When Michael returned, he saw Arec had taken off his suit jacket and sat with his back against the wall. His legs were bent, and he rested his arms on them as he stared at the door across the hallway. As Michael neared his brother, the door shook as the werewolf inside thudded against the door, rattling it. “I see she’s awake,” Michael said, handing the plate of food to his brother. Arec nodded, accepting the plate. “It’s going to be a long night, so I brought a thermos of coffee,” Michael said, handing Arec the large container. “Thanks,” he said, opening it and pouring the dark liquid into the cup. “Do you want me to take a shift?” Michael asked. Arec shook his head and said, “I’ll be fine.” Grinning up at his brother, he added, “This won’t be my first overnighter.” Michael grinned back and said, “Yeah, but you were much younger then.” Arec rolled his eyes and took a drink of his coffee. Sobering, Michael said, “I’ll patrol the grounds to make sure the werewolf who

“A Lycan?” Eve asked. “What’s that?” “We’re wolf-like beings but aren’t werewolves,” he said. “We aren’t controlled by the full moon as werewolves are.” She stared at him with wide eyes as her mouth hung open. “In our wolf form, we have complete control over our actions,” he continued. “We also remember what happened while in our wolf form.” He looked at her as he added, “Unlike werewolves.” Falling silent, he waited for her to understand what he was saying. Eve stared at him in shock as she took in what he was telling her. Suddenly, her mouth snapped shut. Then she gasped. “Are you seriously telling me I changed into a werewolf last night?” she asked. “You’re being serious about that? It’s not a joke?” He nodded but remained silent. She laughed until she realized he wasn’t laughing with her. “You’re being serious?” she asked, sitting up from the water. He nodded again. She looked away from him, frowning. “What am I going to do?” she muttered. “I’m going to tak

Arec and his mother locked eyes as they glared at each other. Michael cleared his throat, and they both turned to look at him. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Mother?” he asked. “What?” his mother asked with a scowl. “Tonight is the night of the full moon,” Michael said. “And?” his mother asked after a moment. “If we let Eve go, who knows what kind of damage she’ll cause?” he said, uncrossing his arms. Before their mother could say anything, Arec raised an eyebrow and said, “He has a point.” Mrs. Lyons opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “After all,” Arec continued, “as Lycans, we are charged with keeping the werewolves in line.” His mother’s lip compressed in a thin line as her nostrils flared. “Fine,” she finally said. “She can stay here tonight and tomorrow night, but after that, she’s gone.” Arec glared at her rising from the chair. “I need to check on her,” he said as he bowed to his mother and turned to leave. As he passed his brother, Michael slappe

Walking down from the roof, Arec and his siblings headed toward the living room. “So, what’s the plan?” Bella asked. “The plan is that we take them out,” Ray said, grinning at her. “We need a little more planning than that, Ray,” Julia told him, rolling her eyes. “Agreed,” Michael said. “The last time I counted, there were fifteen of them. If we each take three, we should have no problem.” The rest of his siblings nodded. “Before we go out there, I want you to know that the big one with the brown and gray fur is mine.” Everyone turned to look at him. “He’s the one that turned Eve,” Arec told them. “We’ve fought before, and this time, I want to make sure he can’t hurt anyone else.” Michael and the rest of their siblings nodded. “That one’s all yours,” Ray said. “Leave the rest to us.” They discussed how they would go out of the house and onto the grounds unseen before turning into their wolf forms. “We’ll take them by surprise, and it will be over before we know it,

The werewolf slammed into Arec, knocking him to the ground. It sunk its teeth deep into Arec’s shoulder and shook its head, tearing at Arec’s flesh. Arec growled in pain and grabbed the werewolf’s head, prying its jaw open to loosen its grip on his shoulder. Suddenly, the werewolf was torn away from Arec as Eve tackled it, breaking its hold on Arec’s shoulder. They tumbled over one another until Eve had the other werewolf pinned to the ground. She stood over it, baring her teeth and growling. The other werewolf growled back at her. It tried to move away from her, but she snapped at it, causing it to remain in place. Arec sat up, clutching his injured shoulder. He watched their interaction with a frown. The werewolf turned to look at him before looking back at Eve and growling. Eve growled and snapped at it, causing it to turn away from her. She growled at it again as it looked back before walking toward Arec. He watched the other werewolf through narrowed eyes as Eve walked