The Lunar Effect

Book 1 in the Ayla St. John Chronicles

By

C.J. Pinard

Copyright 2017-2020 ©C.J. Pinard

Copyright 2017-2020 ©Pinard House Publishing

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cover design by Kellie Dennis at

Photography by Dave Kelley at

Models:

Copyediting: Amabel Daniels

DEDICATION

This is for Ayla, the pretty waitress at the restaurant in Perdido Key, Florida, who told me her name meant "light of moon." You triggered an entire story about a sassy werewolf girl who decided to become a vampire hunter. May your dreams take you to the moon and back.

THE AYLA ST. JOHN CHRONICLES

The Lunar Effect

The Lunar Curse

The Lunar Secret

The Lunar Magic

The Lunar Promise

The Lunar Light

Lunar effect: The direct correlation between the full moon and the erratic and violent behaviors of humans.

(and werewolves!)

PROLOGUE

I sat perched on top of the tall, stone building. The frigid night air swirled around me and pierced my exposed skin with a cold bite. Ghastly stone gargoyles hovered on either side of me, scowling out into the night. I ignored them and continued to peer down at the street, scanning for my target.

I really don't know what possessed me to climb up here anyway; I supposed it was because this was the tallest apartment complex in Denver—an ostentatious tower, really. And with my eyesight, it wasn't as if I needed binoculars to see down that far, but it did give me a spectacular view. The building across the street was pretty much a mirror image of this one: a ludicrously high-risen, yuppie-infested stone monstrosity, with large, boring square windows set perfectly symmetrically apart and one revolving door on the ground level, which was shrouded in an outlandish green awning. It even had a doorman. I briefly wondered how much money that poor guy made to stand there all day, having to be courteous and helpful to the rude snobs who inhabited the cold building.

Tiny snow flurries began to float and twirl in the frosty air around me, and I knew my window of opportunity was about to slam shut if I didn't shit or get off the pot. I had one shot at staking this guy tonight, and I was determined as hell to get him. I thought about the stack of bills awaiting me if I scored my prize, and a smile twisted up on my lips.

Rocking back on the heels of my black boots, I came to rest, sitting as still as the gargoyles who were keeping me company. He should be coming out of that apartment building at any minute, according to my source.

Ah! There he was, Johnny the vampire, the little bastard. He exited the pretentious building and pulled his ridiculously stereotypical black trench coat up around him, looked both ways on the icy sidewalk, and began to walk south. He wrapped his arms around himself, acting like the cold was actually a bother to him.

Pu-lease.

His pale face was illuminated by the almost full moon, causing his skin to look sickly—almost green—and his jet-black hair to look blue. As he walked with his head down, I knew this was my only chance. I glanced one last time at the nearly deserted street, then up at the moon, pulled in a deep breath of cold air, and leapt off the building with a satisfying grin.

Oh yes, tonight was not his night. It was mine.

My name is Ayla St. John, and I'm a vampire hunter. I'm also a werewolf, but that probably isn't very surprising. We are, after all, natural-born enemies.

Chapter 1

Five years ago

I hate it when I wake up with mud in my bed.

It wasn't as if I asked for this curse. I couldn't control the shifts. My parents apparently, had been clueless that we had a werewolf curse on our family.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

So every full moon since I'd turned seventeen, I would wake up on the third day, feeling hungover and unaware of what I had just done—what I'd just been through. This especially sucked because I had, apparently, been the last of my siblings to find out about it. By surprise, mind you. Nobody should have to go through what I'd been through. The first shift had been pure hell on earth.

It was a few months after my seventeenth birthday. I had been out with my girlfriends just after the homecoming football game. After an epic win by our school, we, the cheerleaders, had gone to meet the team at a local restaurant-bar. Of course we couldn't drink, but it didn't stop us from thinking we were mature adults.

I had been hyped up and twitchy all night. I couldn't think of any other way to describe it. I was usually full of energy anyway... hello, I was a teen... but on that day, I couldn't sit or stand still, bouncing from foot to foot while standing, and pounding my hand against my thigh as I sat. Thankfully, the football game had helped me get some of that out of my system. After three years in cheer, I had finally made head cheerleader my senior year at my high school in the small Denver suburb.

While my fellow cheerleaders shivered in the cold and plastered fake smiles on their faces, I had a genuine smile on mine. I wasn't cold; I rarely got cold. In fact, I was a bit sweaty that night. Our high school had creamed the team from the next town over and I was burning up from all the jumps, cartwheels, and screams I'd expended that night. The crowd seemed to be in a frenzy, and it just amped us all up more. I looked into the sky to see there was a full moon, and smiled. I bet that was why the energy was so high. I read somewhere that the full moon made people crazy; made them do irrational things. I was on a serious high myself, and when we'd all met at the restaurant, I had only one thought on my mind: Ryder Robinson.

The guy was—of course—on the football team. He was not the quarterback. Come on, that would be way too stereotypical, right? Besides, the quarterback was a guy named Benson. No, Ryder was a fullback. I knew virtually nothing about football, even though I should have, since I was head cheerleader, but I did know Ryder's position on his team. Not that I knew exactly what a fullback was. I promised myself I'd Google it later.

Yeah, right.

Myself, Kiera, Jen, and Gemma all piled into my little Honda and headed toward Gino's Pizza Bar. We were the first to arrive and we informed the hostess we were going to have a big party—well, over ten.

We sat in the corner of the restaurant, giggling, until the rest of our party arrived.

My breath had caught in my throat as I saw Ryder arrive with the rest of the group. He sensed my gaze on him, and smiled. His eyes were blue; an aquamarine color that rivaled the Caribbean Sea on a clear day. I smiled back, then slid some of my light-colored hair behind my ear.

I licked my lips and looked at my entourage of girlfriends. Gemma nudged me with her bony elbow and said, "Ryder's here."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. I can see that."

She chewed her lip and replied, "Uh huh. He's totally staring at you."

Butterflies invaded my stomach and I sucked in a breath. "He's probably just looking for his friends."

Gemma snorted and waved a hand around. "No, he's still staring in our direction."

I pulled my gaze away from Gemma's and risked a glance at Ryder. He gave me a small smile. The kind I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't already memorized his face and lips from hours of staring at him in class. It was a small tug at the corner of his mouth—just one corner. That crooked grin that, at the very first sight of it, had caused me to have an instant crush on him.

Seeming to notice that our table had some empty spots, he and three other players came over and sat down. My stomach did a little flip when Ryder sat directly across from me. I tried so hard not to stare at him like I usually did in the math class we had together, but it was so hard. He was just so beautiful. Dark, inky black hair, those full lips, and the eyes that captured me every time our eyes locked.

How come he wasn't my boyfriend yet?

The server came to take our order, and deciding on a few large cheese and pepperoni pizzas, we let him go fill the order then continued our playful banter. Gemma wanted to chat me up, as she seemed to never quit talking, but I just wanted to talk to Ryder.

"That pass, though," Benson Gibbs said, coming up to our table and fist-bumping Ryder as he sat down next to him. Of course Benson, the cocky ass that he was, had to turn the chair backwards to sit on it, a toothpick hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"Hi, Benson," I said, trying to be polite.

My parents had instilled in me to be courteous to others. To say hello, especially to adults, when they had said hello first. High school had taught me that teenagers are assholes and usually nobody said hello. But I wasn't going to lose my manners.

Gemma giggled from somewhere beside me, and I ignored her because I was, again, staring at Ryder.

"Hi," I finally said to him with a nervous smile.

"Hello, Ayla," he replied with that panty-melting crooked grin of his.

So hot that he remembered my name. We have three classes together, but still, I was surprised he even knew it.

Shockingly, the rest of the night went amazingly well. The pizza and soda was delicious, and we'd all talked casually, even though it had been loud in there.

As the restaurant was hinting that it was trying to close, we all got up, the adults paid the tab, and we went outside. The cool Colorado air felt wonderful after being inside the hot pizza joint.

"Do you need a ride home?" Ryder asked me all confident, but I definitely detected a note of nervousness in his tone.

The offer surprised me. "Uh, no, I have a car." Oh, my God, I should have just said yes and given Gemma my car keys.

Speaking of, I looked over to see Gemma running a long, pink fingernail down the front of Benson's shirt, and he was smiling down at her like he was about to conquer Mt. Everest. And maybe he was going to, since he was probably going to be conquering a couple of Gemma's mountains later, if I knew her.

Returning my gaze to Ryder, I lied and said, "I don't have to be home anytime soon, though."

My curfew was midnight since I was seventeen and still in high school, but curfews be damned. I wanted to see how far I could push the limits with Ryder.

Things progressed faster than I thought they would. We were parked on a hill overlooking the entire city of Denver in Ryder's Mustang. I didn't come up for air long enough to appreciate the beauty of the vast city sprawled out before me, the twinkling lights of the buildings glowing under a clear, star-shot sky.

"You're such a good kisser," Ryder said to me between breaths, his warm hand on the thigh of my jeans as I straddled him in the driver's seat. He'd had to put the seat all the way back to accommodate us both.

"So are you," I replied, breathless and my stomach churning with excitement and nerves. I had only kissed one other guy before, so I was beaming at the compliment.

But as I stared into his eyes, my smile fell as I thought I saw a flash of yellow in his aqua-colored irises. His eyes went big at the same time, and in unison we said, "Your eyes..."

"What about my eyes? Yours looked—"

"Oh, my God," he whispered.

"What?" I asked, feeling panicked, and now scared.

"It's coming, Ayla, are you ready?" he whispered.

Confused, my eyebrows dipped together. "What are you talking about?"

He shrugged a shoulder and leaned in, kissing me hard and fast, and I decided to ignore his strange comment and kiss him back. The windows of the car were completely fogged up, and I felt like my body was on fire.

"You're close, baby," he said, breaking the kiss and panting. "Maybe we should get out of the car," Ryder said.

"Close to what?" I breathed. I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought maybe it was a sexual reference, but at seventeen, I was still a virgin and, aside from a few make-out sessions, was pretty oblivious to sexual innuendos.

Ryder opened the car door, and as I relished the cool night air on my clammy skin, he pulled me out of the car.

"You must be a late bloomer," he said, chuckling and looking down at me with amusement in his eyes. It was then I realized he had removed his letterman's jacket and was unbuttoning his jeans.

My eyes widened. "Um, what are you doing?" I asked, backing away.

"This is gonna hurt, unfortunately," he said, lifting his polo shirt off over his head until he stood there in nothing but boxers and seriously muscled abs and thighs.

He extended a hand toward me, reaching for my chest area, but I took a step back.

"Ryder, what... what are you doing?" I asked again.

"If you value those clothes, you'll strip out of them before they are torn off of you."

I was sweating now, and it felt like the light from the full moon was beating down on my head like a thousand suns. I longed to take my coat off, but was frightened at Ryder's odd behavior.

"I don't understand," I said shakily. "Please leave me alone. Just take me home. Please."

His eyes went wide and looked wild, the teal irises glowing yellow in a flash, then back to their natural color. He began to twitch and shake and I thought maybe he was having some sort of fit or seizure. Then he fell to the ground, all four limbs in the mud and dirt as his head dipped between his shoulders. He sounded like he was whimpering and growling.

"Oh, my God! What's wrong with you? Do you want me to call an ambulance?" I pulled my cell from the pocket of my jacket, but suddenly the phone hit the dirt at my feet as it fell from my hands.

Excruciating pain like I'd never known radiated throughout my whole body. It felt as though burning hot acid was being poured through every vein and artery in my body. I screamed out in agony, and then dropped to my knees.

"Help! Help me!" I sobbed, tearing my clothes from my body with fingers that were beginning to grow long, hard nails where before I'd only had short, manicured ones. I was hot, burning up. I had to strip.

I now lay on the cold, muddy ground, half-naked and feeling like I was on fire from the inside out. Then I heard the first bone crack. Then the next, then the next. My bones were breaking one by one, and I could only scream in agony so much before my voice gave out. I felt like I was going to faint from the pain.

"Don't..." Ryder said, his voice sounding weird and gruff as he panted in short breaths, "fight it."

My weary stare moved to where Ryder lay on the ground, and I screamed again. His body was covered in a dark-brown layer of hair, and as he opened his mouth to speak—or maybe howl—I could see his teeth were long and razor-sharp.

More cracking sounds exploded in my ears as I yelled in pain, my clothes now completely torn to shreds from my body as I clawed at my own skin, wishing I could rip it off.

Instead, as I looked down, I saw long, blonde hair sprouting from every inch of my body.

I screamed again as more bones broke, but the instant they broke, the pain in them seemed to stop, until another bone cracked and repositioned itself. It wasn't until the femur bones broke—the biggest bones in the body—when I fell to the ground on my back, howling in an agony so unimaginable, I couldn't put it into words, even if I wanted to.

But even those bones seemed to stop hurting quickly. Once the pain and the fever subsided, I opened my eyes to see a world comprised completely of black and white with a slight red hue around the edges. To contrast the void of color, I could see everything with distinct, razor-sharp clarity.

I opened my mouth to call out for Ryder, but it came out as nothing but a howl. I shook my head, confused. Twisting my head around, I looked behind me and, in black and white, saw light-colored fur covering my body, which was now that of an animal. A long, bushy tail swished back and forth, and I thought, I must be dreaming. How am I an animal?

"Ryder?" I said, but it was only inside my head.

"I'm here, Ayla," came his response, but I also only heard it inside my head.

Lifting my furry face up, I saw a large, dark-colored wolf with yellow eyes standing before me. Behind him were many other wolves, but for some reason, I was not afraid. They all stood still, just their tails flicking to and fro. They stared at me expectantly.

"You're a beautiful wolf, Ayla. So breathtaking," Ryder's voice said again inside my head.

"I don't understand," I said, feeling on the verge of crying. "How can I be a wolf? I am just a girl. Am I dreaming?" I asked.

"No, baby, just follow us. We will show you what we do during a full moon."

The wolf who was Ryder came up close to my face and licked my nose. It felt warm and comforting, so I snuggled my snout against his cheek.

"Let's go," he said gently.

I did as I was told, because really, what other choice did I have? I followed behind Ryder as the pack of wolves went over the brow of the hill and down a slope, which emptied into a large forest, thick with lush green pine trees.

That was the only thing I remembered. The next morning I woke in the warmth of my own bed, but I was naked and covered in mud, pine needles... and blood.

So much blood.

Chapter 2

I sat bolt upright in my filthy bed as soon as my brain caught up with what time of the day it was. A football game... Ryder... the hot make-out session... the pain... the wolf.

Looking down at my body, I could see mud and dirt covering almost every inch of me. Raising my hands up, I gasped in horror at the red, caked-on blood that blanketed them. Every fingernail had a half-moon of red and black under each one. I leapt from my bed and went to open my bedroom door when I realized I was naked. I couldn't just walk down the hall like this when I had two older brothers who still lived at home.

Losers.

Running over to my phone, which was muddy as it sat on my bedside table, I could see it was after ten in the morning. Those lazy jerks were probably still sleeping, but I couldn't risk it. Walking to my dresser, I opened the middle drawer and grabbed an oversized T-shirt. But before slipping it on, I slowly—and foolishly—went to my full-length mirror and gazed at my reflection. I couldn't control the gasp that escaped my lips. Filth covered me from my feet to my head. Clumps of mud were tangled in my long, blonde hair, and my lips and hands were covered in dried, dark-red blood.

My eyes welled up and my bottom lip wobbled. What was going on? I was hoping I had dreamed what had happened last night... but that was not the case. The proof of what I'd done and what I was—it was staring at me in the face, mocking my naivety.

The embarrassment of not knowing what I was turned into anger. Was I really a werewolf? That stuff just wasn't real. It was for cheesy teen romance movies and horror novels.

Tossing the shirt over my head, I flung open my bedroom door, stomped down the hall, and went into the bathroom, taking the longest, hottest shower I could stand.

My phone showed I had texts. I rubbed lotion over my skin—as it was so extremely dry here in Colorado—and read the texts.

The first one from an unknown number:

It's me, Ryder. Please call me. I am worried about you.

How had he gotten my number, and furthermore, did I really want to talk to him? The schoolgirl crush I had on him seemed so silly now. I was involved in much deeper shit, and while I was still numb and in shock from what had happened last night, I was also very scared.

Unraveling the towel from my hair, I tossed it onto the floor and began absently brushing out my locks, debating my dilemma.

Should I call him? I guess I'd have to. Maybe he can explain to me what the hell happened last night.

Oh, my God! Maybe he or one of his idiot friends put something in my drink. Maybe I hallucinated the whole thing.

But then there was the whole waking-up-covered-in-mud-and-blood-thing.

Crap.

Deciding I had nothing to lose at this point, and desperately wanting answers, I replied to his text: Come pick me up. 485 Pine Cone Lane. I'll be waiting out front.

His response came a minute later: You got it, beautiful.

I couldn't keep the smile from my face at him calling me beautiful. How could he think that, when I had turned into an overgrown dog last night?

So gross.

After pinning up my wet hair, I tugged on a pair of jean shorts and a light hoodie. I slid into my tennis shoes without socks, threw on some lip gloss and mascara, and bounded down the stairs while sliding my cell into my back pocket.

"Hi, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" my mom asked, stacking pancakes on a plate from the steaming griddle on the stove.

I snorted and shook my head. "Not really."

My dad looked up from his tablet and quirked an eyebrow at me. They both stared at me expectantly, that same look they gave me every morning, as if they were waiting for me to reveal some kind of news to them.

I grabbed a pancake from the stack and rolled it up like a tortilla. I took a bite and asked around a mouthful, "What?"

"You okay?" Dad asked.

I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Yeah, why?"

"No reason," he said, putting his attention back on his brand new iPad.

I shook my head, grabbed my purse from the coffee table where I had obviously left it, and made my way to the front door. No way was I going to tell my parents about last night. They'd institutionalize me.

"Where are you going, Ayla?" asked Mom.

"Out with friends," I replied, racing out the front door and closing it behind me.

Strangely, our drive was done in silence. I didn't even ask where we were going, because I didn't care. I just needed answers, and with the loud country music playing, it wasn't exactly conversation atmosphere.

Even through his sunglasses, I caught him occasionally looking sideways at me. I wanted to return his glances, but I just kept my eyes on the road as he drove, the cool morning air from my open window feeling wonderful against the warm Colorado sun blazing in the sky.

Ryder finally stopped at a nearby park and pulled the car into a spot. He killed the engine and looked over at me. "Let's go sit on the picnic benches."

I nodded, and reached for the handle to get out, but Ryder had already made it to my side of the car before I could fully get the door open.

"How did you...?"

He just threw me his lopsided grin and offered me a hand, which I took, and then he closed the car door, arming the alarm.

Walking hand-in-hand, we headed toward the mostly deserted picnic tables. As we sat, I could see we had a perfect view of the mountains to our left, the playground with its colorful equipment in front of us, and random barbeque grillers surrounded by stone enclosures were scattered throughout the picnic table area.

Ryder was still holding my hand.

I looked down at it, then up into his eyes. Without thinking, I reached up and pulled his black sunglasses from his face, folded them, and set them on the picnic table.

"What the hell happened last night?" I finally asked after studying his face a little bit too long.

"I knew you had to have questions, and believe it or not, I have some, too. But you first."

I laughed nervously. "I already asked. What the hell happened last night?"

His warm hand interlaced with mine was distracting, but I wouldn't let it deter me from getting the answers I so desperately sought, as much as it was thrilling me to be touching Ryder, having his full attention. Just as I had wanted the entire school year.

"You're a werewolf, Ayla. What I can't believe is that you seemed to have no knowledge of this last night. I spent all night feeling sorry for you. I couldn't believe it."

I felt a little frustrated by his answer, mostly because I didn't want to believe it—didn't want to think I could be some disgusting hairy animal.

"Ryder," I laughed, "I cannot be a werewolf. First off, I don't believe in that stuff. Did you slip LSD in my drink or something?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Did you see me slip anything in your soda?"

"Uh, no, of course not."

"You're being ridiculous. Did you wake up covered in blood and dirt?"

I nodded, catching my bottom lip between my teeth. "And I was naked. Where are my clothes?"

He laughed, his eyes dancing with amusement. "In the trash can, and now ashes, after I burned them. They were nothing but shreds."

My eyes went big. "How did I get home?"

"Your brother took you home."

I stood up from the bench and shrieked. "What?"

He laughed again as if this was some big joke. "Aden is always at our shifts. And before you freak out over the naked thing, he always keeps extra clothes and blankets in his trunk. He wrapped you up like a burrito in his Broncos blanket and put you in the backseat after we hunted. Said he was going to put you in bed this morning."

Mortification didn't even begin to describe how I felt. The heat that flushed my cheeks must have rivalled the twisty red slide that was gleaming under the sun on the playground in front of me.

I put my hand to my forehead and began to pace. "I don't understand. My brother is a 'werewolf' too?" I asked, making air quotes with my fingers.

Ryder laughed again and walked over to me, putting both hands on my shoulders to stop my pacing. With the tip of one finger, he lifted my chin so I had to look up at him. Embarrassed, upset, confused, and just mortified in general, my bottom lip and chin trembled as tears threatened along my lashes.

"Ayla, your whole family are wolves. How did you not know? That is what I don't understand—how did you not know this was going to happen? Your parents had a responsibility to warn you. I was going to ask Aden about it, but I wanted to talk to you first."

I wiped away a traitorous tear that cascaded down my cheek. "Ryder, don't you think I would know if my family transformed into wolves—let me guess—during every full moon?"

He grinned and nodded. "Yes, it does happen only during the full moon. The very first shift happens between sixteen and seventeen years old. But you are almost eighteen, aren't you?"

I shook my head with a weak smile. "Not for another few months."

"Wow, late bloomer, like I said."

"Thanks," I answered dryly.

"What else do you have questions about?" he asked sincerely.

I looked into his eyes, which seemed so normal and friendly, and asked, "Who else is a wolf? The whole football team?"

He threw his head back and laughed. "Nah, like half. Me, Benson, and about seven others. Since you've had your first shift, you'll now be able to identify other wolves by scent."

My eyes went big. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yes, we are attracted to each other because I am drawn to your scent just like you are drawn to mine."

"So you only like me—are attracted to me—because I'm a female wolf?" I made a face.

He shook his head and rubbed his finger over my hand. "No, that's not why I'm attracted to you that way."

That made me blush. "Um, okay."

He brushed some hair out of my face. "Everything will be okay, I promise." He then began to absently run his fingers along my jaw, my bottom lip, and my breath caught in my throat.

"When is this going to happen again?" I asked on a whisper.

He hesitated a little before he answered, "Tonight."

Pulling away, I groaned. "Oh no."

An angry, silent ride home was all Ryder got after I asked him to take me home. I couldn't recall ever being this upset—but I wasn't mad at Ryder. I was angry at someone else. I mumbled my thanks to Ryder as he dropped me off, and as I stormed through my house, taking the steps two at a time, I raged down the hall and flung open Aden's door to find him on his bed watching TV with his phone in his hand.

His eyes grew large as he immediately sprung from the bed, and said, "Ayla, what are you—"

I pounced on him immediately, knocking him to the floor and screaming the worst obscenities I could think of at him, my fists swinging wildly as he put his own arms up to block my blows. He was stripped to the waist in nothing but sweatpants, his bare chest catching my fists' assaults.

"Ayla, stop!" he yelled. "Stop hitting me! What are you doing?"

"Why didn't you tell me, you asshole?" I screamed, my hands still working him like a solid-muscle punching bag. "I hate you, Aden. I hate you!"

He finally got the upper hand, shoving me off him. I landed on my back and then he straddled me, pinning my arms to the floor. "Calm the fuck down, Ay. Just listen to me, all right? And for God's sake, keep your damn voice down!"

He slowly lifted himself from me and went over and shut his door.

I didn't move, I just lay on the floor, already feeling defeated as more infuriating tears stung my eyes and slid down my face to soak my ears and hair.

He offered me a hand up, but I ignored it, standing on my own, and then curling up on the edge of his bed, wrapping my arms around my legs. "How could you?" I asked on a grief-filled whisper.

Raking a hand through his sandy-blond hair, he blew out a breath and looked at me with sympathy in his dark blue eyes. "I'm sorry. I know I should have said something. I just couldn't figure out how to start that conversation."

"So what about Austyn? He couldn't tell me?" I asked, referring to my other brother, the one who was just eighteen months older than me, and younger than Aden.

"Pshhtt," he scoffed. "That idiot can't even piss in the toilet without missing. I'm the eldest, I should have told you. I'm sorry, Ay."

My shoulders slumped in defeat. "So Austyn is a wolf, too? He was there last night?"

He nodded.

"And Mom and Dad have no idea?"

He shook his head. "No clue."

"So... they're not wolves?" I asked.

Aden shook his head again. "No. They are human. Totally clueless."

What I had failed to mention to Ryder earlier was that my two brothers and I were adopted as babies. Our biological mother had popped out the three of us all within a four-year period and had left us on a doorstep of a church. Our adoptive parents had been unable to have children and were thrilled at the opportunity to adopt three small kids to raise as their own.

I had always wondered how our mother could have done that to us. We were all about eighteen months apart in age and very close, but now that I knew the truth about what we were, I began to have other types of thoughts and theories swirl in my head. I just knew in my gut that being a wolf had something to do with her abandoning us. Hell, maybe she was even dead.

"Ryder says we're purebloods," Aden said out of nowhere.

I looked at him, confusion clouding my brain as I struggled to understand what he meant. "Huh?"

"I can tell by the look on your face that you are wondering where we came from."

"She's not the only one," came Austyn's voice from the doorway.

We both turned to look at our middle brother, who looked so much like the both of us with his dark-blond hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin.

Aden sighed and turned back to me, but spoke to Austyn. "I already told you, dude, but feel free to listen again."

"Well, all right!" he said excitedly. Sadly, Austyn wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, and sometimes things went right over his head.

Okay, things went over his head ALL the time. But I loved the silly boy.

Aden began to pace his room, looking entirely too tired for an almost twenty-one-year-old. He glared the both of us.

"Our biological mom was, obviously, a wolf. She was killed not long after we were left at that church."

Disbelief and shock ricocheted though me. "What? How do you know this?"

Aden eyed at us, then, seeming unsure of himself, but knowing he had to keep talking, he said, "A few months ago, I was in downtown Denver and caught a familiar scent. I didn't know why it was familiar, but I knew I had to follow it. It led me to a rundown house in a not-so-good neighborhood. I stood outside of it, wondering what to do. Apparently, I had stood there so long, that the sun had begun to set, and darkness set it. That's when he came outside."

"Who?" I asked, totally enraptured in my brother's story now.

Aden flicked his gaze between me and Austyn, then said, "Our uncle, apparently."

We both gasped.

"He had caught my scent, too, knew somehow we were related to him. He violently yanked me into the house and demanded to know what I was doing there, and who had sent me. I thought the guy was old, paranoid, and frankly, ridiculous. I told him I had no ulterior motives for being there except for a scent I'd caught. I had no issues telling him about the scent, since I'd already seen his eyes glow yellow in the darkness before he'd pulled me in his house. Between that and his scent, I knew he was a wolf.

"I let him smell me—really smell me—and then demanded he tell me what the hell was going on. He then asked me a bunch of weird questions like when I was born and where I lived, then he asked my name, and what pack I belonged to. I only told him my first name and the year I was born. It was after that I found out that he was, in fact, our uncle, our mother's brother. He explained that our mother had been on the run from an abusive Alpha she'd mated with, and when she grew tired of running with three babies, she finally gave up and left us at the biggest Catholic cathedral in Denver, hoping we'd have good lives. He told me that it had broken her to do that, and once we were out of her hands, she stopped running. Eventually, this Alpha had caught up with her, demanding to know where his children were. When she could give him no answer, he killed her, and he hasn't been seen since. His pack had voted to outcast him, and after that had voted in a new Alpha."

I slumped down the side of the bed, and then my butt hit the floor. I put my forehead to my knees and fought back the grief and shock that enveloped me.

"That's some fucked-up shit," Austyn said, sounding incredulous.

Aden let out a humorless chuckle. "Yes, little bro, it is for sure."

Lifting my head from my knees, my eyes blurry with unshed tears, I looked at my brothers and said, "I love our parents, but I really was hoping to meet our biological mom one day. Let her know what a good life we've had and let her know she did the right thing by us, regardless of her circumstances. Maybe get to know her, listen to her story." The tears could not be contained anymore. They, again for the second time that day, fell unchecked and unabashed down my cheeks. I felt angry that I was crying yet again.

I couldn't remember a life other than the one I'd led for the past seventeen years. I had been barely a year old when the St. Johns had adopted us. But they had always been open about the fact that we were adopted, and that had never bothered me. However, in the deep recesses of my mind—and my heart, if I was honest—I had wanted to get to know my real mom. Who she was, why she had given us up, what kind of woman she was now. Did she have any regrets? Any more children we could call siblings? I would now never know. And to think she had to give us up because our asshole of a father was an abusive bastard.

I vowed then and there that one day, I didn't care how long it took, that I would find that man—that werewolf—and I would confront him.

Chapter 3

A strange numbness took over me as I walked down the halls of my high school on Monday. Everyone else carried on like it was just another day, but suddenly, my world had been rocked and nothing looked the same to me at all.

I felt like I'd aged ten years.

Between the horrific—and if I was honest—traumatizing first-time wolf shift last night, and the info dump about our parents that my brother had heaped on me, I felt worn down.

As I was at my locker, exchanging out my books, I felt someone hip-check me and slowly turned my head to see my much-too-bubbly best friend, Gemma, standing there with a smile on her pretty face, her cheerleader's uniform pristine and perfect as usual.

"Why aren't you suited up?" she asked, indicating my shorts, tee, and sneakers.

"Not cheering tonight," I said, slamming my locker.

Her smile fell as she walked with me to our math class. "Why not?"

"Not feeling very cheery," I replied dryly.

Gemma stopped walking. "Since when?"

What was I supposed to tell her? That I had just learned I was a werewolf, and my first date with Ryder ended up being a disaster in which I had morphed into a dog, and my biological mother had been killed by my asshole Alpha father and I was a bit emo about it today?

Yeah, no.

"PMS," I said on a whim, grabbing my lower belly as if crampy.

She blinked her big, brown eyes at me a few times, as if trying to catch up with the conversation, and then said, "Oh, yeah, girl. I can totally relate."

Glad to have dodged that one, we walked into math class as she asked about my date with Ryder, and we took our seats at our usual desks. I slapped my math book on the desktop and looked over to Ryder's desk. He was turned around talking to Benson. He must have felt my gaze because he swiveled around and locked eyes with me. When our eyes met, he smiled, and my bad day got a little better. I smiled back.

"Hot," Gemma whispered from behind me.

I craned my head over my shoulder and saw she was smiling at me, a knowing look sparkling in her eyes.

"Yes, he is," I murmured, forcing myself to tear my gaze away from him and try to get through my school day.

I was glad he'd smiled at me, but part of me wondered what he really thought about me. He'd already seen me at my worst. Clothes stripped off, bones breaking, screaming in agony. But he'd also kissed me crazy in the front seat of his car, and that had made my toes curl and my body heat up and break out in goosebumps. Being that he was a wolf, too, I could only hope he didn't think anything I'd done had been weird, because honestly, I still thought it was weird as hell.

As I tapped my pencil on my desk and tuned out Gemma's ramblings about her prom dress shopping angst and her new crush on Benson, I wondered how Aden had kept all this from me. Then a thought occurred to me: if I had had to go through this first shift totally unaware and unprepared, that meant he'd had to, too. The thought made my heart drop into my stomach. That must have been horrific for him. It had been horrible for me, too, of course, but for him, he must have had nowhere to turn, to ask for help after the shift had happened. I would have to ask him about that.

I bet he had told Austyn, though. No way that bonehead brother of mine would have been prepared for it. Or hell, I bet he liked it.

Thinking about tonight gave me anxiety. Aden and Ryder had said I was going to shift again. Last night had been so painful—excruciating—and I didn't know if I could endure that again. But Ryder and Aden had been doing it every month for a couple of years, and they were surviving it, right?

I blew out a breath through my lips and sat back in my chair, still reeling that werewolves were real. What else was real, I wondered. Witches? Fairies? Oh, my God... vampires?

"Open your books to page eighty-three, class," I heard Mr. Trussel say.

My daydreams about beautiful creatures would have to wait until later.

Yeah, déjà vu was pretty much how I would describe this situation, except I knew Ryder and I wouldn't be doing anything more than kissing, as I could already feel my body twitching and heating up. In between our kisses, when we came up for air, I could see the glint of yellow begin to overtake his otherwise aqua eyes, like a tidal wave rushing horizontally across his irises. I watched in fascination as this happened, then his pupil elongated vertically to become a slit in his eye, like a cat's.

I saw Ryder's gaze reflect my own as we both watched the transformation begin in our eyes. Leaning in, I kissed him harder, my hand snaking around the back of his head to push his face in closer to mine. He greedily kissed me back, running his warm hands down my backside, which was now scorching and on fire, it seemed.

"When..." I panted, trying to get the words out, "when does it happen? Like..." I continued to try to catch my breath as my body inflamed and I began to feel out of control..."what time, exactly?"

Ryder pulled back and smiled at me. "When the moon is at its highest. Tonight is 10:29 p.m."

I didn't wear a watch so I turned around to glance at his dashboard clock. 10:21 p.m.

Oh no.

"Just a few more kisses, and then we'll have to get out, beautiful," Ryder said as if trying to devour me before the bad came.

I nodded, kissing him back with everything I had. I hadn't meant to, but I lost track of time, and before I knew it, I had to push the car door open and fall out into the night. With my skin on fire and my body aching all over, I crawled out of the car on all fours and let the bone-breaking, screaming pain begin.

The beeping of my phone woke me, and I blinked open groggy eyes. The first thing I felt was the cold. The second thing I felt was the cold on private parts that should not be feeling cold.

My eyes slammed open, seeing nothing but forest and mountain ranges. A glance around told me it was still dark, but a pink hue beginning to light up the eastern horizon promised dawn would be coming in an hour or so. Then I looked down on myself to see blood, mud, and filth.

Shit.

I struggled to remember what had happened after the pain had hit. It was disturbing me that I had lost hours of my life, with no memory of how I'd gotten so dirty and bloody. Whose blood was this on me? Some other wolf, or had I killed a person? And how long are we wolves? I mean, I usually required about eight or nine hours of sleep a night. How many of those hours did I spend as a wolf? I had felt exhausted all day yesterday, knowing I definitely had not gotten enough sleep. Was this going to be how it was during a full moon? I was glad today was Saturday. I was going to have to sleep most of the day to catch up. Looked like I was going to have a lot of adjustments to do.

Beep, chime, beep...

My phone. I saw it lying next to my clothes and I blindly fumbled for it, grasping it and bringing it to my face.

I had two missed calls and one text from Gemma: You missed practice. Seriously? We play Westlake next week. Step it up, girl!

I threw the phone down on my clothes, and it wasn't until then I truly realized that I was naked.

Nude. In the buff. Naked. Bare. No clothes.

Glancing around wildly, I was glad—or maybe kind of disturbed—to see Ryder, Aden, and Austyn lying naked on the ground, sound asleep, curled up in a big huddle altogether. Austyn had his arm draped over Aden's neck, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or shudder.

Sneaking over with the intention to wake Aden to take me home, I reached his sleeping form and crouched down, my arm covering my breasts. But before I could reach him, I felt something grab me.

Squeaking in fright, I looked down to see a hand attached to my ankle. Following the hand, it led to a muscular, dirty arm, then to a face of a boy I didn't recognize.

"Where you goin', sexy?" he asked.

Horrified, I shook my foot and whisper-yelled, "Let go of me!"

He threw me a sleazy smile and shook his head. "Come keep me warm, blondie."

I got angrier. I stood up to get my balance and his smile grew wider—and even creepier, if that was possible—as I realized, again, that I was nude.

And he wasn't letting go. "Nice kitty, meow," he said, looking at my crotch.

I was horrified at his behavior, and I was sure my face showed it. For some reason, though, I wasn't as embarrassed about my nakedness as I thought maybe I should have been. Probably because everyone around me was naked, too. Plus, it was still pretty dark out.

I crouched down once more, and with my arms still covering my breasts, I gritted out, "Let go of me!"

He shook his head no, and licked his lips. "Don't you want to play like we did last night?"

I ignored his comment and reached around on the ground until I found a long stick. I stabbed it into his hand.

He bellowed in pain and screamed loudly, "You bitch!"

Glad he'd finally let go, I ran to my clothes and quickly slid on my pants and shoved my T-shirt over my head. Then I slipped into my shoes. I stuffed my undergarments into my pockets, along with my phone, and ran over to Aden, who was now awake and rubbing his eyes. Probably because of the yelling. The creep I'd stabbed was holding his hand and watching me. He looked like he wanted to attack me, his eyes switching between yellow and brown, but he just gave me a murderous look without moving.

I found it odd, and as I was about to ask him what his problem was, Aden spoke.

"What is going on? It's not even dawn yet, Ay."

I kept my eyes focused on his, not wanting to see any more of my brother than I already had. "Take me home... please, Aden? I wanna go home."

"Yes, take the bitch home," said the creep, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Shut up, Sam! What's wrong with your hand?" Aden asked.

"I stabbed him," I offered before Sam could say anything.

Aden was shrugging on his flannel shirt and I was glad he had already put pants on, when he raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Just take me home, please?" I pled.

"What's going on?" Ryder asked, now sitting up.

I again, tried not to even look at him, but he said, "Ayla, what's wrong?"

"Aden is taking me home. Call me later," I said, not even caring about him at that moment.

"You sure?" Ryder asked me as he eyed me while slipping on a shirt.

I nodded and turned to walk toward the area where all the cars were parked.

"Get up, you ass," Aden said, poking at Austyn with his foot.

"What?" he replied, groggy and not moving.

"Fine, find your own ride home," Aden replied.

"Mm-hm," Austyn replied, closing his eyes again.

Aden shrugged and began to stalk toward the car.

I asked, "You're just going to leave Austyn?"

He nodded, mist floating from his mouth in the cold morning air. "Yep, he'll get a ride. He is like, hungover after every shift. It takes him a while to wake up."

"Why?" I asked.

He lifted a shoulder as he fished his keys from his pocket and disarmed his Ford pickup. He started it up as I climbed into the passenger seat. "Not sure, we all react differently. He's not a morning person, either."

"I know the feeling," I murmured as he put the truck in gear and began to navigate down the dirt road that would lead us off this mountain. I saw Ryder watching us leave.

"Are you okay?" Aden asked.

I wasn't sure how to answer that, so I asked, "Where are we?" I couldn't see the night before when Ryder had driven us up. I hadn't been paying attention anyway.

"Seven thousand feet up," he replied. "We call it Wolfe Point, even though that's not technically the name of it. It's just a clearing we discovered a couple years back, and decided it was a nice, safe place to shift without disturbing any humans."

I raised an eyebrow. "Humans. That was an odd thing to say."

We passed multiple pine trees, and Aden had to drive super slow to make sure not to fall over the edge of the mountain. I was glad I hadn't seen these hairpin turns as we'd been driving up the night before.

