The senior camping trip wasn't exactly what I expected. My assumptions ranged from an over-supervised fieldtrip to maybe a teenage sex fest, but it was actually...quite different. According to my peers, the handful of teachers that went were cool and therefore weren't going to be suspiciously watching ever little move we made. They basically just hung out with each other. We weren't all plagued with boredom in separate cliques because there were interactive games and sports that we either played or invented within a mile's range of a bankrupt camp that used to belong to the Girl Scouts of America. It wasn't completely ancient because there were plugs and mess halls for kitchens. After the evening's fun, the rooming situations were situated.

Girls would room with girls and boys with boys. Other than "Great Hall" which is probably where staff usually stayed with only two or three beds per room that were lined in a semi-circle around the Great (mess) Hall and outside foyer/basketball court, there were five other campsites. Aside from the last one, the others had cabins spread out with four beds in each and a common restroom and mess hall. The last campsite was organized in a square. At the back, there was a long mess hall fit for two campsites, the side buildings had four sets of bunk beds in each room, and the final side had the restroom and an additional suite with three bunk beds and its own bathroom area. I assumed this is where the adults would choose to sleep, but I was wrong considering Ryder claimed it for him and his friends since the teachers chose to sleep in the air conditioned Great Hall cabins. Of course I was also in a cabin surrounding Great Hall, meaning Ryder had the absolute furthest room from me.

But that didn't prevent me and my friends from walking the maybe half mile to their campfire late at night. Even though the whole shebang had a group of loud teenagers—some who had smuggled some substances for themselves—it was overwhelming to be out in the open beneath billions of stars we could clearly see. And it was amazing that I could feel small beneath the stars, but even smaller when I took in just how popular the boy sitting across from me was. Ryder had more friends than his pack and knew how to joke around while still having the ability to remain as the "cool one" who dictated on what was or wasn't funny or what was appropriate or not. All the while, whether it was the people reminiscing risqué memories within stories or the boys wasting or devouring the s'mores, I still felt every glance Ryder made to me across the fire as the flames illuminated all the right angles of his handsome face. Then, at those points, I'd feel more heat in my cheeks from my blood than the fire.

"Ooh, remember when we had that marshmallow contest?" Rod asked in a laugh.

"OMG, yeah, I believe Kel was the winner of the last one," one of the girls who I always saw with Stella laughed. I think her name was Bree.

"Bullshit," Colin named. Everyone looked at him since he had apparently been sulking outside the log circle for a while now. "Everyone knows I'm the marshmallow champion."

"Wanna bet, flunkie?" Troy laughed and insulted as it was obvious Colin took offense to that.

"As much as I'd love to see you two stuffing marshmallows into your mouths, we don't even have any since you pigs wanted s'mores and food fights earlier," Preston mentioned. He, too, was sulking with Colin on and off tonight. If he wasn't watching over me closely when Ryder wasn't around, he was sitting in a corner somewhere judging people.

"If only someone who grew up with such gluttonous pigs could predict the scarcity of such important campfire food," Stella suddenly dramatized.

"You didn't," Ryder smiled as if Stella said the code phrase of hey, I brought extra marshmallows. All she did was nod and stand up.

"Yes, I did because who would I be if I wasn't prepared?" she laughed and Ryder laughed back. I noticed as a couple of her friends and Preston glanced back at me to see my reaction, but I didn't really have one. "They're actually in my cabin, so—"

"That's fine. I can walk down there with you since we need more firewood anyways," Ryder interrupted and that's when my wolf was howling in hatred at the situation no matter how much I humanly felt no fear. I only sensed a bit of hostility when they immediately left together without Ryder shooting me a look or anything.

I didn't have a real problem with Stella. In fact, I felt bad for her considering my own position. This time, I thought she was still mad at Ryder for getting arrested with me thing, but I was glad they patched that over. I wasn't the jealous type and I knew that he needed to have girl friends outside of this and that if they were anything more, they would've been more than friends when I got to town. Sure, I had heard her friends start rumors about what she and Ryder were going to attempt to do tonight as a peak to their seventeen year "courtship," but I ignored them. I had more things to focus on like why I could hear the idiots from so far away or see so clearly at night or why I could physically feel pressure rise inside of me.

