I sat on a stump and watched the last of the pack finish up the stew that Hayley had made with the magical elixir. It was chilly, the cool breeze whipping through our hair but the sky was clear. It was silent. No one spoke as we watched the full moon. The only sound was the cracking of the fire as it licked at the old bark off the logs. The full moon was bright and big. As it began to fall from the sky, I got up from the stump and made my way over to Hayley's side just in case the elixir didn't work. When no turned back into their wolf form as the moon began to set, everyone began cheering and hugging each other with joy. I sighed bitterly, crossing my arms over my chest as Jackson and Hayley hugged each other.

"Oh, great, now I have to look at your ugly mug in human form too." I muttered and Hayley gave me a look. I rolled my eyes. "Wow, Jackson, I am so happy that the curse is broken." I said sarcastically.

TO

I had barely made it back to the compound when first light began to appear over the horizon. I was on my way to bed when Elijah grabbed me and began me on tedious tasks for the day. As he spoke, I knew I was going to be in for a long day, and it was going to be a while before I would get any sort of sleep. I followed Elijah into the church for a meeting with the faction leaders. Klaus had refused to step up to rule the city, so Elijah took it upon himself to fix the mess.

"So, what am I?" I questioned him as I followed him down the hallway. "Just your guard dog now?"

"I merely asked you to join me for support, to be an image of the community that this city needs, and every diplomat needs an enforcer. I'm offering you a job, Hayden." Elijah merely answered causally.

"Oh, wow, didn't realize that the great Elijah Mikaelson needed support."

"You're in quite the mood this morning."

"I'm tired and hungry and sleeping on the ground out in the bayou is not fun but don't worry, my master, I'll be happy to be your lap dog." I splayed my arms and gave him a mocking bow which he ignored as he strutted into the main room of the church. I walked over to a pew and leaned against it, crowing my arms over my chest as I eyes all the candidates.

"St. Anne's has long been neutral ground in our city, so it's only fitting that we gather in this chamber at the behest of Elijah Mikaelson to bring harmony to this place we call home." Kieran took a sit at the head of the table. "Thank you all for coming."

"Yes, thank you, and welcome." Elijah agreed, pulling a piece of parchment paper out and examining it. "These are the rules of the city according to Marcel Gerard…" He tore the parchment up into four pieces, the ripping sound echoing through my hybrid hearing. "…which of course no longer apply because I am in charge."

"You said if we came along that we would get to run things by ourselves." Diego, representing the vampire faction, protested. "Never mentioned anything about making yourself king."

"While you were each selected to represent your own communities, and I'll honor that. However, issues which arise between factions, they will come to me." Elijah instructed. "Now, we are all to some extent responsible for the current chaos in the city. However, you have one very, very simple choice ahead of you here. You can all play nicely together, or you can leave."

TO

Everyone was now shouting at each other as soon as Elijah had finished his ultimatum. Elijah was still sitting calmly at the other end of the table with his legs crossed while I remained leaning against the pew surveying with my arms over my chest. A small smirk played across my lips as I found this interaction quite amusing with them getting so worked up so easily.

"This is our city, too." Genevieve, representing the witches, snapped at Diego who stood for the vampires.

"We should be able to go wherever the hell we want." Diego retorted.

"We would consider it an act of war." I looked over at Elijah and smiled.

"This is funny." I said quietly, just loud enough for him to hear with his vampire hearing and he glared at me but didn't say a word until Father Kieran began to grow angrier and angrier due to the hex that the witches had put on him.

"We're getting nowhere." Father Kieran snapped. "You vile creatures cannot agree—"

"Father, calm yourself, please." Elijah's voice rang crisp and clear through the air like a knife and silence fell across the room. "Thank you. Now returning to the issue of boundaries, you will all heed to the following."

"Are you serious?" My head snapped to the left as I looked towards the source of the voice and saw Hayley standing in the entrance of the room, glaring directly in front of her to where Elijah was sitting. "You're dividing up the city, and the werewolves don't even get a say?" I vamp sped over to Hayley and quickly did a scan of her to make sure that she was all right.

