I was attacked as soon as I left Photography, by none other than Challis High's version of Mean Girls' Plastics. Linzi, Vicki and Izzi. The same three girls who I'd already told to leave me alone.

Although it wasn't a physical attack, I would've much preferred that over the onslaught of questions that were waiting for me.

"Is it true that you fought Damien?" Izzi asked me anxiously.

"Who?" That was all I had time to say before more hurled their questions at me.

"What was it about?"

"Who started it?"

"Are you on drugs?"

"Are you worried about them coming after you again?"

"Were they trying to deal to you?"

I didn't know three girls could attack like thirty girls. They were literal gossip mongers; trying to squeeze every ounce of information out of me before I became irrelevant. All for one stupid little fight.

"What the hell is going on here?" A voice cut above the others, as the girls got louder to try and override each other's questions, and instantly I knew who it was.

As she made her way toward me, the three girls, seeing the annoyed expression on her face, pulled pouty faces and left. When she got to me, she rolled her eyes.

"You haven't been at this school more than a week and you're already drawing their attention," Ember said disapprovingly. She glanced at my split lip.

The bell rang, and everyone departed for the next lesson.

I shrugged, "Must be my good looks and — as I believe they call it — physique."

"Or maybe it's just because you're an arrogant American who can't survive without a fight in the corridors." After a slight, suppressed smirk at my tease, she raised her eyebrows and walked away.

"Thanks, I guess!" I called after her.

Ember held her hand up and twisted around to look at me. "Don't mention it, I only did it 'cos you deserve a fate much, much worse than them," she laughed and continued walking.

Out of nowhere, a hot, blinding pain scorched through my back — so unbearable that I cried out and fell to the floor.

Unfortunately, Ember heard me and raced back towards me.

"Theo! Are you alright?" Concern was pouring out of her, though I couldn't tell how genuine it was.

"No." I spat out, trying desperately not to cry out again; I didn't need any more attention.

The wolf in me started to take over, as it usually did when I needed saving from human pain.

But no, not here, not now.

Struggling to contain it, my hands balled into fists, my claws instantly making incisions; I could hardly feel them.

All the while, Ember was whispering to me, attempting to console me. Thankfully, she must've guessed that what was happening to me was beyond anyone's reach so she didn't shout for help. No one was around anyway.

The pain seared again through my back, sending a fresh wave of agony.

My body was almost out of my control, the wolf begging me to let it loose. Like a puppet on strings, my body was no longer under my own bidding — so when the puppet master viciously yanked the strings once more, my blazer tore in two.

"We need to move you." Ember stifled a gasp and faltered, before telling me, "There's blood pouring down your back."

I froze. "What?"

"There's blood pouring down your back," she repeated. "I can see it through your shirt."

With all the willpower I could gather, I dragged myself to standing. Ember looped my arm over her shoulders and guided me around to the back of the IT block, seating me gently on the floor.

I groaned slightly, but the pain was finally leaving my body. Icy sweat covered my face and torso — that pain was unlike anything that I had ever experienced, and that was saying something.

Noticing I had started to recover, Ember asked, "What was that?"

"I have no idea." I shook my head, before joking, "Maybe it was that much worse fate you said I deserve."

Her jaw dropped. "I didn't—"

"No, it's okay. I was joking. I know you didn't mean anything like that to happen." Sighing, I pulled both halves of my blazer off my arms and my tie from around my neck. That blazer wasn't cheap, and I wasn't looking forwards to explaining to Neal and Lis why it'd been shredded already.

Hesitantly, Ember asked, "Do you want me to look at your back?"

Had my body not been aching, I would've made an 'are you asking me to undress?' joke but it wasn't the right time. I'll save that for later.

"Sure." I shrugged and began to unbutton my shirt.

Modestly, Ember blushed and turned around. She rummaged through her bag until she pulled out a first aid kit.

"Seems like a handy thing to carry around," I stated as I eased my shirt off my sore shoulders.

Ember, forgetting I was undressing, turned around to answer me. "Well, I— Oh!" Her blush deepened. "Sorry, erm, I—"

"Hey, no, it's fine," I told her. The inside back of my shirt was covered in blood.

"Erm, if you turn around, I'll look at it for you," she offered.

I turned around, using the wall to stand as I did. My fingers found slight grooves in the coarse brick wall and dug in as I tried to steady my breathing. There was still a chance that I might've lost control.

She hissed an intake of breath.

"What is it?" I snapped, "What's wrong?"

"There—" Her words failed her and she had to gulp a few times to regain her thoughts. "There's blood all over your back..."

"What? How?"

"I — I don't know..." Ember's lack of responses was starting to piss me off. Then, she touched a part of my back, near the base of my neck and agony tore a fresh new path through me.

Leaning against the wall, I gritted my teeth and took breaths as deep as I could handle. My lungs felt restricted and my throat threatened to close up.

"Where the hell has the blood come from?" I managed to spit out at her.

"You've got this sort of... tattoo? At the base of your neck?" She said as she dragged a wipe across the blood.

"Yeah, I know... And?"

"The blood seems to be coming from there."

"Shit. For real?"

