Chloe's POV

It's been a few days since I woke up from my magic-induced coma and I'm surprised about how little pain I'm in. I was shot at with what looked like blue lightening by a teenage witch who'd been experimented on. I have to remind myself about how lucky I am to still be alive considering none of us really knew the full extent of Victoria Enright's power.

I took my time walking downstairs where I met Simon just outside the kitchen, carrying his insulin pouch. At one time he was so secretive about his diabetes, but now he saw no reason to hide his illness because his concern with being treated like a person with cancer was no longer an issue. He smiled at me when he saw me and I couldn't help but smile back. Simon Bae was such a happy person all the time it was hard not to catch it.

"Hey," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Painless."

His smile grew. "Great," he cheered.

I giggled at his enthusiasm. I guess I was pretty happy to see a friendly face considering how long I've been bedridden, but I was hoping to find Derek first. Is this how it was going to be? I wondered. Since Derek and I had gotten together all we have ever wanted to do is be together. I always wake up with this need to spend an endless amount of time with him and when I go to bed at night I lie restless for hours, waiting until I can see him again.

I've debated sneaking out of my room at night to sneak over to his in the middle of the night, but I know he would never allow it. Of course we would never do anything we weren't supposed to; I just wanted to be with him for a night, but that didn't seem like it was enough for me.

"Chloe?" I heard Simon's voice calling distantly. I snapped out of my daze.

"Sorry."

"Jeez, you've been spacing out a lot lately. Are you okay?"

I nodded. "It could be my way of dealing with everything that's going on."

"Or you could just be bored." Simon smirked and his hand came up, fingers waving at me.

As afraid as I felt towards magic given recent events, I couldn't help but smile at Simon's attempts to cheer me up and distract me from my boredom. Without a word I walked around and slowly made my way out to the backyard where I found Derek near the water, staring out, not moving a single muscle. That is until I'm assuming he heard me approaching. He turned to look at me and some weird intensity in his emerald green eyes had simmered when he saw me. He reached out for me and took my hand, pulling me into his side protectively.

Derek had always been a protective person towards me and Simon. With Simon it was because he was his brother and all Derek had after they were taken to Lyle House. With me...I'm not sure. Other than us being boyfriend and girlfriend, I couldn't see a good reason for him to feel so responsible for me. But nonetheless I accepted it without complaint. But of course, who would be stupid enough to argue with a smart, hard-headed werewolf?

Perhaps another smart, hard-headed werewolf.

Suddenly Cole entered my mind and I quickly shook him out. I didn't want to stand here in a romantic morning setting with Derek thinking about another guy.

"Feeling better?" I heard Derek ask.

"I am."

He looked down at me. "What's up?"

At first I shook my head, but then I had to ask my burning question. "How's Tori?"

Derek scoffed at the mention of Tori's name. I couldn't blame him, but then again what happened was not entirely her fault. We had had a conversation about her finding out that Kit and Simon Bae were her biological family, with Derek added in to the mix, which only added to their current existing dislike for each other. And as a result of that she had begun to believe that her entire life was a lie, beginning with her mother manipulating her into believing that she had a mental sickness that only medication and therapy could fix. And when that episode started...

"She's responsible."

I looked up to find Derek staring out at the water, but attentive to me.

"What?" I said.

He looked at me. "You don't feel like any of this is Tori's fault."

"No, I don't." There was no sense in lying about what I was thinking. I truly believe that there's more to what happened with Tori than what she was saying.

Derek cursed under his breath. He took his hand out of mine and ran it over his eyebrow, clearly thinking of something to say and stressing because he couldn't.

"Why do you keep defending her, Chloe?" Derek asked, a hint of irritation to his tone.

"I'm not -"

"You are!" Derek took a deep breath to calm himself. "That girl has hit you with bricks, tied you up, nearly gotten you killed, AND has nearly killed you herself and you STILL fight for her."

"Not everyone can explain why they do what they do."

"Don't feed me that bull, Chloe," Derek snapped. "Tori may be an evil bitch but she's not stupid."

I sank down to the grass and silently glanced out at the open lake. The morning sun cast a brilliant yellow light into the water that reflected, making the water look like it was made of diamonds. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them. No matter what I said to Derek about Tori he would always see her as the girl who bullied me endlessly because the boy she liked didn't like her back.

My side became warm as Derek sat down beside me and pulled me against him. I laid my head on his shoulder and took in his smell. He was wearing the deodorant that Ruth had picked up for him on top of everything else she picked up for us. It was Axe and it was hypnotizing, which is weird to admit since it would make me sound like I had to smell his armpits to get a whiff.

"I'm sorry," Derek muttered.

"No, I'm sorry." I sighed. "I'm just so sick of the bickering and no one getting along..." I trailed off.

Derek rubbed my back. "You can't excuse her for everything she does, Chloe. She needs to accept responsibility for her actions."

"I know."

He kissed the top of my head and gave me a tight squeeze.

"I love you," I whispered in a low voice.

"I love you too, Chloe Saunders." I was about to ask how he heard me, but then I reminded myself that he has enhanced hearing. It was going to take some time to get used to that.