If you had told me I'd be trapped in the trunk of the car that my best friend was in, I would have slapped you. Called you an idiot. And maybe forced you to drink some water. Because how was I supposed to know this would happen?

        Currently the upfront people are talking about their meal. Completely normal, except I'm in their trunk and they have my best friend who is conversing with them like she's their best friend.

       I need to keep my breathing under control or I may suffocate. In...out...in...out... I hear a screech and I roll forward and back. A girl and guy curse. I rub my head.

        The car begins moving again like nothing happened.

        My parents are going to kill me.

           My parents. Phone. I reach into my back pocket and pull out my cellphone. I click the side button and a red battery pulses on the screen. Shoot. I forgot to charge my phone last night as well as this morning, and I drained the battery in the car earlier because I was avoiding conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Briar.

        I slide my phone back in my pocket, my hand dragging against the felt carpeting.

        I silently sigh, rolling onto my side, me knees bent. When they open the trunk they could kill me. Though Eliza's alive. There's that at least. She looked healthy.

           Horrible images flash through my mind of what could happen to me. I squeeze my eyes shut. I want my mom and dad. They always know what to do. I was not prepared for this situation.

           Homeschoolers are not preppers with gas masks and guns.

          The car stops and I feel it being put in park. My heart speeds up. Doors close.

       "Go tell him we're back." A man.

"I knew a smelt something." A girl.

The click and sunlight are simultaneous. A girl, her outline black against the sun, appears. My heart pounds. She curses and grabs hold of me, pulling me out of the trunk. She throws me to the ground, and my whole body jars. I spit out dirt, my body in shock from the drop. I'm going to die.

      "Please, guys," Eliza pleads. I lift my head to see her being held back by a guy.

       "What's this?" The girl kicks my ribs. The wind flies out of me and I groan.

        "She's human." A man growls. I count three males and two females plus Eliza. Human. Yeah, I'm human.

          Panting, I throw myself at the girl, tripping and knocking her to the ground.

         Her fingernails dig into my arms and she flips us around so I'm underneath her. Her fingernails burrow deeper. Hair sprouts over her entire body. Her face lengthens into a snout. I must already be dead. Instead of curves her ears point upward.

        On top of me is no longer a human girl.

        It's a wolf.

       A werewolf.

      "Belenia, get off her," Eliza yells.

      I'm in shock. I have no idea how to feel. Werewolves are real. One's about to kill me. What a way to go...

      "Well the cat's out of the bag," muses a man. I can't see who. I have a wolf on top of me, remember? Did I mention it's a werewolf? "Lewis, Reagan, have fun finishing her off."

       "No," I hear Eliza scream.

        I close my eyes. Please, Lord, let me get out of this.

         "Xavier, stop this, she's my friend." Eliza's voice.

         "Enough." The voice is clipped and firm. The wolf backs off me.

           I open my eyes slowly. I tilt my head and see the man from the forest where Eliza was kidnapped standing beside her, his blond hair a stark contrast to Eliza's black. The eyes I've had nightmares about are focused on me. Behind them is a white house. Around all of us are woods.

           He stalks toward me. I hold my breath, pushing myself up. He grabs hold of me and drags me to my feet.

        He inhales through his nose. "I knew I recognized that scent. You're the girl who was with Eliza. Why was your scent all over my Beta?"

       Oh my. This is like my books. Beta. This guy seems like an alpha. Unfortunately I can't feel excited about any of this.

       Let me take a leap of stupid confidence. "I don't know who your Beta is, Alpha."

        His eyes widen and he lets go of me.

        I stare into his black eyes. "But I don't care who or what you are except that you kidnapped my best friend. I want her back now."

        His shoulders roll back. "She's staying here."

        "You don't have the right. The people who love her, her parents, are heartbroken."

       "I care about her."

       I shake my head. "No, you don't. If you did, you'd let her go home. You wouldn't keep her away from her family."

        Eliza walks up to us and threads her arm through his. "Addy, I thought of all people, you would have guessed first. He's my mate."

         I blink, staring back and forth between them. "Mates exist too? Like soulmates?"

       "You just found out werewolves exist, and you're doubting mates do too?" Eliza reaches her arm out to me.

         I stare at her hand. "So--"

         "We'll talk about it later."

            "I want to go home. I'm not staying here. I have a family and so do you."

            "You can't leave." The Alpha wraps his arm around Eliza but speaks to me. "You know we exist. You'll tell people where Eliza is."

            I cross my arms. We all know he's right.

            He sighs. "Someone check her for a phone, and Eliza you can take her to your room." He walks toward the woods without another glance at us.

            The girl who pushed me to the ground, who is now a human again and naked, takes my phone. There goes freedom.

            With the big scary alpha gone I can finally see the house. It's white with a wood porch wrapping around it. Three stories. Not a mansion. It's simple. So is this their pack house? Do those exist?

            Eliza holds out her hand again and I take it. The porch squeaks as we walk across it. She pulls me inside. The floor plan is open. A living room to my left, a breakfast nook to my right.

            "I can't believe you're here." She guides me through the living room and up a staircase.

            "I can't either."

            On the second floor we enter a bedroom. In the corner is a chestnut sleigh bed with a white comforter. The walls are white and the floor is wood. For a werewolf home it's all so cute.

            She sinks onto the bed and I do the same. Grabbing a pillow and hugging it to her chest, she says, "So..."

            "You have a mate?"

            "It's not like what you're thinking. It's not love at first sight. Feelings don't magically develop. They know when they look their mate in the eyes that it's them. But being their mate simply means you're both the perfect match for each other—more than anyone else on the planet."

            That honestly sounds beautiful. It's not like a forced bond. Love doesn't just happen, it grows.

          But he still kidnapped her and that is a big no.

            "But why do you have to stay? Why can't he be like a normal boyfriend just with pointy ears and a snout?"

            She buries her head in her pillow. She laughs and raises only her eyes. "Well from what I've read of the one werewolf book you got me to read, alphas are protective. But Xavier would let me go home if he could."

            "He's an alpha." Did I just say that so easily? I shiver. My life completely changed very quickly. "Doesn't he make the rules?"

            "Unless he ends up with someone else, I am the Tala of the pack. You know the lunas in the books?"

            I nod.

            "It's like that. But if I leave, the pack falls apart. It's something in their mind, their instincts, their pack life. They could even die. I can't leave."

            I position myself so I can lean up against the wall. "You have a family that misses you. They've known you for sixteen years. These...people...have only known you a few weeks."

            She bites her lip. "I can't."

            "I want my parents. This isn't some book where I'm okay with leaving them for a guy. Eliza, you know how I am when I've gone on vacations with you. I need to be able to talk to them. I can't function without hearing from them often."

            She looks upward. "What do you want me to tell you? You can't. Xavier doesn't want police. Police raise questions. The last thing he needs is the world finding out about them. Those wolves out there would have killed you if Xavier didn't stop them. So just try. Please? I don't want you to get hurt."

            "I can't put my family through this."

            "It's not forever. Once you build up enough trust, I'm sure Xavier will consider it again."

            I fall to the side behind Eliza's body. The mattress squeaks. I'm being held captive by werewolves with my best friend. Could life get any weirder or worse? However one wants to look at it. Though it is with my best friend. "Do you have a Mark?"

            She shifts. "No."

            "Are those only in books then?"

            "No." Her fingers pick at the hem of the pillow. "What books don't tell you is that rogues and alphas are poisonous."