I looked at him and I laughed frantically. "That was funny, Dylan. Really funny."

His smile went away and he looked at me seriously. "I'm not joking, I was the wolf you met on Friday."

"Hold on, but how on earth did you know about the wolf that attacked me?"I asked.

"Attacked you? I didn't attack you and I'll never attack you, Hillary."

"Dylan, quit the joke. I guess Ava must have told you about it."

"Wait, you told Ava about our connection? Why would you do that?"He said in annoyance.

"What connection are you talking about? Are you crazy?"

"Hillary you must have felt something, that's how it always is."

I began to reason the possibility of that being real since I had indeed felt a strong absurd connection to the wolf, but I immediately concluded that it was unreasonable and he was just cracking a joke. "Aside from the joke, if Ava really didn't tell you about the wolf, how did you know I saw a wolf on Friday?"

He feigned a frown. "Hillary, how on earth can I prove it to you?"

"Prove what, exactly?"

"That I'm the wolf."

It wasn't funny anymore, it was rather frightening. "Enough with the wolf joke, and ......you know what, goodnight Dylan."I turned around, backing him and facing the window. I knew he was still there, as I didn't hear the door close.

What was he doing? Watching me sleep in the dark? That was really creepy.

Scary thoughts came into my head. "What if I had brought a creep into my house—or worse, a psychopath, and I was alone, in the night. Even if I screamed no one would hear me as we lived miles away from the rest of the town and even if I had a chance before, it was gone as it was raining heavily outside and if someone was standing outside, the person still wouldn't be able to hear me.

"Hillary,"He said, almost growling. His voice had changed, it wasn't hard nor masculine...it didn't sound really human, it was more like that of a dog, no...a wolf, mixed with human.

"Look at me."He said.

Cold sweats formed on my head as I trembled under my blankets.

"I'm not going to hurt you in any way."He said.

I didn't know why but I believed him, so in slow motion, I turned around and to my greatest surprise, I saw the unbelievable.

It was still Dylan for sure, but his golden brown eyes were now shiny blue wolf's eyes. I backed away from him, until I was resting on the wall of my room, and with a perplexed voice, I asked, "What are you?"

"I'm a werewolf, Hillary."

"Werewolf...as in movie kinda werewolf?"I asked.

"Sometimes, movies tell true stories, Hillary, and our kind are one of the true stories."

"Wait....you said 'our'. You mean...Ava?"

"Yes, Ava is also a werewolf and... so are you."

"Excuse me. What!"

"I don't know how to explain this to you."His eyes went back to normal and he drew out my reading chair and sat down. "The connection you and I felt, simply means that you're my mate."

"Mate? What does that mean?"I asked frantically.

"In simple words, it means that...you and I are meant to be....together."

I didn't know whether I should be happy or scared or annoyed. It all seemed so absurd to believe, it was too much to accept in such a short time. I was highly pressured, so I laughed out with fear clearly present in my voice. "You are insane. I don't know who you are and what is going on, for all I know, this may be some silly prank or...maybe you are a member of an occult group or something. It's okay if you say Ava is one of you guys, at least her so-called tattoo explains that."

"Hold on, Ava has a tattoo?"

It was at that point, I realized that I had messed up. I spilled the beans unconsciously. And if what Dylan was saying about Ava being a werewolf like him, then I was sure that I'd be dead. I could remember the death threat clearly

Flashback: "Hillary, if you ever say anything to anyone about me and the tattoo, YOU'RE DEAD."

"Did you just say that Ava has a tattoo? What does it look like?"Dylan asked again.

I looked at his inquisitive face and I dumbly shook my head like a little kid lying to her momma. I knew that I was terrible at lying, despite several years of training by my sister who was the master of the lying arts, and the chief fabricator of stories. "I never said anything like that. What tattoo? I know nothing about tattoos?"I ranted.

"Hillary, don't lie to me. Did she have a tattoo of a wolf's eye on her?"He said, suddenly boiling with anger.

"What are you talking about? You're frightening me, okay? In fact..."I looked outside and luckily it had stopped raining. "...I would like you to leave my house imme-diate-ly."

"Hillary, fine, I'll leave but first tell me about the tattoo."

My pressure level had reached its limit and it could not withstand any more pressure, so I exploded with distress. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT WEREWOLVES, YOU OR AVA, AND I NEED YOU TO GET OUT OF MY HOUSE BEFORE I CALL POLICE. GET OUT!!!"

He seemed shocked by my outburst. I thought he was going to say something, but then he stared at me for a while and then walked out of my room. In a few seconds, I heard the sound of my front door open and close, and I knew he had left.

