What sane person has black eyes? He had blue. Why were they black? Was I imagining things? Considering my active imagination, I wouldn't put it past me, but to completely flounder for something along the edges of my mind like that; did I just make it up?

I couldn't stop asking myself these questions for a week. That blond man was nowhere to be found and the way he had said my name was almost as if he knew me. But I knew for a fact I definitely did not know him. I didn't understand what was going on. Nothing was making sense. The only thing I knew to be concrete was the fact that he was coming for me.

And Jessica wouldn't even be able to save me.

What did she have to do with this? Why was she even mentioned at all? He didn't seem to know her name like he did mine, and I knew names gave people power. At least she had that advantage over him.

But it seemed as if he had known her as well. I wouldn't be surprised, him being a stalker and all.

Stalkers typically know about their victims and if he was going to be stalking me, he would have to realize who my best friend was.

Should I tell Jessica? Should I get her even more wrapped up in this than she already is? I don't want her to be in danger but just simply being around me put her in danger and I found that even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to avoid her.

Jessica was persistent, if not anything else.

"—after school. Then we could probably swing by and grab some more yogurt," came Jessica's response to a question I had forgotten I had asked. She sat cross legged on my bed, a geometry book managing to lie gracefully across her lap. Everything she did could only be described as elegant and nothing else. I didn't know how she did it.

She could fall down the stairs and make it look natural.

Her fiery hair seemed to float around her face with volume that was impossible to obtain other than through the vivaciousness of personality. The freckles along her nose seemed darker without the harsh lighting of outside pressing against her face and green eyes danced with intelligence.

"Sounds good," I replied, reaching over with the grace of an elephant and slamming the geometry book shut. I was done with homework for now. I needed a break. Thank God Jessica was able to tutor me in Math, otherwise I'm sure my grade would be below the C it currently rested at.

The door of my room opened and my mom stood there with her hazel eyes watching the two of us. "Hey, girls. Dinner's ready." She smiled, smoothing her shirt down slightly and motioning for us to make our ways downstairs and to the table. As we climbed off my bed, she couldn't help the disapproving glint in her eye as she stared around my room.

I wasn't what most would consider messy. I kept my things off the floor and made sure my bed was made every day as well as clothes were in my closet. However, I always managed to have a stack of something on my dresser and my nightstand that caused my mom to overthink everything and believe there was a layer of dirt lining every corner of the room. To say she was a neat freak was being generous.

"Reagan, after Jessica leaves, you need to fix that stack of clothes on your dresser, alright? This is the second time I've asked you." With the latter part of her words, her eyebrow quirked in warning.

I gave her an innocent smile. "Okay, mom. Love you!" A kiss pressed itself to her cheek as I made my way downstairs.

At least my mom was lenient.

****

After dinner, Jessica and I grabbed my little Shih Tzu, Morgan, to take for a walk outside.

Darkness was beginning to descend but it was my favorite time to be outside. Morgan's fur was unnaturally short for her breed due to trying to keep her more easily cleaned. She pranced in front of Jessica and I with the energy of a two year old whereas she was closer to around thirteen.

She loved me. Out of my entire family, a family of three, I was definitely her favorite.

But even I couldn't top Jessica, who seemed to be the little dog's ultimate choice and Alpha.

Jessica had a knack for making Morgan behave which came in handy any time the little dog chose to disobey. Which wasn't often, thank God. She was a good little dog and the only thing I had known for my entire life.

As we walked down my street towards the corner to get ready to turn left and make a loop back to my house, the wind began to blow. A cold draft snuck it's way inside my jacket and when I looked at Jessica, it seemed it didn't affect her at all. She seemed to embrace it.

"Does the cold not bother you?" My teeth began to chatter slightly as the corner of her lips tugged upwards and her eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn't catch. It was gone faster than it came. Her arm was held out, attached to Morgan's leash. Her black pullover didn't seem very warm.

"Not really," She replied honestly. "Does it bother you?" She seemed surprised that it bothered me. Confusion made its way across my face.

