𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵

My first thought was oh my God...

Ember had torn my t-shirt clean off my body, after having easily burnt through the fabric. She'd shoved me onto the bed, and she was now lying on top of me. I had no idea what she was thinking, no idea what she was doing. But whatever it was, I was loving it.

Every time I touched her body was like the first time. Every time I undressed her, and she undressed me, it was like the first time.

I could never get bored of her.

And so there she was, straddling my waist, her lips crashing against mine.

Momentarily shocked, my hands stumbled and rushed to the hem of her t-shirt. But then I snapped out of it, sitting up and pulling her top off her, revealing her perfect body. She tipped her head back as I kissed along her collarbone, inhaling the scent and taste and feel of her skin — a scent and taste and feel I could almost survive on.

My fingers found her bra straps and slowly slid off her shoulders. "Is this okay?" I mumbled against her shoulder.

"Of course!" She replied, grinning so sexily as she unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans. Without a moment's hesitation, she slipped her hand against my boxers, underneath my jeans, against the evidence of my growing excitement. "Is this okay?" She asked.

I sucked a gasp of air, as she was so close to me. "Yep. Fine."

Then she squeezed me ever so slightly, sending a shudder running through my body.

Damn, this girl. Everything she does is so right... And it all feels so goddamn good.

Ember then stood away from my bed and pulled my jeans off.

"My turn." I grinned as she crawled back onto the bed next to me.

Hovering over her, I undid her jeans and discarded them rapidly. My eyes and hands were then free to travel up her body — starting with those beautiful, long legs, that gorgeous midriff and up to her neck. All of her body was sexy and perfect in every single way.

I swallowed hard; what is she doing to me?

She bit her lip as my face came to hover over her face.

We needed no words, both knowing what the other wanted.

She arched her back, raising her body off the bed so I could reach behind her back and unclip her bra, revealing her even more.

I nearly said it. I nearly said it again.

I'd told her I loved her the other night and I knew that as soon as the words slipped out that it was a mistake. It'd been stuck on my mind ever since I said it. And I couldn't admit that I loved her in broad daylight — it was too tough.

And she'd not mentioned it, so she hadn't heard me or didn't want to bring it up.

I have to stop obsessing about it.

"Theo?" Ember frowned up at me. "What's wrong?"

"You're just so beautiful," I muttered, leaning down to kiss her body again and forcing my eyes shut, shutting out the thoughts.

Ember didn't say anything else, obviously satisfied in more ways than one. Her hands found my back, and her nails dug in when I pressed my crotch against hers, both of us revelling in how close we were to one another.

"Theo..." She breathed my name — and just the way she spoke made me want her even more.

"Yeah?" I brushed a lock of hair out of her face, staring into those stunning blue eyes of hers.

"I want you." She placed one of her warm hands on my shoulder.

"I want you too," I couldn't help but growl back, desire and lust overflowing me.

Ember's face cracked into a beam. "Am I about to see you lose control over me?"

"Maybe." I grinned back, and I leaned down to kiss her.

Yet still, I wasn't sure if we were thinking of the same thing — are we? — I didn't want to ask her straight out, that could've been a little too forward.

My ears pricked up when I heard someone walking outside of my room.

"Theo?" It was Lis, whose timing was terrible, as always.

"Shit," Ember whispered and began starting to throw her clothes back on.

"Yeah, Lis? What's up?" I called back to her, staying cool, unlike Ember. "I'm just doing some work with Ember."

"I just wanted to know if Ember wanted to stay for dinner?" She called.

I glanced at Ember, raising an eyebrow and answering for her, "Yeah, she'd love to."

Ember threw an acid glance at me.

"Okay, it'll be ready in about 10 minutes — be ready!" Lis warned cheerily, then I heard her walk off down the stairs.

"So, I'm staying for dinner now, am I?" Ember frowned at me.

"Yep — you don't have any plans, do you?" I checked, knowing that she didn't.

"I mean it's better than explaining to my parents for the five thousandth time why I don't want to and don't need to go to Svalbard," she rambled frustratedly.

"Fair enough." I shrugged, pulling my jeans back on.

"What's in here?" She wondered aloud, starting to look through my bedside table.

"Not much," I began, before realising that there were some things in there, including Abi's pendant that I'd woken up with a few weeks ago... "Ember, wait a sec—"

"Whose is this?" Frowning, she asked and held up Abi's locket.

I realised how bad it looked.

"It's not what you think, Ember," I told her. "Let me explain."

Ember raised an eyebrow as if to say go on.

