It all starts with a mistake. Whether it be miniscule, fatal, or just something that plain ruined your life. The worst part is, you never know what mistake you are going to make, when you will do so, and what effect it will have on your life. Makes you wish you were psychic doesn’t it?

“I know…its not that big of a deal, Quinn,” I stressed, as my best friend tried convincing me into going shopping for back to school, even though school was starting today, and it would be pointless to go now. She rolled her eyes, knowing how I felt about shopping, trying stuff on, it was all just pointless—at least that’s what I thought. She on the other hand, always was having new clothes on hand, always pressuring me into trying on some of her older clothes that she didn’t like the styles, in hopes that I would fall under her spell of shopping, not happening.

“You need new clothes,” she stressed, picking up the sleeve of my hoodie sweatshirt in her hand in a mock disgust, “This…this is a disgrace,” she shook my arm, and I jerked it back. Feigning like I was hurt, “What is wrong with my clothing?”

“Everything,” she laughed out, and I rolled my eyes, looking very similar to what her face had looked like only seconds ago. I really didn’t think anything was wrong with how I dressed, it was just simple jeans, and normally t-shirts, and when it got colder, of course sweatshirts. I wasn’t all that clever in the fashion field and stayed clear of it as much as I could.

We continued walking down the sidewalk, towards our high school, deciding we wanted to enjoy some of the warm air, while it was still here, both of us were positive that soon enough the presence of school would suck up the nice weather. I kicked a stone in our way, watching it slowly hop and tumble off the side walk to settle somewhere in the underbrush where I couldn’t see. The underbrush was shadows by the tall boughs of the trees in the forest flanking us on our side, so dense that when you tried to look into the thick wall of trunks it was dark, grainy and eerie. I didn’t dare sweep my foot in that unknown underbrush to get the stone to kick again.

“I’m comfortable, and don’t look terrible, that’s all that matters,” I said with a shrug, “I have no sense in fashion, might as well be shopping for parts to a fridgerator for how much statistics I would know…wait, never mind, I would actually know what to look for in a fridge,” I said with a grin, and she let out a defeated sigh, maybe this time for good. Most likely not.

“Can you believe that this is going to be the last first day of school…” she sighed wistfully, clasping her hands together overdramatically. I chuckled, “Not really, well at least for me…I actually plan on going to college,”

“I plan on going to college,” she bristled defending herself, “Just don’t know what for yet…or why, really,” I couldn’t comprehend how she couldn’t know what she would be going to college for, I had had my whole career planned out since ninth grade, knowing exactly what college I was going to, the statistics of the programs I wanted in on, and even the grade point average and test scores I would need for the best of scholarships. It was incomprehendable that she had not a clue, but then again, neither did I about fashion, so I guess it was even, sort of.

“Anyway I have a year to decide, I’m fine,” she waved my worries of her future off, but that’s what she said at the beginning of the summer, I quote, “I have the summer to decide, I’m fine,”.

It was no use to try and get her to change, she was who she was, and I loved her for it.

We passed the clearing of the forest, that was a gentle park, its swings still without the early morning breeze, and the slide, its metal surface shining in the sunlight that was creeping up on us, as the day approached. I had the sudden urge to run up to the swings and swing until I could taste the sunlight, but I glanced at my watch.

“We have to hurry, or we are going to be late to chat with Kyle and Rebecca,” I sighed, the swings can wait.

She walked a little faster, but I had a longer stride and managed to keep up with her at a lower pace, she glowered at me. “When did you get so tall?” she grumbled, looking up at me, and I smiled down at her. I had grown over the summer, not by much, but enough to secure my spot at five inches taller than her. “When did you get so tan?” I remarked, she had spent the summer in Texas, and the sun must be beating down on her the whole time, because her normally pale skin was the color browned cookies.

We had an easy friendship, it was pretty effortless, we got into fights, but always we got back to our equilibrium point of gentle teasing and laughs.

All of a sudden, she wasn’t walking beside me anymore, and I saw her form shoot forward in a run. “Bet you I can beat you there?” I was caught in surprise, my mouth an open ‘o’. Blinking rapidly, I caught on with a grin, and tightened my backpack closer to myself before running after her.

The slap of my feet against the sidewalk was paced and my breathing even. Spending your summer doing yard work had its advantages, as I laughed as I saw the fleeing form of Quinn; grow into more focus with each step. She glanced back her eyes widening as she saw me running after her, a predator aimed after her prize of pride.

I could see the school growing larger as each footfall brought us both closer to its doors. It looked different, bigger somehow, but I couldn’t make out the details as I took my strides longer, practically jumping like an antelope across the sidewalk. Pushing through a group of juniors, they glared hatefully at me and I through an apologetic glance back, Quinn had managed to slip through the space in between them. Sometimes I wish I was taller…sometimes, definitely not all the time.

I was close enough I was positive she would be able to hear my breathing in her ear, and a dastardly plan formed in my mind. I reached forward and tugged harshly on the handle of her backpack, making her stumble to a stop and backwards while I propelled forward. I reached the flagpole just in time, resting my hand on its smooth spherical surface, my breath was uneven now, and I was trying to catch up on it when she finally came to a stuttering stop by me, in the same condition.

