"Remind me again why I'm shivering out in the cold while everyone else is sleeping?" My question was rhetorical and not directed to anyone in particular. Talking to myself was a habit that I often fell into when I was alone.

"I don't know, Sav. Maybe you're just suicidal," I replied to myself, pacing around the trunk of the giant silver birch tree. It hadn't been hard to work out which one the note meant. The birch I was standing under towered over most of the forest and was at least a hundred years old.

As I was cold and tired, the reckless, sassier version of me was the one standing under the tree that night. Just like when I had first met Nate, oddly enough. Because that had ended so well...

A woman stepped out from the shadows. "Good evening."

I was starting to get used to that. It seemed to be the Shadowcats' favourite way of making an entrance. And there was no doubt that this woman was a Shadowcat — I recognised her as the last of the trio by her scent. Although she looked remarkably more placid than Brylan and Nate, there was a hard edge hidden underneath.

Her chosen attire was plain, practical clothes. Shoulder-length brown hair framed her sharp features. Her eyes were a lighter shade than Nate's, but they were still startlingly green. There was a look in them that made me feel like she would talk to me as easily as kill me.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Sav."

"I know who you are, Savannah," she replied harshly. "My name is Niamh, although I would thank you not to repeat it."

It took me a while to translate posh-speak into regular English. She was telling me that I shouldn't tell anyone I knew her, just like Nate had. Although we all knew how that had worked out.

"So, Niamh, can I help you?" I made sure to keep my tone even and my eyes downcast, remembering what Kai had said about Shadowcats being obliged to start fights if you so much as looked at them wrong. Because let's be honest, my track record with their species wasn't great.

"No. But you can help Nathan, and I am here on his behalf." Niamh sounded like she was grinding her teeth. It must be so far beneath her to even speak to a lowly werewolf like me.

"Isn't Nate supposed to be the one helping me?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" She ran a thumb over the hilt of a gilded knife that hung from her belt. I would have felt threatened, but it felt like the action was subconscious. I realised she didn't know about the blood debt and decided to keep a lid on it.

"He owed me a favour, that's all. Why didn't he just come himself?" Kai wasn't the only one good at changing the subject. I drew my jacket closer around myself as a chilly wind blew in from the east.

"It was too dangerous. There are people watching him," Niamh said.

"Well, that's a load of bullshit. If Nate wants help so much, he can damn well ask me himself. Are you seriously telling me that someone would object to him taking a walk in the forest, or Goddess forbid, visiting the dorm?"

Especially when he owed me — that was the part I left out.

"Yes. It was all I could do to get out without being followed myself," she said. She had hardly reacted to my outburst at all. Good, at least one Shadowcat who wouldn't bite my head off every time I spoke my mind.

I rolled my eyes and let out a hefty sigh. "Fine. Tell me what he wants and I'll consider it."

"I do not understand the message, and you would be wise not to explain it to me," Niamh warned.

"Wasn't going to anyway," I muttered dryly.

"He needs to know what Sebastian discovered."

"Discovered? What do you mean?" My heart was in my throat. Seb was coming up more and more often, and I didn't understand why. What on earth could Nate possibly want with Seb?

"I have no more idea than you. Do you at least know who Sebastian is?" Niamh asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't want me to tell you."

Niamh smiled dangerously, "If you find the answer, place it under the roots of this tree at midnight. One of us will take it from there."

Then she was gone again, leaving me alone in the forest to ponder what Nate meant.

As far as I knew, Seb hadn't discovered anything at all. And it wasn't like I could ask him now. My parents might know, but without my mobile phone I couldn't talk to them. My mind wandered down the endless roads of possibility as I made my way back to the fortress.

I was far too awake to go back to bed after slipping past the guards and dodging the so-called-curfew. Instead, I took my usual seat on the balcony, hidden safely away in the shadows. It was out of the watchmen's line of sight and above the kitchen fireplace. My toes hung out in the crisp night air, just the same as yesterday.

"Do you have insomnia or something?" Kai, of course. Who else would be up at this hour?