I sighed. "I had a night terror the other week, the night before Kaden and I met Victoria. It was about Abi, the banshee. She was just screaming and screaming and screaming." I paused, "And I couldn't find her, it was too dark, and she was screaming my name and screaming that they're dead, that they're all dead."

I closed my eyes, easily remembering every despairing detail of the dream.

"Then I woke up, and I had Abi's pendant in my hand," I explained, "I know it's hers because it's got pictures of her family in it..." I trailed off.

In all honesty, I was glad that Ember had found it — because that alone proved it wasn't just in my head.

"I have no idea how it got here," I admitted.

"Huh. Weird," Ember remarked with an indistinguishable look on her face. I tried to pick up on her chemosignals but those too were mixed.

"Dinner's ready!" Lis yelled up to us.

Ember raised an eyebrow at me, "This conversation is not over."

"Fine." I pulled a new t-shirt over my head, and we headed down to dinner.

Lis always was a dreadful cook, and Neal wasn't any better. Half the time, I couldn't even tell what I was eating.

It'd been Thanksgiving a few days earlier, and the general store in Lake Oldoy wasn't selling turkeys yet — because Brits pretty much only eat turkey on Christmas Day. Neal refused to drive to another town to get one, so we ended up with roast chicken, which just wasn't the same. The fact that Lis couldn't cook it properly made it ten times worse.

Hell, I could cook a stolen turkey over a campfire better than Lis could cook with an oven. My pack and I did that every Thanksgiving: stole a turkey and cooked it ourselves.

Missing my pack consumed most of my time, but times like Thanksgiving were extra hard. The whole point of Thanksgiving was being together with your family; my pack were my family.

Needless to say, I was dreading Christmas without my pack.

I glanced across at Ember, who was also struggling to determine and chew what was on her plate in front of her.

I was dreading Christmas dinner already. At least Ember would be in Svalbard, away from here. I would miss her, for sure, but I knew it was the right thing for her to do, so I had to support that.

I guess it's the same sort of thing if my pack had been sighted or something and I went back to Montana. Surely, she'd support me doing that, wouldn't she?

That made me think: Halia said she'd been in Georgia, the same state as where I'd been for a few months before I was moved to the UK.

Coincidence? Probably not.

The hunters might've even been in Georgia at the time, looking for me, maybe that's how Halia found out. I'd have to ask her next time I saw her, although that'd most likely be when we were putting our plan into action — not a great time for a quick catch-up.

"I'm done," I declared, pushing my half-eaten plate of food away from me.

"Same," Ember mumbled next to me.

"We should — erm," I cleared my throat, "We should do a bit more French, shouldn't we, Ember?"

"Yeah, definitely." Ember nodded enthusiastically.

"See you later, then." Neal sighed and eyed Ember curiously as she walked upstairs.

Ember stopped midway up the stairs, staring at one of the bannisters. But then she snapped out of it and walked quickly upstairs.

What was that about?

She turned to me at the top of the stairs and told me in a hushed tone, "Dinner was awful. But it let me think... I reckon we could get Al to formulate a vision for the hunters — that way they'd think that you're with Victoria, and it also ensures that they'll follow her."

"That's a good idea." I smiled gently at her; aware she was still contending with the fact that most of the plan rested on her being able to control the Phoenix. After letting Ember go into my room first, I picked up my burnt, torn t-shirt from my bedroom floor and tossed it in the bin in my bathroom.

"Sorry about that." Ember glanced across at me.

"You don't need to apologise," I told her, stepping closer to her. "I can't say I didn't enjoy what came afterwards."

"Is it just me, or do we keep getting interrupted a lot lately?" She laughed lightly.

"Yeah, we do, actually." I laughed as well.

"I wish we weren't." She breathed out and stood directly in front of me. She hooked her fingers through the belt loops in my jeans and pulled me against her.

She looked up at me, and I wanted to freeze that moment. Just freeze it and keep living it over and over again. Because it felt like things were perfect, even though they weren't.

Slowly, like I was scared everything would fall apart again, I brought her lips to mine and kissed her softly. And I was feeling something, something deep within me, something indescribable... love.

I loved her, I loved everything about her. I didn't care about her faults or flaws; they just made me love her more.

Our kiss was then interrupted by the sound of a gunshot echoing across the hills.

Ember froze in my arms.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered grumpily.

"Typical, isn't it?" Ember raised an eyebrow, before dragging me into a quick, hot, lustful kiss, her tongue slipping inside my mouth before our lips even touched.

"Very," I muttered as she pulled away.

"Do you have to go?" She asked.

"Probably." I sighed and told her, "You should go home."

"I know." She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me one last time before she left.

Five minutes later, I left too, after shouting to Neal and Lis that I had to go.

