I could see the blonde halo of hair around the base leaves of the tree, my eyes rolling involuntarily. I stepped around it with a glare carefully placed on my face as Mila gives me a shit-eating grin.

"Well. Well. Who do we have here?" She says it in a sing-songy voice.

"What do you want Mila?" My voice is curt, saying goodbye to Aislynn when she's trying to help just to come face to face with this bitch is not something that makes me happy. In fact, it makes me want to go back to the cottage just to be alone.

Mila is surrounded by the two girls from the classroom and the image of them don't make me nervous, not like they have for the past two months. For the first time, I think I might actually have the confidence to stand up for myself.

I don't know how well my skills and magic will come out as I've never done it quickly or on the fly but I think I can do this. At the very least I think I can bluff my way through.

So I place a careful smirk on my face and slowly step around the tree, standing right in front of them.

"I was just going for a stroll, looking for something fun to do, and then like a wish from the Moon Goddess you showed your face." She winks at me but I stand my ground, crossing my arms over my chest as I watch her.

"You seem to be alone so who were you talking to before we arrived?" One of the friends asks I've never bothered to learn their names but I'm almost certain her name is Jessica or something.

I carefully turn my head ever so slightly, giving her a confused look.

"Don't play stupid, Human," the word spat out again like it's something to be ashamed of, "we all heard you talking. Werewolf hearing." The other friend says this one I'm less sure of it might be Rose or Oliva. All of her friends seem to blur together into one.

I smile at them.

"Maybe I was talking to myself. Is that not allowed?" I wink at them, a zag of excitement running through my chest when they all look back at me with disgust clearly outlined in their eyes. I chuckle at them because I can't hold in my happiness and annoy them so much.

"By the way, I think it's official now, you can't call me human-like it's something you found on the bottom of your shoes." I keep my voice level and take a step closer to Mila. Her eyes widening for a second in shock before she pulls her features back into her bored expression.

"And why is that human?" She twists her head slightly as she waits.

I grin using my teeth more than I normally would as I lean into her.

"Because darling, I have found my magic and you have already pissed me off enough." I stand up straighter, winking at her before turning my back to her and walking to my tree, the tree I created with that magic. As I pat the bark I look back to see Mila's mind connecting the dots.

"So you're an Earth Witch?" I don't correct her, it might be better to let her think I'm an earth witch so if I need to protect myself from her she won't be expecting the fire. "What are you going to do? You're a low-level Earth Witch and we are werewolves."

She laughs but I notice the way her friends take a shocked second before following her suit, their eyes stuck on the fully grown tree clearly out of place in the middle of the clearing. This is not something some low-level witch can do, clearly.

I don't let her words scare me, not after seeing her friend's reaction. Instead, I smirk at her.

"Am I some low-level witch? Is that something you want to test with me?" I wink at her, noticing the shifting feet behind her and the small tap on the shoulder from possible Rose. Mila ignores them, her eyes losing some of the flames but she still grins wickedly at me.

"Try anything and the wolves would be one you in seconds." She talks slowly, taking a step closer to me. I work hard to keep my own expression bored even as my palms begin to sweat. "Even if we attack first the wolves don't need to know that."

I work hard not to swallow the fear leaching its way up my throat, instead, I turn a grin on her.

"Shall we find out?" I should not have said that, I should not poke the bear but I need to be stronger, I need to show them that they don't scare me. Even though I have to work hard to keep my fear at bay and keep my heart rate down knowing that they can hear this.

She doesn't say anything and I notice her friends backing away back towards the forest behind them. I grin wider at Mila.

"What should I start with, making ivy grow up your legs until it's wrapped tightly around you, wrapping around your mouth so you can't yell out?" Her eyes widen ever so slightly and it's enough to give me the confidence I need.

I take another step forward.

"Should I give you a taste of your own medicine? Let someone else come and protect me against you?" Something in Possibly Jessica's face pulls me away from watching Mila. I look up at her confused.

Her eyes open wider when she notices my attention on her.

"What was that look for?" I ask her, stepping around Mila, stalking towards her friends who are almost completely in the darkness of the forest. Possibly Jessica stops immediately.

"It's nothing." Her eyes flash from me to Mila but I step in front of her, making it so she can only see me.

"What is it?" I say each word clearly, loudly in the silence of the forest. She tenses and her eyes widen even more. She swallows and then opens her mouth.

"It's just that Lucian and Cedric warned us that if we tried anything with you again that they would - they would kick us out of the pack." Her words are shaking and I'm so shocked by them that I take a step away from them.

"They can do that?" My words are small but Possibly Jessica nods her head.

"Lucian is our Alpha while at school, we take all commands from him and his most trusted member is Cedric. What they say are the rules."

I think over her words again and then I turn to Mila with a wide smile on my face again.

"So you currently have no leg to stand on, right?" She glares at me and I smirk back. "I mean I could call out for help and they would come for me, to protect me."

Mila shakes her head, straightening her shoulders.

"No. It was just a threat, we are their pack, they wouldn't kick us out for some human." I wink at her.

"I think you mean Witch."

The words don't come from my mouth even though they were what I was thinking. Instead, they came from behind me in a clear male voice. Deep and dark like the trees around us. I don't turn but I hear the shuffling of feet from Mila's friends.

I watch Mila's face, the way it drains of color before slowly turning a disgusting green sheen. I take a step away from her and turn on my heel slowly.

