It wasn't until I emerged from the basement and into the main hall that branched off of it that I realized I didn't know exactly where Dinah's room was. I knew it was upstairs, but aside from that, I'd never even seen her room. I strode barefoot past the life-size statues that lined the wall, rounding the corner and ascending the stairs that led to the upper level. Even if I specifically didn't know where her room was, I should've been able to find it by smell. I stopped to consider which way to go, left or right? I went down the hall to the right. I was sure I'd seen or heard Dinah coming from that direction before.

As it was, Evan stood outside the second doorway on the right. He too, was barefoot, wearing a pair of light jeans. The white shirt he wore was dirty, probably the same one he'd been wearing last night.

"I see you haven't had a chance to shower, either," I said.

He shook his head. "Ally's in there trying to comfort her. We've been taking turns keeping guard outside the door."

I wondered why they were keeping guard. Lauren's house should have been safe territory. Surely, Taylor wasn't crazy enough to try anything on Lauren's property.

"She's still shaken?" I asked, keeping my voice soft even though Dinah and Ally could hear us on the other side of the door.

Evan visibly relaxed in front of me, leaning against the wall, his shoulders dropping. "This is the worst I've seen her," he said. "She usually takes it better than the rest of us. As beta, she has to."

I understood what he meant, although I was anything but happy about it.

"After everything she's endured," I whispered, "the last thing she deserved was Taylor Swift."

"The last thing any of us wolves deserve is Taylor as alpha," he said.

I gave him a considering look. "Why?" I asked. "Why'd you help me yet again, Evan? I was an ass to you."

He smiled, but there was something sad in it. "I'm not strong enough to overthrow her," he said. "None of us are. I recognized your mark the moment you walked into my trailer with the police. I was angry about a stray walking onto my turf, accusing me of murder. How would you have felt? I realized when you visited the pack, that if we ever had any hope of getting rid of Taylor, you're it. Funny, huh?"

"I don't know that I'm you're hope, Evan."

He pinned me with a very serious expression. "You have to be, Camila. You stood up to Taylor last night. You're the only wolf I've ever seen stand up to her. Many of us have wanted to, but we didn't, we don't. If she doesn't punish us, she'll punish someone else within the pack that we care about. She finds a weak spot and drives her claws into it."

"I felt her strength, Evan. She's strong, stronger than even I anticipated."

"She is strong," he said, "but she's not powerful. Physical strength doesn't equal power, not always. You touched a wolf in the clearing and she fell to her knees in the face of your power."

"She was like, eighteen."

"She was the epsilon, the fifth strongest wolf in the pack and you dominated her with nothing more than a touch. Why do you think the wolves finally parted? You showed them power, the true power of an alpha."

I hadn't remembered Evan being behind me when I'd returned to the pack to confront Taylor. He must've followed me, but I didn't like it that I hadn't known that at the time.

"Why is it everyone's throwing this alpha thing in my face?" I grumbled, more to myself than to Evan.

"Why is it you're fighting it?" he asked, and because I'd already had that little conversation with Lauren, I gave him an unhappy look.

"I'm not a fan of the title."

"Don't worry about the fucking title," he said. "Worry about fucking helping us."

"I can't worry about that right now, Evan. I'll do what I can, but right now I need to worry about Dinah."

I reached for the doorknob, but it opened before I touched it. Ally stepped out of the room. Her eyes were red as if she hadn't gotten any sleep and as if she'd been crying.

She touched my shoulder. "I hope you have better luck than I did."

I nodded and with a heavy heart stepped into Dinah's room.

*

"You're not going to accept it, are you?" Dinah's voice came from under a mound of blankets on the bed.

"Accept what?" I asked, shutting the door quietly behind me.

"That mark in your hair and everything it means," she said.

"I'm a bit skeptical." I gave the mound a light push. "Move over."

Dinah obliged, wiggling closer to the wall her bed was pressed against. I sat on the edge of her bed. Her room wasn't nearly as spacious as Lauren's, but it was spacious, nonetheless. A painting hung on the wall by her closet doors. The painting was of a dark forest, here and there golden eyes peeked around bushes and the trunks of trees. In the middle of the painting, a wolf crouched low, skulking out of the shadows like darkness given form. The others seemed to watch, patiently waiting for that one lone wolf to guide the way.

