For the next few days up until the full moon, the entire household was kind of in limbo. Not really accepting or moving on from the fact that Abi and Storm had gone off to find Zack, and not preparing for the full moon with me there.

School life continued pretty much the same. Theo was doubtful and judging over how I'd exactly gotten into Hellgate High. I didn't blame him either; I seemed to have got in way too easily. But I did have good GCSE results and the letter Uncle Rob wrote was believable and truthful. Besides, I reckoned that accepting transfer students looks good for a school.

Wanting to break some of the tension between everyone, I moved out of Theo's room and moved into Abi's now-empty room.

Jade did not like me one bit. And that fact was becoming more and more evident as the full moon approached. She was very aggressive towards me, about everything. Like, I'd ask her to pass me something, and she'd either ignore me or throw it at me with no warning.

Jason and Ryder didn't seem to pick up on the way she was acting towards me. Though Theo did notice it, being his usual observant self, and he kept telling Jade to back off me.

But I think that Theo trying to shield me from Jade just made her dislike me even more. I think it also stopped her from trying to move into Theo's room with him.

By the time the full moon rolled around, I was surprised that I was still in one piece after Jade's constant torments.

I soon learned that the day of the full moon is only slightly better than the night of the full moon. All four of them were either extremely grumpy, extremely depressed or extremely angry — Jade seemed to be all of the above.

I had to use the loo, so I walked into the girls' bathroom, not thinking to knock, and Jade was in there.

"Oh, Jade!" I exclaimed when I realised that she was in there, "I'm sorry, I should've knocked, I..." I frowned, realising that she was standing hunched over the sink, not wearing a t-shirt. "Jade... Are you okay?"

"Ember..." She sobbed, causing me to take a tentative step toward her, aware of how quickly her mood could change.

"Jade, what's the matter?" I asked; something was definitely wrong.

Whilst she gathered herself, I took a moment to take in the beautifully impressive, incredibly detailed tattoo that stretched across her upper back, shoulders and the back of her neck.

That must've been unbearably painful to get done... I thought as I remembered what Theo told me about how werewolves get their tattoos to last — with a blowtorch or another concentrated flame, and then wolfsbane.

I resisted the urge to reach out and run my fingers along the floral spirals that adorned her back.

"Jade, what's the matter?" I asked again as she sobbed once more, her shoulders shaking.

"I... I can't get it out..." She cried.

Concern and worry instantly engulfed me, extinguishing my admiration for her tattoo. "Can't get it out? What can't you get out?"

She turned to face me, bold as she was wearing nothing on her top half, completely exposed. "There's something... There's something in my skin." She frowned. "I think there is anyway..."

"Do you want me to look at it?" I tried gently.

Jade nodded, took my hand in hers and placed it against a spot just under her collarbone. She let go of my hand once she'd placed it where the 'something' was.

"Can you feel it?" She asked, voice still wobbly.

I frowned as I pressed my fingers against her skin and felt a thin, vein-like, strand of metal. The skin around was healing slowly and was dark red with blood. It seemed to spread before my eyes, growing like a mutating virus.

"How did it get there?" I asked.

"I don't know, and I've been trying to get it out," she told me, holding a bloody scalpel up. "But I can't do it on myself."

Eyeing the twisting strands of the metal, I swallowed. "I don't know whether I can get it out safely."

"Please, Ember," Jade pleaded desperately. "I can feel it, it's hurting my wolf... I think it might be silver."

"Maybe we should get you to a hospital," I suggested.

"No! No hospitals," Jason interrupted before Jade could say anything, and he stood in the doorway.

"How long have you been out there?" I frowned at him.

"Long enough. You can't take her to a hospital." He nodded towards Jade, who had now turned to face the sink again, away from Jason. "They'll run all sorts of tests."

"It hurts." Jade whimpered, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"We have to help her," I insisted, rubbing her arm gently.

"She'll be fine later," Jason told me, "The transition should force it out of her system."

"What if it doesn't?" I countered, "What then?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said sharply, turned and walked off.