I let out a loud cry, and I rolled round and round the bed, holding my head. I felt really bad. I knew I was rude and harsh towards him but everything was too much to handle. I didn't even know from where to start thinking from; was it the fact that he had shiny blue wolf's eyes or the fact that he claims to be a werewolf or the fact that he claims that Ava is also like him, which explains why she had referred to me as 'humans' because she wasn't human, she was a freaking werewolf!

Crazy!! Everything was crazy! He had even said that I was a werewolf too and I was his mate. Ridiculous!

I made up my mind. I was going to keep away from them and if they approached me again I would tell them that I wasn't going to be a part of their occult group or whatever it was.

I had my own living hell to bear and I didn't want to add another to it. Although the fact that I won't see him hurt me a lot, I did what I thought I needed to do. For Christ's sake he had glowing wolf's eyes, I didn't even want to think that he was truly a werewolf.

I didn't believe in the supernatural —at least not anymore. I once believed when I was younger that I was a werewolf, or some kind of beast because I usually have highly realistic nightmares of me changing into a wolf under the full moon and then I would wake up naked and exhausted in the middle of the forest.

My mum was always around, and waiting for me to wake up with my clothes in her hands, which made me wonder if she was like me because in my nightmares, I wasn't the only wolf, there were three of us; me, my sister and my mother.

The only time I had summoned up courage to tell her about my curiosity concerning the wolf thing, she had shouted on me, hit me severally, locked me in the dark basement for a whole week and when I was released, she had warned me never to say such nonsense, that her daughters aren't monsters and that I was just suffering from nightmares and it was nothing out of the ordinary

After that day, I had never questioned her or myself about it mainly because I didn't want to get beaten and locked in the basement again.

Now, I fought against the possibility of that being true. I didn't want anything causing trouble for me. By the way, I already had a plan to run away from home after my graduation from High school and my eighteenth birthday, which was in two weeks.

Even if I were a wolf, I was going to be a lone wolf.

*****

Five days had passed since my encounter with Dylan and Ava, and I had received nothing less than a hundred calls from them which I didn't pick and after a while I switched off my cell as I really didn't need it anymore, by the way, my mum and Steve always called our landline phone at home.

It was the second to the last day of school, and it was a very emotional day for most students, but not me though. It was a happy day for me, I had no friends that I'd miss, I had no teacher that I had liked to the extent of crying that I was leaving.

I waited after school, to look around the school for the last time as I knew that I wouldn't be going for the graduation party the next day.

With my fantastic results in my hands, I wandered my highschool over and over again.

I had taken the truck because I wasn't going back home, I was going to run somewhere faraway just like my twin sister had, run to a place where my mum and Steve would never find me.

At last, I walked outside and into the truck. I hadn't taken much, apart from my two small bags which I kept some of my clothes and some pictures of myself and my twin sister, Maribel. I took nothing that belonged to my mum nor Steve, I didn't want to remember that they ever existed.

I took in three deep breaths and then shifted the gear to drive....it was then I felt the presence of someone in the car but it was already too late...I had been injected and put to sleep.

My eyelids shook severally as I struggled to open my eyes. The room swirled around for some seconds until I finally retained my sight and was shocked with the human figure at my front—Dylan Woodluck.

He was seated at my front with a tray of food in his hands. Despite the amazing aroma that emanated from the food, I felt dizzy and irritated as hell. The only way for me not vomiting was if a miracle occurred, and if you know anything about me, it is the fact that things like miracles and luck were never on my side.

In other words....I vomited.

He placed his hands on my back and rubbed it gently. "You're alright, okay."

"Get off me!"I said, shrugging his hands off me.

He retreated, picked the chair which he had been sitting on and moved it closer to me. He reached out for the tray and sat down, placing the tray of food on his lap. "How are you feeling?"He said with his nice soothing voice.

"Where the hell am I?"I asked, ignoring his question.

"Hillary, you are somewhere safe."

I scoffed. "Somewhere safe? And my home is what, exactly?"

"Dangerous."He said.

"You kidnapped me and now you are telling me that my home is dangerous."

"I know that abducting you wasn't the best way to bring you here and for that I'm truly sorry...but you and I know that your home is bad for you, with those crazy people as your..."

"Don't you dare say such things about my parents...I mean my mum and Steve Harrows."

"You see, you can't even call them parents..."

"You know nothing about me, Dylan."I said.

"Yea, you're right, but what I do know about you is that you're very stubborn, which is both good and bad, and the bad side of your stubbornness is what's making you unable to accept that those people are deranged and unsuitable to live amongst normal people, especially not you"He said.

