ARI

"So what you're saying is, the guy who killed her, is coming for her again?" Alex was shaking in anger as he inched closer to me.

I leaned against him, liking the feeling. He made me feel safe and I wanted to feel safe right now.

My mother watched us with narrowed eyes but didn't say anything.

"The man who killed both of you." Nathan chimed in.

"Let him come then!" I said with anger. "What is he, a seventy year old man? We can take him." I said with a burst of courage.

"He might be an old man but he's smart. He will find a way." Nathan said.

Matt strolled out of the house clicking his phone shut. "Zander is a few minutes away. I didn't tell him that Jen's alive." He told Nathan.

Anthony growled. "Who cares about her! My brothers life is in danger from this guy and all you care about is if Uncle Zander knows. We are the warrior pack and it is our duty to protect our pack members and i'll be damned if my brother gets hurt because of her." He spit with hate.

Alex stepped up closer to Anthony, growling.

Nate and Jen watched Anthony but didn't move a muscle. Jen only gave me a weak smile. She was still upset about Monique and Nate was comforting her.

I walked around Alex and stood in front of him before he could punch his brother. "Nobody is putting me above Alex. You are the only one that even thinks that!" I yelled at him mostly in confusion because I still didn't know why he hated me.

But then I remembered the dead body on the floor. " Look, I get it." My voice broke thinking about Monique and how scared she must have been, how much pain she must have gone through. "Monique, your pack member, was killed because of me and I will forever hold on to that but the point is not to add blame but to help find this crazy ass guy before he hurts anyone else." Tears streamed down my face in sadness. I wanted to drop to the floor and cry my eyes out but I didn't because this wasn't about me.

Anthony was quiet as was everyone else. Alex moved to my side and took my hand into his, squeezing it. "Don't worry, he won't get another chance to hurt anyone else, especially you."

I smiled at him.

Anthony scoffed and walked away.

Alex let go of my hand and sighed. "I'll be right back." He said as he ran after Anthony.

My mother came to me and hugged me. "Don't blame yourself, okay? You couldn't possibly control your destiny. I don't care what these people are saying. You are MY daughter and your name is Ariana Peterson, not Jennifer Gray."

I looked at her confused. "Why are you telling me this? I know I'm Ariana?" I never claimed to be Jennifer and honestly, I didn't want to. She had a terrible life.

"Nothing, it's just what Nathan and his family told me about you, showed me pictures of your...uh...past life." She cringed at the word past life.

"Wait, their are more pictures of me as Jennifer?" I asked intrigued.

My mother guided me inside and showed me all of the pictures laid out on the coffee table in the living room. I grabbed a couple and shuffled through them, amazement clear on my face. It's so weird to see yourself almost five years older. I looked the same but I could tell that some parts of my face were matured.

One picture caught my eye. Jennifer was laughing and a guy, the same guy who was in the group picture I first saw, was watching her with a wide smile. I could tell he was in love with her. "Who is this?" I asked Matt who followed us inside. "That's Zander." He told me smiling. I could tell he wanted to tell me something but kept it inside. He probably didn't want to freak me out.

I noticed that in a lot of the pictures, I was mostly with Matt and Zander. "Were we best friends or something?"

Matt practically jumped off of the couch. "YES! Or that's what I would like to think. We grew closer because we had more in common even though Zander was always the one that stayed close to you. We used to laugh at the stupidest shit!" He started to bark with laughter scaring my mom. "Uh, I'll let you guys catch up." She went back outside, talking to Aimee, as a couple people helped move Monique's body. Probably planning a proper burial.

"Do you remember anything at all about being Jennifer?" He looked kind of scared of the answer.

"Yeah, I do actually, but it still seems so unbelievable." I thought about the day these people killed Shawn in the field and how I was screaming at them not to.

Can I really trust them? Jennifer was held against her will as she fought to go to her mate. A feeling in the back of my mind told me I could trust them but what I was seeing, said something else.

"I remember some things. " I said slowly, not giving away the fact that I watched them kill a man.

Matt seemed nervous, changing the subject. "Have you met my son? His name is Nate."

I nodded my head. I knew he was when I heard them talking by the creek.

Matt smiled. "Yeah, I met his mother a few months after you, I mean Jen, had died."

"Almost a year later, Nate was born, and then just a few days after, Alexander." He sighed proudly. "I couldn't imagine my son being mates to the Beta. It's crazy how things are now."

"And your Beta is supposed to take over if anything happens to Anthony right?" I guessed. I watched Jen work and how Anthony would leave and Jen would be in charge.

"Correct." He smiled. "Any other questions? I know you were sort of thrown into this new world and have no information about yourself at all."

"Well I already know I can't touch platinum. My skin burns off at every touch. Is there anything else we can't touch?" I shivered, remembering the burning feeling when touching the metal.

"Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane and platinum are the two most deadly weapons against us. That and hunters but you don't have to worry about them anymore, they were wiped out by us years ago." He shrugged and I ignored the fact that he said hunters. I could only guess that meant humans and what he meant when he said "wiped out."

"Are we always so aggressive? I mean I get mad at the stupidest things and I almost killed my mom the second time I ever shifted!" I was shouting at him and he seemed surprised. Not that I was yelling but at the fact that I almost attacked my mother.

"You shouldn't have attacked her? Unless you didn't shift. When was your first shift?"

"It's going to be 5 years in a month."

"And your second shift? Did you shift after your first time?"

I shook my head. "No, after about a year later after my first time."

