Author's Note: Wattpad is forcing me to update regularly and I couldn't be more grateful. 

Shoutout to EllenFairyBlue4 and Wolf1072 for commenting and voting on Full Moon. You guys rock. I'm sending you all of the flowers. 

Also, don't forget to vote and comment if you like it! And add Full Moon to your reading list so you don't miss the updates. Enjoy! ^_^ 

--

"You have a lot of explaining to do!" Dana exclaimed as she put down her lunchtray very indelicately at Ernest's table. The boy froze, his fork midway to his mouth. He then internally swore, before sighing. He'd been avoiding Dana all morning, knowing that the girl would remember him telling her that he didn't know who Ben was.

Unfortunately, his prediction had been correct: the redhead remembered and intended to confront him about it. Great.

"Ah?" That was all he could think of saying. Part of him still assured himself that he was wrong, and kept telling that Dana couldn't possibly care enough to remember such a tiny, unimportant detail.

"I thought you didn't know him." Wrong.

"Play dumb, Ernest."

"Who?"

"Ben, that's who! So I want to know why you lied."

"Well, I uhm..." Ernest began to stutter, feeling increasingly nervous. He didn't want to tell Dana about what had happened last time, and all the other times from before she'd joined the school. She knew he often got bullied, hell, nowadays, they sometimes got bullied together, but for some reason, this felt different; he just didn't want her to know. Besides, how had he met Ben? After all, it's not like they were complete strangers before he intervened with Eric, not at all in fact. Ben had often greeted him in the hallways.

Despite sometimes hanging out with people whose sole purpose in life seemed to be making Ernest's life a living hell, he'd never participate. More often than not, the blond tried to put a stop to it, or bring his pals' attention elsewhere so that they'd leave Ernest alone. The boy had always appreciated him for it, and of course, he admired this even more considering how popular and overall successful the blond was. Somehow, the looks and accomplishments didn't seem to get to his head, and he remained simple and pleasant, even to utter outcasts like him.

"How did I meet Ben?" Before he could mentally answer his own question, however, Dana made him snap back to reality.

"I'm waiting, McClain."

"Shit."

"Well, I uhm—" He stuttered. Thankfully for him, some higher being must have heard his plight, because just at that moment, a voice cut into their conversation.

"Am I interrupting something?" That voice ... Ernest's heart skipped a beat, making him inwardly swear. Trying to ignore how jumpy he felt, the boy forced himself not to look up at the person who was now standing right before him, aside Dana.

"BEN!" The redhead exclaimed, making the blond laugh. She acted as if they'd been best friends for years, and yet they had met just the day before. Ernest noticed how bright Dana's green eyes were, how they shined with some kind of glow, some type of unconditional love and kindness which had moved him from the moment he'd first met her. And now, as her chin rose proudly and her freckled nose slightly wrinkled in a mixture of joy and amusement at Ben's laughter, Ernest realized that for that one moment, he couldn't have possibly asked for anything else. The world seemed right and complete at last.

"Can I sit with you guys?" Ernest blinked, snapping out of his reverie. Surely he must have heard wrong.

"What kind of question is that?!" Dana vividly responded. "Of course! Sit down!" Ben did as he was told before looking up and grinning in Ernest's direction. The boy was staring back at him, looking startled.

"Does my presence bother you, Ernest?" The blond felt satisfied when a slight grin crept on the other boy's face.

"No, not at all, but won't your friends mind?" Ben waved his right hand dismissively.

"They'll live. Plus, it's not everyday that one gets to eat lunch with a werewolf, am I right?"

"And a werecat!" Dana added in a tone of reproach, shooting a playful glare in Ben's direction.

"That too," he conceded. Ernest silently went back to his food as Dana began to make conversation with Ben. The two were busy actively discussing the existence or lack thereof of werecats in literature and mythology. The shy boy shook his head, amused ... until he noticed how people were looking at them. 