“You have an evil mind,” she frowned as she eyed daggers at me. I grinned, “The evilest,”

“Hey, what are you two doing all the way over here?” a new voice perked in, and we both turned to Rebecca, Kyle trailing behind her as they approached. Her hair was waved down her back, a sea of light blonde curls that highlighted her bright eyes. She had changed over the summer, I guess I was in for a ton of changes, everything was shifting. But one thing that hadn’t was Kyle, whose hands were in his pockets as he grinned and walked towards us all. His dirty blonde hair still fell slightly in front of his left eye, the curl just making it bouncy enough to jiggle as he walked, but when you ran your hands through it, you wouldn’t get your fingers caught. I blushed a deep red at the thought, trying to put the past behind us, that was years ago, we had both moved on.

“Hey,” Quinn said smoothly, obviously none of them noticing my newly rouge cheeks. I smiled a little, pretending to still be trying to catch up on my oxygen debt. I leaned into the flag pole as I watched as Quinn and Rebecca got into an animated discussion over their summers, I had already heard both ends of the story.

“So I guess we should get to class?” Kyle suggested, I turned and somehow he had managed to be standing right beside me without my knowing. I nodded, “Yeah, I want to know if I got into the lower classes,” I said pushing myself away from the pole. They were all giving me pointed looks, “What?” I asked.

“We all know—especially you, that you are going to get into the highest classes,” Kyle said with an eye roll.

“Well you didn’t have to say it, you ruined all my fun,” I said, with a grin falling back easily into the foursome that had been so since the middle of eighth grade.

We started walking, and I noticed that me and Quinn were falling behind, Rebecca and Kyle taking a slight lead. Then something totally unexpected happened, I saw Rebecca reach out and grasp his hand in a way more than just friends. My eyebrows could’ve hit the ceiling, and I gave Quinn a questioning look.

“I don’t know—it just happened,” she said, and we all headed to scheduling.

My first mistake was to start paying attention to the people around me in class. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have re-noticed Tristan Everdeen.

I had run myself out of the regular mathematics classes two years ago, and walking back into the woods room after a year was like coming home. Instead of taking a math class, last year I had been forced into a program that involved numbers, and since I hadn’t expected to be free from math classes, I was too flustered to choose. But being forced into Woods was probably the best choice I hadn’t made.

Just the thought of being able to make the coffee table that currently stood in the middle of my living room, or the clock that hung over the mantel, with my bare hands no less, that just filled me with a sense of accomplishment that doing math problems hadn’t done so far.

The smell of sawdust was pungent in the air, practically visible in the dimly lighted room. The hum of the electricity running through the machines before they turned on was a friendly reminder that I would be working with them soon enough.

I went over to the worn down, sanded bar stool that practically had my name on it, resting my hand back on the same indentation that was there from when I accidently missed the wood piece and smacked the hammer straight into the wooden tabletop. Other students started filing in, I was surprised that Kyle hadn’t joined woodshop again, but apparently he had wanted to be in the cooking class with Rebecca. How had I missed the fact they had been a couple since the beginning of the summer? My ignorance escapes even me sometimes.

Another thing about this class; I’m the only girl. You would think that would be hard, but I found myself blending more into the crowd here, they didn’t really judge me on how my hair was today, or what make-up I wore. In some aspects, guys were a lot easier to get along with.

Class started like normal; the teacher, Mr. Dubose, droning on and on about safety precautions. Tomorrow he would apologize about having to go through this but it was “school regulations”, we knew it all like the back of our hand, because if we disobeyed any of the rules, the backs of our hands might end up not being there anymore.

That feeling, when you know that someone is staring at you. The back of your head numbs except for the two heated spaces like eyes, lazered in on your hair. I shifted in the stool, careful not to make it scrape against the cement ground, giving a nonchalant glance behind me. My eyes met steady silver ones, that bore into me like beams of fire. I stood frozen for a moment, becoming entranced in the reflection that they were giving off in the lighting.

“Is everything alright, Miss. Williams?” Mr. Dubose broke my concentration on the guy’s eyes, and I reacted quickly, reaching to the ground, “Yeah, just dropped my pencil,” I said picking up an imaginary pencil off the ground, giving another brief glance at the guy. He was staring at the teacher with a blank expression again. I did the same, trying to puzzle over the fact; did I know him?

“You know that guy that sits behind you in College Writing?” I asked Quinn at lunch as we shuffled through the slowly moving line to get food at the snack bar. I had been finding him in almost every of my classes, and it was starting to bug me; an itch that I had no possibility to scratch it. She thought for a moment, “Yeah,” she said, snatching up a soft pretzel, and pouring hot cheese into a Styrofoam cup.

“What’s his name?” I asked casually, not bothering to touch anything in the line. It all looked awful, grease filled and butter saturated a weight that I didn’t need resting on my stomach.