Matt grabbed his head and shook it. "No wonder you attacked your mother! You can't keep your wolf locked up in your body for too long. That side of you gets frustrated and once let out, it takes over. When was the last time you shifted?"

I nervously chuckled. "Uh, two months ago..."

"Holy shit!" He jumped up and grabbed my hand, dragging me outside. "You need to shift before you get out of control and attack everyone here!"

"I'm not attacking anyone!" I cried.

"You wouldnt know what you are doing! This is why young wolves are trained before they shift." He led me into an open field that was filled with young teenagers.

I stopped in my tracks. "I wasn't trained because I thought I was the only one of my kind their ever was. I didn't know what I was and I was scared to turn into it every time I couldn't bear to control it. Being a werewolf has been a nightmare for me."

Matt looked at me with sympathy. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that's how you felt about it. We've always known our whole lives so it was easier."

A lot of the teenagers were listening to our conversations but continued to do their training.

"It's not your fault, Matt. Whoever decided I should be born into a human family is at fault." I regretted it as soon as it came out of my mouth. I love my parents and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Matt's eyes trailed behind me and I turned around to find my mother with a heartbroken expression which she quickly hid with a forced smile. "There you are Ariana, dinner is ready." She walked away quickly and I looked back at Matt, horrified.

"I didn't mean that! I love my parents!" I groaned and slapped my forehead. Idiot!

I turned around to catch my mom and apologize but stopped in my tracks when a strange man looked at me with his jaws dropped. The lady next to him seemed to be shocked too. The only person not looking at me with shock was the guy, probably their son, and little boy by their side.

"Uh." I said. I awkwardly shuffled my feet before Matt came in and greeted the man. "Carter! How you been man? I haven't seen you since you had that rouge problem five years ago! Is this Hunter?" He said referring to the guy. His black hair was tousled on his head as he rubbed through it. His bright green eyes pierced into me making me blush and look away. He was good looking but I wasn't blushing because of that but because of the way he was looking at me. "And OH MY GOD COLTON!" Matt picked up the kid and spun him around as he giggled. "Uncle Matt!" He screamed in laughter. 

"Dad, she looks just like Aunt Jennifer." The guy said, scrutinizing me.

His dad ignored him and looked at Matt. "That's her isn't it."

Matt only nodded and somehow that gave the man permission to charge at me in full speed.

I tensed as he grabbed me in his arms and squeezed me tight. "Jen Ben." He said through a thick voice.

"Uh." I still didn't know what to say. He obviously knew Jennifer but I didn't know him!

I peeled him off of me. "Look man, I know you knew Jennifer but I am not her. Okay? I am not Jennifer Gray. My name is Ariana Peterson." I felt bad for blowing up but it was getting annoying.

"Sorry, it's just the resemblance is crazy and I-I-" He choked up and went to his wife who was still looking at me with shock.

"This is Carter and his Mate Annabelle. That's Hunter and Colton, his sons. Carter is...was Jennifer's brother." Matt explained.

"Oh." I said sadly, feeling even more guilty.

I looked at Carter who looked like he was going to burst into tears. I felt bad for him mostly because he knew Jennifer his whole life, I mean he grew up with her so I get it. He probably missed her the most.

Going up to him I put my hand on his shoulder. "Will you tell me about her?" I said as kindly as I could.

I led him inside and sat down again actually excited to hear all the stories about her.

"What can I say, Jen was the best. She was nice, funny, brave, she was just a lot of good things. I used to call her Jen Ben and she used to call me Car-" He suddenly blushed. "Carter Sharter." Hunter gasped for air as he laughed. Annabelle chuckled at Colton's face which was disgusted.

"Why the heck would she call you that!" I snickered. Carter sharter, that's hilarious!

"Because I didn't know what that meant when I was younger but it stayed even when I knew what it meant." He rolled his eyes at the memory.

I laughed at my past self. I was hilarious!

"You're her step brother right?" I remember Nathan saying Gray was my stepfather.

Carter's face grew dark. "Yes, even though I found out after Jen died. But to me she will always be my sister whether or not she was my half-sister. I actually wish I had her father." He clenched his fists at the mention of his father.

"I wanted to ask this for a while but never got to. Why did Roderick kill me, uh, I mean Jennifer?" That question has been itching in the back of my mind ever since I found out she was murdered.

The door opened as Alex and Anthony  made their way in. My face automatically lit up at his presence. Carter noticed and smiled at us both.

"Hey Uncle Carter, Aunt Anna. What's up Colton! You've gotten so huge!" Alex greeted. Colton laughed and hugged Alex. I almost 'awed' at the picture. Alex nodded to Hunter who nodded back.

"Hey man." Anthony said to Hunter doing that weird guy hand grabbing, shoulder thing.

"What's up dude." Hunter replied with a nod with his head. Anthony replied with a shrug and stood next to his Uncle Matt. "What's up with you Alex?" Hunter asked him.

Alex put Colton down and sat next to me, so close that I could feel his heart beating. "Well, I just found out I was reborn so..."

Carter smiled knowingly while Hunter was shocked. "What the fuck man you too?"

"Language!" Anna scolded.

Alex squeezed my knee. "Yup."

I blushed when Hunter zoomed in at the hand, narrowing his eyes at it and then wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Anyways, as I was saying. After Rodrick killed Jen's father-"

"Wait what? He killed her real father?" I asked interrupting him. "Did you know her real dad? Did she?" What the hell was going on with Jennifers life!

Carter cleared his throat and began the story of how all of this started. "His name was Liam Knight."