"Okay just— please come." Cleo says into the phone.

Constance sighs on the other end. "Things are bad here too, Chleo. Probably worse then whatever you got going on over there."

Chleo called Constance on the only phone in the entire pack. The one in Arlis's office.

The whole place smelled like him. The intoxicating aroma of everything he is.

It was like strawberries and vanilla, alongside hazelnuts and cinnamon.

Arlis's gaze meets mine, and he smirks. "The longer we go without mating, the more we're going to feel the bond."

I shudder and face back to Chleo. "Great." I mutter, because I'm already really feeling it.

Chleo chuckles into the phone. "I highly doubt that, Connie."

"And when you're twenty I'll be irresistible." Arlis says, smiling at me and looking up.

Constance laughs a maniacal laugh. "Oh really?" She asks, doubt laced in her voice. "I'm in Columbia Falls right now with my dad dealing with a werewolf attack on humans, a missing girl, the death of Felix, and the kidnapping of my cousin Fiona. Not to mention, my other cousin, Everly, is missing after going on a Hunt. She's probably dead. How can your situa— DON'T YELL AT ME UNLESS YOU CAN BACK UP YOUR WORDS OLD MAN!" She yells, and I have a feeling it wasn't towards Chleo.

All the color drains from Chleo's face. "Your father is there?" He asks.

"I'm kind of busy right now— DID YOU JUST SLAM THE DOOR IN MY FACE! HELL NO— what is it you need?" She switches between two personalities it seems like.

Chleo scoffs. "Well that missing girl from the werewolf attack? I know where she is."

Constance sucks in a breath. "Where? We need to know."

Chleo clears his throat and tilts his head. "See uh— here's where this all boils down to where I'm in a worse situation... she's Arlis's mate."

She gasps on the other end of the phone. "No." She growls. "Stay there, steal her from Arlis. Meet me on the edge of the territory, and I'll—"

"I will make you wish you were dead if you touch her, Constance." Arlis growls out. "She's my mate."

I rest my hand on his shoulder, and I feel him relax a couple notches.

"Besides Constance, if we killed her it would kill Arlis. And then you'd have our entire pack hunting you down." Chleo says.

Arlis growls lowly at Chleo. "You are not the Alpha here, Chleo. Stop acting like you are. What happens is my decision not yours."

Chleo looks at Arlis, straight in the eyes challenging him. "Am I wrong!?"

Arlis pushes Chleo against the wall. "Chleo, you're shoving me in a corner and my wolf isn't liking it. You're talking about your Luna like you had the option to kill her. There is no besides or buts. There is only one reason you won't kill her, and that's because I said so. I'm older than you, stronger than you, and your Alpha. You will do what I say out of respect for your hierarchy and because I'm your friend."

Chleo nods slowly, looking at the floor. "Sorry, Alpha. Sorry... Luna."

I swelled with pride a little bit because of Arlis, but that didn't mean he wasn't in the wrong. Friends don't push each other against walls out of anger, they talk things out.

The phone fell during Arlis's attack on Chleo and I quickly picked it up.

"Constance, is my family okay?" I asked quickly. "And the Hedgewoods?"

She sighed. "I believe so. You're lucky you're Arlis's mate. If he falls... it would mean war anyways. I'll be there in thirty minutes." She hangs up and we were all left in silence.

I set the phone on his desk, letting my fingers slide slowly down the slick wood.

"Why would Arlis die if I died? We've only known each other for a couple hours?" I ask, hating my situation, but feeling secretly... satisfied.

Seymour sighs. "Honey, mates are special. You only get one. Knowing that he's bound to be alone for the rest of his life never to experience love is enough to make anyone go into depression. But werewolves have heightened emotions... it wouldn't just be depression. It would ultimately be death." Seymour's eyes softened.

I nod slowly. "So I can't go... because if there's a war—"

"When. When there's a war." Chleo interrupts.

"When," I fix myself, "when there's a war... I'd die and he'd know? How would he know" I ask.

Arlis sets his hand on my shoulder and I close my eyes. "The same way I know you're mine. I'd feel it. I'd feel it crumble along with my will to continue. Chleo would become Alpha but we'd be a weak pack." He closes his eyes and sighs. "I know this isn't ideal for you, and trust me it kills me to see you sad and feeling alone, but there isn't really anything we can do about it."

