MY PHONE ALARM became the most hateful sound in the world that morning, but it was not the cause of my headache. I'd hardly slept, for darkly troublesome thoughts had seeped into my dreams and forged them into nightmares. I lied awake, and then, in what felt like no time at all, the sun was trying to hoist me from my bed. Mom also came knocking on my door, to make sure I was alive, I guessed.

"It's almost seven," she said though the panels. "Ronan's waiting for us." That degree of surprise was entirely vindicated. Ronan was usually late in the mornings – maybe this was a onetime thing.

Mom let herself in since I didn't respond, but it scared me when she opened the door. It was the kind of scared I normally got when plotting something devious, something my parents wouldn't approve of, it was the torment in anticipating the reaction. I wanted to say I wasn't going to go to school; I had been sitting on this strong determination, until it slipped away like a timid deer, and all I could do was pull my sheets up to my chin.

Mom came to sit beside me, a sigh on her lips that sounded something like: "Is this going to be one of those times when you make up an excuse to stay at home?"

Except all my excuses, my thoughts, clashed like gladiators in the arena of my skull, and I didn't know where to start. Did you take out the small gladiators first, or head straight for the giants?

"What happened at Justin's?" she tried again. When Mom said his name, my foremost thought was to throw the sheets over the rest of me and hide, but she grabbed them before I could. "Is everything okay?"

Is it that obvious?

I whimpered like a child, "Define 'okay'."

"Did you break up?" Mom asked. There was this defensive entity living in her words, and it made me wonder what would happen if I answered yes.

"No, we didn't," I assured her. "We're fine, I think."

"You think?"

"I'm still figuring it out."

"And you have to do this from home?"

"Yes. Maybe?" Mom didn't seem too happy with me, but who could blame her? It was essentially my second day of school and I was being unreasonable, but I wasn't about to admit that. "So, Justin's dad really is a doctor," I added, in this mildly impressed kind of voice – I'd sort of always thought that Justin made that up. "And he asked me how it is that he's never seen me before."

Hesitantly, a smile appeared on Mom's face, and she rested her elbow down on the pillow next to mine. "What did you tell him?"

"That I have a mother who believes she's as good as any doctor there is, if not better."

"Well, there's no doubt about that," she said amusedly. "I'm better."

I rolled my eyes out of reflex, but the lady did know her medicine. When I was younger, I would get these unbearable headaches and fevers, and while other kids' parents visited the local pharmacy, Mom would just conjure up an antidote for me from our kitchen. Those remedies never failed. I used to ask her why she hadn't become a doctor herself, since she clearly had a knack for healing. In short, she liked plants more than she liked people.

Mom put her hand against my forehead and pulled a face as if she was checking my temperature. "Yup, you're fine. You're going to school, Leslie," she said with a finality I didn't really have the will to fight.

"Okay."

Mom left me then, and as she closed my door, I curled up like a caterpillar in a cocoon. The thought of the impending school day struck a chord of dread in me. Last night, Graeme and Lou had asked about the dinner, and I had said that it was good and that I was too tired to go into detail. Naturally, my notifications blew up with their protests. There was no avoiding their curiosity – they were my friends after all – and that was the scary part. What would I say to them?

"Oh hey, guys. Dinner? It was just great! You know, the reason Justin's been so weird is that he's a werewolf, the rest of his family, too. They cage each other up at night with pounds of raw meat so they don't rip each other or anyone else to shreds. Yes, I'm starting to question this relationship, too..." I rambled to myself, tossing the covers off of me, my cocoon. Not that I was any less of a worm.

I could only picture Louella's face; she didn't believe any of this supernatural stuff was real. She'd never made fun of my passions before either, but if she heard me now, she'd probably tell me that I need to take up a normal hobby, spend some time away from my laptop screen. Graeme knew the truth all too well, but werewolves, here in Raven Hills? Not even he would see that one coming.

"What did I expect? All my research on the species and I still fell into the sinking sand of pop culture – the idea that perhaps they were big and warm and domesticated, like Alaskan Malamutes or something!"

I ended my rant with this miserable sigh and drew my eyes closed, hoping for some silence. But then, Justin crossed my mind like it belonged to him. His name was there when I unlocked my phone, with four missed calls and countless unread texts. I owed him an explanation – something, anything – but I was still thinking and thinking. I got up when it became clear that an extra minute in bed would bring me neither solace nor resolve.

