Riley sprang away from Ethan, her cheeks flaming as red as her hair.

I gaped at them, stunned in silence. Riley and Ethan? Riley and Ethan? That's who Riley's mystery guy was?

Riley smoothed her hair, not meeting my eyes. Ethan stood awkwardly next to her, his shoulders stiff, expression neutral.

"I..." That was all I could muster.

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," Riley blurted out, wringing her hands together. "I would have told you, I just..." The anxiety on her face bordered on fear, like she thought I was going to be mad at her.

I held up both hands. "Riley, it's okay."

"But..." She glanced up at Ethan.

"It's okay," I repeated.

Ethan and I weren't related by blood, but we'd lived under the same roof long enough that he was practically my brother. Even so, that didn't give me any right to know what went on in his love life. Maybe it was the stunned look on my face that had Riley so worried. It could easily be misconstrued as anger. Hastily I rearranged my expression.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

Riley's blush had receded, but now it snuck back in, turning her cheeks bright pink. "I didn't know if you'd understand."

Riley was my best friend. The fact that she thought I wouldn't understand something like this both surprised and stung me. My feelings must have shown on my face because Riley suddenly rushed forward and grabbed my hand.

"Omigod, I didn't mean it like that." Distress widened her eyes. "It's just - you know what I'm like with boys. I never keep them around for long and I..." She glanced back at Ethan and a smile curled her lips. "I didn't want you to think Ethan was just the latest conquest. I know how important he is to you, and I didn't want you thinking that I might hurt him."

"It wasn't just Riley's idea. I said we should keep quiet about it too," Ethan chimed in. He reached out and took Riley's hand, his thumb stroking tiny circles on her skin.

Fresh surprise hit me and I had to fight to keep it from showing on my face. I'd guessed that Riley's new guy meant more to her than any of the others, but I still had trouble connecting that to Ethan. He and Riley were very different people, and neither of them had displayed any interest in each other before. Except they obviously had. As far as I knew, Riley had been seeing her mystery guy for three weeks. This relationship had been going on for nearly a month and I'd been none the wiser. Suddenly I felt rather stupid.

"It happened when you guys were hiding out with me, back when Caleb was hunting you," Riley explained. "The first kiss just sort of happened and things snowballed from there. We really were going to tell you." She looked up at Ethan, standing head and shoulders above her. "When we were ready."

They both looked at me, waiting for my reaction. I stared back at them, my best friend and the closest thing I had to a sibling, and a huge grin broke across my face. I'd seen Riley flit through crushes like they were going out of fashion, but I'd never seen her look at anyone the way she was looking at Ethan right now. And Ethan - he'd never even had a girlfriend that I knew of. Briefly it made me wonder just how much he'd been under Noah's yoke while he was a part of the team. I'd been told I couldn't date, but I hadn't really considered that the same rules had probably been imposed on Ethan.

"I'm happy for you both," I said. "Really, I am."

Riley squealed and hugged me, her red-and-purple hair tickling the side of my face. Ethan smiled at her, his face softening in a way that I'd never seen before.

The cynical part of me wondered whether this thing between them would last. Ethan was hardly experienced in matters of love, and Riley had never struck me as the kind of girl who'd settle down. Then again, I'd hardly been experienced when I met Luke, and he was gorgeous enough to have his pick of girls. It worked for us, and there was nothing to say it wouldn't work for Riley and Ethan. And if it didn't work - well, they weren't kids. They could make their own decisions and they could make their own mistakes. If this whole thing came crashing down one day, I'd be there to help them both pick up the pieces.

"And you're not mad at me for keeping it from you?" Riley's voice was muffled through the collective cloud of our hair.

"You're a big girl, Riley. You don't have to tell me everything."

"I would have told you, sooner rather than later."

"I know you would."

Riley finally released me from her hug and stepped back to Ethan's side. He put his arm around her shoulders.

There was a long pause and I realised they were both looking expectantly at me. I was slow to catch on. "Oh!" Realisation hit me. Riley and Ethan were a couple now and they wanted some time alone. "Um, is Luke upstairs?"

Riley shook her head. "He went out. Everyone went out."

