Chapter Forty

I followed Scarlett's directions and called Alexa almost immediately. She was fully on board with the idea and when I asked about her boyfriend she just laughed, saying he wouldn't care. Scarlett made me wait until Edalyn came back from work to leave. I packed my backpack, hoping it would be the last time I did so. Once Edalyn returned Scarlett explained the situation. Scarlett was visibly distressed by the situation so Edalyn said she would take me over.

Alexa and Tony lived in the heart of the city, in a small two bedroom house. Alexa greeted me as I pulled up to the house. She was barefoot and her hair was loose around her shoulders. She gave a wave to Edalyn as she drove back to the house.

"I see you found everything okay." She said, the bracelets on her wrist jingling.

"Yeah, thanks so much for this." I smiled.

"Well come on in, Tony should be home soon." Alexa led me into the small house.

The interior of the young couples place was cozy and well decorated. She let me drop my things off in the guest-room that was in the process of being converted to a nursery. I followed her to the kitchen, watching quietly as she pulled out the phone and her boyfriend's wallet. She was immensely pretty, and a very different pretty too. Her gold eyes glowed like a vampire's but she had told me she was a shape-shifter. Alexa had auburn hair, that was only a few shades away from Kaya's. Oh Kaya, I thought, I should've told you.

 We settled into the living room to wait for some pizzas. Alexa flipped on a movie from the 90's that I remembered watching with Kaya and Abbey. She turned to me during a quiet spot in the movie.

"Hey I was wondering, how come you left Edalyn's house?" She asked, her gold eyes large with wondering.

"A...person from my past reappeared. A person with the intent of...well killing me." I said.

"I know the feeling." Alexa said darkly. The front door unlocked and swung open, Tony stepped in.

 "Hey wolfy," Tony said, giving Alexa a peck on the cheek. "How's the little vamp doin?"

"Please, it's a shifter babe." Alexa rolled her eyes. I couldn't help but smile at the relationship between the two of them, they seemed to right together. Not that I was anything close to being a good judge of that.

"Vinnie's going to be staying with us for a bit." She said, "Pizza's on the way by the way."

 "Welcome." Tony got the same weird expression on his face as before. He turned to walk into the kitchen. I stood up.

"I'll be right back." I said to Alexa, following Tony to the kitchen. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, like he was waiting for me.

 "Did...you want to talk to me or something?" I asked. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Tony glanced over my shoulder at his girlfriend before sighing.

"Yeah. It's kiiind of an awkward question though." Tony said.

"What?" I crossed my arms.

"Are you related to a vampire? In any way? Specifically a pureblooded one?" He asked. I started to shake my head, but paused to lay a hand on my stomach.

"My boyfriend, er, the father is a vampire." I said with a small shrug. Tony fell silent examining me, his eyes widened suddenly. He went paler than usual.

  "It's...it's not by any chance the Hawkwood heir?"

"How did you know?" I said. I figured it was best to stop lying at this point. He sighed in visible relief but quickly stiffened, as if something was conflicting in his mind.

"You have traces of Pureblood scent on you. I guess it's from the babies. Oh God, you're in my house." His silver eyes widened. "Vinnie I know we don't really know each other very well but I promise I'll protect you and the two of them."

"Tony you don't have to-" I started.

"No I do, my family's been in hot water with the council for years and I owe the Hawkwood heir a favor. What better way than protect his family?" Tony grinned. I smiled at his determination but he still didn't know the full truth.

"Well actually-" I began but was quickly cut off by the doorbell.

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Once the pizza had been eaten Alexa and I went and sat on the back porch, she seemed like she wanted to talk about something.

"Can I ask you something?" She said.

"Shoot." I shrugged. Alexa fiddled with the ends of her hair absentmindedly.

"How are you so calm? I mean, you're eighteen, pregnant, and you ran away from home." She said, placing a hand on her flat stomach. I'd almost forgotten she was pregnant too.

"I don't know, I guess because this is just what I'm used to." I sighed, looking up at the stars. Alexa fell silent.

"What about you? How'd you and Tony meet?" I asked, pushing the subject away from me. Alexa blushed.

"It was in high school, I'd just started at this boarding school with a secret program for shifters and vampires." She explained. "My brother took care of me, our parents were killed when I was seven."

"I'm so sorry." I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Anyway, I met Davis first. He was a wolf like me, and those are really rare among shifters now, so everyone thought we were 'destined to be together' or whatever. I met Tony a little while later, in a joint class. He was the cockiest asshole I'd ever met." She smiled, remembering the past. "I knew both of them liked me, but I didn't know which of them I liked. There was this little clearing in the woods off campus where I always went when I was upset. And I went there one day and lo and behold, Tony was there too. After I told him to go away he kissed me. And I knew I liked him from then on."

"Aw that's so sweet." I squealed.

"I know right? But as every relationship we had down points too, although ours weren't like other couples's. Later into that year I went exploring in these caves outside of town, our teacher made Tony and I partners on it, and my other friends came too. Really I only went because my parents had some connection to the place." She sighed. "And then I found out it was Tony's mom who killed my parents."

"That's...so weird." I said, fully thinking about it. Alexa gave me an odd look.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Reece, his father and uncle were responsible for everything that happened to me. Looking at it our stories almost match up perfectly." I explained, going on to give her the short version of my life. She blinked in surprise.

"Whoa...it's like we're doppelgangers or something." She joked, I laughed. Somehow even though were talking about some depressing shit, the mood felt lightened.

"Sad life stories aside, I'm glad we met." Alexa smiled.

"Me too, thank you again for letting me stay here." I just hoped that this would be the last time I'd have to run from Koran.