In my opinion, the sun seemed far too proud that I was awake, let alone that I'd finally made it to school. I left my backpack in my locker outside Homeroom. It was going to be a while before I had to be on the north side of the hall, where the Eights and the ECs always met before school, so I strolled around and convinced myself that I was looking for Graeme and Lou even though I knew where they would be.

Eventually, my feet brought me to the quad, the four-sided stretch of concrete that served as an assembly spot when using the hall seemed like too much effort – or when the weather was nice. At the centre of it was an old tree, shaking in its leaves. It wasn't long before I noticed Teylor standing there, exchanging anecdotes with friends. My first thought: retreat, duck my head between my shoulders and walk as quickly as possible. I'd sorely forgotten that with Merribel being an Eight it was only logical that they'd all come to school early, and that meant Justin was nearby, too.

In fact, he turned out to be closer than I'd thought.

"If you're trying to avoid me, you're doing a terrible job of it," he said, cool as ever while he held onto my shoulders before I could reverse into him.

Shit.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I'd formulated any words, Justin's arm appeared before my face like an arrow – a sturdy arrow, with biceps. It took a second before I realised what was happening.

"Sorry!" I heard someone say, as Justin caught a ball in his hand.

"Just one of the many benefits of dating me," he told me, throwing the ball back. "No harm done."

After their exchange, Justin returned to me, and maybe it was the sun playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn his eyes went gold, just for a second. And then I noticed something weirder; the girl's eyes flickered gold, too. I blinked a few times, refusing to believe that she was like Justin. Or at least, I tried. Justin and I walked a significant sum of steps in significant silence, and it didn't help my overthinking at all. I couldn't get her eyes (or her obnoxiously cute topknot) out of my head.

"Do you know that girl?" I asked, knowing we were far enough that she wouldn't hear.

"What? Well, no, not really."

I wasn't looking at him when he said that, just walking. "She's one of you, isn't she?"

Justin looked behind us, like he thought she might've been there, listening. He was quiet at first, but he answered. "I've met her once before, but I don't really know her."

"Her eyes did that glowy thing yours do," I replied. I wanted him to know that I'd seen it. "She my competition or something?"

Justin nearly choked, but we kept walking. "Some wolves recognise each other like that, it doesn't mean anything."

Was it some kind of instinctive thing? Wasn't it irresponsible of them to do that in broad daylight? Then again, I guess no one would really think anything of it. They'd absolutely pass it off as a reflection from the sun, something to tie it to reality and logic.

"What?" I noticed the smirk Justin had on.

"That 'glowy thing,' huh?"

"Yes, that glowy thing!" I hissed, before realising that even when I was on the brink of hitting him, I was still smiling. I didn't know who that girl was. I wanted to know more, but I had to trust that Justin was telling the truth. I just had to.

My heels clapped the paving as I walked on, not really watching where I was going, but rather relying on Justin to guide me. I asked if he could stay with me until the bell rang, mainly for this result: when I was on duty with Graeme and Lou, I wasn't going to be swarmed by questions. I knew I wouldn't be safe from them for long, especially since the first class of the day was one we all attended together, but it would be enough. It was too late to hide from Justin now anyway, might as well make my friends uncomfortable with his presence. Pretty sure they actually shivered when they saw us coming.

"Hi, guys!" I smiled, grabbing Justin's hand for added effect.

Lou and Graeme rose from where they'd been sitting on our bench to say hello – hugs for me, fist bumps for Justin.

"Bro, where've you been hiding out?" he asked Graeme. "Coach Owens was looking for you at our meeting the other day."

Graeme was immune to Justin's charm. "Yeah, I saw him. I'm sitting out of those this week so I can help Leslie and Lou with the Eights, and make sure everyone's doing their jobs. Speaking of, are you joining us this morning or not?"

Justin shrugged. "Sure."

Justin was always so suave. When I thought about it, the only time he lost his cool was in front of his family, or specifically, his parents. You're scaring her, his voice rang in my head. But when I looked at him now, he had full composure – it made it hard to believe last night had even happened. Justin's demeanour could make him seem obnoxious at times; I think that's how Graeme saw it, particularly since he'd been avoiding EC duties. But then, Graeme seemed so fussed in comparison.

