My lips barely brushed hers when she let out a long deep sigh. Her breath mingled with mine smelled like peppermints. Holding her so close to me, just holding her made my entire body radiate with happiness.

Our lips brushed slightly again and I wanted to deepen the kiss. To make her know how much I needed her—how much I loved her.

But I knew that if I pushed her, she would pull away from me and I would lose her. Sure enough Fiona stepped back away from my embrace. Glittering tears sparkled like diamonds on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," it came out broken. I couldn't believe that I was apologizing to her. Strange how love turns us upside down. I would've never thought that I would be apologizing to a girl.

Fiona shook her head violently causing the tears to fly from her face. "No. No, don't apologize. I should be the one apologizing."

I pulled Fiona back into my arms and looked down into her beautiful light eyes. She stared back at me her face a mask. I wanted to tear down that wall—see her smile at me.

"Why should you of all people apologize to me? I'm the one who keeps putting you in danger. I'm the one that keeps pushing you. I love you Fiona. I love you. And you have the nerve to want to apologize to me! Never. You have nothing to apologize for."

She chewed on her lips making me want to kiss her again. Her eyes found the ground.

It was at that moment that I realized where we were. We needed to leave. Get away from here. Mikasi was still out there.

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything," I pulled away from her but kept a hold of her tiny hand. "We need to go."

She didn't say anything—she just followed meekly behind me. I led her away from the safe house and out of the woods. There were too many trees for a certain vampire to hide behind.

I took Fiona back to my apartment. It probably wasn't the safest place, after all, Mikasi had found us once before, but I didn't give a damn. It would be easier for me to protect Fiona in my own environment.

She sat on the couch and stared down at her hands. I paced the room nervously before opening my cell phone to fill the pack in.

Sure, I could've phase, but that would've meant leaving Fiona alone. I definitely was not going to do that.

I called Jacob first. He was pack leader no matter how much I disliked it.

"Yeah?" Jacob answered on the first ring.

"I got Fiona, but that bloodsucker is probably going to still try to come after her. I'm at my place. Can I get some people out here to put up a perimeter?"

There was a pause. "Are you going to phase?"

"Hell no! I'm not leaving her!" I practically yelled. Fiona looked up from the couch.

"Yeah. I'll put Embry, Jared and Seth out there. Then we'll trade shifts. I'll keep you posted."

Click.

Fiona stared at me from the couch. Her hands lay in her lap. Her expression was undecipherable.

"You . . ." her face scrunched up as she struggled to find the words, "You're not going to leave . . . you're going to stay here . . . why?"

Sitting in the chair across from her I stared her down. My words were exasperated. "Because, I love you. I'm not going to leave you. No matter how much I want to go hunt down that little . . . the point is," I rose from the chair and sat next to Fiona and took her cold hands in my warm ones. "The point is, I'm not ever going to leave you. Can't you understand that?"

Her eyes searched mine before dropping to our hands. "No. I can't understand why. Why you would choose me. You tried to explain it before, but I still don't understand. I'm not any good. I'm broken and bruised and damaged. I might never be able to return what you give," her voice was barely a whisper.

I tipped her face up so that she had to look at me. "It doesn't matter to me what you are. I love you. You're my soul mate. You were put on this earth to complete me, as cheesy as that sounds," I smiled weakly at her, "I didn't exactly chose you. It's more like—we clicked. No," I paused again.

"No. That's not it. When I saw you—everything stopped. You became my world. My life. If I ever lost you, I wouldn't be able to go on living. It would be like someone took a piece of me away. That's what it means. It means that I love you, no matter what. You could hate me and I would still love you."

I'd never said so much. Explaining to Fiona why I loved her was like trying to explain a rainbow to a blind person. You could tell them the gist of it, but you couldn't ever truly show them that image. You could only hope they understood.

Silence filled the room and I was afraid that my explanation had only served to scare her further away from me. I cursed under my breath looking away.

"You shouldn't love me," she said, "you shouldn't . . ."

And then I felt tiny lips on my cheek. I turned to look. Fiona was only centimeters away from my face. Her cool breath on my face.

"You shouldn't . . ." she repeated, "but you do. I understand that much."

She pulled her hands out of mine and placed a palm on either side of my face. Her hands were so tiny.

I reached up to cover her hands with mine but she shook her head. My hands fell back into my lap.

Fiona was up on her knees so that her face was level with mine. Her porcelain fingers traced my face. They crossed my eyes and cheekbones finally ending with a brush against my lips. I sighed into her touch.

Unexpectedly, Fiona giggled at me. I smiled goofily back at her.

"You have girly eye lashes," she muttered.

I fluttered the offending piece of anatomy causing her to giggle again. Her hands slid from my face down my neck and to my shoulders. She felt along them with gentle strokes.

Color flooded to her face as she moved down my chest. I chuckled at that making her blush more. Her hands traced my sinewy muscles and I held back a groan. My eyes fluttered shut as she moved her attention to my back.

I could feel her breath on my neck as she leaned against me to reach the skin on my back. Her heart was beating very fast against my chest. I resisted the urge to grab her into an embrace.

All at once her hands left my body. I waited for a moment thinking that she was going to feel me somewhere else. My eyes opened slowly and her face came into focus.

She was very close. I smirked at her and a quick sliver of a smile lit her face.

Slowly she ran her hands up the planes of my chest, over my shoulders and around the back of my neck.

Then she closed her eyes.

I waited to see what she would do next. I didn't have to wait long.

Fiona pressed her soft lips against mine.

My reaction was instantaneous. I wound my arms around her waist so that she fell into my lap. When she didn't object I scraped my teeth against her lower lip.

She sighed into my mouth.

Ring.

Fiona jerked away from me, her breathing heavy.

Ring.

My cell phone was insistent. "Shit," I mumbled and found my phone with my hand. I looked at the caller ID. It was Jacob.

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Sorry about the hiatus guys. I've just been ridiculously busy. Ugh. Studying takes up most of my life now. I'm sure that if you leave me reviews then I'll find more time to write. Okey dokey? Let me know if you like this chapter. I know I did.