North Star

28. Reunions

I stand frozen in my spot. I don't move, I don't blink, I don't even breathe. Breathing is the last thing that I should do and it's not going to happen with one of my closest friends, who is human, right in front of me.

"Well, I, for one, didn't get to bring you a gift on such short notice but I promise I'll make it up to you," Zera promises as she shuts her door and makes her way up to me.

Don't come near me. Don't come near me!

She stands next to Leah and smiles brightly at me, as though we saw each other just the other day rather than several months ago.

Zera is just the same as I remember her, but my human eyes didn't do her justice because she's even more pretty with my immortal eyes.

Her warm chocolate brown skin has no blemishes on it at all. Her dimpled smile is still the same and her chocolate brown eyes are brighter than ever. The only thing different about her is that her coily hair is now nearly shaved to her scalp, though curls still form around it. She is also much more muscular than I remember her being. Her time away must have given her time to work on herself, which is good because she wasn't in a good place before she left to see her family. She does look older, however, as though she were closing in somewhere to her mid-twenties rather than nineteen years.

Seeing her here, with the same smile, maybe even brighter than before, and in front of me, feels surreal. She's not really here is she? Is my mind being played with? The Cullen's and the Denali coven know better than to have me exposed to an actual human when I'm not ready. I can hear her heart pumping deliciously strong, and I force myself to focus on anything else, but her heart pounds as though it were a blaring alarm, stealing my attention.

"Well? Aren't you going to give me a hug?" Zera asks gleefully and walks up to me with her arms spread wide open.

I take quick steps back away from her, and she freezes in the spot I originally was in. She slowly drops her arms and her smile drops with them.

"Stop." I couldn't help the commanding tone in my voice, it was either that or snarling it at her. I went with commanding.

"Cristal, it's okay–," she begins to say  and takes a step forward but I aggressively put my hand up to silence her and take a few steps back, towards the house.

"I said stop." My cloak forms around me in protection from whatever it is I am fearing. And this time, I cherish the feel of it on my skin.

"Cristal–" Carlisle comes forward to reason with me, placing a hand on my shoulder but I lightly shove it away and cut him off.

"I have to go."

I am careful to go at human speed back into the house to the best of my ability, all while ignoring everyone's stares. As soon as I reach the other side of the house, I race off and out the back door before anyone got the chance to call out for me.

How could they do this to me? I know I pushed to see my friends and family before but I was serious about wanting to be careful and moving forward.

I run for a little while, not too far out, but far enough that I'm sure even Edward can't hear me with his thoughts.

Eventually, I stop somewhere random and take a few breaths to clear out whatever I breathed in when she was in front of me. Why is she here in the first place? Why did Leah do this? If she doesn't want to endanger Lewis, why is Zera any different? They're both human and both who I can kill in the blink of an eye.

Standing in the middle of the forest, I listen around me in case of any humans or anything I need to be wary about. After not hearing anything, I carefully inhale a small breath. Then more, then sigh of relief when there is nothing to fear anymore.