The party had ended and I was racing through the woods in my wolf form. The opposing pack had come to the party tonight to start trouble, the little bastards. Word got round and they found out that I had a 'mate.' They wanted to meet her but I couldn't risk it - they would know that we weren't mates, especially with her reluctance to act like my mate and the fact that we were polar opposites.

The wind blew past me and I savoured the cold air as it hit my fur. The power, speed and agility I felt when I was in wolf form was exhilarating. 10 times better than being in my human form and having to deal with petty, mundane matters. But you need to do this Aiden. If you want the one thing that your mum promised you then you have to keep on going with this act. My conscious reminded me. I sensed 5 other wolves close behind me in a protective V shape and tensed my muscles as I made the final leap to the border.

When I reached there were no other wolves in sight - but I had to be careful. The other pack were hungry for blood and if we turned a blind eye to them, we'd be killed. I started ordering Carlos, Beau, Diego, Emma and Daniel mentally, telling them where to patrol - we had to stay here all night to keep watch.

Only Diego knew why this 'mate' business was so important to me - he grew up with me and he knew why I was the way I am today. Why I still needed my mother so close to me even to this day.

As we reached home, my mind flashed back to the confrontation we had had with one of the wolves from the other pack only a few hours earlier, when the sun had peeped over the tops of the trees, bringing with it fatigue. They tried to creep up on me from behind - they'd very nearly snapped my neck. But the wolf that had attacked was big - stupid, reckless. I had more speed, agility and sense than it - and so it wasn't my body that lay lifeless in the woods, it was theirs.

This meant war - I'd killed one of theirs so now they had to kill one of ours. But I'll deal with that when it comes to it. As long as it's none of the gang who dies in retribution. Hopefully it'll be me. I pushed away the overwhelming feeling of guilt that clouded the corners of my mind - it was because I could feel myself shifting into human form again - and with that, all of my humane vulnerability. Once I had slipped into my clothes, I decided I needed a drink - it was the only thing that would help calm me down.

I walked into the kitchen and saw April sitting at the kitchen counter looking oblivious to all the shit that went down tonight. She looked so naive and innocent - everything I wasn't. There was only a small part of me that felt bad that I'd dragged this girl into this mess. But I pushed it to the back of my mind - too much guilt makes the world drown.

As soon as I entered, she instantly tensed and put up all of her defenses. She still didn't trust us. Good. So she's smart enough to know that she shouldn't feel so relaxed around here. I walked to the fridge and got out a bottle of Bacardi, ignoring her. I couldn't deal with her on top of what had just happened. Then, I noticed a giant burn mark on the ceiling and looked at April who was shifting on her feet uncomfortably.

I sighed and began walking out the door - I need to sleep, drink and smoke. The three things that helped me ignore my vices. I was about to leave when a small arm stuck out in front of me. I glared down at April. Can't she see that I'm exhausted?

"Do you have a problem?"

"Sit down Aiden. I need to ask you some questions." She said solemnly.

"Wait. First let me ask you one," I replied trying to find something to get me out of here quickly, "Why the hell is there a giant ass burn mark on the ceiling?" Her face dropped.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She managed to splutter. Her hands were shaking by her sides and she quickly side-stepped me in one smooth motion, disappearing as quickly as she had arrived into my life. I mentally face palmed. I don't know what the hell she did to the ceiling - she hadn't even been here for that long and she'd managed to vandalize something.

I shook it off. I really needed some sleep.

I ran up to my room as soon as Aiden asked about the burn mark on the ceiling. Thank god he didn't stop me to investigate. To be honest he looked too tired to do anything and I'm pretty sure he just crashed out on his bed afterwards with a bottle of alcohol. I sat on my bed and looked around. Everyone was asleep.

Wait a minute. If everyone is asleep then this is the perfect opportunity to escape. Take Nina and Kayla and leave. I quickly made up my mind and before anything could change my resolution, like the fact that Aiden could easily track us down, I threw on my jacket and slipped into my converses, grabbing the essentials that I knew we would need. Water. Flashlight. Butter knife (it was all I could find at the time.)

I managed to find my two best friends in a sorry state passed out in their bedroom - I had no idea who had moved them, but they looked unharmed and untouched. I let out a sigh of relief and jogged to them, grateful. I woke up Nina first. I shook her hard and slapped her face a couple of times, desperate to get her to wake up. She stirred and murmured some nonsense before opening her eyes tiredly.

"Wake up Nina. Hurry up!" I hissed, looking back at the doors to make sure no-one had seen me.

"Go away," she replied huskily, turning over again. I reached down for the water bottle and splattered some on her face. She was jolted awake by that, and looked around wildly.

"Help me wake up Kayla," I said nodding my head at Kayla. I held my breath and threw the entire bottle of water at her - slapping her wouldn't help wake her up. She slept like a dead person and she'd probably be worse now that she was drunk. She screamed and sat up quickly dripping wet.

"What the hell?" She screamed clutching her hair. I quickly covered her mouth with my hand and told her to shush, blocking her screams.

"Look, we need to leave. Now." I said sternly looking at them both in the eye. I had to make up a lie and fast before anyone realized what we were doing. "Guys, didn't you know there's a scavenger hunt today. There's going to be loads of people in the woods searching for the prizes. We need to go now so we have a chance of winning," I lied. I frowned - my lie sounded crap - even to me.

Kayla shut her eyes, groaning in pain whilst Nina was looking at me blankly clutching the water bottle in her hands. I paused waiting for a reaction. There was none. I quickly dragged them up to their feet and ordered them to take off their heels. They both moaned at me - if only they knew what I was getting them out of. I ordered them to put comfortable shoes on, fed them water and aspirin to ease their headaches and shoved them both a slice of pizza to help soak up their remainders of alcohol in their body.

This was a mission. I had to make sure I hadn't left anything important behind because I was not going into this house again with the risk of being caught. I dragged them to their feet whilst they were complaining and cursing me and dragged them down to the outskirts of the woods. I peered into the gloominess. This looked scary - like horror movie scary. I knew that this might be dangerous, but it was better than having a constant threat over your head, right?

I turned to them and stretched out my legs and arms, ready for the trek we had ahead, "Ready?"

"This scavenger hunt is for babies April. I'm hung over and I need some food."

I scowled. "I gave you pizza."

"I still feel ill."

"Did I ask you to drink so much?" They didn't reply so I shook my head at them. "No, I didn't. So either cry me a river or get a move on." Then, I changed tact. "Aiden's going to be there Nina," I said slyly. At this she perked up.

"You mean, all of them?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "The whole lot, Diego, Emma, Carlos. Everyone." I carried on rambling, turning my attention on to Kayla. " I heard that because these people are rich, they're giving away Michael Kors handbags if you win." At this last point I knew Kayla wouldn't be able to resist and she stumbled into the forest, grinning drunkenly and holding out her arms as though Micheal Kors himself would leap into her arms.

I quickly looked over my shoulder to check there was no-one there watching us. There wasn't. I sighed heavily and shut my eyes preparing myself for what was to come.

Then, I followed Nina and Kayla into the darkness of the woods.