We ended up spending a few hours together. I never thought we would find so many things to talk about, but we obviously clicked more than I originally thought. Liliana was kind, funny, and surprisingly open-minded for a hunter. And after I accidentally called her Liliana, I found out that she also has a pretty killer look. Her friends called her Annie, she reminded me, and we were friends before we even met today.

When it was time for us to go our separate ways, Annie called someone to pick her up and I was deciding whether it was a good idea to wait with her until someone arrived. I didn't think there was a chance she'd call someone who didn't identify as a hunter, but I also didn't want to leave her standing outside alone. She was still heavily pregnant, and while she may have had hunting training, I didn't want to underestimate the situation.

And that's why I, the idiot, was just waiting in front of the cafe, staring sharply at every car that passed by. Not that there were many of them.

"You don't have to wait with me, you know," Annie told me after a moment of silence, looking at me with an amused look. I thought I hid my reluctance well, but I was obviously an open book to her.

"I want to," I told her, although it was far from the truth. She gave me another look that told me she didn't believe a word I said. Despite the situation, I laughed. After a while, she joined me and we stood like two idiots in front of the cafe, laughing at the top of our lungs.

"And you still had the nerve to call me Liliana," she said after quieting her laughter, but the playfulness in her voice remained.

"In my defence, that's your name," I countered, and this time I was the one giving her a teasing look.

"And it's still just as awful. If only it were Lilith." She shook her head. I wondered for a moment why the name sounded familiar before it dawned on me.

“The demon?” I uttered in disbelief, and she gave me a mischievous smile. Although I should probably start calling it a devil smile.

“We love powerful women,” she said confidently, looking satisfied with her statement.

"I don't know who is we, but powerful women honestly scare me," I admitted. At least the she-wolves. My mom brought me up so that I looked up to them from a young age. They were strong and smart, and I never doubted that they could defeat any of the male warriors. Some of them were smaller than most wolves, as that was the genetic predisposition of our species, but they learned to use that to their advantage. Being smaller also made them faster, which I found out mostly thanks to Cora, whenever she took something from me and ran off with it before I could get it back from her.

"As we should," Annie replied, looking proud. Before I could say anything to her, her phone rang. It only lasted a few seconds, and she didn't even have time to put the phone to her ear before it went silent again.

"He was supposed to ring me when he was close," she explained when she noticed my confused expression. Not that it helped my confusion as I still had no idea who exactly she was calling. I didn't know who to worry about more, her husband or her brother. In both cases, I had to be careful.

"Who will pick you up?" Against my better judgment, a question finally escaped me. She just looked at me and shook her head with a smile, as if I had asked her something absolutely absurd. I had no idea what to make of it, but I didn't dare repeat the question.

It didn't take long before the lights of the car hit my eyes. It was slowly approaching, and every indication was that it planned to park at the curb at our feet. I tried to quickly focus on the driver's seat, but when I finally spotted who was driving, it was too late to escape.

"Well, Toby's here, wanna say hi?" Annie looked at me and I could tell by the way her eyes sparkled that she planned it.  

"You really are a demon," I told her, wondering if it would look bad if I ran now and didn't look back. Before I could execute my plan, the car door opened, and the man of my dreams stepped out.

"Hi, Cole." His attention immediately turned to me, and he gave me a bright smile and a little wave.

"Hey," I greeted him back, thankfully my voice didn't show how upset his presence made me. My heart was beating in alarm, and I was glad for once that he wasn't a wolf and couldn't hear it.

“Stop flirting with my date, you idiot.” Fortunately for me, at the sound of Annie's voice, Tobias' attention turned to her. If I wasn't so shocked because of him, I would have laughed at her remark.

"Sorry, I had no idea you were looking for a new baby daddy," he answered her in the same tone.

“I feel like you just scared her date off,” I finally found the courage to join the conversation.

"Oh, really." Annie turned to me, winking in what was supposed to be a flirtatious style. I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably. It wasn't long before they both joined me, Tobias leaning one hand on the car and Annie covering her mouth with her hands, which only caused her laughter to turn into a whoop. This of course made Tobias and I laugh even harder.

"Wait until she starts grunting. That's the best part," Tobias said between laughs.

"Hey! I do no such thing!" Annie immediately objected, but as if on purpose, immediately followed it with a pig-like sound.

"Well, I guess I'll seriously reconsider the date now," I said in a serious tone. Annie immediately reacted by hitting me on the shoulder, and Tobias chuckled again. The wolf in me was stupidly proud of the sound. 

“Hey Cole, do you need a ride?" Annie asked suddenly, changing the subject. I blinked in surprise and looked at Tobias, who was obviously also waiting for my answer.

“I'm here by car, but thanks," I answered honestly, mentally congratulating myself that I hadn't thought of crossing the distance in my wolf form. Both siblings looked disappointed by my answer.

"And I was hoping to have the upper hand at least for once," Tobias sounded disappointed and even though I knew it was probably just an act, it still kind of made me sad.

"You're saying that like I'm bullying you," Annie immediately caught on and shook her head at her brother.

“I didn't say that, but the younger sibling curse is definitely a thing,” he said with a serious face. Then his gaze left his sister and turned to me as if waiting for confirmation of his claim.

"I have to disappoint you, my sister rather bullies me, and she is in high school." For a moment, I thought about whether I should mention my brother, but in the end, I decided that the less they knew about me, the better.

“So it's a sister curse.” He made a humming sound as if he had just thought of the most important thing. His little grimace made him look cute, and I had to look away before he noticed me openly staring at him.

"This sister will curse you if she has to stand on her feet for a while longer," Annie finally spoke, and I mentally thanked her. Another moment and I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep my gaze from turning back to Tobias this time with hearts in my eyes as well.

"Looks like we have to go," Tobias addressed his words to me and this time the disappointment in his voice was obvious, and I couldn't convince myself that I was just imagining it.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Cole will find time to try out what kind of baby daddy you are." I nearly choked on my own saliva at Annie's words. I gave her a horrified look before looking at her brother's reaction. However, I did not expect what I saw. If I thought he looked cute before, now he looked downright adorable. His cheeks were almost maroon in colour, and his gaze was downcast. Apparently, he was trying to pretend he didn't hear her, but we all knew that was impossible.

Breaking the grave silence that had ensued, Annie took stock of the situation and opened the passenger door. Before she got on, she gave me one last look in which she didn't hide mischief at all and winked at me.

“Bye, Cole. I had a wonderful time.” She slammed the door, not waiting for my answer.

“Well, will you?” Confused, I turned to Tobias who was still standing in the same spot and didn't look like he was planning to get in the car and leave. 

“What?” I asked like a total idiot. His cheeks darkened again, and he looked away for a moment before looking directly into my eyes. I swear I stopped breathing for a second.

"Will you find time for me?" he elaborated on his question and this time I was the one worried about the colour of my face. I honestly didn't know what to answer. I knew it wasn't a good idea to spend more time with him, I tried to avoid it by going out with his sister after all, but now that I was standing in front of him, and he was looking at me with those big eyes, I was lost.

“Yes,” I answered without thinking. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile, and I automatically smiled back. It was clear that we both knew that we didn't just want a friendly meeting, the colour of our cheeks already indicated that, but I stupidly agreed anyway.

"Great," he said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head with his hand. We both obviously didn't know what else to say, but Annie decided to sort it out for us again. We both jumped when a car suddenly honked.

“Bye, Cole. See you later.” Tobias gave me one last smile before disappearing inside. The car moved in the rear, and both siblings gave me one last wave before turning onto the main road.

I found myself alone, and the full weight of the decision I had made finally hit me. How could I have been so stupid?