I laughed as Matei's fingers intertwined with mine as we walked alongside T.J. and Selina. It felt good to be like this - just spending a day doing nothing with him. The sun was warm on my skin, filtering down onto my dark hair.

"You up for it, Matei?" T.J. piped up suddenly, breaking into my thoughts, "Terrible movie? I might even stretch to buy the popcorn,"

"Alright, maybe," Matei answered, his hand still holding onto mine.

"You can come, too," Selina said to me in a sing-song voice, nudging my shoulder gently.

I blushed scarlet at the invitation.

"Back row, in the dark-" T.J. teased but Matei just waved him off.

"Come off it, will you?" he cut him off but there was an air of playfulness to his voice.

"Oh?" T.J. shot back, grinning as we sidled up to the Kafe, "Giving each other them looks?"

"And then looking away?" Selina offered, smiling over at the two of us.

I chuckled, "Sounds like you're describing each other."

They fell short behind us and a snicker emitted from my lips.

"That's weird," Matei suddenly said and we all turned to see what he was talking about.

On the Kafe's front door, there was a small 'Closed' sign.

"What's going on?" I asked, glancing around at the others.

But they looked just as confused as I was. Suddenly, the tiny bells jingled as the door opened, revealing Jana. A serious expression was plastered on her face and she looked slightly worried. Her eyes locked on me then.

"We need to talk." she said somberly.

We followed Jana into the Kafe and up to the apartment she shared with Katrina. I hung back in the doorway as the rest of them crowded in, Jana informing them of Katrina taping a video of them as Wolfbloods. This was a pack meeting - nothing to do with me anyway.

"I didn't mean it!" Katrina wailed, tears forming in her blue eyes.

"And why would you even do that?" Matei asked in disbelief.

"You must have known it would get out!" Selina said in exasperation, her brown eyes flicking between Katrina and the others.

"Oh, come on, guys, she didn't mean any harm," T.J. defended her, crossing his arms casually.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms as well. Yeah, sure, she didn't.

"And you're defending her?" Matei asked, turning briefly to glance at his best friend, "This is just-"

"I didn't know that Kay and Kara would steal it!" Katrina cut him off.

Wait, steal?! This was getting interesting now.

"And how long until they tell everyone what we are?" Matei snapped at her.

I glanced from the blonde back to my boyfriend who was looking very agitated as the conversation went on.

"We need you to speak Kay and Kara. Get them on our side," Jana negotiated then, "Get them to agree to keep the secret,"

"I'll try," Katrina nodded, still looking uneasy with the idea.

"No. You'll do more than try," Matei told her sternly.

I bit my lip. He was awfully attractive when he was mad.

"How am I going to persuade them?" she asked hopelessly.

"You three have been best friends since...forever. They trust you. All you have to do is tell them the truth: we're not a danger to anyone," Jana told her," We just wanna be left in peace. Text them now. Arrange to meet. We'll get the Kafe open."

As Katrina grabbed up her phone, coat, and purse, Jana ushered me into the room. I furrowed my eyebrows. What could she want with me? Katrina, T.J., Selina, and Matei all turned to go but my hand shot out, grabbing Matei's wrist. With my eyes, I tried to convey how much I wanted him to not leave me alone with Jana, needed him not to leave me alone with her. The others filtered out and I heard their footsteps fading away down the hall as Matei hung back with me.

His eyes met Jana's and she nodded, allowing him to stay.

"Jemma, first of all, I wanna say that I'm sorry for the way I treated you when we met. I shouldn't have been so hasty to judge you. It wasn't right of me and I apologize for it," she told me humbly, sincerity ringing clear in her voice.

A smile grew on my face and I nodded to her, "Apology accepted, Jana."

She smiled back at me in relief before gesturing towards the living room for us all to sit down. Jana sat across from us in an armchair while Matei and I took the couch. She clasped her hands together over her knees and took a deep breath.

"I spoke to Imara about the Segolia wolf attacking you," Jana informed me and I grabbed Matei's hand instinctively, "At first, it didn't make sense. Segolia doesn't attack unless provoked and even then, it's to protect Wolfbloods... And you didn't do anything to hurt anyone,"

"So Imara started digging into the files since she's the only one with access...and she found something...startling..." Jana continued and I squeezed Matei's hand.

Within a second, he squeezed back, reassuring me he was still there.

"Jemma...this is about your parents..."

My eyes snapped to Jana's and I sucked in a breath. What was she talking about? I never even knew my parents! When words failed me, Matei spoke up for me.

"Jana, what did you find?" he asked, his fingers caressing the back of my hand comfortingly.

She was silent for a moment, looking down at her boots briefly before glancing back up at me.

"Jemma, your parents were Wolfblood hunters."