"Hayley, what are you doing here?" I asked her quietly. "Are you okay?" She held up a hand to silence me, never taking her eyes off Elijah.

"I'm fine. The werewolves, however, are not fine because they have been left out of this little debate."

"What the hell is she doing here?" Diego growled and I snapped my head in his direction, veins crinkling and cracking under my eyes.

"Watch it, Diego, before I rip your heart out and eat it." I barked at him. "Now be a good boy and sit." Reluctantly, he sat back down, glaring once more at Hayley.

"We're not dividing the city." Elijah began explaining to Hayley gently. "We're establishing boundaries—"

"No, Elijah!" Hayley interrupted him. "There is not gonna be a peace if the werewolves are excluded."

"They want to come back to the city?" I questioned her.

"Yes. They want a seat at the table…" Everyone rolled their eyes and scoffed in disbelief. "And if they don't get one, I can guarantee that you will all regret it." Everyone began to talk over each other once more, sending the meeting into chaos again. Elijah looked past the arguing leaders and gave Hayley a stern look, silently telling her that he didn't appreciate this. Hayley crossed her arms over her chest, not backing down. Elijah simply stood off and asked everyone to leave. Once everyone had left, leaving Elijah, Hayley, and I alone, Elijah stood up from his chair and rounded on Hayley.

"Do you have any idea what it took just to get those people in one room together?" Elijah demanded.

"No, actually, I don't because I didn't even know what you were doing out here until someone else told me." She turned to look at me. "I thought we were in this together."

"I was going to come to you about it after I discussed the matter of the werewolves but now, I can't do that because you just barged in here as if you owned the joint." I snapped at her and Hayley glanced back at Elijah.

"Tell me something, Elijah. Did you leave the werewolves out because of me?"

"I excluded them because they no longer reside in the French Quarter." I looked confusingly at him.

"So, they don't even get a say?" I inquired. "I thought this was supposed to be a negotiation."

"My immediate concern is to end the mounting conflict here."

"That can't happen if the werewolves decide to start a rebellion against you because you chose for them."

"Now I can assure you once this treaty is solidified, it will expand to include your people."

"And until then I should tell them what?" Hayley demanded. "Sit, stay, roll over?"

"I would prefer that you remove yourself from the process altogether!" Elijah shouted but quickly took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and gained his composure before looking back at Hayley and giving her a warm smile. "Hayley, are you absolutely certain that shouldn't return to the compound?"

"With this whole territorial issue going on, the vampires and witches are going to be determined to keep the werewolves out of the quarter by any means necessary." I told Hayley softly. "That means that you'll have a target on your back. Your child will have a target on her back. I can protect you better and be a voice for the wolves if you were with me here in the city." Hayley glared at me, nostrils flaring and scoffed.

"You think the baby belongs there?" Hayley sneered. "You think that's where she'll be safe?"

"Is the bayou any better?"

"The wolves deserve a voice."

"And I'm trying to give them one, but I can't when you jump to conclusions like this." She stared at me for a moment in silence before speaking again.

"You're needed back at the bayou, Hayden. Jackson would like to have a word with you." She turned on her heel and stormed back out of the church and I followed her movements, the corners of my eyes drooping with confliction as my chest ached with sympathy for her struggle.

"Give the wolves a voice." I told Elijah without turning around to face him. "You know it's the right thing to do." I left before Elijah could say anything else.

