"I am not a werewolf. Werewolves don't exist," was the only acceptable response I could think of. Jessica could only smile in response, her perfect lips tugging upwards and amusement flashing through those green eyes.

"Reagan, I can smell the Change on you," she spoke, her voice almost monotonous as she kept that steady gaze on me. Her statement caused a rush of panic in me for some reason. Did I smell bad?

"Smell?" was my brilliant response, earning an overdramatized eye-roll. Her tongue flicked out to lick her lips, and I knew I was testing her patience. With my newfound discovery of her... species, I didn't really want to test my luck.

It took everything in me to remind myself that that, that thing I saw out there was still Jessica. And I hardly believed that she would hurt me when she practically saved my butt out there against that Mason guy.

Jessica, the girl I used to take bubble baths with when we were two. Jessica, the girl whose cracker I always licked before giving it to her, watching in an amused horror as she ate it unknowingly. Jessica, the girl who tutored me on Geometry, and every other Math I had ever taken.

Jessica, the werewolf who saved me from being kidnapped and probably killed.

Killed. That was a terrifying thought. In just two weeks, the arrival of Mason had changed my life for the worse. I was worrying for my life, something I never believed I would ever have to do. Why didn't I just call the cops like any sane person? I was really regretting that now.

But as I thought about it, I realized the cops had nothing compared to Mason.

While they had guns, he had claws to tear and speed to rush.

I knew the only reason he didn't get to me was because Jessica was nearly as fast as him.

"Yes. Smell. Just like I can smell everything you're feeling right now. And hear your heartbeat pounding. Please calm down because the smell of your anxiety and fear is giving me a headache." Her nose wrinkled in disgust and I felt a random wave of shame slide over me. Her lips tilted to the side again in an attempt to smile. Her eyes seemed to soften. "Just, follow me, Ray. I'm going to take you somewhere safe."

I ignored every instinct in my body to disobey, willing myself to step forward and follow the werewolf I called my best friend. I always trusted her before. Why couldn't I seem to do that now? Oh, right. Because she lied to me my entire life and didn't bother to tell me she was a Supernatural myth that wasn't supposed to exist.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed she was a werewolf. They weren't supposed to exist but I saw four, and was suddenly expected to believe that I, too, could turn into the creature of the moon.

All I knew was I definitely couldn't hear her heartbeat or smell anything like how she had described.

"If I'm a werewolf, then how come I can't smell anything or hear anything like you?" My voice was accusatory, as if denying what she had said and looking for any excuse to prove her wrong.

"You haven't Changed yet. With your first Change will come your enhanced abilities." Her words washed completely over my head. This was too much to handle. How could I possibly be a werewolf? Instead of focusing on that, I decided to approach the situation differently.

"How did you manage to fight them off alone?"

"I didn't." But she didn't bother to explain.

"Didn't what?" I craved answers more than anything I'd ever craved before.

"I didn't fight them alone." Her tone suggested that she wasn't talking about me either.

"What? But when I left you... Who fought with you?" A frown of confusion made its way onto my face.

Instead of answering, she turned to face me so fast that I flinched. Her eyes were glowing silver again but I saw no sign of her long canines or any fur or nails. Her arm moved back a branch, her gaze forcing me to walk through in front of her.

What I saw next made my stomach drop in an emotion I couldn't quite place.

A very, very large house stood in an equally large clearing. The house looked modern enough but the rotting wood on the sides suggested otherwise. It was painted an opaque black as if to blend in when the shadows overtook the earth. I didn't know who it belonged to but they must not want to be found.

The trees stood tall, leading up to the moon that now hung openly in the sky. I knew when the sun was up, it must have been beautiful. The grass looked well taken care of, ridding me of my suspicion of the house being abandoned.

In my blunt judgement of the house, I didn't realize Jessica had moved past me and onto a stone path I didn't notice before. "Come on, Ray." She offered an encouraging smile and all of the fear and doubt seemed to drain from me as I met those familiar green eyes.

I followed after her, keeping my gaze down along the path. I needed to remember exactly which way we came in because I was sure that would be the best way out if I needed to escape.

What were we even doing here? How was this supposed to keep me safe?

Eventually, we came upon a door. Unlike the rest of the house, no wood seemed to be rotting away on the door. I frowned.

Jessica's hand suddenly lifted and did a strange tap-knock on the door, almost as if assuring whoever was inside that it was her.

Who was inside?

I felt fear beginning to claw its way back into my body. But then, the door opened.

My eyes locked with the prettiest pair of blue eyes I had ever seen. They seemed to shift slightly as if a fire was burning in them and the pupils dilated drastically. I was caught.

"Jessica... you're late." That voice. It was very unfamiliar yet at the same time I recognized it. I allowed my eyes to stretch further than just the eyes of the door holder.

He was... pretty. I don't know how a guy could be pretty, but there was something about the structure of his face, how smooth the lines were rather than having sharp angles like cuts. His cheeks seemed to have a slope to them that made it seem like his face had been carved out of soft clay. A single mole freckled his cheek, like a fallen star had landed there.

A strange noise interrupted my close examination.

"Reagan? Reagan." I managed to snap out of it right as Jessica's pale hand reached out to wave in front of my face. Heat instantly rushed to my cheeks due to my staring.

But it didn't seem the blond guy noticed. He was watching me, but for some reason I knew he wasn't really paying attention.

"Now that you're actually listening, this is Al- I mean, Dylan. He lives here." Then my redheaded best friend glanced at the godlike man and rolled her forest green eyes. Her lips parted in a sigh. "Oh, for the love of God." Before I could comprehend what she was doing, she snapped her finger once in his face.

