I flopped onto the bed the second I reached my room.

Every cell in my body was aching. How was I going to do this everyday? Elena must be under the delusion that I was a treadmill. It was a real miracle Ashton never succumbed after all the workout.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"Zara, " I called out to the wolf in me. Right now a talk with her would be so refreshing.

"Hmm?"

"When will I get the powers Ashton talked about and how?" I asked her.

"The Moon Goddess gifts them, Ki. And I have a feeling, we will be receiving ours exactly three days before you turn eighteen."

"And do you have a clue what are our gifts?" I asked her curiously. Ever since I heard of Ashton's gifts I was desperate to know mine.

Even in my head I could feel Zara roll her eyes. "I am not a fortune teller, Ki. I have no idea what runs in the Moon Goddess's head!"

I sighed. What else could I expect from her?

"But you know, we do have a lot to learn before the next month. I suggest you ask Elena about the Werewolf Politics tomorrow."

What on earth was Werewolf Politics?

Zara chuckled at my thoughts." Ask her."was all she replied.

Dinner was a solemn affair mostly because the two pranksters of the pack were missing.

"Ash, were are the twins?" I asked him, halfway through dinner. "I haven't seen them all evening."

He simply shrugged. "They had an early dinner; said they were busy for some reason. I didn't ask much, because you know what those two are like."

I frowned. Twins and busy? Surely something was fishy.

Once dinner was over, I decided to turn to bed. Taking a quick shower and changing into PJs I snuggled into the bed.

However, sleep was not easy and I decided to read a book to pass the time. It was interesting, and I found myself enjoying it once I finished the first few chapters.

About a hundred pages later, I noticed a stealthy shadow creep past the door. Immediately, I was on high alert. Who on earth was prowling about the pack house at near midnight?

Getting off the bed, I began to stalk the prowler. Strange, he seemed pretty tiny for a real prowler! This must be the first case of elfish werewolves!

My tiny prowler turned to the right and I followed suit. Perhaps I was a bit noisy because he turned around to check cautiously.

Luckily, I hid myself behind a pillar just in time. A second later, I heard a door creak open and peeped out from my hiding place to get see.

Hey, wasn't that Max's room? I walked on tip toes and peeped through the keyhole.

The only source in the room was a torchlight . Damn, even smugglers were less dramatic.

"You made it!" A familiar voice cheered, bringing me out of my trail of thoughts.

"Yeah I did, but I half felt Mummy stalking me. I can tell she no longer believes me when I excuse myself with a headache."

I almost gasped when I recognized that voice.

What in the whole wide world was Nora doing at this time of the night?

"Sweetie, you need to sound convincing. Try excusing yourself with 'homework' the next time."

Of course, that dunderhead had to be Nick.

Okay this was it. Time to make a dramatic entrance. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door, with my hands on my hips.

Very Bella like, I know.

The torchlight immediately went out and shrill shriek filled the silent room.

"Mummy?"

I fought the urge to laugh.

"Mummy, its not what you think. Max and Nick just -"

"Don't you dare blame us!" two voices whisper-yelled in the darkness. "Do you want your mother to murder us, resurrect us and then murder us again!?"

"Oh, just be quiet...I am not." Nora whispered back.

"Well, go on, then."

"Mummy, I just came here because I wanted Max to review my essay."

Oh right! In the middle of the night!

What an amateur liar!

There was silence for a moment.

"Hey, your mother doesn't sleep- walk, does she?"

"Dad told me she used to kick in her sleep. I had no idea about the sleep walking part though."

Bella kicks in her sleep? Hilarious!

"May be it's just a ghost. Not your mother, Nora."

"Yeah, that's possible. In any case, that would be loads less scarier than my mother."

I burst out laughing and even in the darkness, I could feel them staring at me in apprehension.

"Mom?" Nora asked doubtfully after a whole minute.

"It's me, Kiara!" I choked out between fits of laughter.