"Jade?" I turned back to her, speaking gently again, "Are you okay?"

"It hurts, Ember. It really, really hurts," she sobbed and suddenly wrapped her arms around me. Awkward and aware she wasn't wearing a top, I patted her back, half returning the embrace.

"Well, this looks fun." Ryder laughed from the doorway. "Mind if I join in, girls?"

"Not now, Ryder." I glared at him.

"So, the offer for a threesome is still open, right?" He checked and then ran off after I threw an empty soap bottle at him.

"You good now?" I asked Jade.

"Sure." She nodded. "I'm gonna have a shower now."

Taking that as a cue to leave, I left the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

"Hey." Theo was standing leaning against the wall outside the door, with his arms crossed.

"Hey." I sighed.

"Is everything okay?" He asked as soon as the shower was running.

"Honestly?" I shook my head, admitting, "I don't know anymore; it kinda feels like all of us are stuck in some sort of limbo."

"Erm... I meant about Jade," Theo clarified. "But I see what you're getting at. It's like none of us knows how to act around each other, or how to talk to each other after — well, after everything that's happened."

We began walking through the house to the deck.

"Ember," he started, "Can I ask you something?"

"Doesn't sound like I'm gonna get a choice..." I said under my breath and then said louder, "Yeah, of course."

"Don't you think that out of all us, you and I should be the ones that, like, I don't know, get on with each other better?" He asked, confusing me.

"What?" I frowned, stepping onto the deck, "Just spit it out, Theo."

"I mean..." He shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. "I just don't know how I'm supposed to act around you either. Despite all the time we spent together back in Lake Oldoy."

Sighing, I leaned over the railings. "A lot has changed since then."

"But still," he persisted, locking his eyes on me. "We used to be so close, and now we're just so far away from each other."

"We've literally been sleeping in the same room." I pointed out, shooting a glance at him.

"Yeah, only so you don't hook up with Ryder," he huffed.

"Well, you sure know how to make me sound like a real bitch, don't you?" I fired back at him.

"See?" Theo through his hands up in the air, laughing exasperatedly. "We can't even have a conversation without arguing."

Despite the sun, I shivered, "Whatever."

"It's kinda freaking me out how cold you are all the time," Theo told me.

"Yeah, join the club." I rolled my eyes, already wearing clothes that should've made me warm.

"Come here," he offered and without any warning, wrapped his arms around me.

It felt like I relaxed as soon as his arms embraced me, and I breathed in that strong masculine smell that surrounded him. He was doing it purely to warm me up, I know that much, yet I couldn't help but think that there was something more going on.

It's just a comfort thing... I tried to remind myself, but some part of me deep down wanted it to be more than just comfort.

I wrapped my arms tighter around his back, wanting to keep him close to me for as long as possible.

"Jesus, what's wrong with you people today?" Ryder intruded, forcing us apart. "Is it 'Free Hugs from Ember Day' or something?"

I rolled my eyes and didn't say anything — but on second thought, I should've done, considering what happened next. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing.

What happened next was Ryder striding over to me and enclosing his arms around me.

"Get off, Ryder," I huffed at him, but he didn't move.

"Not until you hug me back," he said in a sing-song voice.

"You're such a child." I sighed and placed my arms around his back.

A glance over Ryder's shoulder told me that Theo was not happy with us standing there, hugging right in front of him.

"That's enough, Ryder." I finally found my voice and pulled away from him.

He shrugged and stepped away, "So, what's after 'Free Hugs Day'? 'Free Kisses Day'?"

"Dream on, Ryder." I laughed at him, shaking my head.

"I will, hot stuff." His eyes raked my body. "I will."

"Okay." Theo interrupted, "Get lost, Ryder."

"I'm going." He winked at me and left.

Annoyed, I groaned and leant over the railings again, trying to steady myself. I really needed someone like Wednesday or Maia to talk to right now; I had not one, but two hot guys on my mind. I temporarily considered giving Maia a call, but then remembered the huge time difference between Montana and the UK.

"Are you okay?" Theo asked, leaning next to me, our arms brushing slightly.

