"Hey," Riley greeted to me when I was at my locker.

"Um hi," I commented. "I haven't seen you around much."

"I've been sick and busy," he reasoned. Too busy for school? "What have you been up to?"

"Rebelling against my mom, throwing parties, jumping off cliffs—you know...normal teen angst stuff," I joked with a laugh.

"How are you and Wes?" he asked randomly.

"We're good actually," I answered with a smile as I hugged my books into my chest. Suddenly, Chase walked by and hit Riley's shoulder with his. My mood darkened as Chase's eyes connected to mine briefly.

"I'm honestly starting to hate him," Riley commented.

"I thought you already did," I expressed.

"I believe it's me that you hate," Wes appeared. He threw an arm around me and veered me away from Riley after shutting my locker.

"I was talking to him," I commented. Wes didn't respond to me as we went to math class. As Chase passed my desk, he bent down to me.

"Trust me when I say stay away from Riley," he whispered before walking away. Don't talk to me. Break up with Wes. Stay away from Riley. Yet another command on his list.

***

I received the message in sixth period as he sat in front of Wes who sat by me and was staring intently at his work. I could tell he didn't understand any of this class.

He looked back to me with an annoyed look. I narrowed my eyes at him as he went back to text.

I could tell when he got my text because he sighed and I looked back down to my book and journal to do my assignment.

"What number are you on?" Wes muttered to me.

"Thirteen," I answered. Only seventeen more questions. "You?"

"This question that says n-a-m-e," he said. I looked over to him and he smirked. I got close to him.

"The answer to that is Alicia's Bitch," I whispered before he smirked, wrote it down, and then turned back to me. I couldn't believe he actually wrote it but he scanned my face from eyes to lips and then checked to see if the teacher was looking. Before I knew it, he leaned out of his seat to connect his lips to mine. I added my hand to his jaw as I heard other students coughing and scoffing at our PDA. Then suddenly, I got startled of something that dropped on my desk. I immediately pulled away and we sat in our desks like nothing just happened. Through my bangs, I saw the teacher cautiously look up from grading papers. I laughed beneath my breath, but stopped when I saw what was dropped on my desk. I unfolded a sheet of torn out notebook paper and read.

-Talk to me after school

I looked forward to Chase and his back was turned to me. I wrote back.

~Give me a reason to.

I folded it into a finger football and then tossed it over his shoulder and onto his desk. I nearly made a touchdown with my arms because I was surprised I hit my intended target. Wes looked over to me with a confused look and then I shrugged. I went back to my work as I expected Chase to return the message via text message. But minutes later, I was wrong and then found a folded paper on my desk. I unfolded it, yet again, and read his scribbled writing over bunches of erase marks.

-Because I promised you that I'd be there for you no matter what and I'd beg to be your friend if I screwed up...And plus, we always come back to each other.

I swallowed at his true words and clenched my jaw. Something touched my hand and I looked to Wes.

"You okay?" he asked. I slowly nodded my head. The bell rang and I immediately got up and put my hand on Chase's desk before he got up.

"If you're so willing to be there for me, then why can't you be there for me all the time instead of just after our arguments?" I asked mad. He looked up at me silently with deep eyes as he stood up. "And what if I'm sick and tired of giving you chances?"

"Then maybe it's time for me to give you chances," he replied before walking out. I watched him as he left and my hair fell in my eyes.

"You wanna talk to him?" Wes whispered to me as he grabbed my hand and walked me out of the room and through the halls.

"I don't want to, but I guess I have to," I answered, unsure.

"Well he can't make you," Wes reminded. "I can go with you if you want."

"No. Because I know he doesn't want that. I mean he doesn't want you involved in whatever our business is," I informed. He stopped walking and I ran into his back. He turned and looked down to me.

"Your business is my business," he said. "But fine. I'll let him have his time with you for now. I have shit to do after school anyways."

"Wes, that's not what I..."

We stared at each other and then Jasmine and Eli showed up.

