As soon as I had gotten home, I rushed upstairs and took a long shower. I then stood in front of my closet debating on what I should wear. I ended up picking a black dress and maroon cardigan that would go nice with my new thigh high boots. I quickly blow dried my hair so it was natural down my back. I decided to go light on makeup with only a bit of concealer, some eyeshadow, and mascara. Once I looked decent enough, I grabbed my purse.

When I was certain I had everything I needed, I went downstairs and in to the kitchen where my grandma and mom were at.

"You looked beautiful tonight," My mom said, putting the spoon down and looking at me. "Where are you going?"

I sat down at the counter and stole a piece of cheese from the plate my grandma had. "I'm going out to dinner tonight with someone."

My mom raised one eyebrow and gave me a suggestive look. "Oh, honey this is great. I'm so happy you are making friends."

I smiled and before I could respond, the door bell rung. I checked my phone and saw the Chance had texted me fifteen minutes ago saying he was on his way. I started walking to the door and said, "That must be him."

I saw my dad mouth the word 'him' to my mom and she just gave him a small smile. My mom followed me to the door and when I opened it, she took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" I said, confused as to why she was so shocked to see Chance at the door.

My mom bowed her head and suddenly, I was really embarrassed with my family. What the fuck was she doing? When I turned around, my grandparents and dad were doing the same thing. "Why are you bowing your heads? What is wrong with you guys?"

My grandma looked nervous and wouldn't even look Chance in the eyes. "How do you know Chance?"

"We met at the market the other day and he asked me out to dinner. Why? Is something wrong? He said he knows you guys."

My mom didn't' say anything but my grandma did nod her head, agreeing with what I was saying. "Yes, we do know him. It is just a surprise that you had met him."

"Yeah, is this a problem?" I asked, getting a little frustrated with my family. I also felt sort of bad because Chance was still standing on my porch, not saying a word. He probably regrets asking me out to dinner and thinks I'm crazy.

My mom shook her head. "It's not a problem, honey. Just be careful."

I looked up and saw Chance was looking at me and I felt everything inside of my melt. He gave me a small smile and then looked at my mom. "I'll have her home by midnight, if that's okay Mrs. Scotts."

My mom seemed hesitant at first but before she could refute, she nodded. Damn straight she was nodding. I'm almost twenty, I don't need a curfew but it was nice of Chance to even ask about one. "That's fine, Chance. She doesn't have a curfew but I don't want her out too late since she is new to this town," I smiled at my mom and she looked at me, a small smile also adorning her face, "Bailey, I love you and have fun but just not too much fun because last time that happened with your father and I we en-"

I gasped, my cheeks heating up. "Oh god, mom please stop. We are leaving. Bye!"

Chance laughed and I hurried us out the door. Chance led us to his truck. He walked over to my side and opened the door for me. I thanked him and got into the truck, Chance shutting the door behind me.

Chance got into his driver's seat and started the engine. He backed out of my driveway and began driving into town. It was silent for a little bit so I decided to talk. "Hey, so where are we going?"

Chance looked at me for a brief second when we were stopped at a red light. "There's this nice Italian restaurant in town that I thought you might like."

"That sounds great. I love Italian food."

Chance gave me another breathing taking smile and the rest of the car ride was silent. It wasn't awkward or anything like that. Sitting here with Chance felt normal and right, like I was meant to be in this car with him.

***

Once we got to the little Italian restaurant, Chance insisted on opening my door again for me. I let him since he obviously wasn't going to take no more an answer. Once we got inside, Chance gave the host his name and we were led to the back and seated at a small two-person table.

A waiter came over shortly after we were seated. "Hello, I'm Andrew and I'll be your waiter for the night. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?"

I looked over at Chance and told him to go first since I was still looking at the menu, looking for iced tea. "I'll just have a Pepsi."

Andrew looked over at me, "And for you, pretty lady?"

I blushed, feeling a little bit awkward since I was getting hit on while on a date. "I'll just have a sweet tea with a lemon."

Andrew wrote it down and said he would be right back with them. I looked at Chance who was gripping the table a little too tightly, his knuckles turning white. I placed my hand over his and he instantly relaxed. "Hey, are you okay?"

He looked up, his eyes wild and bright. Before he could respond, Andrew came back with our drinks. This time, however, Andrew wouldn't even look at me and I wondered if I had done something wrong. Andrew seemed like a night guys and it was weird how he was extra flirty and then suddenly wouldn't even look at me, not even when I ordered my food. When Andrew left, Chance leaned his arms on the table and began talking to me.

"So, tell me about yourself."

I thought for a second, taking a sip of my iced tea. "There's not much to know about me. I'm pretty much an open book."

Chanced leaned back in his chair. "Not that much of an open book. I can't seem to read you. You're a mystery. There has to be something."

I laughed a little bit because he was right. I am sort of a mystery. I'm hiding something that'll he'll never know. "Well my favorite color is purple."

"See, I didn't even know that. Mine is black."

"Black?" I question. Why would his favorite color be something so dark?

"Yeah," Chance said, "I just like the simplicity of it. The color goes with everything and I think black just fits me well."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it."

Chance smiled, "I guess it is. Since it seems like we're asking questions here, do you have any siblings?"

I shook my head. "Nope, I'm an only child, you?"

He frowned, "Unfortunately. I have three little sister, Anna, Aria, and Alice. They're very annoying and love to be in everyone's business."

I smiled, knowing deep down that he loves them dearly. "They're probably angels. How old are they?"

"Anna is seven, Aria is six, and Alice is three. My parents had my early in life."

