Thankfully, no invite was needed to attend the Halloween house party, meaning I didn't need to befriend any 'popular' person. Sure, Linzi, Vicki and Izzi would be there, but at least I could avoid them.

I managed to convince Wednesday and Al to go, as well as Maia — who, to be fair, didn't need much convincing at all. She was all for it; probably because she pined after going every year since we started high school.

"How come you've never been to one before then?" I had asked in confusion.

"I—" Her cheeks had pinkened as she pressed her lips together into an embarrassed smile. "I didn't want to go on my own, and none of my other friends has ever wanted to go..."

"Well, I'm going," I'd told her pointedly. "Plus, who else am I gonna depend on to help me with an outfit and give me a lift there?"

Maia lived just a street away from me, so her dad frequently gave me lifts whenever I was hanging out with Maia. He gave us a lift to the wackiest costume shop in town, some dingy place on a corner of the high street called Spivey's Web.

I'd always crossed the road to avoid walking in front of that place, but the interior was actually pretty cool. Rails and rails of fancy dress costumes lined the walls, while long-forgotten tiaras and faded crystal balls resided behind the counter.

It had taken me several lifetimes to find something that would work for me — I almost gave up a couple of times, convinced I'd end up forgotten and faded like those dusty, trashy ornaments. But Maia was relentless, and I'd found a costume.

By the time Halloween rolled around on the next Saturday, the costumes we had were pretty decent. Courtesy of Maia's artistic style and her saint-like patience with me, we'd made sure that we were dressed like teenagers enough and not just little kids.

Maia went for a classic witch; ripped black tights, a black leatherette mini-skirt, a lacy V-neck bodysuit (that my mother would have labelled lingerie) and a glittery cape. Before the actual party, she'd opted for dying a few strips of her light brown hair jet-black and caking on a heap of makeup.

With a red cape, a red skirt with a criss-cross corset on top, over a white peasant blouse, black boots and deep claw marks on my face, done with latex and makeup; I'd gone as Red Riding Hood.

When we got there, I realised how nervous I was, with butterflies flitting around my stomach. The cold night air encompassed me, all the heat of the car swiftly dissipating as we stared up at the house. Loud music and the yells of teenagers radiated out of the house.

Up until then, I'd never been to an actual house party. The only experience I had was provided by American films and TV shows, which were unreliable and inaccurate at the best of times.

Noticing my nauseous face, Maia reassured me, "Don't worry; at the end of this school year, you'll never see half these people again."

"True." I nodded, grateful for her being there with me.

I reminded myself why I was there; to get closer to Theo.

Taking a deep breath, I linked my arm through Maia's and pulled her towards the house. "Let's do this."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw that Maia and I were wearing the right sorts of things. Everyone had made an effort to dress up, making it look like a proper Halloween party.

There were girls dressed as everything from devils to bunnies — though neither of those types was wearing many clothes. I soon spotted Linzi, Vicki and Izzi all posing for a photo together. All three of them were wearing identical, hot pink cowgirl outfits, with literal whips at their sides — ready to reign in any unsuspecting, hot guy.

Oh God, I hope they don't get to Theo.

"I'm going to get us drinks," Maia mentioned before leaving my side, drifting off through the crowd of people.

I scanned my eyes over a couple of the guys; zombies, ghosts... werewolves. And then I saw him from across the room, chatting with a couple of sporty guys — Theo. Obviously, he was dressed as a werewolf. He was wearing blood-splattered jeans and a plaid shirt that had the arms torn off, with the top few buttons undone, teasingly revealing that muscular chest I knew he had.

I blushed through my makeup and turned away, starting to cross the room to the drinks table, before I bumped into Kaden.

"Ember, hi!" He exclaimed loudly, pulling me suddenly into a hug. "Wow, you look amazing!" He looked me up and down and grinned enthusiastically.

"Thanks, so do you!" I smiled back at him. He was dressed as a blood-covered something — I wasn't quite sure. But he looked better than I would've expected him to; a few weeks ago, as far as I knew, Kaden Bowers was a corpse floating in the ocean.

"Do you want a drink?"

"Maia was supposed to be getting me one..." I glanced over to the drinks table to see her doing some intense flirting with a nice enough guy called Tomas; he was flirting back as well, by the looks of it. "Or not. I'm fine though."

"Well, I'm going to go talk to some other guys. See you later."

"Yeah, later," I muttered, but he was already gone. It was surprising how well and how quickly he was already integrating back into... Well, back into being alive again — back into normal teenage life in Lake Oldoy.

Where had he been since that fatal day that he took a trip down the rapids?

Thankfully, I wasn't standing alone for much longer as I spotted Wednesday and Al cosied up on a window seat.