"Can I talk to you real quick?" Eli asked Wes while lightly hitting his arm. Wes flashed me a look before walking off with Eli. Jasmine stayed with me.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"I don't know. He's getting all protective all of a sudden about me talking to Chase," I answered.

"Well why does he want to talk to you?" she asked. I shrugged. "Maybe Wes has a reason to be protective. Chase gets crazy sometimes."

"And you would know this how?" I asked.

"Um. Because my boyfriend is his best friend?" she answered.

"Right..."

"So are you gonna talk to him?" she asked, interested.

"Who?"

"Chase!" she shouted.

"I don't know," I whined.

"I think you should," she expressed. I raised an eyebrow.

"And why is that?"

"Face it. I'm your best friend. I know what's best for you," she concluded before walking away from me.

***

"Is there a reason you caused my psychological trauma the whole day with your request?" I humored without a laugh to Chase. For once, we weren't in a forest having a discussion. Wes had dropped me off at Chase's house. Somehow knowing, his door wasn't locked so I just barged in on him and found him on the couch doing nothing. He looked back to me.

"I didn't know my request was so demanding," he shrugged. He patted the seat next to him and then I hopped over the couch to sit.

"Why do you want to talk to me?" I asked.

"I feel like you give me too many chances," he announced.

"Because I do," I agreed. He looked up to me and his eyes were a perfect medium brown color.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I feel like I have to for some reason," I answered, honestly.

"I'm gonna be honest when I say this," he started. "I want to always come back together, but I don't deserve these chances. Any of them. I don't want them."

"Then why do you keep taking them?" I asked. I was trying to get to the bottom of his odd behavior, but if he doesn't explain, then I'll never know.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Well you don't want any more chances and you don't want me to know you guys' secrets," I recapped. "Sounds like the end of a friendship, huh."

He grabbed my waist, making things way more awkward, and then pinned me beneath him.

"Not if you stop keep giving me chances and see past my moody bastard side," he said.

"I might take you up on that offer," I whispered, lightly trying to push him off me. He took the hint and sat up. "And for the record, you're not a moody bastard unless a full moon is coming up."

"That shouldn't be an excuse," he muttered, looking down. He flicked his eyes to me briefly. "Normally we don't get crazy until the actual full moon...I guess I'm just a little bit stressed out."

"About what?"

"Carina coming back, Billy being away on his honeymoon...and I just don't want to hurt anybody," he said. "But if I keep bottling up all this rage, I know that I'm gonna phase when I shouldn't."

"So yet you take it out on me," I noted. "Nice to be known as a punching bag."

"That's not what I meant," he responded. "Hey," he addressed because I looked into the distance thinking of the dangerous possibility of getting hurt again. I looked into his soft eyes that were now light and green. "I won't hurt you though. I'll try to stay away from fighting with you."

I paused and then decided what I was going to ask him.

"Why me?"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Why was I told the secret? Why is it me that you have these moments with? Why is it me that has to deal with the confusion?" I asked. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then when he started, the door opened.

"Honey, I'm home," I familiar voice greeted as Carina stepped in the house. "And brother, I come bearing gifts—oh...Hi Alicia."

"Yeah. Hi Alicia," Kayla added as she stood beside Carina. She crossed her arms. Carina turned to Grayson, who rested on her hip.

"I'm gonna put Grayson down. Come with?" Carina asked her friend.

"I'll pass," she replied, looking at me and Chase. Carina narrowed her eyes in disappointment before going up the stairs. Kayla walked over and I took the opportunity to scoot away from Chase. Of course, she took a seat on his lap and his hands went to her thighs.

"How was your day, babe?" she asked.

"Fine," Chase answered plainly. Kayla stared into his eyes and her expression on her face changed.

"I guess I'll go—" I started to say as I stood up.

"No wait," Chase said. Kayla and I gave him an interested look. "I still need to talk to you."

"I believe you've done all your talking...just text me," I shrugged, starting to turn.

"No. I'm not done talking and I don't want to have any conversation like this through a freaking text message," he said sternly with a raise of his voice. I stood silently with my lips parted because I didn't know how to respond. Kayla whispered something to him and he responded to her and she crossed her arms.

