Safe Haven

This is a continuation 5 years later of the extra 'Hidden' i highly recommend you read it first. You can read it here. It introduces the character Mia, who is the granddaughter of Renesmee and Jacob, through their daughter Chartelle who is the alpha of the La Push wolves. The La Push wolves are different to the main body of wolves that serve Zac and Leah in their pack. The La Push wolves are ran by Chartelle, and paid, to protect her daughter who is the first tribrid, witch, vampire and wolf.

In this story Mia has been physically 18 for 6 years. Also Asta is the daughter of Lidiya and Matthew, she was born at the end of Forever Legends and has a strong affinity for death. Asta's ability doesnt work like Lidiya's, she cant just 'drop' people dead like her, she uses things around her and nature to control death, far more violent but just as accurate.

Again with Forever Legends, i have tried to see the 'future' and what i expect it would be like but i have tried not to go to far with it all, especially with this story as its mentioned that La Push very much lives in the past and is a very rural area.

Safe Haven

2181, La Push

"I don't like it" Axton said as Alena and I got ready to out on a night out. It was just me and Alena this time, something we rarely did.

"ill be fine Axton, I have Alena" I said smiling at him, he was leaning against the wall by my closet as Alena and I sorted through what I wanted to wear. I mostly just wore swimwear, shorts or leggings and t-shirts or tank tops on the Res, they were the most comfy hanging about in La Push swimming or climbing or training or whatever I was doing. We were trying to dig through my closet for something appropriate.

 "We're both your guardians, why aren't I coming?" he asked with a pout. I smiled at him and held back a laugh.  Axton and I had a... complicated relationship.

"Its a girl day, are you seriously telling me you'd rather follow us around a mall and the clubs than do your own thing? you hate drinking, go see Clara or something" Alena said as she held up a dress for me, I shook my head and she threw it on the 'no' pile.

"I'm not going to Chicago, her kids are just too annoying, too much like their father." he sighed. Clara was his childhood sweetheart, he was 'waiting' for her as Alena put it. They had a thing when they were teenagers, about thirty five years ago. Clara chose her human best friend, married him ten years later, although they only decided to have kids about fifteen years ago. Axton and Alena were still friends with her though and often went to see her and her kids. I'd never voiced my opinion on the subject, I tended to go quiet when ever Clara was mentioned but I always felt like Axton deserved to move on, she had, she had a husband and three kids. Was he really sure she was going to go back to him when her current life was over? a lot can change in seventy years.

"I really don't like this idea" Axton said again after a while. I turned to him

"please trust me" I begged him, our eyes locking and he just stared at me. my heart picked up. My feelings had grown for Axton a lot recently, I guess that was one of the reasons I couldn't stand hearing Clara's name. He deserved better. This man knew me better than I knew myself. He knew my strengths, my weaknesses, my power, my light, my dark, my soul. He had been there since I was a child, teaching me, nurturing my power, comforting me and praising me. My relationship with him and Alena had shifted a lot in the past two years, he and Alena didn't have much else to teach me, we still had Mondays focused on my power and control but the rest of the week I actually had school with my aunt, I got to learn about the world and languages and cultures and history. I was loving it. I may have had a longer childhood than most but I guess the important stuff was out of the way. I was allowed to go out now, as long as it was within Washington and I had one person with me, it wasn't the fiasco it used to be when I was younger.

Alena and Axton weren't my teachers anymore, they hadn't been for a very long time. After it was clear that Axton and Alena had a connection with me and my magic my parents had named them my guardians. If for any reason I was losing control, they calmed me in more ways than one, having been a constant in my life for so long they were both my safe haven and catalysts for my magic. Having them around helped me control my abilities immensely.  I did everything with them. I guess it was perfect we were all immortal at the same age. Alena was my girl friend, in the sense we went out, laughed, could talk for hours, did makeup and hair together, a real friendship I expected if I ever went to school. Axton was different. He was my protector, my confidant, my comfort. He often came to see me and we'd chat into the early hours of the morning and id wake up with him asleep next to me. If I got angry or sad or lost control he was the quickest to calm me, as soon as I was engulfed in his arms it was like tranquillity. the anger flooded out of me. The past year or so things had moved to a different level, those nights spent together turned into more. At first it was a convenience. I had been with a few of the wolves in the past but I knew there could be nothing there, after the last one broke it off with me so suddenly I had crawled into bed with Axton and never looked back.