He didn't even flinch, blinking once slowly and then turning that electric gaze onto her with an annoyed glance.

He lived here? This disaster that was practically falling apart? I was surprised that the slight wind that had managed to pick up while we stood outside didn't manage to blow it away.

Maybe the random location in the middle of the woods was all the heart-tug he needed.

I felt my own heart tug when 'Dylan' reached his hand out to me with a smile that had me suffocating. "Nice to meet you." I carefully slipped my hand in his, allowing him to give it a gentle shake before dropping it, stepping back, and allowing us to finally step through the door. The hair on my arms raised at the contact and a sizzling feeling extended up my arm. "Everyone's waiting to see you." That soothing voice spoke once again, prickling with a hidden amusement.

There were more forest dwellers?

Who were these people? Where did Jessica take us? How would any of this, any of them be able to keep me safe? I turned a concerned glance to Jess and gave her a look. "Jess..." I mumbled. I wasn't too sure about this. She only gave me an encouraging smile with a strange twinkle in her eye as we followed after Dylan.

The hallway we were walking down was practically empty minus a few random paintings of the trees and sections of the woods. They were all intricately made and had a huge amount of detail. Whoever painted them was very talented.

"Oh, don't mind those. Melody likes to test her hand in painting sometimes." I nearly jumped at the sound of Dylan's voice near my ear. Jessica had disappeared as I had slowed my pace to gaze at the works of art. I hadn't realized I had stopped in front of one.

It was different. The subject was different. Instead of trees, there were wolves howling at the moon. Behind the wolves stood the very house that we were in. Except, in the painting it wasn't so... ancient.

A dark chuckle stirred the hair on the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to appear. "That one's my favorite."

I didn't say anything as I turned and made eye contact again with the stranger that had opened the door. Without a word, I walked past him in the direction I hoped Jessica had gone.

When I left the hallway to enter a room as large as my entire house combined onto one floor, I searched for the familiar head of red waves.

I was surprised to see what felt like thousands of people in the same room. Luckily, Jessica hadn't gone far and had waited.

She grinned at me, flashing two deep dimples imprinted into her cheeks. I stalked over to her. I needed answers. My head was overflowing and I was beginning to feel faint.

"Jessica, where are we? Who are these people? What are we doing here? I want to go home." I hissed at her, my fingers reaching out to clamp tightly on her wrist. She flinched. I was surprised she could even hear me over the loud voices of everyone in the room. I could feel a stare on the back of my head. And while Mason's stare had freaked me out, this one just made me nervous.

"I know. I have a lot of explaining to do," she admitted.

"We both do." Dylan's voice interjected. What did he have to do with anything?

****

"So you mean to tell me that I'm going to Change tomorrow? That's ridiculous." I brushed off Jessica's words, frowning.

"Reagan, I can smell it on you. We all can. And tomorrow is the full moon so it makes sense. Why do you think I brought you here and not back to your house? If you were to shift with Mason being the closest to you..." her eyes became distant and a look of horror seemed to etch itself onto her face.

"But he wouldn't have been. You would have been."

"No. I mean Alpha. He would have been the closest Alpha. And with him being the closest Alpha, you would have been adding to his power and whether you liked it or not would have always managed to find your way back to him. He can smell the Change on you from miles away. That's why he was after you. He just wants you for power." Jessica's response made my stomach lurch. When my eyes turned to gaze at Dylan, his electrifying blue eyes were staring at the ground, his expression hard.

Even upset, he was still beautiful.

"I wouldn't go anywhere near that creep," I argued, tearing my gaze off the blond across from me.

"You wouldn't be able to help it. When you Change, the Alpha closest to you becomes your Controller. Not that he can control you; only your Alpha can control you, but he'd be able to manipulate you because you'd have a natural trust towards him from the wolf side of you," Dylan said, those fiery eyes slowly sliding upwards to look at me. I found myself frowning slightly when he didn't make direct eye contact with me. His response elicited a sigh from me. I could barely comprehend any of this.

"So, what? Can you turn into full-blown wolves or something? Jessica still looked pretty human to me." My nose scrunched in confusion slightly when Dylan and Jessica exchanged a weird look.

"Kind of," came Jess's slow response. Her fingers reached down to fiddle with her purple shirt and her eyes slanted downwards.

Before I could even open my mouth, Dylan beat me to it. "I can." The way he said it suggested not many could. He hesitated before finally making eye contact with me, taking my breath away more easily than I'd like to admit. My lips parted, eyes dilating as he blinked.

When his eyes opened, I fought the urge to shrink into myself.

One of his eyes were a solid gold that burned as brightly as his blue eyes did. The other eye was charcoal black, just like Mason's. The memory of Mason turning into a beast with those eyes nearly forced a whimper to leave my lips. Goosebumps prickled along my skin.

"I'm an Alpha."

————
Author's Note:

Hey everyone! It's me again, back with another chapter of Gaze! How are you liking it so far?

What do you think a gold eye means? So far we have found werewolves can only have black eyes or silver, so I wonder what this means... any theories?

That aside, I just wanted to thank you guys again for reading and giving me a chance to entertain you! I'd love to learn some more about you all! What's your favorite genre to read?

Thank you again for your support! Stay tuned for next week's chapter!

Remember, if you liked the chapter, please consider leaving a comment and voting! This really helps me out to know what I should do more of and what I should do less of! I love you all!!

Love,
Sydnee