"Yeah. Stay for dinner," another voice said. I looked to the stairs to see Carina. Before her eyes flashed to the couple, Kayla slid off of Chase's lap.

"Well I think that Wes—" I started.

"Wes is busy," Chase interrupted. I narrowed my eyes at him as he completely shot down my forged excuse.

"You should stay for dinner," Carina repeated.

"Um sure," I finally agreed. "There's not specific werewolf food right?"

Chase gave me a blank stare as I awkwardly laughed. Eventually he smirked and revealed his hidden dimples that were adorable.

"Are you kidding?" Kayla asked with disgust, as if I offended her or something.

"There's no food that these guys don't eat," Carina laughed. I smirked at that.

"For the record, I don't eat..." Chase started to defend, but trailed off. "Okay. Yeah. I eat everything."

I grinned and he grinned back.

"Great," Kayla said in a rude tone. Was it me or was she just acting like a bitch since she realized I was here? "Carina, let's start dinner."

"I can help if you want—"

"Nope. Stay put. You're our guest," Carina said as she skipped into the kitchen, grabbing Kayla on her way. I shrugged and plopped down beside Chase again.

"Remind me who's older: you or your sister?" I asked in a laugh.

"I am. Well sort of."

"How 'sort of'?" I asked, mocking his voice.

"'Sort of' because our werewolf ages will eventually kick in, but I'm a year or so older than her, but she's a junior too," he explained.

"How is that possible?"

"Considering that female descendants of the werewolf gene don't normally phase, she started school early because our parents thought she wouldn't phase," he explained.

"Then what's the difference in werewolf years?" I asked.

"We don't have those yet. See, when we're like a hundred years old and look like we're thirty or so, the hundred years will be our wolf age," he enlightened.

"We?" I repeated. "So she doesn't age either? Because your family has it passed down?"

"When there's a girl in a family of werewolves, they normally can't phase, but they still get every quality that we have," he started.

"Well what if someone becomes a werewolf by a bite?" I asked.

"There are different kinds of bites," he informed. "You can bite someone just to bite them to cause pain or to turn them or...to make them yours by making a mark."

"What do you mean mark?" I asked, confused. He looked up at me and right when he was about to answer, Kayla came in and sat on his lap.

"He means that when he's finally ready to settle down and make it official, he can bond himself to his girl and she'll live forever and get traits like real wolf-girls," she explained before pecking his lips. "Right babe?"

"Mmh-hmm," Chase hummed.

"Kayla, get your ass back in here before I make sure you can't physically see my brother again!" Carina shouted through the house. Kayla kissed him once more before fleeing.

"So when you find whoever you want to be with, you just bite them and spend forever with them?" I asked.

"It's not 'whoever I want to be with'," he corrected. "It's when my mate decides. It's an eternal bond that's impossible to break."

"So, like, werewolf marriage?"

"Sort of like that," he nodded in response.

"One bite can just change your whole future..." I mumbled. Then I looked to him. "But what if you bite her wrong?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, his forehead wrinkling.

"What if you cause pain to her, or turn her?" I asked interested.

"For one, if we bite that hard, then obviously we would've certainly wanted pain on her, but the bite is sort of like a marking and a turning at the same time, but I doubt any girl has actually phased from it," he answered.

"What if they decide it's a mistake later on?" I whispered. "What if something happens and one of them doesn't want it anymore?"

"Like I said, it's impossible to break without someone getting hurt," he answered.

What if Wes bit me like that and then April came back? How would we get out of it? Chase grabbed my arm and stared down at me with light creamy brown eyes and green rims.

"Don't even think about it with Wes," he said. "Even with April, he said he didn't want that. He'd turn her before ever thinking of marking her. He won't want to settle down with you to that extent—even if he loves you."

"And what about you?" I asked, sort of ticked off. "Do you plan on settling down with the girl whom you f*cked but won't love?"