The only thing was no one knew. At least no one mentioned it. We tried to keep it secret in fear that my family would disapprove. That and of course, Clara. We never spoke about her but I knew he'd go back to her in a heartbeat. I was just some fun until he could eventually be with her.

"ok" Axton barely whispered in response to my beg for him to trust me, he shifted uncomfortably from my gaze and turned to the door to leave. I turned back to Alena who was just staring at me.

"what?" I asked her, she just grinned back.

"nothing" she said but the smile was plastered on her face. I just ignored it before I lifted a dress out of the pile and knew it was the one.

Alena and I had an amazing night, we didn't get so drunk we couldn't function, after all, alcohol did strange things to my powers but I was experienced enough to know how to deal with it now. I don't know what time we got in but I vaguely remember falling onto my bed fully clothed and my shoes still on.

I woke as the sun rose, my curtains weren't closed so the morning light burst into my room to wake me. I pulled my dress and shoes off and grabbed a quick shower. Pulling on my signature denim shorts and tank top and heading to my balcony. I threw myself over in one swift movement, eyeing the wolf on duty by my house and smiling as I ran off towards the beach. I was aware he was following, I think it was one of the younger ones. I knew the colour of the wolves quite well but this one I couldn't quite place. He stayed a good distance which I was happy about. sometimes the younger wolves were a bit anxious about me getting out of their sight, after all if something happened to me it would be their head on a stick. I tried to tell my mother it wasn't necessary anymore, I could take care of myself now, and I had proved that more than once in training but her excuse was its 'never happened in a real life situation'.

I was used to it now, she'd definitely toned the wolves back since my childhood which I was very grateful for.

I sat on my favourite swing bench on the beach. The beach was a lot smaller than it used to be, according to my grandfather Jacob anyway. He was full of stories of La Push, how he used to play here with my grandmother, how they raised each and every one their children on this beach. It had corroded and the mountains weren't as big as they used to be but it was La Push to me. I didn't have the memories like he did. This was my home, exactly how it was.

I sat and watched the sun rise into the sky. it wasn't long before Elliott, one of the older wolves jogged past me.

"hey princess" he said with a smile. Elliott had been one of my past boyfriends. he had called me princess from day one, being the chiefs granddaughter, alphas daughter, a Black and having a permanent wolf guard I was basically royalty to the wolves. That's what Elliott had told me on one of our days together. They worshiped my family. The Blacks were never ending and Jacob and William were the wisest Elders they had. I just rolled my eyes at it all. We were in America, didn't we get rid of royalty hundreds of years ago? I had hated when Elliott first started calling me princess, then it became an endearment, now it was just routine. Other wolves called me it too so I knew it wasn't just him that saw me that way.

"Hey El" I said.

"You're up early" he frowned sitting next to me.

"Couldn't sleep" I said, my eyes still on the ocean and not on his bare chest next to me. The attraction between us had long fizzled out but I still had the memories. "why are you up?" I asked him

"Daily run, I'm your guard later" he said with a nudge. I laughed a little before he stood up. "I better go, see you around" he said with a salute. I smiled back at him and he took off jogging down the beach.

I didn't know what time it was but I knew it was too early to swim so I almost had to blink when I saw someone in the ocean in front of me. They came closer to the shore and I immediately stood from my bench and whipped my head to where id just seen Elliott run off, hoping he was still in eye sight. He wasn't.

