I felt the blood drain from my face. I detected no lie in his words, and as he guided me to the corner lounge by the fireplace, it felt as if I wasn't even in my body at all.

I couldn't even muster a word to fully encompass the gravity of what I was experiencing. There I was, presumably in Phelan's home, a werewolf I hadn't known existed a few days ago, with his four legged sister at my side and her partner stuffing his face with cookies as he stoked the fire.

I don't remember how I sat down. I just remembered the note; you will find the answers when you get to Haven.

Except this place didn't seem like a Haven. It seemed like the setting for a horror movie.

"Breathe Edie."

I felt the circles he was rubbing on my back, and as I stared off into space I couldn't help but allow myself to be soothed by his touch. I felt like I was betraying myself, my morals. He was a killer. But it was to protect me, no?

Sophia must have shifted back as we walked to the living area, I didn't even pay attention, but when she came to sit on the other side of me with two legs instead of four, I didn't even bat an eye. It really was, the least of my concerns.

"Ask whatever you need to Edie." Phelan's voice near my ear was smooth, his patience and presence a comfort despite the strangeness of it all.

My words came out softly and slowly. "So, you're all werewolves in Haven. It is your pack, correct?"

He continued rubbing my back. "Yes. That's right, I am the Alpha of our pack. Haven has been our territory for many generations."

"There's some truths in the legends then? An Alpha... whose your Beta?"

Gunner piped up, "that would be me, I help run this place when things turn to shit."

I looked to Gunner and then back to Phelan. "And this situation... The Guild... would be an example of things turning to shit as you so put it?"

The room fell silent. I watched as Sophia bit her lip in the corner of my vision.

"The Guild is a long standing and traditional council of our kind. They claim their role is to protect our kind from being discovered by humans..."

Sophia interjected Phelan's explanation, "and... they have strong core beliefs about protecting the supposed strength of the bloodline. Although, we've long believed their motives are in stark contrast to what they claim."

I shook my head, nothing made sense. "Wh- what do you mean, strength of their bloodline?"

Clearing his throat, Phelan continued. "It means, twenty four years ago, they caught wind of the birth of a baby. Half wolf- her mother, and half human- her father. Never. Never had such a possibility been considered more than folklore. So, instead of raising the child here, the mother... your mother, sent you away to live as a human child to hide you from The Guild."

I buried my head in my hands.

Gunner's timing was questionable, his attempts to lighten the situation admirable, but missing the mark entirely. "Puts your human soap operas to shame doesn't it?!"

My voice was muffled, strained. "So, you're... you're saying that I'm some sort of hybrid wolf slash human?"

"Yep! The first and only in history. Pretty cool huh!"

I saw Phelan shoot Gunner a look of incredulity, as if telling him to shut the fuck up.

Sophia lent forward, her hand outstretched as if trying to keep the conversation as calm as possible. "What he means Edie, is that, as a hybrid wolf, the only hybrid wolf, The Guild consider you a mutation of our gene that needs to be ended, before it continues and exposes us all."

My body entered fight or flight. Standing, I turned to face them the three of them as if pleading to defend myself to a jury.

"What! I won't say anything I swear! Can't I just tell them that I'll keep their little werewolf society secret!? I just want my normal life back!"

"Edie. Listen to me. There was nothing normal about your life. You can't begin to know how far down the rabbit hole this goes."

Phelan was resolute. "We know it's a cover. A lie they are telling our kind. The truth is Edie... The truth is, we... I knew who you were and what you meant to us- to m-."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his
head as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"What do you mean it's a lie? What's the real reason they want me dead?"

Phelan put his hands in his pockets and pursed his lips, making it abundantly clear he wasn't going to give me the answers I needed.

"Oh I see. Just give me half truths and keep me in the dark. Story of my life."

I couldn't believe my own audacity. In what circumstances could I ever think it was remotely appropriate to sass back to a murderous werewolf? 

I looked to Sophia. Then to Gunner. And then to Phelan. It was as if they were having their own private conversation that I wasn't privy to.

I scoffed in frustration.

"You've been protected the entire time Edie. I worked closely with your Aunt, watching over you. I just wanted you to experience some normalcy before you were exposed to all of this."

Sophia interjected. "One of the laws of the The Guild is that no wolf can harm another being unless within territory borders. The Guild killed your parents here in Haven... You mother had sent you away only a few weeks earlier as the threat of harm became too much to risk. We helped your Aunt settle with you in a human city of her choosing that we knew The Guild had no jurisdiction over."

I felt Phelan's shoulders sag as he let out a breath. "I'm so sorry Edie. I only ever wanted you to have a normal life, not running from danger at every turn. I wanted you to find your own happiness, but I've failed."

I didn't even know what to say. What to think. So, I was half werewolf, half human. My life as I knew it was a lie.

"I guess it's good to finally know some simple truths... but what I really want to know, is if all bets are off in werewolf territories, aren't I safest if I go back home, where they aren't allowed to harm me?"

I watched his eyes swirl. Flecks of gold spinning like the Milky Way. "It's complicated, Edie. I think we've filled you in enough for now."

A loud huff in defeat was all I could muster. My temples were throbbing. My eyes were puffy. And I felt completely and utterly exhausted.

I didn't have any more questions. Maybe I was dreaming. Who even knew anymore. I just sat there, cradling a cushion and fiddling with the zipper as I stared off into space.

"Does anyone want the last cookie?"

Sophia was right beside me but sounded so far away. "Fucks sake Gunner! No! Just bloody well eat it!"

I thought back to the song that was playing on the radio as I drove into Haven for the first time. "Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? Oh-oh..."

I saw enough to believe what they were saying. My mind flashed back to my Aunt's notes. Her peculiar little talismans in my room. The emerald eyes that glowed in the distance outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night. Phelan's eyes. The late night meetings in the lounge room that she'd tell me were "Book Club" but with muscular men and women who greeted me with stuffed wolf toys on their visits. All seemed totally legit. Ten out of ten for effort Auntie. I smirked at the memories as they came flooding back.

Could I handle the seasons of my life? The answer was, I didn't know. I just didn't know if I could handle it at all. But all of that aside, knowing who was responsible for my parents death had me filled with one thought and one thought only; revenge and I was determined to stop at nothing to get it.