"You seem to be asking that question a lot recently." I half-smiled.

"Maybe it's because I've been worried about you a lot recently." He shrugged.

"No, I'm not really okay."

"Wanna talk about it?" He nudged his shoulder against mine.

It was my turn to shrug. "I'm not sure."

There were a lot of things on my mind. I hadn't told Theo the whole truth about my time on Svalbard, but then again, it wasn't like he'd told me everything that had happened to him in our time apart.

He'd definitely met a girl at some point, as he was so reluctant to tell me anything about it. Maybe it was just like a one-night stand that he wanted to forget... And talking to me about it wouldn't exactly help him to forget it.

Despite my flustered state when he'd asked me if I'd met anyone whilst I was on Svalbard, I didn't actually meet anyone. There were a couple of guys that had been interested, but I'd told them I was in a long-distance relationship. Admittedly, I was way too hung up on Theo to even consider thinking about anybody else.

God, there had been so many nights on Svalbard when I was lying in my bed, hot for Theo, and Theo alone. Just thinking about it made me hot then, the closeness of him wasn't helping either. I don't think I've ever craved someone so badly in my life.

Opening my eyes that I didn't realise I'd shut, I blushed.

There he was, right next to me. So close, yet so far...

He doesn't want you after the way you left him at the airport, I had to keep reminding myself of that fact. He might not ever want you again.

"I... I have to go." I stuttered and turned to run inside the house. I needed to get away from him before I got carried away with myself.

"Ember!" He shouted, but I was already gone.

I locked myself in the girls' bathroom and rushed over to the sink.

I tried not to cry — I really did, but the weight of everything was starting to crush me a little, so I couldn't keep it in.

It had been so long since I'd had a good cry, and nothing screams cathartic release like sobbing at the bathroom sink.

I shouldn't have cried. My tears, due to their healing properties, were precious. And there I was wasting them. The thing is, I could use my tears to heal others, but never myself.

The tears kept on rolling, splashing uselessly into the sink.

I glanced up at myself in the mirror, shaking uncontrollably as I sobbed. I need to get a hold of myself, I began trying to control my raging emotions, but failed miserably.

The tears dried slightly, only to be proceeded by my palms catching fire. I must've really been losing it.

"Ember?" Theo knocked on the locked bathroom door.

"D-don't come in!" I warned him, biting my lip and lying, "I'm... I'm naked!"

He scoffed under his breath, "Yeah, like that's gonna stop me."

"I heard that!" I yelled at him through the door and balled my hands into fists in an attempt to calm the flames.

Why am I so out of control?

"Ember, I'm coming in," Theo said, and before I could try and protest, he barged through the door, breaking the lock clean off.

Rapidly, I turned the cold tap on, and put my hands under them to try and dampen the flames.

"Leave me alone, Theo," I told him through gritted teeth.

"Nope," he refused stubbornly., "I'm trying to help you here, Ember."

"If you want to help me," I retorted, "Then leave me alone."

I glanced down at my hands, and thankfully they had stopped burning and were returning to normal... whatever 'normal' is.

Spinning around to face Theo, I spat at him, "See, I didn't need your help."

Theo shrugged in response. "I was only trying to help you."

"Well," I huffed, "I was fine without you."

"Ember, look at me," he said, and I didn't even realise that I hadn't been looking at him in the first place.

My eyes snapped up to meet his.

"I want to help you; I want to be here for you," he insisted, "And I'll continue trying to do so, even if you continually push me aware."

It took all of my might not to look away from him.

He stepped closer to me and told me, "I care about you, Ember."

For some reason, I swallowed back tears; maybe he does want me after all. Or maybe he was still trying to protect me and didn't really care about me in the way I wanted him to care.

Confused, I walked to the lounge and collapsed onto one of the sofas — gazing out the window at the darkening sky. I didn't reply to Theo; I couldn't find the words to explain how deeply I cared about him.

Moving the conversation elsewhere, after following me to the lounge, Theo asked, "Are you gonna be okay tonight?"

