The study door shuts behind me with another soft click. I stand outside dumbstruck. My brain is fazed out and mind is numb. Any thought that comes is lost before I can even recognise it.

What am I to do now?

I walk in a daze to reach the busy drawing room. The party is in full swing. Olly is not there but I see the twins taking part enthusiastically – Jeff is twined around a buxom brunette and Billy is feeding another a piece of cake. Tina is chatting with a young man that looks considerably older than her. Tamara is sitting on a sofa in someone’s lap, licking the cake off his fingers.

Our eyes meet as I walk past the sofa towards the stairs. She waves at me and blows a kiss. Then turns back to whisper something into her friend’s ear. They laugh as if it was the best joke of the day. My heart aches with the unfairness of it all.

Grandma must have had a reason why she sent us here. She must have thought this as our second home. John said this morning that we have every right to be here. I do not understand why we are being treated like this.

“Hey! How did it go?” As expected, Gabe comes out of nowhere to stand before of me. His green eyes narrow as he takes in my blotchy red face. "What happened?"

"Well, what do you expect? He is asking us to do the impossible or we have to leave." I grit my teeth, quivering with rage. "You know what Gabe, your brother is a grade A asshole and bully. If I knew he was like this, I would have run him over well and proper. At least that would have made this pain worthwhile.”

Gabe raises a brow.

“Now hold on, Danny. Adam is just doing his job...”

“Pray tell me how this is his job?” I bristle with agitation. “This is a military camp for God's sake, not some family run business or gang of mafias. John is the chief here, but can you tell me what official post Adam holds besides being John’s eldest? He has no right to lord it over us!”

Gabe is about to say something when a deep growl rumbles behind me.

“Gabe, I need a word.”

I swirl to find Adam-the-Gruesome standing behind me. Looks like he followed me out and heard my rant. He stands with his hands stuffed in his pockets and holds my gaze for God knows how long. His red-black stare pierces me deep, and once again I feel myself flushing.

Heat crawls up my spine unbidden. I grind my teeth.

Bollocks!

*****

I am baffled at his effect on me. He is not even that great to look at. He is just a massive gorilla with ugly claws and fangs, and I am not even talking about his face. The moment he opens his mouth, people run for the hills.

I hate him. I hate him with all my heart.

Annoyed, I stomp upstairs. I need to be alone. I need to think. I need my pen and paper to scribble my heart out. And most of all, I need…

“Olly!”

I enter my room to find Olly sprawled on my bed. In her hand is my sketchbook, that she is rifling through. She puts is away and sits the moment I enter.

“What are you doing here? Can you not wait in your room until I am back? I do not like people breaking into my room.”

I am happy to see Olly but haven’t yet forgotten her yesterday’s behaviour. And I am in no mood to forget it. My whole day has been crap, barring the time I spent with Will. And the last night…it was the last night that set precedent to it. Since then, everything has gone downhill.

“Leave me alone, Olly. I am in no mood to talk.”

She chews her lips, looking apologetic. “Look Danny, I am sorry about yesterday. I know it was thoughtless. But you know what it’s like when I am around boys. I just forget what I am doing.”

I roll my eyes. Yeah…I know that. But it’s not nice all the same, especially when I get thrown under the bus. And she is the one taking accolades for my work. It was I who drove three thousand miles all the way from LA, and Olly took the credit. Only the crash was my fault.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

On any other day, I’d ask her to accept her mistake, reveal the whole truth in front of the same bunch of people. But this time I cannot do that. If they know about my heart condition, we have lost our game already.

“Anyway…” she sits up straight, tucking her legs underneath her and pulls a pillow in her lap. “First tell me what the ogre said. Did you get the same ultimatum as me?”

Oh…so he said the same to Olly. That figures!

“Yes.” I say, flopping onto the bed next to her. “He said he needs info on Mrs. Bates, or else…”

I close my eyes and rub my temple. I do not understand what we are to do now.

“Why do you think he suspects her?” I muse to Olly. “It’s so stupid. He doesn’t even know Mrs Bates. And wouldn’t listen to me when I told him she was incapable of such things. It’s just so dumb!”

I can’t think of a reason. To top it all, my head is buzzing with other things. Phyllis said she was a ‘Luna’. I know what it means and in what context. I just thought they only existed in over-sexual teenage fantasies, but here I find one, in my very own reality. It just baffles me.

Not only that, but there is more.

This afternoon Will said John was an Alpha. He just stopped short of saying my own grandfather was the Alpha before John. The difference was Rey Hayward and Rey Armstrong, but his face told me it was small difference.

