"So where are we going?" I ask.

Asher stops humming the song on the radio and glances at me quickly before looking back at the road. "I was thinking White Stag. I don't really know many restaurants for a date and the town close by has a White Stag, so I thought why not."

I chuckle and shake my head.

"What?" Asher asks, pouting. "It's better than a dinner date at McDonald's."

"I guess," I reply. "Why, you know someone who did that?"

Asher nods, chuckling. "Scott took Dean there for their second or third date. Raiden and I heard about it for a few weeks after from Dean. Not as romantic as place as he was hoping."

I feel a smile creep up on my lips thinking about it.

"You wanna play a game?" Asher asks.

I raise an eyebrow. "What kind of game?"

He shrugs. "Two truths and a lie?"

"Meh, why not. Who first?"

"You can go first."

"Okay, lemme think," I say. "Uh... My favourite colour is red, I once beat this dude built like a fucking tank and I have a very small fear of fire."

"Hmm,"Asher mumbles. "I'm gonna say the beating tank guy thing is the lie."

I nod. "Yeah. Not to say I didn't try, the guy was just a better fighter."

That's true. AJ is a hard wolf to beat. It didn't help that I was still training in the basics when Thatcher decided to put me against his silent rogue. I think he just wanted a laugh as I got my ass handed to me.

"We're here," Asher says, pulling into the parking lot.

After finding a parking spot and turning off the car, we both get out and head inside. I only smell werewolves, no humans, witches or warlocks.

"Asher, nice to see you," says a man around his early twenties, working at the front desk.

"Hey Georgie," Asher replies, "This is my mate, Rei. Rei, this is George. He's Ethan McGowan's son."

I nod, remembering the name of Dad's friend. I remember him mentioning George a few times but I don't think I ever met him.

George gives me a smile. "Nice to meet you, soon-to-be Luna."

"You too," I reply. "Though I'm fine with being called Rei."

"Nah, I like Luna," George says playfully. "Come on, I'll get you seated. I never see a point in asking 'would you like a table.' It's like the posts you might find online, no, people come here to sit on the floor. And I'm guessing it's just you two tonight?"

Asher nods. "Yeah, just us two."

"Okay," George says, grabbing two menus. "Follow me."

We follow him through the restaurant to a booth. It's mostly full, the soft noise of chatter filling the room. The warm honey colour of the light and wood gives the place a homey feeling, a painting of the white stag mascot hanging over the bar. George sets the two menus down on the table and Asher and I sit down.

"Do you have an idea on what you want to drink?" George asks.

"I'll have water," I say.

"Chocolate milk," Asher pipes up, grinning.

George rolls his eyes but nods. "Man-child."

"And proud of it," Asher replies. "Now shoo, this dinner date does not include you."

George chuckles and heads off but not before I catch him rolling his eyes again. I smile, both at him and my mate's childish behavior.

"Do you know what you want to order?"Asher asks.

I nod. "Yeah, I like to get the same thing everytime."

"Me too," Asher says. "Quarter chicken dinner with fries as a side."

"Same."

"Wanna continue two truths and a lie?"

I nod again. "Sure. It's your turn."

Asher nods. "Hmm... I don't really like Kia, I once had a crush on Raiden and the last time I peed my pants was in grade three."

"I think the last one is the lie," I say after a few moments of thinking.

Asher shakes his head. "Nope. The lie was the crush on Denny. He's a nice guy, hot too, but I was crushing on his twin sister."

My eyes widen in shock. "Really? How'd he react to that?"

Asher chuckles. "Not too well. It was when we were around eleven or twelve. He threatened to push me off a cliff if I hurt you."

"And he said the same when we found out we're mates," I say.

Asher nods, chuckling bitterly at the memory before he changes the topic. "Y'know, with your dad and my mom being best friends, our bond will make them happy, making them related and all."

I nod. I already know about this. Gossip goes around. I heard how his mom and my dad grew a lot closer after I killed Brianna and Leon. It's a good pairing but I can't help but find it a little ironic after Leon and Brianna's secret affair.

"They didn't have much of a relationship outside of a professional one before, did they," I say. "It's kind of sweet, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Asher nods. "It is." A small chuckle passes his lips. "Best friends... My mom with Zander Rys, my dad's best friend and his beta."

I clench my teeth but make sure the action isn't noticeable. Leon fucking cheating on his mate with the mate of his best friend. I may have already known our dads' relationship but hearing those words still angers me.

"Ready to order?" George says, appearing beside the table and placing our drinks down.

"Shouldn't you be getting people seated?" Asher asks.

"Probably but there's no one coming in and if there is, Hailey will do it," George replies. "Back to the question, ready to order?"

I nod. "Yeah. We'll both have the quarter chicken dinner with a side of fries. Uh, white meat for me."

"And I'll take dark," Asher adds.

"Got it," George says. "Have fun, lovebirds."

With that he walks off and to the kitchen.

"He's quite the character," I state.

"Yeah but he's a lovable bastard," Asher replies. "Your turn for 2T1L."

"Really? 2T1L?"

Asher shrugs. "The full thing is a mouthful."

I smile fondly. This is the side of Asher that I always wished I could see, instead of the bully he was to me. Raiden would always share these fun stories of things he and Asher did, along with Scott and Dean. I would always find them hard to believe, knowing Asher as I did then.

