I knew why Theo couldn't stick around for long in the morning, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to watch the sunrise with him by my side.

Maybe he was right about me needing a stronger anchor. Yet I couldn't think of anything else stronger than wanting to control it — surely that alone could be enough?

Only time will tell. Though hopefully, time would tell without anybody getting hurt.

The next day after I found control, I finally managed to show my mum. I was able to control it just as well as the day before.

"How did you learn to do that on your own?" She asked, instantly suspicious.

"I just... used a mantra that Uncle Rob taught me a few years ago." I shrugged, wondering why she couldn't just believe and accept — perhaps even celebrate ­— the fact that I had control.

"The Phoenix is a weapon as well as protection, Ember," my mum told me, "And you need to learn how to control both of them."

I raised an eyebrow; is she beginning to teach me?

She disappeared into the garden shed and returned with what looked like an archery target.

"Won't it just burn?" I questioned.

She threw a piece of clear plastic over the target. "This is fire-proof, so it should last fine." Then she walked over so she was standing behind me.

After a few minutes of hesitation, I asked over my shoulder, "What do you want me to do?"

"Use the Phoenix as a weapon," she stated as if it was blatantly obvious.

Rolling my eyes, I balled my hands into fists and then uncurled them — unveiling the fire like a warrior unveiling her sword.

How am I supposed to use it as a weapon? Do I wield the fire or does the fire wield me? Am I merely the sword to the fire's warrior?

Stepping a little closer to the target, I pressed one of my burning palms towards it. A flame shot towards it, falling just short of the target and setting a patch of grass alight.

"Good enough." My mum observed. "I just hope that you'll never have to use it as a weapon."

Hmm, about that...

"My friends want me to set fire to some building with the new Alpha in, hoping that she'll then leave Lake Oldoy and the hunters will go after her," I said all in one breath. "So, yeah. I'll have to use it as a weapon pretty soon."

"And why do you need to do this?" She frowned quizzically.

"Because they need someone who it can't be traced to, meaning I'm being made into their scapegoat, taking all of the blame." I huffed, kicking some grass beneath my feet. "They don't believe that I have control, except Theo."

My mum didn't say anything. Her silence spoke one simple message; she doesn't believe me.

"You don't believe I have control either, do you?" I whirled on her, disbelievingly.

"It takes more than a few attempts to have total control, Ember. It takes a hell of a lot more," she admitted, then muttered, "Maybe I should just send you off to Svalbard now."

"Seriously?" I asked incredulously, "We've talked about this a hundred times — I am not going."

"We'll talk about it a thousand times if that's what it takes to get you to go," she retorted bitterly. "But I'm pretty sure the only thing that will get you to go eventually is when — not if — when you hurt someone."

Knowing that she was right, I looked away. I couldn't stop the memory of Jack's chest burning from surfacing in my mind — I'd had my mum to help me that time. The thought of hurting someone again that badly made me nauseous.

"And I'm trying to get you to go now so that that doesn't happen," she explained, attempting and failing to force tenderness into her voice. "I'm trying to protect you."

"Well, I'm trying to protect my friends," I fired back, "And I'll do anything to protect them."

"Even kill someone?" She raised an eyebrow and then walked off.

Would I kill someone to protect them? The thought lingered in my mind for longer than I wanted it to. I shook my head, trying to shake the worries away.

I knew that Theo would kill to protect people that he cared about — he'd already done it for Kaden, and he hadn't even known him that long. A shiver ran through me at the thought of what he would do to protect me.

Not that I need protecting.

I could protect myself just fine.

Sighing, which seemed to be a constant state of mine at the time, I flopped onto the grass of my back garden. I began to mess with the fire again, watching it unfurl and twist around my fingers.

I realised that I didn't know the plan for getting rid of these hunters — they'd just been like 'hey, Ember, we can blame you if it all goes to shit... That's fine with you, right? Yeah, 'course it's fine.'

Subconsciously, my hands curled into fists as I stood up.

And then, they'd been like, 'you don't have control, so if it all goes to shit, which it most likely will, then it can be all your fault.' I clenched my jaw, nerves set on edge. Even Theo was like 'it's a good plan.'

What absolute, total bullshit, I thought, staring at the target in front of me.

I realised that I wanted to scream; I wanted to let everything go. The fire had been building in me for so long and it needed to be let loose — instead of holding onto it like everybody wanted me to do.

So, I screamed and let go — pushing all my force and energy through my palms towards the archery target a few metres in front of me. And all my force and energy left me through my palms, through fire and flame. All the anger and frustration exiting out of my body in all-consuming flames.

When the fire calmed down, I saw that I'd burnt a huge hole through the middle of the target, including the supposedly 'fire-proof' sheeting.

Damn it.

"Ember!" My mum shouted, rushing out to me.