"Then I guess they better live with you, since you're as crazy as they are."I said angrily. I hated it when anyone talked about my family. Although I detested my mum and Steve, I never showed it outside. It was meant to be something I'd hide forever, because it was a highly disturbing matter for me, so I always kept it private. And now, I felt like Dylan was invading my privacy...I felt embarrassed.

"I'm sorry,"he said. "But when I found out about the abuse, I became annoyed and I just couldn't control my feelings."

"Why do you care if I get hurt or not? It's none of your business."

"You're my mate, Hillary...you mean everything to me!"

Those words slammed my heart and immediately flushed all my anger away. Did he really mean that? Or was he trying to get me to trust him? Either way, it still made my heart jump in excitement.

"I need you to trust me, Hillary."

I scoffed. "If you really need me to trust you then I guess you had better quit drugging and abducting me, and then maybe someday...you could 'earn' my trust."I said, laying emphasis on the word 'earn'.

"Once again, I'm sorry for drugging you, but I needed to bring you here to meet my father... the alpha of my pack."

"Why?"I asked curiously.

"He's sick and he really wants to see you."

"I still don't get it. Why me?"

"Because, you are my mate....and if my father doesn't make it....I'll be made the next alpha and you'd be my Luna."

I managed to laugh despite my nervousness. "You're nuts. You really need help, Dylan...and I can help you, just let me go and I could probably get you like four psychiatrists and six shrinks to help you."

"I'm not insane and you know that, Hillary."

"All I know is that you are abducting me, Dylan and if you don't let me go now, the police will hunt you down, arrest you, you'd be imprisoned and you'd spend a whole lot of years in prison."

"You aren't forced to stay here, Hillary."

"Okay, then I think it's best for me to.leave, right?"

"Hillary, you're not a prisoner here."He said.

"Then let me go!!!"

"I will, but first...you have to meet my father...the alpha."

I calmed myself down by taking in three deep breaths. "OK, but you'd have to promise me that immediately I see your father, you'd free me."

He shot me a sharp glance and said. "Sure thing, Hillary...I promise."

He stood up, dropped the tray, and began making his way out of the room. "Come along, Hillary, this house is very enormous and you could get lost."

It was when I began rising up that I noticed the fact that I had vomited on the floor and I felt really really filthy. "Hold on, Dylan."

"What's wrong?"He said turning around. "Oh...is it the...don't worry I'll have someone clean it up."

"Also, I'll have to clean up as I feel like a trash can right now."

"Okay... the bathroom is that way."he said pointing to another door in the room. "I would have someone drop you some new clothes before you're done."

"Okay."

"I'll be waiting downstairs."He said as he opened the door and closed it.

I exhaled and hurried into the bathroom. I rinsed my mouth thoroughly and after I took off my clothes and hopped into the bathtub.

I dipped my head into the water for a few seconds, it was my method of getting rid of unnecessary thoughts.

When I raised myself back up, I was startled by someone standing by the door. I swiftly used my palms to rub off the soapy water off my face to get a better look at the person.

I took a sigh of relief when I saw who it was. "Ava, you scared the hell out of me."

She looked at me with fury and extreme annoyance. Her face was red and puffy, like she had been crying for a very long time. The usual spark in her beautiful ocean blue eyes was gone and her eyes looked duller and she had a growing eye bag under her eyes, like she hadn't slept for some days and had spent her sleeping hours weeping. Her blonde curly hair was rough and uncombed. Her lips were quivering and she had a look of hate on her face.

I rested back a little bit. "What's wrong, Ava?"

"Everything. Every single thing, Hillary."She said as she moved into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

I became really scared. I hoped she hadn't found out that I mentioned her tattoo to Dylan. "Ava...I swear I didn't tell him..."

She drew closer to me and squatted beside me. She had a maniacal smile on her face. She gently touched and massaged my hair and scalp. "You know they weren't lying, Janette and Clarissa weren't lying at all...your hair is really really pretty, Hillary."

I began to tremble.

"But not only that, Hillary. They were right about everything...they saw the real you hidden beneath all that friendly and fake smile of yours."She sniffed as a tear rolled down her puffy cheek. She grabbed my hair gently and used her fingers to massage my scalp. "They warned me but I didn't listen. I thought they were lying, I thought you were just a victim of a bully and nothing else. I really liked you..., you know? I wanted to be your friend, Hillary. And I don't usually make friends. But you fooled me, Hillary."

My body trembled as her finger left cold shivers as they massaged my scalp. I felt like crying but I was too scared to do anything but plead. "What are you talking about? I don't understand. Whatever it is ...I'm sorry."

"No you are not sorry, Hillary."She said as her fingers gripped my hair with more force. "If you are sorry, then why are you here?"