TO

I didn't go back to the bayou. I had no intentions on speaking to Jackson nor do I plan on talking to him anytime soon. He irritated me and drove my wolf mad with the fact that he thought he was entitled and bombard Hayley that he was her long-lost husband to be. Instead, I snuck through the city and grabbed a bite to eat before heading back to the compound where I found out that Elijah was throwing a party for the communities to help them merge and come together. Like the werewolves, witches, vampires, and humans could ever get along. It was against our nature. I met up with Hayley at the entrance of the compound who was looking absolutely ravishing with her thick brunette hair curled around the side of her neck showing off her flawless face and bright brown eyes. Jackson, Oliver, and a couple of other wolves trailed behind her. Music pulsed through the air as Hayley and I walked side by side into the compound to the center courtyard. We stopped at the edge of the ground and observed the party that was already commencing. I was wearing a courtesy gift from Elijah that I had found in my bedroom. I never worn a dress quite like it. It was crafted of tiny blue gems so pale; they were almost white. It clung to every curve and hollow of my body before draping to the floor and pooling like liquid starlight. The long sleeves were tight, capped at the wrists with cuffs of pure diamond. The neckline grazed my collarbone, the modesty of it undone by how the gown hugged areas I supposed any woman might enjoy showing off. My hair has been swept off my face with two combs of silver and diamond, then left to drape down my back. And I thought, as I stood alone in my bedroom, that I might have looked like a fallen star.

"Stay in my earshot." I told Hayley, not taking my eyes off the crowd in front of me. "If something goes down, I need to be able to find you quickly."

"I'll keep an eye on her." Jackson informed me and I slowly turned to glare at him over my shoulder.

"Thanks, but I'm capable of doing it myself."

"Thanks, by I'm capable of taking care of myself." Hayley snapped at both of us before stalking off into the crowd. I growled at Jackson.

"Just keep your mongrels in line." I watched as the vampires began to tense up as the wolves entered and began to mingle. I walked over to the beverage table to where there was a stash of blood for the vampires, but I was surprisingly not hungry. Just being in Jackson's presence was enough for me to lose my appetite. Instead, I stood there and looked around the compound for any trouble, my ears perking to listen for any threats. As I was focusing on the merging of vampires and werewolves, I almost missed the familiar and comforting presence behind me. I turned around to see Elijah standing there, not looking at me, but straight ahead.

"Would you care to dance?" His sensual voice was soothing as he held out his hand for me to take. After eyeing his hand for a second, he finally turned to look at me with those captivating eyes. I slipped my hand into his and with a gentle tug, he pulled me into his embrace, swaying me in time with the beat of the music. I wrapped my left arm around his neck while he placed his right hand on my lower back, taking my right hand in his left. He ran his eyes up and down my body and I almost wanted to shy away from the intense stare. His gaze lingered on my lips for a second before looking me in the eye. "You look absolutely exquisite in that dress."

"Mmm." I hummed my approval, a smile playing at the corner of my lips. "Yes. Whoever picked it out has good taste. Too bad there was no card to go with it so I could graciously thank the person who laid it out for me." We stared intently at each other, the air crackling and warming between us. I cleared my throat before speaking again. "You outdid yourself. You even got Klaus to come out and play."

"Yes. It seems that only a sizable soiree is enough to tear my brother away from his efforts at the easel. That's never a good sign."

"Hayley said that painting was his metaphor for control, for achieving his vision through sheer force of will."

"Well, trustfully, I'd be shocked if he didn't have at least a dozen or so of those visions swarming around in that insidious skull of his. I do hope his daughter inherits her mother's… everything." I let out an amused chuckle as Elijah raised my arm above my head to give me a spin before snapping me back into his arms. I looked around at the lighting and décor, the stars peering down at us through the open ceiling.

"It is weird being back here."

"No unpleasant, I hope." I looked back down from the sky and smiled, gazing up at him.

"Not entirely."

"Are you entirely sure you shouldn't be here with us?" The question had me halting my movements and we stopped dancing as my stare on him intensified.

"I may be part wolf, but I feel out of place out in the bayou. I only stayed because of Hayley."

"Stayed? You say that in past tense. Does that mean you're coming back to the compound?" His voice was full of hope and curiosity as he tried to pry the answer out of me, but I was the kind of woman to let a man work for it.