"Come with me." I rush out. "Come stay with me. At my home." Wouldn't this be a story to tell the folks back home?

He shakes his head. "I can't leave my pack. I'm on the verge of war with Damarion and the world eventually."

I nod, sort of understanding. He's like the president. He can't just leave and give this up.

But he needs to understand that I can't give up my family either. "My family. I have to see them again. I can't just—"

"We'll visit them. I promise. We'll let things cool down first, okay? From what I hear, werewolves aren't the only species with troubles right now." He licks his lips, and I swear I have to get closer to him.

But I don't. "Thank you. I'm sorry I'm... not what you expected. I don't fully grasp this whole "mate" thing, but I'm sure you were expecting some badass alpha woman with tattoos and experience. Not a weak nineteen year old human who wants to leave." I hate sounding so... immature and small. But it was the truth. He didn't seem like a bad guy. He probably wanted some nice werewolf woman.

He shakes his head. "God no. You're everything I could ever hope for. I don't grasp this whole "human" thing," he chuckled, "But I think you're doing damn well adjusting to all this. Most people, I think, would freak if they found out about us. That says something about you. You're strong, you can stay calm. I need someone like that." He rests his forehead against mine. "Don't apologize for how you feel. Ever."

He was right, though. If Vix was here she would be panicking. My mom would probably faint. My dad would go into flight or flight mode. No fight, just flight.

Yet here I am.

Sitting with a werewolf leaning against me.

"Turn her." Sam says, sitting up from the rolling chair in Arlis's office. "Make her a werewolf. Then she won't be against the prophesy or against the Hunters. Also, you're nineteen? How? I thought you were in high school."

"Held back in kindergarten" I muttered, looking up to Seymour. "Would changing me help?"

Seymour massaged his eyebrows. "It could... But it wouldn't matter, there'd be no proof until she's twenty. It would be helping, but... I don't know. It's worth a try?"

Arlis set his hand on my knee, and I let it sit there. He met my eyes and studied by face. "We could?"

"Can people sense that I'm human?" I ask. "How does this whole underage thing even work?"

Seymour cleared his throat. "From when born until you're twenty, you are an Undecided. You hold no species. And remember that those undecided bodies ache to be something. You have the chance to change your blood until you're twenty. If we try to change our blood type after, we become weak hybrids. If you never change it, you take what your parents had. If you're below twenty and you ask a werewolf, or a Hunted, or even a Hunter to change you into them, they can, and you'll be a full blood. And no, we can't te—"

"I can." Sam scoffs. "Pfft. She's inexperienced and knows nothing." I give him a dirty look, and he shrugs. "But, nobody would ever really call you a human. Arlis's energy is all over you."

"Energy?" I asked, still feeling left out.

Arlis smirked to himself. "Oh yeah, I claimed you the moment you fell into my arms."

Before I could ask, Seymour laughed.

"Think of it like Jacob imprinting Reneesme." Chleo said, shaking his head and chuckling.

I couldn't help but let a smile grow. "What?" I asked, a dumb look probably on my face.

Sam whipped his face and shook his head at Arlis, who was deep red. "You're supposed to do that during... ya know... that. It's a custom. So everyone who— we know you didn't, but not everyone else." Sam continued laughing and I faced Arlis with an angry look.

"What!? I did it so she would heal faster!" He said, pointing to my back. "Plus, not like she's gunna sleep with me right now like normal mates." He added, and it was serious for a moment before everyone started laughing and all but crying.

"When is Constance getting here, I need a woman." I said and shook my head, making all the guys laugh again.

Pretty soon, Sam was clutching his side and Seymour was coughing.

"So... Chleo where's your mate?" I ask.

Chleo shrugged. "Hopefully at some Camp Virgin on an all-girl's island." He said, nodding to himself.

"And Seymour?" I asked, but immediately regretted it.