Regularly there were teenagers holding trays all too conveniently passing right by their table and eying them as they did. It definitely wasn't for him and Dana anymore, people had gotten used to that, so he had to assume that it was Ben's presence that was inciting the curiosity of those around them. Ernest knew why. It was because he and Dana hanging out wasn't that surprising: after all, they were both outcasts and frowned upon by their peers. Ben, however, had an excellent reputation. No one ever bullied or bothered him. He had plenty of friends and acquaintances he could have spent the lunch break with, and instead he had chosen them, something which the other students simply couldn't understand. What was he aiming for? Social suicide? No one in their right mind would go anywhere near Byrne and McClain. And yet, as it was, not only was he sitting with them, but he seemed to be having fun too.

He and Dana's gales of laughter now appeared to be piercing through the sudden silence of the lunchroom; Ernest was feeling gradually more uncomfortable with each passing second. Dana didn't seem to notice and if Ben was aware of what he was causing, he certainly wasn't letting it show. It came to a point when even Ernest wished the two of them would stop their incessant chatter and notice what was going on. Deciding to put a stop to how increasingly awkward and uncomfortable the whole thing was making him, Ernest grabbed his tray before finally standing up.

"Do you guys...want to go somewhere else?" He proposed. The boy noticed some of the other students snickering. His throat tightened at the thought of the three of them causing some sort of a scene. Most of all, he feared that if people went up to ask them embarrassing questions, Ben would witness just even more how lame he really was. He supposed it shouldn't have mattered, but after the blond had watched him getting his ass kicked, Ernest had decided that the least humiliating situations Ben saw him in, the better.

Both Ben and Dana glanced back at him with perplexity. Instead of explaining himself, Ernest chose to get up and lead the way, hoping to encourage them to follow him. The brunette took a few steps towards the exit before finally turning around and seeing with some relief that his friends were following after him.

"Ern, where are we going?" Dana inquired. Her green eyes were focused on him, filled with curiosity and eagerly awaiting an explanation.

"Uhm well...I don't know, I thought..." The shrill sound of the bell interrupted Ernest's answer, making him inwardly sigh of relief.

"Guess it's back to class for all of us, then. It was nice talking with you guys," Ben waved before going his separate way.

"Bye Ben! See you later!" Dana waved back a little too enthusiastically, before turning to her best friend.

"Guess it's just you and me again, huh Ern?"

The boy watched Ben as he got swallowed by the crowd of rushing students, feeling a pang of melancholy at the redhead's words.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

--

He'd felt it his whole life, and it had become even worse during the few months preceding Dana's arrival at the school. On the outside he was still the quiet, shy kid. Deep down however, he wanted to cry and scream. It hurt so much, so badly. The pain that would contract his chest every day, every morning when he'd wake up, making it hard to breathe. In a way, it reminded him of his transformation every full moon, except that one was temporary. The pain in his chest, heart and head, however, never left him. Every morning his first thought upon waking up, at the idea of going to school, was that he wouldn't go, because today was the day he could no longer take it.

Ever since Dana had become part of his life, however, things had been different. But even she wasn't enough to chase the darkness. But Ben helped. Ben had always helped. Ever since the first day he'd helped him, the first day he'd said hi and smiled at him, when other people either pretended as if he didn't exist or downright bullied him, that had been when things had changed. All of a sudden, there was a thin yet beautiful ray of sunshine at the other end of the tunnel. The problem was that this ray of sunlight was very fragile : one had to be very careful, out of fear that a boulder might possibly tumble down and obscure the small ray of light. Because of that, Ernest was just as afraid of Ben as he adored him. Often, the two emotions, though they might seem contradictory, tend to go hand in hand.

He stared at the ceiling some more. Why was his mind so insanely heavy that it seemed to just weight his head down and paralyze his very being ? Why did it hurt so much, why did it hurt like this, he didn't understand...

The boy rolled over and pressed his face inside his pillow, biting it. Not even the thought of Dana could save him now, not even Ben. Nothing could. He felt like screaming and breaking everything, his throat was paining him and the tears were fighting, struggling against his will-being to escape his eyelids so that they may flee towards freedom and down the valley of his freckled cheeks.

Dead. Numb. He felt nothing except maybe despair at said nothing. There was no escaping it now, he was sure of it.

