Angelina POV

“Angeline! Angeline! Where are you going!? Just talk to me!”

I finally stopped running when the wheezing got too much for my lungs to handle.

I feel Daniel’s hands encircle my waist to hold me upright. I felt like I was just mere seconds from collapsing.

With his other hand, I feel him rummaging through my bookbag.

“Here,” he says, handing me my little red inhaler.

I take mouthfuls of puffs, Daniel holds me tightly to him, I run as far as my short legs could take me.

Which was courtside in the school parking lot.

He didn’t say anything, just held me until my breathing returned to somewhat normal.

As I heard the bell ring I realized he’d been holding me for basically the entire lunch duration, almost an hour now.

Finally regaining my strength, I try pushing him off me, but of course, he doesn’t budge.

“G-g-get off me!” I yell, immediately Daniel lets me go. For a second I feel guilty as I see a flash of hurt cross his eyes. But that guilt is immediately replaced with fear, betrayal, and mortification.

Emotions I haven’t felt in so long, but I can’t stop scouring the surroundings, waiting for Keenan to pop out and laugh his ass off.

Laugh his ass off with Daniel, at yet another successful attempt at ruining my life and humiliating me.

And I fell for it.

I fell for all of it.

I’ll never escape him, never.

I feel my chest begin to tighten as the onslaught of a panic attack begins to set in.

“Angeline please calm down, can you just tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Like you don’t know!”

“I don’t!”

“How long? How long?! Have you been planning this since the moment you met me? Was any of it even real?”

“What are you talking about?!” He replied, incredulous.

“I knew it! I knew it was too good to be true!” I shook my head, “I give up, I can’t do this anymore, tell him he won.”

I bite down on my lip hard to keep from bursting into tears, just like that, my entire resolve crumbled.

This new version of me I fought hard to be, this new love, respect, and patience I developed for myself just vanished with a mere look from Keenan.

In a matter of seconds, I transformed back into that scared, weak, and shaking ugly little sheep I never wanted to be again.

Just as I turn to run from Daniel again, he’s standing in front of me in a millisecond.

Oh yea, werewolf reflexes.

“For fuck’s sake Angeline, please! Just talk to me! What am I missing here?” He pleaded, almost sounding believable too.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was your cousin!? Why didn’t you tell me he was coming here!? Did he tell you to be my friend? To be my… boyfriend? How long have you two been planning this?!”

“You’re talking about Keenan? How do you even know him?”

“It’s him!”

A wave of realization finally registered on his face. “He’s the guy? The guy that tormented you?”

“But you knew that.”

“Angeline listens to me, I swear on my life, I had absolutely no idea! We’re not close in the slightest, and you never told me. How was I to know?”

“I don’t believe you,” I shook my head.

Cupping my ruddy cheeks in his hands, he rests his forehead against mine.

“Tell me, Angeline, have I ever done something to make you doubt me?”

I hesitated but ultimately shook my head.

No, he has never.

“And do you think for one second I’ll let anyone do anything to you? Especially Keenan?”

Daniel might be Keenan’s cousin, but I don’t think even he knows how vicious Keenan is.

“I’ll protect you always, that I can promise you.”

He stared deeply into my eyes as if trying to convey how serious he was.

I wanted to believe him… I did. But he doesn’t know Keenan as I do.

“Angeline, he’s in my domain now, he won’t even be able to breathe on these grounds without me knowing about it. Trust me.”

Reluctantly, I nodded, “I… I do.”

Reaching up on my tippy toes, I press my lips to his. Daniel holds me tighter and deepens the kiss.

I can’t believe I thought he could be anything like Keenan, this is Daniel we’re talking about.

I have never felt safer in this world than when I am in Daniel’s arms.

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I’m not gonna make it…

It was like I was running in slow motion.

I could hear his laughter, his cruel and dark laughter, taunting me from behind.

I am so close!

I can see him, my Daniel, waiting for me on the other side of this endless field covered in blood and mud.

Bodies spread everywhere.

I’m running to reach, to reach safety.

But every step I take I hear his heavy footfalls closing in on me.

I never do make it, he catches up to me and I feel him snatch me from behind.

I scream but no second comes out.

I am faced with a horrifying sight, a hybrid of monster and man.

His eyes blood red, teeth too large for his face and covered in blood. He held his left hand high in the air, each bloody claw shining in the moonlight, long and sharp.

Ready to rip me to shreds, then he swiped at my throat.

I wake up from my nightmare with a jolt.

The events of yesterday playing in my head like a continuous loop.

If I thought he looked scary before, it was terrifying to look at now.

It looked like he went through a growth spurt overnight, he nearly doubled in size. Everything about him was bigger, his height, his muscles, his presence, everything.

To anyone else he’d be seen as striking, purely and utterly male, a god with not one visible imperfection insight.

But I knew better, Keenan is just the devil in disguise, deceptive and cunning.

I was scared all over again, not even for myself, but for Daniel.

The prospect that Keenan could hurt Daniel was suddenly a brand new fear to add to my list of anxieties.

I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to Daniel and it was all my fault.

Although I had all the faith in the world in Daniel, I knew Keenan to be far more cunning, vindictive, and if the occasion called for it, very patient.

He shouldn’t be underestimated, ever.

You know I speak from experience when I say that every single time day back at Chambers, when I thought the antics couldn’t possibly get worse, Keenan would surprise me with his creativity.

For the entire duration that I knew Keenan, I have had to “fight” him alone. Having someone support me, care for me, protect me was like having this huge weight lift from my shoulders. Suddenly I wasn’t so alone anymore.

Then I thought of my dream, of Keenan, resembling a wolf, man, and monster all at once.

Is it possible that Keenan could be a werewolf too?

Was he a werewolf this whole time?

It would make perfect sense, he and Daniel were related after all.

Plus the way people behaved around him, flocking to his every whim, hanging onto his every word, stepping over each other to please him, it was similar to how people behaved around Daniel

I’m willing to bet he’s an alpha or at least a really high ranking pack member.

And now all the pieces are coming together, how got away with so much, how his influence reached beyond the school grounds.

This was bigger than I could’ve ever anticipated.