The smell of bacon comes first. Then the warmth of the sun bathing my skin. Then the soft sounds of small talk. I opened my eyes to look up at Richard's ceiling, recalling the night before making heat rush between my legs.

A rough laugh comes from the front of the house, a laugh that isn't Richards and I instantly slam down my lustful thoughts. Multiple voices float back to the room and try to drown last night's memories so any shapeshifters can't scent my lust.

I slowly sit up and look around the room. Richard's room is even warmer than it looked at night, the dark greens and tans feeling safe. It almost makes me want to stay in the bed and not face whoever is in the rest of the house.

I spy my torn jeans on the floor and smile. If I don't have any clothes, I won't have to get out of bed.

"My clothes are all torn, so I'm just going to relax in here," I say in a normal voice knowing Richard will hear me.

That laugh comes again, a brutal but a female one. "We're all shapeshifters, you think we care about being naked?"

"That's enough Sylvie," Richard says, "I had some clothes bought for you."

I can hear footsteps coming towards the room and I cover myself with the duvet. The knob slowly turns and ahead peeks over. A head full of brown curls and a deep tan setting off brown eyes.

"Hi," I smile at Richard and drop the cover.

Richard growls at the sight of my bare chest as he comes into the room and closes the door behind him. A shiver runs down me as my body heats up.

"If we didn't have any guest, I'd take my time with you," is his rough whisper. I felt between my legs flood as I imagined that whispers up against my skin.

Richard slowly walks to the dresser and picks up a pile of clothes. He brings them and puts them in my lap.

"Hopefully they fit you," He smiles, "and I brought you a ponytail holder."

He reaches up to my hair and pulls on a small tendril. I look at the mirror on the dresser across the room to see my hair rivaling the Bride of Frankensteins and sticking straight into the air.

"Can you pretend to not see that?" I laugh, pulling the cover up and over my head.

"It's cute."

My stomach rumbles, filling up the whole room. Richard laughs.

"I put a toothbrush and other things in the bathroom for you. After you clean up, I'll have your breakfast ready," he smiles, walking to the door.

I instantly cover my mouth, shielding him from my morning breath. He smiles at me, and opens the door, stepping through while looking back.

"I don't brush my teeth till after I eat because I don't like the taste of toothpaste and food. I'll be quick with everything else," I promise.

He nods, and he's out of the door.

Another stomach growl pushes me forward and through the hall into the bathroom carrying the bundle of clothes and other things. The dried cum between my legs pushes me towards the shower, and only after a few seconds of figuring out the knobs, the shower rushes down my skin, feeling amazing.

I bend my head away from the water, keeping my hair dry, but lean my shoulders back to let the water run down my back and front. As much as I want to hide and stay in heaven that is steaming water, I know any of the shapeshifters in the front could get impatient and join me in here.

I grab the same wash from last night and enjoy the smell as I clean myself, careful to clean and not get carried away again.

When my skin feels brand new again, I step out and look at myself in the mirror. It's strange to see myself and know that it's me but still not have any memory past stepping up to the Circus.

A headache forms in my head and I force my hair up and into a ponytail using the ponytail holder Richard gave me.

"Right now," I say to myself, "let's focus on eating, then you wash your face and brush your teeth and then you can figure out what the hell is going on and who you really are. And let's not die."

"Good plan," comes a voice from the front of the house.

I roll my eyes and sigh.

I reach for the clothes and put them on without really seeing. I end up with clothes just on the good side of too tight. A simple bra, that wonderfully fit, a plan deep green long sleeve shirt and black yoga pants that can't hide my larger curves, but they had pockets, so that was a plus. There weren't any panties, but somehow that didn't faze me any.

With nothing left to put on or fix, I grit and open the door. Walking back through the hall that seems lighter and different from last night. The windows in the living room are wide open, letting in the light and giving a view of the forest surrounding the house. The trees looked beautiful, but I couldn't shake the thought of anything being able to see—or shoot through that glass easily.

I walked into the kitchen and stopped in my tracks. There was only one chair left at the island, and every other space taken up by a werewolf.

Besides their strong energies flowing throughout the room, I can tell who each person was. Not instantly, but seeing their features, I can pull them from memories. I do not understand how I know them, I just do. Like seeing scenes play in my head that I was never there for.

