Insomnia tortured me again that night — my night terrors became a twisted mix of Victoria with her dark red eyes, hunters chasing me through forests and Kaden becoming possessed. All through this, I struggled to keep Ember safe and myself sane.

I woke with my body covered in sweat and my face covered in tears (shut up), traumatised by the night terrors — they felt so real, but I guess that's the point, right? Some of the dreams felt so real that sometimes I didn't know whether I'd actually woken up yet or not.

"Did you ask Ember out?" Kaden asked me as soon as he saw me at school. I'd spent the rest of the previous afternoon and evening hanging out with him in the woods — attempting to teach him how to master some of his abilities. He at least needed some basic training before the hunters inevitably arrived.

"No, 'cos I went straight back to my house last night." I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up even though I hardly slept. "And I'm not gonna when I see her."

"Why not?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest to warm up. It was getting cooler, by the UK's standards — yet fall in Lake Oldoy was nothing compared to how cold Montana could get.

Rolling my eyes, I told him, "'Cos I've got bigger problems; we both have now. One of your main problems is understanding how you can and can't talk to an Alpha."

"What did I do?" He frowned — we'd been over this all already but clearly, he hadn't taken it on board seriously. Either that or it just didn't feel real to him, as if he was living in some sort of dream world where nothing was of huge consequence.

Maybe coming back from almost dying gave him some sort of perverse death wish.

"Seriously?" I groaned. "If she wanted to, she could rip your throat out before you've had time to even blink."

He gulped, rubbed his neck and looked away. I was quickly figuring out that being brutally honest with Kaden was the best way for him to take things seriously.

Ember walked up to us, and after giving me a quick hug, she asked, "How did it go?"

"Kaden freaked out 'cos the Alpha's a girl." I smirked.

"A girl? Didn't we think it was a guy?" Her eyebrows furrowed together and she dragged a hand through her golden curls to flip her parting to the other side — something she did often without thinking.

"Yeah, we did." I nodded. "She's called Victoria, and she's right over there." I dipped my head in her direction before glancing away.

Victoria was dressed in a business casual, which was the dress code for 11th and 12th graders — or sixth-formers, as they call them in the UK. The Alpha's wild hair was scraped back into two tight braids, and she was smiling and laughing with some friends — she looks so similar to Jade. It was odd seeing Victoria acting like a normal teenager; especially since she'd been so threatening when we met her in the woods.

"She is in Year 13 then," Ember mused, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Isn't 18 young to be an Alpha?"

"She's 17 in human years, not in werewolf years," I explained briefly to her. Werewolf lore could get extremely complicated for non-werewolves, so I tried to explain things to Ember in as minimal detail as possible.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ember frowned.

"Experience differs from years." I nudged Kaden, "Take Kaden here, he's what — nearly 16? — but he's got so little experience, he's more like nearly 15."

"Thanks, Theo," Kaden grumbled, still anxiously rubbing his neck and glancing at Victoria.

"She's not gonna rip your throat out in school, Kaden," I scoffed at him, rolling my eyes.

"What?" Ember exclaimed, her eyes widening before Wednesday dragged her away for a private talk.

Once I'd gotten Kaden to shut up, I listened in to the end of their conversation. Ember started telling Wednesday about the Alpha, but of course, the witch already knew all about it.

They walked back to us, and Ember reintroduced, "Kaden, you remember Wednesday, right?"

"How could I forget?" Kaden grinned and stated, "You've dyed your hair."

"Yeah, I have." Wednesday narrowed her eyes. "And you've died, become a werewolf and had a growth spurt."

"Yep, that pretty much sums up the past couple of years." He grinned again, rocking forwards and backwards on the balls of his feet.

"Where's Al?" I asked Wednesday.

"The trees." She didn't even look at me.

"Have I done something wrong?" I wondered, tilting my head at Ember.

"Not that I'm aware of," Ember said and shrugged as she looked up at me.

Kaden kept poking me in the back, pushing me to ask her out — but it so wasn't gonna happen.

"Our detention's tonight instead of Friday, by the way," Ember told me. "They had to move it forwards."

"Okay, thanks," I nodded. "You know where it is, or what we're doing?"

