"I want to take you home,” Hunter said to Ash.Their faces were flushed and the night left very little light to see inside the building. They were two shadows on the floor and the sound of their breathing seemed to fill the otherwise empty room.“What . . . what do you mean by that?” the girl shadow asked the boy shadow.The boy shadow seemed to respond only in panted breathing.Ash bit her lip. She wasn’t sure what Hunter meant by “taking her home” and the longer he didn’t answer, the more conscious she became of their bodies touching. She could see Hunter’s eyes in the half-light and they were still blue. She wondered what she looked like, what he saw as he looked back at her.She tried to move off of his lap, but he tightened his arms around her.“I wanna take you home, Boots,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder.“I heard you the first time, Hunter,” Ash

When Ash woke up the next morning, Celia was already gone.Ash wasn’t surprised. Celia liked to go for a morning run every so often, so she did sometimes leave at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning to get a good workout.Ash didn’t make too much of it. She knew that Celia was probably mad at her for lying about not seeing Hunter, so she figured Celia was just letting off steam with an early morning run.Ash thought about going back to sleep since it was only 6:00 am. Lying in her bed, listening to the sound of the quiet morning, she realized that she was finally alone after so many days of being around other people.She thought about sending a text message to Hunter, asking him to meet up for breakfast or something just to talk.[Are you sure you just want to talk to him? You only really talk about half of the time that you’re together.]Ash shuddered at her own inner voice. On one hand, she was positively ecstatic that Hunter lik

On the night before her birthday, Ash wanted to go to bed early. While Celia and Isabelle ate dinner at the cafeteria, Ash packed a duffel bag with clothes for the two-week holiday. She had already decided that she was going to spend the holidays with Hunter getting to know his parents and learning more about their shared werewolf heritage.The problem was, she had no idea how to tell her friends about her decision. With the awkward way things had been going with the three of them lately, telling them she was staying with Hunter out of the blue sounded like the premise for an elaborate prank.No one at school would have believed it. But then again, no one would believe that living monsters in human form walked the halls at Saint Blaise’s either. Staying with Hunter for the holidays was far more believable. It seemed improbable, but at the least it was possible. As it was, it was definitely happening.She stared at her hands on the unfolded shirt in her lap

The maître d’ lead the group to their table. Isabelle had earlier reserved a booth at the restaurant but the table was only set for three. The maître d’ subtly eyed Hunter and signaled for the server to set a place for him next to Ash. When the server had left, Isabelle went straight into the conversation. “So, tell us how this came to be,” she asked, referring to Ash and Hunter. Isabelle could hear herself and she cringed at her own formal way of speaking. It was a habit, the formal training from her house was deeply ingrained and hard to shake. She sometimes had to play hostess at some of her father’s dinner parties. It was the hostess’s job to keep the conversation going and make sure everyone was entertained. She didn’t particularly enjoy the chore when she had to do it for her father’s casual functions, but she was eager to take on the role at Ash’s birthday. She was particularly interested in hearing about the birthday girl’s new rel

Isabelle and Celia stood facing each other under the awning at a pathway inside of their mostly-empty campus. It was a Saturday afternoon and most of the students had already left campus that morning for their flights home. Celia had been screaming, but there was no one other than Isabelle who was around to hear it.“I was hearing voices in my head while I was eating a steak, and suddenly I was knifing my friend. I don’t know what happened, Isabelle,” Celia screamed.Angry tears streamed down Celia’s face. She wiped them away roughly using the back of her hands. Isabelle stood quietly, measuring her words, holding back the ones that would send Celia over the edge.“You said something about a Master. Do you remember that?” Isabelle asked.“ . . . I don’t remember,” Celia said. Her green eyes were angry slits staring in Isabelle’s direction. She wasn’t angry at Isabelle, but she was