"Well, we're not human, sister. I explained this yesterday."

"I know," I said, chewing my bottom lip. "I just need time to adjust, okay?"

He nodded, but did not take his eyes off the road. "You'll need to sleep today. I can tell you're exhausted."

"Yes, I am." I paused, and then said, "Aden, how come I can't remember being a wolf? Shouldn't I remember something?"

He heaved a sigh as though he was a worn out forty-year-old. "I didn't remember either for the first few months, and others I've spoken to said the same. You will, in time, remember your shifts. But don't expect complete clarity. The shifts come in flashes, at least for me, anyway, but I am mostly aware when we're hunting."

"So—"

"Yes, you are with me at all times. I wouldn't let you go off on your own, even though you tried a few times," he said, smiling sideways at me.

"Why am I bloody, Aden?"

He hesitated a beat before responding, "We killed a deer together."

I gasped. "Why?"

He chuckled. "Because we were hungry. It's what we do."

I stared at him in horror. "No, please tell me you're joking."

He shook his head, his shaggy blond hair falling in his face. He brushed it aside and said, "Okay then. We killed a whole family. Mom, Dad, baby. It was awesome."

"No, Aden, that's not funny," I whimpered.

"We killed a deer, you ding-dong. Now stop. There are lots of them in those woods. There always will be."

"But that's just so... gross. What if I eat a huge meal before the shift, then I won't be hungry, right? Then we won't have to kill Bambi?"

He burst out laughing, his hand slapping the steering wheel. "No, it doesn't work that way. We hunt, it's what we do. We can't control it. Plus, it's fun. The chase, the adrenaline, the blood. You enjoyed it, too."

I didn't want to think about that anymore as I stared down at the blood caked underneath my fingernails. So instead, I asked, "How come you didn't ask why I stabbed that Sam guy?"

He chuckled. "Because Sam gets stabbed a lot by girls. Stabbed, kicked in the balls, punched, slapped... you get the idea."

I made a gagging noise. "Good to know, I'll steer clear."

"Good luck with that. But don't worry, he already knows you're the Alpha's sister, that's why he didn't retaliate when you stabbed him."

My eyes widened. "Alpha? You? That means you're in charge?"

"Shit," he said, slamming on his brakes as a family of deer crossed in front of our path. He stopped just in time, but the deer ran off.

"Nice rack," he said, pointing to a large buck leading the family.

"Funny," I said dryly. "How many times have you used that?"

"Not nearly enough," he volleyed with a grin.

He hit the gas again, and I was relieved as I saw the end of our dirt road and a stop sign that led to a paved highway. Aden turned onto it, and I breathed out happily that we were off of that dangerous road.

He was quiet for a while, and said, "Yes, Ayla, I'm the Alpha. When I found out our biological father was one, I told our little rag-tag group of shifters about it. They all unanimously voted me Alpha and Ryder is my Beta."

This confused me. "Why not Austyn?"

He snorted and retrieved his sunglasses from his visor, sliding them on his face as the sun began to appear over the eastern horizon. "Have you met our brother?"

Point taken.

"How many in our... pack?" I asked, loving this quiet morning with my brother where I could just be myself and ask questions.

He shrugged. "About thirty, I think. There are only six girls, though. Well, seven now, thanks to you."

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I asked, "If you are Alpha, what does that make me?"

"Protected, princess," he said, grinning at me as he continued down the lonesome Colorado highway, now lit up in yellow and orange from the morning sun.

"Wow."

I saw him grip the steering wheel, sliding his fist up and down around it before he asked, "How serious are you and Ryder?"

"You know I've been crushing on him all school year."

He nodded. "Yes, but are you two a thing now? Like, officially an item?"

I chewed my lip again and looked out my window as we flew southbound down the highway. I gazed at the mountain range out of my window and said, "I don't know, but I think so."

"You give it up to him yet?" he asked.

I gasped and whipped my head around. "No. Not that it's any of your business."

He grinned. "Okay, well, as long as you two are in love and all that, I won't kick his ass for dating my sister."

"I never said we were in love," I replied, rolling my eyes. But just the mention of it did make my stomach do a little happy flip.

Chapter 4

The hot shower had relaxed me so much, I slept for a good six hours. A glance at my phone told me it was now almost one p.m. Stretching, I sat up and checked my phone.

I had two missed calls from my home phone from after midnight last night. Obviously my mom or dad trying to call me. Great, how would I explain that one?

I sighed and looked at my text messages.

Gemma: Im getting worried you're not answering ur phone.

Gemma again: Party at Luke Bond's house tonight. I'm picking you up @ 8.

I laughed and texted her back immediately: Sounds like fun, I will be waiting with slutty clothes on.

Her immediate response: Yassss!

I laughed and tossed the phone on my bed. Twisting my hair up into a ponytail, I wandered downstairs to get something to eat. I was beyond starving.

Guess the raw venison wasn't enough to sustain me...

Gag.

I shuddered at the thought, hoping to just find a nice can of Spaghetti-O's to devour.

"Ayla, you're alive," I heard my mother say quietly as I entered the kitchen. She hadn't even turned from the sink where she was loading dishes into the dishwasher.

"Yes, I am. And how did you know it was me?" I asked.

She put the last plate in, added some detergent, closed it, and hit the power button. With a towel, she dried her hands and turned to look at me with light-brown eyes. "Because your brothers stomp. You barely make a sound, but I always know it's you. Plus, you smell better than they do."

I laughed as I found an Oatmeal Cream Pie in the pantry and unwrapped it. "This is true."

"So, you're gonna follow in your brothers' footsteps and stay out all night, huh?"

I was just about to bite into the sweet goodness when I paused the cookie at my mouth. "What?"

My mother sighed, and said, "Ayla, I heard you and Aden come in this morning. While he and Austyn are adults, and I really don't need to know where they are every second of the day. But you, young lady, are still a minor and in high school. The only reason I didn't flip out was because Aden said you were with him."

I had managed to take a bite of the Oatmeal Cream Pie as she'd been rambling, but it sure didn't go down well as I attempted to swallow it. I felt like the lump of sugar was combined with the guilt trip she'd just accosted me with was stuck in my throat.

"Um, I'm sorry. I will make sure to text you next time."

She snorted and put the dish towel back on the oven's handle. "Text? No, Ayla Rose. You have a curfew of midnight, and I expect you adhere to it."

Crap, she used my dreaded middle name. Managing to swallow down the cookie, I put on my most charming smile and said, "Of course, Mommy. I'm so sorry." I walked toward her. "I love you."

That disarmed her a little, and she melted against me as I hugged her. "I love you, too, honey. But I'm serious about the curfew."

I smiled, knowing she was... and I was grateful I had a mother who gave a shit about where I'd been. A small shudder ran through me as I thought about what my life could have been like had my biological parents—wolves—raised me, raised us. I needed to be more considerate of Alicia and Rick, our adoptive parents. They'd saved our lives, I was convinced of it.

.

Jealously oozed out of Ryder as he stood brooding in a corner of the party. I probably shouldn't have had a glass of that delicious red punch spouting from the beautiful punch bowl fountain, but how do I not try something so pretty?

Gemma said she'd seen Luke pouring bottles of booze into it. Of course, she told me this after I'd already downed half a glass. So by the time I'd learned of its spikeage, I actually couldn't muster up a shit to give.

Sauntering over to Ryder, I put a hand on his chest, my other hand holding my near-empty red Solo cup. "What's wrong?"

He eyed the glass, then me. "Nothing, but you should not be drinking."

I lifted an eyebrow at him, and then downed the rest of the contents of my cup. Then I asked, "Why not?"

His beautiful eyes shifted around the room briefly until they landed on mine once again. "Alcohol is not good for... us. If you get what I'm saying."

I laughed, then hiccupped. "Well, I see Austyn drinking all the time."

"Consider the source," he quipped with a half-grin.

I shrugged.

"I don't like what you're wearing," he suddenly said, eyeing me up and down.

I felt instantly hurt. I thought I looked good in this outfit. It made me feel pretty. I looked down at the ripped jeans that contrasted with the pink, flowery, flowy top. "What's wrong with it?"

"Too sexy, especially those shoes," he came back, staring down at my pink-heeled sandals.

Too tipsy to try to analyze his words, and realizing he was in a mood, I just laughed and shook my head, turning to walk away.

Ryder grabbed my hand. "Where are you going?"

I lifted my cup. "More punch. And maybe some of those yummy jalapeno popper things."

He snatched the cup from my hand and crushed it in his fist. "No more punch for you."

Uh... well, this was getting awkward, and overall annoying. Yanking my hand from his grip, I twisted out of it and stepped back, walking fast toward the kitchen where I hoped Gemma and Kiera still were.

I know I didn't know Ryder that well yet, and I definitely wanted to get to know him better, but right now, his whole possessive behavior was very off-putting. I didn't want some guy to control me. I wanted to have a fun, easy-going, and flirtatious relationship with him. I wanted to support him as much as he would support me in all of my dreams and aspirations. No way was I going to let a guy tell me what I could and could not wear, and what I could and could not drink.

I walked in to see Gemma's hand on some guy's butt. She was laughing, her head tilted back while the guy watched her in amusement. This guy was way too built for a high-school boy, which was why, I'm sure, Gemma had sniffed him out. Then I recognized him as one of the players on the football team.

"Nice ass," I heard a voice say, and I was afraid to turn around. But of course, I did anyway. Nate Powell stood not three feet from me, leaned up against the countertop, a drink in his hand, and a smug as hell smile on his face.

"Ugh," I said, walking toward the dining room where the booze fountain was.

Yes, I was totally calling it a booze fountain now.

Plucking a red cup from the stack, I dipped it into the punch and then downed a big swig.

"What the hell!" I heard a male voice yell from the kitchen.

"Don't try that shit again!" I heard another male voice growl.

I went back into the kitchen to see Ryder had Nate by the throat.

"What are you doing, Ryder?" I hollered, my fist balling up at my side.

"Do not comment on her ass again, hear me?" Ryder said to Nate, who was clawing at Ryder's hands around his neck.

I instantly knew Ryder was using unnatural strength to pin him to the cabinets behind him, judging by the fact that Nate's feet weren't touching the ground.

"Stop it!" I yelled. "Just stop. You're being an asshole, Ryder!"

He spun around and saw me standing there, letting go of Nate, who immediately gasped in a big breath of air and then shoved Ryder out of his space.

I grabbed Ryder's hand and led him out back, where a large yard greeted us, a colorfully lit hot tub encased in a gazebo in its center.

Ryder's hand was burning up. But then again, so was mine.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, upset but concerned by the sweat breaking out on his forehead.

He shook his head and squeezed my hand. "I'm sorry. I just get so... so... crazed. Like too much testosterone is flowing through me or something. I need to learn how to control—"

I put my finger to his lips. "It's okay."

"No, it's not, but I'm sorry," he said again.

"We have to get out of here," I said, not sure where I'd set my new cup of booze-punch.

"Yes, we do," he said, shuddering a little.

"When is it gonna happen?" I asked quietly, now concerned for Ryder, as he seemed to be shaking and sweating.

By the way I couldn't stand or sit still, I knew I would be, too, in a matter of minutes.

He glanced at his fitness watch-thing, and said, "A few hours. Time to go."

Believing him, I let him escort me out of the party, a little tipsy, a little pissed off, a little happy, and a lot ready to be alone with him.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, his hand up my shirt, fumbling with my bra clasp.

I shook my head, sure the booze had worn off by now. Well, mostly sure. I was feeling happy and carefree still. "I am not. But what are we doing, Ryder?"

We had somehow ended up at his house, in his bedroom. I don't really remember the ride here.

"Kissing," he replied, his other hand in my hair.

"But why here? Shouldn't we be—"

"Quiet," he said, running kisses over my neck, and I didn't object. It felt sooo good.

I groaned at the feel of his tongue and lips on my neck. "Where are your parents?" I panted out, barely able to breathe through our heavy kisses.

He laughed under his breath. "They're wherever they go for their shift."

Happy with his response, I continued to kiss him. It didn't surprise me that he was such a good kisser. I could get lost in his kisses forever.

With my body on fire, I arched my back as he teased the button on my jeans, looking at me questioningly, seeming to need permission to pop the snap and take them off.

I wanted him to. He was hot, and so was I. Nodding, I licked my lips, encouraging him on.

Then I suddenly remembered something, and as I broke the kiss, I shyly asked, "When is the shift?"

"Soon, baby," Ryder replied. But since he'd already said that at the party, I wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"Like, in the next few minutes?" I asked.

I felt him grin into my mouth. "A couple hours at the earliest."

Strange, I thought. We were about to turn into horrible, snarling, deer-murdering beasts, and all he was thinking about was sex.

Not that I wasn't.

As he removed my shirt and placed his lips on my nipple, I cried out at the exquisite pleasure it caused me. And when Ryder opened his nightstand drawer and pulled a condom out and set it on top, I knew this was it. We continued to kiss and explore each other, my hands running over the hard planes of his backside, his fingers reaching down to touch me where I'd never been touched before. I gasped at the sensation it caused and opened my legs wider so he could touch me some more. A feeling like something between stress and pleasure began to curl in my belly and work its way down between my legs, and then it washed over me, causing me to cry out and lose my breath as he kissed me during my first orgasm.

Ryder looked up at me and smiled. "I want you now."

I smiled, knowing this was my last night as a virgin.

Trying to relax like my friends had told me to, and focusing on the mood, I blew out a breath and let my body invite his in with my legs wide open. He rolled the condom on and placed himself at my entrance, looking down into my eyes. Ryder slowly entered me, and once he was all the way in, I bit my lip as a pinching pain inside made me gasp. Grateful it had only lasted a few long seconds, I took my friends' advice and just completely let my mind go elsewhere, trying to enjoy what I knew was a life-changing moment for me.

As soon as he began to work himself in and out, I felt the familiar twitch that signaled my body's change.

Slamming my eyes open, I saw Ryder's eyes turn to yellow, and his mouth widen into a grin. Soon I felt him stop his thrusts and still inside me, and that was the moment I knew I had finally done it. The blasted virginity was gone. Now I needed to go find somewhere cool and breezy, because I was burning up.

Chapter 5

That shift, and many after it, were all the same. Then, about six months after my first shift, I had a strange one.

It was during the summer solstice. The full moon lined up perfectly with the shadow of the sun. It was a shift I will never forget.

Per the usual, my body trembled with a strange energy, and then burned with fever. Knowing the signs, I made my way to the mountain of Wolfe Point—with Ryder driving. And then the bone-breaking pain began. As with every shift, I was thankful it was so much less painful and drawn-out than it had been that first time.

As soon as my body transformed into the wolf, I felt extremely relieved and aware. Every pinprick of heat and hair on the surface of my skin had been an acute alertness. Now feeling comfortable and happy, I followed the wolves around me as we ran in a pack, hunting for food and blood. I'd learned early on that we needed blood to survive, just like a vampire. But just the mention of the word 'vampire' made an ire grow wildly in my chest, but I could never figure out why.

This particular shift, as we were in the woods hunting small animals, we found ourselves in a small clearing. Being that I could hear my wolf brothers and sisters inside my head—it was how we communicated—I listened to their voices, almost as one.

"What's that smell?"

"There's one nearby!"

"We need to get rid of it!"

I lifted my snout and sniffed the air. There was not only something delicious nearby, there was also something repulsive.

"Vampire," I heard Aden's voice in my head as he warned me.

It freaked me out. But then I grew angry, and thought, why am I angry? Not analyzing the emotion, I committed the scent to memory, because honestly, it was nothing like I had ever smelled.

"Kill it," I heard Ryder's voice in my head.

"Why are we killing the vampire?" I wondered in my head.

I heard a few growls inside my head, and then my brother's voice. "Because they are evil, vile creatures. Undead and unnatural... they need to die forever."

Um, I had not asked that of anyone particular. I had just been wondering. Now, I was officially freaked out.

"Stay outta my head," I thought, my furry wolf body shuddering.

"You are part of the pack now, beautiful. We hear you, you hear us," came a voice I recognized as Ryder's.

I remember panicking that the wolves could hear my inner voice. Had they heard all my inner thoughts this whole time? Why was I hearing them now? And why was I remembering the shift when I usually shifted, then woke the next morning covered in mud and blood?

"Why now?" I whispered.

"The solstice must have awakened your awareness. Congratulations, girl," came Aden's voice.

"Thanks," I replied, unexcited.

"Unfortunately, there's also an eclipse tonight, so it should be extra fun for you," said another voice I didn't recognize. I looked around the clearing, and for some reason was able to identify the wolf who had spoken. It was Benson.

"Why?" I asked.

"Guys!" came Ryder's voice. "Vampire at ten o'clock!"

I followed Ryder's big, black wolf's gaze and saw something move fast through the trees. I had pristine eyesight, so I was able to see that it appeared to be the form of a man moving quickly through amongst the trees. What is he doing here? I wondered.

Moving in a slow, calculated circle, I could feel the hatred for this creature emanating in waves from my wolf brothers and sisters. I felt the hatred too—and I hated the hate. Why did I feel such disdain for this creature? He had done nothing to me—to us. I should not feel anything for him.

"It's a natural instinct," came Aden's voice.

Dammit! Stupid wolf telepathy.

I heard Ryder's wolf chuckle. "I heard that."

Mary had a little lamb, a little lamb, Mary had a little lamb... I sang.

"Stop singing," Benson growled.

"Why are you singing about lambs when you're around a bunch of wolves?" Aden asked, laughing.

"Tryin' to keep my head clear!" I volleyed.

"Get it!" I heard Benson shout, and then we were all running toward the vampire, who had scurried up a tree like vermin.

The growl that burst from the back of my throat surprised even me. Looking up, I could see the vampire at the top of a very tall pine tree. He was so far up, I wondered what the hell we were doing chasing him. There was no way any of us could reach him. As I growled, my long tail swished back and forth behind me.

"What now?" I asked to no one in particular.

"We wait for it to come down." Ryder's voice.

I watched as the vampire looked down at us. His skin was as white as the moon that shone down on us, and looked to be completely flawless as if his skin were etched from stone. His eyes were a very light color, and his hair as black as night. He wore dark but regular clothes. As I stared at him, I wondered what kind of power these creatures possessed. I also wondered what he had been thinking climbing that tree. I could see that they could move very fast—probably too fast for the human eye to see. So why not just run away?

"Because they're not smart," Aden said.

Dammit!

"He couldn't smell a bunch of wolves around?" I asked my brother.

"They don't have as sensitive of a sense of smell like we do," he replied. "So we probably surprised him, and he panicked and climbed the tree."

"What a dumbass," I thought to myself.

I heard laughs and snickers as my reply.

Whoopsie.

I watched as the vampire looked over his shoulder, to the east, and I followed his line of sight. I smiled when his face looked worried. The horizon held a slight pink hue to it, indicating sunrise was coming soon. I was obviously not wearing a watch, but I could feel the sun coming soon.

I wondered if vampires were allergic to the sun like in the books and movies?

"They are," Ryder said.

This time, I just laughed.

"Then what are we doing sitting here waiting to devour him? Let the sun kill him," I said, proud of myself.

"He's gonna climb down if we don't stay here," Benson replied.

"Point taken," I said.

The sun was rising fast, and I briefly wondered how much longer until we all reverted back to regular humans. What time of the morning did that happen, anyway?

"When the sun overpowers the moon and it disappears from the sky," came a voice, and at this point I didn't really care whose it was. I clearly needed to stop thinking.

"Then he's going to get lucky, we will all be a bunch of naked humans, and he'll climb down and find some shade for the day," I said.

A scream came from the top of the trees, and having to crane my neck all the way back, I could see the vampire's arm begin to smolder and smoke as if on fire. A few sunbeams were now filtering in through the trees, and it seemed the vampire had sustained a direct hit.

A gaggle of laughs erupted inside my head, and I couldn't help but join the laughter.

Even though we were laughing inside, on the outside we were howling and barking at the vampire. He began to climb lower on the tree, but refused to come all the way down. For now, he was safe from the sun, but I began to fret that we were going to turn back into humans at any time, and that he would have bested us.

"Can we climb trees?" I asked the crowd.

I heard a few chuckles. "Go ahead and try." Benson's voice.

"Shut the fuck up, B," Ryder said. "Baby, don't try to climb the tree."

I laughed. "Noted."

The sun was rising fast now. The vampire began to climb down the trunk some more, when suddenly, he jumped off several feet away from the circle we had made at the base of the tree, and landed on his feet, but then rolled and got up and began to run. It seems like he had almost flown off that tree. Could vampires fly?

"Get him!" Austyn yelled.

We all took off running, and I gained the lead. The vampire looked behind him as we gave chase and I was quickly gaining on him. I could hear his breaths come out in pants, and while he looked worried as he chanced glances back at us, he was also laughing maniacally, as if he were going to get away.

I sped up, and at once, I was about two feet from his backside, and Benson had reached me.

"Let's fuck this bloodsucker up!" he said.

At once, we both pounced on the vampire, causing him to fall to the bed of leaves at our feet. He immediately flipped over onto his back and tried to get up, but we had him pinned. The rest of my brothers and sisters stopped short just behind us.

Getting a close look at the vampire, I could see that his eyes were completely red. This frightened me briefly until I remembered that we had the upper hand here. With long and sharp fangs that extended from his eyeteeth, he hissed at us like some deranged snake.

With lightning-fast moves, he reached up and gripped Benson by the throat. Benson's wolf made a gagging noise and this angered me. I felt my blood go hot.

"You got this, baby," I heard Ryder say, reminding me that the pack was behind me. I felt like I was at some kind of training exercise, while the rest of them waited behind me and didn't help.

Without thought, I reached down and bit into the vampire's arm, causing him to scream in some unholy octave, but it had the desired effect. He let go of Benson, and that was when I went in for the kill. My jaw fully open and extended, I let out an internal banshee cry that came out as a howl from my wolf, and I tore into this vampire's neck with teeth.

The rush of blood into my mouth was near orgasmic. I had not remembered tasting blood before, and this tasted good.

"Do not swallow his blood, Ayla. I'm serious, spit it out!" Aden commanded, panic in his voice.

"But I want to swallow it. It's delicious."

"Spit it out!" they all began to scream.

The vampire under me was fighting. He was strong, but I was stronger. With all my self-control and resolve, I gagged out the vampire blood, letting it dribble from my mouth. I showered his face, neck, and chest with his own blood. Then, I bit the other side of his neck.

"Take off his head!" I heard Austyn begin to chant, and it sounded like he was thoroughly enjoying watching his little sister devour a person—a vampire.

With all my strength, I began to wrench the vampire's head from his neck, and that stopped his screams.

It was the single most disgusting thing I had ever seen, smelled, or done. But for some reason, I didn't feel like gagging or throwing up like I had when I had watched a particularly disgusting horror movie last week as a human.

Huh, that's interesting...

With his neck vertebrae between my teeth, the vampire's head swung from my jaws, which elicited the cheers from my brothers and sisters.

"Go put the head in the sun, in the clearing," Aden commanded.

I turned to see Benson and Ryder drag the body with their teeth behind me. Once I had placed the head in the sun, it burst into flames.

Then I passed out.

Chapter 6

"What is the matter with you?" Aden asked from the doorway of my room, as I was curled up in a ball under my covers.

"Go away," I sniffled, tossing another tissue out from under my comforter and onto the floor.

"You've been in bed for like a week," he came back, as I peered over the edge of my comforter. He was still leaned up against the doorframe, his bulky arms crossed over his massive chest.

"It's been three days. Now leave me alone," I murmured.

"You on your period, or what?" he asked.

"No! Now get out!" I said, grabbing the first thing I could snatch from my nightstand—which happened to be my very dead cell phone—and tossing it at him.

He easily dodged it by leaning his upper body to the left, and then shook his head. Leaning down and picking up the phone, he said, "And call Ryder, he's been blowing up my fucking phone because you aren't answering yours." He threw the cell phone back at me, which landed on the bed.

He then left my room, shaking his head and closing the door behind him.

After waking up from the shift, half dressed in Aden's car, everything had come back to me. I was frightened, shaking, and most of all horrified that I had killed someone while I was the wolf. I had cried hysterically, and Aden had tried to console me while trying to navigate the steep and winding turns of the mountain that led down from Wolfe Point. I had not calmed down by the time we'd reached home, and so here I lay in my bed, having not eaten a thing except what Mom had brought me, and the small sips from the water bottle I kept by my bed.

Mom had grounded me the minute I'd gotten out of the shower that morning. Asking me where I'd been and why I broke curfew. Aden had heard the commotion and had tried to come to my defense, but she just yelled at him, too. I had no idea how we were going to do this every month. Guess I would spend half the month grounded, because that was what she'd threatened before slamming my door shut.

It didn't even matter that I was grounded because I still couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. Every time I allowed my brain to go there—to think of that moment I had committed murder—I broke down into dry tears, crying quietly under my covers until I'd fallen asleep. Realizing I sounded melodramatic and maybe a bit hysterical, I had allowed Aden to come into my room to talk to me earlier. Turned out it didn't help. Nothing would ever change the fact that I was murderer.

"He wasn't even a living creature, Ay," Aden had tried to console.

"Vampires aren't people," Ryder said in frustration over the phone before I'd hung up on him and then had let my phone die.

"Get over it, sis. We're wolves, it's what we fuckin' do," Austyn had said, coming into my room yesterday as if coaxed by Aden.

None of those 'words of wisdom' had helped me at all. Nothing could squash the feelings of guilt and fear I felt when I thought back to the moment I'd killed that vampire—had torn his head from his shoulders and let it burn to ash in the early morning sunrays.

Sometimes I wished I could separate myself from the wolf. Pretend she was a different person and wasn't me at all, but some other creature whose thoughts and actions I got to experience once a month.

Of course, Gemma had been blowing up my phone, and I had ignored her, too. What was I going to say? "Sorry, Gemma, I'm wallowing in post-homicidal depression, I'll call you back later, and we can go get milkshakes after cheer practice."

Yeah... no. I don't freaking think so.

Yanking the yellow and gray flower-patterned comforter over my head—which offered me no comfort at all—I rolled over on my side and prayed tomorrow would be better.

Not only had the guilt eaten me alive, I began to look at myself as ugly. Even after six months of these shifts, I still hadn't grasped that I had transformed into a disgusting, drooling, tail-wagging animal once a month. I had asked Aden whether or not we could transform into this... animal... at a time other than a full moon, and he had said no, we couldn't. Then I had asked him if we could just avoid the full-moon shift altogether, and with a sympathetic glare, he had told me again, no, we could not. We were truly slaves to the damn full moon. A moon I used to think was pretty. I was once grateful for its light on a dark Colorado night, when there wasn't even the bright reflection from the snow around to illuminate my way. But no, I now hated the full moon. It meant that I was going to have to endure a shitload of pain, for the rest of my life, for no other reason than I had been cursed with this affliction.

"Really? No other choice for me? Turn into a wolf during a full moon?"

Aden's jaw had ticked at my answer, before he said, "Not you, but us. So to answer your question, no, there is no other choice. I'd apologize, but why bother? I don't like it any more than you do."

This fueled my depression. I didn't want to be a wolf. I wanted to be a regular girl with aspirations to go to the University of Colorado at Boulder after I graduated, and then get a great job, marry Ryder, and have lots of regular, human babies with him.

Why was this so much to ask?

Because I was born with a curse.

Eventually slogging out of bed, I had charged up my phone and decided I should probably shower before I caused noxious fumes from my body to invade the house.

In the shower, I thought about Aden's answers to the questions I'd asked. And I really didn't like those answers—but it seemed I was out of options. I really was. So, pulling myself up by my bootstraps, I went to school so I could eventually graduate. I also realized that I was turning eighteen soon, and that was going to be amazing, because I was going to get a tattoo.

I had no idea what it was going to be, but I was going to do it.

After a refreshing shower that surprisingly made me feel better, I looked at my phone plugged into its charger on my nightstand.

Four bazillion texts and missed calls from Gemma, a few from Kiera, asking me why I hadn't been at cheer practice, and seven texts and two calls from Ryder. A bunch of random e-mails. One text from Aden, which I thought odd, but for some reason, I read it first.

Sitting on my bed, draped in nothing but a towel, and my blonde hair dripping down my back, I clicked on his text, which was dated yesterday afternoon:

Sis, I know it sucks. I know it's hard. But you're going to get through the guilt and shit. I love you. Austyn loves you. Mom and Dad love you. Once you accept what you are, you will discover who you are. Love you.

Without my permission, my eyes began to water, and a tear dripped down my cheek. I swiped it away with the back of my hand, and without any rational thought, I hit reply to my brother's text and simply said:

Thank you, bro. I love you.

I didn't think I needed to say more. This curse—this wolf I could feel living inside of me—it wasn't going away, and it was clear I had to put on my big-girl panties and deal with it.

As silly as it was, I quite literally had to check the school's sports schedule online to see if we had a game tonight. After responding to both Gemma and Kiera and assuring them I'd be at cheer practice the next day, I wasn't sure whether we had a game, and I wanted to make sure I had my uniform on. I couldn't give away that I was so completely out of sorts and had lost track of time that I didn't even know what day it was.

Monday. Mondays sucked, but I could deal with that. Games happened on Fridays, and rarely we'd have a scrimmage on a Wednesday, but today was a normal Monday and we didn't have to cheer. So throwing on a blue Broncos hoodie, some skinny jeans that made my butt look awesome, and some long, brown boots to go over them, I tossed my hair into a ponytail and scurried out the door, where Aden was waiting to take me to school before he went to his job at a construction company.

"Where you been, girl?" Gemma asked, applying some lip gloss while using the mirror attached to her inside locker door.

"Wallowing in PMS," I replied, the answer I'd practiced before coming back to school.

I was already stressed because I was behind and missing assignments in four of my classes, and I really needed to pass those and graduate so I could get the hell on with my life.

What that meant, I wasn't sure, but I did know that I had applied to CU Boulder and could then get my degree in something. I didn't know what, but it was sort of a plan, and I was sticking to it for now.

I literally didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. All I knew was that "werewolf" wasn't on the frickin' list.

Sad little werewolf.

Werewolf. I was beginning to develop a love-hate relationship with that word. Wait, I meant a hate-hate relationship. What was there to love?

I sighed as we both closed our locker doors and made our way to math. As I begrudgingly made my way into the classroom, and then sat in my designated seat, I felt eyes on me. Turning slightly, I could see Ryder staring at me. His aquamarine gaze made me feel all happy and warm inside. I smiled back.

I turned back to Gemma. "I can't wait to graduate and be done with this high school stuff. Then Ryder and I can move in together and be real adults."

She glanced over my shoulder, and then into my eyes, her brown ones dancing in amusement. "Adults, huh? I hear it's not all it's cracked up to be."

I kept her gaze as she started digging into her messenger bag for something. "Well, I don't care. I need to move out of my parents' house. If I can't live in student housing at CU Boulder, then Ryder and I will get an apartment together."

Gemma found what she'd been looking for and put the hairclip into her mouth while she twisted up her long, light-brown hair up into a messy bun, and then used the clip to secure it. "Well, as fun as Benson is, I don't want to be tied down in college. I want to get to live those slutty years. Ya know, get it out of my system."

"I think you've already gotten a head-start on that one, G," came a male voice from behind us.

Suppressing my laughter, as was Gemma, we both turned around to see Sam, the stupid perv who had grabbed my ankle at my first shift, and his buddies cackling. "Fuck you, Sam! I'm no slut!" Gemma wadded up a piece of notebook paper and launched it at him, which he, of course, caught like a baseball with his fast reflexes.

More laughter erupted.

We turned back around and quieted down when we heard Mr. Trussell come into the room and told us to open our math books.

"Damn, that Sam has fast reflexes. Did you see his arm muscles? I might need to go talk to him later," Gemma said to me under her breath.

I rolled my eyes so hard I think the whole class heard it. "Gemma, he just called you a slut. Besides, he's a total douchebag. Trust me."

She opened her math book, and then pulled a piece of gum from her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. "I don't want to marry the guy, Ayla. I just want to take him for a test drive."

I snorted and then was forced to pay attention when Mr. Trussell gave us both the evil eye.

Chapter 7

"Are you kidding me!" I said under my breath as I stared at the graduation schedule our homeroom teacher had just handed out.

"What?" Gemma asked. "The weather will be perfect! And it's on a Friday. It's gonna be epic, girlfriend!"

I had learned quickly to know the days of the month when the moon would be full, and graduation night, unfortunately, was going to be the first night of the full moon. That meant, that Ryder, Benson, half the football team, and even that ass, Sam, and I would have to spend our graduation night writhing in pain instead of partying our asses off. I wanted to cry... and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

"Nothing," I murmured and shoved the flyer into my bag. I needed to tell my parents that I would be out all night for graduation. I had, after all, turned eighteen last month, and now that I was graduating, I didn't think they'd have too much heartburn with it.

I'd learned over the past few months to make up excuses about my all-night shifts. I'd tell them I was staying at Gemma's or Kiera's on the full-moon nights, that way I wasn't coming home at dawn with no explanation. I would also have to make up more lies about why I was coming home so early, like Gemma had to go to a soccer tournament for her little brother two cities over and I had to leave her house, or Kiera and her family were leaving on a trip. It sucked lying to them, but I wasn't sure what else I could do. Aden told me to stop lying and just say nothing, but I couldn't do that to them. My brothers and I owed them everything... our lives. I didn't want to disrespect them like that.

As I sat and listened to Gemma and Kiera make plans for graduation night, I tried hard to fight the sadness inside of me at the thought of their parties and the kegs and the fun they were going to be having while I was killing deer with my bare teeth and having animal sex with Ryder.

Yes, we totally had sex as wolves. I tried not to think about it because it was just too weird. Admittedly, the sensations were still the same, just not the position. I told him early on "no doggie style" in the bedroom because we got enough of that during the shifts. He had laughed, but I wasn't kidding.

We did it on every shift, too. Ugh.

Graduation was amazing. I had never been so happy in my life. To walk on that stage and accept that diploma, and to see the pride and happiness on my parents' faces was the best feeling in the world.

With our caps and gowns on, Ryder lifted me up and twirled me around. When he set me back down, he wrapped me in a hug. "We did it, baby. We did it." He pulled back from the hug and put his hand on my face. "I love you, and I'm proud of you."

I felt like I had been through so much with him with his werewolf stuff, so to hear him say those things to me made me all warm inside. I had to fight back tears. "I am proud of you, too, Ryder. Onto bigger and better things."

CU Boulder had, to my amazement, accepted the both of us, and we were set to start in the fall. Thankfully, my parents told me they had enough money that I could live in student housing. After all, Aden and Austyn hadn't gone to college, so I got all the college money they'd saved.

Yay me.

After the graduation ceremony, we got in all our hugs and photos, and we all went to Benson's house for a huge party. The wolves were happy and relieved that the full moon wasn't going to be at its highest peak until after eleven so we could enjoy ourselves a little.

Benson's parents weren't home... I suspected they had to go someplace themselves for their shift... and I wasn't quite sure if they knew Benson had offered to throw the graduation party, but regardless, it was fun.

I had had two beers and was feeling pretty loose and happy. Gemma and I were laughing together, when suddenly, my buzz wore off just like that. I checked my phone to see it was 10:35. I started to feel twitchy and angry—the feelings I always got when the shift was close.

"I need to find Ryder," I said to Gemma.

"Oh, whatever. You go find your man. I'm gonna find myself one."

I smiled weakly at her, threw my plastic cup in the trash, and began to wander around the massive house. Spotting Ryder in the front room talking to Benson, I went over and put my hand on his arm, and then looked at Benson.

"I think we need to go," I said, bouncing from foot to foot.

I saw both Ryder's and Benson's eyes flash yellow, and then back to their natural colors. Ryder looked at his fitness watch. "It's not even eleven yet."

"I know, but we need to go." I looked around briefly, and then added, "I know you feel it, too."

Chancing a glance at Benson, I could see sweat starting to break out along his hairline.

"What do I do? Just leave these people in my house?"

"Tell them the party's over, they need to go somewhere else," I suggested.

He blew out a breath. "Yeah, that's probably the safest thing. I can't stay here and make sure they don't trash my shit."

Ryder put his fingers to his mouth and blew out a whistle. "Attention, everyone!"

Then Benson spoke. "Something's come up, everyone has to go! Make your way toward the front door... now."

A chorus of groans followed as I watched him unplug the speakers from his cell phone, which had been playing music, and I think that helped kill the mood.

Thankfully, nobody gave us much hassle as we began ushering people outside.

Suddenly I felt scorching hot—on fire. My body tingled and I could feel the shift coming.

"Ryder," I whimpered as I tried my hardest not to strip my clothes off.

He looked over at me, his eyes wide, and also turning yellow.

Benson, who was sweating profusely now and had already stripped off his shirt, was urging the last of the guests to leave.

Crack... my arm bone. I muffled a cry.

I kicked my shoes off. Next came my pants, shirt, bra, and then my underwear.

Crack... my spine. I fell to the ground and whined.

I watched as Benson closed and locked the door, including the chain at the top of the door, and then went and closed all the blinds and curtains. He was shaking.

Crack... my shin bone. I screamed out in pain.

The shift happened fast after that, and it was a total relief to be the wolf. Lightweight and carefree. Now wandering the house.

Ryder's and Benson's clothing was shredded as they shifted quickly.

"We have to spend the night in this house like this?" I asked, horrified.

"Well, we can't exactly go roaming my neighborhood like this," Benson replied.

He had a point, but seriously? I needed to hunt. I needed to run.

Seeing that the backdoor had been left open, I bolted for it and happily bounded into the massive greenery of his backyard.

"Ayla, no!" Ryder said, running after me.

"There are no fences," I said, looking at all the space I had to run. A small, short length of chicken wire separated each backyard, and I knew I could easily bound over it.

Benson's backyard had a lot of tall scrub oak trees jutting up from the ground. I began sniffing around at all the different smells.

"We have to go back inside the house," Benson said inside my head.

"No, I don't want to be inside, I need to run around."

I won that battle pretty easily, as the other two had to know we couldn't be cooped up in a house for the next eight hours.

They both sniffed around the backyard when we all stopped suddenly and lifted our heads. I followed Ryder's big, black wolf's gaze to where a family of deer stood, frozen in the neighbor's yard.

"Get them!" Benson yelled, and we all tore off toward the deer, who began to run in the opposite direction.

The run felt exhilarating and fun. The deer ran, but we were able to catch up. As I was about to swipe at the back leg of one of the smaller deer, we heard a deep, threatening growl. I looked over to see a large mountain lion headed our way.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as it pounced on me, knocking me to the ground.

Benson and Ryder stopped short and turned around to see what had happened. With a growl, they both jumped on the mountain lion as I bit and scratched at him to get him off of me.

The lion growled and turned to fight the males. With anger and bloodlust now fueling me, I sank my razor-sharp teeth into its back leg as it was fighting Benson's and Ryder's wolves. The mountain lion howled in pain, so I bit him again.

Knowing he was outnumbered, he turned to run, but Ryder jumped on him. With a swift movement, Ryder bit into its neck and I watched as the life drained out of the animal. That was when Benson and I jumped in, licking and drinking its blood.

