A growl escaped its mouth and Winter was at this point panicking. All she could think about was her last words. She didn't want to die without fixing the issue with her friends. She didn't want to die without telling her mom that she deep down really loved her. She didn't want darkness to take over without telling her brother he was the reason why she didn't give up yet. If this was the end there were a lot of things she regret not doing. Winter regretted walking away from Brian like that. Maybe if she didn't do that she wouldn't be here, but there wasn't a way to go back in time now.

Perhaps this wasn't such a bad idea, maybe this is what she really needed. Maybe this was the only way for her to truly find peace within herself. Everyone was right and she was wrong. Maybe she really was messed up. Winter never believed in herself or the possibility that she can get over this. Tears strolled down her cheeks, and her hands were trembling. Deep down she didn't want to end like this. Wasn't she too young to die? Somewhere deep inside she wanted to make friends. Lots of friends and maybe even be friends with something not human. Maybe she could push her fear away and accept Arculus for the way he is. She felt bad for every time she pushed him away. Every time she panicked only because he was close to her, as is he was some sort of disease.

"Arculus." She whispered softly with tears still falling down and her eyes closed. "I'm really sorry."

Opening her eyes wasn't an easy task to do, she didn't want to see how the lion was about to eat her. If this was her last moment she didn't want to witness her last graphic moment. At least she wanted her last moment not to be so cruel. However she couldn't resist the urge to open her eyes. When she did she saw the lion being held be a strange women. The first thing she noticed was how tall she was. The women could be about 6'2. Her curly hair reached her waist and her skin was....purple. The color of her eyes was orange and she looked extremely angry.

"I-I'm sorry I-" Someone cut her off and she recognised the person's voice.

"What are you doing outside at this hour?"

"Arculus?" She screamed out loud in surprise.

"How did you get here?" Winter wondered.

Arculus glanced at her and held the brig of his nose. "Didn't I tell you to just call my name and I would be there?" He asked her with raised eyebrows.

She was quiet and didn't dare to say something else. Winter took a peek at the lady but as soon their eyes met she turned away. The black lion had his eyes fixed on her as-well. She was scared and wanted to run away ,but she knew one wrong move and it could be over.

"Sorry about Noir. I didn't expect him to run away from me like that." The purple lady spoke up and Winter could feel that she was powerful, just by the way she looked.

Winter shook her head and tried to smile. "I-It's Okay. No worries I'm fine." She said but could see how the women and Arculus frowned, it's like they could see right through her lie.

"Thank you for finding him." She turned towards Arculus to look him in the eyes.

"No problem." He told her and patted the lion. It seemed as if she was the only one that almost pissed her pants in fear.

Shortly after she said something in a foreign

language and disappeared with her pet. She finally breathed out in relief and placed her hand on her heart to feel it beating. Winter could bring herself to stop thinking about the lion. She was sort off in a aw since she had never seen a black lion inches from her face. Winter was brought back to reality when she felt eyes glued on her. She turned around to look at Arculus. The disappointment was to be seen all over his face. Winter never understood how she did that. She really had a talent of disappointing people.

"I'm sorry-"

"Can you stop apologising? It's unfortunate that this happened but it's not your fault." He tried to reassure her but she still wasn't looking him in the eyes.

Winter tried to fix her dress but it was dirty from when she fall down earlier. A shiver went through her whole body and Arculus noticed. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her body, and pulled her closer to him. He placed his hand under her chin pushed it high enough to make her look into his eyes.

"Tell me what happened Winter." His voice was low but it made her heart skip a beat and he noticed.

"I don't want to talk about it." She told him and tried to look away from him but she failed miserably.

"I wasn't asking." He told her and she saw how his eyes switched colours again.

"Something happened at the party and I decided to just walk home on my own. That's when I saw the lion. Well he wasn't a lion at first." Winter hugged herself for comfort. She had been on edge lately and what happened tonight didn't help either.

