“Well it appears you’re not like that, like me you can shift into the beast but when you kissed me,” he started and a smile spread on his lips making her glare at him. “You were being influenced by the beast, she seemed apart of you. I am not like that. I can feel him inside of me, I can feel what he wants but he doesn’t really influence me to do anything… usually,” he explained.
“What do you mean be usually?” She demanded, hating that her curiosity was so horrible and it didn’t help that James actually looked a little embarrassed. What could possibly embarrass him?
“Well there’s been two times I’ve actually lost control to my beast and even though I’m still in my human form he was in control,” James explained.
“Really, what happened?” She blurted and he smiled, his cockiness returning.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me why you don’t like me,” he offered and she scoffed.
“You want me to start with the letter A and work my way to Z?” She asked with a smug smirk and he shook his head.
“I’m not talking about you insulting me alphabetically but the real reason Lily,” he told her and she shook her head.
“You being an arrogant bastard who’s too cocky is real and damn good reason to me,” she told him with a smile and once more he laughed. Why didn’t he get pissed! Lily wanted to piss him off! The fact that he wasn’t pissed made her pissed.
“I don’t believe you; I know there is more to that story. So when you tell me I’ll tell you about the times I lost control. Anyways a lot of people are mistaken in thinking my bad ass reputation comes from the beast controlling me. Werewolves have the natural tendency to experience their emotions hotly, thus our famous temper. I’m the same just more intense,” he told her and she nodded.
“But back to the subject at hand. What’s interesting is you not only seem to be able to give over control to the beast but to the vampire as well,” he told her. “When you connected with the vampire side you started to change. You got really pale, I saw your teeth change and you burned with sunlight that before didn’t harm you. Even your scent changed to a more vampiric scent,” he explained then stood up walking towards her until he stood right in front of her, much to her discomfort.
“Lily I don’t think you’re a true hybrid but something else. Now you look almost human and your scent has more of its older human characteristics. It’s almost like you’re three different creatures all smashed in one body: Lily the human, the beast, and the vampire.” he told her and she looked at him confused.
“How is that even possible?” She asked and he shook his head.
“I have no idea but what I do know is that no one should know about it. Andrew wouldn’t care, but the vampires… who knows how they would react. The king already wants an excuse to get rid of you. If he knew this, it maybe all he needs to issue the order of execution,” he explained. Lily felt the familiar coldness run through her as she realized something.
“The vampires aren’t our real problem James, well they would want to kill me and that is a problem for me but there is a bigger reason to keep what I am a secret,” she told him and he looked at her confused. “If I could learn to become a mix of both vampire and werewolf and keep my human rationality, with the right amount of control I could take all their strong points and not their weaknesses. I’d be nearly unstoppable,” she told him looking at him seriously and she could see he didn’t quite understand yet.
Lily looked up at him. “Xavier Thompson, James,” she told him and his jaw clenched as he frowned.
“If he finds out that you’re much more than a hybrid he won’t hesitate to start creating more,” he added and she nodded.
“If he only creates five or so like me then I don’t know how we can stop him,” she explained. “We can’t tell anyone James. Xavier is resourceful and who knows if he has some kind of spy here. I heard Greg was extremely loyal to the pack but with the right price he turned against the alpha and tried to hand me over to the doctor,” she finished.
“What you really are will stay between us,” James told her.
“Thank you James,” she replied and he gave her a cocky smile before he tried to kiss her but received a punch to the gut instead.
“Don’t James, we’re not a thing got it! What happened last night was a mistake and will never happen again got it?” She demanded. Hurt flashed through his expression but was quickly replaced with his arrogant expression again.
“We’ll see,” he told her with a wink and she narrowed her eyes him in warning. “But we’ll argue about that later. How about you keep practicing your control,” he added and Lily nodded in agreement.
Lily continued to practice her control, making sure James stayed away when the beast was more in control. After a few hours someone knocked on the door and Andrew stuck in his head with a sly smile once he saw James making Lily to frown.
“Hello Andrew, James was teaching me some meditation techniques and showing methods of controlling the beast,” she told him with a tone that she hoped clarified that, that was all that was happening and nothing more.
“Of course,” Andrew replied with a tone that told her he suspected much more. “The vampires are here to see you,” Andrew stated then with another sly smiled closed the door. Lily punched James on the arm when she noticed he had a smug smile on his face.
“Quit smiling like that! He’s going to think something else happened here,” she snapped, causing him to laugh loudly giving her a suggestive wink. She punched him again then took a deep breath. “Well here we go,” she started walking towards the door.
The next morning James sat at the long wooden table in the Roberts’s home totally absorbed in eating the wonderful breakfast Sandy had given him. So much so he didn’t even notice Tony come into the kitchen. Tony slapped him on the shoulder causing James to jump and Tony started to laugh. “That was awesome, the first time I got the jump on you, quite literally speaking too,” he teased and James got a sour look on his face.
“Funny, very funny, did you want to say something before I kick your ass or should I just get started now?” James threatened good-naturedly.