I couldn't believe that the Agency wanted me to get close to this Alpha. Well, actually, I kinda could — it was exactly the same twisted methodology that they seemed to use for everything. Maybe if they just left me alone and didn't tell me what to do, I'd be okay... But now I was going to have to join a pack that I didn't want to join.

Who even knows what this Alpha's like?

Most of the morning was a blur and it was only in homeroom that things became less blurry, as Ember spoke to me. Everything in my life seemed to be blurring by; I had no clue how it was already November. Four months had passed since my pack disappeared, and I was no closer to helping them.

But now I had my own challenges to face. Like the new Alpha, like the hunters coming after me.

"Hey," Ember greeted as I sat down next to her. "How did things go with Neal the other day?"

I was glad she'd not called him my dad, but only shrugged in response. "As expected."

"Ah."

Mr Markab started taking the register before we could start talking again, "Theodore?"

"Yes, sir. But it's just Theo," I reminded him yet again.

"Wednesday?" He ignored me and moved on, typical; I hadn't expected him to do any less.

My leg bounced irritatedly underneath the table, struggling to contain the fact that I just wanted to lash out at everyone and everything. I couldn't stop thinking about my pack; knowing they were being held by hunters was torturing me. The fact that my pack was still alive — while it was somewhat conforming — was also worrying; hunters rarely keep supernaturals alive for long. There was also my dream with Abi, then her necklace showing up — what does it all mean?

"You okay?" Ember checked as soon as the register was over.

"Yeah, fine," I grumbled, before admitting, "Didn't sleep too well last night."

"You slept fine with me the other night," she spoke softly, slightly sliding her leg against mine under the table.

"Yeah, that's 'cos you were there." I shrugged, "I find it harder to sleep without my pack, and I guess having you lying next to me was comforting."

"Oh my God... Kaden's here." Ember's jaw practically dropped as she looked out of the window. "For some reason, I just didn't expect to see him again after he ran off in the woods."

Exasperatedly, I groaned inwardly as I looked out of the window and saw him, remembering that the Agency wanted me to stick with him or whatever. Maybe the Agency pushing me to befriend Kaden and join the Alpha was some sort of sick ploy to distract me from my missing pack.

There's no way in hell I'll forget about them.

"I had no idea he'd be coming back to school..." She trailed off, her mind full of thoughts.

"I'm supposed to look out for him," I muttered to Ember, but couldn't say any more as Kaden walked into our homeroom.

"Okay, class, this is Kaden Bowers," Mr Markab announced after he'd finally gotten the class to shut the hell up. "Some of you will probably remember him from a few years ago, because he was in our form then before... his accident. So, I want you to be warm and welcoming towards him, okay? Good." He finished and told Kaden to find somewhere to sit.

Of course, he decided to sit right in front of me and Ember. Typical.

"Two new guys in less than three months." Eric turned around and sneered at us, speaking in an acid tone, "God, Ember you're turning into a real slag." Then he turned back around, sniggering to himself.

Figuring out that 'slag' was offensive British slang, I started to move towards him — how dare he insult her.

"He's not worth it." Ember grabbed my thigh under the table as she saw me starting to lurch up at him. Her warm palm was tight against my skin and seemed to ground me — controlling the impulse to tear Eric Herckell's head off.

"He's such a freak," I muttered under my breath, narrowing my eyes at the back of his head. See, I'm working on using my words.

Kaden sat down. For a couple of minutes, the three of us just sat in silence, watching each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.

I studied him discreetly; the other day in the forest I'd been too shocked at his arrival to properly look at him. He was tall and slim — much thinner than any other male werewolves I'd known and seen. The werewolf gene typically bulks guys out and gives them naturally-sculpted muscles, myself included. My ex-Alpha Jason had this theory that it's to do with our bodies transitioning into that similar to a wolf's and that in our human forms we need more muscle mass.

Yet Kaden Bowers seemed bordering on gaunt; something wasn't right about that.

"Do you do any sports, Kaden?" I asked, lifting my eyebrows in curiosity.

"Other than trying not to tear people apart on full moons?" He joked, but neither Ember or I laughed, so he cleared his throat, "I do boxing sometimes."

"Is that why you're not that muscly?" I abruptly blurted out, not thinking at all and rushed in when he narrowed his eyes at me, "Just 'cos most other werewolves I've seen have been, you know, more muscular."

"Well, sorry we all can't be freaking bodybuilders," Kaden spat back at me, clearly offended.

Then Ember laughed. She didn't even try not to.

Traitor, I thought darkly, but what was I expecting? It wasn't like she was my girlfriend... And I wasn't planning on asking her to be any time soon — I had way too much going on to commit to a relationship.

"Can't help the way I'm built." I shrugged and glanced out of the open window, wishing I'd never even brought it up in the first place.