She shook her head, "No idea yet."

We walked to English in silence.

While we stood outside the classroom, I asked under my breath to Ember, "Do you think they'll notice if I skip?"

She rolled her eyes at me, "Obviously, and you can only skip classes without an excuse a certain number of times before you get detention."

"Does everything in this school end with detention? And how do you get away with skipping classes?" I questioned, frowning at her.

"Not everything here ends with detention, no." She grinned as she rubbed in, "I've got a pass that lets me skip or be late to lessons—"

"Can I get a pass like that?" I sprung before she'd even finished talking.

"Yeah, if you join CAP."

"What does it stand for again?"

"Committee of Abnormal People." She shrugged, "It works if anyone asks, 'cos they just think it's extra advanced counselling."

"Isn't it, though?" I laughed.

"Kinda..." She trailed off before finding her train of thought again, "I don't know how useful you would find CAP, because you've already got control, right?"

"Yeah, I have control, mostly. But that doesn't mean that I have it all the time." I admitted, thinking of full moons without my pack.

Ember left it there. It seemed she was figuring out my sensitive subjects just as quickly as I was figuring out I needed to keep my explanations of werewolf lore to her simple.

Look at us, adapting to one another's needs — almost like an actual relationship.

Halfway through the class, halfway through the boredom, someone came to the door and told Miss Miles, my English teacher, that I needed to have my photo taken for school documents or something like that.

That someone was Victoria. Even without her eyes glowing red, her presence radiated power and authority.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at her as soon as the classroom door was shut behind me.

"It's part of my Photography A-Level that I help out with taking pictures of students. Not in a weird way," she reassured, leading me to the Photography block.

"How long have you been here, at Challis?" I questioned.

"A week — the same amount of time I've been in Lake Oldoy," she replied, glancing at me over her shoulder as she walked slightly ahead of me.

"How did you get accepted so quickly?" I fired back and tried to ignore how similar she looked to Jade; it was so freaky.

"Good GCSE results," she stated.

"How long have you been a werewolf? How long have you been an Alpha?" I interrogated.

"Someone's nosy." She glanced at me but answered anyway, "I was a born werewolf, so my whole life. I became an Alpha when my family's house burnt down — I only just escaped." She peeled her sleeve away from her right arm and showed me the burns left behind there. "The hunters that set the fire also threw wolfsbane into the flames, so it's never going to heal entirely."

"Why are you starting a pack here, instead of where you come from?" I wondered aloud — not allowing myself a shred of pity for her, regardless of my own parents' death in a fire.

I woke up with smoke creeping under my door, the smell cloying up my lungs instantly. I yelled for my parents, only to be met with the sound of the screeching fire alarm. There was only one way out — the window. I jumped from there, and managed to land in one piece. Then I started running and never thought to look back.

"Because all the werewolves there are dead, and the hunters thought I was dead as well, so I couldn't just start turning people." She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "So, I came here."

"How did you know about me?" I frowned.

"So many questions." Victoria shook her head, turning her gaze to me. "I think I get to ask some now. Why don't you want to join my pack?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't know what you're like as an Alpha, and my pack are still alive."

"Not all of them are alive still," she told me cryptically — yet her heartbeat didn't jump, so she was either a good liar, or she was telling the truth.

"How do you know that?" I snapped.

"Pack secrets." She winked at me. "You'll find out if you join my pack."

"That's blackmail," I pointed out.

"We're here," Victoria announced as she pushed through a set of heavy oak double doors into a photography studio.

"Won't my eyes just reflect the camera lenses?" I asked, remembering how pictures taken of me back in Montana were. Werewolves' eyes mess up cameras somehow, and our eyes show as our wolf eyes. The only pictures of me without bright yellow eyes were burnt in my family's house fire all those years ago. For so many years, I'd existed as a name with no picture.

"Yep, that's what these are for," she said, holding out two clear contact lenses as she pushed me into a chair.

"Great," I grimaced as I slid them against my eyes, instantly irritating.

She took my picture in about a minute, meaning I could get the plastic films off my eyes.

"Theo," Victoria said, "You're in danger and so is Kaden now that you two are friends. I can protect you if you join my pack."