She laughed, “You don’t know his name?” I gave her a confused look, arching an eyebrow, was I supposed to?

“That’s Tristan Everdeen; he has been in our classes for the past eight years, Sam. You know sometimes I wonder if you are losing it,” she said punching in her code into the check out.

That was my second mistake, trying to investigate something that had I had no business bothering with. It was my nature though, when something bothered me, I fixed it.

“Hmm…” was all I responded, and we sat down besides the group. Rebecca, Kyle, Quinn, and me. Kyle and Rebecca were both snacking off of the same basket of fries that they had gotten from the snack bar, their hands laced together under the table.

My head was resting on my arm propped up, as I listened vaguely towards their conversation. Staring out the window, I saw flecks in the leaves as they blew in the now steady wind, flecks of silver shone in the silver maples. All the flecks turned into eyes that continued to stare at my every movement, and I shivered at the connection between the innocent thing as the trees and the guy, Tristan, who seemed to be everywhere. Well except here, I didn’t see him at lunch, I probably would’ve noticed. I guess you could say I was paranoid, like a person is when they have a stalker. Did I have a stalker?

No. Why would a stalker go through all the trouble to make sure they had almost every single class with you? Well, that is a very stalker-ish thing to do.

Something was ****** in front of my face, and I blinked back into reality, looking blankly at the bit of cheese coated pretzel that was practically touching my nose. “You must eat, Sam,” Quinn stressed, “you are picking back up on your old habits again,”

I sighed, “I’m not hungry…” I said pushing her hand away from dangling in front of my face, “and anyway you know I hate pretzels.”

My stomach grumbled in complaint to the objection of the food, but I ignored it, I could eat better at home. I had a big enough stomach as it is.

“So…what classes do you have next?” Rebecca asked, tearing her gaze away from Kyle long enough to acknowledge the two of us, but the question was directed towards me.

“Nothing much, I have Chemistry II and then Art, but I get sixth hour off,” I grinned as their mouths fell open.

“How did you manage to get your class cut out?” Kyle exclaimed, almost about ready to through the box of French fries at my face in jealousy.

I shrugged, “I guess that’s what you get when you happen to be a super nerd like me,”

The bell rung again for the end of lunch and the three of them groaned as they walked towards the doors with me. Off to Chemistry II, and hopefully not the silver eyed Tristan who seemed to shadow my every move.

It felt extremely weird to be walking straight out of school at the start of supposed sixth hour, almost as if my instincts were screaming at me that I was breaking the rules. Except I wasn’t. My backpack was slung over my shoulder, light in the grace of the first day of school, by tomorrow it would be full of pointless books of homework that would sap my life away.

I passed the window of the Anatomy room, and saw Quinn trying to listen attentively to the teacher, and for some reason I snickered. I felt bad. The sidewalk was silent, not even the cars in the parking lot were making much noise, this side of town was relatively quiet this time of day, everyone away at work, or in school, so I felt as if I were the last person on earth.

Tomorrow I would definitely take my car, I needed to break it out of its cocoon in the garage and get it used to being run again so it wouldn’t die unexpectedly. Plus I could feel the way the wind and sweeping trees promised the fact that fall was coming, fast.

Then a snarl broke the silence.

I froze mid-step, glancing around frantically in the general direction I had heard it from. Silence echoed eerily as I gazed into the darkened woods, the same ones I had kicked a stone in earlier. But the moment I took another step to leave another snarl shattered my silence.

Not thinking in the slightest I stepped into the underbrush, trying to squeeze myself through the poking and prodding twigs that jabbed out in odd angles from its source.

This was my third mistake of the day, and I was positive from that point on not the worst of the mistakes I would be making in my near future. Struggling, trying to get there faster as I heard the snarls and growls grow more and more animate. I burst into a small clearing to see two men neck and neck with each other, both looking like their veins would burst out of their necks in anger.

Neither noticed me in the slightest, both caught up in an intense fight by the looks of it. I looked more into the two people, and immediately recognized familiar silver eyes, even if they weren’t scrutinizing me as per usual.

“Tristan?” I asked, my voice echoing in the clearing. But I had spoken one second too late, because in an explosion, both men burst into balls of snarling muscle and fur.

They both turned into giant wolves, aiming at the others necks with their sharp canines.

The sound of skin ripping, and bones crunching wasn’t something you would expect. It hurt my ears to listen, and I could have sworn someone was dying, it sounded that painful. But the noises were drowned out by snarls and animalistic sounds as the two giant wolves tried facing it off with each other.

I just stood their frozen, a state of shock. My body was screaming, telling me to get the hell out of there, but I stared blankly at the sight before me. The place where Tristan had been now stood a giant black wolf, its lips pulled back from its teeth, baring them menacingly. The other wolf was obviously just the same size, but a brown that was sun stained making it look blonde in the filtered light of the trees.

That’s when the brown wolf lunged at the black one, aiming for its throat. My eyes had a hard time trying to follow the pattern and placing of teeth and claws as the two animals collided. The movements were smooth and lethal, and I was sure that one of would lose, and soon. My eyes closed tightly, trying to block out the mental image of this.

