“You must know that even though Jasmine doesn’t show it, she’s scared of werewolves,” He began in a flat tone. “I know,” was my deadpan reply. I had looked into that incident I overheard her talking about, and was told that she had come impossibly close to both rape and death, all because of rogues. She had been saved in extremis by her warlock cousin, Karl. And although she had gotten out of that encounter physically unharmed, she’d been mentally scarred. Quite the trauma. “But what she’s even more scared of is losing herself,” he added on a sigh. I cocked an eyebrow at him in question while giving him a quizzical look, “What do you mean by that?” He let out yet another sigh, looked around the kitchen for a split-second before shifting his gaze towards me, “That is to mean she’s a little bit of a control freak.” “Huh?” my eyes narrowed. He lost me there, my wolf interjected, breaking through the wall I

  The hallways were as usual bubbling with life, annoyingly noisy as I left Seth, waved goodbye at him and then went straight to my locker. Needless to say, I hadn’t been approached by anybody… what, with my having Seth as my only friend, there was no wonder there.I retrieved what I needed, slammed the door of my locker shut and then, sighing, rested my forehead against its cool metal, trying – and failing – to clear my mind a little bit.All of a sudden, the bell rang, startling me out of my musings, making me realize that that failed attempt of mine had taken much more time than one would have thought. I straightened up and then turned around, preparing myself for some running-in-the-hallway exercise, but found my gaze caught under the spell of those mesmerizing electric blue eyes I had desperately tried but failed to hate… true, I hadn’t gotten to the point of loving them but I most definitely did not

The ride had been pleasantly silent. I had been in no mood to talk about my outburst and Jonathan had – thank god – chosen to let me be. When he finally parked the car after who knows how long, I realized we were at the woods.How typical! Werewolves and their forests, I mentally snickered but felt grateful really. I liked nature, it represented all which I was not at the moment, a still and contained force –it calmed me.It also made me contemplate all that had happened.He grabbed a blanket out of the backseat and the Chinese take-out he had bought on the way here and then laid it on the grass. He cocked his head to the side in a silent invitation, not breaking the comfortable silence, and I obliged.It all felt absurdly domestic, but I had to admit I liked it.OK, I did more than just like it, I truly appreciated it. I was, truth be told, plainly grateful.“Thank you,” I muttered as I ate a forkful of the del

“Where are we going?” I wasn’t very fond of silence and, admittedly, I was curious to know too.“To a small Italian restaurant,” I could see a smile tugging at his lips. For an alpha-ultra that had to call for an eraser because his mate had messed up, he looked in an awfully good mood. It kind of pleased me to know I had this effect on him.“Oh.” So, he hadn’t lied when he had told me to dress casually. We weren’t going anywhere fancy but somehow, I was sure it’d be worth it.“It may be a small familial business, but the food is fabulous,” he briefly turned his face towards me, temporarily dazzling me with his beautiful eyes, “trust me on this one.”“Fabulous food, huh? I can live with that,” I teased after my dysfunctional brain decided to work properly again. I was smirking like a fool for no particular reason by the end of the sentence. It felt as if his goo

Just dig in, girl.I grabbed a slice and bit into it. Seconds later, I was moaning at the taste. It had to be, hands down, the best pizza I ever had – even more reason to come back again. As I heard Jonathan’s unexpected low growl, I snapped my eyes open in fear.What’s going on? I turned my head around frantically, dumbly looking for a threat, and finding none –or at least recognizing none. Two of the earlier three couples were still at their tables, no newcomers, and the waiter didn’t really scream ‘danger’ to me… but then again witches’ senses weren’t as sharp as werewolves’ so I couldn’t say for sure.“What are you doing?” He sounded genuinely intrigued and yet somehow there was a hint of amusement in his voice.“Why did you growl?” I countered puzzled, cocking my eyebrow at him, my delicious pizza sadly forgotten.“You moaned,” he drawl