Huh. Mountain lion blood is pretty tasty.

We woke the next morning to a blood-curdling scream.

Blinking open my tired eyes, I had to wait for them to focus before I saw a small child standing at an open sliding-glass door. She wore a long, pink nightgown and her hair was sticking up in places.

Then I smelled urine and dog. I looked over to see a large German Shepard with his leg lifted, pissing all over Benson's naked body.

"Shit!" he said, jumping up. "Shit! Get the hell away from me!" he said, shooing the dog.

The little girl screamed again. It was like one long, continuous scream.

Two adults came to the door and stared at us in horror. And did I blame them? Three filthy, naked, bloodstained teens sleeping in their grass.

I immediately placed an arm over my breasts. "Um, we need to leave," I said under my breath.

"Is that the Gibbs kid?" I heard the mom say.

"Benson? What the hell do you think you're doing?" the man asked, finally gaining his composure.

"Axel, get in here!" the mom called to the dog, as he went bounding for the door.

We didn't answer the man. We just took off running through three yards to get back to Benson's house.

Weirdest graduation night ever.

"What the hell happened, Ayla?" Benson said, emerging from his room, still filthy but now in a pair of athletic shorts. He threw Ryder his clothes.

"Why are you blaming me?" I asked, slipping my shirt over my head. My modesty had completely left about three months ago when I realized that nakedness was just part of being a wolf. At this point, Benson had seen me naked more than my own mother had.

"You said eleven thirty-six was the time the moon would be the highest. We barely had time to get everyone out of the house before we shifted and it wasn't even eleven yet!"

"I can't control what the website says!" I bantered. "It's never been wrong before."

"Then what happened?" Ryder asked, slipping on the last shoe.

I bit my lip, exhaustion taking over. "I don't know." And I truly didn't. I would need to do some research on this, and clearly not rely on that stupid "moon-phases calendar dot net" website anymore.

Stupid, stupid website.

Pound-pound-pound... was the sound coming from the front door.

Benson ran a hand through his filthy blond hair. "Shit."

Opening it slowly, we were greeted by the man whose backyard we'd just woken up in.

"What?" Benson asked.

"Don't you 'what' me, boy. What the hell were you doing in my yard, all naked?" He looked at the three of us, and then said, "Are you kids on drugs?"

Benson sighed, clearly not wanting to deal with this right now. "No, Mr. Ashton. We're not on drugs. It was just a rough night."

He narrowed his eyes at us. "Did you three have some kind of orgy in my backyard last night?"

My eyes went big. "No, no way! We just had a bit too much to drink. Sorry, sir."

Benson glared at me, and then said, "Yeah, rough night."

"I want to talk to your mom or dad. Get them now," he demanded.

Benson shook his head. "They're not here. Sorry."

Mr. Ashton huffed. "Well I'll be by later to talk to them. You three scared, and probably traumatized my daughter. She was just letting the dog out and did not need to see that!"

"There wasn't anything to see," Ryder said under his breath, clearly as irritated as we all were.

Mr. Ashton tied his robe tighter around his middle, and stormed off in a huff. We waited for him to go into his house before Ryder and I left.

I would be an ass if I admitted that I was laughing at the whole situation, but hell, if I don't laugh, I'll cry.

Chapter 8

After a lot of contemplation, and the nightmare of what had happened on graduation night, I decided that living in student housing was just not going to be a good idea for obvious reasons.

Yet another dream killed by the fact that I was a damn werewolf.

Trying not to wallow in pity, and putting on a happy, brave face, I walked into the kitchen the following Sunday morning to where my mom was cooking a big breakfast.

I picked up a warm pancake from the stack and rolled it up, taking a bite from the end.

"Good morning, sunshine, have a seat at the table."

I swallowed down my bite and said, "I actually wanted to talk to you for a minute, Mom."

She glanced at me and nodded, turning the burners off on the stove, and instructed me to sit. I did, and then she sat across from me. "What's on your mind, Ayla?"

"Well, I was thinking that I would rather live off campus. Would that be cheaper?"

She cocked her head at me, smoothing some hair behind her hair. She regarded me carefully with light-brown eyes. "Are you worried we can't pay for your college?"

I shook my head before taking another bite of my pancake. "No, not at all. I just don't think I want to live on campus. I have a car and can drive there every day."

Mom folded her hands in front of her on the table and continued to pierce me with her motherly stare. "What brought about this change?"

I shrugged casually, even though I was nervous. I hated lying, but I didn't think telling the truth would go over very well. "I just don't want to be around all those girls, all that drama. And I especially don't want to have to eat in the school cafeteria three meals a day. I know if I live in housing you'll have to pay for a meal plan too. I'd rather learn to cook."

She cocked an eyebrow at me as if she didn't believe me. I'd seen the look plenty, so it didn't surprise me. "Does this have anything to do with Ryder? Because I don't want you two living together while you're in college. I know you're an adult now, and can do what you want, but if you plan on moving in with him, you'll be paying for it."

Ouch.

"No, it has nothing to do with him."

Lie. It had a little bit to do with him. We needed a safe place to hang out once a month in case we didn't make it to Wolfe Point. Ryder was going to be living on campus, and his parents said they trusted him to get away once a month to the shifting location. I was glad they had that much faith in him, because I didn't trust myself at all.

"So you want an apartment, then?" she asked.

"Actually, I think I want a small house. I will get roommates."

Other wolves.

"Houses in Boulder aren't cheap to rent. But if you have roommates it would help. Maybe we should look into buying one..." She trailed off, seeming to be deep in thought, and stood up.

Seeming to snap back to reality, she looked down at me as I shoveled the last of the pancake in my mouth, and said, "I'll talk to your dad this afternoon after he gets back from the club. I'll have an answer for you in a couple of days."

I stood up, walked over to my mom and hugged her. "Thank you."

The timer on the oven went off and she pulled out some kind of breakfast casserole and told me to sit. I obeyed because the casserole smelled delicious.

Two months later, I was standing in my empty living room of the two-bedroom house my parents had bought. I was instructed to get a roommate and she was to pay my parents 400 dollars a month, but I was to collect it. I know they were just doing it to make me be a responsible adult. My father was an investment analyst for a very popular investment company and they had more than enough money. In fact, I was sure they bought the house so they could have another tax write-off. Not that I was complaining.

They were, however, pretty frugal most of the time. Yes, the house we grew up in was nice, but my mom was never one to splurge on expensive clothes or anything like that. It was always the sales racks and discounts where my clothes and accessories had come from. And now, as I looked around my moderately furnished house, with the futon for a sofa and the flat-screen TV sitting on a small TV stand, I smiled. I didn't need much, I just wanted to get through these next four years, come out on the other side with a degree, and then start planning my life with Ryder.

He was onboard, too, as we had discussed this several times. We had our lives mapped out, and we both liked it that way. My parents and his both agreed to this, and that was the way it was going to be. The only thing I didn't know was what my major was going to be, but my dad had told me not to worry about it right now. Just knock out the undergraduate crap like English and History, then I could spend the last two years taking classes for the degree I wanted.

This plan—it made me feel safe and content. It made me worry less, and work more on my schoolwork, and for the most part, I did. It was bad enough nature had dealt me a monthly curse as a woman, but to have to be doubly cursed once a month, well, that just sucked.

It sucked badly.

The doorbell rang and I opened it. A girl about my age stood there with one of the tear-offs from the flyer I had posted on the bulletin board in the main corridor for buy-sell-trade.

"Hi, I saw your flyer. Still need a roommate?"

I nodded and opened the door wider. "Yes, you're the first. Have a seat."

She sat on the sofa and I studied her briefly before beginning my questioning. She had long, dark hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. With full lips and a flawless complexion, I wondered if she was trouble, or still innocent.

"My name is Ayla and this is my house. Actually, it's my parents' house, but they instructed me to get a roommate, so here we are." I smiled at her.

She smiled back and slowly brushed some of her dark hair behind her shoulder. "My name is Sanja. Nice to meet you Ayla." She reached out to shake my hand and I felt something strange as our hands touched. I wouldn't say it was an electric spark or anything, just a strange sensation that ran through me, and honestly, made me a little queasy for a split second. It seemed she felt it too, and pulled back abruptly. Her smile fell briefly, but she put it back on again, albeit a little more forced this time.

I cleared my throat and said, "Well, tell me a little about yourself."

Still smiling, she said, "Okay. I'm originally from Texas. I am a sophomore this year, but am tired of living in student housing. I need something quieter. I am majoring in paranormal studies, with a minor in nature science. My mom and brother still live in Texas, and I have a few friends here that I made last year, but other than that, I'm pretty much alone."

"Paranormal studies, that's interesting. I didn't even know that was an option."

She nodded. "It's a very interesting subject, although I haven't gotten to take many classes in it, as I'm doing my undergraduate junk right now."

I nodded, and said, "So do you like to party, or are you more like the quiet, studious type?"

She grinned. Damn those lips, I was so jealous. They were like the Angelina ones people pay big money for. "Honestly, I'm quiet most of the time, but if I get invited to a party, I'm game to go. I have a few social bones in my body. But you have my word I would never throw a party over here, not unless you weren't home, or I had your permission."

My eyes went big. "Uh..."

She laughed, and it was a high tinkling sound that made me laugh too. "I'm just screwing with you. I don't have enough time to throw parties."

"Okay," I said, laughing. "Next question. Do you have a boyfriend or a significant other?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I've been on a couple of dates with this guy named Dane but it's not really going anywhere. What about you?"

I nodded. "I have a steady boyfriend named Ryder, but he lives in student housing. Parents said no way about us living together." I smiled, chagrinned.

She nodded. "I hear you. My mom is strict like that, too."

"No dad?" I asked, and then regretted it. So none of your business, Ayla! "I'm sorry," I immediately said.

"No worries, girl. I do have a dad, somewhere, but he hasn't been in the picture since I was like, two. Mom's had a few boyfriends, but nobody permanent. I'm good."

I breathed out in relief. God, that had been so rude. Changing the subject, I said, "So do you have a job or just living on student loans?"

She shook her head. "No student loans, I am very grateful to have gotten a full scholarship. I do work at Magik's Books & Coffee for extra money."

I furrowed my brows. "Where's that? Here in town? Sorry, I've only been out a few times. I'm from a small suburb south of Denver, and haven't gotten out into Boulder to explore yet."

"That's okay. Yeah, it's a bookstore-slash-coffee shop. It's totally rad, you should come check it out sometime."

"I think I will," meaning it. "I love coffee and books!"

"Who doesn't, right?" she asked, putting her hand on my mine again.

I felt the sensation again, but this time it lasted a bit longer, then it subsided. She quickly pulled her hand away and swept some hair over her other shoulder this time.

Laughing awkwardly, and then trying to continue the conversation, I said, "The evil and soulless."

Sanja's smile dropped and, looking concerned, she said, "What?"

"You asked who doesn't like books and coffee."

She laughed, and seemed to relax again. "Oh. I did, didn't I?"

"So how many hours a week do you have to work there?"

"About fifteen to twenty. I enjoy it, so at least it's not like work," she replied, smiling.

"I need to find a job too. My parents are paying for the house and tuition but that leaves me no shopping money." I smiled.

"Yes, got to have spending money, especially around here. Everything is so expensive, I noticed."

"Yes, it is, unfortunately."

"So tell me, Ayla," she said without missing a beat or even blinking, "what do werewolves go shopping for anyway?"

Chapter 9

I blinked incredulously at her. "Come again?"

Those annoyingly perfect lips curved upward. "It was a simple question I've always wanted to know. I bet you need a lot of camping equipment, huh?"

"How did you—?"

"I'm a witch, Ayla. I thought you had figured it out already."

Oddly, after the shock of her question started to wear off, I felt something odd—relief.

Since discovering I was a werewolf, I had been leery and nervous around new people. What if they found out my secret? What if they could smell it on me? And the fact that Sanja was a witch surprised me for a second, but then even that shock wore off. Werewolves existed. Vampires existed. So why not witches?

"Well, I'm not quite sure what to say. I have to say that I definitely like you, and was getting ready to offer you the room for rent."

A gorgeous, genuine smile lit up her face, even reaching her caramel-brown eyes. "Are you serious?"

She reached over and hugged me, and I felt the strange sensation again. At least it made sense now, even though I couldn't understand what it was I was feeling exactly. Guess I could ask her.

We pulled apart, and I said, "You're welcome. By the way, what is that weird feeling I get when our skin touches?"

Her eyes went big. "You can feel that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, what is it?"

She pulled the side of her bottom lip between her teeth and seemed to think for a minute. "It's hard to explain in words. I don't want to use the words 'psychic sensation', but it's the only thing I can think of. We witches get it every time we touch another supernatural creature. But you're not supposed to get it, too."

"Huh," was all I could think to say.

"Well, I'm gonna go back to student housing and call my mom and tell her I'm moving out, and then tell the floor dean, too. When I can I move in?"

"Whenever you want, today, tomorrow, next week. I don't care," I said, standing from the sofa.

"Great! It'll probably be tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Sure, let me show you around."

I led her around the house, showing her the dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and finally her bedroom. I had taken the master bedroom because well... master bathroom, that's why. I told her she could have the hallway bathroom all to herself.

"I'm so excited," she said as we reached the front door, and she adjusted her purse strap around her shoulder. "I think this is going to work out great since we're both... otherworldly, if you know what I mean."

I nodded. "I agree. It's a relief I'm not going to have to make excuses or tell you I'm going camping once a month."

"I want to talk to you more about that once I move in and get settled, okay?"

"Most definitely," I agreed. "I sure do have some questions for you, too!"

She hugged me again. "Oh, give me your phone so I can give you my number."

I obeyed and pulled it from my back pocket and handed it to her. She punched some buttons and then handed it back to me, and I could see the strange way her name was spelled.

"I'll text you so you can have mine," I said.

"Great, see you tomorrow!" She left with a small wave.

I closed and locked the door behind her, and picked up my cell, shot a text off to Sanja, and then called Ryder.

"Hi, gorgeous," he answered.

I laughed a little. "Hi, sweetie. Guess what? I have a roommate!"

"Wow, that was fast," he said around a mouthful of food.

"I know, right? She was the first one to answer my ad. Speaking of, can you go pull my ad down off the bulletin board please, so I don't have to drive to the campus?"

"Sure, I'm in the cafeteria right now so it's just a couple of hallways down. Keep talking to me. What's she like?"

"Well her name is Sonya, but it's spelled 's-a-n-j-a' and she's gorgeous with long brown hair and perfect lips. So stay away from her while you're visiting," I said, laughing.

"Does she have a job to pay for the room?" he asked.

"Yes, Dad," I said, groaning. "She works at some bookstore-coffee shop in town."

"Uh, Ayla," Ryder said, sounding concerned.

I became worried. "What's wrong?"

"I'm taking down your flyer, but, um, there's only your first name and phone number. How did she know the address to the house?"

Holy shit, he was right. What the hell? "Um, maybe because she's a witch. Are they psychic?"

"A witch!" he screamed, and I had to pull the phone back from my ear. "No, Ayla, no! You cannot live with a witch!"

"Why not? At least she knows what I am. And she was so nice and seemed so normal."

"I'm coming over," he said, this time a little calmer. Then he hung up.

With a sigh, I set my phone down and tried not to panic. I really liked Sanja. As I went to unpack a box, I saw something from the corner of my eye on the coffee table. Walking to it, I could see it was the piece of paper she had brought with her. The tiny strip was only about as big as my finger, and my name and phone number were printed on the front. When I flipped it over, I saw my address in very light writing... but as I looked closer, the writing completely vanished before my eyes. I blinked again and held the paper as close to my face as I could, but there was nothing there.

Feeling creeped out, and wondering if I was losing my mind, I tossed the paper into my temporary makeshift trash—a trash bag set in the corner of the kitchen, and went about unpacking the kitchen boxes.

Feeling proud of myself for unpacking two, I grabbed a bottled water from the fridge when the doorbell rang. I could see through the peephole that it was Ryder, and I opened the door.

He wrapped me in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Enjoying the warmth from his warm body, but confused at his concern, I said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Ryder closed and locked the door, and then looked out the front window, which had no window coverings on it at all, and then led me by the hand to the kitchen, which had a wall that blocked me from seeing the living room and the window.

"Listen, witches can be very dangerous. I don't want you renting that room to one."

Feeling defensive like he was bossing me around, I set my water on the counter and then folded my arms over my chest. "Why not? She seemed like such the opposite of dangerous."

He raked a hand through his dark hair. "Look, my aunt is a witch, and—"

My brows dipped. "How is your aunt a witch if you're a wolf?"

He sighed. "My uncle, my dad's brother, married one."

With my eyes wide, I asked, "Seriously? Do they have kids?"

He nodded. "Yes, and they're both wolves with psychic powers. They're so fucking weird, too, my cousins."

"That's not very nice, Ryder..."

He grinned and grabbed himself a piece of cold pizza from my fridge. "I'll let you meet the weirdos one day."

"Okay..." I said, and then commented, "Weren't you just eating when I called you?"

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall as he took half the slice into a bite. "So?"

"Anyway, finish your speech on why witches are bad."

He chewed a few times, and then swallowed. "Because they can cast spells. They can read minds, some of them. They can do really bad things, especially to other supernaturals, to defend themselves."

I lifted my chin. "Well, I didn't plan on doing anything to piss this girl off. She pays her rent and doesn't trash the place, I don't care what she does."

"They're very testy, and emotional. And they get offended easily. Seriously, Ayla, find someone else?"

I was growing impatient with this conversation. "How can you lump one species into a group like that? It's like you're stereotyping them or something. I want to get to know Sanja. We hit it off nicely, had a great chat, and not just about the house. She's someone I could see becoming a friend."

"Did I mention they're charming and deceitful, too? Let me guess, this girl is gorgeous?"

"I already told you she was," I said dryly.

"Well, I didn't hear that part, I was too busy freaking out over her being a witch."

"Yes, you were," I murmured, going to the fridge and pulling out the leftover Chinese I'd stashed in there earlier. I threw some noodles and rice onto a paper plate and tossed it into the microwave for a couple minutes.

Turning around, I put both hands on the counter behind me and regarded Ryder. This was kind of our first fight. The thought excited me a little, as sick as that was.

"I'm renting the room to her, Ry. Sorry if you don't like it. But I want you to meet her. She's moving in tomorrow. Why don't you come help? Then you can see for yourself what a nice person she truly is."

"She is just going to charm me."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Like, magic charm, or just put on the nice, pretty-girl charm?"

He grabbed a paper towel from the roll sitting on the counter and tore off a piece, wiping his hands and face with it. "Both."

I watched as he tossed it into the makeshift trash, and then said, "Then call your aunt and ask her how you can resist her 'charms'."

His crooked half-smile lifted up on his lips and he said, pulling out his phone, "That's a great idea."

The microwave beeped and I lifted the plate out, and then dug through the bag for the extra plastic fork I'd stashed in it. I noticed he was hesitating dialing. "Oh, so your aunt is a crazy witch, but she's so crazy that you can just call her for help?"

He glared at me before putting his eyes back on his phone. "It's not like that."

I chuckled before shoveling some fried rice into my mouth. "Okay."

He lifted the phone to his ear. "Hey, Uncle Gary. Is Aunt Libby around?" He nodded. "Cool, can you have her call me?" He frowned. "I have a couple witch questions, that's all."

Well, at least he was being honest, I thought.

"Okay, thanks, Uncle Gary. Bye."

"Too busy to talk to you?" I gloated.

"She's at a coven meeting," he replied.

I nodded, swallowing the rice. "Coven. How cliché."

"Speaking of, what coven does this Sanja belong to?"

I shrugged, scooping up another forkful of rice. "How the hell should I know?"

"There's one that meets at that Magik's Bookstore. We should go ask in there if they have a Sanja in their coven."

With my fork paused at my mouth, I said, "She works there."

Ryder threw his head back and laughed. "Of fucking course she does. That's her coven then."

"So?" I said, and then piled in the rice.

"So?" he said, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. "That's the most powerful coven in Colorado. My aunt told me before coming here that if I ever had any problems, to go into that store and ask for an Amethyst, and she'd help me."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Amethyst?"

He grinned knowingly. "I told you they were fucking weirdos."

I walked up to him and put my arms around his middle. "You're a freakin' weirdo."

He looked down at me, and brushed some hair from my forehead. "Oh, am I? How so?"

I nodded. "You have an aunt who's a witch. That's so weird."

"Yeah, well you want to have a witch for a roommate. That's weirder." He ran his hand down my back and it landed on my ass, where he squeezed it.

"Yeah, so? I don't think she's a weirdo. You will like her."

He said nothing, but instead leaned down and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, loving the way his body felt against me. I reached up and raked my fingers through his hair, which felt a bit too long, but silky under my fingertips.

In one fell swoop, he put both hands under my butt and lifted me so I had to put my legs around his waist. Then, he carried me to the bedroom and put me down on the bed, where he continued to kiss me in that way he had that made my toes curl. Without breaking his kisses, he unbuttoned my jean shorts, which I wiggled out of, and then slipped my panties down. I broke the kiss to pull my shirt off, and then I unhooked my bra as he unbuttoned his jeans.

After he slid them off, he used one hand at his upper back to remove his Broncos T-shirt, and once we were naked, he made love to me, and it was just what we needed after our little spat.

A spat that was still, as of now, unresolved. I would be winning this one, though.

Chapter 10

The doorbell roused me out of my sleep. Blinking a few times at my phone on the nightstand, I could see that Ryder and I had slept in until almost ten a.m. I yawned as I untangled myself from his arms and sat up. Looking around, I could see a CU tee on the floor of my room, and I picked it up and shoved it over my head. Next, I spotted my jean shorts and threw those on. My ponytail holder was on the floor, and I bent down and picked it up, tying my hair up into a messy bun before walking to the living room, where my doorbell was ringing for the second time.

With another yawn, I opened the door to see Sanja standing there holding a blue laundry basket full of neatly folded clothes in one hand, a coffee in the other, and two large boxes flanking her on the ground.

I lifted an eyebrow. "Good morning." But it kind of came out as a question.

"Good morning, wolf-girl. How are you this morning?" She produced another paper coffee cup from the laundry basket, which was wedged between clothes, and handed it to me.

I took the cup and relished its warmth, lifting it in thanks. "I'm just fine. Come on in," I replied, opening the door wider to allow her access.

"Did I wake you?" she asked as she walked by with her basket, leaving the boxes on the porch.

"Well..."

"Did you have breakfast yet? I've got some toasted garlic bagels with cream cheese here," she said, plucking a bag from the top of the clothes pile in her basket. She placed the bag on the kitchen counter. How had I not seen the bag before? Oh yeah, 'cause I'm still asleep.

"Thank you for the coffee," was all I could think to say. I lifted it in greeting.

She waved a dismissive hand as she set the basket into her room, to where I'd followed her. "No problem. I hope you like Breve lattes."

"Sure," I said, taking a sip and trying not to choke on the fact that it was unsweetened. "Yes, it's coffee. Anything will do." I lifted the cup again. Like an ass. I needed to stop doing that.

"I've got a bed, dresser, and a nightstand in the truck. Can you help me with them?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

Was this the blasted 'charm' Ryder had mentioned? Dammit, it was too freaking early for me to have to think this hard.

"I'll tell you what, let me go wake up my boyfriend. His muscles are bigger than mine." I threw her a wink.

She grinned. "Good call. And I can't wait to meet him. In the meantime, I'm going to grab a few more things out of the back of the truck."

"Sounds good," I said as I watched her set her coffee down on the windowsill of the room and walk out toward the front door.

I quickly walked to my room and jumped on the bed. "Get up."

"What?" Ryder said, groaning as he lifted his head from the pillow.

"Sanja's here. Get up!"

He looked at his fitness-watch thing and said, "Damn, we slept in."

I hopped off the bed and ran into the bathroom, grabbing my toothbrush from the holder. I squeezed some toothpaste onto it and gave myself a quick scrub.

Ryder followed me in and did the same, and then he told me to leave because he had to "take a piss."

By the time I emerged from the bedroom, Sanja had four more boxes in her room, and the nightstand.

"Did you bring in that in yourself?" I asked, pointing at it.

"Yes, it's empty so it wasn't a big deal."

I nodded, and just then I heard Ryder's voice at the doorway. "You need some help?"

I looked at Sanja, and grinned as her eyes went wide. "Yes, please, there is more in the truck out front."

"Sanja, this is Ryder," I said, almost forgetting my manners.

He walked into the room, and I was grateful he had thrown on his T-shirt and sweatpants. "Nice to meet you, witch," he said.

With my eyes wide, mortification didn't even begin to cover it.

I reluctantly looked at Sanja, and a slight amusement danced in her eyes. "Nice to meet you, too, wolf."

Ryder grinned and released her hand before walking out of the room.

"I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Sanja said. "I'm soooo used to it."

That made me kind of sad. "Really?" I asked.

She nodded, making her way toward the bedroom door. I looked her up and down and wished I had her legs. Warm caramel color under her dark-blue short-shorts. "Wolves and witches don't usually get along so well."

I worried my lip at her comment, and tilted my head. "Really? Because I like you just fine."

She smiled. "I'm glad. Because I like you, too. I just know we'll be great friends."

I relaxed a little.

Sanja crossed the room and put both hands on my shoulders. "Don't worry about him." She jutted her chin toward the doorway of the room. "I can tell he comes from a long line of strong, old-school wolves. He'll come around, I promise."

I nodded, looking into her powerful brown eyes. "I hope so, because I really like you, Sanja. Help me help you to earn his trust. He told me not to rent to you. I told him you were a great person, someone I could see becoming a good friend. Don't make a liar out of me."

She grinned knowingly. "I won't, my friend. I won't." With a last quick hug, she sprinted out the door and to the truck to retrieve the rest of her belongings.

College was hard. I thought it was going to be kind of easy—but it wasn't. Not by a longshot. I kept telling myself to be grateful. You know, grateful for my family and the opportunity afforded me. Grateful for the boyfriend who supported me despite our differences. Grateful for friends like Sanja. She had been living in my house for two months and never once said a word about me leaving for three days every month. But, she knew why I stayed away once a month, and it wasn't because of PMS. And we never discussed it.

On a regular Tuesday night, I was sitting at the dining room table studying. I didn't want to go into my room, so I found an alternative. After her shift at Magik Books & Coffee, Sanja came home.

"Hi," I said, greeting her as she sat in the chair opposite me, seeming tired from her shift at the store.

She stared at me for a few long, awkward seconds, and then said, "How are you today?"

I waved a hand at her without looking up. "Great. Thanks for asking."

I secretly had an annoyance with people who continuously asked "How are you?" I wanted to scream at them, "I'm not okay, you asshole!" or "Stop asking me that stupid question!"

But of course, I would never say that to anyone.

"I met someone," she blurted out.

These nightly talks in our dining room had become our 'thing'. When one of us needed to talk, we'd sit on the futon sofa or the armchair, me with my legs over the arm. Her, cross-legged on the sofa.

"Oh yeah? Wanna tell me about him? Or... her?"

She grinned. "It's a him. No worries."

I frowned. "I wasn't worried."

"I know." She winked. "Well, he came into the shop a few days ago. Just like me, he isn't from Colorado. He is here to go to school. This school."

I nodded. "Okay, go on."

"Sorry, details, right? So not important. Anyway, he's a warlock from Maine. His parents run a very powerful coven up there. The minute he said the name, I knew I'd heard of it. Anyway, it was weird, when he came into the shop and our eyes met, we both kind of froze. He was probably the most beautiful guy I had ever seen. Despite his stylish red hair, his skin was smooth and had no freckles or zits or anything. He has these full lips and eyes the color of grass." She let out a dreamy sigh.

"He sounds pretty awesome. So did you give him your number, or what?"

She nodded, her eyes wide. "Yes, I did, and he texted me as soon as he got home after buying a few things at the shop. We talked on the phone and have been texting nonstop. He gives me butterflies."

"That's great," I said, "I'm really happy for you. What's his name?"

"Brennan James."

I nodded in approval. "Very cool name."

"I know, right?" she squealed.

"At least he's a witch. You have to, uh, mate with others of your kind, right?"

Sanja wrinkled her nose. "Mate, ew, that's such a werewolf and vampire term. But yes."

"Sorry," I said, laughing. "I really don't like the term myself. And for the record, I totally liked Ryder before I knew he was a wolf. Heck, even before I knew I was a wolf!"

She turned her head slightly, looking confused. "What do you mean... before you knew you were a wolf? Aren't your family wolves?"

With a heavy, dramatic sigh, I launched into the tale about how my brothers and I were adopted, and what a nightmare my first shift had been. The look on Sanja's face was a mix between sympathy and horror.

"You're telling me nobody told you that you'd transform into a beast once a month during the full moon? You just... shifted one night?"

I nodded and, with a shudder, told her about my first shift.

"Wow, that's a tough break, girl."

"You are probably gonna hate me for asking this, but what exactly can witches do? Like spells and such? Or parlor tricks like making shit disappear?"

She laughed. "A little of both. We don't use magic unless we need to. I grew up knowing my parents were witches, and that I was one, too. I have my own spell book, but I don't really use it that much. We are taught that magic is for necessity, not for want or personal gain."

"So you couldn't show me anything cool right now?" I asked, goading her.

She chewed her perfect lip, and then threw me a mischievous grin. "Okay, just one thing."

I smiled, excited.

She closed her eyes and lifted both hands, palms up, toward the ceiling. "Ignium!"

All the candles in the room immediately lit up with flames burning at their wicks. I am a candle-collecting whore, so I had them everywhere. The room was immediately bright with a warm orange glow.

Gasping at how she'd done that, I stared at her as she slowly opened her eyes. She smiled. "You like?"

"How did you do that? And what did you say to do that?"

"It's Latin. Lots of Latin involved in being a witch."

"Wow, I tried to take Latin once, totally failed. I've got a new mad respect for you now, girl."

"Thanks. It wasn't easy to learn, but I'm learning slowly. That 'trick' I just did was easy."

"What else can you do?"

She smirked, like she was hiding a secret. "A lot of things, but like I said, we use magic out of necessity. Otherwise, we are just regular people."

"So, you can't, say, cast a spell over a bank teller and make them give you ten thousand dollars?" I asked, feeling devious at asking, but curiosity getting the better of me.

"Yes, I probably could do that, but I wouldn't. That is stealing. We do have some morals and ethics," she replied, amused.

I nodded. "Gotcha."

Just then, the front door opened. Ryder came in carrying a duffel bag. He lifted his chin at Sanja—something he always did, as he didn't like to interact with her too much—and said to me, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me pack real fast." I got up and headed toward my room. I turned before going down the hall and said to Sanja, "Thanks for the chat. I'm happy for you. Keep me posted. I'll be gone all weekend."

She smiled and glanced out the window at the full moon. "I know."

After packing a small bag, I emerged from my room and looked at my gorgeous boyfriend. "Let's roll out."

"Bye, wolves. Be good," Sanja said, flicking the TV to life with the remote, even though her attention was on her phone.

"Thanks," I chuckled. "Lock this door behind me."

She waved a hand, and the second the door closed, I heard the locks immediately click into place. I chuckled.

Witches. Gotta love them.

Chapter 11

One day, a few months ago, Aden had told us before a shift that we were going to pool our money together to get a mobile home or trailer to put up on the mountain for our shifts. There was no use going up and down the treacherous mountain for the three nights of the full moon, when we could just stay up there and deal with our curse before returning to our schools, our families, our jobs, and our lives. Nobody really disagreed with him.

A couple months later, he had towed a double-wide trailer up there, and while we still didn't have electricity, it didn't seem to matter. For whatever reason, we didn't seem to need it. But, it was late spring/early summer, and I worried about what we would do in the middle of winter when temperatures reached what was sure to be below zero at this elevation. I was sure Aden would figure it out.

As Ryder and I approached the mobile home, we saw a few of our brothers and sisters sitting in front in lawn chairs holding drinks encased in koozies. They looked up when they heard Ryder's car approach. He parked next to Aden's truck, and we got out after grabbing our bags.

The heavy scent of a campfire burning hit my nose first, and then the cool, mild, dry air around me felt wonderful against my skin, which was beginning to heat up. I always ran near fever-pitch on the first day of the full moon.

Ryder fist-bumped a few of the others, and I said my hellos, still not knowing all of their names and feeling like an asshole about it. But I knew in a few months' time I would. In my defense, a lot of them were new. Older teenagers who had just started their shifts.

Aden greeted us from the door of the mobile home. "Hey, guys. Come inside. I'll show you around," he said, opening the door and ushering us inside like we were VIP in his mountain cabin-but-really-it's-a-trailer home.

"How many wolves are going to be staying in here?" Ryder asked, standing in the small kitchen, which was pretty much a joke. It had a microwave and a sink, but not much more.

"All of the pack," Aden replied, lifting his chin.

Just then, Austyn came in. "Dude, it's gonna be crowded A.F. in here. Seriously. But, it's better than sleeping outside on the ground, I guess."

Ryder said, "Did you just say A.F. in a sentence, man?"

"Yeah, so?" Austyn replied.

I chuckled. "You can say 'as fuck', you know."

"Fuck you, Ayla. Don't tell me what to do," Austyn said, storming out of the trailer and back outside.

Idiot brother of mine. I shook my head and shouted out the door, "I was joking, you turd. Stop taking everything so seriously!"

Without turning around, he gave me the finger and kept walking.

"Geez, touchy," I murmured with a giggle.

Ryder leaned down and kissed my nose. Then he pulled a bag out of his pocket and held it up. "Maybe we should give him some of this. Might help him lighten up."

I looked at the small, clear bag, which contained a green, leafy substance, and a small package of white papers. My eyes went big.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

Ryder chuckled. "Anywhere. Everywhere. Does it matter? Let's smoke a little before our shift."

I worried my lip. "I'm not quite sure that's such a good idea. Why don't we try it on another night?"

I looked up to see the clouds dancing in and out of the moon's reflection. I began to feel twitchy.

"Try it?" Ryder said. "I've already 'tried it'. I want to 'try it' again. Come on, it'll relax us. Maybe make the shift less... uncomfortable."

Well, I had never tried weed and I wasn't sure I wanted to. But the thought of maybe easing the pain of the shift, and relaxing me was a bit appealing.

Ryder sat at one of the small tables that surrounded the trailer and pulled the rolling papers from the baggie. Laying a paper flat on the table, he then withdrew a pinch of the drug, and sprinkled it into a straight line across the paper. Then he rolled it tight, licked the paper to seal it, pressed the seal to make sure it stuck, and then twisted the ends. He placed the joint on the table, and then continued to roll and stuff the remaining papers with the smelly green leaves.

"You sharing?" Aden asked, coming up to us and sitting at an empty chair at the table.

Ryder lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Sure, but just with you."

"And me," Austyn said, seeming to come out of nowhere.

I looked at my brothers nervously, and asked again, "Should we be doing this right before a shift? I mean, what do high werewolves do?"

Austyn chuckled, and said, "Dude, I don't know, actually. Might be kinda fun to be all fucked up when we shift." He ended on a deep, unintelligent laugh.

I shook my head. "Yeah, being high while there are vampires around sounds like a great idea. We could get killed."

"Our body temperatures probably won't keep us high for very long," Ryder said, still working at his task. "I'm only doing this to try to reduce the pain of the shift."

Aden looked at him curiously. "I hardly feel it anymore, it goes so fast."

Ryder stopped what he was doing, glanced at me, then at Aden. "Yeah, but I don't think Ayla's there yet."

My heart softened at his concern for me, and then I felt obligated to smoke one of the blunts. I really hadn't planned on it.

"I'm sorry, sis," Aden said, looking at me with sympathy. "Sometimes I forget what it was like in the beginning."

I shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's okay. I'll live. It's not like I have a choice."

The three boys nodded in agreement.

Nothing else was said until Ryder was done with his rolling and licking, and he had a neat line of joints on the table. "Help yourself, dudes," he said.

Austyn picked up one immediately, and then produced a lighter from his jeans pocket. With an expertise that both impressed and horrified me, I watched as he put the blunt between his lips, lit the very tip with the flame, and then pocketed the lighter as he took a long drag from the cigarette.

Holding it in for a few seconds, he then blew the smoke out and almost seemed relieved as it left his mouth in a big, blue rush.

"What the hell, Austyn? How many times have you smoked this stuff?" I pointed to the table where there were still joints lined up.

He rolled his eyes and put the joint back up to his lips. "You seriously sounded like Mom just now."

I lifted an eyebrow, about to defend myself, when Ryder lifted one to his lips, his forefinger and thumb holding the cigarette. He lit it, took a long pull from the end, and then handed it to me. I looked down at the cigarette, then up to his face, which was a bit red until he finally let the smoke out.

"Take it, babe. Please?"

I chewed my lip, and then eventually took the smoldering thing from him. I reluctantly lifted it to my lips and then wrapped them around it.

"Suck it in slowly, hold it for a few seconds, and then let the smoke out," Ryder instructed.

Sounded simple enough, so I did exactly what he said. With my lips still wrapped around the cigarette, I took a big, long drag from it and held it. I began to count in my head. One, two, three, four... ohmigod, I need to cough... shit! Five, six, seven... crap, I'm gonna choke, eight, nine... I let the smoke out and began to cough my head off. I coughed, and then coughed some more, and then coughed and coughed until I thought I might throw up. I bent at the waist and put my hands on my bare knees to steady myself.

Then I heard laughter, and looked up to see my two brothers chuckling at me. Well, Aden was mildly chuckling, Austyn was flat-out laughing and pointing. Once my coughing fit subsided, I launched myself at my irritating brother. He let out a yelp and tried to move out of my way, but he was too slow. Probably thanks to the weed. I tackled him to the ground, the sound of his head hitting the hard dirt giving me some kind of sick satisfaction.

"Don't you laugh at me, you dick!" I said, now completely straddling him around his chest like when we were kids. "I will beat your ass!" Cough.

He tried to buck me off but I squeezed my thighs onto either side of his torso.

"Get off me, Ayla! Get off me!" He had a look of paranoia and panic in his dark blue eyes. I saw them flash between blue and yellow as he looked up at me.

"Say you're"—cough—"sorry!" I bellowed at him, raspy, at the top of my lungs.

"No, just let her," I heard a voice behind me say.

I glanced behind me to see Ryder with a look on his face, something mixed between concern and panic, and Aden with a restraining hand on Ryder's arm.

Austyn took that opportunity to shove me off of him. When I landed on my back in the dirt, I burst into a fit of giggles that was so unlike me.

My brothers and my boyfriend... and a few other of the pack, it seemed, looked down on me, forming a circle around my prone body. I looked up at them, still laughing uncontrollably, and said, "Hey! Take a picture! It'll last longer!" Then I continued to laugh, my hands on my stomach, rolling around, even though nothing was funny.

I watched as a few more of my brothers and sisters picked up the joints and began to light them and puff away. None of them had a sputtering coughing fit like I did, but just coolly began to strip off their clothes with cigarettes dangling from the side of their mouths. But for some reason I thought that was funny. So I howled in laughter some more.

"Rookie," I heard Austyn mutter as he got up and brushed dirt from his pants.

