I was awake by 7 the next morning and I knew right then, something must be wrong with me. I'd never even seen 7am before.
It must be the stress, I deduced, stumbling down the stairs. I'd had a restless sleep, images of Mason and Christian constantly cropping up.
I opened the fridge and pulled out the milk carton to take a swig. It was times like these I really needed a friend but Harper was out of state, visiting her parents. It was hard not to feel stung by the timing; she'd left just as we'd discovered the whole werewolf vs. wizard thing. I guess the whole magic thing got just a little too scary for her sometimes. Boy, she would freak out if she knew about this whole Mason-Christian thing.
"Drinking away the sorrows?"
I looked up to see Christian of all people; in the world.
"How are you always here when I don't want to see you?" I asked him viciously, taking another gulp of milk.
"I have a radar in my head that tells me when you're in your best mood. Then it tells me to find some way to annoy you and ruin all of that."
"You're such a –"
"Awesome guy?" he finished with a grin.
I scowled. "That's not what I was going to say."
"But it's much more polite than your answer."
"Can you leave me alone?" I pleaded, trying to get past him but he sashayed into my path.
"I want to apologize."
"Your apologies don't mean anything, especially when I know you're not sorry," I told him, moving around him but got a hold of me and didn't let go.
"Let go of me!" I whispered furiously, careful not to wake my parents or Mason like we had last night.
"Nope," he answered. "I let you win last night but now I'm not letting go."
I struggled against his arms. "What do you want?"
"I want to explain myself," he said calmly. "Set things straight. I was just testing something last night."
"Testing what?" I asked exasperatedly.
"Testing whether I felt anything when I kissed you. And I didn't."
"Good to know," I answered, making a stronger attempt to get free.
"You don't like me, do you?" he asked curiously in my ear.
"You know perfectly well she doesn't."
My head snapped up and Mason was standing by the stairs, staring at us. I had to stop getting myself into these situations which always looked worse than they actually were.
Christian set me down slowly and stepped away. "I don't know brother, she didn't actually deny it."
"I don't like you, you psychopath," I spat at him, as if he needed more proof than my attempts to get the hell away from him.
He shrugged and moved past myself and Mason to the door without looking back. For a second, I thought Mason was going to do the right thing and let him go. But he snapped, flying across the room and tackling Christian through the wall. And when I say through the wall, I mean through the wall. I was left staring at a gaping hole the size of Australia in the living room. Justin, my parents and Max came bounding down the stairs just as I followed Mason and Christian into the hall. They both had each other in a hold. I managed to squeeze between the two of them. They finally noticed I was standing there and backed away.
"God Alex, I wish you'd just let me kill him," Mason thundered, his face red.
"Like you could," Christian threw back.
"Enough," I told them. "Outside now!"
We sauntered down the stairs and the urge to permanently destroy Christian's handsome, chiseled face was still alive and well inside me. But I resisted, partly due to the fact Alex was between us and any movement to hurt him might hurt her as well.
We made our way outside and the breath of fresh air was calming. It was enough for my temperature to lower and anger to subside.
"Is this going to take long?" Christian asked impatiently.
"Why don't you just leave now?" I said, baring my teeth.
"Because I want him here," Alex spoke up.
Our heads snapped in her direction. Even Christian hadn't been expecting that vote of support.
"I want us all to get along," she said. "The only way we're going to stop this whole war is if we work together. Why can't we just do that?"
"Because he's in love with you!" I screamed at her.
She flinched and Christian's face went icy. "No, he's not," Alex said, her voice wavering.
"Alex, don't be so blind. Why do you think he's stuck around this whole time? It wasn't for me, it was for you."
She looked struck by my words. She turned to Christian, whose face was cold as he stared at me.
"Christian? It's not true right?"
"I'm not in love with you Alex," he said quietly.
Alex let out a low whistle of relief and turned to me as if to say, 'See, I told you'.
But something in me knew Christian hadn't finished yet and I wasn't all too surprised when he spoke again.
"But I do like you Alex, more than you know."
I couldn't find the strength to move or take my eyes off of Alex who was standing there, shocked.
"I lied when I said that kiss made me feel nothing. It made me feel more than I've felt in a century. And I know you thought I'd understood where we stood after what happened in the closet but I couldn't get you off my mind."
I'd never heard Christian say anything like this in my life; I'd never seen him express any feelings, show any love or sentiment. It was a strange sight. If not for the fact he was telling all this to my girlfriend, I might have actually congratulated him.
"More than anything, I want you to pick me over Mason, even though I know there's very little chance of that. I want you to pick me. Pick me Alex."
She didn't have any time to answer as Justin came flying through the door, panting. "Guys we got to go. The wizards are moving in on the werewolves now."
Alex looked panicked, switching her gaze to all three of us before her eyes fluttered close and she fainted, falling to the ground with a thump.
Talk about a distraction from the tension in the air.