If everything is true, it is the end of my current reality. And the beginning of a new one for which I am absolutely unsuitable and unprepared.

My head hurts as I lean back into the bed. Unbidden, my wolf dream floats to the surface of my mind, freaking me out.

What if I and Olly… what if we both…

“I think the ogre thinks Mrs Bates is a witch.” Olly’s musing breaks my chain of my wolf thoughts. I blink my eyes open.

“What did you say?”

“Remember the kids that followed us yesterday?” Olly continues dreamily. “One of them said Adam is on the scent of a witch. And today he asked us about Mrs Bates. It adds up.”

My face heats. “Don’t talk nonsense, Olly. There’s nothing like that. He said she was a security threat. The kid must be talking in hyperbole. He didn’t mean Mrs Bates was an actual witch.”

My heart sinks even as I say this. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Those kids did mention Adam was on the scent of a witch. And he did disappear after the crash, leaving his brothers to help us.

Where did he go? What was so important? He could have stayed with us, brought us here himself. But he didn’t. He had to go away immediately after the crash on some ‘urgent business’.

Did he go looking for Mrs Bates? He said Mrs Bates is a security threat. Is she a threat because she is a witch? Are witches a threat to werewolves?

Is this some fantasy or reality? Am I sane or insane?

“I knew you’d be like this, Danny.” Olly makes a dejected face. “I was so waiting for you to talk about this, but you never believe me.”

“It’s not that, Olly.” I shake my tired head. I can’t keep it to myself now. I feel like I am bursting with secrets. I need to share them for the sake of my own sanity.

“I… have something to tell you. Something similar.”

“Oh, yes?” Her face perks up with excitement. “What is it?”

I get up to check if the door bolt is secured, then shut the window properly. I stuff a bath towel near the window ledge and another under the door to stop any sound from escaping.

Then I come back to sit next to Olly.

“I believe your theory could be true. But I need your opinion on mine.”

*****

It’s been two hours since I shared my findings with Olly. Since then, we have talked, speculated, cried and cursed. We both are confused and scared. Two girls in a world that’s suddenly shifted itself into something else.

Around eleven, I tiptoe downstairs to steal some bread from the kitchen. I come back safe and sound without encountering anyone. We eat and get back into bed. Olly sleeps hugging me. She does not want to sleep alone tonight.

Neither do I.

“Do you think Mrs. Bates is an actual witch?” Olly asks, cuddling closer, one arm wrapped around my waist, one leg propping on me as if I was some teddy bear..

“I don’t know. She lived with us for twenty years and we never suspected a thing. She was pretty normal.”

“But how do we know what is normal for a witch? We have never met one.”

Oh well. I can’t defeat that logic.

For a moment, we keep quiet. Olly has opened the window again and a silvery moonlight filters through it directly onto us. We gaze at the orb together, mesmerized by its allure.

“Have you ever thought…what this all means?” Olly hesitates.

I sigh but do not answer. I know where she is going.

“If…grandpa was an Alpha…it means we could be… werewolves too?”

My hands feel clammy. Feet are cold. The word gets me like a splash of cold water in my face. A dream is broken, but it feels like I am pulled into another. The moon in my eyes gets bigger and brighter. I cannot open my mouth to answer Olly.

“Danny!” Olly gets irritated and prods me. “Don’t sleep yet. Let’s talk.”

“Uhh…hmm.” I shake my head to bring myself back.

So are I and Olly werewolves?

“Phyllis said this morning that we don’t belong here,” I say, filling Olly in. “, that we belong to the city. But John said we have every right to be here, and that he is honour bound to keep us here. So I think…there could be something in it.”

“But we have never experienced anything weird. I mean, if were wolves, shouldn’t we be able to shift?”

Why does she have to say that at this time? I feel weird. The moonlight stings my skin, as if burning holes. Its velvety smoothness is replaced by irritation. It pokes me like a thousand needles, demanding answers. Why have you not answered the call? Why are you disobeying me?

I sit up in irritation and shut the window.

“I don’t know, Olly. All this could be just our imagination. There might be nothing in it. Adam might be a freak, or those kids might be freaks. Or we are freaks to believe in all this nonsense. We might have put two and two together to make two hundred. Let’s just sleep now. We will think of it tomorrow.”

“But what are we going to do tomorrow? The ogre will pester us for Mrs Bates again. And we have nothing to say.”

And if we don’t give him anything to chew on, he will send us to training fields.

Well, I have thought about that. Mr Adam-the-Gruesome Stevens is in for a ride.

"I have a plan, Olly. Let's see if it works."

***** *****