Trouble in paradise. Trouble in a relationship where two saw their futures take shape together. As the rain pours down on this summer evening, I watch as she hops out of the car, pacing herself quickly over as I wonder what went wrong. I wonder what happened to cause her to come here, to the house where the girl that he cheated on her with lives. She should hate me, never want to venture to this property, yet here she is, soaking wet and looking heartbroken. Getting up from my seat, I head to the front door, hearing her knock three times. A short pause and I open the door, meeting those bright green eyes as I do not know what to expect. Do I expect a slap, vulgar words thrown left and right, or what else? She should hate and I know I deserve it, yet something tells me that she came here because she needs my help.

"Amory," Molly greets, her voice shaky as I open the door wide, motioning for her to enter as she stands out in the rain.

"Hi, Molly," I greet, closing the door behind her as I look at her appearance. Her red hair is one massive birds nest, bags under her green eyes, her skin paler than usual, and her posture slouched unlike the poise posture she usually cares herself around with. I remember one of the first things I became jealous of was how she holds her shoulders back and her chin high as if natural, I thought that was a reason why Augustus loved her over me. "Can I help you?" I ask, trying not to sound rude as her eyes begin to water. "Are you-

I'm silenced not by a slap, but by pure shock as she throws her arms around me, latching herself onto me as a sob escapes her lips. Instantly I wrap my arms around her, comforting her as I am worried about what is happening to her. She's heartbroken. Something bad has happened and I have a good idea that it has to deal with Augustus.

"I need help," she whispers, her voice hoarse as I don't know if I will be able to help.

"Ask away." I owe her at least that much.

<>

"Since you two split, he's been different...he's been cautious and has been going into the woods a lot," Molly explains as I hand her the cup of coffee. "We hardly talk or see one another. He's become a hermit and is obsessed with these weird books." I already know what is going on and I feared it would happen. I knew it would happen, but I feared that it would get this bad. I mean, what do you expect when you submerge a human into a whole new world of wolves and the stuff humans claim are nightmares. So fee humans submerged into our world are able to not go as crazy on the reading up. Hell, some humans go insane.

I owe it to Augustus. I owe it to him to help him, to talk with him. "Where is he?" I ask, taking in a deep breath as Molly shakes her head. "I can help and chat with him, Molly."

She wipes away a tear. She loves him. I know she does. "My guess is that he's in his room. He's there when he's not in the woods. I'm worried, Amory, and I am here because I know, that behind all of this drama, you two are still best friends." Her words feel like knives. Knives not because I want to be something more than a best friend like how I wanted in the past, but knives because after everything I've done to her, she still finds kindness and respects me. "Please."

I nod. "I'll help. Don't worry. I'll have a chat with him," I inform, knowing its best to hold it off till Molly decides to leave. I don't want to kick her out when she needs someone, for she has never kicked me out. Months ago I saw Molly as a girl I wanted to hate because she had Augustus, but even then I could not hate her because she was a sweet person. I've never seen her yell or even say a vulgar word. She's different. She's pure. She doesn't deserve to know about the world Augustus has been informed of because it would taint her, take her away from what sets her apart. If she was a wolf, I would have no doubt that she would have Luna blood in her, for she would be the perfect Luna, strong and nice. Full of mercy and kindness. The perfect balance to a dominate Alpha.

Within ten minutes I am watching Molly hop into her car as I get into my own. She's worried for the boy that she loves and she's come to me because she knows that we were once best friends. I pull out of the driveway, heading down the familiar streets as I know the directions inside out. As I park my Prius right behind the familiar truck, I take in a deep breath, resting my head against the steering wheel. I prep myself, knowing that I am not only about to chat with the man I rejected, but with a human who has learned of a supernatural existence and is close to losing his mind like what the elders of our pack have always warned us.

"You can do this," I whisper, raising my head from the wheel as I open the door. Locking the car, I head for the front door, seeing the familiar window closed, the curtains pulled shut as a dim light can only be seen through a small crack. I know he will not be coming to the front door. Ringing the doorbell once, the familiar smile of a welcoming woman comes before me.