My chest grew tight and I couldn't explain why.

"I see you're not holding up very well," I said.

"The bed is holding me just fine."

I reclined against the pillows. "So I see. Why are you hiding?"

"I don't know. Why are you skeptical?"

"I don't understand how a streak of white in my hair marks me as an alpha or how I'm supposed to be an alpha."

"You carry your wolf with you in human form," she said, "that marks you as an alpha."

I didn't want to bring up Austin Mahone, but something he had said to me crossed my mind. I decided to leave his name out of it. Mahone was probably the last thing Dinah wanted to be reminded of.

"I thought the mark of the alpha only happened with hereditary lycanthropy?"

She peeked over her blankets at me. "You actually know about hereditary lycanthropy?"

"Not a lot, but I've heard of it, yes." I was trying to remember Austin's exact words, something about the virus taking a turn and mimicking hereditary lycanthropy in that regard. Honestly, I didn't understand either.

"Then you'd know that the lycanthropy virus actually branched off of hereditary lycanthropy."

"So you think it's a possibility because of that?"

"Don't you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not a scientist."

"And lycanthropy is something that still baffles modern science."

I nodded.

"You want to know what I think?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me either way, so go ahead."

"I think you're questioning it to death because you don't want to accept it and if you keep questioning it, Mila, you're never going to accept it."

"Why is everyone ganging up on me today?"

"Taylor isn't going to let last night go."

"If we're going to have this conversation, can you at least come out from under the covers so I'm not talking to a pink cocoon?"

She pushed the covers down. Her honey eyes were as red and raw as Ally's had been, if not more.

"Don't try to change the subject," she said. "I can't tell if you're being arrogant and solitary or if you're really seriously just scared of being an alpha."

"I am scared, Dinah. I'm not like you. I didn't come into this and find a pack to call home. I was infected and the only person there for me was Shawn, and he couldn't help me learn to control my beast because he's human. Everything I know, everything I've learned, I've learned fighting tooth and nail with this thing inside of me."

"Do you resent being what you are?"

"Every day? No. Sometimes, yes. The wolf and I are on much better terms, but there are still times when I don't understand her, don't understand this, this thing I am, this thing I'm supposed to be."

"I don't understand why you're scared, Camila. I really don't."

"Because, Dinah, I'm not completely wolf. I'm human too and there are times when I'm afraid. Maybe, because of what I do for a living, I shouldn't be."

"Are you scared of Taylor?"

I had to think about my response for a moment. "I'm not scared of what she could do to me, because given the chance I'd pump several rounds of silver into her as fast as I could, but I'm scared of what she could do to those I love and care about. I'm supposed to be an alpha, and yet, I wasn't there for you when you needed me last night. I didn't even know what she'd done to you."

"How could you?" she asked. "It wasn't like I told you I was going to a pack meeting. I'm the one that idiotically tried to carry on as a member of the pack after you'd..."

"Go on," I said. "Say it. After I accidentally marked you. And look what that mark did, Dinah. It brought you harm. It put you in danger. I promised to protect you and I failed at that. Some alpha I'm supposed to be."

"No." She stubbornly shook her head. "Taylor brought me harm, not you. You couldn't have known that she was going to punish me."

"But you did," I said. "You knew she'd punish you."

"I've been to a couple of meetings with the pack after you marked me. She didn't do anything then, so I thought she hadn't sensed it."

"She had, though?"

"Yes."

"Why did she wait?"

"I don't know. Taylor is unpredictable. She probably waited for that reason alone-unpredictability-to catch me when I'd finally let my guard down and stopped worrying about it."

"And now neither you nor Evan nor Ally can return to the pack."

"And you don't want to be our alpha."

"I didn't say I didn't want to, Dinah. You're making it sound like I don't want to be your friend. Just because I don't want to pin a sticker on my shirt that says, 'Hello, my name is Alpha,' doesn't mean I don't care about you, any of you."

"It's the title?"