Richard smiles and sits a plate full of food for me on the island right in front of the chair. I slowly walk towards it, eyeing every person in the room eyeing me. They all sat rooted to their spot, silent and staring.

The chair at the island puts some in front of me, some behind me and some to my right. I pull the chair out and turn it to the side so I can have everyone in view, but then the large window sits at my back. I look out of it, looking through the trees before turning my head back to the room.

"No one is afraid of snipers?" I ask.

Everyone looks at me, some even glare.

"Who would want to shot a Science teacher?" the one female in the room asks.

I look at her, sitting at the table, and looking at me. I know who she is, but I just nod at her.

I sit in the chair, my back to the window, and try to ignore the itch at the back of my neck. I pluck a piece of bacon up and stuff it in my mouth. I try not to moan as the taste explodes in my mouth.

"Hi, my name is—"

"Let her tell us who we are, don't give anything away."

Everyone sits quietly again, and Richard just smiles, setting down a glass of juice.

I smile back at him and take a huge gulp of juice to clear my throat. I look towards the table in front of me, to the three people sitting there.

"Sylvie, the packs Geri—"

"So, you even know our words."

"Stephen. Irving, a reporter."

The balding man sits forward, eyes wide with surprise. Irving, a member of the pack, but his daytime job is a reporter. One where no one knows that he's a werewolf. There's not supposed to be discrimination, but he could easily lose his job if his status as furry came out. The small china-doll-like man beside him just smiles at me.

I look to my right, standing guard near the door is a fine Asian man.

"Shag-Da. Hati."

He doesn't nod or move, he just continues looking.

I look towards Richard and the gentlemen standing guard next to him.

"Jamil. Sköll."

He sneers.

"How do you know all this?" Sylvie asks sitting up in her seat.

"Let the girl eat first," Richard says, "Then we'll go back to the circus, and figure all this out."

I look at each person looking at me until the growl from my stomach steals my attention away and to the plate, stacked high with eggs and bacon. Richard places a biscuit and pancakes in front of me, and my hands have a mind of their own as they stuff food into me.

Richard laughs, and Jamil snickers.

"She doesn't look much older than twenty-two," Sylvie says standing up from her chair.

I look over to her, watching her move closer to me, but I continue eating. I want to tell her that I'm older than that. I'm pretty sure I am, but there's no way to tell for sure.

"She feels human... or not like a shifter, that's for sure," She adds.

"She wouldn't if she was powerful unless she wanted you to know it," Jamil says, but the tone of his voice and the look in his face say for sure that he doesn't believe I'm powerful at all.

I continue eating my food. Since they're all talking like I'm not there anyway, I don't need to answer back.

"She doesn' seem like a threat," Stephen says relaxing at the table.

"Just because she doesn't seem like a threat doesn't mean she isn't," Sylvie smiles, standing beside me and leaning against the island, blocking my view of Richard. "She knows way too much about everyone. It's too weird and too... supernatural for something not to be going on. She comes in like an innocent little lamb that makes the big bad wolf want to protect her and sleep with her. Richard opened up his house to her the second she got here. She's a threat rather than she's innocent or not. And we should treat her like one."

"Agreed," says Jamil.

"We will treat her like a guest," Richard says, pulling Sylvie away from the island and sitting her back in that chair. However, he walks back around the island to stand near Jamil without glancing once at me.

He agrees with Sylvie, as would I in his shoes, as would any sane person, but there's a small twinge of pain inside me and I shove a biscuit in my mouth to smother the whine that tries to come out.

"Well, it won't take long to sort things out. From what I hear, there was quite a show at the Circus last night, and not one for the masses. A private little show in the King's chamber. I don't think Anita likes this one too much, and whoever Anita doesn't like rarely stays around for long," Irving says from his spot.

"Et tu, Brute?" I think silently. I look over to where Shang-Da is still guarding the door, ever silent.

"Any werewolves—Anything or person who doesn't like Anita, or that Anita doesn't like usually ends up dead," Sylvie smiles at me.