"That must be nice though, to have siblings. I always wanted an older brother or younger sister but my parents don't want any more kids. They're happy with just me. However, I do have two dogs and my parents joke that they are their other children."

Chance laughed. "I wish I had a dog. I keep asking my mom but she says we have enough children as it is, we don't need to add dogs into the chaos of our family. Plus, I kind of grew up around dogs so it's like I always had one."

Before I could respond and ask more on what he meant, Andrew came out with our food Once Andrew left, I began eating the breadsticks. "My dogs are brother and sister. We found them in the woods behind my old house. Their names are Lucy and Lucky and they're basically my life as well."

Chance took a sip of his Pepsi. "That's so cute. They were probably happy that you kept them together."

I choked on my meatballs and Chance suddenly looked alarmed. "Are you okay?"

I coughed and laughed a bit. "I'm fine, just went down the wrong pipe."

Chance smiled at me and we began eating in a comfortable silence for a bit until Chance decided to break the silence. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you move to this small town?"

"My house sort of burnt down."

Chance stopped eating. "Your house burnt down?"

I nodded. "They say it was an electrical problem. We didn't have anywhere else to go so we came and moved in with my dad's parents. They've been really nice to us. We're waiting on the check from the insurance company. My mom and dad have been looking at houses."

Chance frowned for a few seconds but recovered it with a small smile. "So, you'll be moving?"

"I don't think so. My dad wants to stay in the area or at least not to far from my grandparents. Maybe we would move a one state away or a few towns away. My parents haven't found anything they like."

Chance nodded and took a breadstick. "Do you like it here so far?"

I took a breadstick too and dipped it in my sauce from the meatballs. "Yeah, the shops around here are pretty cool. I haven't met any people but the people I've bumped into at the market seem to be nice. The woods behind my grandparent's house are beautiful. I love to take pictures and draw so everything out there is an artist's dream."

"That's really cool. So, you draw?"

"Yeah, it's what I was studying in school. I'm taking a semester off because of what has happened but I'm going to start back up in the fall. I want to be an art teacher."

"That's really cool, Bailey. You should show me some of your art, only if you want to. No pressure."

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I'm not really secretive about my drawings. I actually have my sketch pad in my purse."

I turned around and took my purse off the back of the chair. I took my sketch pad out and turned to a page of the black wolf I drew. I handed the book to Chance and his eyes grew wide. He coughed and tried to play it off cool by taking a sip of his drink. "Is everything okay?" I asked, feeling a little concerned. Was I that bad at drawing?

"Nothings wrong, I just choked on my food. This drawing is beautiful, Bailey. You have a real talent here. Where did you get the idea to draw this wolf?"

I knew I couldn't tell him that I have this weird connection with a wolf in the woods so I lied a bit, "When I was in the woods, I saw this wolf from a distance. I thought he was beautiful so I decided to draw him."

Chance closed the book and handed it back to me. "You probably already heard this from your grandparents but the woods aren't safe because of the wolves. Just be careful, okay? This wolf seemed to be nice but not all of them are as nice as him."

I looked down at my plate. "Now you sound like my grandma."

He laughed softly. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will."

We continued to eat and afterwards, we ordered dessert. I learned so much about Chance. He's 21 and loves any Marvel movie. His favorite band is Nirvana and he hates cats. He lives on private property across the lake in the woods. He said his mom and dad are very important in the town. I didn't know what he meant by that but he didn't really stay on that topic for long. He asked if I was seeing anyone and I said no and if I was, I wouldn't be out with him right now. He told me he's only ever had one girlfriend but she didn't feel like the right one and that they didn't last for long

By the end of the night, we learned so much about each other that it felt like I had known him my whole life.

***

After dinner, Chance and I walked around town for a little bit. The town was beautiful at night with all the store lit up. Everything was perfect until we bumped into a few of Chance's friends.

"Hey, Chance!"

Chance looked around and groaned really loud. He stared at the two guys coming our way. "Hey man, how have you been?"

Chance muttered something to himself and then spoke loudly. "I'm good, Jeff. We have to go though. I have to get her home, it's getting late."

Jeff and his friend looked at me. "This is new fuck toy, man? You did good this time!"

Chance growled, literally growled, and then two guys backed away a bit, "What? She your mate or something?"

I looked at Chance, wondering what exactly a mate was. Chance growled again. What the fuck was going on? "Shut up, both of you. I don't have time for either of you right now. She's just a friend."

Chance stared at the boys and they stared back. The two guys backed down and said, "Yes, we will. Sorry, sir"

They walked away and I looked at Chance. "What the fuck was that?"

He sighed, ushering me back to his truck, "Nothing, Bailey."

I stopped, jerking my body away from him. "Well, it was obviously something. Are you in the mafia or something?"

Chance laughed which caused me to get angry. "That wasn't a joke!"

He held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, love."

I huffed, growing even more frustrated. "It makes sense. You said your family is important and it looked like my family was scared and not happy to see you at our doorstep earlier. You also scared the waiter and you have temper problems. What is going on?"

"I'm not involved in the mafia."

"Are you sure? Because you seem mean and scary enough. You were staring at the boys with death in your eyes. They were scared of you! You didn't even have to say anything and it's like they submitted to you. How much power do you actually hold in this stupid town?"

"I'm not in the mafia."

I could tell he was getting angry but I was getting angrier. He was ignoring all of my questions. "How many people have you killed?"

"No comment."

My eyes went wide and I stepped back from him. I was suddenly very scared for my life "Oh my god, you killed someone? I knew it, you're in a gang. Just admit you're in the maf-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Chance shouted something that had me laughing really hard then screaming, "I'm a werewolf, Bailey."

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