"No," I laughed. "Do you?"

"Just couldn't sleep," he replied.

"I wanted some fresh air," I explained. They were both very flimsy excuses, but it was easier than facing up to why we were both really here. I was trying to deny that some part of me hoped he would turn up again.

He grinned at me. "Is that why you snuck out half an hour ago?"

"How did you—?"

"You're not all that sneaky," Kai said bluntly.

I harrumphed loudly. "I wanted a lot of fresh air."

"You don't have to tell me, y'know. It's a free country and all that," Kai told me.

"No, I don't have to tell you. But I want to. Friends don't keep secrets from each other." I was sort of assuming we were friends. Or I was hoping we were friends. At the very least, another part of my brain added. Shut up brain, not helpful.

I was also aware that I was being very hypocritical, given that I was keeping a plethora of secrets. Both Nate and Niamh didn't want me to tell anyone that I knew them. In the end, it just came down to whether I trusted Kai with someone else's life. How much did I really know about him? More than I knew about Nate and Niamh, that was for sure.

Something flickered in Kai's eyes. Was that sadness? Disappointment? I didn't have a clue. He agreed quietly, "Friends."

After that, we fell into a companionable silence. The strain of the last day was catching up to me, and I felt myself falling further asleep with every breath. I leant against him in my exhaustion, head resting against his shoulder as we watched the world go by. Finally, he eased himself off the ground and practically carried me back to the dorm.

"We're making a habit of this," I murmured drowsily as he supported my weight.

"I don't mind," he laughed.

The next thing I remember is waking up in my usual sleeping spot. Kai was sprawled out next to me, so close that we were almost touching. I could feel the warmth from his body. Becky sat against a wall, smirking at us with a satisfied expression. "Just friends, huh?"

I let out the quietest growl I could manage, rolled over and went straight back to sleep. At least, I tried to — it wasn't easy when I could feel her smug gaze on my back. I managed to snatch another half an hour of sleep before we were shaken out of bed for training. With two hours until sunrise, we would train in wolf form for the second time.

The lack of beds was starting to wear me down. My muscles screamed a thousand complaints with every movement. Maybe there was something to be done about it. Just because they didn't provide beds didn't mean we couldn't make our own, right? Even a pile of heather would be more comfortable than stone.

"Did you know that Spartan boys had to build their own beds out of rushes?" I asked Kai as we fell into line.

"I did," he replied sleepily. "Did you know that the Moon Guard's training regime is loosely based off Spartan methods?"

"Woah," I muttered. "Must be why it's so painful."

"Come on, guys. It's far too early in the morning for facts," Alex complained.

"But not too early to try and rip each other's throats out apparently," Becky added as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

We went into the special changing rooms to shift. They had separate chambers for boys and girls. And although that helped with privacy, it successfully stripped me of three quarters of my friends. It also gave Olivia the perfect opportunity to pick on me. I wasn't sure what I had done to earn her enmity, but I had a sneaking suspicion it involved Kai.

She knocked into me deliberately as I took off my shoes. My head smashed into the very solid bench. My vision blurred and my skull rang, but I pushed myself up into a sitting position, determined not to let her know she had hurt me.

"Oh, sorry! Are you okay?" Olivia asked with a smirk.

"No harm done," I said as calmly as I could.

Becky turned around sharply. She had missed the action. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Olivia said.

My friend spotted something which made her scowl. "You're bleeding. Did she do something?"

"I slipped. Completely my fault," I assured her. Olivia wanted a reaction from me, and I wasn't going to let her have one. My hand wiped the tiny smear of blood from my temple.

"Alright..." Becky didn't look too convinced, but we were outnumbered by far. Olivia had all of the Davengard girls backing her up, and neither of us were all that friendly with our own house members.

When I shifted, I was pleased to notice that my wolf had an inch on Olivia's. Although in reality, it was unlikely to make a difference in a fight. I supposed I was just too used to being shorter than everyone else.

