Alex grinned as he caught my wrist for the third time in a row and twisted it backward so I was forced to turn or break my arm. When he released me, it was my turn to defend again. I repeated the action at a faster pace, all the better to imitate actual combat.

We had spent the last few weeks watching every movie involving badass fighting that we could find, then learning the easier moves in my back garden. Hopefully, it would give me a slight edge against the other candidates, who were likely to be twice my size with ten times the muscle.

We'd been at this particular move for over an hour now, in an already doomed attempt to hone some base fighting techniques before we went to train at Evarlin Fortress next week. Being able to complete this particular move might not be a talent that the Moon Guard valued all that highly, but at least it would accomplish a little more than sitting around in my room watching Netflix.

I decided to surprise Alex with a counter-attack to test if he had really got the hang of it. My hand shot out at the rate that a real punch would come. His wild attempt to block it missed completely, and my fist collided hard with his gut. I had to stifle my grin. Idiot.

Alex casually sat down on the grass and stretched out. I walked over resignedly to check on him, rubbing my sore knuckles. "Let's see, then."

He lifted his shirt to show reddened skin. I hadn't hit him that hard. At least, I hadn't tried to. A shifter's strength is unpredictable at the best of times. "You'll live," I decided with a shrug.

"What, no apology?" Alex asked with a cheeky smirk.

"I won't apologise for my superior talent, or for your lack of it," I teased.

He prodded me in the side, extracting an automatic giggle. "Well, don't get too high and mighty. If your head gets any bigger, you won't be to fit through the doorways at Evarlin."

My best friend and I had spent the last three years of our lives winding each other up and bickering like this, ever since that fateful day of the careers quiz. We had both shown an aptitude for the Moon Guard as our future career, which was essentially the werewolf police, armed forces and royal guard all in one.

"Alex, Savannah," my mother called from the doorway to the kitchen. She was wearing her baking apron, and that could only mean one thing. Food.

"Mum, it's Sav. Just Sav," I complained as I picked myself up off the floor.

"Really? Because I'm the one who named you and I happen to know differently." Mum produced a tray of cookies, hot out of the oven. "Who's hungry?"

Dad wouldn't be home from work for hours, and that left only the three of us in the house. Only three of us to share all those cookies. I kept quiet as I filed into the kitchen to claim my share of the food. Alex scoffed several at once, stuffing them into his mouth like he hadn't eaten for a week.

As I licked cookie crumbs off my fingers, it occurred to me for the first time that the food was unlikely to be for free. Mum never made me cookies unless she wanted something, and it wasn't long before I found out the cost of my snack.

"If you kids have finished stuffing your faces, I have a long list of chores I could use a hand with," Mum suggested casually.

"You know what? I think I should actually get on with some homework." I made a quick attempt to escape the room, but mum seized my arm and stopped me in my tracks. Alex suddenly seemed very busy stacking the plates, and he was grinning as he waited for the ensuing argument.

"I'm sorry, you must have misunderstood. I wasn't asking. And your reluctance to help just earned you the job of cleaning out the fire grates."

Ah, yes. The filthiest, most time-consuming job ever invented. At least, that's how it sounded. But I supposed it could have been worse. One time, she had made me scrub the oven, and I'd never forgotten it.

"But, Mum," I whined. "I've got a test on Monday and it's kinda important."

"Obviously not that important, seeing as you wasted an entire day of revision wrestling in the mud. Get on with it, Savannah." Mum gave me a firm push towards the living room.

I opened my mouth to correct her and closed it just as fast. She was giving me the stern-mother look that made me want to run off with my tail between my legs. As I walked out of the kitchen resignedly, I used my wolf's enhanced hearing to listen in on the conversation behind me.

"I don't suppose you'd mind helping me wash up, would you, Alex?"

"Of course not, Mrs Fairborne."

I snorted. He would obviously get the easy job. At least we were past the guest stage, otherwise he might not have had to work at all. My mother thought of him as the son she never had, after all the weekends and evenings he had spent at my house. He slept here as often as he did at his own home, used our shower every few days, and kept half of his school books here.

The living room was pretty average really. Neutral colours of paint, a pair of burgundy sofas and a flat screen TV with matching consoles. The laminate floor was covered by a wide, pale rug patterned with leaves. Our house was open-plan and spacious enough for six people, let alone three. Then again, it had been bought for a bigger family. My parents would have had several more kids if it wasn't for what happened to Seb.

I crouched down in front of the fireplace and picked up the weird brush from the fire tools. Was this for cleaning grates? It was worth a try, I supposed. What even was the grate? I made a half-hearted attempt to brush the inside, and emptied the ash tray. Even just from doing that, my hands were stained grey with ash and even my clothes were covered it. Urgh, now I would need a bath.

A loud creaking made me drop the brush in favour of the slightly more substantial fire poker. I stood up slowly, looking around the room in the fading light. My heart was beating at twice its usual rate. "Hello?"

The Adele song chose the worst time to start playing in my head.

In the next room I could hear Alex chatting jovially with my mum while they washed up, but the noise had definitely come from the other direction. I directed my stare to the window and used my wolf scent. There was definitely someone I hadn't met before in the vicinity, and those two pinpricks of reflected light in the shadows could be eyes.

The fire poker was shaking in my hands. My solution was to lift it slightly higher and tighten my grip. My wolf started laughing at me for the fear. You wanted adventure, didn't you? Here's your chance. The axe-murderer in your garden should provide some variety from everyday life.

It's not an axe murderer, I told her. Probably just a stray cat. Right, we were going with stray cat.

Then why do I smell blood? My wolf just didn't want to shut up. Stupid voice in my head, trying to tell me what to do. She was supposed to help me, not wind me up. It had to be an animal anyway. Human eyes didn't reflect light and seeing as the moon wasn't up, no werewolf could have shifted yet.