Of course they did. If I'd told Luke that I was meeting Ava at the diner, he could have come to meet me. It was dark enough for him outside, and we could have found somewhere to spend the next few hours so Riley and Ethan could have some privacy. Going up to my bedroom wasn't really an option since alone time wasn't the same when you knew someone else was in the house. I didn't want my presence to spoil Riley and Ethan's night. And it wasn't like they could go to Riley's, not when her mum was probably entertaining the newest in the long line of boyfriends that had cropped up since her divorce.

"I'll just..." I gestured at the door. "Go for a walk."

Hardly the most tactful thing to say, but it was all that popped into my head. Riley smiled at me and I knew she understood.

"Thanks, Kiara," Ethan said.

As I left the house, I sent Luke a quick text, asking where he was. Wandering around by myself for the next few hours didn't hold much appeal, but if Luke was with me I could happily walk all night.

I wondered where Samuel and Elena were. They'd probably done the same as me and gone out just so Ethan and Riley could have some privacy. Other people wouldn't have been as happy to give up their evening so two teenagers could smooch in private, but Luke's parents never failed to amaze me in what they were willing to give up for other people.

Lack of privacy was really the only downside of living with the clan. Growing up as part of a vampire hunting team meant I was used to living with other people, and used to cramming into one house together, but with the team I hadn't given much thought to the concept of privacy. I'd always shared a room with Sophie and, though she had always been there for me, she never pried into my life. That was as close to time alone as I needed.

But things were different now. Now I had Luke, and I appreciated exactly what privacy was. It wasn't easy trying to conduct a relationship when you lived in a house with so many other people. I wanted to take the next step with Luke, but there was something very awkward about doing anything of that nature when his parents were in the same house.

I entertained a brief but delicious fantasy about what things would be like if Luke and I had our own home. I imagined waking up in his arms, in our own bed, in our own bedroom. We wouldn't have to worry about snatching a few minutes here and there, and we wouldn't have to deal with the logistics of living with other people. I let the fantasy play through my head for a moment before dismissing it. I couldn't think like that - not at the moment anyway. We weren't ready - we were too young.

Although, even as I thought it, I couldn't help thinking that I didn't feel too young. I wouldn't deny that I still had a lot to learn, but I wasn't a normal sixteen-year-old - I'd gone through more in the past few weeks than most people went through in their lives. And both Luke and I were legally old enough to get married.

I realised I was touching my ring finger again, and shoved both hands in my pockets, firmly telling myself that I had to stop thinking like this. But try as I might, I couldn't banish the little fantasy from my mind.

I turned the corner that led away from the clan's house, still deep in thought. I should have been more aware of my surroundings. If my mind hadn't been overstuffed with my meeting with Ava, the discovery of Ethan and Riley's relationship, and what the future might hold for me and Luke, then I might have heard the footsteps coming up behind me.

It wouldn't have come as such a shock when someone grabbed my arm. My fighting instincts automatically flared to life, and I whirled around, ready to clock my attacker in the jaw.

Luke stared back at me, a smile quirking his lips. His eyes shone like polished steel. "Jumpy?"

I play-swatted him. "Don't sneak up on me. I could have hurt you."

He slid his arms around my waist. "That's how we met, isn't it? Why break old habits?"

I smiled as he bent to kiss me. As much as we loved each other now, our first meeting hadn't exactly been the stuff of romance novels. We'd encountered each other one night in Greylark Asylum - an abandoned building on the outskirts of town - and my reaction had been to kick Luke in the face. Good thing he was the forgiving kind.

"Riley told me you were at the diner. I was on my way there to meet you, but you'd already left. We must just have missed each other," Luke murmured against my lips.

Riley had forgotten to mention that to me. Still, I forgave her, knowing full well what it was like to feel so strongly about someone that everything else slipped your mind.

I looped my arms around Luke's neck, hungrily kissing him. Every time was like the first time, fire and desire sparking between our lips, and emotion swelling up until my skin felt like it could no longer contain it. I'd never grow tired of kissing this boy, the softness of his lips, the gentle caress of his tongue, the way our chests pressed together and hearts beat in sync.