I turned to the direction I knew the wolf guard was to see if he was aware of the person coming up to the beach. I was about to move out of sight but they were much faster than I anticipated. They were on the shore before I could move and I realised from their diamond skin and yellow eyes they were very much a vampire.

"hey!" he called out to me. I cleared my throat and smiled, giving him a small wave but heading to the shore line "don't go! I just got here" he said and jogged over to me, he was by me in seconds. I gasped as I turned around. "oh sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Christopher, but you can call me Topher" he smiled. there was something intreguigingly innocent about him.

"Reinette" I smiled. This was my middle name. In one of my lessons I was given a 'vampire name' a name that I was to use if I should ever meet a stranger, eventually the news of my existence would grow and to protect my identity the Cullen's decided that I should have two names. My birth name was Amirah Reinette Barnes-Black. My mother and fathers surnames, however as I aged I decided I just wanted to be Mia Black, and for my vampire name for it be Reinette Cullen. After all it had to be Cullen because the power that signified in that name was enough to keep people intrigued but away. After a while I took the Cullen and used it anyway because it was easier to remember it was just the first name I changed. My parents weren't mad like I thought they would be when I told them I wanted to be Mia Cullen. They were happy that I would have the Cullen name protection and they started to use it too.

"nice to meet you Reinette, I imagine you're a Cullen? hybrid?" he asked. I nodded with a smile. it wasn't technically a lie. I was a hybrid. just not the one he thought. "will you show me around?" he asked as he shook the salt water out of his hair.

"well I would but I'm going to need to speak to the alpha, you've stepped on protected lands and I imagine there are about a dozen wolves on their way right now" I said to him sheepishly. his eyes widened.

"this is La Push? I thought I swam past it!" he looked panicked, genuinely confused.

"Yeah this is La Push. The most anti vampire place you'll ever enter" I laughed, he laughed back with me as we walked towards the forest line. La Push was one of the most protected places in the world, not just from vampires, from humans too. You had to apply with the government to visit. It was our own sanctuary away from cities and pollution and over population. When the world realised that we were killing it about a hundred years ago, they set up national preservation areas. Places that were unique and useful to the environment. We were a native American tribe living by the, now, biggest forest in America. Olympia sustained half the country and the trees were more protected than people.

"I guess I better get going then" he laughed. "it was really nice to meet you Reinette" he said his golden eyes sparkled in the sun as they fixated with mine.

"ill come with you to the border so you know where it is in future, you might want to avoid the forest too, rangers patrol it daily." I said skipping to keep up.

"Good idea," he smiled back, on our walk he began to tell me a bit about himself and for the first time in my life I felt like I could make a friend that isn't my immediate family or my teachers.

I heard them approach and before I could even warn him he was in the jaws of a large wolf. I knew it was my mother and I sighed exasperated.

I thought she'd let me talk to her, to explain rather than just grab him like that.

I noticed he didn't fight as she carried him out of my sight. My anger grew. I had liked him and she might have just killed him without me even asking her not too. I sighed angrily and my fist connected with a tree, it cracked falling to the floor fast. I groaned angrily again. The tree were protected wildlife, trees were rare and the ones we had left were about the amount we needed to survive in this world. I had probably just taken a hundred years off the rest of humanity.

"Mia what's wrong?" Axton asked, I wasn't surprised he was suddenly there. Either he or Alena normally popped up in my life when I was angry. They were the quickest to calm me most of the time.

"I'm not allowed any friends!" I yelled at him, my fists shaking with anger.

"Ok Mia calm right down" he said, his hand going to his hip in his little 'I am the boss' way. It made me see him in a very different light and it only infuriated me more.

 "Mia" it was my mother, she had phased back and came out of the trees.  I sighed as I turned to her. "do as you're told and calm down baby" she said softly but still an aura of motherhood in her voice. I listened to my mother and focused on relaxing. letting the anger flood to my feet and in the ground. she reached me and pulled me into a hug. "are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine" I said, hugging her briefly and pulling away, she knew something wasn't right. I could barely look at her.