His face fell and I could practically hear his heart break. "Angelica." He said the one word and I understood it all. "I'm gunna leave before Constance gets here, she creeps me—"

"Well hello, wolf." A girl with strikingly dark hair and bright green eyes stood in the doorway, hand on her hip. She was tall, and model-worthy gorgeous.

I instantly felt out of place.

Seymour tried to walk past her, but she placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back. "Scared old man?" She asked, smiling deviously.

Hair sprouted from the back of Seymour's neck, and his fingers elongated. "Not of you. You're just a little girl. Your father? Yes."

This seemed to piss her off.

Constance glared at Seymour, her eyes practically burning holes in him. "Pathetic. Older than dirt and you're scared of a man with anger issues. Sad. I'm not scared of him."

"He's your father." Seymour spat, but it sounded more inhuman, almost like a growl.

She rolled her eyes. "You'd think that would make me more scared of him. That I could be blood and he'd still kill me. But it doesn't."

Seymour growled. "Kasparov would never kill you."

Constance looked at Arlis. "Almost did when he found out I helped Arlis. Spared his life. He kicked me out, and told Hunteds where they would find me. It would have been a dishonorable death."

"And I saved you." Arlis says surprisingly. "Constance, can you repay me for doing that? All those years ago?"

She glared at him, pulling out a dagger that made my breath halt.

"That was you repaying me." She sneered. "And all you did was get Becker to rush to my aid."

"What if I asked? Constance, please." Chleo asked, stepping forward.

Constance tilted her head left to right. "I'll give you a ten second head start to start running little girl." Constance smiled.

"Call Becker." Arlis said to Chleo. "Now!"

Chleo dialed in a number and Constance laughed. "Kidding, kidding. Kill her we get a war, don't kill her we get a war. Why did you call me? Rat yourselves out?" Constance asked.

Arlis growled lowly and the noise made my bones rattle, but Constance just rolled her eyes in a bored manner.

"We called because Damarion Pack is threatening war with us because we've let a human onto our territory. And well the last time a human knew about us..." Chleo let the air grow heavy with his words. "Can't you just tell them you killed her?"

Constance narrowed her eyes at us. She shook her head, giving us a dumb look. "Alpha Rylee isn't stupid. He will want proof. He won't just take my word. And even if he did, all the Hunters are looking for her, if they come snooping around this area and ask if he's seen her then of course he's gunna say that I killed her. And then he's gunna wanna know how I found her, why I didn't say anything." She shakes her head. "Just change her into a werewolf!? That changes everything."

Arlis bit his lip softly. "We were thinking that, but she's only nineteen."

Connie shrugged. "So? I'll talk to Damarion pack and let them known the plan. Bam, problem solved."

Arlis looked to me, his eyes softening. "Would you—"

I noted quickly. "It's stopping a war, right?"

Everyone nodded. "Yeah. It would."

"How do we do it then?" I asked, standing and straightening my back. "Lets just get it over with."

"Well, I'll turn, I'll bite you, and then you'll be infected." He said, shuddering. "The process is... Painful."

I let a wave of fear flow through me, but only for a moment. I needed to be strong.

I sighed, thinking about my family and what I was doing. Humans don't live forever, I knew that. And from the looks of it, werewolves did.

I'd outlive all my family. Forever.

I think of the last trime I saw them, my best friend fearful and bleeding from all over as I shoved her into a rose bush. My brother barely standing from a bite in his leg. My—

"My brother was but by a werewolf." I say, panicking and meeting booked eyes.

Constance sighs. "Doctor Montgomery has it fixed. There's a cure for a bite, not for hereditary, however."

I widened my eyes in shock. Doctor Montgomery was one of my friend's dad. "He knows about all of this."

Constance nods. "Oh yeah. He has too. He's a necromancer."

My mouth must have dropped to the floor. "What!?"

"This world only gets crazier." Constance says, eyeing me like a piece of meat.

To her I might've been.

"So when can we do it?" I asked, taking a brave breath.

Arlis gave me a pitiful look, and it made me wonder if this was a good idea. I mean it was the only idea, so I guess it had to be good.

"We could do it now?" He offered.

I had no choice but to accept. This was gunna stop a war. And if it was gunna save people, then so be it if I had to take a little pain. "Then lets do it." I put on a fake smile.