Raiden said Asher was fun. I saw he had fun bullying me. Raiden would say Asher was funny and a joker. My brother didn't know he made cruel jokes and insults about me. Raiden said he could be pretty stupid. That, I believe.

"Rei." I blink and look at Asher. He tilts his head. "You okay?"

I nod. "Yeah... Just spaced out. Okay, for two truths and a lie—"

"2T1L," Asher cuts me off, grinning.

I roll my eyes, smiling. "I hate singing, I can raise the dead, and I once kicked Killian in the little Christmas package."

Asher winces slightly at the last one. "Ouch. But that sounds like something a sibling would do and I've heard you singing before, so I'm guessing the singing thing is a lie."

"Yeah, I love singing," I say.

"So what's this about raising the dead?" Asher asks.

"The Moon Goddess told me if someone I love died, she would bring them back," I reply, ignoring the part of me screaming about revealing too much. I already outed that secret and I can't erase memories so not much I can do there. "But only one person. I don't know exactly why, I think it has to do with what I've done."

"What do you mean, 'what you've done?'" Asher says curiously.

I hesitate slightly before replying, "My group and I. We help people who've been abused. Rescue them from their abusers and help them heal."

"Cool. That's the kind of job we need to be more common," Asher mumbles, more to himself than to me.

"Your turn," I say.

Asher thinks for a few seconds. "Okay, um... My favourite word is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, I'm a double-shifter, and I love country music."

"The double-shifter thing," I say a few seconds later.

"Nope," Asher replies. "I don't really like country music, I prefer rock like Set It Off or Get Scared."

"Really?" I say, surprised. "You're a double-shifter?"

Asher nods. "Yeah. Found out three years ago when my friends and I decided to try and see if we were. Turns out I am."

Being a double-shifter is sort of like being double-jointed. If you're a double-shifter, you can shift parts of your body that most others can't without fully shifting. Most werewolves can only shift their nails into claws and teeth to canines without fully shifting, while double-shifters can shift pretty much any part of their body, like their hands to paws, ears to wolf ears, or maybe bring their wolf tail out while staying in human form.

There aren't many double-shifters, it's around a 1 in 1000 chance of being one.

"Can I see?" I ask, interested.

Asher nods, grinning. There's no one around who doesn't know of werewolves so we don't have to worry about that. A look of concentration appears on his face and I watch as his wolf ears poke through his dark brown hair.

"Cool," I murmur.

"It's fun to do," Asher says, playing with the tip of one of his wolf ears. "I bet I could shift into what humans used to think of us as, the beasts who lost control at the full moon."

I chuckle. "Don't try that here."

Asher grins. "I won't."

He leans across the table and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, before sitting back and blushing slightly as he looks away.

"Sorry, I just really wanted to do that," he mumbles shyly.

I find myself smiling slightly. "It's alright. I didn't mind."

And I really didn't.

➵

"Was it fun? Where'd you go? Did you kiss?"

I throw one of the light blue throw pillows at the blabbering shapeshifter sitting on the loveseat across from me and next to his lover. Zaine sends me a glare and throws the pillow back. I catch it and set it in between Clove and I, on the middle space of the couch.

I give Zaine a nod, answering his questions. "Yes, it was fun, we went to the White Stag and he kissed me on the cheek."

"Ew, Reina's got boy cooties!" Rhea exclaims, wrinkling her nose.

"Girls have cooties, not boys!" Chase says. "But not you, Rhea, you're okay!"

"Awww," Clove whispers, smiling at her younger siblings.

I notice Killian's narrowed eyes. "He only kissed my cheek, Flash, stop thinking what I know you're thinking of."

Killian looks at me with a grin. "Have to watch out for my sister. What do you expect me to do?"

I shake my head, crossing not to answer.

I had a good time tonight with Asher. He had a fun time with me. A sigh escapes my lips as I think.

"What is it, Reina?" Clove asks. "You alright?"

I sigh again softly. "I just think Asher still has that image of who I was in his head, that he treats me like I'm fragile and scared and while it's sweet, it's kind of annoying.

"What are you saying?" Killian asks. "You want to show him who you are now?"

I hesitate slightly, before nodding again. "Yeah. I don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not to fit his idea of me. If he wants to like me, he'll have to accept me as I am, no changes."

"He will," Chase says happily. "Nothing gets in the way of true love."

"Yeah like how Anna and Kristoff fell in love," Rhea adds, grinning.

"So when do you want to come out?" Clove asks. "I'll come with you for girl support in the testosterone."

"As soon as possible," I reply, smiling slightly. "Sometime tomorrow. Not at school and you have your date tomorrow night. Tomorrow morning, before school? We could go over to the pack house with the twins and find Asher, Raiden and my dad. I haven't really got the chance to see him yet."

Clove nods. "Sounds good."

"I'll meet you at school then," Zaine says. "I'm not going anywhere earlier than necessary."

"I'll stay with Changeling," Killian pipes up. "We'll stay here while you four go."

I nod. "Okay. So tomorrow, the truth comes out."

"Well, not the full truth," Clove says. "Just the changes to who you are and where you've been. The Rogue Kingdom is staying a secret and I don't know if you want to tell them you killed Leon and Brianna and about their affair."

"Might as well," Zaine says. "It might be better to tell them you killed them sooner rather than later."

"We'll see," I reply. "I'll decide later."

I think over what's going to happen tomorrow morning. They'll get to see just how much I've changed. I'm not the same girl anymore. The old Rei is gone.

Tomorrow, they'll see the new me.