There was a whimper, and a snarl, and my eyes shot open in surprise, to see the black wolf’s fur around its lips stained a light red, the other’s leg bit in the upper thigh. I stepped back, my vision going slightly hazy at the sight of blood, the scent would have surely made me pass out if it weren’t for the fear as both wolves turned towards me. I had stepped on a twig, and the snap was clearly audible, even against the snarls.

If a wolf could’ve grinned, I swear the brown one would be smiling evilly from ear to ear. They both jumped to me, and I shrieked, falling backwards into a path of grass in the dirt. I shielded my eyes with my arm, waiting for the powerful paws and claws of theirs to tear through my skin and bones.

But it didn’t happen; the snarls and growls weren’t directed towards me anymore. Something brushed my leg, and I quickly opened my eyes. The black wolf stood protectively before me, in a crouch that was totally shielding me from the view of the brown one.

The last snarl that came out of the black wolf’s mouth ripped through the afternoon, clearly if not human telling the other to back off, and in a parting glare aimed towards me, the brown one disappeared into the confines of the forest, disappearing further into the darkness.

I released my breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding, and shivers erupted over my skin. But I wasn’t out of trouble yet, I barely registered as the black wolf looked back towards me. Its eyes captured mine. Silver reflections, ones that had captured my attention all day.

It couldn’t be possible, he couldn’t be it. My mind fought with common sense, an inner turmoil that had my head aching, but for some reason I knew those were his eyes. But how could it possibly be? The wolf turned around and was about to run off like the other when a whisper left my lips, “T…Tristan?”

It froze, and slowly turned back towards me. It was him; I saw the defeat in his eyes. I would have smirked in confidence, if it hadn’t already been shattered with the fact that there was no logical way for him to be a wolf.

In a much quieter transition, the wolf quickly morphed back into the shaggy black haired, silver eyed, boy that I had been puzzling over. His mouth was tipped down in a frown as he studied my face, which I was sure looked terrible. My teeth were chattering, and my hands clenched tightly on the blades of grass in the ground, tearing them up one by one. He seemed just as tense, but not afraid more angry.

“You know…” he muttered, a snarl so similar to the animalistic ones that had been made minutes ago. He swerved around fast, and his fist cracked against the bark of a nearby tree as he punched it in anger. My eyes widened, sure he had just shattered all the bones in his hand, but it came away perfectly clean, if not scraped a little, the tree had more damage to it.

I scrambled up to my feet, backing up slowly until I reached a tree; I braced my back against it. What had I gotten myself into? I moaned in terror inside my mind. I had never been one to be afraid of much, except bad grades and blood, and sometimes change, change was the worst. This, this was a terrible change.

He was still facing the tree, his eyes closed from what I could see. Inching to the side, I made a split second decision and started running back towards the road. It couldn’t be that far, but before I had even made it through the first layer of cascading branches, a hand wrapped firmly around my wrist, yanking me back. I gasped, as I was pulled in the opposite direction.

That gesture took the fear and replaced it with anger, “Let. Me. Go” I growled, pulling with all my might against his hold, I wasn’t going to be taken without a fight. The hand constricted harder on my arm, making we wince as pain lanced up my arm.

“You have gotten to far into this,” he muttered, and roughly pulled me so I was now in front of him, and both hands of his clamped down on my shoulders, pushing more than guiding me towards where he wanted to go.

“Too far into what?” I demanded, but I knew that I had crossed some unspoken boundary by walking into that fight. It was hard for me to picture the man walking behind me, the wolf that had blood on its mouth, how these warm hands could be the same paws that had powerfully tried to tear apart its competitor. How that silky smooth, velvet baritone voice could be the same wolf that had bared its teeth.

I blushed furiously for thinking thoughts that made me think he was handsome, for all I knew there was a… a werewolf kidnapping me. That word seemed to fit. Werewolf. Those were fantasy, a myth, like vampires or fairies. The blush disappeared as my face blanched at the thought that if werewolves existed, then so did all the rest of the fairytales. All this just fed into my fury. “Too far into what?” I snarled again, I noticed how my snarl sounded not nearly as frightening as his did, almost to the point of dainty and cute.

“Why were you here?” he demanded with a steel voice, his vice grip on my shoulders digging in to my collarbones.

I answered without thinking, “I was following the sounds, and I heard you,” I muttered, now realizing at this point that I had heard his voice, and somehow I had been drawn to it.

He groaned, “Great…I’m going to have to take you back to my pa…err…family,”

I noticed that he was a good head and a half taller than me, and even when I tried to straighten taller than I was currently in, I came no where near his height. For some reason that bothered me, I was always as tall as or close to most of the guys I knew, it was strange being by somebody who happened to be towering over me so much. At 5’10” I was practically Godzilla over all the other girls in my grade, or school.

