Artem

I had just sat my mate down on her feet after having her ride the entire trip home on my lap. I was riding high with happiness from that alone. But I still had work to do, so I needed to let her go. Just before I slipped my arms away from her I whispered in a quiet voice, one I hoped was too quiet for her to notice.

"I love you."

Star didn't say anything in response to my whispered words so I was pretty confident that she hadn't heard me at all. But then I had to stand there and watch as my sister dragged her away like they couldn't get away from me fast enough.

But, there was something that had made my heart soar. Right before they disappeared into the house, Star turned around and waved at me so sweetly with a big smile on her face. That alone had my heart swelling so much that I thought it was going to make me explode.

Then there was the fact that she had called me cute. She was coming around to me slowly but surely. I don't think it would be too long now until we can be together. Maybe not in 'that way', but we could spend a lot of time together at least.

"Why the hell are you grinning like an idiot?" Kent came walking over to me from the direction of the trees at the back of the house.

"I didn't even realize I was." I looked at him, aware that I was far too happy for the events that had happened today.

"Well stop it, you're creeping me out."

"I can't help it man. I just heard something that made me really happy."

"And what is that?" He looked like he was fighting back laughter at the moment.

"Star thinks I'm cute." I grinned even wider. "She thinks I'm cute, she thinks I'm cute!" I jumped in a circle a few times just to emphasize the joy I was feeling."

"Dude, you look like Rudolph right now." Kent was laughing hysterically.

"I don't care. If I was a fucking reindeer I would be flying right now."

"Well keep that up and I will take a picture of you, then your face can glow as red as Rudolph's nose does." His words made me stop and caused me to glare at him out of my embarrassment. "I knew that would make you stop." He was laughing still, but at least he could stand up straight, unlike a few moments ago when it looked like he was going to fall to the ground.

Once Kent's laughter had finally died down, and my embarrassment was settling, he finally spoke again. Thankfully there was no trace of laughter or mirth in his voice at all.

"So, what's the plan? What are we going to do with her?"

"I have some ideas. But I want to change first." I glared at the line of trees that he had walked out of."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I think I will go and change too, no need to ruin good clothes." He grinned at me as we both started walking toward the house.

I was still riding high on emotions, both good and bad, so my head was a little muddled while I went through the motions of getting dressed. I was torn. I wanted to go straight to Star, to spend time with her and make sure she was going to keep talking to me. But I also wanted to go straight to the woods and rip that bitch's head off. How dare anyone touch my mate like that. I would make her pay. And if I knew anything about Kent, which I did, then I knew he wouldn't let me go easy on her.

That bitch, that piece of trash had been just like Kent's family and he hated people like that. He had completely estranged himself from his family and would never again have anything to do with them. If he were to see a member of his family again he would probably either kick their ass or kill them on the spot. There was no love left on his side.

If I were to let Kent do as he pleased, he would probably torture her. She deserved it, but that's not something he should do. Despite everything, Kent was a good guy and shouldn't have to bear that responsibility.

Me on the other hand? Well, I was ready to murder someone when I was eight years old. And I have killed to get to where I am now. I could shoulder that burden, but I didn't need to put that on my best friend.

When I left my room, I saw Chay coming out of Star's room. She looked a little calmer than she did before so I guess talking with my mate had helped her out a lot.

Before Chay could close the door I saw my mate curled up in the corner of the couch looking very contemplative. The sight of her warmed my heart.

"Hey." I called out to my sister before she could walk off.

"Hey, I was just going to go see you." The look on her face shifted from calm to pissed off in an instant.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to know what you were going to do to Lisa."

"Who the hell is Lisa."

"That piece of trash you had Kent bring home."

"Oh, so that's her name." I smirked. "Well, I could have taken care of it without her name, but now I can let her know that we know who she is. It might strike some more fear into her." I knew I was grinning evilly.

"Yeah, well, she deserves to die if you ask me. She was going to take Star back to her uncle so that he could do Goddess knows what to her." I growled at that.

"I already knew that. That's why I am not going to let it slide at all. She will pay, Chay, don't you worry about that."

"Good."