I didn't even stop to think about who was shot, or whether the shooter was still there; I knew it was the hunters, and it could've even been Kaden that was shot.

Digging my phone out of my pocket, I called him. Anxiety gnawed at me while the dialling sound seemed to last forever. I was so relieved when he finally picked up.

"Where are you?"

"In my caravan," he said bluntly like he was holding something back.

"Okay. Where's your caravan, and what aren't you telling me?" I demanded as I started walking up into the forest. Most of the trees had now lost their leaves, creating shadowy silhouettes of skeleton trees against the backdrop of the dark sky.

"My caravan is near the lake... And erm, I'm with Halia," he stumbled slightly.

I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Well, you better haul ass out into the woods 'cos someone's just been shot."

"I know," he replied grimly. "I heard it."

"I'll meet you at your caravan," I told him, hoping that Halia would be gone by the time I got there.

Pushing my phone back into my pocket, I started running towards the lake, feeling the cold night air grazing past my face.

Then I heard voices in the woods, and I froze in my tracks before my instincts forced me to hastily step behind a tree. A glance informed me that the voices belonged to hunters, who were standing a few metres in front of me.

I don't know how they didn't hear my heart pounding in my chest.

There were only two of them, one older and one younger — I soon worked out they were father and son. They stood over a girl who had to have been a few years younger than me.

I could tell she was supernatural for two reasons: one, her fingernails were sharp claws, and her teeth were fangs. And two, they were pointing guns at her.

"They're still people," the younger one, the son, protested.

"They're not people, they're monsters," the dad reassured, before pushing his gun against the girl's leg. "Does that look like a girl to you?"

I wondered why the girl didn't just run off, but then I saw the bullet hole in her arm and the bear trap pinning her leg to the floor. The bear traps were just like the ones that we'd occasionally seen in Montana. I winced; I'd been caught in one before.

"I don't want to do it, Dad," the son complained again, and I realised that I recognised him. He went to the same school as me and my pack in Montana. His name was Chris Woodman, and he was always quiet. I never would've guessed that he was the son of a hunter.

You gotta watch out for the quiet ones.

"You see this symbol?" His dad asked him, pulling up his sleeve to the inside of his elbow, revealing a tattoo that looked like both a heart with a line through the centre and an arrowhead. "This means we're hunters. And hunters finish what they start." He shoved his gun at Chris. "So shoot her."

"She's just a girl..." Chris trailed off.

"You wouldn't be saying that if we caught her on a full moon," his dad huffed and then directed at the whimpering girl with a cruel smile, "Ain't that right, sweetheart?" He turned back to his son. "Don't you give a damn about family honour? This is who you are, and you sure as hell need to embrace it."

"What if it's not who I want to be?" Chris retorted, finally finding his voice.

"Then you'll need to find a new family," his dad replied with a grim smile, before he snatched the gun off his son and without any hesitation, turned it on the girl and shot her through the forehead.

Turning away, I felt sick to my stomach. But they hadn't finished.

The older hunter produced a thick rope out of his backpack that was already fashioned in a noose. He latched it onto a tree and strung the girl up there.

"Dad, stop." Chris tugged at his dad's arm like a little kid. "She's dead, we can just leave her."

"She'll heal; this is the only way to make sure that she doesn't."

I don't know where the sword came from, but he grabbed it sure enough and with one strong, forceful swing, sliced the girl's body in half.

Blood covered both their faces and the leaves all around.

Chris sobbed slightly and I heard the lower part of her body slump to the floor.

I couldn't breathe; it was just like finding Luke all over again. Only ten times worse because I was alone, my pack wasn't there to support me. A pack is like a family, only closer — there are no other words to describe it.

A dry stick suddenly snapped under my foot.

Shit.

"What was that?" Chris's dad whirled around in my direction.

I took off running as fast as I could — but I wasn't quick enough.

There was a thud as a bullet hit my shoulder blade, and it nearly sent me hurtling to the ground, but I just gritted my teeth and kept on running. Crashing through the undergrowth, the poison from the wolfsbane bullet embedded into my shoulder was already affecting me; I was nowhere near as agile as I would've been if I wasn't shot.

But I ran anyway. Because even though I was noisy, I was a hell of a lot faster than two humans.

I ran until I realised that they couldn't have possibly been following me anymore. The only noise was me crashing through the bushes and whacking past tree branches.

I was almost at the lake when I slowed and felt the burn in my shoulder worsen. Feeling the hole in my skin with my fingertips, I could tell the bullet was buried deep into my skin.

I'd been shot a couple of times before, but those were years ago before I'd met Jason.

"Shit," I stated at the sight of my fingertips — slick with my blood that was beginning to darken and turn a dark purple colour.