"What reason would I have to come back, Elijah? Because you don't think it's safe in big, bad wolf country?" Elijah looked away from me and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. "I'm doing my best to try to convince Hayley to come back to the city but she's not gonna to sit in a rocking chair and knit booties or haven't you figured that out yet?" I paused waiting for an input from him, but he remained silent. I took a deep breath. "Well, you're in luck. Hayley has asked me to stay here in the city to be an emissary for the wolves. She's safe out in the bayou with her army of wolves protecting her." Elijah finally looked back at me; his brown eyes full of confliction.

"She wants you to negotiate them a place in the quarter." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"And by your tone of voice, I'm assuming that you're not going to let me negotiate a place for them in the quarter."

"Hayden, I've told you before, after the treaty—" I took one step out of his embrace and glared at him.

"The wolves are not going to wait, Elijah. They want a place. They want a home. It was your kind that drove them out into the bayou to begin with. You say you want peace but excluding the wolves is not how your achieve peace. It's how you start a war." Elijah was speechless as he tried to come up with something to say but before he could make an input, Jackson's voice sounded behind me.

"Can I have a minute, Hayden?" Jackson asked.

"You can have it later." Elijah answered for me, never breaking eye contact with me and I growled in defiance at him.

"Actually, he can have this dance." I snapped at him before turning to Jackson and allowing him to pull me into his embrace. My anger at Elijah in that moment was enough to make me forget about my hatred towards Jackson as I felt Elijah watch us for a moment before stalking off into the crowd.

"Everything all right?" Jackson inquired.

"Yeah. Fine. We were just discussing the future of the city." I tried to look anywhere but at Jackson as we danced.

"Listen, Hayden, if I have done something to offend you—" My eyes snapped to Jackson's hazel eyes. "I can see that you are loyal to Hayley, fiercely protective over her. I understand that. I want the same thing as you—her safety. So, if you have a problem with me—"

"My problem, Jackson, is that you've known her for five seconds. I've known her for years. She's my family. She's my only family that I have and then you waltz in claiming to be her long-lost husband to be and expect her to roll over and accept her destiny. I don't buy it. I don't care if you and Andreas were to be married before you two were even born. You want to be her husband? Prove to me that you can protect her, support her, care for her and that child of hers."

"Shouldn't I be proving all that to Hayley?"

"And me because she is the only family that I have left. Without her, I'm alone. If you so much as step a toe out of line to hurt her or her daughter, you'll be swallowing your own teeth as I eat your still beating heart." He blinked at me and finally ginned.

"Like I said. Fiercely protective and loyal. I like that about you. It's something a pack needs but I do hope you believe me when I said that we want the same thing for Hayley." I stared into his eyes, listening to his heartbeat and my gut, deciding whether he was lying or not or had any kind of ill intent. I relaxed a little bit when I found nothing.

"I believe you." His smile grew and I rolled my eyes.

TO

I managed to escape Jackson and found myself wandering up one of the staircases to overlook the crowd. I gripped the railing so hard in my hands, the wood groaned in protest. I had snatched a glass of blood and was angrily sipping on it, still seething on the fact that Elijah was refusing negotiations for the wolves. As I watched the crowd push and pull, merging, Hayley came up to my side and peered over the banister as well.

"Well, someone is in a mood." Hayley muttered, eyeing me suspiciously as I took another sip of blood.

"Elijah pissed me off." I snarled into my glass. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Elijah was watching me from down below and obviously heard what I said. I flashed my fangs at him before taking another drink of my blood. "Are you sure you want me to be the emissary? First conversation as emissary with the man and I'm already pissed off. I'm the most hot-tempered werewolf out there."

"But you're not a werewolf, Hayden. You're a hybrid. Werewolf and vampire. You see both sides. You understand both sides. You can also be levelheaded when you need to. Elijah just got under your skin because of your feelings for him." I scoffed and pressed the edge of my glass to my lips.

"Even more reason why I shouldn't be the emissary."

"I trust your judgement, Hayden. You'll do fine."

"And while I'm doing all this, what will you be doing?"

"Jackson and I will be working together to help the pack adjust back into the human life." I scoffed again at the sound of Jackson's name.

"And Jackson. Doesn't even get me started with him."