“Stop fidgeting, and just walk,” he ordered, and my movements fell silence. I usually never listened to anyone, and I found myself confused in the mere fact that I was submit able to his orders, but that was the least I was worried about as fear slowly leaked back in.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked, refusing to let my voice get more emotional than a flat line. I managed to get my ankle tangled in a root by a tree, and grunted as I tripped. His hands pulled my shoulders back upright before I could make a face plant. Was it weird to feel safe, yet totally afraid to be with a person at the same time?

“I told you I’m taking you back,” he said gruffly.

“Just let me go home…I…I won’t breathe a word,” I protested, trying with the reasoning part of my conscience.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

We walked in silence, I was slumped in defeat, and his hands slowly loosened on my shoulders to only a mild gesture. His hands were covering my whole shoulder, and for the first time in a long time I felt dainty.

Gulping again we walked further, deeper into the woods. “Are we going to run into that other wolf?” I whispered quietly. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, “No, I don’t think he is coming back,” he said, and I could have sworn he said a mutter of “yet,”

Slowly the woods began to thin, and I wondered if we had somehow managed to reach the other end of the of the forest, could it really be so small? I heard the padding of paws and looked around frantically, “Relax,” Tristan hissed in my ear, and I ended up doing the exact opposite, tensing up like a board.

Bounding out of the woods came three wolves all the brown color that seemed to camouflage with the background. They stopped in front of us, and seemed to look back and forth between me and Tristan. He looked at them intently, and the one closest emitted a low growl, rumbling from its throat.

I seemed to be missing a large part of the conversation, being it all of it. My breathing started to pick up, and he shoved me forward with a snort. I broke through the barrier of thicker trees, to come out into a clearing. I blinked at the sudden intrusion of bright light that wasn’t filtered harshly through the leaves. I looked up and the bright blue sky gazed down at me, I almost prayed to it to get me out of here safe and whole. It was a village by the looks of it, small houses that looked like log cabins that looked to be lined up in an arc. I could barely see the blue lake behind the whole camp, which was the only word I could come up with to express what this place felt like, a camp. A permanent camp.

“Move,” Tristan said shoving me again, turning colder and more distant. We made it all the way to the largest house further back from the rest of the cabins; it was hidden further from the clearing, secluded off. The door swung open before he even had a chance to reach around me to open it. We met a stern faced man, looking the same size as Tristan but with dark brown hair and silver eyes that shot daggers at both of us.

“Just let me in, Wes,” Tristan growled, and giving me one last disgusted look, stepped out of our way. Startled I dug my heels into the dirt, “No, I don’t want to go anywhere with you,” I screeched, and bucked my back trying once again to work my way out of his grasp. My body screamed danger, ever since I took my first step into the clearing.

Another pair of hands shot forward and grasped me roughly, but I was tugged away by Tristan before Wes even got a hold of me. “I’ve got it,” Tristan muttered pushing me through the doorway. My heels had no grasp on the wooden floors, in fact my sneaker squeaked against its smooth surface and I was dragged further in. I didn’t bother to look around the place, instead closing my eyes tightly, willing this all to be a dream, and I would wake up again tomorrow with no recollection of the fact. My teeth bit into my lip harshly but I ignored the metallic taste, as long as I didn’t smell or see it, I was fine.

A rush of cold air conditioning that seemed off season sent shivers up my arms, and I was glad that they were free for the moment, and grasped them together. I could smell the aroma of something coming from a kitchen of sorts, but I didn’t dare open my eyes, maybe it was just my mom making breakfast for me before school.

The hands disappeared off my shoulders, and I noticed I was sitting on something soft, plush. My hands trailed down the velvet seat, and for a moment I almost visioned it as my kitchen seats. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was alone in a room, looking very similar to a library. A desk sat in the middle of the room, its oak surface shining in reflection to the sunlight streaming in the window. Behind it stood floor to ceiling book cases that were stuffed stock full of books, all shapes and sizes. A few pictures of smiling couples and adorable children were placed on a side table to my left, in front of the window, with a small vase of roses.

A mutter had me turning back around, noticing that I hadn’t been alone; Tristan was standing to my right, leaning against the wall his eyes looking at me intently. I fidgeted under his gaze, and anger flared up again in me, “What do you think you have…” I started to say, when the door was opened.

Another man came in his blonde hair standing on end, as if he had just woken up. But his eyes were alert as he quickly assessed the situation, his gaze flickering over me, before looking back at Tristan, who now stood alert. “Tristan, what is the all the worry…I had to be woken up after being out all last night?” he said, casually rubbing the back of his neck like it was sore.

“I fear I have made a grave mistake,” Tristan said, clearing his throat again. “This girl—human girl,” he indicated towards me and my eyebrows furrowed together in a mixture of fury and confusion, “She followed me and the Beta of Red Bark into a fight,”

I couldn’t help it; I snickered at the name of Red Bark. For a werewolf pack, which I still had a hard time grasping; having its name containing ‘bark’ was quite ironic. Both of the men looked at me blankly, and I clamped a hand over my mouth, immediately shutting up, I guess it was the hysteria getting to me finally. Well I had jumped off the deep end of crazy; I was in a room with a freaking werewolf.

