"I…I really don't know," I said.

  My mom stared at me for a very long time, and I felt sweat prickle on my upper lip. Was this it? There was no way out of it, was there? I had to come clean because she already knew. How much had Jazmine told him? How much did she know?

  My mother's face relaxed and she burst into laughter, holding me by the chin. "Nah, I’m just testing you, my dear, and you passed. Good job, my girl. And remember, I will always know if you're lying to me. A mother can tell."

  She let go of my chin and I fell back into the chair with a relieved sigh. My mom left the room, laughing.

  "You should have seen yourself, Robyn. All flustered and Oh, No, I don't know anything, ha-ha. You're so easy."

  She turned in the doorway and looked at me. "But if you do know anything about Melanie Peterson's whereabouts, I trust you'll bring it to me, okay? And mercy on your soul if I find out that you have known all this time and never said anything. Lord have mercy on your poor soul."

  And then she left.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The truck roared as Amy drove it into her driveway. She had a few minutes to make sure Melanie got something to eat before meeting with the others by the lake. Hopefully, they would be able to come up with a solution for Melanie, if not today, then soon. Amy's parents would be gone two more days and wanted her gone by the time they got back.

  "I'm home!" Amy yelled as she entered. She felt a small pinch in her heart. She enjoyed having someone to come home to. She loved the fact that Melanie was in the house and she loved cooking for her. Melanie could easily make her own food, but Amy liked to take care of her and coming home to a house that wasn't empty made her feel less lonely. As a matter of fact, she hadn't felt lonely at all while Melanie had lived with her. It was the first time in her life.

  "Mel?"

  No answer. Amy threw her backpack on the floor and walked into the living room, then looked up the stairs. "Mel? I'm home. Are you hungry?"

  Amy walked into the kitchen and pulled out some bread she had baked the night before and cut a few pieces, then started to make a sandwich. Melanie was usually starving by the time Amy came home from school, and they would eat together. Usually, Amy had more time, but she had promised to meet with the others at the lake, so she hurried up and made two sandwiches, then put them on the breakfast counter.

  "Mel? I don't have all day."

  Amy took a bite, then grabbed a soda from the fridge and opened it. She let out a sigh, thinking about how much she was going to miss having Melanie around. Everything was going to go back to how it used to be, back to how it was before Melanie, and she wasn't sure she was very fond of that idea. It was one thing when it had always been that way, but now that she had experienced this…experienced having someone to come home to, it felt like she couldn't go back. The loneliness nagged in her stomach and overwhelmed her with sadness. It was always with her, it always lingered somewhere inside of her, but lately, with Melanie in the house, she had been able to keep it at bay.

  "Melanie? I’m going to be late!"

  Amy ate more of her sandwich, wondering if Melanie was still in the basement. Usually, she went up into the house during the day when Amy's parents weren't home, which was most days. She would watch TV or go on Amy's computer in her room. Now and then, Amy would come back and find her in the backyard, walking around in circles, restless, but Amy had told her to stay indoors just to be safe. Robyn's mother had eyes everywhere in the neighborhood.

  She's probably still in the shelter, too worried about being seen to leave it.

  Amy looked at her watch, took another bite of her sandwich, then walked down the stairs, holding the plate with Melanie's food in her small hands.

  "Melanie? I made a sandwich for you?"

  Amy walked to the shelter. The door was open. When Melanie still didn't answer, Amy felt a slight worry grow big in her stomach. She walked into the shelter but found it empty. She sighed, concerned when she spotted a note on the bed.

  "Oh, Melanie, what have you done?"

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  I was still sweating with anxiety as I jogged toward the lake. Jayden arrived a few seconds later. I heard him put his bike down. I knew we had a few minutes alone before the others would arrive. Jazmine usually drove home with Adrian, and they had to do their thing first, and Amy went to check on Melanie and grab something to eat.

  Our eyes locked as he approached me. I could feel my heart rushing in my chest. Was he angry with me? Was he crushed? Would we be all right?

  "Jayden…I…" I said as he came closer.

  He seemed out of sorts. I couldn't blame him. His eyes were searching mine desperately.

  "I only went out with him to please my mother," I continued. "I know I promised that I would never see him again, but my mother arranged it. She called his mother and told him that I wanted to…there wasn't much I could do…you know how my mother…"

  I didn't get to finish the sentence before Jayden grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into a deep kiss. Startled by this move, I gasped and kissed him back. His warm lips felt so good on top of mine and made all my worrying go away. Only for a second or two, but it still felt nice to let go for just a little bit.

  "Wow," I said when his lips left mine. "That was quite unexpected. I thought…you would be angry with me?"

  He sighed. "I was. I was furious, actually. But then…I realized your parents set you up. Just like…"

  He let go of me, then moved away. This was odd behavior. "Jayden? What's going on?"

  "I…I don't know how to tell you this."

  This didn't sound good. This was alarming, to say the least. Fear lingered in my stomach and threatened to explode.

  "Tell me, Jayden, you're scaring me."

  He turned around and kissed me again. I closed my eyes. He held my face between his hands when he spoke.