"Yeah, for real. What do you want me to do about it?" She asked, continuing to wipe the blood off my back.

"Well, can you like check if it's cut or something?" Then something else hit me — "If it's not already begun to heal then it's much more serious than just a cut..."

"Like what?" Ember asked as her fingers pressed against my Omega symbol. I winced as one of her nails ever so slightly nicked the sore edge.

"Like something darker."

"Oh."

A few more minutes of her heated fingers against my skin and my tattoo was bandaged.

I picked my shirt off the ground and turned to face her, "Thanks, by the way."

"Sure," she said, packing her first aid kit back into her bag. On looking up at me, her jaw dropped as her eyes traced up my body to my face — locking onto my eyes before glancing away.

I pretended not to notice and resumed buttoning my shirt up.

The wind blew past Ember and towards me, meaning I got a full blast of her scent. She smelt hot, like she always did. Plus, there was a faint hint of some floral perfume and a couple of poignant emotions.

One was confusion, another embarrassment, and the other... The other was something she was experiencing that she couldn't explain to herself. I should've blocked it out, but curiosity got the better of me.

Standing against the wall, still buttoning my shirt and staring at her, I could've chosen not to, but it was impossibly tempting. I took another lungful of the air, hoping to determine that one inexplicable emotion that was coursing through her. It was too personal, I should've stopped. But I didn't.

That one inexplicable emotion was one of attraction.

At that moment, Ember, this fierce, fiery, beautiful and confusing girl was attracted to me.

The wind died away, and the moment was lost, scattered amongst the fallen leaves. Yet I grasped the inexplicable emotion as tight as I could and held onto it desperately with both hands. It was the strongest emotional connection I'd felt in a long while.

She cleared her throat and looked up at me with those rich, striking blue eyes. "We should get back to class."

I nodded but as she walked past me, I caught hold of her wrist. "But what if we just stayed out here?" I asked, pulled her a little closer and put on a cocky smile, "Maybe get to know each other better?"

"Listen, Theo." Ember eyed me despairingly. "I don't want to be just another one of those girls you string along and then ditch whenever you feel like it." She paused and took a deep breath. "We should probably keep our distance."

"See ya later then," I smirked and walked off in the opposite direction — the knowledge of her attraction bubbling through my veins.

I glanced back to see Ember leaning against the wall, her face tilted towards the sky and her hands clenched in fists. Her blazer was discarded, and her hair tied back. Beside her, there was some grass alight with dancing flames — a sure sign of her irrepressible and raging emotions.

If I didn't know what she was, I would've strongly recommended counselling.

She called out after me, "Hey Theo! Wait up!"

I span round to see her running towards me. She'd picked her blazer up off the ground and had it folded over her arm.

Furrowing my brow, I checked, "I thought you said you wanted some distance between us?"

"Yeah..." She sighed. "But I realised it was stupid."

"Why was it stupid?" I queried as we continued walking, playing devil's advocate. I already knew why it was stupid for her to wish us apart; I was simply too irresistible to her.

"Well, because..." She hesitated, and I waited for the words 'we could never stay apart for long' to fall out of her mouth. Instead, I got: "Because we need to at least try and protect each other."

"Oh." I cleared my throat. "Yeah... Sure, I guess."

Damn it, and I thought I'd managed to win her over. How could I possibly have thought that she would've been that easy? Or maybe she was playing a game with me... A trial of some sort. Maybe she was into me but refused to admit it to herself, maybe she—

"What are you thinking in that head of yours?" Ember asked, halting my thoughts like the commander of an army.

"Oh. Uh. Not much."

"Oh, come on. You must have been thinking about something with your face all screwed up like it was."

"I— Erm. It doesn't matter. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Okay," she said, "And now, moving on from that awkward conversation... What did you mean when you said that it could've been something darker that wouldn't let you heal?"

Oh, thank God. An easy topic.

"Well, I'm guessing you've heard of aconite or wolfsbane?" I glanced across at her.

"Yeah. Doesn't it, like, keep werewolves away?"

"Kind of. Humans have been mixing remedies and searching for plants for centuries to try and keep us away. Yet not all of the variants of wolfsbane have the intended effect," I explained, "Like, if my Omega tattoo was laced with wolfsbane then it would prevent me from healing."

"Oh. What's an Omega tattoo?" She asked, shooting me a sideways glance and arching a brow.

"Again, I'd rather not talk about it."

"You'd rather not talk about anything, would you?" She huffed.

"Not really. Never been good with words."

"The strong and silent type, huh?" Ember smiled slightly.

"Something like that," I replied, smiling slightly as well.

We continued walking. "Where are we walking?" I asked.

"Wherever you want." She shrugged. "Within reason, of course."

We continued walking in silence for a few minutes. I got the feeling she wasn't talking because I wouldn't talk about anything.

"Ember, stop a second." I broke the silence.

She turned to face me, "What's up?"

"Nothing, it's fine," I decided against saying anything and set off again.

"No, tell me." Ember rolled her eyes, "I know next to nothing about you and every time you're about to say something you decide against it. It's extremely frustrating."