“She’s human?” the man asked, and with a moment’s hesitation, Tristan nodded.

“I thought that she would immediately be needed to be brought here…” he trailed off, staring at the blonde man who was eyeing me, as if he was trying to pry my mind of something valuable.

“You were right—she will have to be taken care of,” the way the man said it I immediately caught the tone in his voice that meant it would be a permanent kind of “taken care of”.

“I won’t say a word,” I slipped up, my voice almost pleading.

Silence filled the room, and I regretted my words the moment they left my lips. I most likely wasn’t helping my situation, but I had to do my best to get me out of whatever situation that might be. “I didn’t see all that much,” I lied quickly, the falseness tasting stale on my tongue.

“She is already lying; I don’t think we will be able to trust her, Tristan. Call the other members of the pack so we can decide what can be done with her without the human population immediately noticing.” The man said coldly, but firmly.

I stood up, getting to my feet and about to get in his face, yelling, “Now here…” but I was interrupted by Tristan shoving me back into the couch, hard.

He turned towards the man, his body angled subtly between mine and the other guys, “Alpha Rayne, I will take full responsibility for this mishap, but I don’t want her to suffer too much from it.” He stressed.

The alpha regarded him curiously, “Then you will make sure she stays out of all trouble, and not breaths a word,” he said amused.

“Yes.” Tristan stated firmly, accenting it with a nod of the head.

“Fine then.” Then the alpha turned to me and pointed sternly, “But one mishap and I will personally make sure that your body won’t be found with any reasonable recognition of your former self,”

I nodded mutely, what had I gotten myself into?

Cold bit into my skin, and I groaned softly, tugging on the comforters of my bed so they covered my exposed skin more thoroughly. I froze, my hand clenched around my familiar blanket, taking a deep breath of it to confirm that it was indeed mine, I could still smell the fading scent of when I had accidently poured a whole bottle of perfume on it, thank goodness it had faded.

My eyes snapped open, and my room stood before me. I was lying in my bed. How had I gotten here? The last thing I remembered was walking home from school, but I quickly disregarded it, blinking away the sleep in my eyes. Locating the source of the coldness, I noticed my bedroom window was wide open, the curtains billowing as the breeze drifted them further inside my room. Groaning I pulled myself out of the safe, warm haven of my bed and padded over to the window.

My hand met the cold glass, and I found myself instinctively looking towards the woods that was just across the street, its dark depths echoing eerily.

Suddenly the whole previous nights events came rushing back to me, and I slammed the window shut. Shaking my head slowly, I glanced at the clock, noticing that I was late; I had to be at school in an hour. Cursing the stupid alarm clock for not working for the umpteenth time, I also was glad, because it momentarily took my mind off what was nagging to take control of my every thought and worry. Werewolves.

I took a quick shower, lingering in the waterfall of warmth a bit longer than normal; the chill in the air still hadn’t gone completely away in my room. Not feeling like having to go through all the trouble of taking a curling iron to my hair like I did yesterday, on the special occasion of the first day of school, I wrapped it in a loose bun after drying it throughoughly. I gave a quick glance in the mirror before parting of my room for the day.

My dark brown hair was pulled back from my face, leaving my eyes to lay back a little in the expanse of it. Amber was the color I had finally decided they were, after many long discussions with my friends over them, I had given in; in embarrassment from the attention that it wasn’t red, but amber. My full length mirror had to be hoisted off the ground and hung on the door, so I could see my face when I looked in it. I had never been tall, always on the short side, until I got into high-school. It was like a jack and the bean stock incident, I shot up, and all of a sudden it felt like I was looking down on everybody. I hadn’t minded it, much. I tugged on the hem of my red tank top that was underneath a shirt that I could only explain as a painter’s shirt, that’s what it reminded me of, a buttoned up white shirt with a collar and ****** pockets. My belt kept my jeans from sliding off my hips, I had long gotten sick of having to pull them up every three seconds, and went through the uncomfortably of wearing a bulky belt, but at least I wasn’t always having to discreetly yank my jeans back up.

I snatched my backpack off the arm chair beside my desk and rushed downstairs. My footsteps echoed emptily across the wood floors as I walked into the dark kitchen. I flicked on a light, not surprised when I looked out the window to find the driveway abandoned of my father’s car. I walked over to the coffee pot, and grabbed a mug out of the cupboard.

There was a newspaper laid out on the table, and I checked my watch and figured I had a few minutes before I would have to start up the car. The steam of the mug wafted up to my nose as I sat down opening up the paper. The front page was just the normal stuff, the article illustrating in words about the first day back at school, the bus routes for kids and such. Absent mindedly, lost in this normal world stuff, I took a sip of the coffee.

Next thing I knew the paper was splattered with drips of coffee as I spat the mouthful out. My nose wrinkled as I realized my father had made black coffee. Quickly I ran to the sink, I poured the rest of the mug out, the scent not so much pleasant anymore, more so a disgusting reminder of the awful taste in my mouth. I was a picky coffee drinker, only taking French Vanilla, or really anything that had banished the taste of the original coffee. Basically I didn’t drink the coffee; I drank all the stuff that went with the coffee. Black coffee; well to me it just tasted like burnt dirt.

