, however, was that the incident hadn't been a matter of their teenage hormones taking over their cognitive brain functions. Rather, it had everything to do with the fact that they had just exchanged "I love you's" for the first time.

Three Years Ago

Caleb was standing across from her, his face grim, his jaw set.

"Honestly, Cay, it wasn't that big of a deal. I was able to handle it on my own. I'm stronger than I look." Savannah said, doing her best to make her voice sound super casual.

"I don't doubt that for a second," Caleb replied, "but it doesn't change the fact that I feel the need to protect you. This is exactly what I was talking about the other day! You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you shouldn't have to. Savannah…don't you get it? Your problems are my problems. That's how this couple thing works, but you won't even let me help you and all I've ever done is trust you and worry about you and–"

"I trust you with every fiber of my being. How could you even doubt that?"

"Well, what the hell am I supposed to think? I had to find out through Lacey that Aaron tried to force himself on you. I just…I don't know."

Savannah shuddered. She had never seen him this mad at her before. Caleb had always been the one person she could rely on besides herself. It was in Caleb's waiting arms where she had fallen apart when she received her first and only "F" in pottery. It was Caleb who had reassured her that she wasn't evil when her eyes turned the darkest black they'd ever been. It was Caleb who had stood by her through it all, steadfast and strong in a world that always seemed to be spinning out of control.

"I was trying to protect you!" Savannah exploded. "You're always protecting me, but what about you, Cay? We got our powers less than a year ago. You can't control the urge to use anymore than I can control the urge to use. It's like a frustrating itch that refuses to go away no matter how much you scratch at it. It just gets worse and worse. If I had told you what had happened, I knew that you would go after Aaron and I knew that you would be tempted to use your powers. I refuse to put you in that situation, even if that means that I have to keep certain things from you. I guess I just wanted to protect you for a change. I shouldn't have even told Lacey about any of this in the first place, but I did and it was my stupid mistake…"

"No, your mistake was not telling me the instant Aaron approached you." Caleb insisted, but his voice had softened.

"Caleb, I don't want you using the power to protect me."

"I understand what you mean about that itch," he admitted, "but if I have to use, then I will. Especially if it's a matter of keeping you safe."

"No. Absolutely not. I won't let you."

"I'm sorry if that bothers you, but I'm going to do everything in my power to protect the girl that I love." Caleb said, revealing more than he'd intended to.

Savannah stared at him for a long moment, a mix of emotions coursing through her.

"Don't say that," she whispered. Did he really feel the same way she did, or was he just that aware of what she wanted – no, needed – to hear?

"Why not? It's true. I love you. I'm in love with you, Savannah Harper Sinclair. I always have been."

"I'm madly, stupidly, irrevocably in love with you too."

"You've never done a stupid thing in your life," Caleb teased, flashing a million-dollar smile as he stepped closer to her.

Savannah returned his smile, her eyes aglow, the fight already forgotten. Her mind danced with joy, her body trembled with want. The control that she prided herself on possessing was long gone.

"Maybe it's time to change that," she suggested.

Caleb raised an eyebrow, confused.

"My parents are at a charity function. They won't be home for hours. You love me and I love you."

"I love you and you love me," he repeated, his voice filled with something akin to awe.

A hundred years of debating would never resolve the issue of who kissed who first. They came together at the exact same moment, and the kiss created a dizzying kaleidoscope of sensations that neither teen could ever have imagined existed.

One kiss turned into another, and then another, each one becoming more intimate, more demanding. The "one kiss" quickly turned into an intense, drawn-out make-out session. They didn't make it upstairs to her bedroom. They barely even made it to the couch in the living room.

Need replaced reason. Pure, white-hot lust obliterated any semblance of sanity. His tongue explored the sweet recesses of her mouth as he wedged a leg between her thighs, using it to exert exquisite pleasure against her. She moaned into his mouth, the vibrations thrilling his nerves.

When she grabbed the hem of her camisole to pull it up, he gently brushed her hands away. He continued to kiss her as his hands slipped underneath her shirt. His palms flattened against her abdomen, and then smoothed upward, caressing the sides of her body with more dexterity than any fourteen year old should have. Savannah found herself arching against him, taut as a bowstring.

Caleb broke the kiss, but only long enough to pull her shirt off and then his mouth was back on hers. He caressed her, skimming his thumbs over the lacy cups of her bra, and she had to pull away from his mouth, throw her head back just to breathe.

"I want you. Now." She punctuated the demand with a particularly wicked undulation of her hips.

Through the haze of desire that had so thoroughly swamped her, she heard Caleb let out a low, guttural groan.

He gazed lovingly up at her, his breathing ragged and raw. Spellbound, she returned his gaze, and brought her hands up to his chest. She started to unbutton his white shirt, her fingers trembling with a mixture of eagerness and nerves. Heat flooded her cheeks, making them burn, but she focused on keeping her fingers steady enough to guide the buttons through the holes.