"You're gonna have to convince me a lot more, if you want me with you," I told her, as we walked back to my English class.

"By not being in my pack, you're putting Ember in danger as well."

"How do you know about her?" I snapped, shooting an angry glance at her.

She just smiled and said, "I know about a lot of things."

And then she left.

Maybe I should join her pack, the thought crossed my mind as I stepped back into the classroom, frowning. Would it be such a bad thing if I did? Surely my pack would understand that I was doing everything I could to survive.

Avoiding Ember at the end of class, I found Kaden, needing his opinion as well.

"Victoria's pretty serious about wanting us in her pack," I told him, then explained my whole conversation with her.

"Yeah, I know." Kaden nodded, eyes shifting uncomfortably. "I got my picture taken by her as well."

I recalled a documentary that I watched ages ago. It was about this serial killer who took pictures of his victims before he murdered them. A chill ran through my veins; what if Victoria killed me and Kaden once we joined her pack? I wouldn't have a chance of finding my pack if I wound up dead.

"She told me that I was putting Ember in danger." I held my breath once I'd finished speaking, glancing away.

"Same. She threatened my family as well," he admitted and started biting the edge of one of his nails.

"I thought they weren't in Lake Oldoy anymore?" I frowned at him.

"Yeah, they're not. But that doesn't mean she won't go after them herself or send that other Beta after them." His jaw clenched. "I need to protect my family, even if they think I'm dead."

"Yeah, I get it." My pack were like my family; I understood more than anyone. "And Ember — we need to protect her."

It turned out that Ember had been walking just behind us, as she huffed, "I can protect myself," shoved in between me and Kaden and stalked off.

Kaden threw a glance at me. "Agreed. She needs protecting whether she wants to admit it or not."

I nodded. "Ember's got the potential to be incredibly powerful, she just doesn't know how to harness it."

"She might have to learn pretty quick for when these hunters show up. They'll probably kill as many supernaturals as possible, as well as you, whilst they're here."

"I know."

"Well, I've got Business Studies now. How about you?" Kaden asked.

"No idea," I confessed.

"Ember's got Business Studies as well, so you'll just have to figure it out." He grinned and then walked off.

Great.

I dug my timetable out of one of my blazer pockets — it was crumpled and fell apart some more when I unfolded it. Scanning the lessons, and working out which day it was, I finally found that I had I.T.

Yeah, I think I'll just skip that for today, I thought and started walking towards the enchanted trees — hoping that no one else would be there.

My chances of being alone were crushed as I caught a woody, earthy scent in the wind as I approached.

Piling her brown hair into a bun on her head, Al stepped out behind a tree, "What are you doing here, mongrel?"

Ignoring her crude nickname, I shrugged. "Skipping I.T."

"Same." She smirked, before feigning a welcoming smile and tone of voice, "Come on in."

"Hey, Al?" I asked as we sat down against the trees, "Can I ask you something?"

"Doesn't seem like I have a choice," she muttered under her breath before saying louder, "Yeah, sure."

"Say you need to protect someone, and the best way is by doing something that you might regret, would you still do it?" I fumbled.

Al narrowed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows together. "Unless it's advice about dealing drugs that you're looking for, I suggest you just tell me what's actually going on and then ask me, properly."

"Fine." I narrowed my eyes back at her, "There's an Alpha in town, and she wants me and Kaden to join her pack. She's already half-threatened Ember and threatened Kaden's family. If we join her pack, then it gives us a major advantage over the hunters when they arrive—"

"So, why don't you wanna join her?" Al cut me off.

"Because, as I was about to say, my pack is still alive, so I can't just go joining another pack, can I?"

"I don't see why you can't. You're an Omega, your old pack is on another continent, and they're being held by these hunters. Being in this Alpha's pack only has advantages in my eyes." She began plaiting strands of grass beneath her, tilting her head sympathetically at the earth.

"I could be made to do terrible things for her," I protested.

She pulled a face, "It's gotta be better than being dead though, right, mongrel?"

"Stop calling me that. Do you seriously think that?" I shook my head and she just shrugged. "Fine. So, maybe I should join her pack."