"Here? I never meant to come here. Dylan abducted me and brought me here."I said with my voice quivering.

"Yea, I'm fully aware of that...if only you hadn't seduced and bewitched him into loving you, instead of me, who truly loves him."She gripped my hair with so much force, which made me yelp in pain. I tried to wriggle out of her grip, but it didn't work, instead it made it worse. It was almost like she wanted to pull my hair out of my head. The pain became more excruciating and when I yelled out for help, she quickly covered my mouth and tied my mouth with her muffler which she had around her neck. And again, continued with the torture.

I knew that in a few minutes, I would have begun to bleed from my scalp, so I used my teeth to reach out to her neck. She tried pushing me away, but I was lucky and fast enough to get to her wrist. I took a deep bite into her wrist until I felt hot blood ooze out of her skin and into my mouth. I quickly withdrew and spat out the blood.

Ava was whimpering and moaning as she held her wrist.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw the damage I had done to her. She was bleeding badly and her wrist looked like they were hanging and like they might fall off soon.

But how? My teeth couldn't have done so much damage.

I reached out to my teeth and was surprised when I touched my canines. They were long, sharp and pointed. I screamed in fear of my own self.

Despite her pain, Ava wasn't done with me yet, she abandoned her left hand which was useless at that moment and grabbed my hair with her right hand. She yanked my head downwards into the tub and held me down.

She was going to drown me. I was sure of it. I shook and used all my strength but she was way stronger than I was.

After a while, I gave up. I surrendered to her torturing hands and choked on the water.

But before I drew in my last breath, her grip on me was released and my head was pulled out from the tub.

I vomited the water out of my mouth and coughed continuously. My eyes were red and wide open.

Dylan was pulling Ava who was yelling and crying at the same time, away from me and out of the room. I heard other voices which I guess assisted in escorting her out.

I watched the whole drama unfold until Dylan came back. "Are you alright?"he asked.

"Yes. I'm fine now."I rested back into the tub to conceal my body from his flaring eyes.

He watched me for a while and then handed me a towel.

I grabbed it from him. I expected him to walk out but he didn't, his eyes were still all over me. "Would you excuse me, Dylan."

"No, I won't."he said bluntly.

"What!!"

"The last time I excused you, you were almost killed. I'm not taking my eyes off you."

I scoffed. "This is ridiculous. There's no way I'm getting out of here with you staring at me."

"What's the issue with me staring at you? You're my mate."He asked.

"The issue is that I love my privacy and lately it seems like you've been invading it. So pleeeaaase excuse me."

He turned around. "Well, this is all the privacy you're getting."

I rose from the tub and quickly wrapped the towel around me. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes met his curious blue eyes staring at me.

I held the towel closer to me, as a flush of embarrassment traveled all over me. "Did you...?"

"Yes, Hillary..."He said as he walked slowly to me. "And I'd say that you're indeed the most adorable lady I've ever set my eyes on."

With every step he took towards me I made a step backward, until I was resting on the walls of the bathroom.

I felt intoxicated and high by his closeness to me, like I was under the influence of hard drugs. I felt really high that I didn't know when I uttered. "And how many ladies have you set your eyes on?"

He chuckled. "More than you think? But none of them have ever made me feel this way."He reached for my hand which was holding the towel, and gently released my grip from it. "None of them have ever been so beautiful."He said as he let loose the towel.

I bowed my head as I watched the towel fall to the floor. I could feel his ravaging eyes wander all over my naked body and I didn't have the courage to look up at him.

Like he felt my fears, he slowly raised my head with his finger and said softly, "You don't need to be scared, Hillary, just...feel, okay?"

I nodded my head.

His fingertips began to trail my bare shoulder and ran down slowly to my chest. His hands drew closer to my bare breasts...and I pushed him away.

"I can't..."I muttered silently, catching my breath. "I'm sorry..I just can't."I bent and picked the towel and wrapped myself with it.

"It's fine, Hillary "he held my face gently. "We have all the time in the world to get fond of each other."

He patted my chin and walked out of the room. It took me two to three minutes to get control of myself. I couldn't believe my emotions, I had really wanted him to touch me however he wanted but I was just too scared and paranoid.

At last, I moved out of the bathroom and changed into a dress I saw on the bed. It was a short wrapping flared gown with beautiful sunflower patches on it. It wasn't my type of gown, as it was way higher than my knee. I looked at the mirror for a while, admiring the beautiful gown which showed my curves–curves which I've always hidden in my baggy pants, floor-touching skirts and Cinderella-like gowns.