"Give him a chance, Hayden. You can't think the worst of everyone." I glared at Hayley and scoffed one last time, tasting my blood, and looking out over the party. "Whether he pissed you off or not, Elijah does have good taste. You look beautiful in that dress." My cheeks heated as I blushed.

"Well, thank you, Hayley, and only you could pull off being pregnant and still look sexy in a tight ass dress." She chuckled and leaning against the railing beside me. Something crashed in the far-left corner of the courtyard and I straightened as I looked out in that direction to see a fight breaking out between Diego and Oliver as they took out the drink stand. I let out a menacing growl. Of course, if would be those two to start anything. A flash sped through the courtyard to the fighters as Elijah vamp sped over to them and grabbed Oliver by the neck to pull him off Diego and pinned him against a table as I watch Jackson grab a stake and held Diego against a pillar, poking him in the chest just over his heart. "Well, this just got interesting."

"This ends now." Elijah bellowed as Oliver struggled against his grip, but the original vampire was obviously too strong for a simple werewolf. "I won't ask again."

"Oh, we'll end it all right." Jackson told him and Elijah glanced over his shoulder at Jackson.

"Your time to shine." Hayley whispered to me and I looked at her as if she were crazy.

"What?" I questioned her.

"Hayden, you are part vampire and part werewolf. A vampire and werewolf just picked a fight with each other. Now go be an emissary and handle." Hayley took my glass and shoved me towards the bottom of the steps. I almost stumbled but quickly caught my footing as I stepped off the last step, shooting one last glare in Hayley's direction. Taking a deep breath, I masked my face with a cool adamant expression as I quickly thought of how I wanted to handle this. This rival between the vampires and werewolves was never going to end. Personally, if it were me, I would just let them have at it. Survival of the fittest, but Elijah wanted to create a better world. A civilized city. I took a couple steps towards them and the crowd parted for me.

"What's stopping you?" Jackson and Elijah looked over at me, still pinning their victims, but I kept my eyes on Elijah. "Kill him."

"Not what I meant, Hayden." I heard Hayley mutter above me, but I ignored her.

"Go ahead, Elijah. Do it. I mean, it's not like he doesn't deserve to die. I mean, it was Oliver who handed Rebekah over to the witches so they could torture her, but then again, wasn't it Diego who led a massacre last month? And the witches cursed the wolves, while the humans stood back and let it all happen, so when you think about it, everyone here deserves to die."

"Are you approaching a point?" Elijah growled; his voice laced with quiet thunder as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"My point, Elijah, is this. If we can't all learn to get along—humans, witches, vampires, and werewolves—if our families can't create some sort of community, then what's the point? Just kill each other and get it all over with. In fact, I'll even help." I flashed my hybrid eyes and fangs at Elijah. He held my stare for another moment before letting Oliver up and Jackson reluctantly took a step back from Diego. I felt Elijah's eyes remain on me as I turned and looked up at Hayley who gave me a smile of approval. I honestly didn't think that that was going to work.

TO

The leaders of the faction met up in the church later that night. We stood around the table in the center of the room with a piece of parchment laying on it. It was the new treaty for the city. A new revised treaty that included the wolves. Hayley represented the werewolves. Diego for the vampires, Francesca supported the humans and the Genevieve stood for the witches leaving Elijah as the superior and me as the bride between all the factions. As each person stepped up to sign the treaty, they sliced a knife across their palm to sign the treaty with their own blood. Blood of all the factions. The coppery and sweet smell of the blood in the room spoke to my inner beast and I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down. As I took the knife from Hayley, I thought back to earlier that night when we were walking to the church. To what Elijah said to me. The sharp blade cut through my skin with ease, no pain as my blood dripped over the parchment and I signed it.

You have the heart of a human. The serenity of a witch. You have the fierceness of a vampire and the loyalty of a werewolf.

TO

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry if this is a bit choppy and unorganized. I was trying to find a place for Hayden without taking Hayley's place as alpha. Hopefully I did it all to your liking! Please review and give me feedback! Thank you!