And that's when I realised that the Alpha was there, at school. I'd caught a scent in the wind — a coarse and rough scent that seemed to clog up my nostrils.

"He's here." I couldn't help but say. "The Alpha, I mean."

Ember glanced across at me, brow furrowed, but Kaden nodded like he already knew.

"It's hard to ignore the call of an Alpha," he explained when I snapped my head at him.

"That's true," I admitted, before dropping my voice and leaning across the table, "What are you thinking about it?"

"Since when does my opinion matter to you?" He asked me critically.

"Since we're both werewolves and both Omegas," I retorted before noticing his body stiffen. "You didn't know you're an Omega?"

"No, but I've never been anything else, so it doesn't matter, does it?" He clenched his jaw and next to me I could sense Ember was also tense.

"Yes, actually, it does matter if you don't want to die," I told him. "Because, despite the fact that Omegas can grow to be strong wolves and are technically harder to hunt down, we rarely survive on our own. There's a reason why wolves form packs."

"I've never seen or heard of hunters before." He shrugged.

"You don't get it, do you?" I exclaimed, why isn't all this sinking in? "There are hunters coming here, to Lake Oldoy. Not because of the Alpha, but joining the Alpha could give us an advantage over them."

"Since when do you care about me?" Kaden frowned at me, confused.

I gritted my teeth; I couldn't afford to tell him about the Agency and their involvement. I couldn't tell him about my pack either — that would only put him in danger.

"Since I knew there was an Alpha in town," I told him, only partly omitting the truth. "And it's obvious that Ember cares about you, and I care about her so that means I should look out for you, okay? I'm only trying to help you, Kaden." I shrugged, sitting back in my chair.

Kaden didn't say anything, so Ember asked, "What does the Alpha being here mean? Like, are they young?"

"I think that they'll probably either be a teacher or they'll be a Junior or Senior..." I said, trailing off.

Kaden frowned at me, so Ember translated, "He means Year 12, or Year 13. It's just the US school system."

"So, Theo," Kaden addressed me, "You're nearly 17, right?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Why aren't you in the year above then?"

"Because I need GCSEs," I replied absent-mindedly, even though I didn't actually need them at all — it was just the answer that I was told to give when asked why I was re-doing a year. It was all just part of the Agency's scheme.

"That makes sense."

"It's one of the only things around here that does make sense," Ember said quietly.

The bell shrilled, causing me to ask the two of them, although it was probably more directed at Ember, "What have we got now?"

"We've all got Religious Studies," Ember said.

"Okay," I replied, glad I could keep an eye on Kaden and find out more about him.

I tried to ignore the fact that he wasn't fully human... But the lingering scent of death that hovered around him was hard to ignore — so it niggled the back of my mind. However, I was glad that, seemingly, only I could smell him; it wasn't a particularly nice scent. I pushed it out of my mind, blocking off my sense of smell.

As morbid as it is, death made me think about Abi... I'd placed her pendant underneath my bed's mattress and was hoping it would still be there later on.

"So, how many of your skills have you been able to develop?" I asked Kaden as Ember lead the way to Religious Studies, tearing my mind away from my pack.

He looked fazed for a minute, before realising what I meant, "The obvious ones, like smell, speed, strength, healing... That's it."

"You can control the wolf, right?" I lowered my voice.

"Yeah, most of the time. Um, full moons are still kinda hard." He dipped his head as we pushed through a set of double doors.

"They are for me as well, don't worry about it," I admitted; I had to get him to trust me, and trust starts with telling the truth, doesn't it? "You've never developed the ability to sense emotions through scent?" I asked, glancing at Ember; I'd used it to tell what she was feeling a couple of times.

He shook his head. "Never had to."

"I could teach you if you want," I offered.

"Maybe. Why are you doing this?" Kaden asked again, "And tell me the truth this time, I could hear your heartbeat jump last time you told me. I know you lied to me."

Damn, I was hoping he didn't know how to do that.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but there's this Agency, they got me over here from America. My pack were taken, some believe I killed them, but I didn't." I reassured, "There are these hunters, and they took my pack, and this Agency thinks they're after me as well, for some reason."

"Does this agency have a name?" He interrupted, as he undoubtedly digested everything, I just told him.

"Not that I know of. But my point is: the hunters are going to be coming after me here soon enough." I then had to hurry as we were at the class, "So the Agency wants me to stick with any other werewolves I know, so you — you and I stick together from now on, okay?" I pressed my lips together in a firm line. "They want me to join the Alpha as well, they think it'll protect me more."

"Why don't you just join him?" He questioned.

"Well, I have no idea what he's like as an Alpha," I told him, "And neither do you. So, whatever we decide to do, we do it together, okay? I'll teach you some skills, 'cos when these hunters come, there's gonna be one hell of a fight."

"It's not like I'm gonna die." Kaden laughed, rolling his eyes incredulously.