"Thinking of becoming a chimney sweep?" Alex spoke suddenly from behind me, making me jump half out of my skin. I swore at him.

"That's not very nice," he complained. "I was actually coming to see if you needed any help."

"Yeah right," I snorted. My wolf had retreated to a quiet corner of my mind. She got bored easily when there wasn't any danger of physical harm and usually stopped helping me. Stupid, stupid wolf.

I stole a glance out of the window, but the two dots of light were gone. Maybe I had just been imagining it. It wasn't unlike me. There was a time not so long ago when I ate too many sweets before bed and was convinced that there was someone trying to climb into my room. My parents had been woken up when I started screaming bloody murder ... and they had explained to me that the noise had just been tree branches hitting the window.

Even so, afterwards I hadn't been convinced. The tree was pretty far away from the house, far enough away to make me sleep with a kitchen knife hidden under my pillow for the next week. In fact, it had been the first in a series of weird events. A month ago I had seen a black SUV following me home from school and parked conspicuously in front of my house. Only a few days later, I had found muddy footprints in my room.

And then there was today, the weird eyes in the bushes and a smell of blood. I wouldn't tell Alex, he would probably just tell me it was all in my head, the same as my parents. Instead, I threw down the fire poker and gestured to the fireplace.

"Does the grate look clean to you?" I asked sheepishly.

"That depends — which part is the grate?" Alex asked with a frown. Terrific. Of course my friend would be as clueless as I was. He knelt down on the surrounding stone and started fiddling with door handle.

"My best guess is that bit—" I broke off suddenly as a crack came from the fireplace.

Alex was holding a piece of metal in his hand and looking embarrassed. "Is this supposed to come off?"

I sighed. "Probably not."

Alex had a talent for breaking everything he touched. If he touched a piece of string, it would get tangled. If he picked up a plate, it would get dropped. And god forbid you let him near a slinky...

My mother chose that inopportune time to walk in. Knowing Alex, he'd find a way to pin the broken log burner on me, so I spoke as quickly as I could. "It was him."

"What?" Alex drew out the word as if he was shocked. "I just walked in and saw Sav had broken it. I was trying to fix it, but I think we'll need superglue."

You knew you had a friend for life when they tried to get you grounded for something they did. Well, screw you, Alex, I thought to myself. Bring it on.

"I had finished cleaning the grate," I said smugly. "Alex was fiddling with it, you know how he always breaks things. Just think of the window he smashed last week..."

Mum was not amused by either of our excuses. She seized the piece of metal out of Alex's hand and slotted it back into place with astonishing ease. Okay, so maybe it hadn't been broken. "Frankly, I don't care who broke it. Savannah, go and do that homework you were talking about. Alex, you'd best get home."

"Yes, Mrs Fairborne," Alex agreed. He shrugged his jacket onto his shoulders and turned to go unceremoniously. "Later, Sav."

In reply I glared at his back, fighting the smile creeping onto my face. Our constant arguments were all in good nature, of course. We were just the type of friends who showed their affection through insults and teasing.

Once Alex had left, the house went strangely quiet. I made my way upstairs to find my school books, only to realise that I hadn't written down the homework. It could wait, I decided. Instead, I flopped down on my bed and opened a bedside drawer.

The stash of chocolate, carefully hidden in a locked box, was nearly depleted. It might only last another day or so. But at the moment I could care less. A few pieces of Cadbury later and I was in heaven. Whoever invented chocolate deserved a Nobel Prize at the least.

I must have dozed off on the bed, because the next thing I knew I was waking up to a smashing sound like glass breaking. The sun had set, and my room was almost pitch black. A few faint tendrils of moonlight drifted in through my windows. How long had I been asleep, exactly?

I crawled out of the warm bed with obvious reluctance. I froze as footsteps echoed from beneath my feet. Somebody was downstairs. Whether it was my parents or someone else entirely, I didn't know. My breathing was faster than before, and I could feel a tightening in my chest. Fear.

"Mum? Dad?" I called quietly. There was no reply.

My wolf was making a rare appearance. Apparently someone breaking into our house sparked her interest. Let's go kick some intruder ass. She was certainly more excited about the prospect than I was. I knew I couldn't exactly call the police, especially if it was a shifter. The Moon Guard had some kind of phone number for emergencies, but some overwhelming instinct told me not to call them.

This was my adventure. And if it went wrong...well then I'd be too dead to care.

I crept downstairs slowly, heading straight for the kitchen. I could have shifted if I had wanted — the moon was bright in the sky. But if it was my parents, I thought that being in wolf form was a slight overreaction. I also didn't want my wolf in control of my body. My first stop was the cutlery drawer, to pick up the largest, sharpest kitchen knife I could find.

Once that was safely in my hand, I flicked on the lights. It didn't take long to realise where the smashing sound had come from. The floor was littered with broken glass: someone had knocked out a pane of the back door and reached through to open the handle. On the floor were several smudged and bloody footprints, leading to the living room.

Shit.

Was I dreaming? I was probably dreaming. Having someone break in to your house was one of those things that happens to other people. But my wolf was fighting to take control of my body, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins left no doubt that I awake.

I padded lightly in the direction of the footprints. They changed several times from human bare feet to the paws of a large animal, as if the creature they belonged to wasn't in control of their shift. The blood has the same scent as earlier, my wolf noted. Oh great, the intruder was the axe murderer from my back garden.

When I reached the living room, I nearly screamed aloud. A huge dark shape was sprawled on the floor, surrounded by a growing pool of blood. But what really scared me was that the shape was feline. And no, it was not a mountain lion.

There was a fricking Shadowcat in my living room.