"Yep, still here." I breathed; still alive.

"What did you do?" She exclaimed, gasping when she saw the target.

"I used the Phoenix as a weapon," I told her. Because this time, it was blatantly obvious.

Then I walked off without a backwards glance.

Impatiently, I knocked quickly on the door of Theo's house.

"Is Theo here?" I rushed as soon as Lis opened the door.

"Yes, he is. How are you, Ember?" Lis smiled, obviously wanting to exchange some inconsequential small talk.

"Er... Fine," I spluttered. "Can I talk to Theo?"

"Sure. Come in." She let me through the door and told me, "He's in his room," before she walked off back to the kitchen.

I ran over to Saint Francis through the woods after what happened with the target, wanting to get away from everything and everyone back home... And I felt like Theo, of all people, would understand me; understand what to do.

I rushed up to his room, not even bothering to knock.

"Theo!" I called, standing in his empty room — he wasn't there. "Hello? Theo?"

His bathroom door opened and he stepped out, looking heavenly. A towel was wrapped around his waist; water still glistened on his chest and arms and oh my God, those abs...

My mouth went dry.

"Yeah?" He smirked at me.

Damn him — why does he have to be so goddamn sexy all the goddamn time?

My mind went completely blank as I gawped at him. His body was perfection and I wanted all of him. I wanted those hunters to go back to the US, for Victoria to leave and then I could have Theo all to myself. It was stupid and selfish, but I couldn't control how passionately I felt about him.

Oh God — the only thing I could think about was Theo standing in front of me, basically naked.

"Are you just gonna stand over there staring at me all day?" Theo raised an eyebrow, breaking me out of my trance.

"I might." I bit my lip, eyes scanning his body again.

"Okay then." He ran his hands through his hair, abs tightening as he did so.

Oh, I remembered why I was there — I want to talk to him about the plan for the hunters.

"For real, Ember?" Theo said, snapping my attention back to him, "What is it?" He was now using another towel to dry his hair.

"Erm." I coughed, trying to get myself together; I needed to talk to him. "I wanted to talk to you about the plan."

"Ah." He nodded his head. "Let me get dressed first."

"Yeah, sure." Chewing at the side of my lip, I turned around, facing away from him.

Any attempts to quieten my mind were negated by his presence. Part of me insisted he was watching me while he dressed.

"I'm done," he stated, which was my cue to turn around.

Facing him, I saw he was only wearing denim jeans. His towel was slung over his shoulder, but clearly, he hadn't opted for a t-shirt like a normal human being.

"That's hardly what I called 'dressed.'" I laughed nervously, and he ran his hand through his damp hair again.

"Oh, sorry — didn't realise you had a problem with me not wearing many clothes." He grinned but pulled a crisp white t-shirt over his head all the same. "So, what's up?"

"What's up is that I have no idea what the plan is for getting rid of the hunters, I burnt a hole in an archery target whilst stood about four metres away from it, and I half-wish that I hadn't remembered what I came here to talk to you about because then you would still be in just a towel or nothing and... Oh, God." I breathed, blushing furiously. "Did I just say all of that out loud?"

"Yep." He raised an eyebrow, amused, leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"God, I'm just so frustrated at the minute!" I declared, squeezing my eyes shut as I leaned my back against the wall.

"Sexually?" Theo said, causing my eyes to spring open — he stood right in front of me.

"H-how—?" I spluttered out nonsensically.

"Werewolf." He shrugged, grinning as his face got closer to mine. "So, you're frustrated?" He whispered against my ear, lips brushing the side of my face ever so slightly, "Sexually frustrated?"

I rolled my head back against the wall, as his hands snaked around my waist, pushing me against the wall.

"So?" He whispered in my ear, his hands slipping up the back of my t-shirt, my hands slipping up his t-shirt.

"So...?" I breathed back; all thoughts disappeared from my mind... As they often did when I was around him.

"You wanted to talk?" He said, quickly pulling away like nothing was happening.

"Wh—?" I began, frowning, but he pressed a hand against my mouth.

He tapped his ear and then pointed at the door. Someone's outside.

"Erm, I... I, well, you—" I stuttered, eyes widening.

Theo dived in to save me, "The French homework, right?"

"Ugh... Yeah? Yes, that's right." I realised that we couldn't talk about what we were going to do about the hunters unless we were completely alone.

Theo pulled his French book out of his bag, sitting at his desk. "It was that translation — on future plans, wasn't it?" The stress he put on those words made it obvious that we weren't talking about a French translation homework, not that there was one anyway.

"Yep, that's it." I hovered, unsure of what to do.

"This is what I got so far." He scribbled on a piece of paper:

Neal is outside and he's listening. We can't talk about the plan now.