The street lamp above cast a ghost-like glow on the sidewalk and its current occupants. Leaves were stirring along the ground and creating a song that seemed to only want to be heard if someone was willing to listen. It was fall, in every sense of the word.

Before I could answer, Morgan started barking.

And if you knew Morgan, she never barked unless something was bothering her.

Instantly, Jessica's head snapped forward. Morgan tugged at her leash and before I could reach for the little dog, Jessica was letting go of the pink leash despite my protests.

It was all in vain.

Morgan turned the way we had come and sprinted down the street as fast as her little legs could carry her, barking repeatedly. I turned to chase her but Jessica's "Don't" stopped me. I wasn't worried about the dog running off. I knew she would make her way back home and somehow get into the house or backyard.

What worried me was the weird expression on my best friend's face. Her eyes seemed to narrow. She seemed - concerned. Worried, even.

What was going on?

"Reagan, get behind me." Her voice left no room for argument. Quickly, I did as asked, glancing around rapidly as she seemed to bend her knees and lower herself into a defensive stance in front of me. What was she doing? She didn't know any forms of martial arts or self defense!

However, the stance she was taking suggested otherwise. Her muscles were tense and sweat was dripping down her forehead slightly.

Okay, something was definitely wrong.

That's when I heard it.

Laughter.

"I told you, Reagan, there wouldn't be anything your guard dog could do to stop me."

And that's when it hit me. My head snapped behind us as I pressed my back against Jessica's. There he was. Why was Jessica not turning around? The strange man that had been stalking me was standing in front of me, and behind her. I chanced a glance over my shoulder to find she was facing off with two other men.

There were more of them? What did these people want?

The blue-eyed man stepped forward, seeming to have no ounce of worry or doubt in his posture. He knew he could take us. We were outnumbered.

He was here for me.

And Jessica wouldn't be able to save me this time.

"What do you want? Why can't you just leave me alone?" Fear rattled my voice, making it come out barely louder than a whisper, yet somehow he heard me.

One of those sinister smiles stretched his face, splitting it in half as the yellow lamp light illuminated his perfect teeth. His handsome features seemed demonic.

"You knew I was coming for you. I gave you plenty of warning." He glanced upwards, taking a step towards me. Jessica took that moment to turn around, wrapping an arm around me as she kept her tense posture.

"Leave, Mason. This isn't the first time I've taken you down. I can do it again." Jessica's words shocked me. She knew him.

The man, otherwise known as Mason, only chuckled. "Ah, Jessica. It's nice to see you, too. Unfortunately, I will be taking the girl. And unfortunately for you, there won't be any need for you to tag along. Run along now." He disregarded her previous words. They didn't even seem to bother him.

"Isn't this cutting it a bit too close to the full Moon, Mason? Your men should know better than to let you out without a leash," Jess hissed. What did a full moon have anything to do with this? Besides, the full moon was tomorrow.

Mason didn't even seem bothered by her words and simply chose to ignore them.

I couldn't form any words.

Especially when my best friend turned to look at me, her face completely transformed. Her nose was pulled out into a longer snout, ears growing pointed and seeming to reside more along the top than sides of her head. Fangs peeped out of her lips like little white toothpicks that I knew were dangerously sharp. Fur plastered itself along her jaw and neck in thick patches. Long, sharp nails grew from her once neat finger nails.

And her once green eyes glowed silver.

Two foreign growls behind me forced my head to snap backwards, giving me a temporary sense of whiplash. The two men had the same distorted features as Jessica and when I looked at Mason once again, his mouth opened to bare long canines in a strange animalistic growl that shook me to my center.

His eyes caused me to freeze up.

They were black once again.

Black had replaced those blue irises and as his two companions made their way around us to stand behind him, their eyes glowed silver, mirroring Jessica's.

The first word that made its way into my brain was demon.

But that would make Jessica one, too.

Jessica's arm remained in front of me, and despite the circumstances, I for some reason felt safe.

