BILLIEThey all think they know me.I don't mean my friends, the family I've built here at the Rock House and at the House of the Children of Diana–who we're still meeting in secret, not wanting to tip off the Traditionalists that witches are working against them–I mean everyone else in this school. They think because they hear the whispers, because I'm kind even to those who are not, they know my story.No one knows my full story except Tristan, who I told late one cold night under the covers, about what it was like growing up poor with no father and a mother in and out of reality, then living alone in that trailer park with barely any security, how the men would follow me sometimes. How Spader wasn't the first guy who ever propositioned me, just the one that made me snap.No one but Tristan knows me so completely. I pour all my emotions about my change and my new fame out onto the stage as an offering to the moon goddess during my performance at the Spring Showcase. There are peopl
TRISTAN“I have to say, Billie, you're being very mature about all these changes,” my father says on the computer screen. It's a high compliment from him.“Thank you, Alpha Connor. I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.”“Nonsense,” he says. “Being a member of a pack means you're never a burden. We're here for each other. How do you feel about continuing the research study at the Institute?”“I feel fine with it, as long as it doesn't get in the way of school,” she says.“You've always struck me as a responsible girl, Billie. Are you sure about this fight? Administration has said they will allow it under Title IX. But I want to make sure this is something you want to do.”“Yes, Alpha. I need to do this for the pack.”“All right then, you have my blessing.”I close the laptop after my father signs off and turn to Billie. “Now we just have to wait.”“It will be good to have some breathing space, with Hyde's mouth shut and with campus being more calm,” she says.I pull her into my lap. I
BILLIEI am the thing they're afraid of.As we walked around campus that first day, that was the thought that struck me the most: they're afraid of me.There are all sorts of rumors and legends about werewolves who have been turned by the bite of another wolf, I've learned.Rumors that we're bigger. Stronger. More powerful. More vicious. More…paranormal.My senses have been getting more fine tuned every day. I can focus in on one smell, or one sound, and tell where it's coming from. I can differentiate spices in my food more clearly. My sense of direction, my balance, my stealth, my reflexes, my tolerance of pain and discomfort, all are being studied and all advance further every day.The doctors and researchers at the Werewolf Health Institute are all very polite; none of them assume my cooperation or get pissy when I'm at my limit. They're all so grateful that I'm willing to be experimented on. The discomfort and pain series of experiments was particularly difficult for Tristan to s
TRISTANMy girl looks like an avenging angel in her tight black outfit and her tall black boots, flanked by her girls, all with various “don’t fuck with me” looks on their faces. I walk in front, then Billie with Abby, Sophie, and Rachel, with Dominic directly in her rear, along with the rest of the guys. We make it to the meeting place early and situate ourselves similarly, Billie taking a chair in the center with Dom off to Billie’s side to keep an eye on anything approaching her, and her girl gang acting casual but tight around her. I take a spot near the front, where I’ll be able to move around and intimidate. After a while, four guys from Lunacy come into the meeting room. They all have crew cuts, and they’re all from the football team. Sullivan is our quarterback. They stand there in a line four across. They all look desperate but determined.Sullivan is the first to speak. “We have a proposal that we think will end all this and get everything back to normal.”“Do tell,” Billie
BILLIE“Just one more run, Billie, then we can go on a break.”I'm at the Werewolf Health Institute on Crescent University campus. I'm in my wolf form and I've allowed them to hook machines up to my body while I'm on a treadmill running as fast as I can. I'm about at my limit–not physically, I could go all night, but mentally and emotionally.I want to go home.My body has changed. I already had dancer muscles and strength training with Fleming. My toned legs, arms, and stomach now have a definition to them that wasn’t there. And I’m stronger. Oh boy, am I stronger.I was able to lift a corner of Raven’s vintage Mustang while in human form.And that’s great. But now I want to go home.“One more test, and that's it,” Tristan tells them.They have me run for another ten minutes, recording data. Then I'm unhooked from the machines. I immediately go behind a screen and change into my human self, then get dressed. I come back out and say goodbye to the whole team of grad students and rese
TRISTANMy Kitten surprised us all.She's a miracle.According to the local Werewolf Health Institute, connected to Crescent University, she's the biggest she-wolf on record. Her dormant wolf was inside her all this time just waiting to come out huge and snarling. Her wolf is beautiful. Shiny black fur, gorgeous amber yellow eyes that glow, a magnificent coat and tail. She's been able to shift on her own twice now.The guys and I have stayed in human form, giving her space to explore. Soon, we'll change with her. Then we can play.She's as big as everyone else but me.If she'd been born a wolf, she would have been a rare female alpha.As it is, she refuses to take her Omega collar off. It rests around her neck after she's changed, somehow fitting like a dog collar, and she won’t let us take it off. The little monster growled when we tried.Back as a human, she's been subdued like she's making a lot of decisions in her mind, thinking things through. “I'm an Omega. That's how I feel in