"There's nothing to figure out," Cassandra said, now home on Sunday. She sat in the kitchen as Andrew and I were at the counter. Andrew had done all the talking of course.

"My sister turned into a werewolf two days ago," Andrew reminded. "That's something that doesn't happen too often."

"Too often," she repeated. "But it's possible."

She turned to gets something from the refrigerator as she made our meal.

"So you're saying it's possible for girls to be werewolves?"

"Well they're not exactly immune from a bite and magical genes appear all the time," she shrugged. I prompted my head on my hand.

"You're telling me!"

"Okay, so you're saying this is...normal...in a sense," I said. She nodded.

"I mean, a powerful werewolf family only reproduced by generations of imprinting mates has bound to have a female in the line—"

"But—"

"So then that's it," I said. I reached over for Andrew's phone on the counter. "I can tell Ryder I'm fine—"

"Well who's to say Ryder knew about the trait's possibility and still turned you out of his own impatience?" Andrew questioned.

"Then I guess he was doing us a favor," I smiled smugly and continued to find Ryder's number, but the phone was snatched from me. I glared over at Andrew.

"That's not doing either of us a favor."

"Why? Because I'm a werewolf or because you're still Alpha?"

Then, we were both growling. Cassandra looked at us like we were crazy.

"Have I ever told you about growing up with your dad?" she suddenly asked.

"No," the both of us said, even though I had read Dad's journal and dreamt of his past in the Obsidian house.

"Well he and I had a great relationship," she began. "When he was fifteen, he phased for the first time and it wasn't a shocker considering Dad didn't shield the werewolf secret from us at all. But it didn't take a genius to know things changed after he shifted...by the time he started to build his own pack—including Ryder's dad—I knew we had gone our separate ways. Even though I had all the reasons to reject him, he was the one rejecting himself and—"

"What does this have to do with us?" Andrew huffed.

"Don't let this...change...damage your relationship," she advocated.

"It isn't—"

"I can think of another relationship I want to damage..." I heard him mutter.

"Him wanting to destroy my mate is the only thing that will ruin this relationship," I accused, gesturing at Andrew.

"He's the reason we're in this situation!"

"No he isn't!"

"So you think that you'd just shift on a night without a full moon if you weren't with him!?"

"Me being with him has nothing to do with it; you heard Cassie!"

"I'm done with this," Andrew hissed and as he got up, his phone suddenly rang and we both locked eyes. He easily hung up on the call. "I'm assuming him calling means he's either on his way back or already here, so your phone privileges are revoked."

"Andrew—"

"Andrew, come on!"

Suddenly, I heard someone shuffle by the door before someone knocked at it. The scent was familiar somehow, but I still made no attempt to answer it. It was weird to think I could identify someone by their smell. Cassandra rolled our eyes at us and then left the kitchen in the opposite direction than Andrew.

"Hey, Cassandra," I heard Bailee greet with a questioning tone at Cassandra's name.

"Bailee," Cassandra named and I watched from the corner and heard clearly. "What can I do for you?"

"Well I know Ash left early because she got sick, but I just wanted to know if she's okay," she said. Aw. "And return this."

Cassandra reached for something and I could see it to be my phone and an overnight back. That made my heart sink because I didn't know why Ryder gave it to her. I wanted him to bring it to me himself.

"I'm sure she appreciates this," Cassandra assured.

"Well just let her know I stopped by if I can't—"

"Thanks," I interrupted from behind Cassandra and allowed myself to be seen by unrelated people. Bailee stood at the doorstep in her lounge wear from camp and her hair in a messy bun. Of course there was a brilliant smile on her face. I noticed that Evan's car waited at the street. I waved and offered to walk her out.

"So what happened to you?" Bailee asked once we faced away from the door and walked very slowly.

"What do you mean?" I played along. "I got sick, so Andrew picked me up."

"Yeah, but...are you sure this doesn't have to do with Ryder?" she asked and I wanted to freeze. "Or maybe Stella, since she got 'sick' too."

"Sick?" I questioned. Is that what you call it when your arm is nearly ripped to shreds by a half-human wolf? Or was she mentally sick and crazy for trying to report a girl turning into a wolf to maul her?

"Yeah. Ryder came back by himself, saying he left Stella in her room because she had sprained her ankle, and he found you throwing up on our way back to Great Hall, so he called Andrew to pick you up, but the next morning Stella was actually the sick one and Ryder stayed with her the whole day just about with Stormy of all people and—"

"Wait what?" I interrupted, feeling my eyes fuzz up for a second and my wolf growled inside me. Bailee's face twisted.

"I don't know what exactly happened and I don't want to tell you the rumors I've been hearing, so you should probably just—"

"WHAT. RUMORS."

"Look, just talk to Ryder," she suggested but by then, we had made it to the sidewalk with Evan rolling down the window. Bailee began to open the passenger door anyways.

"Hey, Evan," I forged a smile.

"Hey, feeling better?" he asked, reaching over the seat.

"I don't know yet," I muttered as Bailee shot me a look of concern or maybe conceal.

"Well you don't look too bad, so hopefully you'll get all better before school starts. There's only two weeks left," Evan replied. Like I needed a reminder.

"Well thanks for my phone," I smiled at them both without showing teeth since I was biting my tongue. They drove off and before I even entered the house, I was dialing Ryder's number. However, it went straight to voicemail. So I kept calling him because every time I tried to think to him, I'd get a migraine. Every time I tried to call him, or even think of what happened, I could feel my heartbeat speed up and anxiety grow inside me. The fifth time I called, I actually left a voicemail.

"I need you to call me, or answer or something," I began. "I...I don't know what happened this weekend, or what will happen when you get back, but right now, I'm honestly feeling like I'm about to lose it. I just need you to call me, Ryder, please."

Almost immediately, he was calling me back.

"Ryder—"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I thought it was Bailee or Evan on your phone and I didn't want to hear them bitch at me. What's wrong?"

"Why would they bitch at you?" I tried to distract myself.

"You said you didn't know what happened this weekend, well neither does anyone else, so naturally teenagers talk and they—as your friends—naturally wouldn't have anything remotely nice to say to me in regards to that," he explained. "What's going on with you?"

"I...I don't know," I said and we both sighed. "I got in a fight with Andrew and then Bailee was telling me just the basics of this weekend." I finished speaking, but he said nothing. "So are you on your way back?"

"I'm already back," he answered.

"So then why was Bailee the one giving me my stuff?"

"I assumed you wanted to see your friends," he said.

"Did you also assume I wanted to see them more than you?" I asked him with a bit of rigidness in my voice. I began to feel that comfortable discomfort once more.

"Did you feel that?" he asked me. I paused. Great, now not only could I read his mind, but now I could feel when he was turned on even if there were miles between us. Meaning, he probably felt the same from me time to time. Great. "That's why I didn't give you your phone. You don't know what you do to me but it's a whole lot more than just that."

"But Cassandra said that me turning was expected after this long, so—"

"It isn't about you turning, Ash!" he raised his voice. "This is about you and me as mates, and I don't know what will happen next time we're together."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed.

"Nothing," he lied. "I'll...see you soon, okay?"

"Okay?" I replied even though I thought 'Yeah right.'