"Oh! Thank heavens!" She said relieved. "She's pretty harmless!"

I closed the door behind me and switched on the light.

"Why did you switch off the torch light when I came in?" I asked them.

"We thought you were Bella. So we figured darkness was our only cover." Max replied sullenly.

"Yeah, and it worked until, stupid Nora gave us away with her shrilly shriek" Nick muttered.

I chuckled. "What were you up to?"

"As if we are going to tell you."

"Well, you are."

"No, we are NOT."

"Why not, Nick?"

"Because," Nick emphasizes, "It's a secret we three are planning to carry to our grave. If we tell you, we'll have to kill you later on . . . or worse still marry you." He cringes at the end.

"Glad to see you're so excited about marrying me." I retorted drily.

"Got that right, sister."

"Whatever brother," I wave him off, "Just tell me about this secret thingy."

"It's nothing of importance. You can go back to bed," Max said clearly dismissing me.

My eyes narrowed.

"Sure, and I'll pay Bella a midnight visit on the way."

As predicted, the trio looked at me with wide terrified eyes.

"Not Mom!"

"Goddess sake, no!"

"Have mercy on us, Kiara!"

I shrugged, feigning a grave look on my face. "You guys have been caught red handed. You leave me no choice."

I pretended to turn and open the door. Making each movement painfully slow, I exaggerated the seriousness of my words.

"Please don't!"

"Kiara no!"

"Alright, we'll tell you."

I stopped midway; my hand still poised on the knob. Spinning on my heel, I turned to face them once again.

"Now you're talking." I flashed a Colgate-worthy grin at Max as I sauntered back and squatted with them on the floor.

"Switch off the light first." Max grumbled. Clearly, he was peeved had actually succeeded in blackmailing them.

"Why?"

"Well we don't want the real Bella paying us a visit anytime soon, do we?"

Wordlessly, I got up and switched off the light.

Nick switched on the torch again and my eyes fell on a list on the floor.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"We are coming to that." he said. Turning to Max he told his twin, "Pray proceed, brother mine."

Max simply rolled his eyes as he began, "Alright. To start with I hope you know, tomorrow is a great day."

"Isn't every day?"

Next to me Nick made an impatient noise.

Max gave me a deadpan look. "Tomorrow is April Fools Day, Kiara."

Oh right. . . 29 days more for my birthday. I'm finally going to turn eighteen-sounds too good to be true!

"-perfect day for us pranksters all over the world." Max continued on. "So we have decided to surprise the entire pack with a few treats."

My eyes widened. Was I included in the entire pack treat thing?

As if reading my mind, Max shook his head. "Not anymore though, since you already know." Turning to Nick he said, "Cross her out, bro. She'll join us now."

Nick whined. "That was a really good one. Can't we try that n someone else?"

"What was that?" I asked him interested. Perhaps, we could try it out on Ashton.

"It was Nora's idea. She said we could cover your inner toilet seat with a poster of Voldermort's face. That way you would probably get a fright when you go to pee."

"Yeah, and probably pee in my pants." I muttered glaring at a now bright red Nora.

Nick burst out laughing. "See, I told you that would be a great one!! There, even Kiara agrees!"

"I think, we could still try it out on Ashton, though." I said.

The laughter paused midway.

"On the Alpha?" Max echoed hollowly.

"Sure, why not?" I asked them puzzled. Were they scared of Ashton?

"You are basically signing your death warrant." Nick said.

"Come on, Ashton won't take it badly."

"Only you can say that. After all you are on first name terms with him."

I frowned. Wasn't Ashton the same person who loved to tease me three years ago?

Perhaps, Aden and I weren't the only ones who had changed. Well then, tomorrow would be the best day to bring back the real boy in him.

"I think, we should go on with the plan" I spoke with determination while the trio just eyed me warily.

"If anything goes wrong. I'll take the blame." I assured them.

It was time people saw him as Ashton and not just Alpha Ashton.