It was completely separate from Ryder, but I didn't need the added stress. After a moment, I was starting to feel that classic high of not being in the moment since I felt like I was just experiencing everything while internally swaying back and forth. When I blinked, I saw a flash of the back of Stella and originally, I just blinked it away and shook my head. One of my newer friends, Shana, asked if I was okay and I lied to her before getting another glimpse of a high angle off the back of Stella as if I was seeing her walk with me...like I was in Ryder's place. My instincts were telling me something was wrong and I excused myself to go to the bathroom, only to sit in the toilet-paperless stall and close my eyes before I felt nausea. Then, I was seeing through Ryder's eyes through our mind link without even trying.

"Aha! One bag of jumbo marshmallows, ready for stuffing into Colin's obnoxious mouth," Stella said within a laugh. From Ryder's perspective, he was watching her toss a bag of jumbo marshmallows that was on top of a row of shelves between two beds.

"Thanks for lookin' out," I heard Ryder's voice tell her.

"Of course," Stella smiled. At that point, I could see that she began to feign the smile as slow as it fell right as Ryder was starting to angle towards the door.

"Okay, time to get these logs into the pit," Ryder decided in his turn and then I was assuming Stella touched his shoulder because my eyes opened and I was feeling a tingle on my own left shoulder for no reason. I concentrated once more on the telepathy rather than my barking animal. Ryder was now looking down at her. Now, my wolf was starting to manipulate my own feelings because I was angry at how beautiful she was and that Ryder was just staring at her...just like he's probably done for seventeen years.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Ryder produced a nervous laugh.

"We haven't really talked lately...and I can tell something's up with you and Preston," she clarified, searching his eyes out of pure concern. Damn it. I couldn't even call her a slut for trying to lure him in because she was actually genuine about caring for him. Ryder made an "uh..." sort of hesitation and Stella forced a laugh. "He was especially dick-y today."

"Well...that's just Preston we know and reluctantly love," Ryder settled.

"He was watching her all day, you know; Ashlynn," she told and I wanted to know Ryder's reaction. I wanted to see it on his face whether it was news or whether he orchestrated it.

"I know," he said, giving me my answer. "I told him to keep an eye out on her for me when I'm not around. Fly on the wall. Nothing major."

"You obviously don't trust her, then," Stella assumed and I took that as her bitchy/trying-to-put-a-wedge-between-us side that I knew would come out sooner or later. Now just happened to be the perfect time—even though I was half a mile away and seeing all this consciously or not.

"I do trust her," Ryder countered. "It's others I don't always trust and she's new to town so—"

"So?"

"Hey, don't be mean," Ryder warned and I noticed that he snapped at her differently than anyone else. Anyone else he'd call out for being a bitch and be harsh to them, but not her. He had infinite numbers of chances to give her if she cooperated.

"I'm not being mean," Stella denied, shifting positions. "I'm being realistic."

"Well realistically find a way to stop this conversation before it happens and you regret it," he finally ordered.

"What, the conversation on how the hell you decide to pick up on some newcomer when we've—"

"We've what?" he challenged, taking a threatening step towards her. Suddenly, she reached out to grab his shirt and press her lips to his with a pull of fabric. Then, I was thrown out of his mind link as my own brain was throbbing out of pain. I scoffed out of pure anger now, and when I got up to leave the bathroom and address the issue, my vision through Ryder's perspective returned as he pushed her away from him roughly by her waist. "What the hell, Stella?"

"When we've done that," Stella pinned. "And as I recall it, we did more than that which you conveniently forgot, so don't—"

"Don't act like it didn't happen?" he interrupted. "Because I'm not. I know it happened when it did and I moved past it for a reason, Stella. I thought by now, you'd realize that if it wasn't that important to me, it shouldn't be important to you either."

Stella didn't attempt to kiss him again or cry. She just looked right at Ryder not saying anything.

"Then why did it happen?" she finally asked with a cracked voice. I saw the frame shake with Ryder's head.

"No," he said. "I'm not gonna do this."