"And the responsibilities," I said. "As I said, if I'm supposed to be your alpha, I failed miserably last night."

"Camila," she said, and I looked at her.

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes. Doesn't mean I'll have an answer though."

"Take out the title, and if the same thing happened to me last night, would you still feel the same?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're beating yourself up for not protecting me, though you did protect me. Hell," she said, "you knocked Taylor halfway across the clearing. If I was just your friend and you hadn't marked me, would you still have done that?"

I licked my lips.

"You would've killed her, wouldn't you? If you weren't a lycanthrope and didn't have to play by our rules, what would you have done? Lied to the cops, tell them I'd been attacked? Figure out a way to set it up so that the execution was done cleanly? What lengths would you have gone to to protect me, as a friend?"

"I don't understand whatever point you're trying to make," I said, "and murder is illegal. Being a lycanthrope isn't the only thing that stopped me last night."

"The rest of the pack?"

"That certainly crossed my mind."

"Well, aside from that. The point I'm trying to make is this, lycanthrope or no, metaphysical binding or no, would you still have protected me? Would you still have thought to avenge a wrong that was done to me just because I'm your friend?"

"Yes."

"How different is that from being an alpha?"

"I...I don't know," I said.

"Obviously, you get my drift," she said. "So stop questioning it."

I scoffed. "That's easier said than done."

"Camila Cabello, you can turn into a fucking bird. If you can accept that," she said, "I am pretty sure you can accept this."

I laughed.

"And," she said, "if it's any consolation, I don't think you'll botch the job as badly as Taylor."

"Thanks, Dinah. I guess that's supposed to be comforting."

"I can make it more comforting," she said, raising the blanket between us. "Wanna come in and cuddle?"

"Um, no."

"Why?"

"I don't trust you."

"Why don't you trust me? I promise not to grope."

"Yeah, you say that now. You'll probably let a little werewolf biscuit slip and try to cover my head with the blankets."

Dinah laughed then, the first genuine laugh I'd heard from her since I stepped into the room. I smiled hearing it.

"Oh my God," she said.

"You're considering it now, aren't you?"

"Well, now that you said something...yeah, a little bit."

I patted the blanket. "I think I'll stay out here then."

"So," she said, "did you feed Lauren?"

I crossed my legs at the ankles, folding my hands over my stomach. "Actually, I did."

"And?"

"And what?"

"How was it?"

"It was...different," I said.

"Yeah, but did you enjoy it?"

I remembered the dark and intimate look on Lauren's face, remembered her licking and biting down my body. Apparently, something showed on my face because Dinah bolted upright.

"Oh my God," she said again. "You totally enjoyed it. You got all hot and bothered, didn't you?"

"Okay, how the hell did we end up having this conversation?" I asked, blinking.

"Don't you dare try and change the subject. I want details."

"Tough. You're not getting any."

"So Lauren bit you and you thought it was hot, huh? Hot enough you don't want to share details." She grinned. "You can go back under your covers now."

"Oh, hell no," she said. "I'm happy here where I can watch you blush."

"I'm not blushing."

"Yeah, you are. Do I need to get a mirror to prove it? Where'd she bite you?"

"That's none of your business."

"She gotcha in the nether bits, didn't she?" I laughed, shaking my head. "No, no, she didn't get me in the nether bits last night."

"Then where'd she-wait, are you implying she's bit you in the nether bits before?"

"I didn't say that."

"You're blushing again. I'm going to take that as a yes. That's hot. Keep going..."

"You do realize Evan and Ally are right outside your door?"

"I can fix that," she said, and called Ally's name. The door opened and Ally peered into the room. It looked as though she'd been laughing.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can you guys give us some privacy?" Dinah asked.

"Sure thing," Ally said. She shot me a quick grin. "Don't protest too much, Camila. You know what they say about that."

"Oh, go," I said, shooing her out with a hand and trying not to laugh.

I waited until I sensed Evan and Ally leave their post outside the door.

"You know, Dinah, I never pegged you for such a voyeur."

"This is what friends do, sweetheart. We share juicy details."

"Uh huh, like you were so keen on sharing juicy details when you fooled around with Vanessa?"

