"I am not sleeping in his room," I announced to Abi, sitting down next to her outside on the deck. "I'd rather get strangled by you whilst you were sleeping."

"Look, Ember," Jason sighed before Abi could reply, "I'm sure we can work it out somehow. Theo's just a little bit lost right now..."

"Oh, and you thought that I'd be the one to find him again?" I retorted.

"He's heartbroken." Storm patted my knee gently. "He's heartbroken over you."

I stood up at that and walked a little away from them, going to lean against the carved wooden railings.

"Maybe he shouldn't have told me he loved me at the freaking airport then," I muttered to myself.

Okay, so maybe I'd been a little cold-hearted towards him, but what else was I supposed to do? Profess my undying love for him before getting onto a plane that would take me thousands of miles away from him?

"I'm going down to the lake," I said, needing to put a little more distance between me and Theo.

The lake was beautiful: afternoon sunshine was making it glimmer and gleam, pulling me closer to it.

And it made me think of home, of Lake Oldoy.

I squatted down onto my heels at the edge of the slightly rippling water and stared at my reflection.

Theo was right; I had changed. I was skinnier, with my collarbones, wrist bones and shoulder blades sticking out sharply. I had lost weight around my hips and waist, my fingers seemed longer and thinner. My hair was different too; it was still thick and wavy, but I subconsciously wore it up more and I couldn't even remember the last time I had it down. My stomach was stretched taught like skin over a drum. My eyes seemed to be set deeper in my head.

I had changed more than I'd like to admit — and that was on the outside.

I drifted back to reality and a single, salty tear rolled down my cheek — what a waste.

At some point, Storm had joined me at the lake and sat down beside me. "You can have my bed tonight."

"How come? Are you sure?" I was hesitant about her offer.

"Yes, positive. I plan to sleep under the stars tonight." She lay back against the grass, staring up at the sky as if she was trying to see the stars before they appeared. "Of course, you'll have to contend with Jade, but I'm sure you'll manage it."

"Yeah." I sighed and flicked the water in front of me, wishing I could make my borderline-skeletal reflection disappear.

"You know Ryder's quite the cook? He's planning on feeding you up because you're so thin." She pinched my skin lightly.

I laughed at that. "What am I? A turkey or a pig now?"

"No, he's just worried about you," Storm said seriously. "We all are. That's the reason Theo's so upset."

I thought for a moment, watching across the lake. "Thank you for the offer of your bed. But I think I should sleep in Theo's room. I think he needs me right now."

"He does need you." Storm yawned. "He just won't admit it 'cos he's a guy, and guys do stupid things around girls."

"Are those some of your wise words of insight?" I grinned.

"Some of them." She shut her eyes and smiled in the sunshine.

"I better go talk to Theo," I voiced aloud as I stood up and headed back towards the ranch, hoping that we didn't end up yelling at each other again.

"Theo?" I knocked on his bedroom door, after ignoring Ryder as I walked past the kitchen. The kitchen, lounge and dining room were all open plan, so it was hard to sneak past him.

I pushed open Theo's door, to see him standing looking out the window. He'd obviously just had a shower because he had a towel wrapped around his waist and his back was still wet.

"I'm sorry you think I've changed," I affirmed, going to stand next to him at the window. "And maybe I have, I don't know."

I was trying so hard not to look at him and to focus on the scenery outside the window. He was standing right next to me, powerful arms folded across that strong chest of his — hot water droplets trickling down his torso like sweat...

Attractively, though I don't know why it was so attractive, a muscle twitched in his jaw as he tried to think of an answer.

"Sorry for being a dick to you," he finally responded, not looking at me either.

"It's okay." I shivered, becoming cold.

I went to the wardrobe and dug out a thick scarf that I'd brought from Svalbard and wrapped it around my neck, swathing myself in the material.

"Since when are you so cold all the time?" Theo asked, picking up a second towel to dry his torso.

Don't look, don't look, don't look...

"I don't know." I shrugged when I knew exactly how.

Some of Uncle Rob's methods were dubious, to say the least. I'd spent so many days camping out in the coldest regions of Svalbard to stamp out the fire within me, that I'd almost died from hypothermia. And ever since then I'd never been able to get warm again.