My face was deadly serious, "I'm hoping not, but it's a possibility."

His face dropped; it just got real for him. Finally — it needed to get real, it needed to sink in for him.

"You guys good?" Ember asked, facing us quickly, the ends of her hair whipping both of us in the faces.

"Yeah, fine." I forced a smile at her.

"Been better," Kaden grumbled; I figured he didn't want to die again. Understandable.

"Come in, class," the teacher called out to the line of students we were standing in.

"I hate Religious Studies," I said because I realised it as we walked in.

The next hour was a complete and total waste of my time.

Like, beyond nothing happened. No offence to anyone or anything, but when the hell will I need to be able to understand the Ten Commandments when instead I could end up running for my life from crazed, bloodthirsty hunters?

Unfortunately, hunters don't live by the principle of 'thou shalt not kill'. It's more of a 'thou shalt kill supernatural beings' type scenario.

A glance at Kaden at the end of the lesson told me he was thinking the same thing.

I was kind of growing to like him — okay, so maybe he was back from the dead, but he couldn't help that. Besides, he wasn't showing any interest in Ember beyond friendship so no threat there.

As long as he didn't become possessed 'cos he was back from the dead, everything would be okay-ish. And yes, if you've been brought back from death or even from the brink of death, dark spirits can possess you. I've seen it — it's not pretty.

A normal, non-supernatural kid from our high school back home, in Montana, had had a near-death experience. The next thing we knew, he was strangling his family's chickens, drawing complex, never-ending labyrinths on the chalkboards and smashing mirrors.

Eventually, he killed himself.

We — being my pack and I — found out after he'd died that he'd been possessed by an evil spirit. All of us felt so guilty that we couldn't do anything. Abi was traumatised (more than usual) because she hadn't got any of her 'feelings' about death before he died. It was two weeks before we got her to eat anything.

Hopefully, Kaden wouldn't get possessed. The fact he was a werewolf made him a little safer, but not by much. Nothing stops Death — just like that stupid Final Destination movie Ember nearly made me re-watch on Halloween.

"What are you thinking about?" Ember asked, nudging against me.

"Ugh, nothing," I stuttered; Kaden threw a glance at me. He knew I'd lied, but he didn't say anything — maybe he'd guessed what I was thinking about. Maybe.

"Wh—?" Ember began but was cut off.

The Alpha howled in broad daylight, not far from the school. The sound travelled across a few miles of woodland and school campus, reaching mine and Kaden's ears a little faster than everyone else. This howl wasn't too dissimilar from the howl on Halloween, but hearing it during the daytime was much more worrying — this werewolf likes to take chances.

"Seriously?" I hissed disbelievingly under my breath and looked at the crowds of students around us.

They'd heard it as well, and were whispering to each other. I heard:

"I never knew there were wolves in Lake Oldoy..."

"Maybe one's escaped from the zoo in Bridstain..."

"Do you think it's in the school grounds?"

"Do they eat people?"

I shook my head and zoned out from the other teenagers. I tried to focus on where I thought I heard the Alpha call from.

Then came a sound that chilled my entire body, freezing my blood in my veins. A return howl — there was another werewolf out there, either with the Alpha or not too far away from it.

I grabbed Ember and Kaden and pulled them away from the quickly-gathering crowd, "Do either of you know of any other werewolves here?"

"Nope." Ember shook her head. "I'd never met a werewolf until you."

Bet I made a great first impression.

"I've just got back, so no," Kaden reaffirmed.

"Great." I gritted my teeth. "This Alpha's not been here a week and he's either bringing more werewolves with him or turning people already..."

"Perfect," Kaden growled, rubbing his face with his hands. "Whatever happens, Theo, I think we should stick together. Should we go find this Alpha?" He asked, causing Ember's face to crumple into worry.

"What else can we do?" I threw my hands up, "I'd rather not wait for him to find us — that could end up being a lot more dangerous as it would be out of our control."

"It's already out of your control," Ember insisted, tugging on my arm desperately. "He probably howled so you'd go find him."

I nodded at Kaden and told him I'd be a minute, so he walked off a little way.

"Cover for us?" I asked Ember.

"Don't go." She pressed her lips together as she pleaded, "Please don't go. You don't have to go. I don't want you to die, or get mauled..."

I laughed lightly, "I'm pretty sure if I get mauled by an Alpha, I won't be alive to talk about it."

"Not funny." She pulled a face. "Don't go, Theo."

"I'll be fine; we'll be fine," I insisted, pulling her close to me into a hug.

"Promise?" She whispered in my ear and my stomach flipped.

I just pulled her tighter to me. "I'll be back in a bit, okay?"

Then I caught Kaden up without looking back. You never look back — I knew that at least.

"Why didn't you kiss her?" Kaden asked as soon as I was next to him.

"What?" I snapped irritatedly.

