Simon was waiting downstairs, his gaze now carefully neutral. "Are we going?" I opened the door and pushed him out. Simon's jeep wrangler was parked in front of the house. We got inside in silence and headed for Shamrock. I had no idea what to say and he obviously didn’t want to speak first so the silence dragged on uncomfortably. I bounced my leg nervously.

"You could have told me." Simon finally broke the silence, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"What?" I blinked at him in confusion. Tell him what? Did he figure it out? But how?

"I'm your best friend. And you know that I don’t judge,” he said honestly, without taking his eyes off the road. Oh, I was pretty sure that he would judge me for turning into a monster and killing people. He wasn’t that understanding. "I'm sorry if you thought you couldn't tell me about Dale," he continued seriously. Wait. What? "Damn it, I should have realized. I mean, I knew something was up with you, but you almost died, and then the journalists and the vaccine, and we still haven't found the wolf...” His rambling finally gave me a chance to shake off the shock and realize what he was hinting at.

"I'm not gay!" I yelled at him in shock.

"Fine, bisexual, or whatever you want to call it." He shrugged and squeezed the steering wheel tighter.

"Women! I like women!” I blurted out immediately, throwing my hands in the air. "There is nothing between me and Dale.”

"Oh…" Simon stared at me blankly for a moment before he moved his eyes back to the road ahead. Now an even more awkward silence settled between us. I really wanted to start banging my head against the dashboard. Fortunately, Simon parked in front of Shamrock. "So… What was this guy doing at your place?" he finally asked reluctantly.

"I'll tell you, but first let’s get food.” With a sigh, I stepped out, sucking the cold air into my lungs to soothe the frustration that was building inside me. Shamrock was a bar that served as a restaurant during the day. It was completely empty when we entered. We sat down around one of the ordinary round wooden tables next to the pool table. I wondered what to tell Simon… I didn't want to lie to him, he was my best friend. But how did I explain that I brought a stranger werewolf home because I was lonely? Almost absently, I ordered an American breakfast.

"So?" Simon prompted me, after a moment of silence.

"Look, it's hard to explain..." I sighed and rubbed my face as if I could shed all my nervousness and frustration. I had to lie to him… There was no other way… I didn't want to. I wanted to tell him everything that had happened, tell him about my troubling nights, the Beast, the White Demon, Dale. My eyes moved to his forearm. Did he still have a scar? Did he ever feel the call of the forest? Did he know what really happened to him? Maybe… Maybe I could tell him. Explain everything that had happened in the last few days. Simon was watching me patiently. But how? How could I tell him to make him understand? So he didn't think I was absolutely crazy? "Back then... after the wolf attacked me…" I began with an almost whisper. Simon blinked at me in confusion and leaned forward with a curious expression. No… I couldn't. Suddenly I was drenched in cold sweat, my whole chest clenched, and I didn't have enough air to say another word. He would think I was crazy… And how could I drag him into a world I still didn't understand myself?

"What? Andrew?” Simon urged me, and the cold feeling left me, allowing me to breathe again.

"Eh… Dale called me, he needed somewhere to stay," I lied, and immediately felt the weight of loneliness and now guilt fall on my shoulders. "I met him in the army and now he has some problems, so I agreed that he could come and stay with me for a while."

"Oh..." Simon sounded almost disappointed by that. Fortunately, our food was brought so I could stuff my mouth with it and avoid telling even more lies. Simon was my best friend. Why couldn't I just tell him about it? You can't! Suddenly an unfamiliar presence seemed to growl in my mind. I froze. The White Demon? That was the first thing that came to mind but then I realized it sounded like Dale. The beast inside me seemed to tense and for a second I was terrified it would break out right here in the middle of the restaurant. My skin tingled but the beast didn’t fight to get out. Instead, it pushed against Dale and his presence disappeared from my mind. Although I was confused as to what just happened, I was even more shocked by the sudden feeling of emptiness in my mind. The hell was going on?

"Andrew?" Simon's voice brought me back to reality. I realized that I had stopped eating and was just staring at my plate.

"Nothing." I shook my head, and we finished our breakfast in silence. I could feel that he wasn’t satisfied with our conversation. Oh, I could practically hear our friendship crumble under the weight of secrets. I fell into a minor depression by the time we finished eating, got into the car, and drove to the station.

"Hey! Simon, Andrew!” Caroline called out as soon as we got inside. "I need you to go to this address. A hysterical woman called to tell us that she had been robbed."

"Sure. Any news?" he asked, his expression more careful.

"Nothing." Caroline shook her head, frowning. "But at least no one died."

So once again we headed to the car. No one died… Yesterday I was too preoccupied with Dale to even think about the city and its inhabitants. The mere memory of running by his side filled me with a surge of energy and somewhat childish joy. I wasn’t alone… I did not stand completely defenseless and alone against the Demon. But why didn't the Demon kill? I had no idea, and more than relief, it caused me anxiety. Was he too busy hunting me down or thinking of an appropriate punishment? He was angry with me, that was for sure. I disappointed and betrayed him. I shook my head to chase the horrible memories away and looked up at Simon.

"That's why you should visit Ashley," Simon said suddenly. I blinked at him, trying to remember the beginning of the sentence. "She's worried about you." Ashley… Suddenly, almost like a slap, I was struck by the memory of him and Ashley, sitting next to each other, touching. Not that I forgot... I was just dealing with too many things and, in fact, I really didn't want to think about my best friend and my sister together.

"Um... I guess so," I said slowly and got into the car. Should I even ask? "Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, she was looking for you at the station," he said focusing hard on driving. The beast immediately resented the lie that came out of Simon's mouth. I wasn’t sure how I knew it was a lie. I could just feel it.

"I don't like lies, Simon," I said softly, my voice deeper and rougher than usual. Simon winced and looked at me, a little frightened and a little surprised. Which wasn't exactly the safest when he was driving. However, the beast was not interested in safety. It was too angry for that. Fuck how hypocritic was that considering our conversation in Shamrock.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shook his head stubbornly and shifted his gaze back to the road. It felt like a slap over my ears. My fingertips began to tingle and the familiar dull pressure poured into my joints. No! Not now! I pushed against that other existence inside me. But the anger didn't leave me.

"Of course. Unless 'looking for you at the station' is a code for 'we had sex in the garden’,"I growled and squeezed the door handle to keep myself still.

"What?" Simon gasped and blinked in shock. "It’s not-"

"Stop it, Simon!" I slammed my hand on the dashboard and the tingling in my fingers stopped for a moment. "I thought we were best friends! Stop lying to me, damn it!” I knew very well what was happening. This was the Beast inside me, angered by the lies and feeding it into that little flame of protective anger I felt when I thought of Simon with my little sister.

"I—" Simon began, but then he obviously changed his mind and let out a defeated sigh. "Okay! Okay, I'm sorry, I lied. I'm sleeping with your sister! Satisfied?"

"No." I sighed and finally found enough strength in myself to push the Beast back into the darkest parts of my mind. The anger left me, leaving only the bitterness of his little betrayal. Fortunately, there was no time to speak.