"She is crazy. Cassandra Everton is crazy," Andrew's voice woke me with the next morning. My eyes were stinging and my mind was clear from everything for just a moment before my thoughts clouded with the thought of Ryder. But for now, all I knew was that Andrew entered my room and paced its length before sitting at the window seat. I sat up and ran a hand through my hair before wiping my eyes, constantly. Did I even want to know what he was talking about now to ruin my day before it began? "Aside from giving me her credit card to actually go buy shit for myself since I don't really have much, she said 'maybe you should go get your father's will so you can do what you want with your own money.'"

"Okay...and...?"

"Then I told her I didn't know where it was after looking this long and guess what?"

"What, Andrew?" I sang to please him. I swung my legs over to the side of the bed since apparently I wouldn't get to sleep any longer.

"She thinks she knows where it is," he finished and I paused. I even narrowed my eyes.

"Cassandra knows where it is?" I questioned. I doubted someone with little contact with our small family knew where something was. It wasn't even the fact that I cared she had possession over the will's contents. It was just another connection to Dad and the werewolf family everyone neglected to tell me about. It made me wonder, though, why she never mentioned it to me.

"Yeah, a place she always saw her parents hide stuff when they were younger. She gave me specific directions, actually," he said. "But I'm done dealing with it. You can go."

"Me?"

"Yeah you," he said, starting to leave the room. I walked after him and he approached the other door upstairs that I hadn't opened. "I have shopping to do." He grabbed the knob and twisted to reveal it was locked. I don't think I ever realized it was locked. "What the hell is in here?"

"I don't know; storage," I sighed. "Just...text me the ever so important directions and I'll stop by the house, I guess since you're going shopping."

"Text you with...what phone, exactly?" he questioned.

"The one that you're going to buy before anything else," I decided, turning my shoulders. I planned to go back into my room and sleep a little more before any of this.

"And how am I going to get to any place I would actually shop at?" he asked and then I immediately knew what he meant and sighed, stressfully. And reluctantly, I scrunched my face and said: "Fine."

"Yes!"

He reached over to the coffee table—where I left the Mustang's keys—and I reached them at the same time. Our eyes locked.

"Do not in any way mutilate this car," I growled, not possessive over the car, but the fact that it was a gift from Ryder...a gift that needed to be in good shape in order for him to return it.

"Okay, I'll totally take that advice from someone who destroyed my car," he scoffed before pulling the keys away entirely. I glared for a moment before he started to depart. "Go take a nap, check the house and I'll be back later."

"Don't forget to text me!" I called after him while he hummed back as a response and trotted down the stairs.

***

When I got to the Obsidian house (on a run, since Andrew had the car) I felt more of a pull to it than just to find the will. The instructions were relatively simple, though. I needed to go upstairs into the room that used to be my grandparents'. In the large closet, I would need to use two indents in the flooring to start and end the construction of the Obsidian sign that was apparently the odd looking "O" I had painted on my wall. In the direct center would be the beginning of the board that needed to be pulled up and then there would lay the treasure. I didn't feel like it was difficult, but something was strange about entering the house. Instead of feeling my senses go on guard about whatever loomed in the air, my body actually relaxed. So I did the task slowly and as quietly as possible as I could after hearing a few creeks in the boards. I pulled up the old wood and there was a metal box coated in dirt atop its metal exterior. Immediately, I reached for it with the intent to open the lid and though it was possible, one touch of the box seemed to burn my skin and make me cry out in pain. At that moment, not only did the animal inside of me wake up and howl of discomfort, but I heard something drop in another room. Luckily, there was a useful tool in the box for intruders.

I was hesitant to go near the box once more, but I swiftly picked up both items. One was a metal key that had just begun to start rusting near the chambers, while the handle was encrusted with a glittering black gem. The other item was more useful to me though. There was a purely silver blade about the length of my forearm so shiny it seemed to glow. The handle was silver as well, but where the sword met the hilt, there was a stone mimicking the key's accent of the Obsidian O. I put it in my hand to experience its weight and prepared myself for whatever needed—especially after hearing another creak that came from a step.

For some reason, I recovered my fear with bravery and left my grandparents' room without sign of the will. I took slow steps to make as little noise as possible, but I figured that whoever or whatever was in here, would already know I was here. There was another squeak and I thought I heard a breath being quickly taken in. Due to my heightened senses, I knew which direction it came from and started to walk that direction.

I raised the blade to a strong embrace just before I entered the room and then took a deep breath. When I stepped through the room, I did it with swiftness and force behind any necessary blade movements. However, when I pulled my arm back to the right to make contact with an intruder, my arm was caught and maneuvered in a way to where we ended with me pressed against the wall while we both held the blade at my trachea. I, for one, was out of breath and even though the intruder wasn't, he let out one huge breath and once he saw who I was, his grip loosened while at the same time taking a small step back and pointing the blade right at his chest, over his heart. The sight of him doing that just about killed me.

"Ashlynn, I'm sorry," Ryder choked. "I—I don't know what I was...it wasn't—"

His face was full of distress and I was still somewhat paralyzed. All I needed was for him to move the blade just a centimeter more into his chest before I threw it out of his hand and took him into a hug immediately. He squeezed back over my shoulders and I took a deep breath.

You're okay, I was trying to soothe him whilst my eyes closed and I was feeling my heart rate slow down. A moment later, my phone was buzzing. We pulled away from him and I took a step back in order to check my phone. As I replied to Andrew's question about finding it, I saw Ryder slowly bending down to pick up the knife. I realized that in all of this, I hadn't found a will at all, but the key was still firmly held in my left hand. I sighed. Suddenly, Ryder was taking the key forcefully from me. I looked up at him and his regret was turned into bewilderment or maybe aggression.

"Why do you have these?" he asked as if I wasn't allowed to even touch the air looms.

"What—" I began to ask and then he pulled an identical key out of his pocket. I took them both to closer examine them and they were exactly alike. My eyes looked up to meet his, but he was looking down, now studying the blade without moving it. "Ryder..."

"Do you know what this is?" he muttered, lifting the silver weapon.

"Yeah, it's a blade, but—"

"No!" he yelled and then he grabbed my waist and wedged me between him and the wall threateningly. "Do you know what this is?" he was asking me as if it was a relic that was lost for years. I searched his eyes over fear thinking he was angry at me for uncovering something that I didn't originally come here for. And when he realized that I was frightened of him, he put the blade back into my hand and stepped away from me, shaking his head. I let go of a breath and then he covered his face as he was taking deep breaths. Then, his hands dropped and the room was silent. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "You don't know what this is...shit."

The connection I had with him urged me to stay quiet and wait for him to say whatever he needed when he was ready to, so that's what I did. Not too long after, he took two large steps to meet me and then wrapped his hands around one of mine that held the dagger. Now closer, he looked down at me with beautiful brown eyes and held the dagger, blade down, equally between us.

"This is a purely silver dagger," he whispered. "It's charmed and it's specialized for one purpose."

I frowned.

"It's meant to kill werewolves outside of the Everton family," he suddenly notified. Suddenly, I was seeing the pair of red eyes I had seen the first time Ryder had taken me in an embrace. Only this time, they were in Ryder's irises. Scarlet seeped into his chocolate orbs as if the eye was soaking up a drop of spilt paint. It startled me and I tried to take a step back or remove my hands from the blade, but a wall and his hands prevented me. My heart was beating rapidly. "Werewolves, like me."