"What in the fuuuuuuck is that supposed to mean, Austie?" I asked, not caring that everyone could hear me.

I laughed some more.

Then Austyn laughed, and said, "I hate that nickname, Ayla the Yeti!"

More laughter spilled from my gut, as I was still lying on the ground. "Ayla"—uncontrollable laughter— "doesn't even rhyme with yeti! And there's no such thing as a yeti!"

Austyn plopped down on the ground next to me. "Yes there is. It's like the abominable snowman. Right?" He started laughing.

"I think so?" I replied, trying to recall all of the Backyardigans cartoons we'd watched as kids. Then something hit me. "Oh, my God. That show had a character named Austin on it."

Then I broke out in a gut-wrenching fit of laughter again. "Austyn, you're a Backyardigan!"

He laughed right along with me, and then said, "I'm gonna start calling you Uniqua!"

I roared with laughter, joining in his silliness, until the first spurt of pain hit me. It started in my head and seemed to move into my face, then my neck.

"Shit," I groaned, curling up into a ball. "Time to be a wolfie!"

And that was it. The bone-breaking pain began, but as soon as it started, it stopped, and there I stood, a furry wolf with a pile of shredded clothes next to her, wagging her tail in triumph.

"Well, shit, there went my clothes," I said.

"You can't handle your weed!" I heard Aden's wolf say in my head.

I was about to respond when all my brothers and sisters stopped suddenly. I watched their wolf forms go stock-still. I followed their line of sight to two deer grazing grass. A small rabbit and a squirrel weren't far away, seemingly oblivious to us.

My stomach summersaulted with hunger.

"Gross," I thought.

"Delicious," I heard Benson say.

I would never learn to keep my thoughts to myself.

"Let's go!" I heard Aden say, and they all took off running toward our dinner. Why we never tried to be stealthy and sneak up on them was beyond me. I had suggested it once and got laughed at, so I never said anything again.

As we bounded toward the deer, squirrel, and rabbit, they, of course, took off running. I had to admit the chase was pretty fun, knowing they probably couldn't outrun us. The adrenaline rush was great, and I started laughing as I watched the deer run away from us.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha," I giggled in my mind, finding this all too amusing.

One of the other girl wolves, Maria, started laughing, too. I had seen her smoking a joint also before I shifted.

Her laughing made me laugh, and then I heard a third gaggle of laughter join us, another female voice. It must have been Andrea, she was smoking, too. Her laughter made me laugh, and soon, the three of us stopped our chase and were rolling around on the ground, in our wolf forms, laughing some more.

"Just leave them," Aden growled as I saw Ryder's big, black wolf turn around and look at us.

We giggled some more as we watched the pack take off toward the prey.

"What's wrong with them?" Austyn asked. "My high is pretty much gone."

"Guess it affects the females differently," someone responded. I don't even know who it was, and I didn't care.

We were still laughing on the ground, but laughing as a wolf didn't feel like it did as a human. My stomach didn't burn with a stitch, and tears didn't pour from my eyes. It actually felt more fun and freer, and I actually really, really liked it.

After I don't know how many minutes the three of us spent rolling around on the ground like a bunch of pigs in the mud, we all stopped laughing immediately and froze. The scent of fresh deer blood and meat hit our noses.

"I'm starving!" Maria said, getting up and shaking her whole body like a wet dog.

"Me, too!" I said, suddenly ravenous. "I could eat a whole deer!" I also shook the dirt off of my grayish-blonde fur.

"Well there's not much left, bitches, so you better hurry," Benson said with his mouth full.

The three of us giggled at his bitch comment, and we took off running to join the feast.

Chapter 12

That was the last time I would ever smoke marijuana. I woke on the ground before the sun had come up and stood up, naked, and barely made it into the trailer. My head hurt and I felt lethargic and sick. I just hoped I didn't throw up. I couldn't imagine what puking raw deer and rabbit would look like on the way back up.

Shudder.

Since I'd shredded my clothes last night, I went into the closet Aden had packed with clothes from a local thrift store and found a long men's T-shirt and a pair of small boxers and threw them on before plopping onto one of the beds where Ryder was asleep. He was naked. Not that I minded.

I curled up next to his warm body and he wrapped his arm around me. Cracking open one eye, he whispered, "You found clothes."

I nodded and closed my eyes. "Yes. Not in the mood to be naked. My head hurts."

"I sure don't mind," he whispered back and kissed the top of my head.

"I feel like crap," I said.

"THC hangover. That must have been one long drag you took." He chuckled lightly. "Get some rest, you'll feel better after more sleep."

I nodded and fell back to sleep on Ryder's warm body.

By the end of the third day, I was more than ready to go home and take a long, hot shower and get ready for my school week. I still had homework to do, and knew I'd be cramming all day and probably into the night to finish it.

I wearily walked in through the door and was surprised to see Sanja there. Lately she'd been spending all her time with her new boyfriend Brennan and would come home late Sunday nights.

Her eyes went big at my bedraggled appearance and I said, "Hey."

"Damn, girl. You look like hell."

"I feel like it, too," I said honestly as I set my bag down on the ground and headed to the kitchen.

She wrinkled her nose and said, "You smell like it, too."

"Raw venison and deer blood probably doesn't smell too good," I said dryly, cracking open a water bottle and guzzling down the whole thing in one gulp.

"I... don't want to know," she replied.

"So no Brennan this weekend?" I asked.

Sanja looked sad as she said, "No, he's been instructed by his parents to spend more time on witchcraft and less time with me. So this weekend, the shop mothers took him out in the woods to do some spells and such. Sucks."

I threw my empty water bottle into the trash and pulled out a box of crackers. "Why couldn't you just go with him? Learn some spells and stuff?"

She laughed and looked back down at the textbook set on top of her crossed legs on the sofa. "Well, first, I already know all the stuff they're going to be teaching him, as my parents had already taught me the stuff since I could barely talk. Two, you don't think I suggested that? The mothers said I would be too much of a distraction."

"Bummer," was all I could think to say as I shoveled two crackers into my mouth to get rid of the lingering taste of Bambi and the roiling in my stomach from the damn THC hangover.

Never again. Gah.

"I'll see him later this week," she consoled.

I nodded. "Okay, shower time, and then I have a shitload of homework to do."

She waved at me, her nose still in the book.

I started the shower, and as usual, recoiled at my reflection in the mirror. Would I ever get used to looking so gross? I doubt it. Blood and dirt caked my face, neck, chest, and arms. Dirt and something else was under my nails, and my blonde hair was a rat's nest of a mess. I felt ugly, and guilty, and wished for the thousandth time I could just be a normal human instead of this disgusting wolf that I had been cursed to be. I was a disaster and I didn't think I would ever think of myself of anything other.

The shower was damn near orgasmic and I felt one hundred and ten percent better afterward. Once dressed and hair and teeth brushed, I pulled out my books and studied for hours until my eyes crossed.

I breathed through the pain as I sat with my arm draped over the armrest in front of me. It reminded me of one of those little black pads you lay your arm on when they take blood at the doctor's office. The tattoo artist was using his needle to rub dark fuchsia-pink color into my arm. The continuous buzz and pressing of the needle was beginning to irritate me, and I gritted my teeth. The other arm was already done, so I was in the homestretch now. Both of my outer forearms would soon be matching, and I hoped I loved them.

A couple weeks ago, I had a heart-to-heart with Sanja one night. It was a regular Tuesday night after class, and neither of us had homework, so we were bingeing on TV and junk food. The conversation turned serious about the problems both of us faced having supernatural curses. Hers, being so tightly controlled by the 'mothers' at the shop, her family, and the witch community in general, and me, of course with my werewolf mess.

"I'm a disaster," I had said, leaning my head back against the sofa, the popcorn bowl on my lap.

Sanja looked at me and said, "No, you're beautiful. You can't change what you were born with any more than I can."

"I'm a beautiful disaster then," I concluded.

She laughed and popped an M&M into her mouth. "That, you are. But then so am I."

The idea for the tattoo hit me immediately. I decided on "Beautiful" for one forearm, and "Disaster" for the other.

Once Joe was done with my tats, he cleaned me off and then took me over to the full-length mirror that lined the back wall of the colorfully decorated shop.

I put both arms up like I was a genie about to blink and grant a wish, and looked at the artwork on my arms in the mirror. I almost welled with tears.

"Oh, my God, Joe. I love it so much."

The fancy script writing of each word, shadowed in blues and pinks, looked beautiful.

He smiled at me, the ring through his bottom lip stretching almost painful-looking. "I'm so glad you like it, Ayla. Looks great."

Joe led me back to the chair and began to rub a clear salve on the fresh tattoos, then wrapped me up in bandages and sent me home.

I excitedly answered the door when I heard the doorbell. I ushered Ryder in, stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss, and put my arms up to show him my new ink.

"Do you love them?" I asked Ryder, hopeful.

I hadn't told him I was going to do it. In fact, I hadn't told anyone but Sanja I was going to. She had gone with me, too. She wanted to get one herself, but the witches forbade tattoos, unless previously approved by whatever bullshit council or coven 'governed' over her.

"I..." Ryder started, staring down at my arms, which I had stacked again so he could see them together. "They certainly are colorful."

I frowned and dropped my arms. "You hate them."

He shook his head. "No, I don't hate them. I'm just surprised. I didn't know you were doing it."

Sighing, I said, "Nobody knew. I did this for me."

"Why beautiful disaster?"

"Because that's what I feel like ninety percent of the time," I came back quickly.

"What do you feel like the other ten percent?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Just a disaster," I deadpanned.

His smile fell. "Why?"

"I don't like the wolf. I don't like being her, I don't like being reminded of her, and I wish she would just go away."

Why was I being so emo? PMS maybe?

Ryder wrapped me in a hug. "It's not going to go away, but it'll get easier."

"So, what, when we're old and can't hear, and wearing diapers, and have dementia and using a walker, we are still going to turn into wolves once a month? How does that work? Won't I break a hip when I shift?"

He pulled back and looked down at me, cringing. "We don't usually grow that old."

I gasped. "What do you mean?"

Ryder sighed, and led me to the sofa where he made me sit. "Have you ever once heard me talk about my grandparents?"

I thought about it for a second, and said, "No, now that you mention it, I haven't."

"That's because I never met them. I mean, I guess I did when I was a baby or young kid, but I don't remember them. All four of them died in their forties and fifties."

"How?" I gasped.

"In case you haven't noticed, werewolves live very violent lives."

I slumped down, even more depressed by the news. "Then why all this?" I pointed to my open schoolbooks, binders, and pencils lying on the coffee table. "Why even bother?"

"I said we lived violent lives, Ayla, I didn't say they were necessarily short."

I rubbed my forehead with one hand. "Now I'm confused."

"While wolves aren't immortal, we age much, much slower than humans."

"But your parents look kinda old."

A grin twitched up on his lips. "How old?"

I shrugged and pictured their faces in my mind. "I don't know, like late thirties, early forties old."

"They're in their mid-sixties."

My mouth dropped open. "What!"

He nodded. "Wild, huh?"

"So what am I going to tell my parents when they notice I'm not getting older?"

"You will get older, just much slower. They probably won't really notice it until they are old themselves and you look much younger than you should."

I sighed again, trying to take it all in. I looked at the college books and papers scattered on my table again, and wondered out loud again, "What's it all for?"

Ryder followed my line of sight, and then looked back at me. "Because we have to live, Ayla. We can't go through life like we're dying. We just have to try to live."

"I guess you're right," I said wistfully.

The following weekend, Ryder was starting in the football game that would take CU to the championship. I was excited for him. My parents and brothers came up for the game, and the energy and spirit was high.

I watched as the cheerleaders took their place on the sidelines and screamed their cheers every time we scored a touchdown. I was mildly jealous, if not a bit nostalgic, missing cheer just a little, but knowing it was best I had quit. What would I say on shift weekends? "Sorry, ladies, gotta go play with the wolves, I'll see you next weekend!"?

Sighing, I laughed at myself. I was such a hot mess.

The game seemed to go by fast, and before I knew it, we had twenty seconds left in the fourth quarter and we were down by two points.

You could hear a pin drop in the stands as we hiked the ball and Ryder ran onto the field toward the end zone. The guy who'd hiked the ball weaved in and out of the opposing team's attempted grabs. When he had a small opening, he threw the ball in a perfect spiral and we all held our breath as Ryder looked up, the other players doing their best to block the offense from tackling my boyfriend.

When Ryder caught the ball perfectly and began to run with it, we all screamed and jumped up in the stands. Six yards to go... "Go, baby!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Four yards to go, oh, my God, he almost got tackled... two yards to go... one yard to go... and then I watched in amazement as the minute his feet hit the end zone and he slammed the football onto the ground in victory, the buzzer signaled the end of the game. He lifted his arms in triumph and did the funniest dance I had ever seen.

We won!

My brothers and I went rushing down to the field, hoping to give Ryder a hug. We had to fight our way through the crowd, but we got there just in time to see his teammates dump an entire water cooler over his head. He was soaking wet, but didn't seem to care. He was flying high, and I was so happy for him.

Chapter 13

After the game, Ryder and his teammates went out to celebrate, and as much I wanted to go, I felt obligated to entertain my parents since I hadn't seen them in a while. My brothers and I took our mom and dad out to the local college hangout for dinner. We caught up on things and I updated them on how school was going. Aden and Austyn told me what they had been up to, and then I was told about Aden's new girlfriend, who I had already met at the shift last month, but pretended not to know for Mom and Dad's sake.

After dinner, we went to my house so I could show them how it was decorated.

"Wow, looks nice in here!" my mom exclaimed, setting her purse down.

"Yeah, you did good," Dad said, looking around and nodding in approval.

I chuckled as I removed my CU hoodie and set it over the back of a chair. "Thanks, but I suck at decorating. Sanja did most of it."

"Who is Sanja, and is she hot?" Austyn asked, picking up a framed photo of me with my brothers the day of my high school graduation.

I laughed again. "It doesn't matter. You aren't meeting her."

"Hey, why not?" he asked, seeming offended, but I could tell he was joking.

I rolled my eyes at my horny brother.

My mom grabbed my arm and examined my tattoo, her eyes wide. "When did you get this?"

Dad came over and grabbed the other. "You have matching ones."

I put my arms together to show them the beautiful disaster, and smiled. "A few months ago."

"What does it mean?" Mom asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"I'm just a hot mess sometimes." I smiled at her. No way was I telling her the real reason.

"Hmm, okay," Dad said, and then turned around and looked around the house some more.

"Let me give you the tour," I said.

I showed them the kitchen, my room, the bathroom, and since Sanja's door was open, I did a quick, "Oh, and here's Sanja's room," and kept walking. But I noticed my parents had stopped and were lingering in the doorway, staring into her room. My brothers were still sitting in the living room talking to each other in hushed tones.

"What?" I asked, looking in, and feeling like I was invading her privacy.

Then I noticed all the witchcraft artifacts everywhere. She even had some kind of shrine set up in the corner with crystals and crap. My parents shared a worried glance. Uh oh.

"Um, Sanja's, uh, Wiccan. She's really into the stuff, but she's pretty harmless."

My parents looked at each other again, and then back to me. "Okay," my mom said and we moved on.

"Can I make some coffee?" I asked, knowing my parents' obsession with the dark addiction.

"Yeah, that would be great," Dad said, picking up my Statistics textbook and looking through it.

I rarely drank coffee so we had a one-cup maker. I brewed two cups and brought them over to my parents in mismatched coffee mugs.

"Thanks, honey," Mom said, smiling at me over the rim of the steaming mug. "So do you like school? You really like it here?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I really do. The teachers are great and I am making friends."

"Like Sanja?" my dad asked, forcing a smile. I could tell he was not happy I had a 'Wiccan' roommate. If he only knew.

"Dad, come on, she's probably harmless," Aden said, twirling the remote control between his fingers in boredom.

I heard keys jiggle in the lock and we all looked over to see the door open and Sanja walk in. She looked a bit surprised but then put on a genuine smile. "Oh, I didn't expect a houseful," she said.

My parents stood first, then me. "Sanja, these are my parents, Rick and Alicia, and my brothers Aden and Austyn."

She shook my brothers' hands first, since they were closer, and both brothers' faces paled at the contact, and quickly pulled away. Then she shook my parents' hands and this time it was her face that paled a little. She quickly recovered, and cleared her throat. "It's so nice to meet all of you, especially at once. This is kinda overwhelming!"

"Nice to meet you, too. Do you like the house?" Dad asked, not taking his gaze off her.

"I love it, thank you for letting me rent a room. It's made living so far from home so much easier."

"Oh yeah, where are you from?" Mom asked, eyeing her.

Sanja set her purse down on the dining room table and went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "Texas," she replied. She splashed some juice from the fridge into the glass and drank it one gulp.

"You don't have much of an accent," Austyn said, staring at her.

She wore a short pleated skirt with knee-high socks and a dark-blue polo shirt. She dressed like this often, so I was used to it, but Austyn looked like he was about to have his tongue flop out of his mouth.

Sanja laughed, her eyes sparkling. "Nah, we're from North Texas, less of an accent, I guess."

"That's cool," Austyn replied.

I looked at Aden, and he was staring at her intently, as were my parents. It was starting to get uncomfortable, and I think Sanja sensed it.

She set her cup in the sink and then cleared her throat again. "Well, I have some online assignments to turn in, so I'm gonna go into my room. It was nice meeting y'all."

With that, she grabbed her purse from the dining room and retreated to her room, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Well, we better get going, got about an hour drive," Dad said, taking both his and Mom's coffee mugs to the kitchen and setting them in the sink.

"Okay, I have a little homework left to do, too, so I'll walk you out."

With warm hugs and goodbyes, I watched my parents and brothers walk out to their car, and then I shut and locked the door. I flipped out the lights, and took my phone and backpack to my room. My phone buzzed in my hand with a text.

Aden: You know your frickin roommate is a witch, right?

I rolled my eyes and replied: Yes, dufus. I'm not that dense.

Aden: Okay, just be careful around her. Witches are bitches!

Me: Funny. We're fine, I like her a lot, actually.

Aden: Again, be careful and don't piss her off!

Me: Goodnight, brother.

I laughed to myself, and as I was about to turn the door handle to my room, Sanja came out of hers and said, "Ayla?"

Turning, I smiled and said, "Yeah?"

Her expression was dead serious as she asked, "Why didn't you tell me your parents were witches?"

Chapter 14

Staring up at the white ceiling, my room was cast in darkness, save for the moonlight streaming in through the window. I couldn't sleep at all. After Sanja's little accusation, I became angry. How dare she say my parents are witches! That was absurd. Wouldn't I know, after all these years, if my parents were witches? I'd been racking my brain for the past hour trying to think of any evidence I'd ever seen in my life that could be witch-related. I never saw any type of witch paraphernalia in our home. No crystals, tarot cards, nothing. I also never got that weird spark-feeling-thing when I touched them. Didn't Sanja tell me that was a witch's indication of a supernatural? We would have both felt it. When I said this to her, to try to prove that I was right, she just simply said she couldn't explain why it wasn't there for me, but she had definitely felt it earlier this evening when touching them.

She also confessed that my parents had come by her bookstore earlier, before the game. She had been in the back, stocking shelves, when she had seen them come in and look around, and then chat with the owner. They didn't see her, or notice her, but she noticed them. It hadn't meant anything to her at the time.

I couldn't dwell on this any longer. I rolled over and stared out the window, a three-quarter moon taunting me with its promise to be full soon. As I stared in loathing at the cursed moon, my eyes fluttered shut, and I was able to get some sleep, but it was anything but peaceful. I tossed and turned, hoping I would be functional enough to handle class the next day.

The school day dragged on, and when it was over, I immediately went to see Ryder on the football field, where he and the rest of the team were getting ready for practice. I caught him stretching, and when he saw me, he smiled.

"Hi, baby. What are you doing out here?"

"I need to talk to you. Do you have five minutes?" I asked, shifting my heavy messenger bag to my other shoulder.

He looked around and lifted his chin to his coach, who frowned at him when he saw me, and ushered me over near the bleachers. "What's up?"

I looked around, lowered my voice, and asked, "Do you think my parents are witches?"

His eyes got big, and then he looked amused. "What? No. Where is this coming from?"

"Sanja said they are. She even saw them in her bookstore yesterday. Why would they go in a place like that?"

Ryder raked a hand through his hair. "Just because they were in a witchy bookstore doesn't make them witches."

I finally lifted the messenger bag off my shoulder and set it on the ground. "She insists they are, and I can't believe I didn't know. I don't know how she knows, but maybe they have witch telepathy or something kinda like we do."

"This is really weird. I don't understand why they would hide something like that from you. I mean, why not just tell you?"

"Because we're not witches, we're wolves. Sanja says my parents for sure know we're wolves, too. I'm just so confused."

He lifted a padded shoulder and let it drop. "So am I."

My brow furrowed. He was no help.

"Robinson! Field, now!" the coach yelled, and then he blew his whistle.

He leaned down and kissed me on the nose. "Why not just ask them? Love you. See you later!"

As he ran off, he put his helmet on, and then a ball was tossed at him. I picked up my bag and walked slowly away.

Ask them? Just like that? 'Hey, Mom, Dad, are you witches?' Um, that won't go over well. What if they're not? Then they'll think I've really lost it.

I had let the information about my parents stew for a couple of weeks. I wasn't ready to confront them, and I wasn't sure I ever would be. The only reason I even wanted to was so that I could come clean about being a wolf. Tell them why we disappear on the weekends. Not that they knew much about what I did here in Boulder, but I know they had to have been wondering when the boys and I would be gone all night.

I had apologized the following day to Sanja for getting upset with her, and she graciously accepted my apology, still insisting they were indeed witches, and that I should talk to them when I was ready to.

So much for witches being bitches. I really liked her, and my mom for that matter, of course—if she was one. Poor witches getting a bad rap.

Regardless, I would talk to them when I was ready. Tonight was the full moon, and Ryder and I were on our way up to Wolfe Point to do our thing. I promised to make him leave the weed at home this time. That THC hangover sucked and I was not going to be tempted to do that shit again.

Once we reached the location, Ryder opened the truck door for me and then pushed me up against the truck, boxing me inside his arms. "I love you," he said to me, staring at me with his seafoam-colored eyes. They momentarily flashed yellow like they always did this time of the month.

"I love you, too," I said, my heart fluttering in my chest.

He leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine, and I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Break it up, you two. You're so disgusting," Austyn said, laughing.

We slowly broke the kiss and looked over to see him standing there naked smoking a joint.

"Is this a regular thing now?" I asked, indicating the cigarette.

"Yep," he replied, blowing smoke out of his mouth and smiling like an idiot.

I rolled my eyes. Ryder just laughed.

He closed and locked the truck and went to the trailer to get undressed. It was nice to have a clean place to put my clothes, to know exactly where they were when it was time to get dressed in the morning.

I was feeling restless now, and I looked up to see the clouds playing in front of the very full, fat moon. Stripping my clothes off, I stayed in the trailer until I could no longer stand it. Once I felt the fever-pitch begin to heat my body, I ran outside, dropped on all fours, and breathed through the bone-cracking pain until I was the wolf once more.

As one, the dozen or so of us ran into the woods like we always did to hunt and play.

Maybe one day I'd understand the reason for this curse. What purpose do we serve, turning into wolves like this?

"Nobody will ever figure it out, sister," Aden said.

Dammit, will I ever learn to keep my thoughts to myself?

I stopped all internal thoughts after that, and just followed Ryder and my brothers farther into the forest. We caught a small fawn who was off by itself, and easily overtook it, and then tore into its throat, killing it instantly. We then feasted on raw deer until we were stuffed.

"I'm still hungry," Austyn groaned.

Okay, so I guessed I was the only one who was stuffed. I definitely felt the need to run some more, as this nervous energy never left me while I was in this form.

"Let's go find the others," Aden said, leaving the devoured, bloody carcass behind us and heading back the way we'd come. We could still hear the others in our minds. We just weren't sure what part of the forest they were in.

We had been walking in silence for a few minutes, when we all simultaneously froze as a disgusting scent hit our noses.

"Vampire," Ryder hissed.

"Where is it?" I asked, feeling panicked. I didn't want to kill another one, but I would if I had to.

"I'm up here, you stupid dogs," came an accented voice from above us. Sounded Russian—eastern European maybe?

We craned our massive heads up and looked to see a vampire similar to the one we'd killed a few months ago sitting on a branch.

"Which one of you animals killed my brother?" he asked, sounding angry.

"Get the fuck out of that tree, you filthy bloodsucker, and we'll tell you!" Aden yelled, but of course it just came out as howling barks.

The vampire laughed, his teeth gleaming under the moonlight. They were the same color as his platinum hair. His skin was flawless and pale like marble, same as the other one. "What was that, dog? I cannot understand you. Why don't you turn back to a human so you can tell me, and then I can kill you."

"Who are you talking to?" I heard Benson ask from somewhere in the forest.

"Vampire," Aden replied. "Get over here. Now—all of you."

I heard a myriad of voices assault my brain, all sounding angry, excited. I could hear them running.

The vampire began to climb down the tree by hopping from branch to branch. "My brother's ashes had a particular wolf stench on it." He stayed on the lowest branch possible, just out of our reach, as we were now barking and clamoring at the base of the tree, wishing we could climb it.

I heard the others show up behind me, and they all began to bark and growl. At the same time, I could hear their cursing and yelling inside my head.

"Oh, look, more mutts to join the party." He chuckled. "I really only want one of you."

He looked at us all and inhaled deeply, and then he locked eyes with me. "Are you the one who killed Sirus? Because you don't look so tough. I bet I could take you on right now."

"This idiot has a death wish," Austyn said.

"No shit," Benson said from behind me.

I barely heard them, though, as the vampire had locked eyes with me. There was something hypnotic about his stare, and I wondered if they could hypnotize and control people like in the movies and TV shows.

"Get out of that tree, you leech!" Aden howled at him, but he just chuckled again.

But then, in a mere split second, his laugh stopped and turned to an evil glare. I could swear I saw his face change from something near human, to something not even close. What it twisted into was something I couldn't even put into words. It was like evil incarnate had manifested itself onto this creature's face, and it was the most frightening thing I had ever seen in my life.

I screamed inside my head, and all my brothers and sisters heard it. However, it came out as a pained howl, and it was too late. With lightning speed, the vampire flew—yes, he flew—out of the tree and headed straight for me.

Out of pure instinct, I released my claws, raising one paw up, ready to defend myself, but the pain of his attack never came. Instead, I saw my two brothers, and my boyfriend, jump in his path.

The vampire, now on top of my brothers on the ground, were struggling. Aden and Ryder had managed to get out from under him, but Austyn was still pinned. I lunged toward the filthy bloodsucker, ready to tear out his throat when I suddenly smelled blood. I looked down in horror to see the vampire's mouth ripping into Austyn's throat. Fur and blood were everywhere.

"Help me!" Austyn whimpered inside my head. "Please."

The vampire lifted his head and laughed, blood dribbling down his chin. "Wolf blood is so disgusting, but this is so worth it!" After spitting it out, he then reached down with lightning speed and ripped Austyn's massive wolf head from his shoulders and tossed it away.

Then, without another word, he shot into the sky and fucking flew away. Like a bird, just took off.

Why hadn't the other vampire—his 'brother'—done that? Rookie vamp?

As my mind began to process what had just happened, as I finally came back to reality, I let out a blood-curdling scream—inside my mind. The only thing that came out of my animal body, though, was a pained howl that I was sure reached all the way to the moon. I knew this because I felt the grief and pain all the way down to my thick wolf bones.

I watched in horror and disbelief as Austyn's body reverted back to human, lying dead, mutilated, and bloody, minus his head, on a bed of orange leaves.

"No!" Aden screamed, lying on top at our brother's corpse. "No, no, no!"

I sobbed and sobbed, and then sobbed some more. I hurt so badly, and wished I could revert back to a human so I could cry human tears. I could only lay my head on Aden's head, which lay on top of Austyn's bloody chest. We both whimpered and howled. I wished for death.

My head was in a cloud. A high, floating, wispy cloud. One I had no intention of coming out of. I saw the streams of tears my mother shed. I saw Aden's red-rimmed eyes as he pinned me with his pained stare. I saw the black circles under my father's eyes as he looked as though he had no more grief to expel.

I was numb as the funeral was conducted. I barely heard what I was sure were lovely words from the pastor of the local nondenominational church where the funeral was held.

There were no more tears in my head to shed. I felt spent, exhausted, and done. Austyn St. John was my brother. We had grown up together. He had pulled my ponytails while I had played hopscotch on chalk-drawn sidewalks growing up. He and I had the same warped sense of humor, laughing at all things inappropriate. He wasn't serious like Aden was; Austyn was the silly one, like me. Sure, we had fought, but don't all siblings?

Shaking with anguish and still traumatized by seeing my brother decapitated by a filthy vampire, I tried to sit as still as I could in my seat at his funeral. Mom had asked me to say a few words at his memorial service. I had told her no, that I couldn't, that I was too grief-filled to do such a thing. And then I realized that, even though my parents loved him—and us—I didn't think anyone loved or knew Austyn like Aden or I did. But I couldn't speak at his memorial service; that would have been too hard. That was when I realized I owed it to my brother to do him justice, to avenge him. This was the reason I sat here numb. I had expelled my grief, let go of it in screams and howls the minute I'd turned human. I hadn't cared that everyone had fallen asleep, naked and filthy under the full moon. I had turned back to human that morning and had screamed obscenities at God and whoever else would listen.

Aden and Ryder had tried to comfort me, but I had been completely and utterly inconsolable. I had to be thrown into Ryder's car, driven back to my house, and put into bed by him that night. I barely remembered it. Then, I was told, Ryder had gone to my parents' house to give them the news.

When I had woken the next morning, Sanja had knocked on my door and asked if she could come in. I had let her, but I had barely been able to comprehend her condolences. I remember her hugging me and telling me if I needed anything, she would be here for me.

Aden had, apparently, told her what had happened that night. The rest was a fucking blur. I literally had no memory of the days after his brutal murder to the day of his funeral. That day—the day we laid him to rest—would forever be burned into my memory.

It would also be the reason I had become what I had become. The words sweet and innocent were no longer in my vocabulary.

Chapter 15

I had no desire to be here. I just wanted to go back to Boulder and finish college. I wanted to be as far away from my parents, Aden, and the whole nightmare as possible. It may not be right, or healthy, but it was the way I was coping—yet, my mother insisted we stay with her.

"Why can't I just leave? Why make me stay here in this grief?" my brother, Aden, asked.

Mom looked weary, her light-brown eyes looking dull and lacking life and vigor. "Can you just be non-selfish right now, son? We're all hurting."

Immediately, a look of guilt and even remorse passed over his perfect features. "I'm sorry, Ma," he said, seeming sincere.

My mom's eyes softened a little, but I didn't care at all as I watched their interaction with a numb sort of fascination. I could think of nothing else but killing that vampire. I had his face and body burned into my memory. I decided that I was going to learn all I could about vampires. Their strengths, their weaknesses (especially those), why some could fly like a bird in the sky, and others didn't seem to be able to. I did know they needed blood and could not tolerate sunlight, but that was all I knew.

I looked at my mother sitting on the sofa across from me, a cup of hot tea in her slightly trembling hand while my father consoled her, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. A heavy sadness covered him, too. I'd never seen him looking so distraught.

As she spoke to Aden, I didn't really hear what they were saying. I was too lost in my own thoughts. Then suddenly something hit me, something Sanja had said. You should talk to them about this when you're ready.

Interrupting whatever my brother was saying, I looked up with dull eyes and asked flatly, "Why didn't you tell us you were witches?"

Aden gasped. "Ayla!"

I didn't even look at him, just at my parents, both of their faces masks of something between horror and surprise. Mom almost dropped her tea, but Dad, with unnaturally quick reflexes, reached out and put it on the coffee table.

"I..." Mom started.

"We had our reasons," Dad said, not even denying it. "How did you find out?"

I laughed with absolutely no humor. "My roommate's a witch, Dad. How do you think? She hadn't even meant to tell me. She just asked why I hadn't told her my parents were witches. I didn't even believe her until this very minute, by the looks on your faces."

"Are you seriously witches?" Aden asked, standing up and looking shocked.

Mom sighed. "Maybe we should have this discussion another time."

"No!" Aden and I shouted at once.

I was desperate to get the conversation off of the sad reason we were even here. I was selfish that way.

"I'll go," Dad said, putting his hand on my mom's arm, and then he kissed her forehead. He then stood and walked over to the fireplace, where he picked up a framed photo of the three of us kids when we were little.

He stared at it wistfully, and then looked up at my brother and me. "Before I start, I want you to tell me how Austyn really died. An animal attack is only half the story, isn't it?"

"Vampire," Aden said flatly.

A tear dripped down Dad's cheek, and I almost lost my shit again. I had never seen my dad cry—ever. I bit my lip to stay a sob.

Dad nodded. "I was hoping you weren't going to say that. Damn disgusting leeches."

"He was defending me, Dad," I said as the sob jerked out of my chest. I sniffled. "Vamp jumped out of a tree and flew at me. Ryder, Aden, and Austyn piled on top of me. Aden and Ryder got away, but the vampire pinned Aus"—I stopped, trying not to cry again, but my bottom lip wobbled and my voice broke—"and he bit into his neck and then took his head..."

I couldn't hold it in anymore, I let loose and started sobbing. Aden wrapped his strong arms around me. "It was so awful. I will never move past this. I will never get that image out of my mind," I cried, dripping tears and snot all over my brother's shirt.

"Shhh," he said, sniffling himself. He was just as traumatized, I was sure.

Mom quietly cried.

Dad had regained his composure, and then said, "And you were in your wolf forms when this happened?"

Aden and I both immediately stiffened. He slowly pulled back from the hug and we both looked at Dad and nodded, saying in unison, "Yes."

Dad nodded again, and looked down. "I'm sorry, kids. I'm so sorry you had to witness your brother's murder. Wolves... they just don't live long lives. I told your mom when we adopted you..."

"About that," I chimed in, arming away the wetness from my face. "Why all the secrets? You knew we were wolves our whole lives, right?"

"Let's sit," Dad said, pointing to the sofa and loveseat.

We both obeyed, him going to sit next to our quietly sobbing mother, Aden and I on the loveseat across from him, a glass coffee table separating us.

"Listen, kids, when we adopted you, we knew right away you were wolves. We were told there were three children who needed adoption, and assumed they were regular human kids. But from the minute we touched you, we knew you were special—that you had strong werewolf blood in you. And we also knew that should a human family adopt you, or—God forbid the three of you get shuffled around the foster care system—that it would be disastrous for everyone involved."

"Also about that," I said, cutting in. "How come I don't feel that weird energy when I touch you like I feel when I touch Sanja?"

"We consulted a very high priestess and asked her to cast a spell masking what we are from all supernatural creatures, minus other witches, to protect you. To protect our children," Mom offered.

"Why?" Aden asked.

"It's very dangerous in our community for people to know that witches are caring for wolves. For the most part, it seems most supernatural creatures such as yourselves, and us," Dad said, squeezing my mother tighter, "are all natural-born enemies. Should anyone in the wolf community find out we had taken in wolves as children, we would have most likely been killed and then you guys taken off to some clan to live like savages."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "But Ryder's family are wolves. They don't live like savages."

"And for that, we're very grateful," Dad said. "But a lot of them are a bunch of uncivilized animals, living up in the mountains and out in the woods. They let what they are—what the full moon has cursed them with—define their whole lives. We didn't want that for you kids at all."

I breathed out a long breath. "So why not tell us, prepare us for the shift? I mean, Mom, when you were having the whole period talk with me, you could have mentioned it. 'Oh and by the way, once you turn seventeen, you're gonna turn into a big, hairy wolf once a month on the full moon.'"

Dad and Aden let out small chuckles.

Mom said, "We couldn't tell you for the same reasons Dad just mentioned. If you had even known, you might have told the wrong person, and that would have been dangerous. Now that you are all adults, we don't care if people find out. I mean, we'd rather you not go around telling people you were raised by witches, and especially not humans, but it's not like anyone can do anything now. You kids turned out to be amazing people. Or wolves, rather."

"Well, a little warning would have been nice," Aden said dryly. "That first shift was very unpleasant. Thank God I had a guy on my high school football team ask me where I shifted during the full moon and that led to him taking me to Wolfe Point for the first one."

"I didn't know that," I said, surprised, looking at my brother.

He nodded. "Yeah, it worked out, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I did tell Austyn, though. I didn't even know if you were a wolf, since we were adopted, and I didn't want to freak you out. You didn't get the scent until a couple months before your first shift. Sorry."

I didn't quite know how to take that. So I turned to my parents again. "So when were you going to tell us you were witches?

"We were just discussing that before Austyn..." Mom trailed off.

"So both sets of grandparents are witches, too?" I asked, now a million questions swirling around my brain.

Dad nodded. "That's right."

"They didn't care that you adopted three wolves?" Aden asked.

He chuckled. "Oh, they cared, all right. But they were gracious enough to keep it a secret. Like us, they fell in love with you three beautiful blonde babies the minute they met you. You guys were so tiny and innocent, big blue eyes looking to us to protect you. I just wish we had known more about your backgrounds."

Aden chimed in. "I can tell you. We come from an Alpha and his mate. A very abusive Alpha who killed our mother not long after she dropped us off at that church. She saved our lives."

Both parents looked shocked. "What? How did you find this out?"

"I was in downtown Denver a couple years ago and caught a scent that was familiar to me for reasons I didn't understand at the time. It led me to my biological uncle's house and he told me everything."

"What a sad and horrible tale," Mom said, her eyes welling with tears again. "I'm sorry you had to find out that way. Are you okay?" she asked us both.

"I love you, Mom, but I'm not going to lie; I was going to eventually seek out my birth mother and ask why she gave us away. Now at least I know, I guess," I said, swallowing down more tears.

My dad got up and went to the credenza in the dining room and pulled open the lid on a glass decanter. He poured a measure of bourbon into a glass and then replaced the rubber stopper on the decanter. We watched as he took a long pull from the glass, and then set it down, breathing out deeply. He then opened a drawer and pulled out a small black box.

He walked back into the living room and sat down, placing the box on the coffee table. With his chin, he indicated the box and said, "Open that."

I looked at Aden and he nodded, and I grabbed the box with shaking hands. I lifted the lid and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Underneath that was a gold necklace with a large heart-shaped locket attached. I first picked up the locket and opened it. Inside was a photo of a beautiful blonde woman holding three small children on her lap—my brothers and me. On the opposite side was an inscription that read My Loves.

With my hands still trembling, I unfolded the note and read aloud:

"My babies, Aden, Austyn, and Ayla, I'm sorry I cannot keep you. I'm sorry you will have to grow up without me, but your father will kill us if I don't put you somewhere safe. I hope whoever raises you does right by you. I know you will grow up to be strong wolves, and even stronger people. Stay true to yourselves, and please thank your new parents for loving you. Please try to find me once you are grown so I can see how beautiful you all turned out. Love, Mom." I looked down to the bottom of the page. "My name is Amy Renee Bliss, your father is Byron Bliss, but do not seek him out. He's dangerous."