"That's not true," I speak up after clearing the biscuit from my throat. "Anybody who tries to harm those she loves or has given protection too, or tries to kill her first ends up dead. They just happen not to like each other when that happens. Anita may not like me, but I don't mean any harm to anyone."

"And you think that means you won't be dead at the end of this?" Jamil asks.

Richard says nothing.

I don't know what to say. In my heart, though I don't want to die, I'll probably end up being killed, anyway.

A knock comes at the front door dragging's everyone's attention. Shang-Da smells the air and announces, "pack."

I'm the only person in a room full of werewolves, and at least one more is coming to join them. I felt small, and like my morning is taking a turn from the worse. I stand up out of my chair and put Jamil and Richard at my back as I face whoever is about to come in.

The door opens and the sounds of boots come from the front of the house.

"Richard," comes a nasal voice.

I can see everyone else in the room tense up. Sylvie has a weird look on her face.

"I heard the weirdest story about something that happened last night that can't possibly be true."

A strawberry blonde head pokes around the corner. Olive eyes and a wide ruby red smile follows. She comes into the kitchen, a skinny lithe frame walking straight to Richard, and ignoring everyone else in the room. She wraps her arms around Richard's arm and smiles up at him. He just looks back at him.

Something in me shifts. Some weird feeling threatening to break free as I watch the woman curl around Richard.

She slowly turns her head and smiles at me. I can feel power pouring off of her. Enough power to tell me that she's strong, but not nearly enough power like that's flowing off of Sylvie.

"Oh, this is someone new," she says, but she doesn't sound too happy. "Hi, I'm Richard's fiance."

"Fiance?" Sylvie asks.

The woman keeps her eyes on me, smiling even wider.

"Dr. Radborne wasn't a werewolf," I say.

"You know about Ella?" Richard asks. He leans up from the counter practically dragging the woman up into the air as she tries to hold on to her marked territory.

"I know she isn't a werewolf... or was she? Well, she isn't you. You look nothing like Anita—"

"Why would I look like Anita?" The woman calls out.

I ignore the sneer on her face.

"Richard's fiance, Dr. Radborne, looked like Anita. Richard has a type." I look toward Richard, just a little confused. "But after that lunch with Anita and Micah, you broke it off."

"You know about that," Jamil says, "but you don't know who she is, or their engagement."

"I don't even think Richard knew about their engagement," Sylvie remarks.

"What I'm saying is that she doesn't know everything, it seems."

"You may have slept with him last night," The woman says, "and I understand because, with Anita, I have to learn how to share. But know this, I am the Luna, and he is mine."

I don't know how to explain it. Something in me broke at the words she was saying. Like last night, there was heat and anger at Anita, this was ten times worse. I felt something explode off of me, enough to rock me on my feet and push everyone else away from me. Even Richard swayed and looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Get your hands off her him," the growl ripples through my throat.

I can feel Shang-Da moving up behind me and Jamil pulls Richard behind him, stranding the woman in my sights.

"It's so nice of you to share," I growl taking a step closer to the girl, who is now shaking and leaning against the kitchen sink. "Richard needs a partner that understands that he's part of a triumvirate, that he has other polyamorous partners, that he needs to be able to top. I wish Richard would understand that and accept it."

Sylvie tries to step forward but stops in her tracks. "Her eyes. She's... changing. She's a werewolf."

"And she's powerful," Richard adds.

I quickly look down at my hands to see wolf claws and look up to the rest of the room. Every last one of them stares at me in either fear, anger, or astonishment. The fear starts to build up in me until I look at the so-called "Luna" and the anger starts to rise in me again.

"But you, little girl, are not that partner," I growl, taking another step towards her. She whimpers, and I can feel another burst of power out of me. The woman falls to the ground.

"She's making her turn!" Sylvie shouts.

"And you are no Luna," I say to her.

"Enough!" Richard barks out.

I feel a smack of power against me and instantly I'm pushed back and everything building in me gets sucked back inside like a fire in a vacuum and it pulls me down to my knees. The pain causes me to double over as my body recovers fro hat it just went through.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Stephen pick up the woman, still in human skin, and sit her at the table. No one comes to help me recover. They just stare, and the fear builds again. I can see Sylvie scrunch her nose as she smells my fear.

"Call Anita."