I had no idea what time it was when I stumbled across the creek. Probably around 1 in the morning. I had been running for what felt like hours, just needing to be outside. At one point I had laid down in a clearing to look at the stars, just needing to feel unconfined. But after wandering deeper and deeper into what has slowly become our property, I came across the creek.

I don't tend to come this far often, but seeing I was already here, I might as well go dip my feet in. Stepping out onto the rocks, I looked out only to lock gazes with a wolf.

I stood frozen for a second, the wolf halfway through drinking. It's not like I was dumb, I knew damn well that it was too big to be a regular wolf, making it a werewolf. All logical parts of my brain told me to run. Fight, maybe. Do something other than stand there.

But I didn't.

All I could do was hold eye contact with this massive wolf while it did the same. Slowly I began to admire its appearance. It had dark chocolate colored fur, that looked silky soft. Could wolf's fur even be that soft? I asked myself. But its eyes were what struck me. Light green. Only werewolf's of alpha descent had colored eyes.

There we stood, staring at each other. Both to paranoid to take their eyes off of each other. Standing in silence.

In a moment, a twig off in the distance snapped, and the wolf turned away. I took a step back into the shadows. Without looking back, the wolf ran off.

I let out a sigh, and leaned back against a tree. What the hell just happened.

~•~

"For the last time Austin, yes I'm sure it was a werewolf." I sighed. After practice the next day, Austin invited himself over, so here we were, him laying on the couch in my room as I laid on the bed. He was one of my best friends, despite being mortal. I had told him everything about werewolves and vampires and demons and every other creature after I had to save his life on a school trip. It's a long story.

"Ok well sorry, it just seems a bit odd that you'd run into a werewolf on your territory. Especially that late at night." He responded, tossing a bouncy ball up in the air and catching it.

"Property- territory makes us sound like wild animals." I scrunched my nose in disgust. "But ya, it is odd that a wolf, especially of high status, would roam around in a vampire's backyard."

"You don't think it's one of those two new guys, do you?" He stopped throwing the ball to turn and look at me.

"I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind. Think about it, two wolfs show up at school, one of which seems a little too interested in me, and then a few days later I run into a wolf out near the creek. That can't be a coincidence."

"Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But you realize that if that wolf you saw was one of the new guys, that means there's an alpha at our school."

Austin was right. If I was right about Noah or James being the wolf by the creek, then I would have to accept the fact that one of them was an alpha. The only problem was I had no way to prove either of them was the wolf I saw last night.

"The last thing I need is some alpha walking around school," I said, getting up off my bed. "I don't want to have to think about it anymore. Let's do anything else other than talk about it."

Austin smiled, rolled over to grab two controllers, and tossed me one with a smile. "Whatever you say dude."

~•~

"As much as I'd love to stay for dinner, I have a feeling I'd be better off at my house." Austin teased as he was grabbing his bag from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh come on, just because we're all out of AB doesn't mean you can't stay." I joked with him. He opened the door and smiled.

"As appealing as that sounds, I'd rather stick with the leftovers at home." He closed the door behind him, and I shook my head smiling. I never thought I'd ever be close to some random highschool football player, but here I was.

I walked into the kitchen to see Valery unloading the dishwasher. She smiled at me as I sat down at the island.

"I heard you and Austin talking earlier." She said as she put the last glass in the cupboard.

"Wow, there really is no privacy in this house," I responded, pretending to be annoyed. There wasn't really any way around vampire hearing. She just rolled her eyes.

"When were you going to tell me you saw a werewolf last night?" She asked, ignoring my comment.

"When you got home."

"Well I'm home now, so spill. Is there any chance that that wolf could be one of the new werewolves at your school?"

"I mean, it's always a possibility, but nothing to back it up." Valery was silent for a few seconds as she tapped her finger on the countertop. "I thought you said we had no reason to worry about wolves at my school until they gave us a reason to worry. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Let's just say you are right. One of the two guys is the wolf you saw last night. Other than the fact that an alpha was so far out past their territory into our land, you'd be right about that one boy being the alphas son."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she said, "that if the wolves decided to break their truce, they have a great source of information."

~•~

The next day at school was nothing special until science class. I walked in with some of the football guys, thinking I was going to be able to take my normal seat in the back with them. That is until I saw the desks were removed and replaced with two-person tables. I groaned, knowing that a new seating chart was coming. As the rest of the class came in and the bell rang, the teacher closed the door and smiled.

"Alright class, as you can see there's been a change in our classroom. We've been lucky to receive tables for better partner work, so if everyone could please quiet down, I'll list off table partners."

The room was filled with quiet chatter as the teacher started listing off table partners. I only half paid attention and decide to talk to one of Austin's friends, Katie. She was a sweet girl, sometimes I wondered why I didn't talk to her much.

"In the back corner is Clement and Noah." She called out, keeping her eyes on the paper but pointing to the back left corner.

Of course. Of course I have to sit next to Noah. Nothing ever went my way. Austins going to get a kick out of this, I just know it. "Ugh, well guess the only thing to do is go sit down." I thought to myself as I walked over and set my bag next to my chair. Noah looked up and smiled at me.

"You know, I'm so glad I didn't have to sit next to some complete stranger." He laughed a little, trying to clear the awkward atmosphere. 

"Haha, ya. It must be hard moving to another school." I responded, trying not to be rude. After all, I had no reason to be mean to him.

"Eh, it's not too bad. The football guys seem pretty cool, which is better than at my old school."

"James and Katie, that table right there." The teacher called out, pointing to the desk in front of Noah and me. As James came up to sit in front of Noah, he smiled at him and gave him a fist bump. 

"You two seem to know each other pretty well," I said, trying to seem casual. Even though I didn't feel uneasy around Noah like I usually did, I still wanted to get down to the bottom of things and figure out who they were.

"Ya, we grew up together." He said, turning to face me. "Our parents are friends so we spent a lot of time together when we were kids. We went to the same school, and then ended up getting expelled for 'behavioral problems' together." He put behavioral problems in air quotes.

"Behavioral problems? What'd you do, burn the school down?" I teased him, leaning back in my chair as I did so. I was really starting to relax around him, any initial fear I had gone.

"No, nothing too bad. I just didn't pay attention in class much. Had a bit of a temper. Yelled at a few too many kids for picking fun at others. The last straw was when I punched a kid in the face of beating up some freshman. James was right there helping me, so we both ended up being asked to leave." He smirked, remembering what he had done to get expelled.

"Well, if you're going to get expelled, it might as well be for something good."

Before he could respond, our teacher had finished giving everyone their seat and told everyone to open up to page 16. I grabbed my textbook and opened it up, pretending to pay attention. Science was agonizingly painful, I had no interest in it, and I had no reason to pay attention. I spent the rest of the class listening in on James and Noah's conversations - just another perk of vampire hearing - and trying my best not to fall asleep. 

As I sat next to Noah, every feeling of fear and unease I felt the first day he came was gone. I knew it wouldn't last for long, but for now I was going to enjoy it. Maybe Valery was right. Maybe all they wanted was to go to school, nothing else. They haven't given me a reason to distrust them - yet.