Max's Pov"So, I talked to Tarla," Luke says from the chair he's sprawled on. I look up from across the room and the scotch I'm pouring"What is it now?" I ask my Beta exasperated. We are currently in my study discussing pack matters. I know he's about to say something to me about Calista, he's very casual about it but I know him well enough to recognise his tells. From the seemingly casual position to the overly casual manner with which he begins this particular conversation.And I also know that ever since Tarla got back from the Ridgewell pack, and saw Calista’s condition she has been pissed and mean as hell, it stands to reason she would have told Luke, hoping my best friend would speak sense into me."When were you going to tell me?" He asks still maintaining the pose, which might have fooled an average observer, but only a wolf would recognize the set of his shoulders and the slight shifts in his scent from wolf to man.The fact that it fluctuates at all is proof of the magnitu

"That didn't go over so well, did it." I look up from my crouched position on the floor. "I know you," I say, to the girl in front of me. She is poised, with an unruffled air. She looks close to my age, and her blond hair is cut close to her scalp, bringing her gorgeous facial features into stark relief. She's wearing a black crop top paired with black cargo pants and combat boots. "No, you don't" she retorts"Yes I do, you were with him""Oh yes," she chuckles, "you saw us, in your school, and then ran away like a hell itself was on your tail" Colour rises in my cheeks as mortification fills me. I close my eyes and let out a groan."Just go away please," I say to her."No can do sweetheart" she replies crouching.For some reason, her calling me sweetheart makes me see red. My emotions fine-tune themselves into a solid blade of anger. I rush at her, screaming, hands outstretched, hoping to choke her, but with surprising and frankly embarrassing ease, she slaps my hand away. In a

"It is believed that thousands of years ago, a group of travellers came across a group of natives of this land. They were sick, hungry, tired and travel weary, and they asked the natives for help. The natives however were a highly suspicious group and refused them shelter, but they gave them food and left them to their own devices." I listen with rapt attention as Max narrates the story of werewolf beginnings, questions already forming rapidly at the back of my mind. "The travellers were grateful for their help and accepted the food, hoping it would help them somewhat, but one by one they started getting sick and one by one, they started dying. When the travellers were all thought dead, one of them, believing that they were responsible for the deaths of her companion struggled with her very last breath to find the natives and when she found them, she cursed them, and using the moon and her blood to seal her curse, she cursed them to die until extinction, after she cursed the, she di

“I know” I suck in a breath. His normally husky voice sounds guttural. “He is very excitable” “You speak of him, like he is separate from you” “He is separate and not at the same time” His hands start drawing small circles on my waist. “How can something be separate and joined at the same time?” I ask him, confused“At any given moment, I am both the man, and the wolf , and at the same time, at any given time, the wolf is the wolf and the man.”“Explain further” I demand leaning closer to him. With his hands still preoccupied with drawing the circle on my waist, he does.“I told you earlier, Werewolves are both man and wolf. Our human part, the part where our humanity comes from, is what we are born with. We grow up learning moral cues, and socially acceptable practices until it is ingrained in us, because, for some time, that is what we are. Humans. Only, we are humans with the werewolf gene.”I listen to him closely

“No?” I ask, my face and tone mirroring the incredulity I'm feeling.“No” he repeats his low voice edged with finality and tinged with menace. “Take her back to the main building, and keep her there, I'll be with you shortly” My body locks up. “You wouldn't dare,” I say to him defiance lining my body. Everything goes silent and the small space between us goes taut with tension that could be cut with a butter knife. His blue eyes flash with anger before emotion drains out of it.Somehow I know that the Max standing before me is more dangerous than when he is angry. This Max looks like he could kill me without batting an eyelash. Awareness and fear race through me, but I block it out, refusing to acknowledge it.“Now,” he says, his voice cold and empty. From the corner of my eyes, I notice the way people around flinch at the tone of his voice. I almost pity them. Almost.“Yes, alpha” They incline their head, in a subtle bow and move towards me. I hurriedly back away from them. The s