"You met your friends at that party right?" He asked her with raised eyebrows and she nodded her head. "You're going to tell me they just let you walk away like that?" Arculus asked her but she could feel how he was getting angrier every second that passed by.

"Well we had an argument and-"

"We are going back." He told her and grabbed her wrist.

"Wait but I don't want to see them."

Arculus suddenly stopped in his tracks and glanced at her. His red glowing eyes on full display, winter could feel herself being scared of him again.

"Well I want to see them." He told her simply and dragged her back to the party.

When they arrived at the party Winter noticed there were more people. She had no idea why he wanted to see them or why she was here, but she couldn't find herself walking away. This wasn't the first time she had seen his red glowing eyes but this time it was different. Maybe she didn't know much about Arculus, but she could feel how his mood changed. Most of the time he looked calm and collected, but right know it seemed as if he could rip someones head off. Winter spotted Andrea and the rest of her friends but she didn't know how to approach them.

They looked like they were enjoying there time. It seemed as if whatever happened earlier In fact never happened. Winter took a deep breath before walking up to them with Arculus right by her side.

"Guys-" Winter was cut off by Arculus.

"All of you outside now." He told them loud enough for them to hear.

"Who the f*ck do you think you're talking to?" Chris wasn't his calm self and Winter was fearing how this could end.

"I said now." Arculus and Chris stood face to face. Andrea took Chris hand and pulled him backwards, and she did the same to Arculus with her hands still shaking.

When Arculus turned around and walked back outside, everyone followed him. Arculus wasn't sure why he was doing this. He didn't understand what the emotions was that he was feeling. One thing he knew for sure is that he was angry, but why was he so angry? Was it because he saw Winter crying. Her Dried up tears and shaking body. Maybe it was because he was pissed at the fact that her so called friends are not acting like one. Or perhaps he just couldn't stand them. He had no idea what it was but he was close to ripping their hearts out.

"What's the matter?" Brian asked but didn't acknowledge Arculus presence.

"I don't understand you humans." He said out loud but he didn't mean too.

"W-What?" Andrea asked in confusion.

"You all are her friends right?" He asked them and they all nodded there head.

"Yeah why?" Chris asked him with raised eyebrows.

"You let her walk away in the middle of the fucking night and now look at her." He raised his voice. Arculus wanted to calm himself down. Why was he even getting so worked up for.

Winter could feel all their stares and she was scared of their judgment. It seemed like they finally took the time to take her in. Andrea gasped and tried to take Winter in her arms but Arculus didn't let her.

"Are you blaming us for whatever happened to her?" Chris didn't like people that told him what to do. He sure as hell didn't like people that raised their voice to him.

"Isn't that what you have been doing?" He asked him and took a step towards him.

"Me?" Chris asked without a clue about what he was talking about.

Arculus sighed and looked behind him to see if Winter was okay. He knew that he had to calm himself down. If he lost control right know and at this place. Not only was he putting himself in danger but he was also putting Winter in danger. So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Next time when you make friends-" he opened his eyes again and glared at them. "At least act like one."

Arculus walked away from them and Winter followed like a lost puppy. She wondered why he went that far and even confronted them. She wanted to know why he even bothered to talk to them. Winter didn't truly understand why he did that. She thought he didn't like dealing with issues that had nothing to do with him. After all that had happened he proved her wrong. Maybe he cared about humans and he likes to help them.

All she could think about was how they all reacted. Chris didn't seem to be worried but her had always been the type to mask his feelings. He liked to overstep others boundaries. She decided to just talk to them later on, well if they wanted to hear her out that is.

"Why did you do that?"

Arculus glanced at her and went back to looking around him for any danger.

"If you never learn how to stand your ground, people will walk all over you." He told her and turned around to face her when he saw they arrived at her dorm room.

"I'll remember that." She told him and waved at him before walking in.

Befriending someone not-human wasn't a smart idea. She didn't know if he was dangerous. She didn't know if she should run away from him or not. Yet she found herself staying. After all making smart decisions had never been something for her.