"Amirah?" she asked. I turned and walked away from her.

"let me, I'll bring her home" I heard Axton say and he was behind me in moments. he followed me not saying a word as I walked home.

"well that was easy" he said as we reached the door. I didn't reply. I was still angry, just not showing it as much.

"Mia? are you ok?" my father asked.

"I'm going to my room, can Axton come with me?" I asked pausing at the door. my father was momentarily taken back.

"um yeah?" he asked, looking at Axton for confirmation. I almost wanted to laugh, my dad was a great dad, he played with me as a child, read me bed time stories, loved me and above all, trusted me completely, except maybe when I was alone. He'd much rather me be locked in my room with a boy than out in the world where I could kill someone with one tantrum.

I took the stairs to my room, aware of Axton following. I went into my bathroom to run water over my face to get rid of the salt air clinging to my skin. I entering my room to see Axton already lying across my bed. something so familiar to us it was like breathing. I lay next to him, curling into the covers but not into him, something he noticed. he shuffled down the bed slightly so he was next to me now, our faces only a foot or so apart.

"He's fine you know, your mother just gave him a warning," he told me. I was glad to hear it but still didn't make me less angry.

"can I tell you a story?" he asked. I nodded, my fingers falling to the tassels on my throw not wanting to look at him, to see the disappointment of my anger burst. "one that you're not supposed to know, in fact not many of the Cullen's know it at all that weren't there when it happened" he said. I looked up at him curiously.

"you know I helped train a Cullen before you right?" he asked.

"Asta" I said, she was my something cousin removed. I didn't pay attention to family politics. I knew she was a Volturi Cullen, and I knew she was born insanely powerful and I knew she no longer had that power.

"well Alena and I used to train her, help her with her magic. we couldn't do much because it was so interwoven with her ability it was hard for her to separate her magic, which made her so much more volatile than she would have been without it. But eventually we managed to get her to do small spells, show her the magic Lilim gave her and eventually she was able to function like a normal witch, no more powerful than any other her age but a witch none the less. Alena and I left her soon after, unable to do much more for her, it was her mother's job to calm her ability and teach her how to use it. It was about a year after Alena and I left her that we got a phone call asking us to teleport back to Chicago immediately."

I was now fully engrossed in the story. I watched his face a few inches from mine with full attention. I always wondered why Asta lost her ability, she was a lot like me, in the fact she was a mix of species our family had never seen, she was born a Luna bambini hybrid, however a powerful witch had cast a spell on her in utero making her now part witch. she was three species, just like me and I always wanted to find out more but my parents and close family always avoided the questions I had about her. it was like she wasn't allowed to be spoken about.

"when we got there the stench of blood was the strongest I've ever encountered. I felt like choking on it. All of the vampires were gone, only Carlisle left. Alena and I entered the Volturi mansion to a blood bath. hybrids, humans and vampires everywhere, very very dead. in the middle was Esther, covered in the blood of those around her, her arms wrapped around Asta in the middle. She was on her knees and shaking. Esther was keeping her contained but I could see that even with her immunity to death, Asta was straining her strength. I looked immediately for the life and death twins, one of them on the floor unconscious, the other sitting there and not moving in shock. I couldn't even register which was which. The entire room was the stuff of nightmares. Alena and I could barely form a word to ask what happened when Carlisle came up to us and thanked us for coming. He explained how he couldn't get near Asta or Esther to help them.

"I had never felt fear for my life before until I walked up to Asta that day, her eyes black as night and a wound on her head where someone had clearly tried to knock her out. Her dark blood pouring down her face. Lilim corrupted her in the womb, filling her with dark magic, giving her black blood and black eyes when she uses her ability. She was radiating black power, a glow escaping every bit of visible skin. I had only seen that once before, the day that her mother Lidiya was cursed and the spell took hold of Asta inside of her. It was Lilim's power, taken over Asta.