I sat down on the bed and exhaled loudly through my mouth. I couldn't believe that so much could happen in less than thirty minutes; I had been tortured, accused and almost drowned by Ava Saints, a girl who I thought was my friend, and also what transpired between Dylan and I.

From the window I saw a small yellow tweeter hitting the window. I stood up and walked over to the large glass and mahogany framed window and opened it.

The beautiful bird had somehow gotten stuck in the wet clay of one of the vases which had beautiful flowers in them. It was young and beautiful and it suited the beautiful weather. I helped it out, and I let go of it...but it didn't fly away, instead it climbed onto my outstretched palms and chittered beautifully.

While I was still focused on the amazing tweeter, I didn't notice Dylan walk into the room. He walked to my side and said softly. "It likes you, doesn't it?"

I shook a little bit and the beautiful bird flew from my hand. "Oh, no."I exclaimed, but then it perched on my palms again.

He laughed. "Like I said, it does like you."

"Maybe."I giggled.

"Just accept it, Hillary, why is it always so difficult for you to accept love?"

My smile faded. "Because it's not real, Dylan. It's something formulated and it's never true...at least even if it was, it never comes to people like me." I said as I lifted my hand and urged the bird to fly away. It flew away and I shut the large windows.

"That's not true, Hillary. Everyone has a shot at true love and unlike humans we werewolves are lucky to always know our mates. So all you have to do is to accept it."

I looked into his deep golden brown eyes and tried to see if he meant it, and from the way he looked at me I was almost sure he did.

I looked away. "So, where's your dad? The alpha."

"Follow me."

*****

We were in a massive superbly decorated and furnished bedroom which had several pictures around, most of which were of Dylan and another girl who looked like Dylan, but was obviously younger.

On the bed, was an elderly man with long gray hairs, full gray beards and black shining eyes. Although he was old and his face was wrinkled and folded, he still looked strong and bold. He had the look of a leader, now I knew why he was the Alpha. His old eyes were focused on the ceiling, when Dylan and I walked in.

We went beside the bed and Dylan interrupted the old man from his daydream. "Dad."

The old man shook from his daydream. "Is she here?"

"Yes."Dylan said.

The old man groaned as he shifted his body to face me. His black eyes were fixed on me for a short moment, which felt like a whole year to me. I stood there confused and had an awkward feeling. I was tense until his wrinkled face gave in to a wide smile which exposed his old crooked teeth. He patted the bed beside me and told me with his old and shaky but bold voice. Come over here, sweetheart, don't let this old man make you frightened."

I hesitantly sat beside him.

He reached out to my face and rubbed it with his wrinkled but strong hands. "You're so pretty. What's your name, Angel?"

"I'm Hillary...Hillary Hunter."I said nervously. I wasn't used to being around nice old people, I never had grandparents, the only family I had were Maribel, My mum and Steve Harrows.

"Hunter....."He looked at me, and pity was written across his face. "I knew your father, Anthony Hunter."

What! He knew my father. He was the first person who had ever talked about my father. I wondered how he knew my father, and I really wanted to ask him multiple questions but I held myself. I had always thought of my father as a nice, generous, superhero-like person and now I was scared to hear about who he truly was. It hurt me so much that I knew nothing about my Dad and I didn't even know his name. I wanted to know badly if he looked like me or Maribel, if he liked soccer like I did, if he enjoyed cooking or if he admired nature like me, but I didn't ask any of those because I was scared to hear the answers to them.

The old man held my hand and wrapped it with his large hands. "You have a lovely name, Hillary."

"Thank you, sir."I said sheepishly.

"C'mon, don't sir me. Those days of me being over-respected are gone and over, right now, I'm just an old man who wishes the best for his son and his pack, and an old man who impatiently awaits his newly made friend named Death."

I looked at him pitifully. From the strongness and hardness of his palm and his hands which must have been really muscular some years ago as they weren't sagging like most old people's hands did, I was certain that he must have been a man of many amazing virtues and now he was chained down by age and illness.

He must have noticed my sympathetic face as he laughed happily and continuously until he began to cough. "Dearest Hillary, don't even think of pitying me. Today is a day which i have waited to witness for years, the day that my beloved young boy will find a mate who will be with him forever, and now I was blessed by the angels to witness my only son find His mate with not only a beautiful and intelligent child like you, but also the beloved daughter of my late friend, Anthony."

"You knew him well, didn't you?"I asked as I resisted the burning urge to request for the old man to tell me everything he knew about my father, every time they laughed and played together, everything they had witnessed, how he was so unfortunate to meet my mother, how he had felt when Maribel and I were born. I wanted to ask him to possibly say how my father felt every moment of his life, but I didn't.

"Your father was my friend and was the Alpha of this pack, Hillary."