I nodded once I'd read it, "I think that's almost right, but I also got this." I wrote on the paper as well:

Why can't we talk about it?

His reply was: Because he'll tip off the Agency the next chance he gets.

"Do you have a spare chair?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation about schoolwork.

"Yeah, you can sit here," Theo replied, but he didn't stand up, just motioned for me to sit on his leg. Blushing, I perched on his thigh.

Is he gone yet? I wrote.

He's going.

And even I heard the floorboards creak as Theo's foster dad walked down the passageway and down the stairs.

"So," Theo stated, "That was interesting."

I turned to him, all too aware of how close we were together, "Can we talk now?"

"I don't think so." He shook his head. "I'll, erm... I'll write down the rest of the translation for you."

I read as he wrote an explanation of a more detailed version of the plan. While writing it was to avoid Neal eavesdropping, it also allowed me to process what I was reading, instead of lashing out at Theo's words.

We're hoping that I can convince Victoria to call a pack meeting in one of the old, abandoned warehouses in the industrial state off Lyme Lane, except that Kaden and I won't show. So, we'll have Victoria and maybe a couple of Betas in there.

The next part of the plan is that we make two hoax calls to the police. One will say that there's been another animal attack on the other side of Lake Oldoy, and the other will say that a wolf girl has been seen running towards the industrial estate.

Because of the type of these calls, we're hoping that the police will just patch them straight through to the hunters, but even if they don't, they'll probably call them when they arrive at the sites that we're giving them because we're going to leave some bait there.

At the industrial estate, you'll set fire to the warehouse that Victoria's in. And she'll probably think it's the hunters, so she'll get out of Lake Oldoy as soon as possible.

"Ah, my hand aches now." Theo grimaced, throwing the pen down after scrawling out the plan in wide letters.

As I teased him, I let a smirk linger on my face. "Yeah, it's 'cos you hold your pen, like, proper weirdly."

"Well, sorry that I'm better at doing other things with my hands," he retorted back, "Like this." He grabbed onto my waist and slid me further up his leg.

"Oh yeah?" I raised an eyebrow, "Well, writing's an essential skill—"

He cut me off, "So's this." He pressed his lips against mine, kissing me intently.

"Mmm, Theo — I came to talk," I told him, pulling away.

"We've talked," Theo insisted ignorantly and leaned in again.

"No, not properly." I stood up, stepping away from him. "You talked, I didn't. You explained, and that was it."

"I don't know what else you want me to say, Ember." Theo frowned. "You want me to tell you it's foolproof? You want me to tell you that you'll be fine, that I'm not scared for you?"

Folding my arms across my body, I turned away from him and began to pace his room. "I want you to say that you don't need me to do this and that you'll think of another way to get rid of the hunters."

"I can't tell you any of that." He shook his head. "We need you to do this, Ember; there's no other way." Then he stood up, coming towards me. "You came here so you could know the plan, right? Well, now you know it, so there's nothing more to say."

"So, you're telling me I should leave?" I frowned, starting towards the door.

"No!" He grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling me back to him. "No, you shouldn't leave."

My frown softened slightly, but I was still tempted to walk out that door without looking back.

"What should I do then, Theo?" I questioned incredulously, confused and irritated by his mood swings. "As you said, there's nothing left to say — so surely I should just go."

"You can go if you want." He dropped my wrist and flopped back onto his bed. "I just hate constantly arguing with you."

"Yeah, me too," I admitted, "But the only reason that we keep arguing is that we don't talk to each other."

"We're talking to each other now." He pointed out, eyes narrowing at the ceiling.

"We're arguing about how much we're arguing — that's not talking." I sighed, flopping down next to him on his bed, partly because I didn't want to have to make eye contact with him and partly because I was exhausted from everything that had happened that day.

Both of us lay there on our backs on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, not talking for a good five minutes.

I couldn't help it when a single tear slipped out of my left eye.

I wasn't crying, not properly. I was just exhausted and done with people bossing me around and telling me how and I can and can't and how I should and shouldn't use the Phoenix... When, surely, as it's part of who I am, I should be the one to decide what I do with it.

Maybe I should just go to Svalbard, at least then the only person who'd be telling me what to do would be my Uncle Rob — and he'd be teaching me, not just trying to control me.

Another tear slipped out of my eye, this time my right.

I'd hurt people before because of what I was. I'd killed people before because of what I was.

Not that I ever wanted to kill anyone, that wasn't it — I'd been a whole lot younger when it'd happened. I almost couldn't bring myself to think about it, but it could help me move on if I accept what I've done in the past.

I was ten, and the Phoenix was, albeit mildly, starting to show through. If I got too angry, whatever I was touching at the time would set fire, and burn for about 30 seconds, before the flame extinguished itself, as if someone had poured water over it or smothered it with a fireproof cloth.