Ernest closed his eyes and not for the first time thought of suicide. Hanging oneself didn't sound so bad. He'd replayed the thought a bunch of times in his head. He'd take the small chair in the living room and bring it to his walk-in closet, he'd tie one of the rope's extremities to his neck and the other to the pole holding his clothes, and then ...

One last jump. Bye. No more Ernest.

No more Ernest.

No more Ernest.

No more –

Shit! He got up, startled. He had been half-asleep while pondering all of this and the alarm clock had taken the opportunity to ring once more. The brunette looked at the time.

7:35 am. He'd be late again.

Every day it was the same thing.

He just couldn't escape this dead end.

–

Laughter, mockery, stares the second he got in the room. He wondered why he still bothered being discreet about it, why his classmates' judgmental attitude still bothered him so much. Truth be told, he shouldn't give a fuck, but he did, he cared too much, perhaps that was why life seemed so unbearable.

"Ernest? You alright?" Dana, concerned as always. He hadn't even sat down that she'd asked if he was feeling okay. Because logic escapes human emotion, her caring attitude pissed Ernest off to no end. He felt like snapping at her and telling her to mind her own damn business. Why did she even bother speaking with him? He was nothing special. He looked plain, he was plain ... the only attention he clearly deserved was negative attention at best, yet here she was, making so many efforts. Why?

Ernest didn't even bother answering. He wouldn't even look at her, yet despite pretending to focus on the board he could feel her worry and her love, he could sense those piercing green eyes on him as she tried to understand what was wrong, but the truth was, she'd never get it. Dana was a naive optimist, to the point where it bordered on stupidity, something all the more ludicrous considering the fact that she was an atheist. She had no hope or higher belief to look up to, just human cruelty and destruction, yet she chose to see the good in the world anyway? More importantly, what good? What did she even see? She was a mystery to him, some sort of angel sent by God himself – an atheist angel, heh. Talk about ironic. The fact remained that she was too fucking perfect to pay attention to someone like him, and it infuriated him. There just had to be a catch to this somewhere, yet he saw none. If he hadn't been crippling with self-loathing, he might have assumed that she had feelings for him and rejected her harshly by the same instance, but his self-esteem was much too low for the thought to even cross his mind. Instead she baffled and angered him with her loving and cheery ways. In turn, the frustration her behavior elicited made him feel even worse about himself because he knew that deep down Dana deserved the best in the world, someone just as lovely as her. Someone that wasn't him.

A thought suddenly hit him, and he discreetly checked his phone. But of course – tonight was a full moon. No wonder he loathed his life more than ever.

He just hoped he wouldn't kill anything – or anyone this time.

–

Dead inside.

He's feeding on some animal carcass and, despite the disturbing lack of human thought there it's like some lingering feeling still tells the beast that yet another part of his soul died as he fed on that deer.

The monstrous wolf-like creature flared, its pupils small and its eyes peered, ears twitching upward at every sound.

He felt at home in the dark.

Both sides did.

--

The beast made its way back towards its house instinctively. For some odd reason it was almost tame tonight. Ernest could feel his human conscience slowly returning, the lust for blood now appeased by all of the carnage he'd caused.

Thankfully there had been no human casualties. The boy sighed inwardly. His ears flickering he gazed up at it, his curse.

The full moon.

It was so beautiful, and from the hill where he was standing the sight was simply breathtaking. The fact that they were in a small town had its upsides, as there was very little lighting at night, especially where Ernest lived. He was pretty much surrounded by woods.

"Thank God. Who knows how many people I'd kill otherwise."

God. The wolf licked its muzzle as Ernest wondered if the holy father had abandoned him. Surely werewolves constituted as demons of sorts. And besides – with all that he'd done, he was clearly going straight to hell anyway.

"Hell is where I belong," he softly spoke.

"I don't know about that, Cromul. I think you're being a little hard on yourself, there." And just like that the boy snapped out of his trance. The wolf side once again took over and he swiftly turned, teeth barred.

In front of him was standing the male werewolf from the night of Ben's attack.

"What do you want?!" Ernest hissed, growling savagely. The wolf chuckled in amusement.