"I'll be fine." I smiled weakly. "I've got Netflix."

"If you can... You should try and get some sleep tonight," he told me, sitting on the sofa opposite me.

"Maybe."

We stayed like that for a couple more minutes: me watching the sky, and Theo watching me.

"Shit!" Someone exclaimed from outside, "Stupid piece of junk!"

I glanced at Theo, and then we both headed outside. Jason was standing at the side of the pickup, fuming with rage.

"Stupid piece of junk!" He exclaimed again, kicking the tire.

"What's up?" Theo approached him.

"What's up is that Ryder couldn't be arsed gassing the truck up before the full moon," he seethed, and I don't think I'd ever seen him so angry — normally, he was quiet, the peacemaker among the pack, but now... Well, it was probably due to the full moon.

Ryder stepped outside and protested, "I filled it up the other day."

"Oh, please." Jade joined us, back to her usual self. "That piece of crap probably leaked out the gas whilst you were filling it up."

It was weird hearing them call diesel 'gas' — the differences between British English and American English never failed to amuse me. But now wasn't the time to start laughing at it.

"So, what do we do now — huh?" Jason fumed, "We're never gonna be able to get far enough away from everyone before the moon's risen."

"Well, we should get going, then," Theo replied coolly.

I wrapped my arms around my body, already getting cold.

Theo noticed, and he placed a hand on my arm, "You should go inside."

"Okay." I nodded, and headed back into the warmth, leaving the four of them to continue arguing. I wasn't sure whether they were leaving then or later.

Flopping down onto the sofa in the lounge, I grabbed the TV remote and flicked it on.

As Netflix was loading up, I grabbed a bowl of popcorn from the kitchen. It had been way too long since I'd had popcorn — the last time was probably at Theo's house on Halloween...

After an unsuccessful search for Scooby-Doo on TV, I resorted to a random rom-com film on Netflix, the first one I came across. I pulled a blanket around me — cocooning and shielding myself from the cold.

About five minutes into the movie, Theo stuck his head in the door and told me that they were going.

"Okay," I replied, without even pausing the TV. "See you tomorrow."

From there onwards, the night seemed to go painfully slowly. I watched two films in total — both cheesy rom-com ones, because why not? — and I wasn't tired at all.

I glanced at my phone; the time read 22:22. Here we go again with mirror times.

Sighing, I flicked the TV off, and stood up, ensuring that my blanket was still wrapped around me like a toga.

Shuffling to the deck area, I hopped out into the cold, night air. Despite hating being cold, I still liked cold, fresh air. I inhaled a lungful of the pure mountain air and stared up at the brilliant, bright full moon, which was so much brighter than back in Lake Oldoy. Maybe it was because there was even less light pollution out there — that would explain why the moon and stars were so much clearer, so much crisper.

A sudden long, plaintive howl echoed across the valley. The howl of a werewolf.

The sound chilled me to my bones, even though I was pretty sure the only werewolves around there were Theo's pack.

But why are they so close?

Maybe the sound had come from the other side of the valley and had been bounced across, magnifying it. But it did sound close.

Somehow, I heard a call to me on the wind — "Run!"

Another howl, this time extremely close.

The sound of running — running right toward me.

"Jade! Stop!" One of the guys growled, yet there was also fear within his voice.

The realisation finally hit me, and I turned to run back up to the ranch house. But it was like wading through swampland. Everything seemed to slow down, and I couldn't run. My body became sluggish.

Maybe I fell asleep whilst watching a movie, and this is all just a dream — a nightmare...

But it wasn't a nightmare.

Jade was coming after me.

I willed my legs to move faster, but I was running in a painful state of slow motion.

I heard a growl behind me, Jade, and I didn't stop or turn around — I knew it was her. Then, she leapt on me from behind, landing on my shoulders and sending me crashing to the ground.

"Jade, you don't have to—" I began trying to say, but she clenched her clawed hands around my throat strangling me. Her amber eyes glowed threateningly, and she bared her fangs at me.

"Jade! Stop!" Someone yelled again, but they were too late — much too late.

The world faded to black.