"Today we're going to try a mock takedown, which is something you'll be doing very regularly out on patrol. I want one group of five and two groups of six," The instructor told us when we entered the courtyard.

The other candidates shuffled into two groups, sticking in their respective houses as much as physically possible. Kai, Ben, Alex, Becky and I formed the only completely mixed group. A Davengard, a Lindwell, a Westford, a Lochwood and a Fairborne working together. Our wolves greeted each other with wagging tails and playful nudging.

"This is very simple. Some of last year's recruits are going to act as miscreants. The aim is to work in your groups to bring down three targets with minimal harm to yourselves and them. You have one hour." The instructor motioned towards a group of older and grinning wolves who were standing by the gate. They took off at a run, heading for the forest and splitting up.

Kai gave us a lazy nod of his head. The five of us followed at a slightly more leisurely pace than the 'miscreants.' Alex kept his nose to the ground to follow the trail, although it was hardly necessary. I could still see two of them.

"What chance do we stand against fully trained members of the Moon Guard?" I asked through the mind-link. For all our talents, we were just a bunch of teenagers.

"It'll be five against one," Kai pointed out. "But how do we get them down without hurting them? Numbers are hardly an advantage when we can't attack."

"I have an idea," I said through the link, even as one started to take form in my head. We couldn't set traps while we were in wolf form, but we could do a lot better. "Where's the nearest river?"

Kai faltered in his running as he looked back at me, a wolfy grin spreading across his face. "I like this plan already. Our target is running straight towards one."

As we hit the gas in an attempt to reach the river before the 'target', Kai reeled off orders through the link. Three of us would circle around, similar to when we had hunted the deer. Once again I was chosen to go left. I forded the river at a narrow gully upstream and ended up on the far bank near Ben and Becky. Kai and Alex continued in the direction we were going to block escape from that direction.

If everything went to plan, the 'target' would be caught in the middle of the river between us and completely at our mercy. And if there's one thing wolves really hated, it was swimming.

It didn't take long to spot the grey wolf as she paddled through the rapids. I crouched low under the cover of a bush, waiting for Kai's signal. The further across she got, the better. Finally, a hurried 'Go' through the mind-link told me to stand up and bound to the bank.

The she-wolf looked up sharply and growled at the three wolves blocking her path. She twisted in the current, trying to get back to the opposite side, where Alex was standing alone. A mess of gangly limbs and teenage awkwardness. It looked like her only possible escape route. Just one clumsy wolf to fight, or so she thought.

It was her second strenuous swim across the rushing water. And even now I noticed the wolf beginning to slow. The cold water was getting to her. Good. It was nothing personal, of course. I was just really competitive.

I snapped my teeth and growled aggressively, while Ben and Becky did the same beside me. We howled and snarled, making as much noise as physically possible to hide the splash that sounded as Kai jumped into the river a little further upstream.

Alex did his job as well, biting at the she-wolf's muzzle every time she got near the bank and darting back before she got a chance to retaliate. With the advantage of high ground and dry fur, even one inexperienced wolf could hold off a trained killer.

Between the four of us, we had the she-wolf so well distracted that she didn't see Kai until he slammed into her shoulder, sending her under the water. Ben flicked his tail at me, telling me to go help. While I was hardly the most qualified for this, my excitement overruled judgement as I leapt into the water. My body felt as though I was swimming in ice. It was all I could do splash over to where Kai and our 'target' wrestled. My friend was getting a distinct advantage. He hadn't been in the water as long, and the current was with him. The she-wolf was fighting the river itself every time she moved towards him.

Letting the current take over, I directed my full body weight to her right side. In a confusion of snapping teeth and rushing water, her body swung around from the impact. Kai took advantage of the opening to seize her scruff and drag her towards the bank. I helped push the wolf onto the dry sand.

Kai tightened his grip on her fur, letting out a warning growl. If she moved, he could end her life with the slightest amount of pressure. Realising she was beaten, our 'target' gave a low whine. She had submitted without anyone drawing blood. One down, two to go.