"Hey, love the costumes," I told them — Wednesday was dressed as a witch and Al was dressed as a pixie. Keeping it real, they'd played to their strengths — plus a little Halloween-special over-exaggeration as well.

"Thanks. How come you didn't go for a Phoenix?" Wednesday queried. In any other situation, I would've rushed to shut her up. But on Halloween, it was the only safe day when we could talk about the supernatural world and not get looked at like utter weirdos.

"Well, I wanted to avoid burning the house down," I hoisted my shoulders in a shrug, feeling my cape glide against my bare neck.

Al nodded. "Fair enough. Besides, you've got enough hotness going on dressed as a sexy peasant girl."

"It was supposed to be Red Riding Hood... But thanks." I smiled, before remembering, "Oh, Al — I wanted to ask you something about your supernatural book."

"Shoot."

"How come you hadn't told me all that stuff about Phoenixes before the other day?" I frowned at her. With all the preparation for that stupid party, I'd momentarily forgotten the pressing issue of my developing abilities.

"I— We," Al corrected upon a nudge from Wednesday, "We were waiting until you were ready. Wednesday had a premonition over the summer; she saw that you needed to have developed the ability of the healing tears before we could show you the book."

Instead of being mad at them, I simply nodded — it made sense. The few times that we had tried to speed up part of one of Wednesday's prophecies, it had gone awry. "Fair enough."

Maia stumbled up to us at that point — putting a reluctant halt to our conversation. "Doesn't that new guy — what's his name... Theo — just look like a total god of hotness?"

I glanced over to Theo and nodded, "Sure, I guess." Maia was right, but I didn't want to give her any ideas. I knew she'd just try and set me up with him, and I didn't want her getting involved with that.

It already felt like a strong relationship was developing between me and Theo; I was perfectly happy with the slow rate we'd returned to. His trying to kiss me after his first day at Challis was already fading into the past — especially since he hadn't tried anything like that since.

Maia hiccupped. "I'm gonna go find Tom again."

"Ooh," I teased, "On a nickname basis, are we now?"

"Shut up," she slurred, rolling her eyes at me and struggling to hold onto her glass.

"Are you already drunk, Maia?" Wednesday questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"No! Almond Carwood, why are you dressed as a tree?" She retorted, her slur worsening. I guessed Maia had indulged in a few pre-drinks before I arrived.

Wednesday and I looked at each other, as Al turned to her to instruct, "Give her some of your tonic."

"Agreed," Wednesday nodded promptly and, after digging out the bright orange vial from her bag and picking up a discarded shot glass, she offered it to Maia. She told her, "Here, drink this."

This special tonic of Wednesday's consisted of milk thistle, tangerine pith, ginger and brown sugar — plus a Latin incantation spoken while she mixed the ingredients. While it would help Maia sober up in no time at all, it wouldn't strip away the fun that occasionally comes with getting tipsy on a night out.

Maia stuttered away to find Tomas again, muttering something about needing more punch.

"Can I have some sort of confidence-boosting tonic?" I murmured as I stole another glance at Theo.

"No," Wednesday said firmly, tucking her case of tonics back into her bag. "They're for emergencies only."

"This is an emergency..." I whined, eyes pleading.

"Just go and talk to him, Ember," Al commanded, before adding, "Leave me and Wednesday to talk."

"And that's my cue." I let out a sigh, before eyeing them both. "Bye then, don't have too much fun without me!"

I walked over to Theo with my hands clasping and unclasping behind my back.

But someone got in my way, again.

"Eric? What are you doing here?" I scowled, more than displeased to see him.

"I'm dressed as the Big Bang, look!" He exclaimed — being such a kid. His 'costume', if it was even complex enough to call it that, was a black onesie with a star exploding in the middle.

"That's the only bang you're gonna get tonight," I muttered as I pushed past him and ended up walking straight into Theo.

"Hey, slow down there­­­­­­." He frowned at me. "Wait, Ember?"

"Surprising what a little makeup can do, isn't it?" I smiled shyly, trying to block out the pestering thoughts in my head.

"It's more than the makeup," he said, stepping back and taking a look at my outfit. "Are you meant to be Red Riding Hood?"

"Yes — finally someone gets it!" I exclaimed, ignoring how my cheeks warmed as his hazel-blue gaze looked me over in what seemed like appreciation. Twisting my mouth, I asked, "Werewolf, right?"

"Initially, yes. But I might be the Big Bad Wolf now I've seen Little Red Riding Hood." He grinned at me.

Blushing, I shrugged and glanced around, "Al didn't recognise who I was supposed to be and branded me as a 'sexy peasant girl.'"