My mother was seven months pregnant with what would've been my baby sibling, then I'd burned her. Accidently, of course, though I still did it. She was then rushed to the hospital by my dad — I was left behind with a kind neighbour.

The doctors told her that if the burn had been on her arm, then the baby probably would've been fine. But because it had been on her stomach, there was no way that the baby would survive. My mother herself only just survived.

Physically, she was stable. Emotionally? Well, let's just say she didn't look me in the eye for a long time and refused to talk to anyone about losing the baby.

The baby had been born prematurely, and stillborn. Dead.

I killed an innocent, defenceless baby that would've been my younger sibling.

It was all my fault, and it was one of the main reasons that my parents shut me out so often; I'd been the cause of the death of their second child.

No wonder they don't want me around.

The tears were now rolling freely down the sides of my face, as they do when you're lying down. They trickle out of your eyes, trace down the top part of your cheek and come to linger near your ears. I've spent enough nights crying myself to sleep to know the paths my tears take.

"Ember?" Theo asked, concerned when he turned and saw my silent tears. "Are you okay?"

I couldn't even find the words to say no to him, I just turned and buried my face against his chest, his arms instantly enveloping me as I protectively curled my body up.

"Hey, hey, hey." He held me whilst I cried a little more, whispering soothingly, "You wanna talk about it?"

"I... I... killed... my... u-u-unborn s-s-sibling..." I sobbed, gasping out the words I'd never spoken aloud before.

"Hey, hey, I'm sure it wasn't your fault. I'm sure you didn't mean to," he murmured back.

Through sobs, I explained what'd happened, not leaving any of it out.

"Oh God, Ember..." Theo whispered to me, "How old were you, again?"

"Ten." I breathed, tears finally stopping.

"Is this the first time you've spoken to anyone about this in all these years?"

"Yes." I brushed away a few stray tears, "You're the first person I've told."

His thick brown eyebrows knitted together. "Why me? I mean, why talk to me about it?"

"Because I trust you," I told him, looking up into those hazel-blue eyes of his, only wanting to get lost in them.

"I still don't think it was your fault," he told me, "You were ten years old, and had no idea what you were doing, right?"

I nodded; that much is true... I'd had no idea what I'd done, and there was no way that it was intentional. I was ten years old, for crying out loud.

Maybe I should go to Svalbard. All I was doing was evading the inevitable and blaming it on other things. I needed to start taking responsibility for my actions.

"Thank you for listening." I fiddled with my nails, avoiding eye contact, not wanting to explain to him yet my deeper thoughts.

"I'm always here to listen," he told me.

Rolling my eyes, I joked, "When I wanted to talk earlier you told me that we'd already talked."

"Yeah, well I was being a jerk." He shrugged. "I guess I can't think straight when I've got you in my room with me."

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" I whispered.

"No, you're not a bad person, Ember," he reassured. "You just don't have total control yet. I mean, even I don't have total control yet. It's difficult to get absolute control over something that defines who you are and your existence." He thought for a moment, before continuing, "I think that because the Phoenix saved you from dying, it makes it harder for you to control it, and easier for it to control you — because you probably still think subconsciously that it's protecting you."

"It is protecting me, though," I insisted on what I thought to be true. "And I'll prove it."

"How?" He asked, instantly curious as I knew he would be.

"Attack me," I said simply, standing up and taking a few steps away from the bed — is this how to start taking responsibility?

"No."

"Yes," I persisted, grabbing hold of his hand and pulling him to his feet.

"I don't want to hurt you." He crossed his arms.

"You won't — that's what I'm trying to show you," I explained. "You won't hurt me because the Phoenix will protect me."

"Fine, whatever."

"Okay, go." I set myself ready.

He strode over to me and locked his mouth on mine, kissing me passionately. My hands went to rest on his chest. But I was still aware that this was a game, a test, a trial. And I was going to win.

In an instant, one of Theo's now-clawed hands was at my throat. "Ha, you're dead," he whispered in my ear.

"No — you're dead." I grinned back, my palms slightly burning against his chest.

"Oh shit!" He jumped away from me, but the slight burns were already healing and recovering... His t-shirt, not so much. "Aw, damn — this was a new t-shirt!"

"I'll fix it for you." I stepped closer to him, grinning.

"Ember, what—?" He began, but I didn't let him finish.

"Shut up," I told him then I grabbed either side of the hole in his t-shirt and pulled — the fabric easily tearing in my hands. "There you go." I smiled, once his t-shirt hung in shreds around him. "All fixed."

Theo grinned at me, shaking his head. "And you say I'm the one playing with fire?"

My lips found his, our kiss intensifying as soon as it started, hands wandering, exploring.

"Well, you did just get burned." I beamed against his lips, and I pushed him back onto his bed.