"What did your uncle do to you?" Theo frowned, approaching me, the second towel slung around his shoulders. "Why are you so cold?"

I rubbed my arms, trying to warm up, as I admitted, "Training. I trained in the cold." I turned away from him again. "One way to get rid of a fire is to take away its heat, right? No heat equals no fire."

"How long has it been since you've felt the fire?" His voice became quieter.

"Too long." A tear trickled out of my eye, but I brushed it away as soon as it hit my cheekbone.

While I had set fire to things after the hypothermia, it just didn't feel the same. I couldn't feel the fire like I had done before. All the fire had been frozen out of me.

My control had come at a price. A price that nearly cost me my life.

"Besides." I shrugged facing him again. "When you're fighting with fire, you don't have to feel it."

"That's some seriously screwed-up psychology right there; of course you have to feel it." Theo raised an eyebrow.

I shivered again; the scarf was hardly doing anything to warm me up.

"Come here," Theo said, opening his arms to me.

And my God, I wanted so badly to be embraced in his arms again.

But instead, I just said, "I should have a shower."

I walked off to the bathroom that I'd seen Ryder in before, figuring that was where the shower was. Grabbing a towel out of the airing cupboard next to the bathroom, I headed in to shower, hoping that it would warm me up.

Five minutes later, I was stripped off and in the shower with hot water running over my skin.

It's funny, I started to think, the last time I had a shower, I was on another continent, in another time zone, on Svalbard. Funny how things turn out—

My thoughts were cut short when someone opened the bathroom door; I definitely should've locked it.

"Erm, I'm in here!" I called to them, all too aware that the shower door was clear glass, and there was nothing to cover my body with.

"What the hell are you doing in the guys' bathroom?" One of the guys said — it had to be Ryder or Jason — though they were still hesitating by the door.

"Oh!" I blushed. "I'm sorry; I didn't know..."

"Ember?" Ryder stepped from behind the door. "God, hot stuff, what are you doing in here...?"

"Ryder!" I screeched as my hands flew to cover my exposed body, though maybe a little too late. I faced the back wall of the shower, preferring that he saw my ass over the front of my body.

"Ember... I..." Ryder was at a loss for words.

"Get the hell out of here!" I yelled at him.

"Ryder! What the hell, man?" Theo came into the bathroom as well.

I sunk to a crouching position on the floor of the shower, just wanting to be left alone.

"Ryder, get out of here," I heard Theo tell Ryder, who, for once, actually listened, though he did grumble on his way out.

"Ember...?" Theo called to me tentatively, "Are you okay? He didn't... try anything, did he?"

"No," I said, tipping my head up to the water. "He didn't try anything. I'm okay. I just didn't realise that there's a guys' bathroom and a girls' one."

"Sorry, I guess I should have told you."

"Yeah, you should've," I replied accusingly. "Now get out of here."

"But—" He began.

I cut him off, "But what? But we used to date so it doesn't matter if you watch me shower or not? Of course, it freaking matters!" My voice rose, "Get outta here!"

He left, closing the door behind him, leaving me to sob pathetically under the hot water.

I managed to spend the rest of the night with less drama. Ryder didn't say anything, only eyed me like he knew what was under my clothes (which he kind of did). Theo slept in the chair by the window and I slept in his bed, which smelt of him so much it made me want to cry again.

What's wrong with me? Why am I crying so much?

It wasn't my time of the month, and I had pretty much grown out of mood swings by that point... so why all the tears?

That morning, as I lay waking up, I made a deal with myself, that I wouldn't cry. And that I'd be stronger for myself.

They all had to go to school that day, leaving me at the ranch with nothing to do whatsoever.

"We'll be back around four-ish," Abi told me before the six of them left in the battered old pickup for their high school in Missoula.

High school was becoming a distant memory, Challis High School was basically forgotten. I'd ended up sitting my GCSEs early at a university in Longyearbyen, and I'd miraculously passed all of them. Thinking about it, I probably passed Business Studies because of the coursework that I was doing on Svalbard.