"It's up to you." She cocked her head at me. "But I think you should."

"What do you think Ember will think?" I wondered aloud.

"You can ask her." She dipped her head across the field.

I turned around, and there she was — wild, wavy, dirty blonde hair blowing in the wind.

"Shit." I realised I'd have to apologise for saying that Kaden and I needed to protect her.

"You can't skip every other lesson, Theo," she huffed and sat down next to me.

"Watch me," I grumbled.

"I'm gonna go to I.T. for the rest of the lesson." Al narrowed her eyes at us, "Leave you two to talk. See ya later, mongrel. You too, Ember."

Great — now I have to face Ember all on my own.

"Hey," I began, "I'm sorry for thinking that you need protection—"

All of a sudden, she urgently pressed her soft lips against mine, cutting me off. I couldn't help but be surprised, but relaxed as she deepened the kiss, her hands coming to my chest. Her tongue slid into her mouth and the heat of her body seemed to call to me.

Then, I heard a bzzt! sound as a shocking sensation ran through my body — forcing me to collapse to the ground.

"What was that for?" I gasped when I saw Ember was holding a taser — a small, black cylinder with blue electricity crackling out of it.

"I told you I can handle myself," she replied, pressing her full heart-shaped lips in a thin line as she tried not to smile.

"Did you have to prove it like that?" I frowned, also trying not to smile, rubbing my side where she'd tasered me.

"Yes. How else were you gonna listen?" She shrugged, but then asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," I said, sitting up, "But if you want it to knock out werewolves, you'll need to triple the voltage."

"But this is as high as it goes..." She told me, after inspecting her taser.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," I reassured — hoping that she would never have to use that taser to defend herself, hoping that I'd always be there for her. "I'm still sorry, though."

"Yeah, me too," she apologised back and stowed her taser away in her bag. I didn't want to even think about what sort of punishment Challis High would give her if she got found out for having that on her.

"Ember?" I said, tugging at the grass beneath us — not having the skills to plait strands of it as Al had. "What do you think about me joining Victoria's pack? Honestly?"

"I think you should do whatever you want to do," she responded decidedly.

"What if doing what I want isn't doing what I should?" I countered.

"Well, what do you want to do?" She asked, looking up at me.

"This." I took her face in both my hands and pushed my lips to hers, slowly kissing her.

"Mm," Ember mumbled, pulling away and blushing. "What should you do then?"

"I have no clue."

"I think that if it will protect you better from the hunters, then you should join her pack," she admitted, but I could tell she was holding something back.

"What else is it?" I asked her.

"Erm, it's a bit embarrassing and probably stupid..." She laughed exasperatedly. "But, if you're with her does that mean you're never going to be with me?"

"No, it doesn't mean that at all," I reassured. "It just means that she'll have the ability to call me away when and if she needs me. But, no, I will be with you still. If that's what you want."

"I want it, I want to be with you." She nodded. "Do you not want to be with me?"

"No, I do — I do want to be with you," I rushed, "I just don't want to hurt you."

"I told you I can I protect myself." She folded her arms in front of her, raising her eyebrows in annoyance.

"I meant emotionally, not physically." I glanced at her, brushing grass off me as I stood up.

"I can cope with that as well." She wavered, also standing. "As long as you don't get bored of me."

"I won't get bored of you," I told her, pulling her closer to me and enveloping her into an embrace. "Why would I get bored of you?"

"Because Eric did..." She muttered then questioned, "So, are we going out now?"

"I guess so." I muttered back, "Though I don't think it'll feel much different to how it was before."

"That's okay."

The bell rang across the fields, meaning it was the end of break. We walked back to class, barely talking.

Nothing happened for the rest of the day; the lessons we had were dull and Victoria didn't come and find Kaden or me at any point. When I'd told Kaden at lunch that I was planning to join Victoria, he'd nodded in agreement.

"It's the best thing we can do," he'd said, then asked, "You going out with Ember yet?"

"Yes, I am," I'd told him, causing him to grin widely, before I walked off to avoid any more questions.

I'd almost forgotten about mine and Ember's detention that night — so she had to remind me as we left our last lesson, Chemistry.