I threw the mug in the sink and went outside to the car, there was no point for me to go give my mouth some mouthwash, the taste would linger even longer. The moment I opened the garage door, I was greeted by my car’s large black shadow, I flicked on the overhead light, and the room came to life. I saw my black 1990 Mustang. Its hood was coated in a thick layer of dust, I hadn’t gone much of anywhere over the summer, and if so I walked, it had been nice out. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I was immediately enveloped in the homey scent that I had grown so used to during the long winter months, I had almost missed my little car.

“Where did I put the keys?” I spoke aloud, forgetting exactly where my hiding spot had been. I readjusted the rear view mirror, and my hand brushed the sun visor and it fell down, the pair of keys landing in my lap. Of course.

Giving a silent prayer before I turned the ignition, I attempted to turn on the car. For the first time in a long time, it roared to life on the first try, and I grinned, pressing the garage door opener.

Driving down the street, I tried to make myself forget the woods that I was passing, now knowing what lay underneath them. Giving a quick glance, I imagined silver eyes staring intensely out at me from the darkness lurking inside the wooded area. That glance had turned into a stare, and I snapped out of it when I heard a car behind me honk and realized I had started to go off the road. I shook my head again, as if doing so would shake the thought out of my head.

Could it be possible that it had all just been a dream? It was extremely possible, there was no way werewolves and other fantasy creatures lived in the same world that we normal humans did. They lived away in their fairytale stories that writer’s wrote for a career, the kind that always seemed to have a happy ending after a traumatic incident, all the twists and turns just leading the two main characters back to each other.

“Stupid Lying Fantasy,” I scoffed, pulling into the high schools parking lot. Cars were already filling up the small parking area, and I managed to snatch a decent spot that wasn’t too far away from the door that was closet to my first hour. Slipping out of the car with a small smile on my face, I walked towards first hour, my hopes high with the fact that I had worked myself out of actually thinking that the dream had been true.

“I’m sorry about yesterday…” Mr. Dubose drawled, slightly more animate than yesterday, but at least the students were practically buzzing in their seats, as if the excitement of knowing this years assignments was too much.

There was chattering behind me, and I glanced quickly my eyes skimming over the student body that filled up the Wood’s Room. I sighed a sigh of relief when I realized I hadn’t caught on a certain pair of reflective silver eyes, that certainly would’ve ruined my resolve to ignore any glimpse of the dream last night.

A flash of white appeared before my eyes, and flustered I took the stack of papers from the guy sitting next to me, picking a packet apart from the rest and passing it on to the person on my other side. The title boldly stated Wood’s Class, as if no one knew which class we were actually in.

I looked over the list, and soon got caught up on the excitement that had passed over the room; the projects we were making were not easy in the least. A dresser would be taking up most of this marking period and I read through the schedule, pleased that we would be starting it next week at the latest. Too bad I wouldn’t be able to take a piece of furniture like that up to a college dorm; I guess I could leave it to my father. I mused on; practically ignoring the whole overview Mr. Dubose was giving the class on this year’s projects.

The bell came on all too soon for me, and I collected my backpack, which was steadily filling with textbooks from various classes, and papers that were collected in them. We filed out of the room, everyone eager to get to lunch, the time where you could always count on knowing at least one familiar face.

I stuffed the book bag into the locker of mine with all my might, struggling to close the door with both my hands pressed tightly against the metal, and my feet slowly sliding down the linoleum floor. In a flash another hand appeared and the locker clicked as they gave little effort to close the stupid contraption. I whirled around to see my helper, but locked on the steely eyes I had been dreading.

“Oh god, you are real,” I murmured, reality crashing down on me, it was rather depressing.

Tristan smirked, “Hello to you too,” his voice was quiet, much more under control than I had remembered it being yesterday, as he had been yelling at the blonde man, Alpha Rayne, he had called him.

“Can’t I just forget…and perhaps go on with my life as I knew it?” I asked, my fingers twisting together in a hope of luck behind my back.

“Nope.” He stated simply and indicated with a nod of his head towards the lunch room. With a defeated sigh I followed, seeing no choice as is I was hungry from having to skip a breakfast this morning.

“We need to talk,” he said as we walked into the lunchroom, the noise seemed to be dulled in the crowded lunch room today, and giving a glance outside I noticed that it was raining. So glad I drove here.

“About?” I inquired walking towards the lunch line, not really caring if he followed or not, mostly hoping he didn’t. But he did, and but didn’t say anything as we both silently went through the lunch line, that was moving slower than normal. I could feel his presence behind me, sensing the fact that he was taller than me, his body radiated heat and I felt like snuggling up closer to him in the cold of the cafeteria. The thought had me taking a step further down the line, away from him, my cheeks blushing furiously as I snatched up a plate of whatever they were serving not bothering to check.

“You know,” he murmured, it seemed almost as if a question and a fact in one, the underlying message was a rock in the pit of my stomach.