Stopping in my tracks, I turned back to her. Just the sight of her resulted in me having an overwhelming urge to reach out and touch her.

So, I did.

I took her hand in mine and linked our fingers together.

"I'm sorry for being so annoying." I apologised. "I've just... been through a lot by myself recently. I guess I'm used to figuring things out alone at this point."

I don't know how to let people help me, I wanted to tell her, but couldn't bring myself to admit it outright.

"It's okay," she said and squeezed my hand. As she did so, it felt like I was electrified, a jolt of energy bolted through my veins — it hadn't been the first time that we'd touched and that had happened.

"What was that?" Ember questioned, pulling away; she must've felt it too.

"An electric shock, I guess?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it's just any electric shock... It's happened nearly every time we've touched."

"And? Maybe it just shows how attracted to me you are." I smirked.

She cleared her throat, and a pink blush entered her cheeks. "Yeah, whatever." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously though, what is it?"

"I kinda wanna say it's something supernatural... Because let's be honest, most of the stuff that happens to the both of us is anything but ordinary."

It was her turn to shrug. "I don't know. It could just be explained by physics."

"Or maybe chemistry," I suggested with a slight smirk.

"Oh, shut up," she chuckled, "I bet you try this crap on every girl, right?"

"Not every girl..." I said, trailing off as I began to think about Jade.

Thankfully sensing the change in mood, Ember swiftly changed the subject: "Do you think we should get back to class now?"

"I guess so. What lesson do we have?"

"Maths, I think."

"On second thoughts." I scrunched up my nose. "Let's just skip it."

"Aw, why? Is Maths not your absolute favourite lesson?" She began to poke fun at me.

All I had to was roll my eyes at her to feign annoyance and she dropped it.

"C'mon, let's walk this way," she pulled me along and headed towards school, away from the playing fields. "Do you think you'll try any sports here? Or will you have too many issues with 'commitment'?"

"Oh, so you've never had to quit something 'cos of... what you are?" I raised my eyebrows as we continued walking.

"Well, I have... But that's not the point." Ember shook her head.

"What is the point then?" I asked. "Go on, enlighten me."

"I would've thought that something like sports would help you to let off some steam and—"

I cut her off, "And maintain my 'physique', right?"

"Ugh," she groaned. "You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

"Nope. You'll just have to learn that I'm only messing with you." I laughed as she shook her head frustratedly.

The truth was that it was light flirting, not just messing around. Though I wasn't even ready to admit that to myself — let alone her.

"Here we are," she announced all too soon. I was growing so comfortable with her that I could've continued aimlessly walking around school for hours.

"Where's here?" I asked, oblivious to my surroundings. It felt like it'd take an eternity for me to get used to Challis High's layout, even though I wasn't considering staying there longer than I had to.

"At your Maths class. Did you not go to Maths on Friday?"

"Erm, I had... things going on." I omitted the truth.

"Care to share what exactly?" She glared at me.

"No, not really."

I spent the whole hour running around the track, burning off excess energy — induced by the full moon. But she didn't need to know that; she'd only wonder about what I did during the night. And she didn't need to think about that either.

"Okay, then."

My maths teacher opened the door, "Is there a reason you two are just standing in the corridor having a chat?"

"This is Theo," Ember said and pushed me a little bit forward. "I was just helping him get here."

"Oh, that's fine," he nodded and the scrunched-up muscles in his face relaxed. "I'm Mr Craddock, Theo. Welcome to our Maths class! As I'm sure you're aware, this is top-set Maths, so you must've earnt your place if you're here. Welcome, welcome," he announced like I was joining some sort of cult.

Ember left, and I was guided into the room. After scanning the room, I recognised Eric.

Maybe this is a cult.

The reason that I excelled at Maths was because Jade was a great tutor. After — whatever happened, had happened, the Agency tested me on everything to make sure they could send 'viable' results to Challis High. For some reason, they didn't trust the scores that my previous school had awarded me. They might've thought, ah yes, he's been living in the wild and then going to school every day, or most likely not, so we've got to run through everything with him again. I was one of the smartest out of my pack, not that they even cared to ask.

"Now, where shall we sit you, Theo?" Craddock began.

Oh God, not this again, I thought. It was awkward enough in homeroom.

I ended up sitting next to Eric — who wasn't particularly happy about our new predicament either. To say he disliked me would be an understatement; the kid despised me. Part of me couldn't help but wonder if the reason why he hated me so much was that he was trying to win back Ember.

Not that I could see that ever happening.

It turned out that I'd already learnt everything being covered in the lesson; redoing a year had some benefits. Eric had also learnt it; most likely because he considered Maths to be 'fun' and it was his biggest hobby or something.

Unfortunately, that meant that instead of working through a new topic on my own, I was forced to work and, therefore co-operate, with Eric. I soon learnt that 'co-operate' and 'Eric' didn't belong in the same sentence or even the same breath of air.

The lesson was supposed to last an hour, but by the time I got there, there was only half an hour left, thankfully. I was already dreading the next Maths lesson where I would have to spend a full hour with Eric. The thought of it made me groan inwardly.

If my eyeballs didn't fall out from boredom next Maths lesson, it would be a miracle.