All the boys looked up at me as I obnoxiously sighed. We were eating dinner at a long dinner table with several chairs empty. I looked around awkwardly even though my intentions were to catch their attention. "Can I maybe go home after this?"

Everyone loudly dropped their forks on their plate.

"Depends," Mason started. "Can we trust you?"

Tori smacked his shoulder.

"You can go, but you can't tell anyone," Chase said as he looked down to his plate and ate.

"Not even Jasmine," Eli added.

"But I thought you were mates—"

"We are," Eli assured in a sigh. "But I haven't really told her, so..."

"Gotcha," I finished. "Why would I tell anyone? I barely believe it myself."

"One day you will," Wes mumbled to me. Apparently, we were together judging by our hand holding under the table. But that still didn't make me forget about my confusion.

"Maybe, maybe not," I shrugged.

"You will. Trust me," Wes said, looking down at me with blue eyes. They were always clear nowadays. I bit the inside of my lip because he wasn't the only one who had a change in eye color that was drastic.

"I'll drive you after dinner," Chase suddenly announced.

"Maybe I should," Wes started.

"No. I will," Chase insisted with a darkness in his voice to match his eyes. "Who made up the cover story? Me. So who's driving her home? Me."

"Whatever," Wes grumbled. I looked up to his protective self and he leaned down to press his lips to my head. A chair scraped against the floor and I pulled away from the kiss to see Chase standing up.

"I'm done here. I'll be in my room," he informed. He looked to me with his dark brown eyes that actually reminded me of his brother's. "Text me when you're ready to go."

And then he left, shaking his head. Wes stood up and then grabbed my hand for me to stand.

"Pack meeting on Sunday unless called otherwise," Wes informed everyone at the table before walking away with me. Well he threw me over his shoulder and then walked away, and then he jogged up the stairs. The next feeling I felt was him landing me flat on my back on a bed. Instantly, his lips attacked mine and I kissed back. His hands slid down my leg and then my leg jerked out from under him and it tugged on the bandage around my wound. I pulled away from the kiss to hiss at the pain.

"I'm sorry," Wes apologized before kissing down my neck. He reached my collarbone and began to suck on my skin, but before I got a hickey, I pulled away and shook my head. One, I was uncomfortable since I'd never let anyone go this far with me before and two, what if he accidently bit me...?

"I think I should go home..." I said in a whisper.

"Then let's go," I heard Chase's voice say. I looked at him at the doorway. He looked disappointed. When he realized that I acknowledged him, he took off and I heard him trot down the stairs. I got up from being under Wes and sat on the edge of the bed. His room was all black and blue, like his personality: dark.

I sighed once and then stood up without a goodbye towards Wes. I met Chase downstairs as he twirled his keys. He didn't greet me either, not even when we hopped in his car. I looked to his eyes and even though light shone through his irises, they were still darker than I could ever imagine for him.

"Why are you mad?" I asked him. He didn't answer as he drove with his left hand handling the steering wheel. I noticed that we drove on a narrow road that led around the forest and down the hill. I also noticed that the speedometer kept rising in mph. "Chase. Slow down."

"Don't tell me what to do," he mumbled.

"Slow down," I repeated.

"Just shut up!" he yelled. He hit the brakes and we just sat there. I crossed my arms. I could tell he was looking at me, but I gazed out of the window at the scenery.

"I'm sorry," he apologized with a hard voice. "Just don't screw with me right now."

"I'm not screwing around," I replied. "I'm telling you to slow down before you get us in an accident."

"I know how to drive," he sneered. Since when did I do anything to warrant him to act this way towards me? I scoffed.

"So you're just gonna treat me how Wes used to? Demanding shit and doing whatever you want without a care to other people. When did that switch of personality happen?" I hissed out.

"Probably around the same time you started f*cking him," he retorted. That hurt. I kept my arms crossed and looked out the window. He smacked the steering wheel. "Shit. Ali—"

"Shut up," I demanded.

"I didn't mean it—"

"I don't care."

"I don't care if you do or not. I didn't mean it and I want you to know that before you start hating me," he responded. Before I start hating him. "Shit, Alicia—"

"Stop saying 'shit' every time you f*ck something up."

"I'm turning into Dane," he suddenly muttered beneath his breath in more disappointment than he could ever give me. I wasn't going to deny that. We sat there on the road, not moving, not talking. Nothing. You know those movies when the minutes passed like long hours between characters that had no business getting along? I was in that moment.

"Are you happy?" Chase asked in a mumble as he looked forward. What kind of question was that?

"Happy about the fact that I was shot last night? Or about learning that my friends are mythical creatures? Or that you're yelling at me for no reason?" I asked. "Why wouldn't I be happy? Most sixteen year olds would be happy at that would they not—"

"I meant are you happy with Wes?" he interrupted in the middle of my sarcastic rant.

"Excuse me?"

"Are. You. Happy. Being. With. Wes."

"I'm not even sure if I am with Wes," I commented beneath my breath. Chase turned to me with his dark eyes and bad mood.

"Then you might want to tell him to stop kissing you if you don't want to be with him. Trust me, it means something in his mind," Chase said with narrowed eyes.

"Well maybe I do want to be with him," I mumbled. Chase scoffed before turning to the road and zooming off. Why the hell does he care? As far as I knew, I was starting to like Wes and he might even be my mate according to Tori's big mouth. And Chase was with Zoey—for now—so maybe he should be worrying about his girlfriend staying faithful to him instead of stressing about whether I was or wasn't with someone else.

