-Jaden-

I had the worst weekend of my entire life.

All I wanted was to have a fun, eventful weekend with my friends. Just the three of us at our cabin, roaming around the wild forests in our wolf forms, maybe go disturb some villagers who lived at the edge of civilization. It was fun to watch them scurry away when we showed ourselves as wolves. Just a little peek around the trees and they fled in horror. Afterwards, we probably would had some of Tilly's great food and snacks in front of the fireplace, chatting nonsense and joking around, enjoying the peace and warmth.

But no. Tilly and Arch had decided to drag me back home since I was acting weird, and when my parents found out we had skipped classes again, they grounded me. I was stuck at home, and the only times I was allowed to leave was when my father dragged me along, when he left do his Alpha-stuff. He said it was a great learning opportunity for me. And he decided I should accompany him more often. Should, meaning I was, from now on, forced to accompany him.

What made things a thousand times worse was that annoying human. He was constantly in my mind, stealing all my focus whenever I had even a second to spare. I refused to have any conversations about him with myself. I accepted he existed, but I didn't allow myself to form any kinds of opinions or theories about him or the whole damn situation. But the image of him wouldn't disappear from my mind. No matter how hard I tried to throw him out of my head, he kept coming back.

Because of that, I didn't get much sleep, and people kept pissing me off just by breathing too loudly. Tilly and Arch hadn't talked about what happened at school, but I knew they wanted to ask what was going on. They were dying to know what had gotten into me. Although, it would've been highly stupid of me to think even for a second that they had no clue. They were smarter than that. So, in reality, they were most likely dying to ask if the human kid really was my mate. Which he was not. In other words, being grounded was not such a bad thing after all.

When Monday morning came, I was ready to pack my bags and move out of the country. I didn't want to go to school and see that brat again. He had already ruined my weekend, and now he would ruin my entire life.

I mean, what the fuck? What the actual fuck was our goddess thinking?!

I shook my head. Once again, I refused to let that train of thought go any further. If I let that happen, I would have to accept things I would never accept.

Our little group had never been acting so nice and quiet before. The teacher of our first class was giving us some pretty suspicious glares throughout the whole period, and I was in such a bad mood that I couldn't find his increasing anxiety amusing, like I normally would have. I was sure that, after the class, he would run straight to Hanson and tell him we were acting strange. I didn't care.

I spent the entire morning on the move whenever we had a break between classes. Tilly and Arch followed me around without saying a word, like the loyal little puppies they were. I did my best avoiding the human boy, whose name I still didn't know, and didn't want to know. I could've sworn he was everywhere. I could smell him around the corner wherever I went. It was like he was following me! I couldn't stop even for a second because he was right there!

At one point during lunch break it was really getting on my nerves, and I almost confronted him, but just when he was about to cross paths with me, I turned around and hid behind a corner. My heart was racing, and my breathing grew shorter when his scent got so strong. I had to close my eyes, so I wouldn't peer around the corner to take a look at him. He stopped for a moment. I could hear his heart beating faster for some reason. I wanted to keep walking, but I was frozen on my spot. Then, he finally moved along, and it became easier for me to breathe.

"Hmmh..." I heard Tilly letting out a breath, and I looked at her. She was looking behind the corner for a moment, before she looked at me. "What?" she asked.

"Piss off," I snapped and started walking, but Arch stopped me by stepping in front of me.

"Do you really want to start with that?" he asked harshly, and pushed me back.

What I really wanted to do and say at that moment would've caused a small fight between us, so I bit my tongue and shook my head with a sigh. "I'm just..."

"Whatever it is, don't take it out on us," Arch said, turning his back on me, and started walking.

I stuck my tongue out at him when he didn't see me, but I knew he had the right to put me in my place. They were not happy with me – that fact was getting more and more obvious to me – but what could I have said? There was nothing to say! I only had one little weird moment last Friday that meant nothing to me and had no effect on my life whatsoever.

"I'm fine," I said, faking a smile and straightening my posture. "I'm perfectly fine now."

"Yeah, sure," Tilly chuckled with a low voice, and looked away when I turned to glare at her.

I didn't say a word to either of them until the end of next period. I was still supposed to be mad at them, but when we stepped out of the class, I felt... something. Something that made me anxious.

"What?" Tilly asked, when I stopped to sniff around.

"I don't know," I muttered, and stepped away from the door. "It's not good."

I had no idea how to explain myself better than that. Not good. Something was happening, and it was not good.

"A warning?" Arch asked quietly. Whenever he got a bad feeling, he called them warnings.

"Maybe. Probably," I muttered. I could feel the two getting ready to fight, but this was odd. I didn't get warnings. I wasn't so tuned in with my surroundings like Arch was. If I got a warning, it usually happened when I already was face-to-face with danger.

"I don't feel anything," Arch said. "Anything besides the usual."

What he meant by "the usual" was the constant presence of the Black Thorns. But if he couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary, it was probable that whatever I was feeling, it wasn't a warning. That thought didn't give me any peace of mind. On the contrary, it was getting worse.

"I'm getting angry," I muttered. "Why am I getting angry?"

"Don't," Tilly spoke, grabbed my hand and started dragging me away from people – anger could easily trigger our transform. "For goodness sake, your wolf is showing!" she whispered.

There was fur coming out of my hands, and my senses were getting sharper. I hardly noticed Arch throwing his jacket on me while they led me towards the exit. I did my best to contain the transformation, but I was quite powerless against my inner instincts.

Once we were outside, my friends continued dragging me behind the school, where people didn't go in this weather because there was too much snow, and no one had the energy to clear it out. Once we were alone, standing knee-deep in the snow, Tilly forced me to look at her.

"Snap out of it!" she hissed at me, but it was easier said than done. I was still ready to fight, but I had no idea why.

"You really can't do that out in the public," Arch said, like I didn't know that already.

"I can't... help it!" I gasped, doing everything I could to stop the transformation.

They just stared at me for a moment, while I struggled. I kind of wished they would knock me out cold, because if I got out of hand now, it would mean trouble for our entire pack. If someone saw me turning into a wolf, it would be only a matter of time until this whole village would be swarmed with werewolf hunters.

And then, suddenly, the feeling started to subside. It was still there, but I was finally getting myself back in line.

"What the hell was that all about...?" I breathed out in exhaustion.

Tilly let out a frustrated groan. "It was bad enough to affect us as well."

"What? Really?" I asked, and looked at them both closely. Arch's hands were shaking, and I saw a glimpse of his claws before he managed to cancel his transformation, and for a moment, Tilly's hands were hairier than usual. "What the hell is going on?"

Tilly let out a humorless chuckle, and rubbed her temples. "Idiot. You're such an idiot," she said, sounding angry and... sad?

Then she just left, leaving us two behind.

"What the hell is her problem?" I muttered, looking at Arch.

He didn't seem too pleased with me for some reason. "You do know this beta-alpha thing isn't just children's play, right?" he asked almost harshly. "Those are not just words to throw around."

"I know," I said, keeping my annoyance out of my voice. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Use your brains," Arch said and started walking after Tilly. "And when you're ready to talk to us, let us know."

"What? Wait! Arch!" I yelled after him, but he didn't stop. "Where are you going?"

"I have a job to do," he just replied, leaving me alone with my confusion.