She Wolf will not find her mate. I won't fall in love!

Blood

I stood in the rose gardens behind the pack's mansion, these gardens backed onto the forest and the wind blew that scent right through it. Caelestis stood beside me and it was difficult to believe that he was actually here with me. Sure a hideous situation had put him here but I couldn't help but to smile.

"Somehow these have survived the werewolves," I told him.

"Somehow," the edges of his lips slightly turned upward, "Interesting I guess."

"Yeah it's pretty out here don't you think?" I asked and took a big breath, the scent of the forest mixed with the roses was wonderful.

"It surprises me that they would have such a thing as roses here," he said looking around.

"It's actually quite a lovely experience smelling the roses in wolf form. Maybe it's the same for you being a vampire."

"And I'm sure that it's something these guys would enjoy..." A touch of sarcasm.

"Probably..." I trailed off, "How are you feeling?"

"I probably have the worst headache I've ever had."

"I can imagine..." I chuckled, then added on a more serious note, "At least your siblings are safe."

Caelestis' voice was stern, "Ensuring the safety of the vampire purebloods is what's most important to me, so it is a burden I'll have to carry for probably the rest of my life."

I could feel the weight in his voice, I could empathise a lot with it. Yet Elvira was to be a leader herself so I asked, "They aren't accountable for themselves?"

Caelestis shook his head, "Not in a situation like this. In times of trouble, people like to put their hope in a leader."

"Hmmmm.... Makes sense. And you're the first born I suppose."

"Yep. Inherited responsibility."

It sounded like my own mind speaking through a different body, one very tall and sexy. It was strange how little thought I had put into the fact that we would share the same struggles. I had always just seen him as hot. Why had I never recognised that we might have a connection that is somewhat deeper than attraction?

"Well I'm the only young female so... I'm getting some responsibility like that. Any advice?" I asked him looking up into those red eyes.

Caelestis looked down at me and said seriously, "Don't develop any conflicting feelings."

"Like?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"... I'm only saying," he looked away, "you can't fulfil a responsibility by suddenly waking up one day and deciding that you don't agree with it."

I smiled and twisted to meet his eye line again, "Do you have a secret?"

"What makes you think that?"

I smiled at him, "A wolf can smell a liar."

"I don't think I have any more than the average person."

"But you're not an average person therefore making your secrets more important."

"Nothing that would keep your interest, Varinia. Besides, I'm going inside. I'm exhausted," he walked back inside the mansion.

I waved him goodbye and watched the sun descend into the night sky.

As much as I wanted to bug Caelestis I knew he just needed some space after the awful day he had. Besides, there would be time for everything tomorrow and likely for many days. He would be here for a while so I could take my time with him, no need to rush into anything. It would be a difficult thing to do, to seduce a prince. I had faith in myself, it's not like he was repulsed by me. In fact he seemed to be slightly interested and that's all I really needed.