It turned out that Jack, Al, and a couple of others whose names I didn't know were also in detention.

Ember was paired with Jack to restack shelves in the library, while Al and I dusted computers that were already clean. It was clear that something had happened between Jack and Ember. She hadn't told me what yet, but I was waiting for her to be ready.

Honestly, I don't think a detention has ever felt so long and pointless. Watching Ember avoiding Jack and watching Jack watching Ember was setting me on edge — which only succeeding in causing me to be snappy with Ember at the end of the detention.

I kept it as brief as possible. "Look Ember, I should probably find Kaden and then go and tell Victoria that we'll join her."

"Yeah, okay. Cos then it's done, right?"

"Well, it's hardly 'done,'" I admitted, not fully knowing what I was getting myself into by joining her pack.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she told me, ignoring what I just said, and reached up to kiss me on the cheek.

"Bye," I replied, already starting to text Kaden to meet me where we first met Victoria.

"We've decided to join you," I declared, cutting straight to the chase — there's no backing out of this now.

Stood in the middle of the woods, Kaden and I faced Victoria. The Beta we'd heard and seen the other day was nowhere in sight — meaning all of Victoria's attention was on us.

I tried to keep my eyes on her eyes, but every living creature in the Lake Oldoy woods seemed to demand my attention. Birds' songs morphed into warning alarms and screeches, while the chattering of squirrels and the babbling of a nearby brook seemed to echo an eery funeral march.

See, even nature is against me joining Victoria.

"Good." She smiled, her lips curved into a sadistic contortion — maybe this was a mistake. "I wasn't particularly looking forward to hunting Kaden's parents down and threatening Theo's precious Ember."

As she mentioned Ember, a growl rose in the back of my throat before I could stop it. I'd spent so long lecturing Kaden on how to behave in front of an Alpha like Victoria, and there I was losing control over the girl I liked.

"Sounds like I've found Theo's sensitive spot," she chuckled, smirking cruelly.

"Just leave her out of it," Kaden growled at Victoria, "Ember's got nothing to do with this."

Victoria narrowed her eyes at us. "So, Omegas, you ready to become Betas again?"

"More than ready," I admitted, and Kaden nodded as well, but in my heart, I wasn't ready to become anyone's Beta except Jason's.

"What now?" Kaden asked and joked, "Do we have to sign some sort of form?"

Victoria laughed lightly, with an edge of malice. "If you want to be a part of my pack, you have to hunt with me."

Kaden gulped audibly, "As in, like, deer?"

"No." Victoria tilted her head at him and replied mockingly, "As in, like, humans."

"No, we are not killing for you," I instantly stated.

"Well, it would be the first time you'd killed someone, would it, Theo?" She grinned, now baring her fangs, eyes glowing red. She came close to me and traced a claw along my jawline. As I jerked my head away, she laughed.

"You— You've killed someone before, Theo?" Kaden fumbled with the idea.

I gritted my teeth. "So you've never lost control on a full moon before?"

"Oh, come on, Theo!" Victoria laughed again, enjoying how much torment this was putting me through, "I know that you've killed not on the night of a full moon, surely your new bestie, Kaden, should know?" She gasped and whispered in my ear, her voice turning evil and cruel, "Surely your new girlfriend, Ember, should know?"

"Shut up!" I growled at her again.

"Theo?" Kaden's voice faltered, clearly losing it a little. "I— I don't want to kill anyone."

"Listen to me," I seethed, grabbing hold of Victoria by her shoulders, "I kill someone, and you let us both in. He doesn't have to kill. Not yet."

Victoria grinned, voice softening slightly, "How noble. But yes, fine." Her voice turned evil again, "But he will have to kill eventually — there's no avoiding that... We are werewolves after all." She moved away from us.

"That doesn't mean we have to be murderers," I mumbled, remembering Jason, my previous Alpha, telling me that.

Seeming completely unshaken, Victoria quickly resumed: "Because you're saving Kaden from killing someone, the person that you kill will have to be someone you know. Anyone that you're currently holding a grudge against, Theo?" That sadistic smile returned to curve her lips once again as her eyes danced with murderous rage.

And I swear to God, I couldn't help it when Eric sprang into my head.