"Now now, Ernest. Is that kind of attitude really necessary?"

"My name is NOT – " His anger briefly vanished then and he gazed up at the other wolf in utter confusion. "Wait – how the fuck do you know my name?"

The other werewolf grinned with clear amusement. Unlike Ernest, whose fur was dark brown bordering on black, the other werewolf had stunning dark gray fur with a set of oddly human, mischievous dark blue eyes.

"I know a lot of things about you, Cromul. Plus you told me last time in combat, which is a terrible move, by the way. A werewolf's human identity is best kept secret."

Ernest groaned in annoyance upon hearing the name. For a human being the sight would have been terrifying considering his current appearance, but the bigger werewolf merely found it endearing.

"I don't care!" He snapped. "I don't exactly plan on making a career out of being a werewolf. And can you please stop calling me that?!"

"But that's also your name, you know."

"And what's yours? Douchebag?"

"Ouch. You really hurt my feelings there." The werewolf stretched before yawning, showing off his razor-sharp set of teeth in the process.

"Jesus, you could impale a person with just one of those," the boy thought.

"Let's just say I'm a friend!" He winked, making Ernest's right eye twitch.

"Are you fucking serious – no you know what? This is going nowhere. So if you're not gonna fight, I'm sorry, but I've got better things to do." He tried to leave but the other werewolf blocked his path, his piercing gaze keeping Ernest in place just as much as his imposing body.

"You wanna know my name?" The wolf seemed oddly excited. He had some sort of a weird twinkle in his eyes that was both confusing Ernest and putting him off.

"Not particularly," the teen grumbled before trying to push past him. Alas, the grey werewolf wouldn't have it. He sat down like a dog, front paws before his stomach, a happy grin on his muzzle.

"It's Caynal." Ernest would have raised both eyebrows if that had been possible. Based on the other werewolf's sheepish grin he had a feeling the latter understood what expression he was mimicking.

"Caynal? That's a ridiculous name."

"Not as ridiculous as your mother." Ernest gave him such an offended expression that Caynal burst out laughing.

"Relax, pup, I was just joking!"

"Don't call me that!"

"So what? Everything that isn't 'Ernest' is banned?"

"You guessed it," Ernest grumbled. He was starting to get extremely annoyed with the other werewolf. A few minutes more in his company and he'd start seriously considering trying to maim him, even if it would probably result in certain death.

"Why do you keep calling me Cromul, anyway?" Caynal looked back at him, still in an oddly playful way.

"It's your werewolf name. We all have a different name when we're turned. Most werewolves consider it better to keep their human and their werewolf life fully separate, as I mentioned earlier. It's for ... security reasons."

"Funny, because I don't remember picking that name."

"Yes, it's strange. You'd think whoever gave it to you would have come up with something better." Ernest was about to agree until he realized what Caynal had said.

"Wait – what?! What do you mean by that? You mean somebody actually gave me this crappy name?!"

"Possibly. That or I'm making shit up as I go." Caynal literally howled of laughter then. Ernest felt his temperature rising and the urge to kill slowly rising. Before he knew it he'd tackled the other wolf and had him pinned firmly on the ground.

"If you don't let me go and shut the fuck up right now, I swear I will kill you!"

"I'm terrified. You really need to untart those teeth though. They tend to make the whole menacing thing a little less efficient. Just some friendly grownup advice."

"Whatever," Ernest growled before getting off him and making his way up the long, unfriendly hill leading up to his house. "Just never speak to me again".

Caynal watched the younger werewolf leave. Its reflexes were agile and its mass was incredibly impressive for his young age.

With a fake, dramatic sigh he thought of Ernest's last words as he watched him disappear into the night.

"I'm sorry Cromul, but I'm afraid I can't do that. Besides ..." His voice lowered then and his eyes began glowing oddly. "you'd make such a fine addition to the pack."

--

Author's Note: More of the werewolf pack leader from last time! What do you guys think he has in store for Ernest? What about Ernest? Will Ben and Dana be enough to save him from all the darkness in his life? Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and theories in the comments :)