"Well, she's not wrong." His eyes rapidly skimmed my body before looking away, sending equally rapid shivers skimming down my spine. "They're starting to play Spin the Bottle." He pointed out, eyes expectant, "Wanna go join in?"

"Sure," I replied.

It should be fun — right? It's not at all like anything could go wrong. Note the sarcasm there. We sat down in the circle; I glanced around to see that Maia, Tomas and Jack were also playing.

One of Jack's friends spun the bottle first, and it landed on a girl called Serena, who chose Dare – she ended up giving a guy called Sam a lap dance. Disturbingly, in front of the rest of us.

This style of spin the bottle continued for another few minutes; it was fairly uninteresting, and I considered leaving before the bottle landed on Theo, and he picked Truth.

Jack was the next one who had been landed on, so he asked, "At this entire party, who would you make out with?"

He glanced around, taking his time before answering — I could hear my heart beating, what if it was me? What if it wasn't me? Every heartbeat became something like: oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...

I couldn't figure out why it bothered me too much until I realised that I was starting to fall hard for this guy.

"I'd make out with... Ember," Theo finally answered, and my heart nearly stopped when he uttered my name. His voice softened and spoke my name almost sweetly.

My cheeks reddened as everyone in the circle looked at me; I had become the centre of attention.

Her? I could almost hear the whispers forming; he picked her?

I kept my gaze to the ground and fiddled with the hem of my cape.

The next thing I knew, several more rounds had passed, and the bottle landed on me.

"Dare," I demanded instantly; the truth was too dangerous.

Maia, who was spinning the bottle, managed to somehow get it to land on Theo. I looked across the room, to Wednesday, who, judging by the way she was spinning her own cup, had made it land on Theo.

Maia grinned. "Ember, I dare you to Seven Minutes in Heaven with Theo."

"Fine," I huffed as if it were a punishment instead of something to be celebrated when I was actually ecstatic inside. I went to that stupid party to get closer to him, after all.

I grabbed Theo's hand and pulled him upstairs with me. After searching for an empty room that didn't have a couple making out in it, I closed the door on someone's bedroom.

I folded my arms in front of my chest, "So, I'm the person you'd want to make out with at this entire party?"

"Why are you angry?" He frowned, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking around the room. "It's kind of a compliment."

"Well, it's not when everybody starts looking at you like you're something special 'cos the fit, new, American guy wants to kiss you when you're nothing special at all!" I spat out, spewing my insecurities out into the open.

"Ember." He shook his head. "You're more special and much better-looking than anyone here. I promise." He hesitated, "Just take a breath; there's no point in getting yourself stressed out, and worked up and over-heating. Especially when there's a high chance more of your powers will develop soon."

He had a fair point, so I took a deep breath and tried to relax my shoulders.

"I've been so lonely," I admitted as I stepped forwards as wrapped my arms around him in an impromptu embrace.

I had Wednesday and Al, but they'd been dealing with me being barely supernatural for years. Part of me worried that the development of my abilities might drive them away as they realised how dangerous I was.

But Theo — Theo was a werewolf. Probably equally as dangerous as me, and he just seemed to get me more than anyone else had.

Theo laughed lightly, "I can't even begin to tell you how long I've been lonely." He pulled me closer to his chest.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. He leant away from me; his hazel-blue eyes confused. "I've probably made you feel lonelier."

He shook his head. "I've probably made you feel lonelier as well."

I glanced up at him, pressing our bodies closer. "Do you wanna be lonely together?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he muttered to me, before kissing my lips tenderly.

I kissed him back — eager yet trying to be cautious; knowing this could go up in flames (both figuratively and literally) if I wasn't careful. His hands were firmly placed against my waist, mine against his chest.

It was minimal contact, but this felt so much more emotional and so much more real than the other day in the woods. It was like I needed this emotional connection to Theo — almost as badly as he needed to find a connection with me.

"Theo," I whispered his name against his lips, and our kiss broke apart, both of our chests heaving as we gasped for air.

"Ember." He whispered back.

"What d'you wanna do?" I asked him.

"I just wanna be with you." He replied, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear — taking me back to all those weeks ago when we met.

Unexpectedly, Theo placed his hand against my face and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, letting his hand rest gently on my chin. My heart fluttered at the gesture but I pulled away — shattering the moment.

But I didn't pull away this time, holding onto the moment instead. We sat down on the edge of the bed, and I pulled Theo in for another kiss.

Midway through, I realised something that shook me to my core.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked, abruptly breaking the kiss apart.

"Sure," he nodded intently.

"How long do you think it will be until the hunters come looking for you here?"

He narrowed his eyes, and it was almost like he'd already been thinking about how to answer my question before I'd even asked it. "It won't be much longer, I don't think. A couple of weeks, maybe."