"I will never forget the sight of it until the day I die." he said and paused as if he was seeing it all again. I couldn't imagine seeing something like that, it sounded horrific, the stuff of nightmares and old horror movies.

"We walked up to her slowly, stepping over the bodies and I noticed a lot of familiar faces. This was the guard, the staff of the Volturi and even some of the Cullen's. I stopped looking at the faces when I saw people I knew, saw Asta's family and what she had done to them. I looked back at the twins in the corner, it was Lidiya still alive, I didn't know what I expected since you can't kill Death. Carlisle had avoided the whole situation because he wasn't there when it happened, he came in after when Esther managed to telepathically call him in order to help. He was the only vampire completely immune to the scent of blood, others were pretty damn close but none of them could touch on the control of Carlisle.

"Lidiya was paralysed with shock, her husband, son, family all dead around her and her sister lay on the floor unconscious because she had tried to counter Asta, but the sheer amount of power that Asta had used had been too much for her. Anelie had been forced into a comatose state, unable to stop Asta.

"anyway, to end the story. Alena and I managed to teleport Asta and Esther out and to the grand canyon. Asta was calmed down and everyone in the Volturi mansion was brought back by Anelie, after her life cocoon was broken by blood. A defence mechanism she has from death. Alena and I went back to help and the Volturi mansion was cleaned in moments, not one trace of blood left. Asta was brought back directly to Pancrazio's office. They had a family meeting, the matriarchs and patriarchs of the family agreeing that for the best interest in the family, Asta and basically the world that Asta had her ability taken from her by her grandfather. There was no good in her having that sort of power when we already had Lidiya who was fully in control of her ability."

"wow" I mumbled. "so why did she lash out? what made her kill all the people?" I asked.

"She had a temper tantrum because her mother wouldn't let her go out with a boy she had met on the street." he winked. I giggled slightly. "no joke. that was the exact reason"

"she was fifteen though, I'm so much older" I sighed falling back on the bed.

"you're fifteen too" he said with a smile that made me look away quickly.

"technically I've been eighteen for at least six years" I sighed, saying my age reminded me of how sheltered my life has been. I completely understood it, and now hearing about Asta it completely put everything in perspective, why my parents and grandparents were so protective, so adamant to teach me and help me control myself before I stepped a foot  away from people that weren't able to be brought back to life without an explanation but at the same time, I wasn't Asta, we were two completely and utterly different beings, except the witch magic but from what Axton said, that hadn't been the problem for Asta, it had been the fact she was born dead.  I was different, and I wished they saw that, not the possibility I might go on a rampage and kill everyone in a room.

Okay i'd done that, five years ago, but it had only been two people in the changing rooms of the mall. I didn't have to be taken to the grand canyon to calm down. I just needed familiarity. and Axton.

"you'd be quite the pair you know, you and Asta. Both the new generation of Cullen's and so powerful." he almost whispered. "throw Ivana into that and you've got an unstoppable trio" he laughed. Ivana was another of the Cullen's prodigies. She was Esther's new daughter. She wasn't even a year old yet and had power to influence molecular physics. Axton and Alena had been sent to meet her not long ago but they didn't have much to contribute, she didn't have witch magic like myself or Asta. She would only learn in the hands of her mother and the Ability experts in the Volturi.

"I don't want to be powerful, I want to be normal." I sighed. I felt like I was a child but how old did I have to be before my mother let me have friends other than the wolves?

"just give them time Mia, you don't know even an ounce of what your family has been through, the troubles they've faced, the people, the armies" he said almost in a whisper of awe. This man admired my family, I hadn't realised it until now, why he was here, why he stuck around. he wanted to be a part of us. "I've seen vampires fall to their knees in the Volturi throne room in awe of Esther, I've seen them beg for their lives and fall to their knees to worship Zio all in one afternoon, I've seen strangers giving Edward and Bella hugs because they opened the worlds eyes to hybrids and Luna bambini's, I've seen armies fall in seconds to the power of Lidiya. Your family is far more complex and wise than you might ever know. when they say something to you, or stop you from doing something, they're doing it to protect you, and I can guarantee at least three members of the family had a discussion beforehand about it. you don't have enemies in your family Mia, they're out in the world, ready to take advantage of you the second you're vulnerable." he explained.

