My face reddened with embarrassment."You've got it wrong," I objected. "I was just looking at the latest edition of Social Scene."He grinned and I slowly realized he was joking."Ha ha," I said, sarcastically. "Very cute, Charles." I plunked back down on the couch and navigated back to Social Scene's homepage.He sat gracefully in the chair across from me. "Did that scare you?"There was no teasing in his voice, and no judgement. I looked up and saw he was looking at me with open curiosity.I touched my neck. To my horror, I felt my insides warm at the memory of his touch. I hadn't liked it at that moment, but the memory of it... that was different.I shook it off. There was no way I was going to allow myself to enjoy physical contact with Charles like that. Alphas were dominating, sure, but unless I had given my consent, I was not going to even think about being okay with that kind of touching."It's never fun to be reminded of one's own vulnerability," I said honestly.He nodded t

"All right, Elena," Charles said, positioning me so I could look in the wall-to-wall mirror in the studio. Mats covered the floor except for a small periphery, and a punching bag hung from the corner. "How tall would you estimate this guy was? And it was a man, you think?"I nodded. "I'm ninety-five percent sure he was male. And maybe a half-a-foot shorter than you? It's hard to tell with the coat he was wearing but I think he was a lot wider than you."Charles nodded. He was wearing tracksuit bottoms and a thin, grey shirt. It made his intense blue eyes pop and I could see the muscles of his abs clearly outlined through the material.I swallowed hard. I needed to control myself and take this seriously. I needed to learn, just in case."Attackers tend to grab women from behind first. It's a more vulnerable position."He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned in toward me. His voice was gentle, concerned, and he spoke close enough that his vetiver smell overwhelmed me.My heart began

"Oh my gosh, these kids are so cute!" Matilda said, smiling and laughing as they crowded around, arms wrapping around her knees and thighs in greeting. "I gonna fall! Elena, take my camera!" I reached over the crowd and grabbed the expensive camera with the enormous lens. Matilda, giving way, laughed and pretended to

I could still feel the intensity of his eyes and the weight of his words the next day. He would protect me. I had friends.  I should have been thrilled that he thought of himself as my friend and protector. So why did I feel disappointed? I did my best to distract myself by working hard. If he was going to sp

Within the half hour we were hurrying toward the entrance of the emergency room. Emergency rooms at night were never pleasant. The lighting was harsh, the smell antiseptic, which gave werewolves instant headaches, and despite the problems being no different than what happened during the day, at night they seemed more frightening, more intense. Charles, however, suddenly expanded the moment we entered the room. I looked at him in surprise as he strode to the front desk. Despite his casual