With all the rage in the car, we drove the remaining way in silence. Once I got out of the car, Chase followed me and when I was unlocking the door, I turned to him.

"Leave me alone."

"Oh please," he scoffed before pushing the door open and calling Zoey's name. They met in the middle and Chase grabbed her face and kissed her. Of course he wasn't following me. His girlfriend just lived in the same house. I shook my head and headed up the stairs. I changed my clothes and limped back to my bed before plopping down and putting a pillow over my face.

"Damn werewolves," I commented.

***

Having a boyfriend in six of my classes was interesting. Saying "I have a boyfriend" was interesting enough before tagging on Wes Knight's name to the title. All Wednesday he was a totally new person that stuck to his word about tormenting me to get my attention because now he was actually as much of a gentleman as he could get beneath all of his sarcastic and cynical bullshit he put out in the world. It was only another thing making me think that he really did switch places with Chase—who was absent along with Zoey for the day for some reason. There left Wes the boyfriend who held my hand and carried my stuff all day...and Chase the boyfriend who was most likely the reason why my sister was skipping school

As for other relationships, I noticed that Eli kept his distance from Jasmine. Of course I didn't want that because I wanted at least her to finally know what was up with the boys being werewolves. Eli needed to tell her. She'd handle it well. That only made me think about how poorly Zoey would handle it. Maybe Chase told her yesterday and that's why she was gone...but why would he do that? It wasn't like he loved her as a mate...but then again how would I know that? At this rate, I didn't really know anything.

"Hey Mason?" I asked at lunch before the other guys came. He flicked his gray and brown eyes up to me. "Why did you guys tell me?"

"Tell you what?" he asked.

"About..." I prompted. Don't make me say it...someone might overhear my loud mouth and your secret could be ruined, I thought.

"We guys didn't tell you shit. Tori did," he reminded.

"Yeah, but you all were about to tell me anyways," I shrugged. "Why me?"

He sat there, confused about how he would answer and then I felt someone move around me and then kiss my cheek.

"Because you're my girlfriend," Wes answered for him. Was that the criteria? Because Jasmine and Eli had been going out a few weeks and she didn't know. Same with Zoey. If that was the extent of the requirement, I felt as though it should be amended because holding hands and making out wasn't worth a secret as big as theirs.

I went to sit down in the seat next to Wes, but Eli bumped his hip next to mine as he came out from nowhere and looked to me.

"Go sit with Jasmine," he pleaded.

"No," I denied as Wes nodded over as he moved a seat down and gave me his newly empty chair to sit in to oblige Eli. "Is this about you telling her? Because you need to tell her already."

"I can't. Not this week," Eli replied.

"You tell her or I tell her," I threatened. The boys stiffened. Oh right. They didn't really trust me. "I'm kidding. Geez. Eli, she practically loves you already. It's not like she'll shun you and you'll die because of it."

I felt Wes shift beside me. They kept quiet. Wait.

"Can you...?" Can they seriously die if their mate shuns them?

"Well some can, but—" Eli started.

"No," Wes interrupted. I looked to him and he was looking down as he played with his food. I shrugged, slightly.

"So then what's the problem?" I asked Eli. He shrugged and looked down. I noticed Jasmine departing from the lunch line so I got up. Wes pulled me back down.

"Eli, just tell her so that Alicia can stay here," he whined.

"No," Eli groaned. Wes scoffed before letting me go. I kissed his cheek since he was disappointed and the act of affection didn't feel as foreign as I thought it would.

"So you and Wes? I never would've thought..." Jasmine commented as I sat with her.

"Me either," I said beneath my breath. But as I thought about it, it wasn't mad. Once you got past his fourth-grade logic of "I'm gonna be mean to the girl I like," he was sweet when he needed to and matched my energy when it came to any given sarcastic aura of the day. I was hesitant on the nosedive into a relationship with him, but now I'd start to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, I've already seen the worst of him.

"Where's Zoey?"

"I don't even know," I sighed. "She went out with Chase last night and I fell asleep so I don't know when she got home, plus she wasn't in her room this morning. I haven't talked to her."

"Oh," Jasmine said before eating lunch. I saw someone walk by our table.

"Hey Riley!" I greeted. He kept walking as he was in a stare-down with the boys' table—particularly Wes. It only threw me right back into the forest where I saw him in attendance just as much as Chase, Eli, and Wes.

I narrowed my eyes across the cafeteria at him.

I felt like that was a valid response considering they feuded every day as soon as Riley got here.

It took him a long while to respond. The lunch bell rang and everyone went their separate ways although Wes and I had the same next class. Our next class had assigned seats so he sat on the other side of the back row like most, but I saw him quietly texting beneath the table with a concentrated look.

I looked over to him and he was faced towards the teacher's desk as he slouched in his seat. How was Riley the one that caused me being shot? Judging by the way he and Wes were forcefully talking, the only thing he was sure of was the "territory line" or whatever, meaning he was confused all of the remaining time. Just like I was for the remainder of this class because I was thinking about this situation. Once the bell rang, I started marching to the intersection of Riley's previous class and this one since this was his next class. He was in view—with dozens of students in between—and an arm wrapped around the front of my waist.

"Don't," Wes' voice said.

"There's no way that's true," I told him as his grip released and we walked to English together—he steered me in the opposite direction of Riley though.

"Too bad it is," he replied. I shook my head in my confused state. I started to remember Monday night. Riley had turned his body in the way to face me...whether he knew I was there or not...so maybe it was his fault just like the bullet bouncing off his skin. Seeing as Wes was my boyfriend and he knew something that I didn't, I had to trust him on this for the meantime.