Someone cycling past loudly wolf-whistled, and we broke apart, grinning sheepishly.

"I'm guessing you know about Ethan and Riley," Luke said.

"I kind of walked in on them."

Luke chuckled, his arms tightening around me. "Awkward."

"A little." Something occurred to me and I frowned. "Wait, you already knew?" Hurt spiked in my chest. Riley hadn't told me - her best friend - about her secret relationship, but she'd told Luke? And presumably Samuel and Elena too, otherwise they'd probably be at home now.

"Ethan told me."

That didn't make me feel better. The only time I'd ever lied to Ethan was about Luke, back when Ethan was still a hunter and I didn't dare admit that my boyfriend was a vampire. Ethan had still known Luke existed, he just assumed Luke was human. Ethan hadn't even mentioned that he was seeing a girl. Why would he keep something like that from me, but tell Luke?

"He didn't have much choice," Luke said.

I couldn't tell if he was reading the hurt on my face or if he just knew me so well that he could predict what I was thinking.

"He wanted the house to himself for a couple of hours, and obviously Samuel and Elena wanted to know why," Luke said.

Understandable. Just because they were incredibly accommodating didn't mean they'd do whatever anyone asked when they asked it. It was their house after all.

"Ethan got a bit cagey, but eventually he admitted that he was bringing a girl over," Luke continued. His hands moved up and down my back, sending tingles through me. "Samuel wasn't keen on him bringing some human into the house until Ethan admitted that it was Riley."

Things fell into place. As vampires, Samuel and Elena had to be very careful around humans. They couldn't afford for their secret to be leaked - not only because there were always hunters out for vampire blood, but because the world couldn't know that vampires existed. Not yet anyway. People weren't ready to deal with that kind of revelation, which meant that vampires had to take every precaution when it came to protecting their secret. Samuel and Elena treated me like family now, but I bet there was a time when they'd warned Luke away from me, thinking I was just some human girl that might get too close to the truth. And I completely understood that. But since Riley already knew about vampires, there wasn't any danger in Ethan bringing her home.

It struck me again how generous Luke's parents were. Ethan wasn't their son - he'd only been living with them for a few weeks - and already they were happy to give up their home for the evening so he could get some romantic alone time with his girlfriend.

"So where did Samuel and Elena go?" I asked. It wasn't as if they could do what normal couples did together and go out for dinner. Vampires couldn't eat human food and, since the world didn't know about them, it wasn't as if there were any restaurants or eateries catering exclusively to vampire-kind.

"I think they've gone for a romantic walk." Luke smiled down at me. His eyes seemed to glow under the moonlight, and his face looked like chiselled marble. "Maybe we should do the same."

I stood on tiptoes to kiss him again. "Lead the way."

I strolled the streets of Dalwick, hand in hand with my vampire boyfriend, and felt happiness swell inside me. It was such a tiny thing, something that most other couples took for granted, but I still marvelled that I was able to walk around in public with Luke, marvelled that I could do something as simple as hold his hand without anything getting in the way.

We hadn't always been able to freely show our love.

We didn't talk much as we walked, and we didn't need to. Just being in each other's presence was enough. Before Luke, I could never have imagined that two people could fit together so perfectly. But the way his larger hand fit around mine, the way our bodies almost touched as we walked, the way we stole small glances at each other and smiled whenever our eyes met - I couldn't remember what I'd done before him. I couldn't remember what it had felt like to only have half a heart before Luke came into my life and completed me.

Suddenly I needed him to kiss me. I stopped, swung him to face me, and pulled his mouth down to mine. Sometimes I couldn't find words to express what I felt for him. Sometimes it was better expressed through a kiss, a slow, intimate meeting of lips and tongue, growing hotter and more passionate. We clung to each other, bodies crushed together, letting the world fade out around us until there was only Luke and I, and the love we shared.

Our moment didn't last long enough.

"Kiara?"

A voice cut through the haze of pleasure in my mind and I opened my eyes, half-pulling away from Luke.

A few feet away, standing in a pool of sodium-yellow light coming from a streetlamp, was the last person I wanted to see.

Leon.