I lay there for a moment staring up at his face.

"you love my family" I said in a whisper.

"I am scared of your family" he corrected with a small laugh. I frowned. "your family is fiercely loyal and protective of its blood. there is nothing in this world that would stand in the way of a Cullen protecting one of its own. I am no fool to try and be that person. I did a lot for my sister when I was young. I betrayed your family to get her back. I handed Esther over to the only person in this world that could bring her any harm and I was forgiven. your family is brutal and mighty but they showed me forgiveness and I will spend every waking day of my life earning that forgiveness. they saved my sister, they saved me, and brought me purpose in my life. If I can teach you, teach Asta, help the Cullen's defeat anyone who dares stand against them then my life has a purpose. I will spend every day making sure that they know my sister and I were worth it. we're the loyalist allies your family has that isn't family, and they're well aware of that. otherwise they wouldn't trust us with their most precious children." he said, leaning forward and kissing my forehead.

"I'm glad" I said softly, curling into his chest, my head above his heart. "you make me feel safe, listened too, in control" I said. his hand reached for my head, stroking my hair away from my face.

"and I'll be here as long as you want me to Mia."

"what about forever?" I laughed slightly, joking because I knew one day he'd go back to Clara. Sleep was threatening to overcome me but I stayed awake to hear his reply.

"maybe even then" he whispered and with one more motion of his hand on my hair, I was asleep. I had barely had a few hours last night and the calming voice of Axton had lulled me into a morning nap.

When I woke Axton was gone. I heard voices in the hall and I rolled over to reach for my hoodie. his side of the bed was still warm, he had stayed with me as I slept, that was obvious. I got up and headed out side, he was on the phone. I reached for him from behind, hugging his waist. his hand reached for mine, resting over it as he continued to talk on the phone.

It was Clara. I could hear her voice, she was panicking, something about her kid. I quickly pulled away and he didn't seem to even notice as I went back into my room. he always got moody and broody when he spoke to Clara. she clearly needed him for something and he probably won't even say goodbye before he's off to rescue her. I jumped back onto my bed and pulled out my book to read. I could hear them still talking but I toned out, not really caring about their lovers spat.

my door swung open and a very flustered Axton walked in and climbed onto my bed. I didn't even move to look at him.

"are you going to ask me if I'm okay?" he said. I took a peak at him. I hated that she did this to him, that she angered and upset him but it was just the reminder of how much he loved her and that he could never actually be mine.

"are you okay?" I asked. he sighed and relaxed.

"no, Clara acts like I'm the one she's married to not her actual human husband. it's like she relies more and more on me when I don't remember signing the marriage certificate"

"you're her friend, she can't ask for your help?" I asked not looking at him.

"no, she knows how busy I am" he sighed. I turned to look at him then in his cotton shorts and t-shirt, lying on my bed with his hair all askew.

"busy?"

"being your guardian yes." he affirmed.

"because that's such a hard job, you get to sleep in everyday, we hang out all the time and now I have mastered almost every spell ever discovered, the only work you do is calming me down when I get mad" I said with a smirk.

"its very hard keeping an eye on you, you know. I don't like to leave you" he said his eyes locking with mine. I had to look away quickly. my heart was hammering in my chest and I was suddenly glad he wasn't a vampire and hopefully couldn't hear the increase in my breathing. It was times like this and when he said things like that that gave me hope we could be more than just friends with benefits.

"I have Alena. go do what you have to do. go save the love of your life" I said turning back to my book.