Slowly, she continued to unbutton his shirt, placing kisses at each new area of skin revealed. Once the shirt hung open, baring his perfectly carved chest and washboard abs, she pushed the material over his shoulders.

Then her hands went to his belt buckle, and he caught them. "Are you sure about this? I want this to be perfect for you."

"Caleb, I don't want perfect. I just want you." She whispered, before kissing him.

They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't hear the sound of the front door opening and closing. They did, however, hear the loud yells that came a few seconds later.

"SAVANNAH HARPER SINCLAIR!"

Startled, the couple separated from each other. Caleb grabbed his shirt in a panic. Savannah tried to cover her upper body with her hands, feeling embarrassed. For once in her life, she had no idea what to say or do.

"What the fuck were you two doing?" Nathan Sinclair, Savannah's dad, demanded as he strode into the room. He'd never sworn at her before. Never. That's how Savannah knew he was really pissed.

Everything had changed after that moment. Almost everything. Caleb and Savannah's love for each other certainly hadn't changed. And the lust between them hadn't cooled one bit in the past three years. If anything, it burned hotter than ever. It was like lust on crack. But the dynamics of their friendships with the rest of the Sons and Daughters had definitely taken a different turn.

Which was why half of the school day passed by without the four girls saying a word to each other.

When they finally did talk, it was in the school's bathroom during the first lunch wave.

"Vanna-banana!" Paige shrieked when Savannah entered the bathroom. Savannah had just come out of a meeting with her guidance counselor, so today she was the last of the four girls to arrive at their meeting spot. Without any warning, Paige came barreling towards Savannah with the alacrity of a puppy and none of the finesse.

Savannah looked to Ember and Lacey, as if silently asking them to explain what the hell was going on, but neither girl said anything.

"Did you know," Paige slurred as she flung her arms around Savannah's neck, "that love sucks."

Now that Paige was closer to Savannah, she could smell that her friend reeked of alcohol.

A frown worked its way onto Savannah's face. The eternal optimist in her kept hoping for the best, but things were clearly getting worse.

"Some water should sober her up," Ember suggested to Savannah.

Savannah sighed, but nodded in agreement.

Being drunk on school grounds could get Paige written up, or worse, expelled.

Not wanting that to happen, Savannah passed Paige over Ember.

"Merlin help us all," Lacey muttered.

Pushing the taps of one of the sinks to cold, Ember waited until it was filled up and then shut the tap off. Ember dunked Paige's face in the water while Lacey helped by holding Paige's hair back so that it wouldn't get wet. The shock of the cold water hitting her face seemed to sober her up immediately.

"Stop," Paige gasped out between coughs. "Wait…! Oh, hell…"

Ember ignored her and repeated the action twice more. A split-second later, she pulled Paige back up. "I'm sure she's all sober now," Ember remarked. Savannah rolled her eyes at the remark while Lacey giggled and Paige glared.

"Paige, this isn't healthy," Savannah said. "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be. It's not like I'm boozing it up every day. I just needed something to take the edge off after seeing Pogue and Kate together last night."

Savannah started to say, "I know it must be hard for you, but…"

Paige cut her off with, "no you don't know." She sounded frustrated. "There's a reason why you and Caleb get teased about being Barbie and Ken. You're perfect. He's perfect. The two of you together as a couple are perfect. Anyone with half a brain knows that the two of you will get married and have a perfect marriage, and conceive a perfect child, and your whole lives will just go on being perfect," she snapped. Savannah was more than just a little surprised.

"She's just trying to help you, Paige. We all are." Lacey said, coming to Savannah's defense.

"Well, maybe I don't want help. Maybe I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing. Did you guys ever consider that?"

The question was met with silence.

On that awkward note, the brunette stormed past them and out of the bathroom.

"Nice talk, you guys," Ember said without even making an effort to hide the sarcasm in her voice "I would stay, but I have a date with Burger King that I should be getting to. I've got two bacon cheeseburgers, large fries, and a chocolate milkshake calling my name."

"But we're not allowed to go off-campus for lunch." Lacey reminded her.

Ember's grin was like a Cheshire cat. "When has that ever stopped me before?"

Normally, this would be where Savannah would lecture Ember on the importance of following the rules. This time, however, she said nothing.

Ember and Lacey could tell from the dazed look on her face that she was still in a state of shock.

This was not the way any of them had imagined starting off their senior year.

"Cheer up, buttercup," Ember said in what she hoped was a comforting voice. As much as Savannah pissed her off with all the 'I'm the oldest, so I know what's best for you' crap, she still loved her. "Look at this way, we can only go up from here."

Little did she know just how wrong she was.

Things were about to get worse.

A lot worse.

Once again, I am so sorry that this has taken me forever to update!

Hope you guys liked this chapter!