A wave of emotions hit me. Sadness, disappointment that I never got to meet her, and lastly, anger. But admittedly, a small bit of happiness welled up inside of me. Now I had a name. One I would hunt down and kill once I got my hands on him.

I looked to my brother, and he had the same anger burning in his eyes. He was so angry, his blue eyes flashed yellow, and I was sure mine did, too. We would find him together.

We looked over to our parents. I said, "Thank you for giving this to us. Thank you for keeping our names."

Dad's face looked worried. "After we read that note, we almost changed your names. But Aden was already three and it would have been too confusing to him to have done that, so we had a protection spell placed on all of you. It worked, apparently. We never had one day of trouble."

"How long does the spell last?" Aden asked, curious.

Mom wrung her hands together. "Until you each turned eighteen. I wanted to put another one on, but Dad convinced me you could take care of yourselves." She looked over to the photo of the three of us as kids that Dad has brought from the mantle and picked it up, running a soft finger over the photo. "I guess I was wrong."

"Mom, Austyn wasn't killed because he was hunted by old enemies. He was killed because vampires are scum and need to die," Aden said.

"And die that one will," I said through gritted teeth. "Along with our birth father."

"No!" Dad said, standing up. "No way. Do not go seeking vengeance for either. We cannot lose another child. Please," he begged.

I stood up and grabbed the box, replacing the note and necklace inside. "Don't worry, Dad, we won't do anything stupid."

"That's what worries me," he said. "That you think that going after that vampire and your biological father isn't stupid. But it is. So very stupid."

"I'm going to bed," I said, heading toward the stairs and my old bedroom.

"Me, too," Aden said, following me.

I stopped at the bottom of the staircase and turned and looked at my mom. "If you knew we were wolves, why did I keep getting in trouble for staying out all night during the nights of my shifts? You surely had to have known where I was."

She cocked her head to the side and gave a small, sad smile. "Because I was trying to force you to tell me what you were, what had happened. I didn't want to let on that I knew because then I would have had to tell you that your father and I are witches. Guess it didn't work, huh?"

I shook my head and laughed. "No."

My mother sighed. "Goodnight, kids."

Chapter 16

Life never did quite settle back to normal for me. Between my brother's death and the information dump my parents had laid on us, I couldn't concentrate on school. I lasted another three semesters at CU Boulder, but just couldn't do it anymore. The grief and anger inside me continued to bubble and brew. I even tried grief counseling with a licensed therapist, and it did me absolutely no good. I couldn't come clean about what exactly was angering me. The human therapist wanted to know how my brother had died and telling her the same story Aden and I had told the Park Rangers and police—that some animal had torn his head off—made her suspicious. Telling her my parents had lied to me my whole life about something made her ask what the secret was, stating I'd never move forward until I spoke it aloud. I had no problem speaking it aloud, just not to her. And guess what? Speaking it aloud, in the privacy of my own home to Sanja did not help me move forward. So I had stopped going to that 'therapist'. What was the point?

"I can't believe you're leaving," Sanja said sadly, pulling away from our embrace.

"I'm sorry," I said, meaning it. She would be the one person I missed.

"Where will you go?" she asked.

I shifted the backpack over my shoulder and smiled sweetly at her. "I've got a job answering phones for a big company downtown Denver, and a small apartment."

"You're better than that," she said in a scolding manner, frowning.

I nodded. "I know, but I can't stay here, going to school, barely passing, pretending everything is okay. I need to hunt, I need to kill vampires. I need to find my birth father."

"That's the grief talking," she supplied.

I nodded. "I know. But I tried the normal-college-student thing. I can't do it anymore. I have an itch that cannot be scratched by late-night cram sessions and football games."

She sighed, still holding my hand. "I have some essential oils, and have been practicing a spell—"

I smiled and cut her off. "I don't want oils or spells. I want revenge. I want to feel like Austyn's life mattered. I want my birth father to pay for what he did to my mother." This wasn't anything she hadn't heard before. She had been my rock, my confidant when I had returned from a two-week stay at my parents' house after the funeral. I felt like a broken record at times, and she never once acted bothered by my crying, having to console me after a nightmare, or my countless childhood stories about my brothers and me.

"Revenge won't make you feel better. It won't bring Austyn or your birth mom back," she said for the hundredth time.

"I know it won't, but I disagree with you on the feeling better part." I brushed a lock of black hair from in front of her beautiful chocolate eyes with my fingertips. "I will feel so much better after I rid the world of evil."

She looked at me in the eyes, hers bouncing back and forth between mine. "Is that where it will end? Killing those two?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "I'll let you know."

I kissed her on the cheek, wrapped her in a tight hug, and whispered, "Thank you," into her ear.

"Love you, girl," she said back.

"Love you, too," I replied. And with that, I turned and walked out the house I'd lived in for two years, happy my parents had allowed her to keep renting it (it was probably a witch thing), and that she'd found a roommate to share the rent.

I looked around dismally at the studio apartment on the sixth floor I'd rented in Lo-Do—Lower Downtown Denver, as it was nicknamed. I set my suitcase and backpack down and they echoed in the empty space. Leaving them on the floor, I walked over to the large bank of windows that took up the west wall of the tiny space. I had a perfect view of the Rocky Mountains, but that was the only thing nice about the view. The rest was all buildings, cars, and streets as I looked down.

I looked up, thankful that the previous owners had left a curtain rod, and made a mental note to go and get some curtains from somewhere so people couldn't look in at night.

A knock on the door had me turning and heading toward it.

Ryder stood on the other side and greeted me with a smile. "Hi, beautiful."

"Hi," I said, reaching up to plant a kiss on his lips.

He snaked his arms around my waist and kissed me back. We stood in the doorway kissing for what seemed like a few long minutes before I eventually pulled back and smiled up at him.

"Your stuff is on the street, piled into the back of my truck. Aden's waiting down there for us to bring it up," he said quietly, smiling down at me.

"Thank you. Guess we better get to it," I replied.

"I can't believe you dropped out of school," he said suddenly, as if he hadn't meant to.

With a sigh, I replied, "I had to, Ryder. My head nor my heart were in it."

"You should have just finished, then decided what you wanted to do," he came back as if he'd been holding it in.

Ryder hadn't said much when I had told him I was dropping out and moving downtown. I could tell by the look on his face he didn't approve, but I couldn't muster up enough fucks to give at the time. I didn't want to hurt him, and I had hoped we could continue our relationship while he finished college on his football scholarship, but I was determined to do this, and if he wasn't onboard, I wasn't going to let him bring me down. I loved him, but my quest for vengeance was driving me to do what I needed to do... for me... for my birthmother, Amy... for Austyn.

Ryder had proved he still loved me and supported me, as he was here now. And hand in hand, we took the elevator down to the ground floor and began the painstaking task of bringing what little furniture and belongings I owned up to my sixth floor apartment.

"Thank you for calling Carter Homes, how may I direct your call?" I answered the switchboard with the most cheerful voice I could.

"I need to speak to Louis Carter immediately!" an angry voice greeted me.

"Yes, sir, let me put you through—"

Before I could finish my sentence, let alone push a button, his voice came again, "Don't you dare put me through to his voicemail! I need to speak to Louis himself!"

I gritted my teeth. "Of course, sir, just one moment." Before the angry caller could retort, I put him on hold and dialed Louis's extension.

"What?" he answered.

"I have someone who wants to speak to you," I said timidly.

"Well, who is it?" he asked, seeming annoyed. It was only my third week and I already hated this guy.

"Not sure, but he sounds angry, and instructed me not to put him through to your voicemail."

"Well, do it anyway, I'm busy," he came back.

"Do what?" I asked, incredulous.

"Put him through to my goddamn voicemail. God, are you dense or what?" he asked before huffing in annoyance and hanging up.

I pushed the hold button. "I will transfer you now," and with that, I patched him through to Louis's extension, hoping he'd actually answer and not let it go to his voicemail, but I wasn't very optimistic at this point.

In the three weeks I'd had this job, I had gotten more calls from angry homebuyers than anything else. Carter Homes apparently was a shoddy homebuilder at best, and taking calls from the angry homeowners was about all I did all day. It made me exhausted by the end of the day. The twelve bucks an hour they were paying me sure wasn't worth getting screamed at for eight hours a day.

As I left work on a particularly average Friday, I walked the six blocks to my apartment, happy I had a couple of days off from this idiotic job. I had no plans for the weekend, as Ryder was hitting the football practice hardcore—some NFL scouts were coming to the college to see if they wanted to recruit him. He had asked me to come to the college for his game, and I was considering it, but still hadn't committed. I loved watching him play, but Friday nights were a hotbed of vampiric activity around here, and I needed to be around to see if I could spot that asshole who had killed my brother.

Ya know, priorities.

I went into my apartment's front door and took the stairs to the sixth floor. I never took the elevator—ever. The last time I'd ridden in that thing was when I was moving in.

After making a quick salad and scarfing it down, I took a shower and proceeded to paste my face with makeup, and make my blonde hair as big and sexy as I could. Through a shitload of research, I had learned that vampires were horny assholes, and I intended to use every asset I had to lure one.

With my eyes lined in black and looking smoky as could be, and a skintight black mini-skirt pasted on my body, matched with a chunky pair of black heels and a red top, I left my apartment and headed toward the streets where the bars and clubs were.

Chapter 17

Once I had discovered what an asset my wolf sense of smell was, I had stopped hating my curse as much. Yes, it sucked to be completely incapacitated three days a month due to this damn curse, but as a human, to be able to use my sense of smell to my advantage was kinda worth it.

This was how I found out where the vampires hung out. At a vampire-stinking bar in Lo-Do called Moon Chasers, I promptly placed myself on a barstool at the bar and ordered a Red Bull and vodka, thanking the very obvious vampire bartender with a lift of my drink. As I sipped it, I looked around.

The name of the bar had thrown me at first; I thought maybe it was a werewolf bar, but it wasn't. I had found out through eavesdropping that vampires used to be called moon children but did not want the word 'child' in the name of their bar, so they modified it. I found it odd that they would be called moon children, when quite obviously the werewolves were the ones owned and controlled by the moon. I figured it had something to do with the night, but didn't care enough to investigate further.

But that was neither here nor there. As of now, this bar completely reeked of vampire stench. I was glad my sense of smell was stronger than theirs was. According to everything I'd read—and everyone I'd asked—we could sense a vampire just by smell. Theirs was keen, but not as strong as ours... and I planned on using that to my advantage.

I grabbed my cocktail, sipping it through the little black straw, and turned around to survey the bar. I had been coming here every Friday night for weeks. I had been hit on several times. I had been asked where I was from, what my sign was, and if I had a boyfriend... and I had ignored them all. I didn't come to Moon Chasers for a boyfriend or even a hook-up. I came here for one reason only: to find the vampire who had killed my brother last year.

I wasn't going to stop until I found him, either. But it wasn't like I could go asking about some random vampire in the bar. That would raise red flags... so I used what little assets I had to get the information I needed—a pretty smile, red lipstick, and a short skirt.

My phone vibrated in my hand I reluctantly looked at it.

Ryder: Halftime. I think we're going to win this one!

Less than enthused about that, I replied: Good luck, baby!

I meant it—I hoped Ryder succeeded, but I had other things on my mind. I was on a mission to find that murdering platinum-blond freak vampire piece of shit. I had already fantasized about killing him so many times in my head. It was slow and methodical... he would know what he had done, and he would pay for every blood-soaked sin. I would torture his ugly ass for hours, and when I was done with him, I would tie him to a tree and let the sun finish him off while I filmed it on my cellphone so I could watch it over and over.

That would make me happy. That would quell the stormy ocean of rage thundering inside my soul.

This bar I was in... it was useless. I saw several vampires, but none were the ones I'd been looking for. For hours I sat there nursing drinks, barely sipping them for the fear that my target would walk in and I'd be too tipsy to miss him. I wouldn't say it was a boring post; I would say that I had a lot to learn, and that once the vampire I was actually looking for made an appearance, I didn't want to be too late to get him. I was afraid he would slip through my fingers. I couldn't say the post was a loss, though. I learned so much about vampires just by listening to them talk amongst themselves or striking up conversations with them myself. The information was priceless.

I chanced a quick glance at my phone and noticed it was almost two a.m. It was clear I would not find who I was looking for tonight. It was possible that albino-looking asshole didn't even hang out here. It was possible I was going to need to broaden my horizons.

With disappointment once again clinging to me like an old friend, I paid the bartender and disappeared out the front door and into the night, a horde of phone numbers in my pocket.

Without even looking down, I pulled the wads of crumpled numbers from my pocket and deposited them into the first trash can I crossed paths with.

I was thankful that the walk to my new apartment wasn't far. The night was still and quiet, with a slight chill beginning to form in the Colorado air. I walked fast with my head down, determined to get home in order to get rest. Tomorrow I would plot how I was going to spend the following night luring in that bloodsucker who had taken Austyn from me.

I picked up the pace, walking faster in these ridiculous shoes. I was a tennis-shoes-and-shorts-with-a-hoodie kind of girl, so I wanted to take off and throw into oncoming traffic the wedges that were currently murdering my feet. But even through the pain, I continued to walk fast, just wanting to get home.

The last corner I needed to turn to get home was just ahead, and I made my way toward it. Smiling that I was almost there, I folded my arms across my chest and thought about nothing but my nice, warm bed.

My sore feet took me around the corner, my apartment just a block or so away now. I hated that this alley was a shortcut there, but it shaved off so much time to get home, I couldn't resist using it. I hurried though it, my building within view now.

As I was just about through the alley, the end in sight, I felt myself being lifted off of my feet. As I breathed in to scream, a hand was clamped over my mouth, my screams cut off.

Shoved against the rough brick wall of the alley, my head thumped painfully against it. With a scent of vampire assaulting my nose, and his face just inches from mine, I heard him whisper against my lips, his hard body pressed against mine, "Shhh, little girl. It'll all feel good in a minute." His mouth moved from my ear to my neck. I stood frozen in fear. "I'll make it quick and painless," he promised silkily.

Oh, my God. He's going to fucking bite me! my mind screamed. My instincts instructed me to push against him, to resist. I could feel my blood heating up like I was about to shift.

Without another word, the vampire brushed his cold breath against my cheek, jawline, and then my neck before a piercing pain ripped through me.

My mind screamed at me to yell, to cry out of for help, but my screams were halted by his ice-cold hand on my mouth. He removed his filthy fangs from my neck long enough to say, "Scream, and I'll kill you."

His threats meant nothing to me. I wasn't going to let some dirty bloodsucking leech tell me what I could and could not do. Raising my knee to his crotch, I shoved it as hard as I could into his sensitive man parts, and was happy when I received the desired result. The vampire, clearly still vulnerable to human pain, pulled away from me immediately, screaming out in pain.

I smiled at his agony, rearing my arm back and smashing my fist into his nose. "Don't you fucking bite me, you disgusting leech!" I screamed as my knuckles made contact.

Unfortunately for me, his healing ability kicked in and the only reaction I got from him was anger. After punching him, I had tried to turn and run, but it was no use. He had caught up to me, and with superhuman strength, had dragged me by the hair back into the alley as I screamed the most vile things I could think of at him.

Reeling at the pain in my scalp, along with being scared and angry beyond belief, I railed against him. I screamed and pulled at his ice-cold hands as they gripped my hair, but it was no use. He slammed me down on the ground and then pinned me against the filthy concrete, his entire body on top of me in a disgustingly intimate pose.

"Get off me!" I screamed, pushing and flailing against him.

He just chuckled wickedly and used the palm of his cold hand to press my forehead against the ground, and then he wrenched my head painfully to the side. "How many times do I need to tell you to shut the hell up?"

I let out another scream.

Then he leaned down and bit into the side of my neck that wasn't already torn open and bleeding. He let out an orgasmic groan as I felt his teeth pierce me.

I screamed out once again, but this time I said in panting, pained breaths, "I'm a wolf, you idiot! My brothers are going to kill you if I don't find you first after this!"

That made him freeze. He stopped feeding from me, and then I heard him swallow hard. He looked down at me with his red eyes, blood dribbling off the side of his mouth. Then he jumped off of me. "You're a fuckin' wolf?"

I nodded, tears standing in my eyes as I suddenly remembered that I only now had one brother who could avenge me.

He began to spit my blood from his mouth, but not much came out. He took off at preternatural speed out of the alley and left me lying on the cold, hard, filthy ground.

With my last thought of him knowing he thought the myth that wolf blood was toxic to vampires, I let out a sputtering chuckle. I knew it wasn't true, but I was happy I had scared him nonetheless. Then, I passed out.

I woke later, still lying in the filthy alley, unsure of how much time had passed, but knowing I'd been there a while. Shivering, I feebly grabbed the strap of my purse, which lay just inches from me, and dragged it toward me. I felt around in it until I located my phone. I saw it was well past three a.m., which meant I'd been in this alley over an hour. With what little strength I had, I pushed the button to dial Aden's number and asked him to come get me. His reaction had been hysterical, at best.

My vendetta to kill just got another tally. This piece-of-shit vampire, along with the one who'd killed Austyn, and my birth father... they were all going to fucking die... by my hand.

Chapter 18

As I blinked open heavy eyelids, my eyes struggled to focus on the group of people around me. Aden, my mom, Ryder, and Sanja.

I then attempted to sit up, remembering why I had been incapacitated.

"Shhh," Mom said, gently pushing me back down onto my sofa. "You need rest."

"No, Mom," I heard Aden say, "she needs to get up and move around. We can heal faster if we get our blood pumping. But you should know this, since you raised three werewolves." His tone was bitter and unforgiving, and it made me sad.

I also didn't blame him.

"But she's already lost so much," Mom replied, tears standing in her eyes.

Trying to sit up again, I chanced a glance at our mother. She shot a look at Aden, and then looked down, and I could tell she was hurt by his wounding comments. Sadly, they weren't anything I wouldn't have said myself.

"He's right," Ryder chimed in, moving to sit next to me on the sofa. He gently pulled back a makeshift bandage someone must have put on my neck, and winced as he looked at it.

"Go get me a warm washcloth, please," Ryder said to no one in particular.

"On it," Sanja said, disappearing into the bathroom.

"I could do a healing spell," Mom said, wringing her hands together.

We all looked at her, and for some reason her comment surprised me. I was so not comfortable with the fact that she was a witch yet. Not even close.

"Also, already on it," Sanja said, appearing from my bathroom with a washcloth in her hand.

She walked over to my mom and held the cloth out. "Repeat after me."

With wide, excited eyes, my mother simply nodded and placed her hand on the washcloth.

"Celeriter sanandum," Sanja said in perfect Latin.

"Celeriter sanandum," Mom said.

They chanted it in unison over and over until I swear I saw small stars float up from the washcloth. But as quickly as I saw it, it was gone. Judging by the gasps from Aden and Ryder, they had seen it, too.

Sanja then walked over to me and said, "Hold still," before wiping the blood from my neck. Then she held the warm, wet washcloth firmly against the side of my neck that hurt the most. She closed her eyes and chanted in whispered Latin again.

I could feel that I had had started to heal from the time I woke up, but what I felt when she placed the magical warmth on my neck was like nothing else. It was a tingly, itchy, warm, but comforting feel. I closed my eyes, trusting my best friend and mother that they knew what they were doing.

She pulled the washcloth away and I opened my eyes. I had zero pain on that side.

"Better?" Mom asked, brushing some hair from my forehead like she had done so many times in my life.

I nodded. "That side, yes."

Sanja gently used my jaw to push my head to the other side. "Filthy vampire," she muttered as she looked at the puncture wounds in my neck. She then flipped the washcloth over and placed it on that wound, repeating the protocol as I closed my eyes.

I was healed in no time. I opened my eyes, and feeling emotional, I looked at them and said, "Thank you. All of you."

"Of course, sweetheart," Mom said. "I would die for you." She looked at Aden. "I would die for all of my children." Then a tear fell from her eyes. "I would have died for Austyn, too."

I sat up slowly, then stood. The boys hovered, making sure I could stand, but all I wanted to do was put my arms around my mom. My real mom, the one who had raised me. The one who had healed my hurts and held me while I cried over skinned knees and boys. I wrapped my arms around her small frame and she hugged me back, sobbing against me.

"I love you, Mom. I'm sorry for being angry."

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, sniffling, her anguish clearly displayed on her face. "I can't lose another child. I just can't."

I pulled back and kissed her on the cheek. "You won't. I'm stronger than that. No vampire is gonna take me out."

"No, he's not," Aden chimed in. "I got his scent from your injuries, and I'm gonna fucking kill him when I find him."

I turned from my embrace with Mom and looked him square in the eye. "Get in line."

My life had turned into a sad, lonely routine. Every day I would go to work at that shitty homebuilder's company, answering phones, and every night I would eat some sort of quick meal, and then I was off, prowling into the night to find the vampire who not only attacked my brother, but me, too.

Vengeance... it was a powerful thing, but no way was I letting go of my anger. I would find the closure I needed to avenge my brother, and then I would be able to sleep at night, knowing I had rid the world of some kind of evil.

I didn't think tonight would be that night, though.

It had been a week since my attack, and I was fully healed. I didn't even miss a day of work... unfortunately.

Prowling through yet another nightclub, the scent of vampires assaulting my nostrils, I made my way to the bar. I ordered something fruity and strong and sipped from my little straw as I surveyed the club. People danced and drank, and a lot of humans were being fed upon. My stomach roiled in disgust.

I looked around for the piece of shit who had bit me a few weeks prior, and of course, for the asshole who had killed Austyn. I did not see either, but I was patient. I didn't care if it took years, I was going to find them both.

I knew Aden was actively looking for them both, too. He had told me a few days ago that he had begun to spend more time with our biological uncle in Denver, and he had promised Aden to help find this guy.

"Hi, blondie," a silky voice said in my ear.

I turned to see a very handsome vampire standing in my space. I wanted to pull back, to be at least an arm's length from him, as he was in my comfort zone, but I resisted the urge.

He wasn't either of the vampires I was looking for, but from everything I had learned, the vampire community was pretty tight-knit. Sort of like the wolves. I was thankful for the perfume and pheromones I always sprayed on me to hide my scent, as this guy—this bloodsucker—was definitely into me.

"Hi," I said, sipping the little black straw and batting eyelashes at him.

"What's your name?" he asked, his gaze flicking down to my lips, then back to my eyes.

"Amy," I said immediately, using my birthmother's name. I didn't want to give out my real one, and I had been using this one. It had kind of stuck, and was a great fake name.

"I'm Beckett," he replied, smiling down at me.

I could see, if I were human, how his charms might win out on me. How I might be lured into a corner of this dark club, and fed upon. But tonight was Beckett's unlucky night, as being bit once by a damn vampire would be the first and last time that was going to happen to me.

"Nice to meet you," I said, still smiling.

"What are you drinking?" he asked, using his still very-full beer to indicate my glass.

"It's a Long Island," I said, smiling.

"Would you like another?" he asked, his shiny light-colored hair gleaming under the pulsing red lights.

"Nah, I'm good," I replied, having to shout over the loud rock music blasting through the speakers.

"I can barely hear you," he lied, as I knew they had as keen of hearing as we did. "Wanna go someplace quieter so we can get to know each other?"

I smiled inside at his tactic, but played along. I emptied my drink and said, "Sure."

He grabbed my hand with his cold one and led me to the back of the bar where it was dark. Admittedly, my stress level went up. I wouldn't be bitten again, but knew I would have to fight this vampire so he wouldn't. I could handle him, but I was hoping it wouldn't go that far. I just wanted to talk to him long enough to get some information out of him. I wasn't giving up any blood for it, though.

To my surprise, in the back of the bar, through a door, was a set of stairs that led upward. With his hand still gripping mine, he led me up them, and I began to grow more anxious.

"Where we going, Beckett?" I asked.

With him leading, he looked down from the stair above me, and said, "You'll see."

I couldn't put my finger on it, but for some reason, this vampire didn't seem sleazy and evil. Maybe that was part of their charm?

We reached a black-painted door at the top of the stairs, and he pressed the push-bar, and soon, we were outside—on the roof. Up here, there were multiple lawn chairs set up on the gravelly rooftop. Cool night air immediately hit me, and it admittedly felt good on my clammy skin. That club had been pretty hot and stifling.

There were other people on the roof. They looked like they were talking, and some appeared to be making out... but I knew better.

"What are we doing up here?" I asked innocently, still gripping this leech's hand.

He found an empty space near the edge of the roof, and with a flourish, indicated for me to sit in one of the lawn chairs. I obeyed reluctantly, but only because he sat in the one next to it.

"So, how old are you, Amy?" he asked after we sat, his light-colored eyes that matched his hair drilling into mine. I looked at the skin on his face and hands and noticed that they glowed like plaster in the moonlight. He also had a very neat, pressed appearance about him.

"I'm twenty-one," I lied, as I had a fake ID in my wallet. I was barely twenty, but being underage had been a problem for me when I had moved to Denver, so I had saved up my money and bought a fake one. "How old are you, Beckett?"

"I'm twenty-two," he replied with a charming smile.

Bullshit. He's probably one-hundred-and-twenty-two. Immortal asshole.

I smiled again. "Do you work or go to school?"

"A little of both," he replied, reaching over and running a cold finger up my bare arm.

Resisting the urge to shudder, I smiled again at him. "I also do both."

He asked me what I was going to school for, where I worked, and other mundane questions.

Then I asked him, "Are you from here, from Denver?"

He shrugged. "I move around a lot. I find a place I like, stick around, then leave when I get bored."

"I see," I said, not surprised by his answer. "Have many friends here?"

"Just a few," he replied, now looking down at my lips, and then my neck.

Gross.

"Any good parties?" I asked, hoping he'd invite me to one.

"All the time," he replied, his gaze moving up from my neck to my eyes once again.

We continued with some more very boring small talk, then he got up grabbed my hand and helped me stand. "I want to kiss you, Amy," he said.

Oh shit.

With his arms now wrapped around me, he moved his face to the crook of my neck and I waited for him to press his lips there. I know he had to feel me stiffen. Hearing him inhale deeply as he smelled me, I hoped he did not sense what I was. I shivered as his tongue licked my carotid artery. I began to pull away. No way was this fucker biting me.

"What's wrong, baby? Don't like neck kisses?"

"I... I need to go." I would find him later and follow him, see if I could catch him going to some secret vampire party.

I detangled myself from him and went to head toward the roof door, but he grabbed my arm. "Where are you going? We aren't done here. I like you, Amy. Please come sit."

His tone was not friendly, more commanding to the point of being scary.

My gaze drifted down to where his hand had hold of my wrist, and then I followed my arm up to his eyes and said, "Let go of me."

Beckett lifted his chin. "No. Come sit down."

This guy was pissing me off. "I'm leaving."

He yanked my arm so hard that I was now very close to the edge of the roof as I skidded across the gravel. I craned my head behind me to look down the two stories below. Cars whizzed by on the street, and people walked around, looking for the nearest bar.

He came toward me and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I really need to go," I said, trying a softer approach, hoping he'd just let me leave. I didn't want to have to get violent with him in front of all the humans up here—plus I knew all the damn leeches here would back him up.

He took a step toward me, and I backed up. "I really am sorry, Amy—"

I didn't hear the rest of his apology, because I was now falling off the roof and plummeting toward the concrete sidewalk.

Chapter 19

It happened so fast. Too fast. One minute, Beckett was in my face, trying to kiss me, the next I'm plummeting to my death.

On what seemed to be instinct, I flipped my body around in midair and lifted my head, craning my neck up toward the sky. Now, instead of the concrete sidewalk flying at warp speed toward my face, I was now gliding in the air. Confused as to what the hell was going on, I lost my concentration and began sinking like a stone toward the ground again. But this time, it was my feet that were going to catch the brunt of the blow. And land I did... on my feet, like a cat, crouching as I landed, letting my knees absorb the fall. It didn't even hurt.

"Oh, my God," I gasped out, my hands now on my bare knees. I was panting like I had just run a marathon.

"What the fuck!"

I turned to see Beckett landing on the sidewalk, his eyes wide, his expression incredulous. He'd apparently jumped—flown—down, too.

"What just happened?" I asked him, immediately realizing what a dumb question it was.

He walked slowly toward me, his face a mask of fear and wonder. I stood stock-still as he stood a couple feet from me.

He craned his head to the side. "Are you... are you... a moon child?"

Wow, rhetorical question much?

Unsure how to answer, I shook my head. "I don't understand the question."

He chewed on his bottom lip, which I now noticed was pierced with a small silver hoop, and looked at me with his light eyes. "You just flew. Like a bird. What are you?"

With my senses slowly returning to me, I looked up into his face and grinned. "Well, I'm not a vampire, if that's what you're asking."

Beckett looked down the street both ways. I did the same, and was surprised to see nobody staring at us.

"You're a witch, aren't you?" he asked, a triumphant and confident look on his face.

I wrinkled my nose. "No, but I was raised by them."

He cocked his head to the side. "You confuse me, Amy the flyer."

Do I tell him I'm a wolf? This guy was confusing me, too. I decided to friend-zone his ass and be truthful. I pushed him playfully in the chest. "I'm a wolf, you dumbass."

His eyes went as wide as saucers. Then he cautiously leaned in and sniffed me. "You don't smell like a wolf."

"I'm talented like that," I replied with a smile.

"You're a wolf?" he asked, seeming amazed by my confession. "Wolves can't fly. I've seen them fall. I've seen them plummet to their deaths. They don't fly."

I debated on telling this guy at how freaked out I was right then that I had not broken my neck, falling from that roof. I quickly decided this was a question for Sanja or my mom, and then plastered on a fake smile. "Well, I'm special that way."

He studied me for a minute, then said, "You are a mystery, Amy. I like that about you."

"I've heard that before," I said, smiling up at him.

"Tell me, what were you doing at a vampire bar?" he asked, seeming suspicious now.

"If you promise not to bite me, we can go someplace quieter, and I will tell you," I quipped with my most charming smile.

Beckett shoved his hands into the pockets of his overly-zippered black jeans, looked around, and with a shrug said, "You're crazy if you think I'm going to bite a wolf. I don't have a death wish, you know."

I smiled and indicated for him to follow me.

"Excuse me while I fall over in shock," I replied sarcastically, laughing as I set his drink down on my coffee table.

Yes, I had invited a vampire into my home.

By the way, they don't need an invitation.

Learning every day.

Was I drunk? Maybe.

"I tried to kiss you, and you aren't shocked that I'm gay?" he asked, picking up the martini glass.

"Dude, you talk way too much for a straight guy," I said back, sipping my homemade martini.

Beckett plucked an olive from the stick inside his cocktail glass and popped it in his mouth. "You have a point."

"I have more where that came from," I said, pointing to his glass.

Why was I hitting it off so well with this vampire?

"You never told me why you were in a vampire bar."

"I'm looking for two vampires," I deadpanned.

He lifted a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me, and said with a smirk, "Well, you found one."

"Two specific vampires," I corrected.

"Why?" he asked, pausing the martini glass at his mouth.

"Because one attacked me last week, and the other murdered my brother."

He pressed a hand to his mouth. "Oh, my God."

"By the way," I said, kind of getting pissed off at him for trying to lure me in that bar. "You play a very good straight dude."

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Well, until a gay vampire bar pops up in the city, I'm stuck at the straight ones. I'm a fabulous actor, so it's not hard to get blood-laid in those places."

My drink paused at my lips. "Blood-laid?"

He chuckled. "A little blood and no sex, but sometimes a few kisses and some heavy petting. It works if you know what you're doing."

"You're disgusting." I made a face.

"So I've been told," he replied with a wry smile. "So tell me about these vampires you've been looking for."

I described them both to Beckett. He looked off into space and then moved his gaze back to mine. "I may know the one who killed your wolf brother. That sounds like Linden, but I can't be sure."

"Linden? Who the hell is that?" I asked, a fit of excitement stirring in my belly at my very first clue.

"He's a coven leader in Boulder."

"Does... did he have a brother?" I asked.

Beckett nodded, "Yeah, I believe he does. The brother is recently turned. I think his name is Sirus. Linden made him vice-president."

Anticipation was brewing like crazy within me at this very first clue. I leaned forward, leaning my arms on my knees. "What does the brother look like?"

"No idea, never met him," Beckett replied with a shrug.

"What do you know about Linden?" I asked, unable to mask my excitement.

"I do know you won't be able to defeat him," he replied, concerned.

I wasn't going to let that stop me. "Then you don't know me very well."

Just then, my front door opened and Ryder came strolling in. His face fell when he saw how I was dressed.

I jumped up from the couch. "Hi, babe."

Ryder looked around the room and saw Beckett sitting there. He subtly sniffed the air, and his eyes flashed yellow. "Why do you have a vampire in your house, Ayla?"

"He's a friend," I came back quickly, hoping my boyfriend didn't blow up on my new friend.

"Ayla?" Beckett asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's her fuckin' name. I thought you were her 'friend'," Ryder replied, his jaw ticking.

I smiled, a little chagrinned at Beckett. "My name is Ayla, not Amy, by the way."

Beckett waved his hand. "I don't care. But for the record, Ayla is way cooler than Amy."

"Shut up, leech," Ryder said, his face now turning red.

Beckett's expression looked angry and defensive. "Please don't call me that. I really am not a leech."

"So you don't steal blood from humans? They give it up voluntarily?" Ryder asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Of course they do," Beckett said, as if this was something to be proud of.

"Okay now," I said, getting angry at Ryder. "Let's not be rude. We were just talking."

Ryder's jaw ticked again in annoyance as he glanced at Beckett, then back at me. "Ayla, you have a vampire in your goddamn apartment. You don't see this as a problem, after all we've been through?"

"I'm harmless," Beckett said, flashing him a megawatt smile.

"Liar," Ryder hissed, narrowing his eyes at the vampire.

Beckett put his hands up in surrender. Then he looked at me and asked, "Have I tried to bite you or been a threat to you whatsoever?"

Trying to keep the peace, and ignoring what had happened at Moon Chasers, I told my boyfriend, "He has been a total gentleman."

Ryder still looked enraged and said, "Yeah, because he wants to get in your pants. Then once he has you in bed, he'll drain you."

Both Beckett and I began to laugh.

Beckett said, "Silly wolf, she is not my type. You, however, are quite handsome." He threw Ryder a wink.

Ryder's eyes went big and he immediately shifted uncomfortably on his feet, from which I gained great satisfaction. Clearing his throat, he said, "Well, regardless, you're a bloodsucker, and should not be consorting with wolves."

"In my defense," Beckett said, finishing the rest of his martini and then setting the glass on the coffee table, "I didn't know she was a wolf when we met."

Ryder raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?"

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Not sure, usually I'm good at picking up y'all's repulsive scent."

Ignoring Beckett's rude comment, I mimicked, "In his defense, I sprayed about a gallon of pheromone perfume on before I went into the vampire bar to mask my scent—" I immediately clamped my hand over my mouth, realizing I'd said something I shouldn't have.

"You went where?" Ryder roared, his face turning beet-red.

"Aaaand, that's my cue to exit stage left," Beckett said, giving us a weak salute before flying out my front door at vampire speed, even closing it behind him.

"Sit down," Ryder said, pointing to the couch.

I reluctantly obeyed, glaring at him from my position. "What?"

"Have you lost your mind? Inviting a vampire into your house? He could have killed you!"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "First off, Dad, he was not trying to charm me into coming into my house. I let him come in. Vampires don't need to be invited in, by the way."

"I know," Ryder gritted out, standing with his arms folded across his muscular chest, his handsome face a storm of anger and concern.

"Secondly, I am a badass, and no vampire is going to kill me, you jerk!" I was really pissed off now. I loved Ryder, but I wasn't the type to let a guy tell me what to do, and who I could and could not invite into my home.

His features softened. "I'm sorry. I'm not bossing you around. I'm just worried about you." He raked his fingers through his dark hair and blew out a breath as he looked around my apartment, then back to me. "Look, Ayla"—he began to pace—"you quit school, moved here, and are now living alone. How am I not supposed to be worried about you? Fuck, everyone is worried. Even your witch ex-roommate."

Guilt pounded my insides, and I struggled to reel in my strength. "I can see why everyone is worried, but I can take care of myself. I got this."

"No, you don't," Ryder said, looking me square in the eye. "I think your passion for vengeance is fueling your life. You aren't the same person you were when we met."

This ridiculous conversation was going nowhere. "Ryder, I'm about to turn twenty-one, of course I'm not. I was just a kid in high school. I'm older now. More mature. I know what I want, and that is to live my life. To find out who attacked me and..." I sucked in a deep breath, trying to fight the tears that wanted to flow. "I need to find the vampire who killed Austyn and get closure."

Ryder came to sit next to me. "I understand that, and I want to find him, too. But something tells me that it won't help. I do know that it won't bring him back."

A twinge of anger hit me, and I knew if I didn't quell it—if I didn't refrain from twisting off on my boyfriend about this—that I would lose it altogether. "I know it won't bring Austyn back. I just need to know that I've rid the world of the evil who took my brother from me. I won't sleep until then."

"I understand," Ryder said, putting his arm around me and pulling me to him. I laid my head on his shoulder, enjoying his warmth, the two of us sitting in silence. My mind did not stop spinning, though. I was happy I had made a vampire friend. I would use Beckett to help me find the ones who had ruined my life.

Chapter 20

Ryder stayed over at my apartment sometimes, on days he didn't have to be at school early the next day. He made it clear that he did not like that I had befriended a vampire, despite me telling him why I had done so. I reminded him on a daily basis that I could take care of myself. I could see the relief on his face when he had learned that Beckett was gay, but that didn't seem to quell his anxiety completely. Beckett was a vampire, and nothing about that was okay with him.

I tried to be empathetic. To tell myself that Ryder had grown up around wolves, was taught practically from birth that vampires were bad, that they were the enemy. I, however, had not. Thrusted into this supernatural world very recently, I was free to make up my mind about who I was and was not going to like. It became apparent that I would treat the supernaturals the same way I treated humans: If you were an asshole, I didn't like you. If you were nice and decent, we could be friends. Just like I didn't care what color or religion a human was, I did not care what species a paranormal being was. I had a witch for a college roommate, a wolf for a boyfriend, and now a new vampire friend.

I hated the creatures who had killed my brother and who had bit me—and the asshole who was my biological father—because they were bad people, not because of the type of creature they were.

It all made sense in my head, anyway.

I continued to work my miserable and mundane receptionist job, but every day, I looked forward to getting off and hunting for my enemies. The manager of the homebuilder I worked for was a complete dick, and the company as a whole treated their employees like crap, but I kept telling myself that I would one day be rid of this job, and wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

As I left my job on a particularly boring Thursday, I shot off a text to my new bestie Beckett: Meet me for drinks at Luigi's at 6.

Less than a minute later, I received a reply: It'll be closer to 7, but I'll be there!

I forgot it was summer. Beckett would have to wait until the sun was mostly down before he could step foot outside. We had been hanging out here and there, and I learned that even if it wasn't one-hundred percent dark, he could still come out, as long as there were no sunrays. On those days, I would be able to look at him in somewhat of a natural light, and he looked different in that light than he did in the dark. In the dark of night, he looked pale, brooding, and sometimes a little scary. But in that fading light of sunset, he sometimes looked boyish and handsome. His blond hair gave him an innocence, I guess. It just went to prove how different we all looked in the perspective of light versus dark.