"Oh, that," she said. "Vanessa just bit my neck. When she bit me, I got off. Now, your turn."

"Fine," I said. "If you must know, Laure  bit my wrist."

The excited expression she wore turned completely upside down. "What! She just bit your wrist? You made such a big deal out of it and all she did was bite your wrist?"

I pretentiously pouted at her. "Aww, you got your little voyeur hopes up, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and you're intentionally trying to spoil it! Seriously, that's all she did?"

"She's bitten other places."

"Better." She leaned back. "Much better. Keep going."

"Dinah, I'm not going to divulge every single detail of my sex life."

"Did she enchant you?"

I shot her an impatient glance.

"No."

"Did it hurt much without the enchantment?"

"I can't exactly make a comparison, as I've asked her not to enchant me. It hurt a great deal less than I thought it would."

"I've heard there's a numbing agent in vampire spit."

"They have an anticoagulant in their saliva, but aside from that I haven't heard of a numbing agent. They share the same anticoagulant as vampire bats, and with vampire bites, their bite is less painful because of the sharpness of their fangs, not spit."

"Really?" she asked.

"I think so, but that's probably a question better aimed at Lauren. She gave me some books to read."

Dinah laughed. "You haven't read them, have you?"

I grinned. "Nope."

"Learn as you go?"

"Pretty much. I've flipped through them. They're thick," I said, emphasizing the size with my hands. "When am I going to find the time to sit down and actually read them? Especially when all I have to do is ask her if I have a question?"

"Still, if she lent them to you, she obviously wants you to read them."

I shrugged. "Probably. One of these days, maybe I'll get to them. So you let Vanessa enchant you?"

"Yes, that's how I was able to get off when she bit me."

"They don't have to enchant you to do that, though, do they?"

Lauren had used her energy to bring me during sex and both times, she'd assured me she hadn't enchanted me.

"I don't know," she said, "I can tell you, that's where the thrill is."

"Being enchanted?"

"Yes."

"Lauren's projected on me before. Does that count?"

"Yes and no. I think it would be a mild form of enchantment. The enchantment part is more where the vampire makes you feel what they want you to feel, but also to think what they want you to think."

"And how the hell do you know when a vampire has done that? If they're forcing their will on your thoughts..."

"There's fogginess afterwards. A feeling of weightlessness, drunkenness, a high. I don't know how to explain it, but you'd know. While it's happening, every sense heightens like that second before orgasm, and everything, every thought, every feeling, every worry, sadness, every emotion, just gets abandoned and washed away in this tide that carries you."

"And you're okay with that? With completely abandoning yourself?"

"Mila, some of us need that. We're not all the control freak that you are."

"I'll give you that," I said, because it was about control with me. I didn't like the idea of surrendering that completely to anyone or anything. I needed my ground to stand on.

"It'd probably be harder for a vampire to enchant you."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"It takes a strong vampire to enchant a lycanthrope as it is, throw a bit of fey blood into the mix and they've got their work cut out for them."

"Well, that's good to know."

"You would think that." She smiled.

I brushed a strand of auburn hair out of her face. "So," I said, "are you going to stay in bed and hide all day?"

"I'm feeling a little bit better."

"Only a little?" I asked. "I have an idea and I think it might be one that will make you feel even better."

"You're going to take your clothes off and get under the covers with me?"

I pulled her hair. "No, silly, but nice try. There's a wooded area around here, isn't there?"

"Yes, most of it's on Lauren's land."

"Is it enough to provide cover?"

"Depends on what you need the cover for."

"Would you like to go run with me?"

Her lips parted in disbelief. "You're serious? I've asked you to go run with me and you always tell me no."

"I haven't showered. If you want to go run, now's the time to do it."

"I'd like that," she said, her expression tender.

"Then, get off your ass," I said, standing and offering my hand. Dinah took it and I helped her out of her monstrous blankets.

When she got to her feet, she wrapped her arms around me. "Thank you, Camila. I appreciate the distraction."

She kissed my cheek and I touched her face. "You're welcome, Dinah."

Truth be told, with the murder investigation, relationship dynamics, and bullshit with Taylor, I needed the distraction too.