"No," he answered. Something in his voice made me turn to him as he looked down at me with softer eyes. He started to whisper: "I don't plan on marking Kayla for exactly that reason."

"Well maybe if you weren't with her and you actually went to find your mate—"

"I don't want to," he interrupted.

"Why not? What could Kayla possible offer you?" I said with closed teeth, in a serious whisper. "Sex?"

"No..."

"Keep in mind that you said she was a mistake—all of them were mistakes," I reminded as I glared.

"It's not that," he said. "Maybe I just don't want my mate"

"You're only saying that because you haven't met her—"

"Maybe I have," he interrupted. "Maybe I've already seen her, met her, talked to her, touched her—everything and I don't want to be with her."

I looked in his eyes for an answer. Why wouldn't he want to be with her? It's not like he could say he isn't one for relationships, because I had proof of otherwise. He was too sincere, nice, smart, gorgeous, and caring to not want to be with someone he was destined to be with. Sure, he had his faults like his mood swings, anger issues, and who knew what else, but he deserved someone to be with for the rest of his life. Not someone like Zoey to cheat on him or Kayla to flaunt him off superficially.

But then again, maybe he thought it was too dangerous to be with her considering the last time his apparent "enemies" thought he (and the other boys) were happy and in love.

"Chase—"

"Do you know if Dane's actually coming home tonight? Because I don't want to not make enough," Carina said as she walked into the living room right before I was going to ask Chase whether or not his reluctance was all due to danger or not. She looked between us. "Never mind...I mean, you boys eat a shit load anyways...extras wouldn't be a problem."

I was starting to think she was talking to herself and then she turned to head to the kitchen.

"No one cares if he comes home or not," Chase called after her. After a decision, I stood up.

"Carina, I think you're gonna have extras anyways. I think I should just go home instead," I said. She back stepped and turned to face me.

"What?" she asked, stopping from stirring her food. Chase stood up and grabbed one of my crossed arms.

"She's just kidding," Chase reasoned with a lie to his sister before turning to me. "Why do you have to go? And don't give me crap about contacts that you don't even wear."

I couldn't hold my smile from that youthful memorial excuse to get away from him. Chase ended up grinning slightly himself.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked, coming into the living room.

"Nothing," Chase and Carina chimed.

"Alicia was just saying that she preferred to sit between me and Chase at the dinner table," Carina lied. Kayla's expression loosened.

"Aw. Alicia, I don't bite," she said in a giggle. But when she turned, I could've sworn she added "much."

"Hmm. Jealousy looks terrible on her," Chase whispered to himself.

"What the hell does she have to be jealous over?" I asked. "I have Wes and she has you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you," I repeated, poking his hard abs.

"What about me?" he asked with a cocky smirk on his face. Before I found myself admitting to all the compliments I thought towards Chase that I actually shouldn't say aloud given our respective relationships, Carina walked back into the room.

"You," a new voice said, "need to get your little brother from upstairs."

"Sure thing, baby sister," Chase returned. I heard her laugh before I giggled myself. Chase raised his eyebrows and shrugged before darting up the stairs and returning with Grayson.

"Grayson, Grayson, Grayson," I cooed. "Becoming a brother's boy."

"Brother's boy?"

"Like Daddy's boy or Momma's boy," I clarified, feeling like a dork.

"You're a dork," he expressed.

"From this day on, Grayson is a sister's boy!" I heard Carina yell from the kitchen. I laughed and then got serious.

"Or maybe he's an Alicia's boy," I said down to Grayson, himself. He smiled and clapped. "Aha!"

"That's still sister's boy!" Carina yelled. What? Chase looked over my head.

"Pay attention to cooking!" he yelled.

"I'm multi-tasking," Carina returned, cheerfully. "And plus, Kayla's helping me, anyways."

I laughed and sniffed the air. I gave Chase a look. And he returned it with a confused one.

"Are those cookies?" I asked, excited.

"You can smell them?" he asked.

"Hell yeah. Can't you?"

"Well I'm a werewolf...what's your excuse?" he asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow of amusement.

"I do quite fancy cookies."