  "I am engaged."

  The blood literally froze in my veins. I pulled away.

  "You're what?"

  He exhaled. "Betrothed, they say. I’m supposed to marry some girl. It's been planned for me since I was born. I have no say in it. You must believe me, Robyn. This is all my parents' doing. Marrying this girl—that I have no idea who she is—is going to make me the leader of our pack. I don't know what to do."

  "And let me guess, all this is going to happen when you turn eighteen, right? They make a werewolf out of you and then marry you off to this girl?"

  He nodded. A sensation of pure devastation rolled over me. It wasn't just my parents trying to meddle with mine and Jayden's love. It was also his.

  I shook my head. "We'll fight this. I am not giving up. You hear me, Jayden? Once we turn eighteen, we'll run away. We'll stay human and marry each other. We'll go somewhere where they won't find us. They can't make us do this, Jayden. Not once we’re adults. They can't do it."

  "I hope you're right," he said. "I sure hope you're right."

  He put his arms around me and hugged me when I spotted Jazmine approaching in the distance.

  "Where's Amy?" Jazmine asked when she came up to us.

  I looked around to see if she was approaching somewhere in the distance, but I couldn't see her.

  "She's the one who wanted us to meet, so she better show up," Jazmine said, annoyed.

  "What's with your eyes?" I asked, looking at her almost yellow eyes.

  Jayden smiled. "We should tell her."

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  "Wow. Just wow."

  It was all I could say after Jazmine told me what had happened at school earlier today and then even showed it to me by setting a branch on the ground on fire.

  "It's pretty cool, right?" Jazmine said.

  "Also, extremely dangerous," I said. "Do you know how to control it?"

  She shrugged. "So far, I’m fine."

  "Yeah, but…" I didn't get to finish the sentence before Jayden spotted Amy's truck driving up to the entrance of the park and her jumping out.

  "About time," Jazmine said and looked at her watch. "She's late. What has she been up to?"

  "Why are you in such a rush?" I asked. "Going to see Adrian?"

  "He’s coming over later if you must know," she said.

  I sighed just as Amy came running toward us, waving her arms.

  "Something’s wrong," I said when I saw the alarm in Amy's eyes.

  "Melanie is gone," she said when she got close enough to us. "Melanie is gone!"

  "What do you mean she’s gone?" I asked.

  "She's gone. She left. See," Amy said and showed us a note. "It says she didn't want to be any more trouble for us, so she left and will take care of herself from now on."

  "Oh, no," I said.

  "Why are you upset?" Jazmine said. "This way, we don't have to find a new place for her."

  "Don't you get it?" I asked. "Out here, she's in great danger. My mother is looking for her. Just earlier today, she came into my room and started asking questions about her. By the way, you might want to be very careful about what you tell your little boyfriend."

  "What do you mean?" Jazmine said defensively.

  "I think he might be spying for my mother."

  "And just what are you basing that upon?" Jazmine asked, sounding like she was offended.

  "First of all, he is one of them. And I don't think you can trust any of those vampires. Especially not my brother. Second, I felt like my mom knew that I had something to do with Melanie's disappearance. It was like she knew somehow."

  "Did she tell you that she knew?"

  "Yes and no."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "First, she told me she knew; then she said she was just messing with me, testing my loyalty to her. But I had a feeling…"

  "I can't use your feelings for anything," Jazmine said. "I know that you're against me dating your brother, not that I understand why, but you are, and I accept that but don't try and destroy what we have just because you're jealous or something."

  I nodded. "Fair enough. Just promise me you'll be careful, especially with what you tell him."

  "I can take care of myself," Jazmine said.

  "Could we return to the real issue here?" Amy complained. "The issue of Melanie running away?"

  Jazmine shrugged. "What do you want us to do? If she wants to go out there and take care of herself, there really isn't much we can do, is there?"

  Jayden nodded. "Jazmine has a point."

  Amy sighed. I could tell she was worried. Jayden put a hand on her shoulder. "Melanie can take care of herself. She's master at Taekwondo and she's a werewolf. I think it’s time for us to let her go. "

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Julie Sharpe was tired, yet she couldn't sleep. She was crying, thinking about Rob. Not that she missed him since before they got divorced he was never home much. But she cried because of the betrayal she had suffered. To think that on all those nights when she had believed he was at the office instead of at their home, that they were taking advantage of his goodwill, and that he was working hard to take care of her, to think that all that time, he had been lying to her. He hadn't been at the office, no; instead, he had been with her. Laura. Not only was she a colleague of Julie's, but she was also her best friend.

  Her best friend!

  To think that it had taken Julie two years to figure out what they were up to, what they were doing behind her and Laura's husband, Tommy's backs. And she had absolutely no idea. She hadn't noticed that he smelled different. She hadn't found it strange that he no longer wanted to sleep with her since that had already stopped once she realized she couldn't have any children and she had started to loathe her body for its incapability. And she figured he too had lost interest because of all the extra weight she was gaining. But she should have seen it, shouldn't she?