"Are you scared?" I whispered and watched his every movement.

"Half and half, to be honest. Half-scared for my life; half-okay with it, because it's not like there would be many people that would miss me if I was gone." He shrugged.

"I'd miss you," I reassured him, before joking, "I mean, who else is gonna annoy the crap out of me the way you do?"

He laughed and pressed his lips against my forehead.

Suddenly, from outside, I heard a deep, animal wail — and I knew it wasn't just a Halloween prank. Instantly, Theo leapt to his feet and rushed to the window, pushing it open so he could hear better.

"What was that?" I asked, terror awake inside of me.

"That was the call of an Alpha werewolf," he replied bluntly, his tone grim and his body unmoving.

"An Alpha? Here, in Lake Oldoy?" I asked incredulously, my voice also becoming grim — the terror was only heightening. "Why would an Alpha be here?"

He glanced across at me then back out the window down at the dark street. "Since no other wolves were howling, he doesn't have a pack, or at least hasn't brought his pack with him..."

"So...what does that mean?" I interrogated, desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on. Not understanding werewolf packs would prove to be a real problem if I didn't figure it out pretty sharpish.

"It means he's here to build a pack and recruit the few werewolves that there already are here."

"Shit," I swore and wrapped my arms around my legs, "What does that mean for you?"

"It depends on what the Alpha is like. It could be better to be with him; we're stronger in packs."

"What, like strength in numbers?"

"No, like physically stronger," he explained patiently enough, "When you're in a pack, all the strengths of the pack members are shared and amplified. Like with my — that other pack I was in... because we had Abi, a banshee, all of us had slight inklings about deaths, though not as strong as her."

"Oh, okay," I said, mildly surprised and pleased that he'd been able to talk about his pack so confidently.

Maybe he was getting more used to the possibility of them being gone, I thought, but then I caught a glimpse of the expression on his face. Maybe not.

"Hey," I told him, crossing the room to wrap my arms around his middle. "You'll be okay." It took him a second before he hugged me back.

"It's not just like I have to look out for myself now," he muttered, resting his chin on my head. "There's Kaden, any other werewolves, and then there's the high possibility that this Alpha will start biting and turning gullible teens who want their lives to improve. But, trust me, even though being a werewolf may have some benefits, it's not worth throwing your life away for. And then there's the fact that increased werewolf activity will almost definitely lead to a vast increase in hunters in the area. Which then puts everybody at risk again. And those who don't get turned will be scared — the local police will come up with the whole 'wild animal on the loose' media story."

He finally took a breath and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

"You sound like you've experienced some of that before." I looked up at him — keeping most of my thoughts internal; I didn't want to push him into forcing him to talk about his past if he wasn't ready.

He sighed, "After I was turned and then sent to my first foster home, the exact thing happened. Ember, this isn't the first time I've been an Omega, it's just the first time I've realised that I am."

"I'm guessing the Omega tattoo is pretty hard to ignore," I said, a weak attempt at light-heartedness. I stepped away from him.

"I think I'm done with this party now," Theo said, his jaw clenching and unclenching, causing a nerve to twitch in his cheek.

"Yeah, same." I agreed, "Wanna leave?"

"Yep." He exhaled, and then asked, "From here my house is closer than yours, isn't it?"

"Yep." I nodded and scrunched my face up, "Which means I'm going to be waiting for hours before Maia is ready to leave and get a lift from her dad."

"Well, you could always hang out a bit at my place for a bit. If you want?" He shrugged as if it were nothing, but actually, it was something. A whole lot of something.

"That would be great, thanks. I'm not ready to go home yet..." I nodded, before questioning: "Would your parents be alright with that?"

"They're out of town for the weekend, so it doesn't matter if they're alright with it or not." He smiled. "As long as you don't make the house messy."

"While I seem chaotic, I promise I'm not a total human hurricane," I told him pointedly — to which he raised his eyebrows.

"We'll have to walk but it's not too far."

"Let's go then," I said, and we left the room that we had definitely spent more than seven minutes in.

It seemed like the party had increased in wildness. People were getting high in bathrooms, getting hammered as they played beer pong and getting hooked up with someone against a wall.

Downstairs, I signalled to Maia that I was leaving with Theo. In the few seconds, she was able to untangle herself from Tomas, she yelled back something like 'have fun but be safe.' She was unbelievable.

Wednesday and Al were sat where they were when Theo and I'd gone upstairs; except now they were making out. I smiled, glad for them — they both looked so happy. I didn't break them apart to tell them I was leaving with Theo.

Eventually, after navigating the lounge and hallway, we left the party.

And we stepped out into the cold night air.