I'd stayed in very sporadic contact with my friends back in Lake Oldoy. Wednesday and Al both left Lake Oldoy to go to a college in Bridstain. Maia missed me so much that it was almost painful reading her texts and listening to the voicemails that she left, as I often 'missed' her calls.

Kaden and Halia were the most love-struck couple that I'd met at our age, and they spent their time holed up in Kaden's caravan doing who-knows-what with each other. Well, I kinda knew; it wasn't that hard to guess.

I'd heard nothing from Eric, which made me wonder if Theo did end up killing him after all, and his body was lying in a ditch somewhere. Jack Murphy hardly crossed my mind, except in moments in moments of self-pity over the mistakes I'd made in the past.

Whilst the pack were at school, I'd spend the day moping around the ranch, nosing through their rooms, and staring at the sunshine from the deck. I was insanely bored, to say the least.

Three days of this and I was done with being home alone.

An hour after they left on the fourth day, I grabbed my folder that documented all my GCSE grades and boring school stuff like that. Then I did something that I'd never done before in my life — I hitch-hiked into Missoula. Hitch-hiking was weird, it felt like something you'd do if you were on the run from someone, or running to someone maybe.

Storm had mentioned the night before that their school was called Hellgate High School, and she'd looked at me like she already knew what I was planning to do.

The front entrance of Hellgate High was grand, to say the least, with tall trees positioned on either side of it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed through the front doors, before following the signs to the admin office, a sense of excitement coming over me.

Okay, high school is not something to be excited about, I know. But American high school, after months of not going to school, is something to be excited about.

"Hi, I'm here to inquire about a place at this school?" I said all in one breath to the receptionist.

"Well, ya wanna go to the headmaster's office for that, honey," she drawled. "Take a walk down that hallway there, go left then it's the second door on your right — ya got that, honey?"

"Yes, that's great, thank you." I hurried away before my courage deserted me.

Somehow, I managed to find the headmaster's office straight away and was admitted after I knocked agitatedly on the door.

"Hi, my name is Ember Milburn." I shook his hand, tucking my folder under my arm.

"And what can I do for you, Miss Milburn?" The head sat down, rearranging his desk.

"Well, I'm here to inquire about a place at this school," I repeated my line from earlier. "I've got my GCSE results here. And a letter from my uncle requesting a place at whichever school I think would fit for me."

I'd gotten Uncle Rob to scrawl a quick recommendation note before he flew back to the UK.

"GCSEs, huh?" He flicked through the folder and read the letter. "You're British, ain't ya?"

"Y-yes, I am," I stammered a little. "I can find another high school if you don't accept transfer students...?"

"No, no, sit down, sit down," he insisted, even though I hadn't even realised I'd stood up, so I sank into the chair again. His face broke into a huge grin. "You've got good results and seem to have a consistent work ethic — even if you did leave the UK to live in Svalbard... I'm sure we could figure it out. But you seem like a bright student; I'd be more than happy to accept you into my school."

"Thank you so much." I smiled back, not believing my luck.

I'd got in.

"Class," the headmaster introduced as he walked into the room ahead of me, beckoning me to follow him, "Class, we have a new transfer student, all the way from the UK!"

I hesitated at the doorway, and he beckoned again, "C'mon now, they don't bite, I promise!" I walked into the room, and he introduced me, "Everybody this is Ember Milburn, and I want y'all to be extra nice to her, ya hear me?"

I tried to smile, but anxiety flooded through me. I couldn't even focus on the faces in the room. Until I saw a couple of faces that I recognised smiling back at me, and the room swam into focus again.

By some means, I'd ended up in the same class as some of the pack. I saw Ryder, Abi and Storm grinning at me. I guessed that Theo, Jade and Jason were in another class at that time until I saw Theo sitting at the back of the room. He glared at me.

Uh-oh, I laughed inwardly and went to take a seat next to Ryder.

"Hey, hot stuff," he whispered, beaming at me. "Glad you're here, this class just got a whole lot more interesting."

"What is this class again?" I asked, trying to ignore the dagger looks Theo was giving me.