  Every day, Julie saw Laura at the school. They even ate together in the teachers’ lunchroom almost every day. And she never suspected a thing.

  It wasn't until the day after Valentine's Day when Laura came to work wearing a diamond bracelet, the same one Julie had wished for, but she had gotten earrings instead, which she loved, but it was the bracelet she really wanted.

  "I love that bracelet," Julie had said.

  "Isn't it gorgeous?" Laura said. "Tommy gave it to me. For Valentine's Day."

  That was when Julie knew something was wrong. Tommy never gave Laura presents and he couldn't afford a bracelet like that one. And what was even stranger was that it perfectly matched Julie's earrings. So much she was certain it was a set, the set she had seen in the store where she had shown them to Rob.

  At first, she had pushed the thought away, thinking it had to be some coincidence or maybe even that Rob helped Tommy buy the jewelry and decided he liked the earrings best. Yet something had started to nag at Julie and one day when he was late again, she had logged into his Facebook account and found out she was right. Never in her life had she wished she was wrong like in that moment. Julie's entire world crashed and hadn't been the same since. The many messages had been graphic and a lot about sex, but what had hurt her the most, the most painful ones, were those with declarations of love and yearning. Julie had read as many as she could without breaking down. She had then walked away from the computer, sat down on her couch, and cried. Everything she had believed in, everything in her life was a lie.

  Julie had debated a lot within herself over the next several hours. She imagined herself being like a heroine in a movie, throwing him out. She even thought about burning all his stuff, his clothes and his beloved golf clubs (Do they even burn? She wasn't sure.) She also thought about pretending like nothing had happened and forgiving him until Rob came home and she couldn't hold it back anymore.

  He hadn't even had the decency to try and deny it. It was like he was relieved that she had found out.

  And then he left.

  Since then, she hadn't been able to sleep much, and tonight was worse than any other night. She didn't like being alone in this big house, and she jumped at every creaking sound it made. Tonight, she thought she had heard noises coming from the garage but had decided not to let herself scare so easily. It was probably just the wind pulling at the garage door or maybe a mouse.

  But now, as she lay in her bed, the clock next to her blinking one a.m., she heard noises coming from in there that had nothing to do with wind or mice, she was certain of that.

  This was something much, much bigger.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Julie pulled the covers over her head to try and block out the noises coming from the garage. But somehow, she could still hear them. It was like they were growing louder and louder. Julie didn't want to be scared anymore; she was sick of being so weak.

  It might be a rat, she thought. Or a raccoon.

  Julie remembered once discovering a raccoon in her garage when growing up. She had walked into the garage and there it was, staring at her, it's little claws held up like it was ready to defend itself. Back then, she remembered wondering why something so cute could be considered a pest. She had called for her dad, and he had merely opened the garage door and let the poor guy run out.

  "Must have somehow gotten trapped in here by accident," he explained.

  Julie loved her dad. He was the rock in her life when growing up. Especially when her mother had those breakdowns that made her sit in a corner of the living room, looking at her fingers, giggling or mumbling to herself. Julie's dad had always managed to keep the house working and things running as normal as possible while those breakdowns happened. For that, she loved him dearly. But he wasn't here anymore. He died in a car accident three years ago, and since then nothing had been the same in her life. Sometimes she wondered if that was why she couldn't have children…if the grief over having lost her beloved daddy could have somehow affected her body so much that it simply refused to work properly.

  She would never find out.

  "If it's a raccoon, you should help it get out," she said out loud in the darkness.

  That's what dad would have done.

  Julie chuckled at the memory of her dad. He had such a big heart that he never wanted to hurt any animals and once they had picked up a porcupine lying in the driveway after Julie had hit it with her bike. Julie's dad had cried. Using his finger, he had gently petted the dead animal, tears streaming across his cheeks. He had the biggest of hearts; it was only sad that he never got to experience real love himself. Julie had never felt like her mother appreciated her dad enough, or even loved him. She took him for granted since she knew he would never go anywhere. And she was right. But her dad had explained to her that her mother needed him around and so did she. You never give up on someone who needs you.

  "You should help the poor raccoon," she told herself.

  Julie got out of bed, found a broom in the closet, and walked into the garage. It was pitch dark in there, but she could see a set of eyes at the other end of it, looking back at her.

  Do raccoons have red eyes?

  "Hello?" she said, holding the broom in the air. Then she shook her head, thinking she was being silly.

  It's not like the raccoon is going to answer you.

  The glaring red eyes stared back at her as she approached the wall with the light switch and reached out for it, tapping the wall next to it till she found it with her fingers and switched it on.

  As she stared into the wolf's eyes and knew her destiny, all Julie could think about was that darn porcupine and its dead brown eyes staring back at her like it was looking at her from beyond the grave. She always thought she would someday have to pay for hitting it with her bike.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I woke up to the sound of sirens. I opened my eyes with a gasp and went to the window. What looked like ten police cars and a huge fire truck were parked further down the street. A crowd had gathered in front of Mrs. Sharpe's, my old art teacher's house and more people were coming too, some still in their PJs.