"she is not the love of my life" he defended himself quickly. something he had never flatly denied before. He was waiting for her, if that wasn't because she was the love of his life why was he waiting?

"ok mister" I said looking back at the book. I was aware of his eyes boring into the back of my head but I didn't dare look at him. after a few minutes I heard him move to grab a pair of pants to replace his lounge shorts.

"ill be back as soon as I can okay?" he asked. I didn't look I just nodded. I saw him hesitate out of the corner of my eye before suddenly he was gone. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and just curled into the sheets on my bed as I held my tablet book out in front of me.

I wasn't sure how long I was reading but I did that thing were you read over the same paragraph a dozen times because you didn't take it in the first time because your mind was on something else.

"what are you doing in bed?" I heard Alena's voice behind me. I turned to see her hand on her hip, the same way Axton does it.

"reading?" I said more of a question than a statement. She charged for me, jumping onto my bed, causing it to shake as she bounced next to me. I laughed at her as she worked to get comfortable.

"your bed smells of my brother" she commented and wiggled her eyebrows. I laughed at her and put my book down.

"want to talk about it?" she said after a moment of silence. I had been staring out of the wall of windows opposite my bed.

"talk about what?" I mumbled.

"the fact you're in love with my brother" she said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"I'm not in love with him, we just... do stuff" I mumbled. I knew Alena knew. She wasn't an idiot. She was with us all the time, she was Axton's twin for Christ's sake. He brought down the most powerful witch in the world and almost the Cullen's to get her back. I knew they weren't the secret keeping type when it came to each other.

"oh please. you've been in love with him long before you started to 'do stuff'" she said quoting the last two words with her fingers.

"is it that obvious?" I sighed. giving up with a sigh, I was just glad to have someone to talk to about it without strictly breaking the 'we don't talk about it' rule Axton and I had. If I didn't bring it up or mention it to Alena it's not really me breaking the rule.

"oh sweet summer child. You have no idea" she said adjusting herself to face me.

"I figured no one had mentioned it so no one noticed. Especially my parents. do my parents know?" I asked her. Her eyebrows raised.

"you're an idiot" she sighed in frustration. "an actual idiot. I forget you were raised by millenials and Generation Z."

"my mom is only like thirty four" I mumbled with a frown. She was talking like nearly two hundred years ago.

"yes but your grandmother was Generation Z so the culture hasn't diluted with time in your family" she said with a wave of her hand. I frowned, not seeing the point of her socialism.

"what's your point?" I asked.

"the point is, you are worried about what your parents think about the guy you're with. That's so early 2000s. No one cares who you date or sleep with anymore. Your parents included. They're not completely oblivious to today's culture , because unlike you they've actually explored the world" she teased me with a nudge.

"yeah and whose fault is that?" I asked with a laugh.

"I know I know, I get it. but honestly. don't worry so much, everyone knows about you and Axton and everyone knows you'll both sort it out between you. You being paranoid about everyone else will only make things worse for you. no one else"

"thanks Alena" I said softly, staring at the ceiling above me.

"you're welcome, now please just tell my brother you're in love with him so you can be all PDA and call him your boyfriend and give me details about your love life and I can plan your wedding" she said all giddy curling into my side to hug me. I laughed and turned to look at her.

"you want details about your brothers sex life?" I asked.

"ew no, I said love life girl." she said with a frown.

"we don't have a love life." I emphasised so she realised it was mostly just physical between us, at least on Axton's side.

"yet!" She grinned.

"Clara" I said the name and she didn't need any explanation.

"oh my god Amirah Reinette are you blind or just an idiot?" she exploded, sitting straight up on my bed.

"will you stop calling me an idiot?" I asked her and pouted slightly. clearly she knew things I didn't.

"sorry" she said immediately and sat herself cross-legged in front of me.

"my brother hasn't been in love with Clara for thirty years. He's had plenty of time to get over her. Sure they have a friendship, she will always mean something to him but that's common with first loves. Not everyone stays with their first love forever, you spend too much time with your immortal family. Axton moved on from Clara a long time ago." she clarified.