Not much more happened once the Eights started rolling in. In the mornings, we kind of just chatted and made them think they had to impress us if they wanted to be inaugurated, and yes, that was a total lie. In class, Ms. Joubert had us following the words of a short story we'd get homework on later, though I doubted many of us were paying much attention. We sat beside the windows – Lou and Graeme and Justin and I occupied two desks on the farthest side of the room –where Lou's distaste for Afrikaans had placed us. Although our teacher was pretty; a curly, dyed-brown bob framed the twenty-six-year-old's face, and her eyes were crystal blue through her spectacles. Nearly everyone liked her (the guys especially), but Lou, well, Ma'am had made an unintentional foe out of Lou by merely teaching the language which was her fifth and most challenging.

I tried returning my focus to the short story, but then Justin slipped me a note, thoughtfully and carefully, and buried his nose in his book. I made sure no one saw me unfold the page.

We don't change every full moon.

That was one thing of which I was aware.

I know... What are you doing?

He'd explained to me last year that aside from the pubescent shifts Merribel was experiencing, and the occasional 'triggers', the only time a werewolf's curse could overpower their humanity – when they truly had no control – was during their birth month. On our first date after I'd figured out what he was, I asked Justin if I had to worry about being with him on a full moon. Since then, he'd only ever told me that they had rules and laws, that he wasn't supposed to tell, but something was changing.

I'm breaking the rules.

"What do you think, Leslie?" Ma'am asked, as though she saw the excitement migrating into my face.

I dropped the note and replied to her in the voice of someone who had been half-listening to the reading, "I think her husband was trying to protect not only himself but her as well, and that's why he didn't want tell her about his experiences in the war."

"Good analysis!" Ma'am cheered. "Do we all agree? Who thinks differently? I'd like to hear your point-of-view."

That sounded kind of familiar, and not in a nice kind of way. As my classmates formulated answers, other thoughts engulfed me, because I was always bloody thinking. Justin's experiences, were they honestly so terrifying that he had to keep them from me? Was it all for my sake, or his? The Levines didn't seem terrified, they seemed cautious. Overcautious. Unpredictable. They'd do anything to preserve their way of life, to protect their own.

Graeme's hand went up, and for a naïve little moment, I thought maybe he had the answer. "I disagree," he said, and we had all turned to see him. "I think that he had to tell her. He kept it all in because he was afraid; he didn't want to face his past. But he loved his wife and knew that if he wasn't honest, it would come between them."

Graeme was glancing at Justin. His tone was stern, akin to a warning, and I didn't like the sound of it, but Justin only gave him this smirk before slipping another page onto my side of the desk. Almost immediately, the bell rang and the class erupted with commotion, but I was reading:

Ask me anything.

On our way to our next classes, I clung to Justin the way I had been clinging to the fake smiles on my friends' faces because they were preferable to interrogations. Lou left us for her next lesson, giving Grae and Justin plenty of opportunity to be awkward around me. The two of them were silent and rigid, despite moving their feet, but I could tolerate that over them butting heads any day. At some point, Justin and I slowed pace so that Graeme would walk ahead of us. Then, he stopped for both of us; we stood still under the bridge between one class block and the ground floor bathrooms.

"Hey, I love you," Justin declared suddenly.

"I love you, too." I bit my lip in chagrin, resisting the urge to see if Graeme or anyone else had overheard. Justin took my hands, playing with my fingers tenderly. PDA set my cheeks on fire, but he never seemed to mind. "I should have listened to you. What if your dad's right?"

He shook his head, held my hands warmly. "He was trying to scare you and teach us a lesson. I'm sorry things got so out of hand last night. I told them you weren't ready, I should've eased you into it."

I had time to process his words, a mere moment of time, before I followed his gaze with mine. Graeme was returning to us with a mock expression of concern on his face. "What kinky conversation did I just walk into? Is that why you were late this morning?"

"Very funny," I rasped, rolling my eyes. But when Graeme chuckled, the familiarity of it relieved me. It meant he'd stop being so...

"I know. Come on, we'll be late."

Maths; (break); English; History; (break); Science; Bio, it all came and went in one unremarkable school day – unremarkable and unbearable. The imprint Justin had left on my mind had officially permeated itself. For the first time, he was going to tell me everything, show me everything. I hadn't believed him in the beginning, and he could probably tell, because then he made me a promise, or as he'd called it, a threat. That night after dinner, I was pacing at the front door. I looked at the time, which was 7:53, and I knew what was coming, though I was not quite decided on how to feel about it. Was this nervousness? Excitement? My feet only stopped when Justin sent me a text.

My Wolf: I'm on my way.

You were warned.