Love conquers all

Dinner ended and we said goodbye on the patio of the castle entrance. Nathan called me aside.

“This has been a very long day”; he said, running a hand through his hair.

“It really was!”

“But there’s nothing I would do differently, I enjoyed every moment of it.”

“I’m glad, because I also enjoyed myself and got to know you better. I misjudged you!”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“The way you presented yourself, your attitude, your appearance. It all made me think of you as ... a dark one, as the one that thinks: I don’t care about the damn world! A scruffy one.”

“Did you really think that about me?”

“For me you are ... no I won’t tell you”; I told him smiling and flirting.

“I’m really curious, come on tell me I am ...“; he said to me with a penetrating look, it was as if he was enchanting me.

“Beautiful and damned”; after a while I managed to say it and he laughed out loud.

“I like it very much, little bird.”

“Little bird?” I asked incredulously, he really called me little bird!

“Yes, to me you are a little bird. Do you want to know why?!”

“Of course!” I exclaimed curiously.

“Around school and in the pack, all the people do is talk about Myra, all beautiful things. You are much loved! Then you are human and therefore fragile, but with a strong and decisive character. You are like a bird always everywhere, brave you fly, but you are fragile to enemy attacks and therefore in need of protection. ”

“Wow, thanks or not thanks!”

“You are welcome.”

“You deduced this from hearsay! I’m really impressed.”

“I am one who knows how to listen.”

“Good to know.” I said, showing one of my smiles.

“Good night, Myra. See you tomorrow morning at school.” He greeted me and before answering and making him go away I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He looked me straight in the eye and a grin appeared on his lips.

“Good night, Nathan!”

So the Johnson family left the castle.

“Good morning little bird!” I heard it say behind me and it wasn’t who I thought who it was.

“Good morning, Andrea!” I said closing my locker avoiding rolling my eyes.

“So you kissed him?”

“Ah Val, I hate him! But today he will hear me” I said exasperatedly, starting to walk along the corridor, with Andrea at my side.

“What is it, you didn’t want to tell me anything?! I want the succulent details.”

“What succulent details?” Someone asked in the third person behind me, I turned to say hello, there were Abby and Aurora who had joined us.

“Nothing ...” I said trying to avoid the speech but Andrea was not of the same opinion.

“Nathan called her little bird and she kissed him on the cheek.”

“What?” Abby said with euphoria in her voice.

“When?” She asked in a shrill voice, but I was saved by the ringing of the bell.

“Girls, I promise to tell you everything at lunch, alright!”

“No, I don’t think I can resist!” Abby said.

“Maybe I’ll die before then, dead of curiosity!” Aurora said in a melodramatic tone.

“You will do it, you are supernatural beings after all! Goodbye girls, see you later”; I said walking quickly away.

As soon as I entered the classroom, I was a bit disappointed to find the desk behind mine an empty space, as I reached my desk I heard someone whispering behind me: “Good morning little bird.” Nathan’s warm voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“Good morning”; I replied with a smile and my heart pounding. How he had gone from “he was not my type” to “Beautiful and Damned that makes my heart beat”, I didn’t understand.

At lunch the girls didn’t even let me breathe, they wanted to know every little detail of the evening.

“In five days it will be your eighteenth birthday, what would you like to do?” Andrea asked me.

“My parents would like to have a party.”

“Why this tone? Don’t you want it too?” Abby asked me.

“Yes, I want it”; I replied. The eighteenth birthday party is important because it marks the beginning of adulthood, the time when an Alpha can start leading a pack; the moment when you can find your mate. Doctor Leporis had given me no hope, if not a few months of life. So what could it mean to me? I was still thinking about it.

The day before my birthday, my mother forced me to talk at breakfast.

“Myra, you’ve always been very clear about what you wanted or how you wanted your 18th birthday party, but now it seems to me you don’t want it anymore!”

“Mom, that’s not it. Don’t you understand what has changed?”

“I know what has changed, but this is one of those moments you have to grab it and enjoy, a happy memory to have in dark times.”

“I don’t want this to be my party!” I screamed even though my mom was right, the bad times would soon come and I needed something to hold on to. But I was too angry with the Moon Goddess that I didn’t want to accept anything.