"I just want to know—"

"Well too bad!" he yelled. I heard a familiar deep growl—that my own insides started to mock—and then felt my whole body relax as Ryder's visible free hand relaxed out of its tight fist. "I'm not going to bring it up and say anything to make you have even the slightest hope that we could ever be together like that."

"Then you might as well tell me you hate me," she suddenly reasoned and the mate inside me encouraged that request.

"Well it wouldn't be true," Ryder muttered and I lacked the feeling of jealousy. He had made it clear he didn't mean anything but platonic. "You're my best friend, Stella. I'm not going to lose you over something so stupid."

She stood there, nodding in comprehension as Ryder picked up the logs he dropped and planned to exit.

"Then you're gonna lose her, you know," she suddenly called after and for a second, the frame went red in anger after Ryder faced her.

"Excuse me?"

"She feels bad for me, Ryder," she figured out. "She's not an idiot...she can figure out what we are or almost were without even trying. As much as I should try to paint her as a bad guy, I know she's good enough that she wouldn't intentionally make us suffer."

I had to give Stella respect. I should've expected this all—and maybe I did, but even when she was trying to win Ryder over, she was doing it with such poise and without slander against me. However, she got something completely wrong; I'm not good enough to give up Ryder. And he and Stella weren't strong enough together to convince him to reject me.

"There's only one of us suffering right now," Ryder whispered and that's when I saw pain flash across Stella's face. "And if you can't respect my relationship, then yeah, I'll 'suffer' without your friendship for a while, but I'll get over it." She was looking down at her feet now, with a child-in-the-timeout-corner look on her fair face. She didn't say anything until Ryder reached over to cup her chin with his thumb and index finger to make her look up at him. "Get over me."

At this point, my anger from her kissing him before was gone despite the throbbing pain of the actual deed while being connected to Ryder. But when I felt sympathy for the girl while hoping she'd just try to fall out of love with Ryder, I questioned more than I should have. First, I wondered if she was the one to break Ryder's heart, but then I wondered if we could ever be friends after all this—or was I even supposed to tell Ryder I saw anything. I predicted she'd just surrender her feelings in order to fall back into her long-standing friendship, but instead, she narrowed her eyes slightly and requested: "Then kiss me one last time."

Even though Ryder told her no and she smiled as if she was joking the whole time—which she very well could have been—I had left the bathroom and started to leave the camp area for where I knew they were walking back. I didn't care that I technically couldn't see my way considering I was still in Ryder's mind. My wolf was acting for me off of possession and instinct.

Now, Ryder had tried to ignore the awkward situation and joked back with her, I assumed because now they were teasingly leaving the cabin with her making threats about kissing him, which he thankfully refused.

"Why not? Scared she'll find out?" she taunted as they walked side by side in the dark. Their laughter was winding down. I tried not to care considering Ryder was maintaining his loyalty to me, but it was a different story for a mate who was out for blood for Stella even him. I couldn't turn myself around because my bond to him moved my body for me in anger.

You should be scared, I found myself thinking and blinked a few times. It was getting out of control that I was aching with fury and envy.

"I am scared," Ryder suddenly admitted. "Not as much as you should be, but I am."

"What happen to your confidence in your relationship?" Stella teased.

"That's exactly why I'm scared," Ryder tried to snicker. "I have so much confidence in our relationship that I know she'll stay with me and when she finds out about this, she'll try to hate me for it but she won't truly be able to and it'll make me feel even worse."

"Ryder, don't take this the wrong way or anything," she began. "But even after all this time knowing you...you're not that great of a guy for some girl—especially like Ashlynn—to stay with you after finding out you were kissing someone else."

Some girl—especially like Ashlynn—was what rang out to me.

"You just...can't understand, okay," Ryder sighed and I was starting to see less of his view and more so hearing it as a thought. I blinked a few times and for a second, I was maybe hearing it in real life because I was beginning to hear Stella's voice say: "Well maybe she won't understand what actually happened and...—"

But by then I didn't care. I was within maybe twenty yards of them and with one more blink, I was seeing Ryder's red eyes in my mind as if he was telling me then and there that he figured out I was trespassing. My breath was caught along with trying to control the budding rage and I grabbed the nearest tree while Ryder, standing yards away, looked around slightly with a load of logs over his shoulder. My eyes widened as soon as he glanced over in my area and before I could even make a jog for it towards the campfire, I heard the logs drop to the hollow ground and Ryder call my name just once. Before I knew it, he was seizing my waist and putting me between him and a tree.