"Why didn't you kiss her?" He repeated, "You're going out with her, she's your girlfriend, yeah? So why didn't you kiss her?"

"She's not — we're not..." I trailed off, shaking my head, "We're not actually going out. It's complicated."

"So, you gonna regret not kissing her if we die out here?"

I looked across at him, "For real?"

"What? I'm just being realistic." He raised a shoulder in a shrug.

"No, you're being pessimistic," I corrected. "We're not going to die. We're just going to talk to him; see what he wants."

"It's so obvious what he wants." Kaden bit the edge of his nail anxiously. "An Alpha doesn't show up and not want to form a pack. I'm not that ignorant about the supernatural world."

I knew he was right, not that I admitted that, though.

Knowing he was right, Kaden grinned at my silence. "So, when are these hunters probably gonna get here?"

"A few weeks." I sighed. "Shit, I hope that this Alpha's a good Alpha."

"You ever met a bad one?" He asked as we reached the treeline and began pushing through the branches.

"You hear stories," I said briefly, not wanting to dwell on some of my pack's stories. "Have you ever met an Alpha at all?"

"No, I travelled around too much."

"That's right, you're a traveller," I remembered aloud.

"You can call me a gypsy." He laughed, "But yeah, I've got a gypsy caravan and everything — I live in it."

"Okay, cool," I said, pushing a branch out of my face. We walked on a little further before I asked, "Are you planning to stick around for a bit then?"

"That's the plan." He hesitated. "I'm just hoping that my parents don't catch word of me back here and travel back."

"Why? Surely, you want to see them?" I asked in confusion, knowing that I would sure as hell want to see my parents again if I could.

"Explaining coming back from the dead would be complicated enough if my family wasn't highly superstitious about ghosts and the afterlife." He shook his head. "They'd probably think I was possessed."

I could feel my body tense up when he said 'possessed' but tried not to show it and just kept walking.

"Where d'you think the howl came from?" He asked after a period of silence.

"Somewhere over that way," I replied and pointed to the west side of the lake. "I can't believe they were so close to school."

"Neither." Kaden exhaled, before moving on. "So, if we come back alive—"

"When." A growl sounded in my throat.

"Fine. When we come back alive, are you gonna ask Ember out?"

"Maybe," I grumbled; it was the least of my concerns. "You know what? You're actually one of the few guys that I've talked to here and yet you don't seem to be jealous of Ember's interest in me."

He shrugged, "She's pretty, sure. But I'm just not interested in her in that way — she's a good friend to have."

I smiled; glad he wasn't interested. But he was wrong about her being pretty — she was goddamn gorgeous.

"How far off do you think they are?" He asked as we tramped through a load more bushes, the trees becoming denser; a carpet of browning leaves cloaking the floor.

"Not far," I was going to say, but never did because I caught a scent in the autumnal wind. My arm flung out across Kaden's chest, stopping him from moving forward.

When he frowned and was about to speak, I pressed my finger against my lips and then tapped my nose. He'd soon caught the scent and nodded to confirm it.

The Beta was running a dozen metres in front of us, presumably running to the Alpha. We had to follow him and so we did. It turned out the Alpha was whole lot closer than we'd originally thought.

We couldn't see the Alpha when we got there but we could hear him.

"Theo Aquila and Kaden Bowers," the Alpha greeted us, "Two Omegas coming to an Alpha."

"Well, we're not actually here to join your pack..." I began before he stepped out from the bushes.

It's a she not a he, was my first thought when I saw him — no, her.

Judging from the look on his face, Kaden was thinking the exact thing.

"Oh damn," Kaden said, jaw dropping; the Alpha was tall, slim, with long legs, dark skin and long, curly black hair.

She looked almost like Jade (my Jade) that I had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't. She wasn't — the scent was completely different, and her eyes were set slightly wider apart. It wasn't Jade.

"The name's Victoria," Victoria introduced herself, placing her hands on her hips — exuding power from everything to her fierce eyes to her stance.

"No last name?" I asked.

"Not that you need to know." She shrugged, eyeing us up but directing her words at me. "And, besides, your last name is made up anyway."

"Fair enough," I grunted.

And then Kaden opened his stupid mouth. "How do we know that you're the Alpha?"

I then had a powerful urge to whack him on the back of the head, but just about resisted. The guy had almost zero experience... with anything related to werewolves, it seemed.

In answer, Victoria growled at us and her eyes glowed dark red — the colour of an Alpha's eyes.

"So, now that we've cleared that up," she said, and her eyes returned to a normal brown. "Theo, you're the one bringing the hunters here — if you wanna live, I suggest you join my pack."

"What pack?" Kaden looked around, and again I wanted to hit him.

"You'll see." She narrowed her eyes at us and then walked off into the woods.

"Damn." Kaden said, wolf-whistling when she was gone — and then I hit him.