“My darling, please, after the party you have to make an immediate decision, so have fun tomorrow. It is important to live fully in the present. Invite your friends, as many as you like. I’ll take care of the party.”

“Okay, mom!” I just said, there was nothing else to add or remove or change, I would live the moment as my mother had said to me.

That day at school I invited all my classmates, my best friends and ... I just missed Nathan.

At lunch before sitting down with my friends, I looked for Nathan; found him, left the lunch tray on the table and went to him.

“Excuse me girls, I’ll be right back, I only need one invitation to make.” As I walked away I heard the girls making comments but I didn’t hear anything, I was a girl on a mission.

“Are you lost, little bird?“; Nathan asked me as soon as I approached him.

“I’m not lost, and this line of yours, is exactly what I meant when I told you about your “Beautiful and Damned” thing! ”

“I was just wondering why you are here, your table is on the other side of the room.”

“I came to invite you to my birthday party.”

“Really? When?”

“Tomorrow!”

“We’ll see, tomorrow…“, he was clearly pretending to think about his agenda.

“You don’t have to give me an answer.”

“Of course I’m coming, I have nothing better to do!” I don’t know why but I was relieved to hear his affirmative answer. With a big smile I left him and went to the table with my friends.

“When we leave school today, we go to find a dress for the party, what do you think about that?” Andrea proposed while she put her fork on the table.

“Yes, let’s go to the boutique in town, the one in the mall!” Aurora beamed

“It will be fun! You have to and we have to find a perfect dress for your party.” Abby said as she stood up from her seat.

“Okay girls, seems like a great idea.”

I was in the hallway to reach the classroom for afternoon classes when someone stopped me: “Hi Myra, for your party can I tell my friend / roommate?” Irina, a vampire friend of mine, asked.

“Sure, she’ll be welcome!” I replied, even if with that statement, I knew that I was giving permission to many other unknown people, but my mom said I could tell anyone!

At the end of the lesson I met the girls at the school entrance, Andrea had said we were going to go shopping to my brother Val through the mental link, so I found two cars outside. Val agreed on one condition: “He was coming together with someone else.” The only detail was that Andrea hadn’t told me!

“Val, what are you doing here?”

“I hear you are going shopping and I’m here to accompany you.” He said with a grin, the usual hateful grin.

“Are you here to babysit me?”

“I’m not a babysitter, but a bodyguard.”

“We don’t need it.”

“Dad told me I couldn’t let you go alone. There’s a lot of excitement right now, he can smell some rogue’s attack. So I might as well be your driver, what do you say, little bird?” While I was answering someone spoke before me.

“Hey she’s my little bird, you can’t call her that!” Nathan growled possessively.

“Won’t you be forgetting something, she is my sister!” Val exclaimed with equal possessiveness.

“Calm down guys how about ending up with this attitude, let’s see who makes it farther!”

“Nathan, why don’t you come with us too?” Abby asked mischievously.

“Where are you going?”

“In town shopping for Myra’s party tomorrow!” Andrea answered.

“Sure man, come on there’s still a seat in the hood.” Val told him trying to cause a reaction from him but luckily there was not.

“Val ...” I warned him, I wanted him to stop being an idiot, he walked very often on the fine line of quarrels.

“Yes, I come.” Nathan finally answered. So from an “afternoon of shopping with friends”, he turned into an “afternoon of shopping in a group.”

In car number one there were Andrea, Mika, a warrior and I in the back seat, while in the front seats were Nathan and Val. While in the second car there were Aurora, Abby and Niko in the back seat, in the front seats were Ted and Frank. The journey to the city was very quiet, we found some traffic that made us waste time, so we were at our destination in half an hour.

Being in a big mall was like being at the carnival for us girls, for the boys it was torture, but they were kind of at work, so work doesn’t always take place in pleasant places.

To reach the boutique we would have had to cross half of the shopping center, so we looked carefully at the windows but without going into the shops. The boys were always ahead and behind us, they were very discreet, I didn’t feel as surrounded as I had thought, but I felt safe. This meant that I could have fun without worrying about anything.