Glancing around me, I saw the light of what had to be Kaden's caravan. I started stumbling towards it, all my usual agility and speed and accuracy had disappeared without a trace. Nausea raced through my system, and I struggled to breathe.

"Kaden!" I shouted out as my foot caught on something and I fell flat on my face.

Then came the darkness.

When I drifted back into wakefulness, I was clearly on the floor in Kaden's caravan. Halia stood over me, frowning.

"Wolfsbane." I coughed out, my shoulder aching. "It's a wolfsbane bullet."

Sweat was beading on my forehead as my body tried to fight the wolfbane in my body, but it was failing. At least the bullet wasn't close to my heart, then I'd have no chances of making it.

"What do we do?" Halia stared right at me.

"Get the bullet out." I gritted my teeth, knowing that removing the bullet wasn't the most painful part. "Then you need to burn out all of the wolfsbane." That was the most excruciating part.

"I've got some tweezers," Kaden announced like it was a huge achievement.

"You need something sharper than that," I groaned, rolling onto my front. "Just get a knife or something."

After some scrambling in a drawer, he said, "Okay, I've got one — what now?"

"Dig the bullet out!" I exclaimed, pain washing over me again — every moment the wolfsbane was in my body, the more I was in danger of being permanently damaged by the poison. If it wasn't out of my reach, I'd dig it out of my skin myself.

"I'll do it." Halia took charge and I felt the blade of the knife touch against the edge of my wound, causing me to hiss in a breath due to pain.

"Do you want something to knock you out?" Kaden's face appeared at the edge of my blurring vision.

"Yes — hit me," I told him, "Hit me in the face, as hard as you can."

Telling a werewolf to hit something 'as hard as they can' is a dangerous thing to do, but I could deal with the pain later on.

"Fine, but you asked for it," he replied, and his fist contacted my face, instantly knocking me out and sending me into elusive, pain-induced delusions.

A girl was standing in front of me, staring at a river.

It was Storm. And the river was McGinnis Creek, in Montana, near Coloma.

"Storm?" My voice was nothing but a whisper.

"Theo." She turned around like we were supposed to have met there — like she had been expecting me.

"What's going on, Storm?" I frowned, stepping towards her. "Help me find you."

"I'm allowed to help you now, so I will," she told me with mystery cloaking her intentions. "Start in Georgia, get the naiad to help you remember what was taken from you by the Agency." I tried to interrupt, but she just continued, "Then you need to retrace your footsteps, and you'll find us."

I gulped, at a loss for words. Then Jade stepped out of the trees behind me.

"Jade!" I cried out to her and rushed towards her.

"Theo!" She shouted back and threw herself at me, jumping up and wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.

"I missed you so much," I whispered, afraid I would lose her again, tears threatened at the edges of my eyes (shut up).

"Do what Storm said," she told me, sliding to the ground. "And you'll find us."

"But there are people that need me in Lake Oldoy." I realised out loud, turning to Storm for answers in the same way Ember turned to Wednesday for answers.

"You help them get rid of those hunters, Ember goes to Svalbard for Christmas, and you come here. You come back to the States."

"Are you sure?" I frowned.

"If I've Seen things correctly, then Ember won't be coming back from Svalbard for a long time," Storm reassured, before warning, "But you can't tell her that — you can't tell her any of this. Coming back here has to be your own idea."

I nodded, understanding. "Can you tell Jason something for me?"

"Yes, but make it quick. The naiad has nearly got the bullet out," Storm told me quickly, her grey eyes widening. "What is it?"

"Tell him... Tell him that I'm sorry." I swallowed, thinking about the blood that now resided on my hands. "I'm sorry I couldn't be the person he wanted me to be."

"We'll tell him." Jade squeezed my hand tightly and pulled me towards the creek.

She smiled up at me, and my heart yearned to be with her again. Then she playfully splashed some of the creek water up at me.

Don't forget about Ember, a segment of my heart reminded my brain. But Jade was there; I hadn't seen her for months.

"Hey!" I shouted, but also playfully, splashing her back.

We kept splashing one another until she hit me directly in my face, and then everything changed.

"Jade!" I cried out, scrambling to sit up as I woke up.

"Actually, it's Ember," Ember corrected; eyes narrowed in a hateful way. She was holding half a jugful of water — the other half having just been tipped on me.

I gasped like a fish out of water, too delirious from Storm's message for me to realise what was going on in real life.

"It's Ember, and I just saved your life." She glared at me and stormed out of the caravan.

Panting as I leaned my arms on my knees, I realised I was effectively caught in a supernatural love triangle.

Well, there's a first time for everything.