"No, Ryder—" I tried to escape his hold, despite whatever approach he was going to take. I didn't know if he knew I had watched Stella's attempts or not, but he was already acting guilty and I had enough anger within me to do something stupid. I wanted to leave and be as far away from him as possible so he wouldn't feel that wrath, but he was only pulling me closer. Suddenly, I blurted out that he should just leave me alone and just walk back to the fire with Stella while I just go back to Great Hall—in more or less words—and then his grip sort of loosened and my attempts to oppose him physically also slowed, instead of taking advantage. Until I actually did take advantage in order to step around him.

"What did you hear?" he asked.

"It isn't what I heard; it's what I saw," I told him vaguely, but even though I glared at him and he tried to decipher how I saw anything, Stella had met up with us.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked out of concern and a part of me made me hate her more for being nice to me after all that happened. Then I started hating myself for hating someone who was undeserving of anyone's hatred. I groaned out of frustration and hissed out a fable of "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I mean I can walk you—"

"I don't need you to walk me back to my cabin," I interrupted to her with my voice raised. My humanity known as Ashlynn Everton has officially surrendered to the ruthless wolf from this point on out.

"Then I will," Ryder insisted, hesitant to even reach out to me, but he still tried to figure things out.

What's wrong? He thought.

"It's fine," I repeated out loud while subconsciously thinking of how this asshole can ask what's wrong after his best friend just kissed him. But I realized it wasn't as subconscious as I thought because apparently it seeped into Ryder's mind and caused him to widen his eyes a fraction. I still turned away and began to walk, but he caught me once more. This time, instructed me to look at him as he cupped my head and tried to study my face. I kept looking away as I tried to pull his hands down by his forearms, but yeah right. He tightened his grip to where I had no mobility in my neck.

"Ash, look at me, goddammit!" he shouted and then I connected gazes with him. His brown eyes shifted back and forth from mine as my body began to throb like before including my brain. That was the only reason I wasn't calling him out for yelling at me. Suddenly, he let go of my face and his hand slid down to mine and he started to pull me in one direction.

"I don't need you to walk me—"

"Shut up and come with me," he growled.

"Sure, just leave me here in the dark countryside so you can hookup with your new girlfriend," Stella tried to hyperbolize and joke to herself while picking up the pieces of wood that Ryder dropped, but it made me pause.

"Oh no," Ryder either said or thought as soon as I removed his hand off of mine and marched over to Stella as she was standing up.

"What was that?" I challenged, even though I probably shouldn't have. Just like earlier with the Obsidian house, my senses had been heightened through all the pain and dizziness of the night so I probably shouldn't confirmed that I heard some mumble from so far away. But I didn't care at this point.

"I said," she cleared her throat and glared down at me. "'Sure, just leave me here in the dark countryside so you can hookup with your new girlfriend.'"

"You know what?" I asked her, but mostly myself because the Ashlynn I really was saw this as pathetic to give any more attention. Especially while Ryder was thinking "calm down" to me for the entire time. "I'm not going to waste my time and ruin his friendship with you over this."

I walked away, grabbing Ryder's hand in the process as if I was eager to go wherever he was trying to usher me away to in order to be away from the source of my anger, but then the bitch made another comment.

"You hating me won't ruin our friendship. He'll always come back to me whatever the case may be whether you like it or not. Pretty sure any guy would choose his best friend for years over his recent hook up for, what, a week or two? In actuality, I think it's less than that," she intentionally insulted as Ryder's fists clenched along with his face, knowing that it was my breaking point. I had snapped.

Before Ryder could pull his arm around my waist to restrain me, I was not only lunging at Stella, but I was feeling every inch of my body—inside and out—growing and exploding. With one glimpse of red, I was standing five feet over Stella, who stumbled onto her back and panted out of fear for the beast standing over her. I wasn't feeling me fighting the girl, but I saw a paw beneath me, trying to claw at her. I made one successful maim before I was tackled by a six-foot standing, russet colored wolf baring his teeth at me.