We settled ourselves in the table of the farthest corner, it was close to the window as the rain pelted the sidewalk outside, making everything turn a darker color than before. No one sat around this corner, preferring to stay closer to the other side, looking out at the passing cars and such; we were only greeted by the woods that seemed to become an increasingly disturbing place in my thoughts.

He was staring at me, his tray as untouched as mine was at the moment, but left my gaze on the fork, acting as if it had a sudden draw towards me. He sighed heavily, before running a hand through his midnight black hair, making it stand up on end further before slowly settling back down into its gentle curls, “I really don’t know where to start,” he chuckled nervously.

I smirked, still not looking up fully, toying with the napkin now. I had not expected myself to speak, “Perhaps with the basics,” I murmured, finally looking up at him, only to find him looking out at the woods, distorted by the rain on the window panes.

“The basics,” he said slowly. “Well, first thing is one that you know…well at least I hope you do, because I’ve risked a lot of neck by thinking you do. We are werewolves.”

“Yeah…I kind of missed that part in our meeting,” I said sarcastically, finally taking one of the bread things that resembled rolled up pancakes filled with cheese and dunking it in a cup of marinara sauce.

“I’m sure you did…” he scoffed with a roll of his eyes, “I’m a Beta, if you know what that is?” he asked, for some reason my anger flared.

“Of course I know what a freaking Beta is. I am not stupid and I’ve read plenty of books, I also know what an Alpha and Omega are too,” I snapped, taking a furious bite of the cheese stick, finding it surprisingly good for something that looked like it was soaked in a vat of grease.

He didn’t yell back, or even look angered instead he smirked, and continued, “Anyhow, the other man you met, Rayne, he was the Alpha of our pack, Moon Creek.”

I stayed silent, wondering for a brief moment where these names came from for these packs, they seemed to be snatched out of thin air.

“This…you finding out about the mere existence of our pack, is a very dangerous territory you are stepping into,” his voice turned deadly serious, his eyes solidifying as if turning to steel, “One mishap and our whole pack—our whole family could be put in danger. So I wouldn’t let your big mouth and know-it-all syndrome of yours get in the way of protecting what is ours, because I have no doubt in mind that Rayne will not act upon the threat he intended to you,”

I stared emptily at him, was he serious? I mean I was just know starting to get the idea of there actually being werewolves in the world, but could they really have a whole pack’s worth of people who were hiding out in the wood’s for their whole lives in fear of being found out by people like me? I remembered, the image coming in clearly of all the cabin-like houses that had stood in an arc of the clearing. People had lived there.

His words sank in, and I nodded mutely. “I won’t tell a soul,” I said, my voice sounding truthful as I meant totally and utterly what I said.

He studied me for a minute before relaxing slightly and leaning back in his seat, “Good…now that we have the hard part over with the least we can do is get to know each other,” he said with a simple smile.

I raised an eyebrow as the conversation got to safer grounds, but went along with it. We talked about all the aspects of our life, just the basics on my part; I wasn’t going to tell him anything that might give myself away. He seemed pleasant know, but I had a feeling there was a monster on the inside of him, just waiting to jump out at the slightest angerment.

I had found myself actually enjoying his part of the story, no matter how few that may be, but his words were drawing me in. All too soon I found the bell ringing, and me with an empty tray; one of the first I’ve had in years. Sighing, I guess I wouldn’t eat as much for dinner tonight.

We got up and dumped the rememants of our meal into the trash can before walking out together to the hallways. Tristan paused by my locker, and eventually helped me pry open it, as it refused to succumb to a person who had stuffed it so full. I groaned when it was beyond help, “Guess I will just be telling the teachers to give me my books tomorrow and beg the janitor tomorrow morning to help me open this tin bucket with a crow bar,” I said in disgust, kicking the base of the locker. I had been stuck with it for four years, and I couldn’t help feeling happy this was the last year that I would have to deal with its stubbornness.

He shrugged and walked me to class, it wasn’t a comfortable accompaniment, I felt nervous on edge around him, definitely not like a boyfriend walking his girlfriend to class. That’s probably what it looked like, but I would never date someone like him, I scoffed at the thought.

He gave me an amused look, as if trying to guess my thoughts but I just shook my head. “Well, I guess I will have to suffer through another lunch with you tomorrow,” I sneered as we got to the Chemistry II door.

He smirked, and I had a terrible feeling, “Oh, you are so eager to get rid of me, I’ll be seeing you after school,”

He started walking away, leaving me with my eyebrows scrunched together. “Why?” I called down the hall after him.

His chuckle echoed off the lockers, “I’m supposed to be watching you—so I’ll be driving you to and from school each day,” and he left me with my jaw on the floor.

“Great,” I muttered, pushing into the class. The teacher gave a glance in my direction, before indicating for me to sit down.

“You’re lucky it’s the second day of school, and I’m still lenient, Miss Williams, don’t be late again,” she said, as I slumped in my seat. What did I have to do to just get rid off the past few days in my mind?