I tried not to show my fear as I walked with Lily over to the younger group of teenage boys. I felt them watching me, appraising me. I hated it. These boys had been my friends and playmates at the beginning of the summer. They were strangers now, assessing my value as a potential mate. I hoped that tonight wouldn't change them. It had.

I forced my fear down. I would lose any respect they had for me if I let them see my fear. A moment later, Eric broke away from where he was talking with the adults and came to my side. His presence would ensure the good behavior of the hormone crazed teenage boys. I saw the eldest brothers of the other girls hovering nearby too.

There were about twenty boys vying for my attention. I noticed, more importantly, that Caleb was standing off to the side, not fighting through the crowd for me to notice him. He smiled at me when he caught me looking at him. I grinned back at him. At least he hadn't changed. The rest of the boys sorted themselves and started coming up to me wishing me happy birthday. They reintroduced themselves, making sure I knew what family they were part of. I took notes of which families made sure their son was in this group. I caught Eric's eye and knew that he was making the same notes. We would report it to dad later.

I didn't put too much interest in who was actually offering themselves up as potential mates. Every boy here would be indicating interest unless he was already taken. In the next few weeks, the serious contenders would announce themselves.

I did take notice when an older unmated male came up to me. He was older even than Eric. I didn't know who he was, as I hadn't spent any time with him before. I heard Eric snarl from nearby, drawing dad's attention too. "Would you dance with me?" the stranger asked me, offering me a hand. He hadn't done anything inappropriate, so I had no valid reason to refuse him. He made my skin crawl, but that wasn't an appropriate reason. I took the hand he offered and let him lead me onto the dance floor. Eric and my dad were both watching. He couldn't do anything under their watchful eyes. I kept reminding myself of that as we danced.

Until he leaned down to whisper in my ear. "No one is going to want you, leech. They pretend now, for your Father's sake. They'll breed you now and kill you before you turn," he hissed. I stiffened, but tried not to let his words affect me. Dad would kill him in a heartbeat if he knew what he was saying.

"They'll do no such thing," I hissed back at him, while trying to keep my expression pleasant. I didn't want to cause a fight on my birthday. I tried to break away from him, but his grip tightened and I couldn't without drawing negative attention.

A moment later, help came. "May I cut in?" a male voice asked. The stranger and I both looked over. I was relieved to see Caleb. The stranger snarled softly, but bowed and let Caleb dance with me, backing away so as not to draw my father's anger.

"Thank you," I whispered to Caleb, truly glad to see him.

"Do I need to go kick his ass?" he asked.

"Not tonight. Dad would kill him if he knew he was causing issues," I told him. "He didn't do anything except say some unkind things," I added, blinking back tears. The strangers' words hadn't even been that bad, but it was all too much.

"Hey, don't let some asshole get you down," Caleb said, concerned and getting that overprotective streak that shifter males tended to acquire. "I'll still go kick his ass. Or hold his arms so you can do it." He grinned and got a smile out of me in return.

"Thanks," I replied with a smirk. He was being too nice to me, but that's just the way Caleb was.

"There shouldn't be tears on your birthday." He reminded me. "Oh, Katie made me promise to ask if you'd come running with us tomorrow. We promised her she could run with us, but she'd be happier if you came too,"

"I'd love to!" I told him with true excitement. Katie was a sweetheart. She was 7 and just getting a hang of her shifting. Shifters didn't really start shifting until 6 or 7. Her mom had died when she had Katie. My mom and I spent a lot of time with her.

Caleb smiled at me. "Great, I'll let her know. We're heading out at noon. I'm sure at least one of your brothers will be joining us too." I nodded. That was a given. They'd never let me go by myself to running. They wouldn't protest that I was going, or be upset. They just wanted to make sure I was safe.

"She's here tonight, isn't she?" I asked him. I hadn't seen her yet and that was surprising. He nodded and we stopped pretending to dance he pointed over at where my mom was sitting. Katie was over with her. Caleb came with me as I went over to see her.

"Sammi!" she exclaimed when she saw me, her eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, Sammi," Caleb whispered so only I could hear him. Katie was the only one who got away with that particular nickname. I felt myself blushing when Caleb used it, though. I opened my arms and Katie ran to me. I lifted her into a hug, swinging her around so she giggled. I held her on my hip to talk to her.

"So your big brother said you wanna go for a run tomorrow?" She nodded.

"Caleb said he'd go run with me. He was s'posed to ask you to come." I smiled at her.

"He asked. He did a good job. I'm sure it was very hard for him to remember something so important." Katie giggled and I stuck my tongue out at Caleb who was spluttering in protest. "And I told him I'd be happy to come run with you."

"Yay!" she squirmed out of my arms and went running to her dad to tell him the good news. I smiled after her.

"She's such a sweetie," mom commented. I nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for agreeing to come run with us. She's more comfortable shifting with you there to walk her through it," Caleb told me. I nodded. I was always willing to help a younger shifter. We were all basically one giant family and family always helped each other. Caleb looked over at Katie and his dad waved to him. "Looks like dad's ready to go. We'll see you tomorrow. Thank you Mrs. Lykos." he turned to me with a wicked grin. "Happy Birthday, Sammi." He smirked, knowing that I couldn't retaliate in front of my mother. I'd get him back for it later, though. I promised myself that.