Two weeks have passed, and the next full moon is less than that away. On the outside life isn't hard for me to get back into. School may be starting back today, but I'm homeschooled. I don't have to deal with the whispers. Even though Eliza comes over to do school with me, she's still in groups that will talk behind her back. I know she's angry at me. But I did what needed to be done.

Life on the inside is difficult.

Am I going to go berserk and kill people when I shift? What happens? I have no answers.

I hear the front door unlock and slide open, and a moment later Eliza walks into the kitchen. "Hey," she says, setting her backpack on the counter I'm working at. "I would've called but you know. . ."

We're essentially grounded. We can only go to each others houses by ourselves if our parents know, and Eliza has to be escorted to the local high school for electives she's taking there like art. We also have new cell phones—the kind where you can only call home and my parents or as listed in my very short contact list—ICE1 and ICE2. I still haven't mastered which parent is which. I'll be in a rush, and my finger hits ICE2 when it should have hit ICE1, and then I have a long talk on the phone with the wrong parent about me only calling them if it's important.

"Grab a seat," I tell her and turn back to my American history textbook. My first assignment of senior year is to read thirty pages of this monster today.

Monster. Don't even go there, Addison Curry.

I grab my green highlighter and underline a sentence about King Charles I. I'm interested to see how he'll play into the American Revolution which according to the timeline in Appendix B., is still a hundred and fifty years away.

"You know I'll help you." Eliza doesn't look up from her copy of the textbook.

"What do you know about the Roundheads?"

"I mean on the full moon."

I scrape my tongue along my teeth, flipping the page. "You lock me up and leave. Who knows what I'll be like."

"I really think you should consider telling your parents."

I grumble as my highlighter slips down a line. "My mom is going to give birth at the end of September. What kind of stress would it cause her if she found out her daughter is going to turn into a man eating wolf?"

"You aren't going to eat anyone."

"Yeah, well you weren't attacked by wolves—pretty sure werewolves—in the woods twice. No, you were too busy petting Xavier."

The sharp intake of her breath and the pained expression that overcomes her face causes me to immediately regret my words.

"I'm sorry. I'd like to blame my outburst on the werewolf anger issue thing, but that was just me."

"It's fine." She ducks her head and continues reading.

Around noon, Eliza's mom stops by to pick her up and take her to her class at the school. Once I finish up my schoolwork I crash on the couch and turn the tv on with the remote. Some movie comes on the station the TV was left on. The guy and the girl on screen walk through an abandon building, decked out in padding and guns.

I curl my feet under a pillow, getting comfy.

A growl roars out from the speakers and a werewolf—a true half man half wolf werewolf— runs toward the couple, saliva dripping from his mouth. The woman raises her gun and fires. The werewolf collapses on the ground, writhing in pain.

I swallow, my finger hovering over the button to change the station as they walk over to the werewolf. The man kicks it in it's side as it howls out in pain. The man laughs and in the blink of an eye, the woman slashes of its head, holding the head up like a trophy, the slobber still dripping from the snout and to the cement but now blood joins it as it falls from the severed head.

I switch the station, the screen changing to a cooking show. Pressing the nearest pillow to my chest, I take deep breaths. There aren't werewolf hunters. No one is going to come knocking at my door to kill me because I'll be a werewolf.

Someone starts knocking on the front door and my heart leaps. I'm not a werwolf yet. I answer the door and find Hanna beaming at me while Travis stands behind her rubbing his arm.

Hanna pulls me in a tight hug. "I've been begging your mom to let me come over but she didn't let me until today. You don't know how scared I was when I came back from the bathroom and you were gone. I never should have left you."

"It's okay. It's not your fault at all." I untangle myself from her arms so they can both come in.

"Where's your bathroom?" Travis asks.

"Past the kitchen to the right."

He's barely made it into the bathroom before Hanna grabs my hands and squeals.

"Yes?"

Her grin is extremely large. "He asked if he could come with me when he picked me up from school. He wanted to see you. You so have to make me a bridesmaid. I'd say maid of honor but I'm sure that will be Eliza."

"Slow down."

Travis is a werewolf. He has a mate out there somewhere and it's not me. Hanna will understand if Hunter ever tells her.

The bathroom door opens, and I hear the toilet in the process of flushing as Travis steps out and rejoins us.

"Err. . . Addy, I was wondering if just you and I could talk?"

Hanna's face lights up.

"Sure."

I take him to my room and he locks the door.

"Sorry, if locking it makes you uncomfortable. I can't have Hanna hearing this, though we both know she'll have her ear pressed against the door soon."

"It's fine."

He studies my bookshelf, and I feel the back of my neck growing warm. I know what he's looking for.

"I boxed them all up." All the werewolf stories.

He scratches behind his ear reminding me of a dog. "Xavier told me that you were bitten by a luprau."

"Did he go into details?"

He shakes his head and steps toward me. "Can I see the bite?" His eyes flick up and down, searching my arms.

I tug the collar of my t-shirt down, exposing my collarbone. He stumbles back and swears.

"What?" I ask, releasing my shirt.

"He didn't tell me it was a mark. A luprau marked you?"

"That luprau's my mate."

He rubs the heels of his hands against his temples, backing against the wall. "You let him mark you? Had no one told you what would happen if he did?"

"I knew what would happen, and I didn't give my permission."

Travis shakes. "He forcefully marked you?"

"Yes. Why are you acting like I have an infectious disease? You're already a werewolf."

"Males mark their mates to keep other male wolves away. We're instinctively intimidated by them, fearful that the male will attack us."

"So you aren't going to help me then?"

"No, I will. It's just going to take some going against my better instinct."

I sit down on the edge of my bed. "I'm scared. How bad is it going to be?"

"The first time it will hurt, a lot, but every time after, it will only hurt while you're resisting the shift. Once you do it will be like a release. Once the pressure of the full moon is done tugging on your body to shift the pain will be over."

"And I won't be able to control what I do?"

"You will be in control, but you'll think differently. More like a wolf. . ."

"And?"

"You'll want to kill anything in your path who's not a part of your pack."

I bring my knees to my chest and bury my hands in my hair. "Can you bring over whatever I need to secure myself?"

"Can't you ask your mom if you can stay with Hanna that night? You could join the pack."

"My parents would never agree."

"Try."

Sighing, I dial ICE1 on my phone and my mom answers.

"Addy? What's wrong?"

"I needed to ask you something."

"I'm walking out of the office now. What do you want for dinner?"

I press my palm into my forehead. "Pizza. But Mom, can I stay the night at Hanna's in a couple weeks?"

"No, last time you did you were kidnapped. I have to go. I'll see you in a few."

I snap the flip phone shut and toss it onto my pillow. "She said no."

Travis opens my door. "I'll bring over some stuff."

"Thank you." For once, some of stress dissipates.

We find Hanna at the kitchen counter, reading my history book I was too lazy to put up.

She purses her lips. "Did you guys know that only half the pilgrims survived the first winter?"