Standing between the trees Cedric stands, hands on his hips bare-chested. Behind him but just as serious is Lucian. As I turn he takes a step around Cedric standing close to me and Mila. I notice very quickly the sheen of sweat dripping down both of their bare chests. I hold my breath, trying to calm both my breathing and my heart rate.

"She's a witch, Mila," Lucian tells her in a throaty voice like he was just working out when he overheard us. I suppose that's probably true. "One that we told you is off-limits."

Mila takes a step around me, I slowly take a step away allowing her to fill the spot of Lucian's attention but behind him, Cedric's eyes follow me. I work hard not to look over at them.

"I - We didn't do anything. We heard people talking so we came to investigate. It just happened to be the hu - her." She just stops herself from spitting out human.

Lucian gives her his whole attention but not in the interested flirty way but the way a teacher or mentor might when you have disappointed them.

"She's telling the truth." A small voice from behind the, one of her friends but I can't tell which one through the thick bodies of the boys.

"Fine but we still overheard the threats you guys made, when you realized it was Morgan."

They were listening, if they heard Mila's threats then they heard mine as well. Without realizing it my eyes move from the boys and into the ground feeling the red hot blush covering my cheeks.

I hear Cedric moving or maybe I feel it, the way his body heat slowly comes over me as he steps forward towards me. I keep my head down.

"Mila I don't think you quite understand what a wolf pack means," Cedric tells her and for a second I hear a scoff-like sound coming from her. I look up to see the red marking her face. Lucian looks down at her and for the first time, I see the real unadulterated rage in his eyes. Cedric ignores her as she looks away. "A pack is a family, we all work hard together protecting and loving each other. There is no one more important in the pack."

The other girls slowly nod but all eyes are watching Mila, her head stays down.

"We work together to be the best we can be, learning and growing from each other. You never should have used that against Morgan. In fact, you shouldn't have used Cedric like that. You know he's under a lot of stress and you used that." Lucian tells her seriously.

She nods her head, lifting it just slightly to meet Cedric's chin - not his eyes.

"I'm sorry Cedric." Her voice is small, almost afraid.  He doesn't say anything, just nods his head telling her that he heard her.

Lucian takes a step away from her, coming closer to me and looking at me. His eyes worried but they just do a quick overlook of me, as if making sure I'm unharmed. I don't change anything in my expression but when his eyes finally meet me my heartbeat goes a little faster.

He looks away, sadness reaching his eyes. He must think my heart rate increased in fear, I shake my head no that's better don't let him know it's because of his bare chest and the way his sweat is slowly sliding into the dark fabric of his joggers, sending my heart racing.

He turns to the other girls.

"Mila, Jessica, and Leah." He talks to them each, I make a small note that her name wasn't Rose but Leah trying to put that information away in my mind so that I might actually remember next time they surround me. "I need you to help me inform the rest of the pack. From this moment on Morgan is a part of the pack. She will be protected but more than that she will help us learn and grow."

"We've never inducted a hu - a witch before." Again she only just catches herself but from both sides of me, the boys tense ever so slightly.

"Exactly and because we've never grown and accepted other supernatural creatures we've never grown and overcome this stigma. You think you can attack other people because you have no idea how powerful they are. I think it's a good idea to learn and grow with a witch in our pack so that we might be able to take the information and put it to good use." Lucian explains but from the other side of him I can hear Mila sputtering.

"You - You want to -" she takes a breath trying to calm her nerves.

"We will be. Morgan is a part of this pack from now on and we will learn from her, and she will hopefully learn from us. Now leave." Cedric says it, his voice cold and hard and the three girls run away quickly.

The boys watch them go before turning and watching for my reaction, I notice the tense eyes and jaws as they watch me. I know for a fact that my usually concealed expression is out in the open. All shocked open mouths and shaking eyes.

"What did you just do?" My voice is shaky. As the words leave me I notice the way Cedric and Lucian look at each other.

"You don't have to do anything," Lucian tells me quickly and I turn to him, eyebrows raised. "It's more of a formality than anything, a way to stop people and other pack members from trying to attack or hurt you like Mila."

"But -" I try talking but I can't get anything out. Cedric quickly takes over.

"Also this is a way we can learn from you," I look at him, my head tilting to the side confused, "you said we weren't allowed to talk to you until we learn to control. You can teach us that. Teach us and every other werewolf how to control our wolves."

I can't think, I can't say anything but Lucian doesn't give me a moment.

"Morgan, this is the whole point of the school. To learn from the other species and make connections. Before you, I wanted nothing to do with the witches, much less the vampires but then you came and you demanded more of us. We want to take that step, with you, into the next part of this school. The part where all three species might be able to work together for the betterment of everyone."

His words are beautiful, they pull me in. I know I can't say no, because not only do the boys demand my mind to follow them but because of Annie. This is her dream and I have a way to make her life that little bit easier.

"Fine but it's on my terms, not the packs." They both nod their heads.

AUTHOR NOTE

I love how Morgan will do anything for her Grandmother. She just loves her so much.

I hope you guys liked this chapter, we see a little more of Morgan standing up for herself and learning that she doesn't have to be afraid of the other students, that she can be just as powerful as them.

Also so glad she finally forgave the boys, what do you guys think about this forgiveness?

As always if you see any plot holes or problems please comment as well as grammar and spelling mistakes.

Thank you for reading,

LAURA