"then why hasn't he said that?" I asked with wide eyes.

"you've never asked" his voice hit me like a tonne of bricks. I had been watching Alena and expected her to reply. I did not expect Axton to reply, not in a million years. I turned my head to see him standing there on my balcony. the door slightly open. He must have teleported himself back into my room, sometimes he gets it wrong a little, especially if he had done it quite often in the day, draining his power. I saw him struggling to stand for a moment, he gripped the door to steady himself.

"and that's my cue to leave!" Alena said teleporting from the bed and to the door. "bye!" she smiled and suddenly softened, before giving me a nod and leaving. I turned to Axton who had steadied himself and managed to walk into the room.

"are you okay?" I asked.

"yeah, I've just drained myself a little too much I think" he said falling into the chair by my balcony door. I stood up and walked over to him, offering him my hand.  he shook his head in response before groaning slightly.

"take some Axton, please" I begged him. I hated seeing him like this. A witch drained of power was like a vampire who hadn't fed for a month. They were weak and in pain. Magic was like blood to them, especially Alena and Axton who were immortal. They needed it to live. They had a lot of it, but when they used it to extremes they often hurt themselves doing it.

Axton and Alena had learnt to siphon my magic long ago, at first it was to stop me using it excessively. They could just hold it for a while before it flooded back into its rightful owner but after the years we had also learnt how to convert it, to share power and help boost each other.

Axton took my hand, my magic flowing into him in moments. He dropped my hand when he had enough and just sat there looking at me. I shifted uncomfortably and went to sit back on my bed.

"so what did Clara want?" I asked.

"can you just stop saying her name? I really don't want to talk about her" he said frustrated.

"what do you mean?" I asked.

"you get so jealous when ever her name is uttered by anyone around you." he sighed, his head falling back. He looked a lot better now.

"excuse me?" I said, his words sparking anger inside me.

"don't get angry" he said immediately, his head falling forward and his eyes locking with mine like he knew what was going on in my head. His eyes bore into mine and it made me uncomfortable.

"stop staring you weirdo" I said looking down.

"Mia" he said in a way he had never said my name before. I looked up and he was in front of me, on the side of the bed. "you are my priority. always" he said confidently. "you have been for a very long time and not just because I was asked to be your guardian. you are my life, you are what I think about the second I wake up in the morning to the second I go to sleep at night. I am jealous when my own sister gets to spend time with you and I don't." he said laughing at the last bit. I smiled at him, my eyes watching the way he smirked. "I don't know where you got the idea from that I was still in love with Clara. She's been married with three kids since you were born." he said and it was my turn to laugh. I guess he was right.

"you've heard our story a dozen times I get that, but you were too busy thinking about an old flame to realise that I am completely and utterly in love with you. now." he said and stopped. I had to run over the statement in my head a couple of dozen times before I fully registered it. "I don't know what the future will bring Mia. We don't have the luxury of imprinting or knowing our mate. We have to take life as it comes just like humans, I don't know if in a hundred years ill still feel like this towards you, or if I find my way back to Clara, or if I find someone else. I don't know the future, you don't know the future. I know it's hard for you surrounded by your immortal family, you see true love everywhere you look and know that one day you'll have that but how do you know when you've found it until you try?" he asked. It had been the most real thing I had ever heard him say about Clara and his future. our future. I hadn't thought about it like that. For the past few years since I've been fully grown I've been locked into Washington, not giving much dating opportunity, only the very short lived relationships with the occasional wolf and that was only because they had been my guards and we had bonded over familiarities.

I looked up at him and smiled.

"I love you too" was my answer and he knew that I was okay with everything. I had a chance that we would drift apart, that this thing between us could fizzle out but if that was in a month, a year or fifty years, we had to at least see where it went.

And you never know, it could very well last forever.