"American History." Ryder grinned and my face fell.

I knew nothing about American History, so the next 50 minutes were absolute and total hell. I'd have to get a tutor because of how badly I did. We did a pop quiz at the end of the lesson, and I got three out of ten. Very miserable.

But as soon as the bell shrilled to signal that class was over and I was in the hallway waiting for Abi, Theo grabbed hold of my arm and slammed me against the lockers.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" He seethed at me.

"Getting an education," I replied calmly enough, pretending like he wasn't scaring the crap out of me.

"What the hell are you doing here? In our freaking school?" He spat at me, pushing his face closer to mine.

I turned my head so I wasn't looking at him and repeated, "Getting an education."

I was just about to whip out some of my badass defence skills when a teacher rounded the corner and told us that: "Hellgate High has a zero-tolerance bullying policy and a zero-tolerance fighting policy. So, both of you — detention this lunchtime. And no arguing."

Theo stepped away from me and glared at me.

"Theo..." I tried a gentler approach, "I don't know why you're so angry with me — what have I done wrong?"

I thought I saw his face soften slightly when he said, "Things can't just go back... to how they used to be."

"Oh, and so you have to be a total jerk to me over the smallest things now?" The gentle approach was gone and, in an instant, I was back on defence.

He opened his mouth to reply, "Em—"

"Hey, hot stuff." Ryder sprung out of the classroom, "I can't believe you got detention on your first day here..." He might have continued talking, but I'm not sure; I walked off before he could continue rambling.

Abi called after, "Ember, wait up!"

"Not now, Abi. I can't." I told her, not glancing back.

Not glancing back, the same way I did when I left Theo at the airport...

Thankfully, Abi left me to have some time on my own — though you'd think that I would've had enough of that on Svalbard. I suppose not, I was just separating myself from everyone even more; it had become easier that way.

Wednesday's dad, Alistair, had once said that 'sometimes isolation from others is the best way to find yourself.' Yet after being alone for so long, I still hadn't found myself.

"Oof!" I bumped into someone whilst turning a corner, sending books flying everywhere, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going and I—"

"Hey, no it's fine," he replied. Yep: he. "I should've been looking where I was going."

I looked at him properly whilst we picked up each other's books and sheets of paper. He had piercing blue eyes, light blonde hair and a strong jawline. A random flash of recognition hit me; do I know him? Have I met him before?

No, I decided, there's no way that I could've met him before... Right?

"I didn't catch your name." The mystery guy grinned at me.

"That's 'cos I didn't drop it." I decided to just mess with the guy a little. I grabbed the rest of my stuff and stalked off down the hallway.

"I'm Chris, by the way!" Chris yelled after me.

Noted, handsome. Noted.

I got lost on my way to my lunchtime detention. And, being stubborn, I refused to ask anyone to direct me to the right room — so I wandered from door to door, peeking in to see if Theo was in any of them.

"You look a little lost there, Brit." Chris appeared in front of me out of nowhere and told his friends he'd catch up with them later.

"Nope." I denied it instantly, "Nope, not lost at all."

"Well, I've got a lunch detention." His mouth quirked up in a half-smirk that made him look so freaking cute. "Which I'm already late for." He started walking with me in the way that I'd come.

"What d'you get detention for?" I teased, as I walked next to him, "Running into the new British student in the middle of the corridor?"

"Actually, she ran into me," he retorted pointedly. "She's really rude as well."

"Yeah, well." I shook my head, suppressing a grin. "I heard she got detention for fighting on her first day."

"Really?" His eyes widened at me. "Crap, who knew cute girls could be so feisty?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "You gotta watch out for the cute, blonde ones."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said just before going into the classroom.

"Me too..." I replied, and he threw a handsome grin at me when he heard.

"Chris Woodman, you are precisely eleven minutes late for your detention," the teacher running the detention chided as Chris walked in.

"Sorry, sir," he said smugly, "I was just showing a new student around."

I stepped into the room, to see that Theo was already there, and sat slumped in his chair. But he sat bolt upright when he saw that Chris and I were together. Not together, together, but had walked together. His eyes narrowed at me in a steely gaze.