Tonight he was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a red button-up shirt with a black jacket over it. His shoes were shiny and black, and as he approached Luigi's, he smiled at me.

"Wow, don't you look fancy. All that for me?" I asked, indicating his outfit.

He hugged me and said, "No, girl. I have a date later."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You double booked, seriously? I see how you are."

He chuckled. "Friend dates don't count as double booking, silly wolf." He ushered us inside the bar where we made our way to a couple of empty stools. Then he looked down at my black dress and said, "You look like you're going somewhere fancy later, too."

"Just trying to lure in a certain vampire. Gotta look my best."

Beckett leaned in and subtly sniffed me. "No wolf smell, either. Good job."

I smiled in triumph as the bartender asked us what we wanted to drink.

"Gin and tonic," I said.

"And for you?" he asked Beckett.

"Just a whiskey neat, thank you."

The bartender went to make our drinks, so I asked, "Do you have any info for me about this Linden guy?"

His gaze darted around the bar, and he hissed, "Keep your voice down. Vampires have really good hearing."

"Well, I don't smell any vampires in here besides you, so we're good."

The bartender set our drinks down. I handed him my credit card and told him to start a tab.

"Let's go on the patio and talk," Beckett said, leading me by the elbow to the back of the bar where, through a door, lay a beautiful patio surrounded by trees strung with white lights and colorful flower bushes, a small half-iron gate surrounding the concrete patio littered with tables and chairs. The smell of honeysuckle filled the air, and it immediately reminded me of when I was little and Mom used to put honeysuckle flowers in my hair. We sat at a table in the corner and Beckett immediately started talking.

"Yes, I do have information for you. A guy who frequents Moon Chasers is one of his head security guys. His name is Kellan. I heard him and two other goons talking about Linden last night when I was there, so I eavesdropped—"

The glass in my hand fell to the ground and shattered into a million glittering pieces as a headache so painful and furious hit me so fast, all I could do was put my hands to the sides of my temples. The pain was quickly gone, and was replaced with a very clear, vivid image.

A tall male with hair as black as night and eyes as crystal blue as the sky suddenly appeared in my mind. He had a sharp, clean jawline, a fierce and frightening look on his face, and wore dark clothes which contrasted against his pale skin. I could see him come toward me, looking angry, his jaw ticking. I could not see myself in the vision, but it was more like I was viewing it from behind someone else's eyes. I backed up until something hard hit my back. The man stalked toward me until we were less than inch apart, and he suddenly pressed his cold lips against my own. I had no reaction or even an instinct to pull away. All I wanted to do was wrap my hands around him as I hungrily kissed him back, my body heating up to scorching levels. But I couldn't move my arms, he had grabbed them both and pinned them against the wall above my head.

As soon as the strange vision had hit me, it was gone. I opened my eyes, my hands still to my temples, and saw Beckett and a dozen other people in the courtyard staring at me in concern.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked, looking down at my shattered drink, my feet wet from the gin and tonic that had splashed them.

"You just freaked, Ayla. You screamed and then rocked back and forth. I thought you were having a seizure or something. God, you scared me! I almost called nine-one-one!"

"Well, I'm fine now," I said, sitting up straighter and grabbing a napkin from the table and wiping off my feet and ankles before they got sticky.

The people in the courtyard went back to their murmuring conversations as Beckett continued to stare at me in horror.

"What? I'm okay. But I do have a question."

He lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me. "What's that?"

"This Kellan guy—is he tall, black hair, blue eyes, dresses in high-dollar dark clothes. Clean shaven?"

"What the fuck, Ayla? If you already knew who he was, why are you wasting my time asking me for leads?"

"Holy shit," I said under my breath. "When I blacked out just now, I had some weird vision-dream thing about a guy matching that description. Except he was..."

"He was what?"

"Forget it. I must not be getting enough sleep or something."

"You always this weird?" Beckett asked.

I nodded. "Yes, all the time. Weirdo, that's me."

He shook his head. "So now you're psychic. Didn't you tell me your parents are witches? Maybe they put some spell on you."

"Yes, they are, but why would they do that? And are there even spells that do that?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I am not that familiar with witches. I was told to avoid them."

I smirked. "I've heard that, too. I do have a witch friend, maybe I should ask her."

Beckett pulled out his cell phone and said, "That's a great idea. Call her now. This is just too weird."

I laughed and shook my head, pulling out my own phone and shooting Sanja a text: I need some witchy help with something. You available?

I set the phone on the table and said, "Tell me more about Kellan."

He glanced at the phone, and then back to me. "Well, like I said, he's Linden's first lieutenant."

"What does that even mean?"

"It's just bullshit vampire hierarchy. Like if"—he looked around and lowered his voice—"Linden was the president, Kellan would be his commander-in-chief. Head of security type crap."

"He must be a badass," I said, thinking out loud.

Beckett downed the rest of his drink and shrugged one shoulder. "He gets mad respect in the club."

My phone buzzed and lit up. I looked down at Sanja's text: Unless it's an emergency, I'm swamped with finals. I can meet you on Thursday if that works for you.

I quickly replied: Yes, details later.

I set the phone back down and said, "So, if Kellan goes to that club a lot, does that mean Linden goes there?"

"I, personally, have never seen him there, but I think he's visited a time or two."

Something dawned on me just then. "Is it possible that asshole owns the club?"

"Huh, never thought about that. I'll ask around. That's a possibility, I guess."

"Better yet, let's just go there now. What time is your date?"

He laughed and stood up. "You're crazy, that club doesn't even open 'til ten p.m., and even then it's dead for hours. The damn thing is open all night for obvious reasons."

I chewed my lip. "You have a point. I'll go later."

"I don't know if I like that," he said, looking worried. "At best, you will look like a single, vulnerable human, at worst, you will look—or smell—like a wolf in a vampire bar. Not safe."

I rolled my eyes and shoved him in the shoulder. "I can take care of myself. Have fun on your date."

He looked at the time on his phone. "I guess I should get going."

We walked inside, and I grabbed my card from the bartender, settled the tab, and we walked back out to the front.

"Next round is on me," Beckett said, jutting his chin toward the credit card I was now dropping into my purse.

"Okay," I said, laughing.

Giving me a kiss on the cheek, he murmured, "You be safe tonight, okay?"

"I could say the same to you," I said, smiling up at him. "Who is this guy, anyway?"

A big smile broke out on his handsome face. "I met him in a coffee shop, can you believe that? Who drinks coffee at night?"

"Vampires," I said dryly.

He wrinkled his nose. "I hate coffee. I just ordered a hot tea and surfed the Internet there."

"And this guy just started talking to you while you're on your computer?"

He looked a little embarrassed, and I was sure if he could blush, he would have. "No, he works there."

I chuckled. "Nice. Human?"

"I think so. Not a vampire though, as he takes morning classes at the local community college."

"Well, good luck. Text me and let me know how it went."

"Will do, wolf girl. You do the same... ya know, with the text. I will worry 'til I hear from you."

"You got it," I said, smiling.

Chapter 21

Two Red Bulls later, I was growing bored in this ridiculous vampire club. It was just a bunch of vampires, wannabe vampires, and dumb human blood whores looking for their next high. Meaning, a vampire's bite to give them a high-like drunkenness they craved. I cringed as I watched them get bitten, their bodies shuddering in delight at the bite, and then they fell slack in the vampire's arms with a smile on their face. They were usually placed into a chair someplace and left alone.

I was approached so many times, and continually turned down every vampire who approached me. I was asked to dance by a few humans who were posing as vamps, and I did dance with them, as I knew they were no threat to me. I also didn't want to look like I was there to spy—even though that was the reason I was there.

As I exited the dance floor, a shudder racked my entire body, and the hair on my arms and neck stood on end. A cold rush skated over the surface of my skin, and I turned to look toward the front of the club. There stood Kellan. I had no doubt it was him, and he was staring at me square in the eye. Excitement raced through me. Luck was on my side. I was one step closer to getting to Linden so I could kill him.

A wicked smile twisted up on my lips as I refused to break eye contact with him. He was flanked by two equally big and dangerous-looking men who I assumed were also vampires.

Kellan finally broke eye contact with me in order to say something to one of the men with him. The man nodded and took off into the club, disappearing into the dark. I went to the bar to order another energy drink, as this was going to be a long night. The whole time, I did not take my eyes off Kellan.

It was then I noticed something about him that made goosebumps break out all over my skin; the outfit he was wearing was exactly as it had been in that weird vision-thing I had had earlier.

Thursday could not come soon enough; I needed to talk to Sanja. I just hoped that didn't happen again, because that shit hurt my head.

Sipping my drink slowly, I watched Kellan's every move. He said something to the bartender at the bar on the other side of the dance floor, and the bartender nodded in return. Then he and the other big, burly guy went to the DJ booth and said something to the DJ, and he, too, nodded. When Kellan moved to a part of the club where I couldn't see him, I would move so he could continue to be in my line of sight.

This went on for an hour. Even when guys—and even a girl—came up to me and tried hitting on me or asking me to dance, I would barely risk a glance at them to turn them down before putting my gaze back on my target.

While Kellan seemed busy working, he would still take a second to scan the club for me, and once his stare landed on me, he would stare me down, and then go about his business. When two more hours had passed, I was finally rewarded when I saw him walk toward me. Now he had the two men flanking him once more. I swallowed hard and stood stock-still, letting him come to me.

A high counter lined the edge of the dance floor of this place, and I stood there with my drink set on it, my arm resting next to it. As the speakers pumped out the latest popular hip-hop song, I looked up at him with wide eyes, as he was now in my space.

In a voice way too deep and silky to be human, not to mention it had some kind of sexy accent to it, he said, with stormy eyes peering into mine, "Why have you been staring at me all night?"

There was no joking, playfulness, or flirtation in his voice.

I squared my chin and said, "I haven't been staring at you. I believe it's you who has been looking at me. I'm just trying to have a good time here."

"You're a little liar," he came back immediately.

Remembering what my endgame was with this guy, I took a deep breath to calm my temper and put on a false smile. "You always walk up to pretty ladies and call them liars? I mean, really, you're not going to get any with that kind of attitude."

I watched in satisfaction as his hard edge softened a little, and he clamped his jaw shut as he thought of something to say. A quick glance over his shoulder showed me that one of his goons had appreciated my joke, as he was fighting a smirk.

"At any rate, you didn't answer my question," he came back in that sexy accent of his.

What was that? Australian? English? Hell if I knew.

I took a slow, provocative sip of my drink, and then asked, "What was the question again?"

He looked slightly amused, but then put on his serious mask again. "Why have you been staring at me and my men for the past two hours?"

I smiled, and replied in a cocky tone, "Believe me, I haven't been staring at your men at all. Just you."

He narrowed his eyes. "Is that right? Why is that?"

I ignored the question and said, "Where are you from? Love your accent."

He, in turn, ignored my question and said, "I'll ask again, what your issue? You here to meet some sparkly vampire who's going to sweep you off your feet?"

His comment had shocked me, but I was above showing my astonishment. "Vampire?" I made a dramatic gesture of looking around the club slowly, then back to him with a sexy smirk on my lips. "Oh! This is a vampire club? That would explain all the freaks." Now my hands were on my hips.

His eyes stormed with something other than rage, and he took a step toward me.

I took a step back.

He took another step toward me, his goons mimicking his every move.

Pretty soon I felt the wall hit my back and Kellan was in my space again, and I had nowhere to go.

When his stare broke mine and traveled down my face, landing on my lips, I smirked again until his gaze reached mine once more.

Without any sort of preamble, he reached an arm around my backside and pulled me to his body before leaning down and pressing his cool lips to my warm ones.

A slight groan may have left my throat and traveled into his mouth. I couldn't say through the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

But when his tongue snaked in uninvited, it wasn't like I minded. I may or may not have pressed my body into his, grinding myself unabashed into his body... which felt like it had been carved from marble.

Realizing that this was exactly what I had been envisioning earlier at the bar with Beckett, and remembering I had a boyfriend, I suddenly sobered from the lusty high he'd put me on, and pulled back from the delicious kiss.

I looked up into his crystal-blue eyes and said, "You."

Not looking the least bit confused, he threw me a half-grin. "Me."

Untangling myself from him, I practically ran out of the Moon Chasers and didn't stop running until I'd reached my apartment complex.

Thursday was too far away. I needed my friend now.

I didn't even realize I had hopped in my car and was driving the thirty minutes to see Sanja until I had almost reached Boulder.

She looked bleary-eyed but calm when she answered the door to the home I used to share with her. The home my parents still owned and were graciously renting to her and another roommate I hadn't met.

"Sit, please," she said, indicating the sofa. "Do you want anything?" She pointed to the kitchen area.

I shook my head. "Just some answers."

Nodding, she took a seat on the couch adjacent to mine. "I'm happy to see you, Ayla, but not under these circumstances. It's two a.m. What is so urgent?"

I wrung my hands together, unsure where to start, so I just started at the beginning, from my weird vision while having drinks with Beckett, to the toe-curling kiss Kellan had given me at the vampire club.

After listening intently, Sanja's eyes were big. "Okay, first I will start with the biggest question. Who the heck is Beckett?"

Crap.

"Um, he's a friend of mine." I shouldn't have left out the most important detail about him, but I knew she would snap if I told her he was a vampire.

"I know how to do truth spells, you know," she said in a scolding tone.

Crap. Again.

I put my left thumbnail in my mouth and began to chew on it... a childhood habit I thought I'd broken years ago.

"Well, Beckett may or may not be a vampire."

Her chocolate-colored eyes went wide, and then mildly accusing. "You befriended a... vampire? Are you insane?"

"I think I am, actually."

"Not funny, Ayla. You hate vampires."

I sighed. "About that. I don't think I hate them. I think I hate one or two in particular... especially Linden."

She shook her head as if she was confused. "Who is Linden?"

"The asshole who killed Austyn." A lump of grief suddenly made an appearance in my throat.

Her eyes went wide. "What? How do you know this?"

"By quitting school and asking around."

Sanja seemed pretty speechless at my comment, but then said, "You could have finished college and still asked around."

I saw the angle she was working and smiled slyly. "Nope. I had to find a crappy day job to support me in order to be able to sneak around at night to get the answers I needed."

"Your quest for vengeance is going to be the end of you, my friend," Sanja said, seeming sincere.

I laughed humorlessly. "No, it will be the closure I need."

"I'm not going to ask where you went to find this... closure... these answers you seemed to have acquired."

"It's better that way," I said with a wink. "You don't want to know."

"So tell me about this man you had a vision about, and then later kissed. And don't worry, I won't tell Ryder." It was her turn to wink, but she was really bad at it, so it looked more like her eye was having some sort of twitchy fit.

Biting back a grin, I said, "He's a vampire, too."

"What the hell, Ayla!"

I laughed because I knew that was the response I was going to get. "He's Linden's first lieutenant."

She wrinkled her nose. "Ew, vampire hierarchy. So outdated and stupid."

I lifted my eyebrows. "And witches don't have hierarchy?"

She waved a dismissive hand at me. "No, not really. We have the head witch of each region, then there are sub-heads for each city in the region..." She stopped herself. "Okay maybe we do have a slight hierarchy."

"That's what I thought," I said triumphantly.

"It's good to be systematized, unlike wolves, y'all are just a bunch of unorganized animals."

I grinned slyly at her. "We like it that way. So we can be free. Anyway, we have an Alpha and a Beta of each pack. That's all we need."

"I will admit that is probably a little easier than dealing with witch or vampire politics."

I just nodded in agreement.

"I want to analyze this so-called 'psychic vision' you had while having drinks with... what was his name?"

"Beckett," I replied.

"Ah yes, Beckett. I assume you've never had anything like that before?"

I shook my head. "Hell no. Nothing even close. I couldn't even figure out that my parents were witches, for God's sake."

"True," Sanja replied, looking down, as if in thought.

"What was that anyway? Do you witches get visions? It freaked me out when I had it, but when hours later it actually happened—you know, in real life—I about lost my shit!"

She shook her head and looked at me. "No, I don't get those. I can't tell the future, I don't have that gift. Some witches do. Just not me."

"Bummer," I said.

I watched as she looked down, as if thinking hard. "I have an idea. I'm going to do a reveal spell on you."

I furrowed my brows together. "What does that mean?"

"We witches can do subtle spells when we are trying to figure out what kind of supernatural creature someone is."

Still confused, I said, "You already know I'm a wolf."

She nodded as she stood. "Yes, but wolves aren't psychic. Like, ever. And they certainly can't fly. They are the simplest of creatures. No offense."

I watched as she walked back to room and quickly came out with a red cloth and an incense stick. She set the items on the coffee table.

"By the way," I said, looking past her and to the hallway, "where's your roommate?"

Without looking at me, she said, "She spends the weekends at her boyfriend's place."

Relieved I hadn't disturbed her, I watched as Sanja pulled a lighter from the small drawer set into the coffee table and lit the incense. She then removed a glass ashtray-looking thing from the drawer and set it on the red cloth, then placed the lit and now smoking incense stick on top of it.

The smell was sweet, but pungent. I had never been a fan of incense, especially since it sort of hurt my overly sensitive nose, which was why I preferred candles because the scents were milder, for the most part. I, of course, didn't say anything to Sanja about it.

"Stand as close to the smoke as possible," she instructed me.

I stood, not breathing through my nose, and put my thighs up against the table, letting the smoke drift over me.

"Give me your hand," she instructed, her hand out, palm up.

I did as she asked, and held my breath when she pulled a sewing needle seemingly out of nowhere and stuck my finger—hard. The prick was deep, and I watched as she squeezed my finger so my blood could drip onto the glass ashtray-looking thing that held the incense stick. She let go of me and then closed her eyes.

Sanja stood right next to me and started to chant: "Se revelare verum tuae." Over and over.

I watched in fascination as my blood drops began to move around the dish on their own. Then, before my eyes, the blood turned blue, then red, then blue again, and then it morphed into some kind of strange purple concoction. When it had stopped changing colors, Sanja stopped chanting.

"Well, that is... interesting."

"Can I sit?" I asked.

She nodded, and I sat back down with my finger throbbing hot as it quickly healed. "Why did the blood turn purple?"

She grinned. "I think I know why. See, wolf blood stays red when I do this spell. Vampire blood turns blue. Witch blood turns green."

"Show me," I said, pointing to the dish. "Do it again."

She chuckled. "I can't use my own blood for a spell, I need another witch."

"Dammit. So what does purple mean?"

She stared down at the strange-colored blood, and then said, "Blue and red make purple." She slowly lifted her gaze to mine, looking surprised.

It took a minute for it to register in my brain, but I finally understood. "You're saying I'm both wolf and vampire. That's not possible."

She nodded. "But it is. What do you know about that vampire who attacked you that night?"

"Nothing, except that I don't think he'd been a vampire very long."

"How do you know that?" she asked, genuinely curious.

I smiled at the memory. "Well, when I told him I was a wolf, he took off like a bat out of hell. No pun intended."

Her lips lifted into a grin matching mine. "Because he thought the rumors that wolf blood was toxic to vampires was true."

I nodded. "Exactly."

"That's a rookie mistake. Most older vamps know that's just a myth."

"I'm learning this. My new friend, Beckett, still believes it. I never corrected him. I think he's a fairly new vamp."

"You think?" Sanja said, looking concerned.

I nodded. "We haven't had the whole 'how long ago were you turned' discussion. I'm sure it'll come up soon, though."

She looked down at the blood again, seeming deep in thought, then back to me. "If a new or fairly young vampire attacked you, that would make sense why your blood is showing you as a hybrid—"

"Hybrid?" I asked, staring at my friend in horror.

She nodded and pointed to the glass dish. "Yes, that is what hybrid blood looks like. If this newbie vamp bit you, he would have injected way too much venom into you. Think of it like a baby rattlesnake. They bite someone, it's more lethal than if an adult rattler bites a person. The baby rattlers can't control the amount of venom they inject. Same with new vampires. It takes years—and I do mean years—to learn to control the bite and the venom."

"I'm confused," I said, my head spinning at her snake analogy.

Sanja inched closer to me on the couch and grabbed my hand. "He poisoned you, Ayla. You now have so much vampire venom in your system, you're a hybrid. Half wolf, half vampire. If you were human, you would have been completely turned into a vampire from his bite. It's why you're getting psychic visions."

"I've only had one," I retorted.

"Doesn't matter, you're changing."

"Vampires are psychics?" I suddenly asked, curious.

She nodded. "Some of them, just like some witches. Depends on the person. Or creature, in this case."

My head began to spin, so I put my head down and rested my arms on my knees. After a few deep breaths, I looked at my friend and said, "So what you're telling me is that I'm now a psychic half-vampire, half-wolf creature? Am I going to start needing to drink blood?"

She nodded, a sympathetic look on her pretty face. "Yes, you are a hybrid, and I'm not sure about the blood. Don't you get enough during your full-moon shifts?"

Reeling in disbelief, I nodded my head. "I guess. It's hard to say."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, then I looked up at my friend. "I'm going to kill him, Sanja."

She placed her warm hand on mine and nodded. "I know you will."

Chapter 22

Unfortunately for me, I had to take a weekend off from vampire hunting to go to Wolfe Point to do my thing.

"You fucking stink, Ayla," Aden said, ushering me inside the trailer so we could strip and preserve our clothes before the full moon was at its highest.

Pulling my shirt off over my head, I folded it neatly and placed it in my cubby. Yes, Aden had made us all little square cubbies to place our stuff before the shift. I had laughed when I had first seen them, but it turned out to be pretty awesome.

"What do you mean, I stink? I actually showered before coming up here, which I'm not sure why I bothered."

He shook his head as she toed off his boots and then began unbuttoning his jeans. "No, not like BO. Like your whole self, your very being." He folded his pants, and now standing in nothing but his boxers said, "You stink like vampire. You need to stop hanging out with that quee—"

"Shut the fuck up, Aden," I warned. "Do not tell me who I can and cannot hang out with. Beckett is no danger to me. He's my friend. And thanks for telling him"—I jabbed my thumb at Aden—"by the way."

Ryder, now standing totally naked, ignored my comment about how he'd told Aden about Beckett. "Well, I don't like it at all."

I lifted my chin and looked at my boyfriend of three years. "I don't care what you think."

Turning away, I stripped off the rest of my clothes and ran outside. I found a huge rock to sit on, and curled myself into a ball, waiting for the rest of the pack to come out. I lifted my face to the sky, letting the fat, round moon bathe my face in its light.

"We have time for a quickie," I heard a voice say.

I looked up to see Sam, the creepy perv of the pack, standing five feet from me, naked and proud with a lascivious look on his face.

"Ugh, piss off, Sam," I said, looking back up at the sky.

"You wish you could fuck this," he said, gesturing to his genitals.

I made a dramatic gagging noise and ignored him and continued to look at the sky. I hated that cursed moon. I hated it so much. I should be in Lo-Do looking for a couple of criminal vampires. Not here turning into the monster I loathed.

The first scream drew me out of my musings and I looked up to see Sam now on all fours, his head down, his bones beginning to break as he shifted. It happened fast. I stood up and walked over to Aden and Ryder, who were now falling onto the ground in agony. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to hit me.

And I waited some more.

Aden and Ryder were now already full-blown wolves. All I felt was hot. Feverish, really. Burning up and now panting and wanting water. I heard the first bone crack, but it was in my face, not my back or a limb like usual.

Crack-crack-crack... all the little bones in my face popped and began to protrude like I was getting ready to grow the snout I had become so accustomed to.

Still standing on two legs, I looked down at my hands to see them elongate, the nails at each tip grow to points. Blonde hair began to sprout on my hands and arms, and I was really confused as to what was going on.

Coarse, thick hair began to grow everywhere... and I do mean, everywhere. My feet morphed into some kind of monstrous, bony animal-type feet with my toenails elongating.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. I wasn't in pain; I was frightened.

"What in the hell is happening to you, Ayla?" I heard Ryder ask in my head.

"I don't know," I said aloud, still staring at my hands and feet.

I then put my hands to my face and could feel a layer of hair there, too. My teeth had grown elongated and sharp, and stuck out below my lip. Mortified, I screamed again, and then opened my eyes to see my wolf brothers and sisters standing in front of me on all fours.

"Why is her shift taking so long?" Ryder asked.

"Something's wrong," Aden said, walking up to me and nudging my knee with his snout.

"I'm not changing, guys," I said shakily, feeling the fever and pain subside. I was calmer now. Confused, but calmer.

"What are you? You look like some kind of caveman," said Maria.

"With boobs," Sam added.

The world looked strange through these eyes, like it did when I was the wolf, but a little clearer, and not black and white. I could see faint colors but everything was still shaded in a red halo on all sides.

I lumbered into the trailer and threw on a loose tank top and a pair of Ryder's shorts, since obviously I was not going to be the wolf, and walked back outside. The pack was still standing around, just staring at me.

"What?" I asked awkwardly with fangs touching my bottom lip as I spoke. "I don't know what the hell's going on." I looked down at myself, still sort of numb in shock, but secretly thrilled I wasn't a full-blown wolf. I wasn't sure this was better, but at least I had opposable thumbs.

They all stood there quiet, staring at me, and I began to panic that I couldn't hear their voices anymore.

"Well, don't just stand there staring at me, you mutts. Let's go eat!"

"Mutts! You look like Bigfoot's bitch," Aden said, muttering a laugh and turning tail.

"Funny," I said dryly, following the wolves into the forest. It was odd to be up this high, seeing things from up here instead of at wolf level. It was odd that I could look at each wolf and know exactly who was who.

I walked as stealthily as I could, even though it was hard to in this form. I wasn't just covered in hair, my bones felt heavier, and it was a little hard to breathe. I followed as quietly as I could, and when we all heard a twig snap off in the distance, we froze. I spotted with my new eyesight a doe about fifty yards away, and looked down to see my brothers and sisters also looking in its direction.

In the same way we always did, half of us began to move in unison toward the doe, while the other half of the pack began to move in the opposite direction for another victim.

I watched in awe as my brothers and sisters stalked with complete silence and grace toward their prey. I stepped on an acorn and it made a popping sound under my foot. The doe looked up from where she was eating, saw me, and took off running in the opposite direction.

Shit!

"Goddammit!" Sam cried.

"That sucks!" Aden said.

The rest of the wolves grumbled and moaned in my head.

"I'm sorry," I said aloud. "I didn't know there were so many acorns around here. I'll try to be quieter."

They all just stared at me, then Ryder finally spoke. "Ayla, maybe you should just go to the trailer and get some rest or something."

"But I'm really hungry," I whined.

"Then eat some pizza. I brought five of them for snacks when we shift back," Aden answered. "They're in the trailer's kitchen."

I felt hurt by his comments, but knew I was just hindering them. I nodded and lowered my head and made my way back to the camp so they could hunt in peace.

I lay on one of the beds, unable to move. I had eaten at least five slices of pizza and felt sick. I had been so ravenous with hunger, I hadn't been thinking. I looked down to see a horrific, strange hand on my protruding belly and realized it was my own. Slowly rising from the bed, I went to the small bathroom inside the trailer and put my hands on either side of the sink. I took a deep breath before lifting my face to the small mirror attached to the wall.

I screamed at my reflection. I truly did look like the Wolfman from the old horror comic books. Pointed ears, wild hair, yellow eyes that were red in the middle, a slit for a pupil, and lots of hair. I had hair everywhere. Cheeks, forehead, ears, chin, neck... oh, my God.

I opened my mouth to see a set of gleaming white teeth with those sharp incisors protruding. I lifted a hairy finger to one and when I touched the tip of one, I was rewarded with a stinging poke to my finger. I licked the blood that beaded there, and realized that I was still hungry.

But how can that be? I just ate so much. Then I realized that pizza could not satiate the hunger that went down to the very core of me. But where would I get some of the red stuff? I obviously was too big and lumbering to sneak up on some poor, unsuspecting animal. I grew sad when I realized that I kind of wished that I could be the wolf once more. She was stealthy and graceful and could hunt with the best of them. She was accepted and loved by her pack.

This thing looking at me in the mirror was nothing but an unnatural monstrosity. I used to think becoming the wolf was unnatural and an abomination. But I had eventually come to accept that I wasn't any of those things; the magic in the blood of which I was born was just the way it was supposed to be. I was born to be a wolf, to shift during a full moon. As much as I loathed it, to hunt, and kill, and protect my brothers, was all I had.

But this thing staring back at me in the mirror was not natural. It was an abomination. This was what a hybrid looked like. Wasn't that what Sanja had called me? A hybrid? It had to be the reason why I couldn't fully shift anymore. I had too much vampire venom in my system. Maybe the venom would eventually leave, and at the next full moon, I would fully turn into the wolf and I could put this all behind me. I believed it was possible that this could be temporary. After all, wouldn't the magic in my blood fight the venom? All I knew was that being a hybrid wasn't going to work for me. I could not turn into this hideous beast once a month. At least when I was the wolf, I had my brothers and sisters—my pack—and we just accepted what we were and spent three days together doing what we had been cursed to do.

But this? How in the hell was I supposed to deal with looking like this once a month for eternity? My pack clearly wasn't going to accept me like this, and it wasn't like I could go hang with Beckett on the weekends unless it was, like, Halloween.

Fuck my life.

Chapter 23

That was three days of hell. As Ryder and I drove off the mountain early Monday morning, I was emotional, restless, and exhausted. He hadn't said much during the daytime we were up there, just acted like he normally did, but now he just seemed withdrawn. We had driven a half hour in silence before I couldn't take it any longer.

"I need you to say something."

He cut me a sideways glance as he drove, then put his eyes back on the road. "I literally don't know what to say."

"And you think I do?" I snapped. "I'm terrified about this."

"So am I," he said. "It's weird and I'm confused. Hell, the whole pack is. Why aren't you shifting all the way, Ayla?"

I adjusted my leg under my other as I sat in the front seat of his muscle car. "I have a theory."

"I'm all ears, babe."

"Sanja says I'm a hybrid. That because a young vampire bit me, he released too much venom into me because he couldn't control it."

"Like a baby rattlesnake," he said quietly.

I smiled. "That's exactly the analogy she used."

He tapped his fingers on and gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter, the morning sunlight bathing half his face in topaz light. "It makes sense."

"It does, but it doesn't solve my problem. Believe it or not, I'd grown used to becoming the wolf. Now I'm just a damn monstrosity. I won't ever get used to becoming that."

He nodded. "It was quite strange, I won't lie. I'd grown so accustomed to the sleek, beautiful wolf, that you standing there looking like you did... it... it was unnerving, to say the least."

I felt hurt and a little angry. "It was... unnerving? How do you think I felt? I am still completely mortified that happened to me!"

He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm just tired, and..."

"It's fine, Ryder. I'm tired, too. I can only hope that the venom will leave my system soon and things can get back to normal." I finished my sentence with a cringe, knowing that nothing about this discussion was 'normal'. Not even close.

He reached over and grabbed my hand. He gave it a squeeze. "Let's hope."

We drove in comfortable silence the rest of the way home. Ryder crashed at my downtown apartment. After sleeping all day, I awoke around five p.m. to find he had already left while I'd been sleeping.

I wasn't sure if I was happy or disappointed by that, as all my dreams had been about the mysterious vampire, Kellan.

I had to find a new job. I was gonna throat punch the next asshole who yelled at me over the phone. Like, I would find them at their job, and go in and scream at them, then I would collapse their windpipe with my fist.

My rage was high today. I needed to play the Lotto or something, because this gig was not working for me.

Like, not at all.

"Yes, sir, I'll be sure to put you through to the right person this time," I replied in a cheery tone with no feeling behind it.

"Do not put me through to their voicemail. You hear me, young lady?" came an older man's voice on the other end.

"Of course, sir, I'll make sure."

I pushed the transfer button, dialed the extension, and then hit send. I didn't give a single crap if the supervisor answered or it went to his voicemail.

I looked at the clock and realized it was lunchtime. I was starving, as I had been since I started my shift, but nothing could satisfy me. I knew I needed blood, and I hated that fact, but it was a fact I couldn't avoid. I was sure it was the reason for my elevated rage status.

A secretary named Nan came to relieve me of my receptionist duties so I could take my glorious sixty-minute lunch, and I thanked her with a weak smile before bolting out the door to my favorite deli three blocks away.

I ordered my Reuben sandwich and was handed a ticket with a number on it. As I stood waiting for it, I looked around and assessed the patrons in the restaurant. They all seemed to be wearing the same bored and uninterested faces. I watched as each one went to the counter to retrieve their lunch as their numbers were called.

I also began to feel a slight headache begin to build behind my eyes. Before I could analyze what was going on, the slight headache turned into a blinding migraine in my head and I fell to my knees, the ticket fluttering from my hand. I pressed the sides of my skull to quell the pain.

His eyes pierced me with some kind of control I'd never known before. I had no idea where I was, but I knew at the time that I just didn't care. Nothing mattered but his deep, penetrating gaze. I felt a cold breeze skate over my skin, but I paid it no mind. Nothing mattered but him.

Without permission, my legs propelled my body in his direction as he stood stock-still, waiting with a grin on his perfectly smug but handsome face for me to come to him.

Oh, and come to him I did.

It was like his command had some gravitational pull; I was powerless to resist it. When I reached him, there was nothing I wanted more than to be embraced in his strong arms. To be held and touched by him.

I was rewarded when, within inches of him, his arms reached around my backside and pulled me flush against his rock-hard body. I looked up into his pale, chiseled face and waited for him to say something, but he never did. Only his sweet breath caressing my face greeted me before he leaned down and rewarded me with another searing kiss that made my toes curl.

Kellan.

Swooning, I knew this guy... this vampire... he was going to destroy me. And I would love every single second of it.

"Oh, my God, is she all right? I heard a voice say.

"Check to see if she has any head injuries," another voice said.

I blinked open my eyes to see a crowd gathered around me. Quickly sitting up, the crowd in the deli slowly backed up when they saw that I was okay. I stood and, gathering my wits about me, grabbed the sandwich from the counter, and bolted out of there. I practically ran back to my job, wishing for a private place to eat my lunch so I could analyze the vision thing I'd just had.

I was terrified that the vision would come true again, like it had last time. But a small part of me was thrilled at the thought. I was conflicted and confused, just wanting to be alone.

Barely acknowledging Nan sitting at the front desk doing my job, I bolted past her and into the company's breakroom, grateful it was empty.

Ravenous, I ripped open the sandwich, bit into it, and then pulled my phone from my pocket, shooting off a text to my new friend: I am having serious problems. I need a cocktail and an ear. You free tonight?

Knowing he was asleep, I put the phone back into my pocket and devoured my sandwich. The sauerkraut and mustard were so pungent and flavorful with the rye and corned beef, that my eyes rolled back in my head. I knew this sandwich wasn't going to satisfy me completely, though.

Once done with my sandwich and bottle of water, I surfed on my phone for a bit until I realized it was time to go back to my perch at the receptionist desk where I would continue to get verbally assaulted for the next four hours.

As I was about to get up, the door whooshed open and one of the project managers, Lance, came in holding his hand. It was dripping blood everywhere, and he was cradling it in his other hand. His assistant, Jane, was behind him.

"Let's get you to the sink," she said, steering him toward it.

I was frozen, completely fixated on the blood dripping from his hand and onto the floor. My throat turned dry and I began to pant. I watched in strange fascination as they rinsed Lance's hand under the faucet of cold, rushing water.

Jane turned around and looked at me. "Go get me the first-aid kit."

I stared at her blankly. "Where is it?"

She huffed, and with her chin, indicated the wall across the room. "There."

I nodded and rushed over to a glass box affixed to the wall that contained a first-aid kit and an AED machine. I opened the box and grabbed the kit, and with unnatural speed, set it on the counter next to Jane.

"Here you go," I said.

Wait. What the hell just happened?

I'd never moved that fast in my life. I could run superfast, all wolves could, which was why we excelled in sports—that and our exceptional healing ability—but I'd never moved that fast. The room had passed me in a blur. Just like I'd seen vampires move.

Shit.

"Thank you," Jane said, oblivious to what had just happened because her back had been to me. She opened the box and pulled out a small bottle that looked like some kind of superglue and a couple bandages. She also found a small bottle of antiseptic and untwisted the cap.

Shutting off the water, she grabbed Lance's hand and set in on the counter. It continued to bleed at the edge of his palm, and my mouth began to water.

Dammit! I cleared my throat. "What happened?"

Without looking at me, Lance said, "I was trying to clear a jam out of the copy machine and I sliced my hand on something inside the machine. I don't even know what it was."

"Wow. We should get hazardous duty pay to work here," I said jokingly.

What a weenie.

"Seriously," Jane said, squirting the antiseptic into his wound.

"Shit!" Lance yelled out, and I bit back a laugh.

"If nobody is going to die in here, I better get back to my desk," I said slowly.

Neither of them responded, so I left the breakroom. The tiled floor leading to the breakroom had fat droplets of blood on it, and after looking around, I bent down and dipped my finger into one of the droplets, and then shoved my finger into my mouth. Resisting the urge to groan in pleasure, I mopped up every droplet with my finger, sucking it clean each time.

It was going to be a long month until the shift again.

Chapter 24

"That's some messed-up shit," Beckett said, sipping his cocktail, the blue lights of Moon Chasers pulsing inside the club. Some techno song pumped through the speakers as we sat at the bar together.

"I couldn't help it," I whined, swallowing the last of my gin and tonic.

"Do you know how many germs are on a floor? Especially a high-traffic area like that? Girl, that's gross."

The beer paused at my lips. "I just told you I lapped blood from the floor and you are worried about germs? Pu-lease. I have bigger problems."

"Don't you crave blood as a wolf? I don't see how this is a new issue for you."

I set my glass on the bar top a little more forcefully than necessary and said, "Did you miss the part of the story where I told you that I turned into the damn wolf-woman this past weekend? It was very disturbing!"

He looked around the bar, and then said, "First off, don't take that sassy-ass tone with me, or I will find some big burly chick to kick your scrawny ass. Secondly, that's what hybrids are. Freaks. No offense." He offered a sympathetic smile.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing at his ridiculousness. "You kill me, Beck. I'm venting about my jacked-up life and you call me a freak. You're lucky I like you."

"I'm impossible not to like. I'm good-looking, witty, and charming. Nobody can resist me," he said, his nose in the air, his cocktail sitting regally in his hand.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, whatever. But what do I do about the blood thing? I can't sleep, I'm irritable, I'm constantly hungry, which makes me binge on junk food, and I am sad. I can't live like this."

"So basically, you have wolf PMS," Beckett deadpanned.

I punched him in his scrawny arm. "Bitch, you haven't seen PMS. You want me to have the real PMS on top of these symptoms? No, you don't. You gotta help me."

He had the graciousness to look hurt by the punch to the arm by mouthing "Ow" and then rubbing it. He then smiled at me. "The solution is easy. Guess you'll be learning how to feed tonight."

I stared at him in horror. "What? How am I supposed to do that when I'm not the wolf?"

"Can you get your fangs to descend? Like this?" he asked. He bared his teeth at me and I watched as his incisors grew right in front of my eyes.