She would protect me.

But could I protect her?

Not without something else.

My eyes searched for anything and conveniently managed to spot a thick stick laying in the grass about two paces behind us where the men had previously been standing. I made a leap for it and felt those cold black pits glaring holes into my head. Once I had the thick branch secured in my grasp, I was ready.

Fear pounded its way into my chest. My confidence wavered. What were these people? What on earth were they? What was Jessica?

Human was definitely not a word I would use in this context.

Before another word could be said or another growl could be heard, Jessica tilted her head back, opening her mouth slightly and let out a loud noise that vaguely resembled a howl. I had to cover my ears for a moment at the weird frequency it had.

The howl startled Mason from his stupor and his charcoal eyes flashed with something close to fear.

And with that, he lunged. And holy mother of God was he fast. But thankfully, so was Jess.

Jessica stepped forward, an arm swinging out and slamming across his face as his two men stepped forward to help. I knew she wouldn't last long against three of them so I did the only thing I could think of at the moment.

I swung the branch at one of the men.

Now, I was never a violent person. I steered clear from war movies and hate anything having to do with blood. I couldn't kill a fly without being genuinely upset.

So when I swung that branch, and it made contact with the back of the man's head with a sickening crack, I couldn't move.

Did he die?

Oh, God. Did I kill him?

When he twitched slightly on the ground, I couldn't help the sigh of relief. I didn't want to become a killer.

It seemed for a moment we were gaining the upper hand. It was two versus two now and swinging a branch didn't seem too hard.

Suddenly, Jessica's silver eyes snapped to look at me, pupils becoming incredibly small. "Reagan, run into the woods!" Her words caused me to falter.

The woods stood across the street, dark and ominous, and there was no way I was running into them.

"Now." Her voice was no longer Jessica's voice. Her voice was layered over with a growl, as if two people were talking at the same time in unison. It freaked me out, to say the least.

I edged my way to the street, watching cautiously as Jessica slammed her foot into the things we were fighting. Mason seemed to be playing with her and when he noticed my sneaking off reluctantly, a snarl seemed to split his face. "Reagan, NOW," came my best friend's overlaid voice. The power behind it had me moving despite all my instincts screaming to just go home.

As I took off into the woods like a crazy person, I didn't even care about the racket I was making and tried to pretend I wasn't running into an animal infested graveyard. I would die here. I knew it was certain. If Mason and his friend didn't get to me first, a bear or coyote or something would.

Eventhough I was fairly certain that no bears or coyotes lived in these woods. The only animal I knew to live here were deer.

And wolves.

My feet crunched the leaves and twigs underneath me. I was becoming tired. The fear was draining me.

Eventually, I came to rest against a tree, taking in my surroundings. It looked no different than any other place in the forest.

I waited there. Was I supposed to wait for Jessica? Should I go back? What if she was already dead?

This was way too much for me to handle. Death was not a common aspect of my life and I didn't want it to become one.

Panic swept its way through me and my breathing started picking up as fear started gripping a cold hand around my heart.

When a twig snapped from the direction I just came, I couldn't hold back the whimper that managed to escape my lips.

When Jessica's dirty, scratched, bloodied, and normal face came into view, I sighed in relief. The panic seemed to recede, if only slightly.

How had she managed to escape?

She offered a smile but it didn't seem to touch her eyes. She made her way closer to me and my nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell of her. Before she could take another step, I spoke.

"What were they? What are you?" I couldn't hold back my curiosity.

The questions seemed to hit her like a bullet as she winced.

"Wolves." My eyes widened.

"W-What? Wait, so that means—"

"Yes, Reagan. Werewolves. And you're one, too."

————
Author's Note:

Hello everyone! It's me again! Thank you for coming back and reading another chapter of Gaze! Your support means so much to me!

Do you have any questions about what's going on? How do you think Reagan is going to react to finding out she is a werewolf?

Stay tuned!

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See you next week!

Love,
Sydnee