What have I done wrong now?

"And your name is...?" The teacher asked, and I was seriously tempted to make up a name.

But, being the goody-two-shoes that I was, I replied, "Ember Milburn."

"Ember." Chris mouthed, nodding and pulling a face of approval as he sat down.

"Take a seat, Miss Milburn." The teacher lifted his hand to the back of the class, where there was only one seat left —next to Theo.

Groaning, I collapsed into the seat next to him. This is gonna be a hella long hour. Or however long this actually is...

"You need to stay away from Chris," Theo hissed, glancing across at me.

"Why?" I retorted loudly, "Because you feel like you have to protect me from every other guy that's not you?"

"Silence!" The teacher, whose name I never learnt, warned.

"That's not it," Theo whispered anyway, "And Chris Woodman is not just 'another guy'."

I rolled my eyes. "If there's something so wrong about him, why don't you just tell me?"

"I'll tell you after school," Theo looked irritated but shut up.

"It better be worth it." I said, rolling my eyes, equally as irritated, earning me another "silence!" from the teacher — to which I rolled my eyes again.

"What is it then, Theo?" I interrogated as soon as we were back at the ranch, "What the hell is so wrong with Chris Woodman?"

Theo ran a hand over his face. "He's just not safe."

"You're gonna have to do better than that." I folded my arms tightly across my body, which obviously must've accentuated my boobs, as Theo's eyes flicked and lingered there for a minute. "Hey, my eyes are up here," I protested.

"Sorry — I, erm," he stammered, face reddening slightly.

"I don't blame you, dude." Ryder slapped Theo on the shoulder, chuckling, "She doesn't half have a nice pair on her."

I chucked my right shoe at Ryder, accurately hitting him in the side of the head.

"I'm too tired for this shit." Jade sloped past us and into her room.

I rounded on Theo again, glaring at him.

"You don't understand." He shook his head at me.

"Oh yeah?" I fired back, anger building inside of me, "Only 'cos you never explain anything to me!"

"You have to stay away from Chris," he insisted yet again, his voice rising as well.

"Give me one reason, Theo," I bargained. "Give me one reason why I should stay away from him."

"Because he's a fricking hunter!" Theo yelled at me, and the world dropped away beneath me as he continued talking, "Is that a good enough reason, huh?"

"How—" I tried but my voice came out weak, "How do you definitely know?"

"'Cos his dad shot me with that wolfsbane bullet back in Lake Oldoy, and Chris was also there." He subconsciously rubbed the scar on his shoulder blade.

That bullet had been immensely hard for me to burn out — had it been as immensely painful for Theo?

"That's how I know he's definitely one of them," Theo continued, "And you need to stay away from him if you want all of us to stay alive."

The weight of his words hit me, but there was still something missing... Something's not quite right. I frowned and asked, "Why didn't the hunters kill all of your pack — why were they just locked up?"

Jason stepped toward us. "Ember, it's time you know the whole truth; that way you can understand what's at stake here."

Then Jason, along with Theo and a few put-ins from Abi and Storm, explained everything. The fact hunters were trying to develop a cure for supernaturals. The fact that Hayden, Ryan and Sienna had all been test subjects that failed. The fact that the Agency that was supposedly protecting Theo was in league with the hunters. The fact that they still hadn't found Zack, a human who was still alive but missing.

The fact that the hunters let the pack be found by Theo and escape. The fact that it wasn't over. The fact that the pack were still entangled in a deadly game with the hunters.

A deadly game that I now seemed to be part of.

Realisation and dread hit me like a tsunami, almost entirely obliterating me. I stumbled backwards, only to be caught and helped to my feet by Jason.

"I never should've come here..." I muttered, coldness flooding through my body.

"What do you mean?" Abi questioned, taking my arm.

"I've put all of you in more danger." My eyes glazed over slightly and faintness washed over me.

"How?" Jason's voice wavered at the edge of reality.

"Because I'm a threat to everyone," I mumbled, blinking rapidly; it felt like my eyelids were becoming glued together. "Because it's only a matter of time before everything ends in flames."