"Oh, my God!" came a voice from behind me.

A guy about my age stood there watching Beckett in fascination. "Where did you get those retractable teeth? I've been looking for those forever!"

Beckett narrowed his eyes at the stranger and said, "Go away."

"Geez, don't have to get so high and mighty, you queen!" the stranger replied.

I stifled a laugh and waited until the stranger disappeared into the blackness of the club.

"But seriously, how did you do that?" I asked, pointing to his mouth.

Still glaring at the stranger's backside, Beckett huffed out an annoyed breath and looked at me. "I don't know, girl. You just have to visualize the teeth growing. That's how it was explained to me, anyway."

Nodding, I closed my eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and then let it out. Concentrating long and hard, I wished—longed—for my incisors to grow so they would become sharp fangs.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"I can't. I only have fangs when I'm the wolf-girl, so it's obvious that I'm only gonna get blood when I turn into cave-woman once a month. Then I'll have to attack people in dark alleys and take it from them."

Beckett snorted with laughter. "You're ridiculous. You will not be reduced to that, girlfriend."

"You have a better plan?"

"No, but I do," said a sexy accented voice from behind me.

I turned to see Kellan standing there with his goons behind him. Twisting my body all the way around, I crossed my arms across my chest and met his defiant stare. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded. "I know of your dilemma, and can help you with it, if you'd like."

Lifting my chin, I said, "Prove it."

Nodding slightly with a cocky smirk on his beautiful lips, he turned his back on me, but not before instructing the guys who had been flanking him to make themselves scarce. I had heard at least that much with my supersonic hearing.

It took him less than two minutes to find a beautiful girl on the edge of the dance floor. After some small talk, he led her to a dark corner of the club, and I watched with interest as he kissed her briefly. The odd twinge of jealously that entangled around my gut as I watched the interaction irritated me. Kellan's lips quickly moved to the pretty brunette's smooth neck, and it was there I watched in fascination as his fangs pierced the supple flesh there, as though they were hot knives slicing through butter.

Not more than a few long seconds passed before he withdrew his fangs, and craned back his neck with a satisfied smile on his lips as if he'd just taken a hit of heroin. Finding a nearby chair, he steered her toward it, but not before taking his long tongue and licking the dribbling blood from her wound, and then swirling his tongue around the two puncture wounds there.

I should have packed an extra pair of panties, because mine were quickly getting damp. That was the single most erotic thing I had ever seen... and I'm no stranger to Tumblr.

Kellan pierced me with a commanding stare and my body moved toward him without my permission. It was like he had some kind of gravitational pull on me. I stalked toward him, a bundle of excitement swirling around in my belly, but not feeling scared whatsoever. When I reached him, I looked up into his pale, chiseled face and saw he had a slight grin on his lips, his mouth closed. Then he wrapped one arm around my backside and pulled up against his body, and I may have groaned in the back of my throat at how amazing it felt to be commanded by him. I thought I was supposed to hate vampires... but I felt no kind of hate for this one. He leaned down and pressed his cool mouth to my warm lips and I opened up for him. The minute my mouth opened, his tongue, along with the sweet tang of blood began to pool in my mouth, and I greedily swallowed the blood down. He had shared the young human's blood with me and I immediately felt a small buzz of excitement race through me. I knew this feeling well... I got it whenever we killed prey and then drank the animal's blood after feasting on its flesh. But drinking blood while human... it was intoxicating.

Kellan pulled back and looked down at me. Using his thumb, he wiped a dribble of blood from my lip and chin, and then thrust the finger into my mouth. I greedily sucked it off.

"How do you feel now, little wolf?" he asked in that delicious accent of his.

I blinked up at him, taking in his pale-blue eyes, and said, "Amazing. Why did you do that for me?"

"Because, even though you are part wolf, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And trust me, I've been alive for a long time."

I sucked in a breath at his comments, and said, "But you don't even know me. I could be a crazed serial killer—a black widow." I smiled coyly at him.

"Oh, I'm sure you either already are, or will be in the future. Then we can swap stories about how fun it is."

My eyes widened, and then I realized he was playing a game with me; testing me to see if I'd bolt. Well, I wasn't going anywhere. I lifted my chin and said, "I look forward to it."

I skated around him and headed toward Beckett, but not before saying, "Thanks for the blood."

"You're welcome, little wolf," he said with a chuckle, a little too loudly. That elicited a few looks from a bunch of pale faces, but I ignored them.

"Damn, girl, that was hot," Beckett said, pressing his finger to my ass and making a sizzling sound with his mouth.

"Stop," I said, trying not to laugh.

I watched as Kellan and his two thugs disappeared in the darkness at the back of the club. With shaky hands, I grabbed the cocktail Beckett had ordered for me and took a large gulp of it. It was like he knew I was going to need something strong.

"Thanks," I said, lifting the half-empty glass.

He patted me on the knee. "I know you so well already."

I nodded. "You do." I took a deep breath. "Damn, that was intense."

"It was. Hot, but intense. The whole club practically froze. I thought everyone had suddenly decided to do the Mannequin Challenge, for real."

I laughed. "You're crazy."

"So I've been told," he said, waving a dismissive hand. He looked out into the club, then back at me. "I just can't get over how hot that was. How intense."

My brow furrowed and I looked down. "I can't believe I let him do that. I have a boyfriend—a very serious one. I love Ryder. What's wrong with me?"

He gave me a sympathetic look, and then said, "Don't beat yourself up. We vampires can be very intense and influential. I believe Kellan was using a bit of control on you."

"Control?" I asked, confused.

"Like vampire hypnotism," he said casually.

"Oh," I said. "I think I'm immune to that. That's what Sanja told me anyway."

"Sonya?" he asked.

"My college roommate-slash-witch."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Beckett replied.

I shook my head and set my cocktail down. "Good? No, it's bad. It's very bad. It means I fell for his allure without any sort of 'control'. I was just being a dumb girl falling under a handsome guy's charms."

"I know the feeling," he replied dryly.

We both laughed.

I sighed with a smile. "I don't want to talk about me, Kellan, wolves, or anything else. Tell me about you, Beckett. I consider you one of my besties and I don't even know how old you are or where you're from."

His smile faded and his countenance took on a seriousness. "Do I have to?"

It was my turn to pat his knee. "Yep. Cough it up. I want all the deets."

Beckett chewed his lip, and then took a deep breath. With his finger tracing the rim of his whiskey glass, he lifted intense eyes to mine. "This isn't a pretty story. It doesn't have an HEA, and it gets ugly at times."

I smiled sweetly at him. "That's okay... because, one, your story isn't finished yet, and two, it seems ugly is all I know anymore. I can handle it. Go."

He nodded and exhaled dramatically. "I was born in a Los Angeles suburb in 1968. I grew up in a very average home, with one brother and one sister. We were a happy, well-adjusted, typical happy family. Nothing about my childhood was dysfunctional or unhappy."

I smiled at that. "Sounds like we had similar upbringings."

"When I was sixteen, I decided that the cookie-cutter, preppie life wasn't for me. I dyed my blonde hair black, got some piercings, and began to experiment with various drugs and things. I wore black every day to school. I was listening to a lot of Depeche Mode back then, by the way, if that's any indication."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

With a heavy sigh, but a with grin on his lips, he said, "A popular eighties British goth band. Do the world a favor and pull up Blasphemous Rumours on YouTube."

"Will do," I said with a chuckle.

"Anyway, I did graduate high school, eventually, and began to hang out at all the goth clubs in LA. It was there I met Jaquez."

"Go on," I said with a nod, wanting to hear his story.

"This guy... he was this crazy, handsome, passionate Mexican vampire. He took an immediate liking to me, and I to him. We began this intense relationship that lasted two years.

"Once I turned eighteen, he told me he wanted to be with me. That I was going to be his companero—his partner for life. He even asked me if that was what I wanted... and I of course said yes. I was hopelessly in love with Jaquez by that point. He was so beautiful and perfect. I was mesmerized by him.

"With a smile, it was then he laid me down on his bed, bit into my neck, and drank deeply from me. I was confused, upset, and in pain at that point. I had no idea he was a real vampire. I thought he had been playing a game, putting on a façade, much like the people in this club." He gestured around Moon Chasers, and I followed his stare to all the young people dressed in black with pale-face makeup and heavy black eyeliner, piercings and tattoos littering their bodies.

"After taking my blood, he then speared his own wrist with his fangs, dribbling his vampire blood into my gaping mouth. Little did I know that the venom he'd already injected into me was going to make me what I am today."

"So why feed you blood?" I asked, fascinated by his story.

"Blood sharing. It's a vampire tradition, if you will. Especially between lovers. It kind of seals the deal, if you will."

"Wow," I breathed.

"I woke three days later utterly confused. I remembered the encounter, but knew nothing else. It was then I realized that it was close to seven p.m. three days later and I knew I felt different. I woke with a thirst like I had never known. Jacquez had shown me that night how to feed, how to get the blood I needed without actually killing a human. He'd also told me that if I accidently drained one of too much blood that that was okay, too. Accidents happened. He followed that up with wink."

The look of disgust and shame on Beckett's face made my stomach roil. This creep who had turned him was beginning to get higher on my list of vampires I wanted to take out.

Seeing the disdain on my face, he grinned sadly. "That's not even the worst part of the story, girlfriend. About six months later, I woke up without him by my side. I waited in his pretentious, glass-walled, high-rise apartment for weeks—and I do mean weeks—for him to return. He never did. Eventually, the sheriff came pounding on the door in the middle of the day with an eviction notice. Thankful for the deep, dark blackout curtains Jaquez had installed, I answered the door and was greeted with a piece of paper by a couple of officers. After reading the eviction notice, I had no idea what to do. It was the eighties; we had no cell phones, Internet, or anything else, and I had no way of getting ahold of him. I found out later he had fled to Mexico like the fuckin' coward he was. He'd been dealing cocaine. I had no idea.

"Regardless, I stayed at his place for as long as I could until I was evicted. Thankfully"—he gestured around—"Jaquez had taken me to a big vampire club in LA several times called El Diablo. It was much like this one. It was there I contacted Selena, a woman who had befriended me on one of my many visits to the club. She graciously set me up with a place to live and let me work at the club cleaning up and doing a little security. I was and still am eternally grateful to her for her graciousness. Still, my heartache over Jaquez's betrayal never left me. I never got any closure as to why he didn't want me or come back for me. One day I'll find him, though." His eyes took on a hardened look.

I reached over and squeezed Beckett's hand. "And I will help you. My list of a-hole vampires is growing, and I've just added this Jaquez douchebag to the list."

He smiled at me. "You're a good friend, Ayla."

I nodded.

"After working at El Diablo for a couple years, I just one day decided to pack up and move here. I wanted a change, but I don't care for the heat, I never have. Not that it affects me like it used to, I just like the cold better. I'm glad I chose Colorado, it's beautiful, and of course I've met the nicest people."

"Thank you," I said, meaning it. "You've been a great friend—a godsend, really, to me. If you need anything, you know I'm here."

"I appreciate it," he said back. "I want to help you get vengeance for your family, though, so I'm going to keep my ears open around that hot-ass Kellan. Maybe I'll even ask if he has any jobs for me."

I gave him my concerned face. "I don't think you should be doing that. What could you do anyway?"

"Same thing I'm doing now—computers. Right before I moved here, I got my bachelor's in computer science, and a minor in web design. Every business needs a computer guy, right?"

I now just looked astonished. "Who do you work for now?"

He lifted his cocktail to his lips. "It's an online global marketer. I work from home fixing their systems and updating their websites. Never even met one of them, but they deposit a nice chunk into my bank account every two weeks, so I don't ask questions. I obviously work at night, but I think they're in Europe somewhere, so they don't notice or care."

"Nice," I said, lifting my drink and clinking it with his.

Chapter 25

I patched the call through to the latest disgruntled homebuyer, and looked up when I heard someone enter through the front glass doors of the office.

A very handsome guy about my age, with dark hair in a messy but stylish cut approached me. His clothes were neat and his eyes were friendly. He smiled.

I smiled back. "Hi, may I help you?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Are you Ayla St. John?"

Confused, but holding my smile, I said, "The one and only."

"Do you have a minute to chat?" he asked, and I detected a slight Southern drawl in his voice.

The phone beeped and I held up a finger, pressing the receive button. "Carter Homes, how may I direct your call?"

"To Jim Allen, and don't put me through to his voicemail," an angry voice said on the other line.

"Please hold." I dialed Jim's extension and patched it through, not waiting to see if Jim was in the office.

I looked up to the cute stranger and said, "As you can see, I don't have a minute to chat. Who are you and what is this about?"

"My name is Evan Grant. I'm part of a clan here in Northern Colorado. I'd like to speak to you, if you have the time." For a brief second, his blue eyes turned yellow, and then back to blue, a mischief behind his gaze as they did so.

My eyes grew wide and I looked around the small reception office, even though I already knew that I was alone. I glanced at my computer's clock. It was a little past one p.m. and I'd already had lunch, but I was dying to hear what this guy—this wolf—had to say.

"Okay. Give me a couple of minutes. Meet me at The Pour House down the street. It's that way, about two blocks." I pointed to the left.

He nodded. "I know the place."

I watched him leave, and the switchboard rang again. I patched the person through, and then dialed Nan.

"This is Nan," she answered.

I groaned. "Nan, it's Ayla. I think I have food poisoning. I need to go home." I faked a gag noise. "I've almost thrown up twice and I feel feverish. Can you relieve me?"

"Oh, my God! Of course, I'll be right up."

I squirted some water from my water bottle and splashed my face and neck with it. When I heard her heels clacking on the marble floor from behind my desk, I slumped in my chair, and laid my head on the desk.

"Oh, honey. You gonna be all right?"

I lifted sad, dramatic eyes to her and wiped my lip. "Yeah. I just need my bed."

"Shoo, go home," she said as I stood and grabbed my small purse from the bottom drawer.

"Thanks," I muttered as I slunk out of the office.

As soon as I rounded the building to where nobody could see me through the glass walls, I walked briskly to the coffee shop.

Upon entering, I saw Evan sitting alone at a corner table, and I quickly took the seat opposite of him. The strong smell of coffee hit my nose, and the murmured chattering of people hit my ears.

"Hi," I said.

"Why are you wet?" he asked, pointing to my face.

"Oh, oops," I said, chagrinned. I used a couple napkins from a dispenser on the table to wipe off my face and neck. "I had to fake sick to get out of work."

With an amused grin, he said, "How very Ferris Bueller of you."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

He waved a hand. "Never mind. Anyway, thanks for joining me. Would you like a coffee?" He pointed at his own.

I shook my head. "No, but thanks."

"I'm gonna cut right to the chase," he said, a stoic and mature look on his young face.

"Thank fuck," I muttered under my breath.

He chuckled. "I know all about you, Ayla." Evan lowered his voice and cut his eyes across the coffee shop, and then back to mine. "From your adoption by the witches, to your wolf boyfriend Ryder, to your brother's murder. It turns out that you and I are looking for the same man. Linden."

I shook my head. "Wait, okay... back up. How do you know all of this?"

"To make a very long story short, I belong to your biological family's clan. My small family and I moved up here from Texas about two years ago. I joined their clan."

"There's that word again, clan. Am I supposed to be in one or something, just because I'm a wolf? I mean, Aden told me his... our... uncle had tried to get him to join one. I thought the idea was stupid at the time. Is it a requirement?"

He shook his head. "It's not a hard and fast rule, but it's recommended. Also, I understand you are already in one, with your brother Aden as Alpha."

I chewed my lip. "I guess so. I just never thought of us as a clan, per se."

"Y'all shift together during every full moon, and are a close-knit group, right?"

I thought back to my last hideous shift-gone-wild, and said, "Yeah, I guess."

"Ayla, you and I have something very important in common."

Intrigued, I said, "What's that?"

"We're both hybrids." He took in my surprised face, and added, "I know about your attack. The only slight difference is that I was born human, bitten by a wolf when I was twenty. Then, as I lay dying, a vampire took me in, and then bit me and fed me her venom-laced blood to try to heal me, but it turned me into a vampire. So I am both. Thankfully, I do not have a sun allergy like my family does. They are the ones who sent me to find you."

"Sun allergy... wolves don't have them. You said you and your 'family' moved up here and joined my bio family's clan. Color me confused."

He grinned. "I said I joined the wolf clan. My family are vampires. They saved my life, but being that I was a wolf first, once I moved to this area, I had to, sort of, check in with the wolves, if that makes sense."

"I guess it does."

"My parents are also wolves down in Texas, and they belong to a clan down there. I'm not an active member of the clan here, however. I'm like a card-carrying member, but I don't hang out with them or anything."

"So how do you know how much about me then?"

A grin lifted his lips. "My family... they have money... enough to pay for information."

My head was starting to spin. "Okay, let's just cut to the chase. What. Do. You. Want?"

"I think you're powerful, Ayla. I want to help you find Linden and destroy him."

"You're going to help me kill another vampire," I deadpanned.

He nodded. "Yes. He murdered my brother's maker. Only his name was Malcom Rich back then. Regardless, he wants a little revenge."

I shook my head as if to clear it and then smiled darkly at him. "Revenge, I can get onboard with. So we're going to team up, or what? You know where this asshole is hiding out?"

"I do," he replied. "In a mountainous, magical city here in Colorado, and I'm going to get us in there."

His words shocked me. "You are, are you? And how are you going to do that?"

Evan sipped his coffee, and then set it down, piercing me with a knowing look. "I have a witch on my payroll."

A grin lifted my lips. "Witches come in handy."

"You would know," he replied cheekily.

A knock on the door bolted me out of my Internet searching. Sitting on my bed with the laptop on my legs, I hadn't been expecting company. I set the machine aside and made my way to the door. A look through the door's peephole showed me it was Ryder.

As I opened the door, I said, "I wasn't expecting you!"

He immediately wrapped his arms around me. "I was missing you something fierce tonight."

I smiled. "I was missing you, too."

He leaned down to kiss me, and I kissed him back. I pushed him out of the doorway and slammed the door shut with my foot before I let him lead me into my bedroom, where we devoured each other in the best way possible. His mouth captured mine and our tongues intermingled in a lusty and familiar way. He ripped his shirt off over his head, as I shoved my shorts down, stepping out of them as they pooled at my feet. I then broke the kiss to tear my tank off over my head. We resumed our frantic kisses until he pushed me onto bed. I smiled into his mouth as his body covered mine. It was warm and familiar, and when he pushed his shorts down and threw them onto the floor, I opened up for him, wanting to feel his passionate comfort. I didn't have to wait long, as he pushed himself inside my willing body and I threw my head back, basking in his rhythmic pushes, as my hips met his, thrust for thrust. As he chased his release, I chased mine too, clawing the taut flesh and muscles of his back until I could hold back no more. I released my bottom lip from my teeth and groaned out as pleasure rocked my body and made every one of my nerve endings tingle. As I was riding my own climax, I felt Ryder grip me tighter and grunt, stilling his body on top of mine, then finally releasing all his energy onto me.

With a final kiss, he rolled off of me, and we both lay there panting.

"That was amazing," Ryder said, his arms behind his head.

I lay there, tracing a finger along his chest between his pec muscles. "Mm-hm."

His finger rubbed circles on my shoulder as his arm rested under my upper back. "I missed making love to you during our shift this past time," he murmured.

"You remembered doing that?" I asked.

I felt his body shake as he chuckled. "Yes, I always remember. Sex as the wolf is different than sex as a human."

Having no argument for that, I simply nodded.

A long, comfortable silence stretched out between us, then I finally said, "I got a visit from a stranger today."

I immediately felt his body stiffen. "Yeah?"

Continuing to trace my finger along his chest, I said, "Yeah." I then launched into a long, rambling tirade about how Evan Grant had come into my place of employment today, and our plans to find Linden and end him.

Ryder once again stiffened, and then he removed his arm from under me, sitting up on one elbow and peering down at me. "You're just fucking with me, right? You're not actually going to go after this guy."

I sighed, also propping myself up on my elbow, taking the sheet with me to cover my chest. "Yes, I actually am. What's the problem?"

Ryder raked a hand through his hair. "What's the problem? Fucking seriously, Ayla? Do you know how dangerous this is? This Linden guy—he's a goddamn maniac, from what I've heard. I am not gonna let you do this!"

I huffed, now getting out of bed and taking the bedsheets with me. "Screw you, Ryder! You don't get to tell me what I can and cannot do. I have an agenda, and nobody is gonna stop me from fulfilling it." I stood with my arms crossed over my chest in a defiant posture.

He got out of bed and pulled on his shirt and shorts. Storming out of the room, I followed him into the living room, where he snatched his keys, wallet, and phone from the dining room table and made his way to the door. As his hand was on the knob, he paused before leaving and said, "It's not an 'agenda', Ayla, it's a vendetta—a stupid act of misguided revenge. I'm not gonna sit here and watch as you kill yourself. Grieve Austyn and move on with your life. Don't put yourself on a suicide mission just to try to prove to the world that you're a badass. Because you're not."

With that, he slammed the door behind him, and I stood there, wrapped in a bedsheet and dumbfounded by his coldness. I felt hot tears begin to sting my eyes and cursed myself for it.

Who the flying fuck was he to say that I wasn't a badass? I was a badass. I would show everyone, including Ryder, that I could do what I put my mind to, because vengeance was a strong word... but it was also a strong verb. This vengeance wasn't just for Austyn, it was for me, too. That vampire who bit me had changed me inside and out, and there was no way he was going to get away with it. I would show the world that nobody got away with biting or assaulting a St. John. The punishment would be swift and it would be sweet.

Chapter 26

Pushing away the thoughts of Ryder's disapproving looks and comments, I angrily locked the door behind him and went into my room, discarding the sheet to the floor. I went into my bathroom and started up the shower, and as it was heating up, I looked at my reflection. I had sex hair and my eyes were bloodshot from crying. As I peered at myself in the quickly-fogging mirror, I looked at the irises of my eyes and noticed they were yellow. They weren't changing back to their natural blue. I blinked slowly and opened them back up again, and this time they were yellow with a ring of red around the outer edges. I had seen that once before, when I had looked at myself in the mirror the first time I'd shifted into wolf-girl. I blinked once more and they were now blue.

All this shit going on with my body was beginning to freak me out. Maybe my parents or Sanja would know what it meant, I thought as I stepped into the shower.

I first lathered up my hair with my vanilla-scented shampoo, and then rinsed that out. After applying conditioner, I went to grab the body wash, but was suddenly struck with a piercing pain behind my eyes, and I immediately recognized the familiar psychic headache. I dropped to my knees under the hot spray of water and pressed my palms to my temples.

I came to the corner to an alleyway of a very dimly-lit street, and before I reached it, I heard the faint sound of moaning by two voices, male and female. Were there people having sex in the alley?

Slowly, I crept toward the corner and carefully peered around the edge. There, I saw a woman, her sparkly red dress barely covering her ass, with her back up against the brick wall of the building. A man had his head at her neck, and his hand was climbing up her thigh to reach under the bottom hem of her dress.

Her moans eventually turned to panicked screams, and I began to realize what I was seeing. As if in slow motion, and unable to stop myself, I ran at full speed to the vampire and ripped him off the woman...

Gasping for breath, I opened my eyes to see I was still in the shower, warm water pounding down on my back. I was on all fours and trying to get my heartrate down to a normal rhythm. Gripping the side of the tub, I stood and put my palm to the wall to steady myself. With shaky hands I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair and pondered the strange vision I'd just had.

"Ryder's pissed at me," I said sadly, stirring my seltzer water. I plucked the olive off the stick and popped in my mouth.

"Why's that?" Sanja asked, piercing me with her intense brown eyes.

It was now spring break and my bestie was staying with me so we could hang out and catch up.

"I foolishly told him of my plans to kill Linden. He told me it's a suicide mission and I should just let it go."

She chewed her lip and looked at me sympathetically. With her hand on mine, I felt that weird electric current, but ignored it. "He's just concerned about you. It's not very smart to go after someone like that. But I understand why you're doing it."

"Do you?" I asked.

She looked hurt. "Of course I do. You're hurting and need closure."

"Linden isn't the only one I'm going after," I said, looking around the club. We were once again in Moon Chasers.

"I understand you wanting to confront the vampire who bit you. And I think you should... just with caution," she said.

"Excuse me, would you like to dance?" said a voice from behind us.

We turned to see a young, pale-skinned human wearing dark clothes. He was looking at Sanja.

She smiled sweetly at him, brushing some of her dark hair behind her ear. "Thank you, but no. We were just catching up." She pointed at me.

He looked at me and smiled, and then back to her. "Okay, if you change your mind, my buddies and I are hanging out at that table back there."

We both looked to see where he was pointing, but I never got to the table with my gaze, as it landed on something else. Kellan and two of his guys stood near the DJ booth, and he was, of course, staring at me.

I gave him a small smile, but he did not return it. My grin quickly dropped and I looked away. "Asshole," I muttered.

"I didn't think so," Sanja said. "He seemed pretty harmless?"

I chuckled. "Not that dude. Someone else in here."

She sucked down the rest of her rum and Coke through the little black straw, and said, "Who?"

I tried to discreetly show her Kellan, and then I launched into the entire story about what had happened since I met him, and who he was to Linden. Her asking about him was a good segue way into the whole psychic vision thing, because I was dying to ask her what the hell it had meant and what was going on with me.

When I was done with my account of what I'd been through in the past few weeks, including my strange encounter with Evan Grant, she furrowed her dark eyebrows and chewed on the little plastic stick that once held the lime from her cocktail.

"So you're telling me that you have these... visions... and then hours or days later, they come true?"

I nodded. "I've only had two, but yes, so far they have." Then my eyes went wide. "Wait! I had another one today. But Kellan wasn't in this one."

"You did?" She gasped.

I nodded. "Yeah, it was strange." I then told her about it.

"Could it be about the vampire who bit you?" she asked, concerned.

"I don't know."

I was about to say something else, but suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and a goosebump-inducing shiver ran up my spine. I slowly turned to see Kellan standing behind me.

I found it odd how my mind and body always knew when he was close.

"Hello, love," he said, a smile on his handsome face.

I swallowed hard, and said, "Hi, Kellan."

Grinning in his deliciously wicked way, he said in his strong accent, "Are you going to introduce me to your pretty witch friend?"

"I'm Sanja," she said quickly, putting out her hand to shake.

Kellan looked down at her hand, but did not remove his from his pants pocket. With a grin, he said, "Nice to meet you."

I knew why Sanja wanted to touch him, but he was not falling for it.

Kellan put his intense gaze back to mine, and said, "May I speak privately with you for a moment?"

Nodding, I said, "Sure."

He put out his hand and I took it, standing from the barstool and adjusting my little black dress.

"Excuse us," he told Sanja.

She simply nodded, and turned back toward the bar, signaling the bartender.

Kellan brought me to a dark corner of the club, and I noticed his two bodyguards, if that's what they were, were behind him, but not close enough to hear our conversation.

Wait, what was I thinking? Vampires had supersonic hearing. Disregarding those thoughts, and after being seated in a booth, I watched as Kellan slipped in, sitting dangerously close to me. I was nervous for some unknown reason, but I held my tongue and waited for him to speak.

"You are probably wondering what we're doing here," he started.

I grinned. "The thought did cross my mind."

"I know you have a boyfriend, Ayla St. John."

"Okay, so you did some digging on me. I'm not impressed so far," I said in a bored voice, breaking his intense stare and looking out into the club.

He reached over and used his fingers to tilt my jaw, making me look back into his eyes. "I am not trying to impress you. I am simply telling you that even though you have this adolescent crush you are still entertaining, it won't last long."

Twisting my head so my face was released from his fingertips, I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever, you don't know what you're talking about," I said, sliding over the booth's bench so I could slip out and leave. "My love life is none of your business."

I stood and adjusted my dress, but before I could storm off, Kellan was in front of me, gripping me gently by the shoulders. "Don't leave. I didn't mean to offend."

I glared up at him, not knowing what to say.

"It's just that you intrigue me is all. You're a wolf but you smell of a vampire, too. You're strikingly beautiful, and have a strong resolve and fierce determination in your eyes."

Once again taken aback by his words, I simply asked, "Thank you, but why do you talk like that? How old are you?"

He chuckled and removed his hands from my shoulders. Then, before I could blink, his right arm slunk around my waist and he pulled me up against his hard body. "I'm no bloody teenage vampire, I can assure you."

Ignoring the delicious way his body felt melded up against mine, I kept my hands at my sides and said, "You didn't answer my question."

"What do I get if I do?" he said, a cheekiness in his voice.

"Maybe a kiss," I replied, and then immediately regretted it. Why was I toying with this guy—this vampire, who was most likely very old and very dangerous?

His eyes lit with a flirtatious flame. "Is that so?"

I swallowed hard, half regretting my words, and half becoming just as ignited by them as he seemed to be. So, lifting my chin in confidence, I said, "Yes."

With his arm still around my backside, and me not resisting it, he said, "I am two-hundred-and-ten years old."

My jaw came unhinged from its sockets as my mouth hung open.

Kellan chuckled at my reaction, as his other hand moved up to cup my jaw and close my mouth.

"You're shitting me," was all I could think to say.

Still grinning at me, he breathed, "No, little wolf, I am not."

I could not form any more intelligible words, so I said nothing else. Turned out I didn't need to, since he leaned down and covered his mouth with mine, turning me inside out with a searing kiss that was considerably more scorching than his last.

"Well, I can see why you and Ryder are having problems," Sanja said with a chuckle, linking her arm with mine as we walked the five blocks back to my apartment.

"Hey!" I said, looking at my friend, but unable to keep the smile from my face. "We're having problems because he doesn't respect my agenda. He thinks I should be in college getting an education, not on a mission to kill vampires."

"He may have a point, though, my friend," Sanja said as we walked.

"You Team Ryder now?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head with a laugh. "I will always be Team Ayla. I'm just saying... I worry about you, just like he does."

"Well, don't, girl. I can take care of myself."

"Man... I wish I had such problems as yours. A love triangle with two hotties sounds soooo cool."

I gasped. "I am not in a love triangle!"

She laughed. "Um, yes, you are so in one. This vampire—Kellan—he has it bad for you. I watched your entire interaction. He's hot—I don't need magic to see that—but keep in mind that vampires possess the power of persuasion."

"I know they do," I replied. "But you think he controlled me into kissing him? Because I did not feel like I had been persuaded, coerced, or tricked in any way. I wanted him to kiss me."

She laughed. "Yeah, that's how persuasion works."

"Fuck you, ho," I said, biting back a laugh.

"I think you have enough people to worry about fucking," she came back with a friendly arm-punch.

We looked both ways to cross the narrow street that held an alley on the right side. As soon as I stepped into the street, I heard moaning coming from the alleyway. Sanja heard it too, because her wide eyes met mine.

"Ahh, crap," I finally whispered.

"What's wrong?" Sanja asked, concerned.

With a dramatic sigh, I said, "I think there's a damn vampire in that alley."

Her eyes got big again. "Your psychic vision from earlier?"

I nodded, and put a finger to my lips, indicating for her to be silent.

With Sanja behind me, I peered around the corner of the building and into the alleyway. Sure enough, there was a woman in a short, red dress pressed up against the brick wall of the building. A dark-haired man had his mouth to her neck and her head was craned back, her face bathing in the light from the almost-full moon over head.

When her moans turned to screams, I thoughtlessly sprang into the alley.

"Ayla!" Sanja hissed behind me, but I ignored her.

Grabbing the vampire by his long hair, I ripped him from the woman's now slack body. She slumped against the wall and fell into a heap onto the concrete. I barely registered Sanja tending to her as I slammed the vampire to the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I snapped.

"Bitch," he hissed under me as I straddled his torso. "Get off me!"

Bucking, he managed to throw me to the ground, where I landed hard on my back, but it did not deter me. I sprang up as he lunged for Sanja and the injured woman.

Before he could reach them, with preternatural speed, I was on him, snatching him by the collar of his black shirt and yanking him back. He landed with a satisfying thud, and I was once again on top of him.

"Filthy vampires need to know their place," I hissed in his face, not even recognizing my own voice. "You vermin should learn how to be more discreet."

With a deranged laugh, I leaned down and bit into his neck with fangs I didn't know I had as they descended from my gums.

"No!" the vampire cried, still trying to buck me off. "A wolf bite will kill me! Don't, please!"

I showed him no mercy whatsoever. My fucks-to-give meter had gone to zero at that point. As his blood rushed into my mouth, I felt a renewed sense of vigor pour through me.

With the faint sound of Latin chants coming from Sanja as she attended to the injured woman, I happily tore into the vampire's neck and sucked down all the blood he afforded me. Not as sweet as a human's, but still satisfying nonetheless, I drank it down and smiled as the light faded from his eyes. I hopped off him as his skin turned a strange gray color, and cracks began to form on his face. Before I knew what was happening, he was nothing but a pile of dust—or was that ash?

Huh. Strange. Another vampire off the street at least. I should have been happy about this. But, was I? I began to mildly freak out that I had killed yet another person. I hated taking a life, but I wasn't as distraught as I had been the first time it had happened.

"Who are you?" I heard the woman ask.

I turned around to see her stand and back slowly away from Sanja, frightful, as she had just been in her arms. She put her hand to her neck as Sanja continued to chant, "ad sanandum vulnus" three more times, and then she opened her eyes and said in a low, soothing voice, "Go home, pretty girl. Your neck hurts because you twisted it when you slipped in the alley."

I watched in fascination as Sanja essentially hypnotized the girl.

As she continued to walk backward slowly, watching us suspiciously and with eyes full of fear, I leaned in to Sanja. "Tell her she doesn't need to turn tricks to make money anymore."

"Jenna, one more thing, you are going to find yourself an honest job tomorrow. No more hooking. The life growing in your belly deserves better."

I gasped as Jenna eventually ran away from us.

"How did you know she was a prostitute?" Sanja asked.

I shrugged. "Not exactly sure, to be honest."

"I guess you are psychic now," she replied.

I ignored her and asked, "She's pregnant?"

She nodded. "Sadly, yes."

I shook my head.

"You saved two lives today, it seemed," came a voice that caused me to jump.

A man stood at the end of the alleyway, his hands in his pockets, his very presence intimidating and brooding. I couldn't see his face, but he continued to talk as he made his way toward us, the light from a flickering orange streetlamp eventually illuminating his face. "There are lots of people looking for you, Ayla St. John," he said, amused.

Chapter 27

With an eyebrow quirked, I said, "First off, who the hell are you?"

"Vampire," Sanja whispered beside me.

"Thanks, Sherlock," I said dryly to my friend. I didn't need her to tell me what he was. It was evident by his alabaster skin and red eyes.

"She's right," the stranger said, slowly stalking toward us with his hands in his pants pockets as if he was no threat to us at all.

"Stop!" I said, standing tall and straightening out my short dress as if I needed to maintain some sort of dignity around this leech.

He did as I commanded, and then said, "I can assure you I mean you no harm, Ayla St. John. I am simply in need of your services."

I rolled my eyes with a dramatic sigh. "Do all you vamps talk like that? I mean, really. You're obviously old as hell. Get with the times, dude."

He chuckled and took another tentative step toward us. I instinctively put myself in front of Sanja and she huffed in annoyance, stepping out from behind me and to my side.

"By the way," I said, "I'm not for rent. You might want to check a few blocks over if you're looking for a girl..."

He laughed again. "I do not seek any sexual exchanges or favors, young Ayla. I simply wish to inquire about your fees for killing vampires."

The stranger had rendered me speechless. After closing my mouth, I finally found my words. "I wasn't aware I was some kind of hired assassin."

"Would you like to be?" he asked. "You seemed to have taken down that poor sod easily enough." He indicated the ashes at my feet with his eyes.

I narrowed my eyes. "First off, he was not some 'poor sod'." I paused, looking at Sanja, and asked, "What is a sod, anyway?"

She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Beats me."

"Second," I continued, looking at the strange vampire, "I did not kill him for money. I killed him because he was about to kill an unsuspecting pregnant girl. He was an assholey murderer."

"Assholey," the stranger said, laughing again. "That's pretty... um, awesome."

I sighed. "Who are you?"

He took another step toward us, and I did not back away. "My name is Dean Hobbes. I am just going to come right out and tell you that I overheard you talking at the nightclub earlier. I followed you out here because I could sense that you were very different—that you had something special about you. It was when I caught your scent that I realized who you were."

Biting back a laugh, I put my hand on my hip and said, "Oh yeah, and what's so 'special'?"

One more step closer he was now. "It's clear you smell of wolf, but behave like a vampire."

"Well now I'm insulted."

I heard Sanja snort beside me.

Dean's eyes got big, and he had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Miss Ayla, I meant no offense. I just think you are amazing. What you just did to that vampire. Just... brilliant."

"Okay, now you've made it creepy."

He looked at me in horror. "Creepy? Oh no, miss, I was perfectly serious and sincere in every word I said."

This guy was working my nerves. "All right, guy. Cut to the chase. Who do you want me to kill?"

I couldn't believe I'd asked him that, but at this point, I was just ready to go home to my own bed and get some sleep.

He wrung his small hands together, and then said, "Her name is Elda Stoker and her swift and permanent death would be of great service to me."

Quirking an eyebrow at him, I said, "And, I presume, this Elda chick is a vampire?"

He nodded. "Indeed, she is."

"Why do you want her dead?" I asked, curious.

His expression took on a much different one than the one he'd previously been wearing. "The reasons behind my wishes for her death are not of concern to you. I will pay you one thousand U.S. dollars to drive a stake through her heart."

A grand to stake a vampire? Wow. I could pay my rent with that and have a little beer money left over... and have fun doing it.

I lifted my chin. "The price is two thousand, and how soon would you like me to kill this bitch?"

His brows lifted in surprise, but he quickly recovered with a grin. "Very well, two thousand dollars, but I want her ashes by the end of the week."

It was my turn to take a step toward him. We were within touching distance now. With a smile, I extended my hand. "We have a deal, Dean Hobbes. Just give me her address, and you've got yourself one dead vampire."

Dean looked down at my proffered hand, and then back up into my face. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Ms. St. John, for I do not know where she resides."

I dropped my hand to my side. "Okay then. Where does this Elda hang out at?"

"Don't you think if I knew that, I would just find her and kill her myself?" he asked, seeming to get annoyed now.

"I don't know," I said, studying him, and becoming more annoyed. "You seem like the kind of weenie who would hire a chick to kill a vampire, so I highly doubt it."

I heard Sanja spill a laugh from beside me, but she followed it up with a series of coughs and sniffs.

Dean's eyes went big. "Weenie... really? If I presume this means what I think it does, I can assure you that I am no, um, weenie. I just simply cannot locate Ms. Stoker, and I believe you possess the power and resources"—he paused, inclining his head at Sanja—"to find her and end her. After all, you do seem to have a witch at your beck and call."

Sanja stepped in front of me. "Hey! I will have you know that I do not work for Ayla. I'm her friend, nothing more, nothing less."

Uh oh.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, well, Dean, maybe you misunderstood our relationship, but regardless, I'll find this vampire Elda for you."

He seemed to relax. "That would be most helpful, thank you."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I said, "So what kind of victim does she like? Male? Female? Young? Old?"

"She prefers women, but she has fed from men, too, and when she feeds, there is always some sort of sexual encounter involved."

Great. Looks like I just became bait.

"A five-hundred-dollar deposit is required, just so you know," I said with more confidence than I felt.

Dean stared me down, and said, "I will give you one hundred U.S. dollars as a deposit."

I stared him down, and finally said, "Fine."

Reaching into his pocket, Dean pulled out five twenty-dollar bills and folded them into my hand. "One week, Ms. St. John. I want her ashes in my possession—and soon."

"You got it, Dean." This time I did shake his hand, and after exchanging phone numbers with the strange vampire, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.

We reached my apartment, and as I put the key into the lock, Sanja said, "I suppose you're going to want me to do a location spell on this Elda chick."

I grinned, throwing my keys and phone onto the dining room table. "Well, I didn't know that was a thing, but if you're offering, that would be kinda awesome."

I made my way to my bedroom and when I turned to see Sanja standing there, stock-still and staring at me, I cocked my head to the right a little and said, "What?"

"So you're in the vampire assassination business now?"

I smiled. "That's a thing, too?"

She nodded slowly and mumbled under her breath, "Raised by witches, unbelievable." She shook her head like a disapproving grandmother and pierced me with her serious brown stare. "It is so a thing. Especially by wolves. Goes back a few thousand years."

Now I felt a little slighted. "Okay, so this isn't a wolf thing, Sanja. This is a practice-makes-perfect thing for when I find Linden and the leech who bit me. It's also a money-making thing. I hate my job at that homebuilder's company. I freaking hate it."

She looked tentative for a minute before she said, "Then maybe you should have stayed in school... you know, pursued that teaching degree you were after."

I bit back a curse. "Dammit! I never said I wanted to be a teacher. I told you I was thinking about a teaching degree." I took some calming breaths to quell the beast inside that sometimes showed herself when I was tired and upset.

She threw me a look that was filled with hurt and disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Sanja," I said, walking toward her. "I'm an asshole. I have no excuses for my behavior."

Sanja studied me, but still said nothing.

We were mere feet away now. I softened at the hurt look still coloring her face. "I'm, like, screwed up. I let my emotions get the best of me. I could blame the wolf, and I shouldn't do that, but I do. I can't help it. Can you forgive me?"

She made a move toward me, and once she was face to face with me, she grabbed my hand in a loving gesture. "Location spells work much better if we do them quickly. Go get me some candles and a map."

I nodded, grinning that she had somewhat forgiven me. "I'll pay you half for your troubles."

"I cannot do witchcraft for money. I shouldn't even be doing this spell. You know this," she called out as I headed toward the bathroom.

A few tea light candles were under my sink there, but I knew had no maps, so I improvised. Searching the Internet for world maps, I printed three pages that could be taped together.

Once I had everything on the dining room table, Sanja stood there and peered down at them. I watched in amused fascination as she closed her eyes and hovered her open-palmed hands over the taped-together map.

Holding my breath, my eyes went big when the tea light candles lit themselves, bursts of light from each wick lighting the room. Then she sucked in a lungful of air and began to chant, over and over, "Locate a femina vampire, Elda."

The wicks on the candles burst higher than I had ever seen them, eliciting a gasp from me. Their warmth almost burned my skin. Squinting my eyes at Sanja in the small dining room, I whispered, "Do you have anything?"

She ignored me. She just kept chanting "Locate a femina vampire Elda," over and over. So I let her be. I only recognized two words in her spell anyway, and that was vampire and Elda. The rest had been chanted too fast with some sort of Latin lilt that I hadn't heard before. It didn't matter. As soon as Sanja was done chanting, she opened her eyes and peered at the map before us. Nothing had changed... not that I was sure what to expect.

"I don't understand," she breathed, a confused look on her pretty face.

I cocked my head to the side and stared down at the map, then back to her face. "How many times have you done this spell?"

Chewing her lip, she said, "Just a couple, but usually I see a spark on the map, and touching the spark shows me where the person—or creature—I'm looking for appears."

With no choice but to believe her, I became concerned. I had no idea how these weird psychic visions worked for me, so I couldn't rely on them, but admittedly, they had shown up when I had certainly most expected them not to—nor had I wanted them to.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, I'll find this woman—this bloodsucker—myself."

Chapter 28

No psychic vision came to me. I went about my mundane life and job, and when the end of the week approached, I began to fret over the promise I had made to the vampire Dean Hobbes. Even with the help of a witch, and casually asking around at the club, I couldn't locate her, or even figure out what she looked like.

No wonder he had hired me...

Still, it ate at me. Why did this strange and obviously very old vampire want her dead? There had to be a reason. I mean, contracting the murder of someone you simply don't like or find annoying seems like overkill. No, Dean clearly had a deep hatred for Elda. It made me want to get to the bottom of the murder-for-hire angle he had pinned me with.

But at the end of the day, did it really matter? Killing a vampire was something I would do for free, so if this guy wanted to pay me to do it, who was I to question his motives?

With a deep sigh, I resolved to keep my nose out of his affairs. That being said, I had no way to find this Elda vampire. Wondering if a piece of her personal effects would help my visions, I pulled my phone from the back pocket of my jean shorts and began typing a text to Dean: U got anything personal of hers? I am having trouble getting a read on her.

His response was almost immediate.

Dean the Vamp: No, I do not possess anything personal of hers. Why do you need it?

Rolling my eyes, I responded, slightly fibbing: It's a witch thing. This would go faster if u did.

Dean the Vamp: Unsure how you expect me to get anything personal, when I can't get close enough to kill her myself.

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. Ignoring Dean's text, I then texted Sanja, asking her if she could try another angle, hoping we would soon get some kind of link as to where this Elda vampire was.

"Carter Homes, how may I direct your call?" I asked with zero interest.

I cringed as I pulled the headset away from my sensitive ear. "I wanna talk to the president of your company! No pussyfooting around, either, young lady. I need to talk to him now!"

I bit back a laugh, as this wasn't my first rodeo. "Yes, of course, sir, let me put you right through." I pushed the buttons to transfer the call, letting his secretary handle the irate caller.

Remind me to never buy a house built by these assholes...

The damn machine beeped again, "Carter Homes, how—"

A splitting headache hit me a second before my head hit the desk with a thud.

"Kiss me," she said, her face inches from mine.

I recoiled back. "What? No. I, uh, I don't get down like that. Sorry."

Her beautiful, plump red lips lifted in a sultry grin. "You'll never know until you try. You might like it."

I felt her long arm wrap around my backside to push me into her, and I shivered as her cold flesh touched the bare skin under my backless dress. Her grip was vice-like and almost crushing. I looked into her dark-brown eyes, which had begun to turn red, and at the jet-black hair slicked back tightly away from her mocha-colored face. I then watched as her incisors turned to sharp points. As if being snapped back to reality, I was about to push her back with both hands and then kick out at her, when I heard a low, throaty chuckle.

"You ladies look like you're having fun. May I join?"

We both turned our heads to see Kellan come strolling up, flanked by his goons. Taking a quick look around at where I was, I could see I was in some kind of large house or mansion. The ceilings seemed to be endless and tall, and everything around me was high-polished marble. It was nighttime, but I could see a beautifully lit backyard with a swimming pool and lots of greenery through a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of the home.

The dark-skinned vampire still had me in her embrace, and she cackled. "No, Kellan, you may not join in. This little morsel is mine." Her fangs were still out, so it sounded funny when she spoke.

"I wouldn't bite that one, Elda. She's a wolf," he replied, amused.

"Oh, shit, is she dead?" said a female voice.

I blinked my eyes open and lifted my head, the headache gone. I was surrounded by a dozen or so people.

"Were you... sleeping on the job?" I heard my supervisor Bruce ask, incredulous.

I shook my head, and I could see how it would look like I had been sleeping, so I quickly replied, "No. Um, I have a... seizure disorder. I'm sorry."

The woman who had asked if I was dead gave me a disgusted look. "You should probably get your medication re-evaluated. You scared us half to death, girl."

"Thanks for that," I said dryly.

With the excitement dying down, most of the lookie-loos went back to their desks, except my supervisor. "Do you need to go home?"

As tempting as that was, I needed the money, so I said, "Nah, I'm okay. Everything is good."

"If you're sure," he said, walking away slowly but not taking his stare off me.

I waved him off. "I'm good. Sorry for the scare, Bruce."

He smiled in relief and went to the back to finish whatever he did back there.

Thankfully, the rest of the workday was uneventful, psychic visions, rude callers, or otherwise.

I took careful attention to not forget one snippet of my vision from earlier. Knowing where the best place to find Kellan was, I took a short nap, ate some dinner, and then told Sanja to get dressed because we were going to Moon Chasers. As I became more familiar with these visions, I wondered if I could use them to my advantage. Like if I knew what was going to happen, could I make it so, or change it? Or was the vision simply telling me it was going to happen and there was nothing I could do to change it? I decided I would stick to what I saw, and knowing I could find the sexy but infuriating vampire at that club, I decided that was where I was going to be.

Pulling out the only backless dress I owned from my tiny closet, I slipped it on and then applied more makeup than I normally wore.

My phone chimed with a text. I swiped the screen to read it.

Beckett: OMG I just got invited to the party of the year! Be my plus-one?

I worried my lip. I had an agenda I needed to stick to tonight. Thinking long and hard, I decided maybe fate knew better than I did, so I replied: Sure, where?

Beckett: It's at the massive home of the Vlasé.

Me: WTF is the Vlasé?

Beckett: LOL um like vampire royalty? Leaders?

I raised an eyebrow and replied: Really? I won't get murdered walking in there?

I was thinking someone was getting murdered, but it wouldn't be me. Get that cash ready, Dean.

Beckett: Hell no, it's rude to murder people during a party. Don't you know anything? ;)

Rolling my eyes, I replied: Can Sanja come?

Beckett: Sure, if she is okay being around a bunch of fabulous vamps. Pick you up at 8.

I tossed the phone down and finished getting ready. The chick from my vision—Elda—seemed pretty high class, and I had no doubt she would be there. Cha-ching!

Chapter 29

I had to tell myself to close my mouth when we pulled up to the Vlasé's humongous mansion. Or was it a castle? God, the thing was ginormous.

Fancy coach-lights burned on the outside of the massive brick structure. The outside was perfectly landscaped with clean lines and popping color—I could even see the flowerbeds at night as they each had their own spotlights. The cobblestoned circular drive was manned by human valets who took Beckett's BMW before we headed inside.

Just as in my vision, the inside was all white and black high-polished marble. Ostentatious gold-flecked Roman columns held up the second floor of the structure, and at the top of each column, cherubs engraved into each one watched us with their stony faces. People dressed in fancy clothes stood around drinking what was probably champagne. My and Sanja's heels clacked on the blindingly shiny floors, but there was a lot of noise from the party, so I doubted we attracted that much attention.

I had been surprised to see Beckett in a three-piece suit. It wasn't really him, but I guessed this shindig required something fancy. I was glad this damn dress still fit me.

Sanja looked gorgeous in a blood-red above-the-knee dress with silver heels, the whole ensemble contrasting beautifully with her olive skin.

As awed as I was with this house, and the whole idea of vampire hierarchy, I only had one thing on my mind. Okay, I had two things on my mind: First, find Elda and stab her through the heart with the metal stake I had strapped to my thigh under this dress. Second, find out if that piece-of-shit Linden was here, since I kept hearing he was pretty high up in this dumbass Vlasé organization. Well, I didn't actually know if he was high up in this one, but from the way Beckett had spoken on the way here, there really wasn't anything else. This company of highly organized vampires stretched worldwide, and that was just what they were called... the Vlasé. I was told each chapter held its own government. It was then that Beckett confessed that he had no idea who the president—or leader—of the Colorado Chapter was. I wanted to smack him.

An orchestra in the corner of the massive room played some kind of classical music. Not exactly dance tunes, but I refrained from rolling my eyes.

I nudged my friend. "What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing here?"

He looked around the crowded room with an equally fake smile on his flawless face, and said, "I don't know. Dance? Eat caviar? Blend in? Network?"

Rolling my eyes, I murmured, "I'm too sober for this."

My eyes scanned the room until I saw a server dressed in black and white walking around the room with a tray full of champagne flutes. I snatched one off the tray as he approached, and then downed the liquid in one gulp.

"You're supposed to sip champagne, not slam it." Beckett chuckled.

Sanja laughed as she held her flute between her dainty fingers. She sipped at her glass and said, "Yeah."

"I'm gonna go take a walk," I said, ignoring them both.

I hadn't gone ten steps before I heard a familiar laugh. My skin broke out in goosebumps and I turned around to see Kellan standing in a circle of people. He held a dark-glass bottle of something in his hand and two of his strict-looking bodyguards stood nearby. He was talking to three women and two men, and they seemed to be having a great time. I might have stared a little too long at how handsome he looked in a black tuxedo, the arms of the black fabric stretched tight over his massive biceps. The white shirt under the suit jacket also seemed to be straining, its thin material showing every bump and ridge of his chest and stomach.

I swallowed hard and tried to tame the horny beast inside me.

As if on cue, he looked up to where I was, as I had climbed halfway up a ridiculously cliché spiraled staircase. I had planned on exploring up there, to see if I could locate my two targets.

Frozen in place, Kellan's eyes met mine, and after a brief look of shock at seeing me here passed over his features, an amused smile lifted his lips as his gaze traveled from my face, all the way down to my shoes. Then he went back to the conversation with the circle he now stood in.

It was no shock he was here; after all, hadn't the vision shown me that? I was going to try to change that vision, though.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I pushed open the first door I came to. It seemed as though it was some sort of ballroom or something. The room was large but empty, save for a humongous built-in bookcase along the eastern wall. It even had one of those cool floor-to-ceiling ladders that slid along the cases. The floor was dark wood, polished to perfection. Guess the library doubled as a ballroom?

I closed that door and went to the next door. This was one was cracked, so I peered through the slit in the door and saw it was some kind of office. Slowly pushing the door open enough for me to slide inside, I looked around and saw a large wooden desk that smelled new, a leather sofa, a small bookcase, and an adjoining bathroom. My shoes whispered over new-looking plush, beige carpet and I longed to remove my heels so I could feel its softness under my feet. Walking over to the desk, I had to steady myself a little as the champagne I'd slammed sort of hit me.

"Whoa," I whispered, placing my hand on the desk.

Looking at the books on the shelf, they all seem to be medical journals and textbooks. It was then I noticed shiny plaques on the credenza, all with the name Dr. John Stoker on them from varying hospitals. I briefly wondered if this doctor was also a vampire and how he avoided working during the daylight.

"What are you doing in my husband's office?"

I turned to see Elda standing in the doorway, dressed in a long, blue, shimmering cocktail gown. She did not look angry, just curious.

I swallowed hard and smiled. "Sorry, I must be lost."

"It's okay," she said in a sultry voice with a smile. She came toward me, and before I had blinked, she was in my space.

I now had my butt up against the edge of the credenza that held all the plaques and awards. I held strong and tried to show no fear as her cold arm snaked around my bare back.

"What's your name, honey? You're awfully pretty." She ran a long, red nail down my cheek.

I lifted my chin. "Ayla. What's yours?"

"Ah, Ayla. By the light of the moon. That is a beautiful name."

I kept up the flirtatious banter, and was convinced I could change my visions; mold them to how I see fit. "Most people don't know that my name means that."

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and I considered grabbing for my stake, but I said instead, "You never told me your name."

With hooded eyes, she replied lazily, "It's Elda, honey. Damn, you smell delicious."

"I hear that a lot," was all I could think to say. I had sprayed on my pheromone perfume so I hoped she was referring to that.

Now she was an inch from my face, staring into my eyes. "Kiss me," she breathed.

With a shrug, I figured it would be a great way to disarm her. I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers, and all I could think about was the Katy Perry song, I Kissed A Girl, and I let her lips and tongue move around mine. I leaned down and inched my dress up in my thigh and pulled the sharpened metal shank from the strap there.

Elda's breath picked up, and when she broke the kiss, I could see her chocolate-colored eyes had turned red, and her fangs were now out. I gasped out loud, and she smiled, gripping my chin. "Let me see if you taste as good as you smell."

Since I had already been bitten by a vampire, and nothing really happened (well, I now smelled like one, and could fly, so I guessed something did happen), I let her sink her teeth into my neck. I could tell she was very old, as it barely stung, so she did it gently.

Before she could drain me, I groaned out a deep breath disguised as lust—and honestly, what she was doing was starting to feel real good. But I lifted the metal stake, pulled her flush against me, and then reached around with both hands to drive the stake into her back.

"What the fuck!" she screeched after removing her fangs from my neck.

I looked over to see Kellan walk into the study, right as Elda screamed and reached around to try to grasp the stake in her back. Slowly, she gave up the fight, and as the light died in her eyes, she began to crumble. I didn't get to watch the rest as I was thrown onto the floor of the office, my head slamming on the hard wood of the desk leg.

"Ow!" I hissed.

Kellan was on top of me. "What in the fuck did you do that for?" he bellowed, pointing to Elda's remains.

"She bit me!" I said.

"Nobody dislikes Elda's bite. There is no way you killed her because of that," he replied in his infuriatingly sexy accent.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

He jumped up, and with unnatural speed went to the door of the office and locked it.

I was up off the floor quickly and I swallowed hard as I realized he was locking us in. I made a beeline for the adjoining bathroom, but he blocked my way. Then I ran to Elda's remains to retrieve my stake, but he was faster, reaching down and tossing it toward the restroom.

I lifted my chin, continuing to try to look brave, even though I was scared shitless and trembling at this point. I knew Kellan was old and could probably kill me in a split second. So I said, "How do you know her bite feels good? She do it to you often?"

The bastard had the nerve to laugh at my question. "No, little wolf, I don't make it a habit to go shagging my boss's wives, girlfriends, or otherwise."

My eyes widened. "Something tells me she wasn't a very good wife to the good doctor."

"Why's that?"

"Well, she definitely likes women, so..."

He took his tux jacket off and removed the cufflinks from his wrists. He then unbuttoned the sleeves and rolled them to the elbow. He looked like he was preparing for a fight.

Oh crap...

"Some people do prefer both sexes. I would think a little millennial like yourself would know that."

"You're a dick. Let me out of here."

"Uh, no. You just murdered my boss's wife."

I crossed my arms over my chest and lied, "It was self-defense."

He looked down at her ashes, then back to me. "I didn't particularly care for the woman myself, but you can't go about killing people whenever you damn well please."

"Okay. I promise not to do it again. Can I go now?"

"Not until you tell me why you killed her. The real reason."

"No."

He rushed over to me and slammed me onto the office's sofa and pinned me there. I gasped at how quickly he'd done it. He murmured close to my ear, "I have been hearing whisperings that you are a hunter. Please tell me that it's not true. You use that witch friend of yours to help you with your dirty work, do you?"

I couldn't breathe at his close proximity. Because my legs had had nowhere else to go but spread apart, he used his hand to run it up the inside of my bare thigh as it was wrapped around his waist. I tried and failed to suppress the shiver that racked my entire body from his touch.

He then leaned down to whisper in my ear, and as he did, I could feel his hard arousal against the inside of my other thigh. "Maybe I should rip these panties from you and render you pliable and compliant, then after I make you come a few times, you'll tell me why you murdered Elda."

Before I could protest, he slammed his lips down on mine and molded them to my own. When his tongue licked the seam of my lips, I opened up for him and our tongues began to mingle. He tasted amazing and I soon realized I had never been this turned on, ever. He reached under my dress and yanked the thin lace panties from me and then wadded them up, shoving them in his pocket. Pushing my dress up higher, I felt his fingers graze up my inner thigh and then I gasped when he shoved two fingers inside of me. He used the pad of his thumb to press and circle on my most sensitive spot. I began to buck my hips as a blindingly fast orgasm ripped through me, and I screamed into his smiling mouth. He then leaned down and bit into my neck, and once he began to suck, I came again, or maybe I was still coming? All I knew was that it was so intense, I almost couldn't handle it.

Slowly removing his fangs from my neck, he used his naughty fingers to wipe blood from his lip, and then he put both wet fingers into my mouth. "Taste yourself."

Reaching down, he unbuttoned his pants. "Now I'm going to fuck you until you can't move, little wolf."

"Ayla!"

"Aylaaa!"

Voices echoed from the hallway outside the door and I recognized them to be Sanja's and Beckett's.

"Shit!" I said, sitting up. "What the hell are we doing?" I muttered the last part mostly to myself.

Kellan looked at me, amused. "We're having fun, don't you agree? The door is locked. Lie back and let me pleasure you some more."

Damn, that sounded awesome, but I realized, for the second time since he'd made me weak and stupid, that I did still have a boyfriend. One I hadn't spoken to in over a week because I was still mad at him. One I needed to make a serious decision about.

My friends continued to call my name and I ran into the bathroom to clean up. Then, quickly rummaging through the drawers, I found a large, almost empty pill bottle. I dumped the pills onto the counter and ran out and shoved as many of Elda's ashes into it as I could.

Kellan had re-dressed and now had his hands in his pocket, and I could see he was still very much bulging and straining behind his zipper.

"What in bloody hell are you doing? Don't touch those! Dr. Stoker needs to bury them."

I stopped what I was doing. "Uh, I was just cleaning up for you. I feel bad for killing her now."

No, no I didn't, but if I didn't bring Dean her ashes, I had just killed her for nothing.

"No, you don't," he said, mimicking my thoughts.

I paused and looked up at him. "Tell you what, let me bury them for you. Just tell me where."

He shook his head. "You're a terrible liar. You killed her for money and now have to deliver her ashes."

I let myself fall onto the floor on my butt and sighed. "Okay you got me."

"To whom and for how much?"

I shook my head and looked down. "I don't think so."

He crouched to my level and used his fingers to tilt my face to his. "No, I'm genuinely curious. Who wanted Elda dead?"

"Does it matter? I killed her, so you'll have to punish me, I guess." I was stalling, trying to figure out how the hell I was going to get out of there.

He laughed and stood, helping me to stand. "I'm going to give you a sixty-second head start. Take what you have, gather your friends, and get the hell out of here."

Breathing in relief, I plunked the lid on the pill bottle and said, "And what are you going to do?"

He looked down at the rest of the ashes, then back to me. "Lie my arse off."

I kissed him on the cheek and, shoving the pill bottle into my bra, I opened the door and saw my friends at the end of the hallway.

"There you are," Sanja said, looking relieved.

"We need to leave now," I whisper-yelled.

"But—" Beckett started.

"Now!" I hissed, looking around.

"Where were you—" Sanja began.

"Later. I'll tell you both everything later," I promised.

We descended the stairs and walked as calmly and coolly as we could out the front door. Once we were outside, I glanced behind me, knowing my sixty seconds were over, and as the valet brought us Beckett's BMW, I heard a man's voice howling in grief from upstairs.

Chapter 30

I got home and shot off a text to Dean Hobbes: I have something for u.

He replied immediately: Excellent! Where shall we meet?

Me: How about the first place we ever met?

Dean the Vamp: See you in 20m.

"Where are you going?" Sanja asked, alarmed to see me heading for the front door.

I held up the pill bottle. "To deliver and collect."

I had told both Sanja and Beckett on the way back to my apartment about what had happened upstairs. I may have left out a few sordid details about what Kellan had done with me—to me—but they got the gist. Beckett was upset that I had killed a vampire for money and had dropped us off, angry, tearing off down the street in his car. I would have to deal with him later.

She frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea."

I sighed and walked over to her. "I know you don't, but I just want this done. I don't think I'll be doing this again, so you don't have to worry."

Narrowing her eyes at me, she said, "I somehow doubt that."

"Wanna come?" I asked, plastering on a cheesy grin.

"I don't think either of us should be out when you just committed murder like an hour ago. You're going to have the entire Vlasé looking for you."

I shook my head. "Kellan told me he'd cover for me."

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest. "And you believe that crazy vampire?"

I laughed. "Yes, I do. You coming or not?"

She shook her head. "Like I'd let you go alone. Let me change." She disappeared into bathroom and came out wearing yoga pants and a hoodie. I was still wearing my dress but had flats on, and I grabbed a sweater on the way out.

"This is it?" Dean asked, holding the pill bottle in the palm of his hand.

"I'm not sure if you've ever tried to collect vampire ashes, but it's not exactly easy on plush, high-dollar carpet. You're lucky I got that much."

He shook his head. "I don't even know if these are hers."

"Are you for real? Like, how would you know if they were hers if I had given you all of them?" I asked, incredulous.

"Her scent. It's faintly there, but I don't know." He opened the lid and inhaled again.

Sanja made a face. "That's really gross."

Dean ignored her and pierced me with his beady brown eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he handed me a wad of bills.

I handed them to Sanja and said, "Count it."

"Gosh, I feel so Breaking Bad right now," she said, peeling off the rubber band and licking her finger.

"We done here?" Dean asked as he turned to walk away, his trench coat swishing at his feet.

"She stole your woman away from you, didn't she?" I asked curiously, wondering if I was right.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around. "How did you know that?"

"She was married to a very prominent member of the Vlasé, you know. A doctor. I'm pretty sure he's royally pissed at his wife's death."

He snorted. "I did not know much about her. Met her at a fetish club, and she took Janine and me home to play. Two weeks later, Janine tells me she's leaving me for Elda, never saw her again. That was two years ago. Janine and I had been married for thirty years."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling bad for the little weasel now. "I didn't stay at the party long enough to see if there was a Janine there, but I can try to find her for you."

He waved a dismissive hand and said, "Nah. I don't want to see the bitch ever again."

"So you just wanted Elda dead just because?"

He chuckled and walked down the alley. "Yep. Thank you."

"It's all here," Sanja said. "Nineteen hundred."

I handed her five one-hundred dollar bills and said, "Thanks for your help."

She grinned and pocketed the money.

Ryder had me up against his car at the top of Wolfe Point and was kissing me crazy. "I'm sorry for everything. God, I've missed you. We shouldn't go a month without seeing each other."

I hugged him tight. "I've missed you, too. You still set to graduate in May?"

He nodded. "Yep. Then we can figure out what you're going to do. Maybe we can move in together."

I snorted. "We've been together five years. We should do something or break up."

He pulled back and looked down at me, a mix of hurt and shock on his face. "Wow that sounded defensive. We've both been too busy to play house. We are still young..."

"Stop," I said. "I did not mean that to sound the way it did. Sometimes I don't think before I speak."

"Sooo, you really do feel that way?"

I sighed. "In a roundabout way, yes, but not as harsh as it came out."

Feeling increasingly more twitchy and agitated, I walked away and said, "You guys have fun hunting. I'll be in the trailer trying to avoid mirrors and razors."

With that, I went inside, stripped off all my clothes, and waited for the fever to hit me. Then I spent the rest of the night eating pizza and washing it down with a blood bag, while I watched DVDs on my laptop I'd brought.

The blood bag was a necessity I'd learned to bring with me for each shift. I found it was easy to steal them from blood donation trucks. It sucked to be stuck in the middle like this all the time. I much preferred being the wolf. I felt a comradery with my brothers and sisters when we hunted and shifted together. Now, I was just some freak outcast who could get shot or put on a TV show about Bigfoot if I stayed in the woods. So I just spent the night in the trailer and locked the door for two of the three nights. I'd found by the third night, I did not shift into anything. I'd been taking my own car up the mountain so I didn't have to waste my time hanging around on the third night.

I always called in sick to my job for the two days I was gone, and sometimes I got lucky and it landed on one or two weekend days so I didn't have to seem like such a bad employee, but there really wasn't much choice.

I thought about going into business for myself... as much as I had hated my first vampire kill, I found the next two weren't so bad. The more I studied them, the more I realized lots of them had been around for decades—even centuries sometimes, and the longer they 'lived', the more insane they became. It had been a week since I'd offed Elda. I found myself thinking nonstop about Kellan, but knew that wasn't such a good idea. Guilt still flooded me when I thought about what we had done that night. What made me feel even guiltier was how much I liked it and wanted to see him again.

I also realized I would have to make a lot more stakes. I didn't trust that wood wouldn't splinter or break so I had bought a bunch of metal piping from the hardware store and began sharpening them with my claws. I had also discovered that I could somewhat shift parts of my body on command, like my claws and fangs—like when I had killed that vampire in the alley. The fangs just descended on their own when my body was prepped to kill or defend, I'd learned.

Sanja's spring break visit was over, and she had gone back to Boulder to finish out her last semester, but she was already talking about staying in Colorado with me instead of going back to Texas. She wanted to open up her own magic and herbal shop downtown.

I was halfway down the mountain at the end of the second day when my phone rang. It was an unknown Denver area code, but I answered it anyway, hoping I wouldn't lose signal.

"Hello?"

"Ayla?" asked a male voice.

"Yes. Who's this?"

"Evan Grant, we spoke a few weeks ago."

I nodded, remembering the cute but sort of strange hybrid who had approached me at work. I put the phone on speaker because I needed both hands to navigate the Honda down the windy mountain road. "I remember. I was wondering if I was going to hear from you."

"I understand you went to a big party the Vlasé threw last weekend."

"Yeah, so?"

I felt nervous and immediately defensive. Did he know I had killed Elda?

He chuckled. "Well, my family and I were there. I was going to approach you and say hi, but you disappeared pretty quickly. Linden was at the party."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? So why didn't you kill the bastard?"

"He was heavily guarded and only made a brief appearance. When his head of security disappeared upstairs, we were going to make our move, but he was escorted out by about a dozen other vamps. I just wanted you to know that you were close, and that we figured out that he actually lives in the Vlasé's mansion headquarters there."

I smiled inside thinking about just how preoccupied his head of security had been. "Yeah, Kellan was upstairs with me."

A long pause ensued.

"Hello?" I said.

"You were with Kellan? Was that before or after you killed Dr. Stoker's wife?"

Shit.

"How did you know about Elda?"

He didn't pry about Kellan, but said, "We know everything."

"Who else knows about what I did?"

"No one. We have secret cameras in that house, and we watched."

My cheeks immediately heated. I swallowed hard. "Then I'm sure the Vlasé have cameras in there, too."

"No. Dr. Stoker prohibited cameras in his office. But we managed to plant one."

I felt sick. "I trust you will keep that and whatever else happened in that room a secret."

He laughed. "We've already destroyed the tape, but the reason I'm calling is because I'd like for two things to happen."

I had finally reached the long, stretching highway that would take me back to the city, and breathed a sigh of relief that I was off the small, winding treacherous road. I flipped down the visor to keep the sun out of my face. "And what is that?"

"One, I would like to use your relationship with Kellan Conley to our advantage. You get close enough to him so you can meet Linden. In exchange, my wife and I will train you how to hunt and kill vampires. Because, girl, that metal stake thing you did... not good. Sloppy."

I smiled despite his insult. "Sloppy, but effective."

"And that is not how you collect ashes," he said with a smile in his voice.

"Okay, Evan Grant, you have yourself a deal. When do I start?"

"Tonight, blondie. Meet me at the Griffen Apartments in Lo-Do at eleven p.m."

I swallowed hard as I felt butterflies invade my stomach. "I'll be there."

Epilogue

I chanced one last look at the twin gargoyles flanking me, and knew it was time. The snow was coming down harder now. As I prepared to leap off the twenty-story building, I was excited to take out this particular vampire, Johnny. He had been killing humans for five years, undetected and unchecked by his coven within the Vlasé, and it was time for him to die. Again.

It only took three times for me to perfect flying. Evan's wife, Karina, had shown me how it was done, as I hadn't attempted it since my leap off the bar's roof the night I met Beckett. I was a total pro now. Evan and Karina also showed me easier ways to create stakes, using heat and fire to mold the metal soft before I sharpened it with a sharpening steel. I also realized the sharpening steel, if perfected to a point, would make a great shank in and of itself. It was that which I held in my hand now. Next week they were going to show me how to use a crossbow pistol, and a few special guns. I was excited.

With my hair flying up behind me, and the ice-cold wind rushing against my skin, I watched as the ground flew up to meet me. Like a cat, I landed on my feet with a thud right behind the sleazeball in front of the Griffen Apartment Building. He quickly turned around and looked at me, shock registering on his ugly, pale face.

His brows drew together. "Where the fuck did you come from?"

I grinned darkly. "Hell. Which is where you're headed."

Cheesy? Yes. Makes me feel like a badass? Definitely.

He began to chuckle and bared his fangs, "You first, bit—" but he was cut off when I drove the sharpening tool into his chest. He clutched at it and fell to the ground, where I pulled it out and jumped off of him, watching him crack and turn to ash.

"Bravo," Karina said, her pale skin and bright red hair illuminated under the streetlamp.

"I got it," Evan said with his phone up, recording.

I high-fived Karina, and then she used a tiny electric hand-held vacuum to remove the scumbag's ashes.

Evan then handed me fifty one-hundred dollar bills, my payment for killing Johnny.

I'd already happily quit my job at Carter Homes, as this kill I just made would pay my rent for months.

We walked down the street in the direction of Moon Chasers, and I asked, "Where do you get your info from? I mean, how did you know Johnny here"—I indicated the small vacuum that now swung from Karina's fist—"had been killing people for that long?"

Evan smiled. "How many questions are you going to keep asking us? We have our ways. We have connections. My brothers are very, very old. One even has a bit of a psychic gift. You don't worry your pretty little head about it, and just learn what we teach, and we'll continue to pay you for it."

I nodded, and we walked in silence for a few minutes. Then I looked at Evan. "Question. Do you shift on a full moon?"

He nodded. "Sorta. I shift into something between the Wolf-Man and Bigfoot."

I chuckled and said, "I think you and I are going to be good friends, Evan."

As we entered Moon Chasers, I could see Beckett sitting at our favorite table with my gin and seltzer waiting for me. He'd somewhat forgiven me, but did not agree with my new profession. However, Beckett was smart and knew he should probably stay on my good side—not that I would ever hurt him. I really did cherish him as a close friend.

Ryder also sat there, both of them tolerating each other enough, and Sanja was also here. We were celebrating my quitting Carter Homes and their college graduations.

"Ugh, wolf," I heard a vampire say, sneering as he walked by Ryder.

Admittedly, Ryder was not happy about coming to a vampire bar, but he did it for me.

I plunked myself in his lap and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for coming."

"Anything for you," he said smiling. Then he kissed me.

"Gross. Drink your gin," Beckett said.

As I pulled away from Ryder's face, I grabbed my drink and looked up to see Kellan walk into the bar, his two guards following closely. Our eyes met with intensity, and memories of what we'd done in that upstairs office weeks ago flooded me, causing me to shudder all over. This was the first time I'd seen him since then. I had wondered why he hadn't been around, but it wasn't like I had the guy's address or cell number so I could ask. Not that I would have anyway.

Then he smiled knowingly at me, and I knew at that moment that I was in big, big trouble where my heart was concerned.

I dragged my gaze away from the infuriatingly handsome bastard and looked at my new friends, Evan and Karina. They were training me to kill vampires, to be the best murder-for-hire there was. The pay was nice, but my endgame here was that I was doing it for practice so I could kill the biggest vampire of all.

Linden's murder would be slow, it would be sweet, and by my very own hand.

THE END

Book 2, The Lunar Curse, is the next in the series.

Amazon click

Other retailers click

Would you like to read Evan and Karina's story? This short novella, titled Violent, A Sick Little Werewolf Story, is available !

THE AYLA ST. JOHN CHRONICLES

The Lunar Effect

The Lunar Curse

The Lunar Secret

The Lunar Magic

The Lunar Promise

The Lunar Light

SONG LIST:

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)—Eurythmics

Alive—Sia

Whisper—Evanescence

She Used To Be Mine—Brooks & Dunn

Heavy—Florence + The Machine

Hungry Like The Wolf—Duran Duran

Behind Blue Eyes—Limp Bizkit

Salted Wound—Sia

All I Want—Kodaline

Who's Your Daddy?—Benny Benassi ft. David Guetta

Far From Home—Five Finger Death Punch

The Phoenix—Fall Out Boy

Gone Too Soon –Daughtry

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid—The Offspring

Wrong Side Of Heaven—Five Finger Death Punch

To Be Human—Sia

Wanted Dead Or Alive—Daughtry

Sad Beautiful Tragic—Taylor Swift

In The Air Tonight—Phil Collins

To Build A Home—The Cinematic Orchestra

American—Lana Del Rey

Shape Of You—Ed Sheeran

Better—Plumb

No Promises—Cheat Codes (Feat. Demi Lovato)

Runaway—Bon Jovi

The Light—Disturbed

Nothing Else Matters—Metallica

Speak Up—Pop Etc

Cut—Plumb

What You Want—Evanescence

I Can Do This—Plumb

Fiction—Author

Heat Of The Moment—Asia

Shine—Birdy

Down With The Sickness—Disturbed

Invisible—Taylor Swift

My Immortal—Evanescence

Helium—Sia

Brighter—Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

C.J. is a USA Today Bestselling author living in Colorado but wishes she was someplace warmer. She loves the SF 49ers and has a weakness for expensive shoes. She's the author of over 30 novels and short stories that contain both fantasy and paranormal romance with kickass heroines and strong alphas. When she's not writing, she can be found working at a very strange day job, which may or may not have some mild influences on her gripping stories—so strange, in fact, she may just write a book about it one day.

She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on her website, cjpinard.com.

Find me:
Email me:

Like me:
Friend me:
Tweet me:
Add me:

Follow me: and here

Join the fan book club!

OTHER BOOKS BY C.J. PINARD:

Paranormal Fantasy:

Enchanted Immortals 1

Enchanted Immortals 2: The Vortex

Enchanted Immortals 3: The Vampyre

Enchanted Immortals 4: The Vixen

BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigation

Enchanted Immortals Box Set: 4 Books + Novella

New Adult Contemporary Romance:

Patriotic Duty (Duty & Desire, #1)

Tour of Duty (Duty & Desire #2)

Boots Beneath My Bed (Duty & Desire #3)

Playing the Field (Duty & Desire #4)

Romantic Suspense:

Antihero (Imperfect Heroes, Book 1)

Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes, Book 2)

Beneath Broken (Imperfect Heroes, Book 3)

Beyond Love (Imperfect Heroes, Book 4)

Paranormal Romance:

Unscathed (A paranormal romance novel with Tim O'Rourke)

Soul Rebel (Death's Kiss #1)

Soul Redemption (Death's Kiss #2)

Soul Release (Death's Kiss #3)

Kovah: Soul Seeker (A Death's Kiss Novel #4)

Lotus (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus's Journey Part I

Watcher (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus's Journey, Part II

Guardian (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus's Journey, Part III

The Lunar Effect (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #1)

The Lunar Curse (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #2)

The Lunar Secret (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #3)

The Lunar Magic (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #4)

The Lunar Promise (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #5)

The Lunar Light (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #6)

Reverse Harem Fantasy:

Four Princes (Rothhaven Trilogy, #1) (FREE in Kindle Unlimited)

Four Kings (Rothhaven Trilogy, #2)

Four Heirs (Rothhaven Trilogy, #3)

All books available where eBooks are sold. Click for a complete list.

Sign up for her newsletter here --à