"Amory!" Mrs. Brown greets, welcome me inside the familiar house as she tells me how she hasn't seen me for quite some time. After a two minute chat, she tells me Augustus is up in his room. With Mrs. Brown heading back to her living room where she has a book on the couch open to a certain page. Heading up the stairs, I walk down the hallway to the familiar white door shut. Knowing it will be locked, I softly jump, grabbing the lock pick above his doorframe Augustus keeps since he commonly locks himself out on accident. Picking the lock, the door cracks open and I see a once organized room transform into an absolute mess. His bed unmade, books scattered in unorganized piles, empty sacks of food nowhere near the trash can overflowing wit energy drinks, the once perfectionist room is a complete mess.

"Augustus," I greet, only to find his headphones on and on max volume, his face illuminated by the light o his lab top as he looks up information on a source I've never seen regarding the werewolf world. "Augustus." I tap on his shoulder, barely even catching a hint of his attention. Right as I am about to tap again, his eyes widen and he falls out of his chair, scared as his fingers begin to shake. "Calm down." He pulls down the headphones, speechless as I hold out a hand to help him up. "We need to talk because Molly needs this. Not just Molly, but you. Your health and sanity needs this," I explain.

Augustus takes my hand hesitantly, up on his two feet as he backs up to the wall. "Your not even human. You're a damn wolf and a predator," he whispers, his voice shaky. "How the hell am I supposed to respond."

"You want answers about my world and I am here to give you with some amateur posting about it on some sketchy website." Pulling his hair up, I instruct Augustus to sit back down. As he steadily takes his seat, I shut his laptop, taking in a deep breath. "Ask away and I will reply."

"Are you a threat? Is your pack a threat to my life? To others lives?" He asks, searching my face as if looking for some off-putting detail.

"No. Unless you try and hurt us, we are harmless. We have our lives, just think of us like a type of religion. We have our goddess and our codes. We have our beliefs. But we are all living to get along with one another. As for those that could hurt you, think of them like your jail convicts, few in number and easy to contain." I just hope that made sense. I hope that I do not offend. I hope I do not frighten. "Think of us just as some community. One harmless and if anyone opposes a threat, there are individuals who take care of those threats just as you have your police."

"You mean hunters?" Augustus asks, placing his head in his hands as he takes in a shaky deep breath. "How am I supposed to live now. To think of Molly as having no threats when we go off to college. Excuse me for what I think of the supernatural world, but I don't want to even have kids knowing that the monsters parents tell their kids aren't true are actually quite real!" Augustus shoots up from his chair, frustrated as I see the dark circles under his eyes. "I worry for Molly. For us. For me. I worry that-

"Have you heard of a strange attack where someone gets the blood sucked dry out of them or someone gets mauled to death?" I ask, interrupting him as I keep my voice soft. "Show me the statistics of that."

His lips form a firm line and I briefly close my eyes to concentrate. "I understand. I understand how finding out about our world is a massive life changer and has affected you greatly, but believe me, Augustus, the only time a werewolf will attack you is if you try and attack them."

"What about all of this full moon shit?" He asks, pointing to a pile of scattered books that have diagrams of the moon, different phases and their effects upon the supernatural.

I shake my head. "The first world could only shift with the full moon, and as the first wolves begin to breed, the moon goddess watched as we populated the earth, some mating with other wolves and some with other creatures. A pure, pure wolf is rare and is often thought of as sacred. They shift only for the full moon. Common wolves that are practically all of us, we shift when we want and can control our wolf."

"But wolves are not the only concern," Augustus points out. I nod. "Vampires and witch? Fairies, dark creatures...all of these things are out there."

"And also have their own type of environment. Vampires and witches are in this hemisphere, but just like wolves, they are just as harmless. Fairies tend to be more towards the equator, elves tend to be in deep forests or places like Finland or New Zealand. The darker creatures are for the deep mountains and also parts of Asia." Augustus nods, understanding more as I take a seat on his bed.

"Humans can scare us too just as we scare you, you know," I point out. "All through history there are greatly trained hunters that can do bad things, and these hunters don't just drive around in an Impala. We are scared of them, just as you are scared of us, the bunch of us supernaturals that are actually harmful."

"Can you promise me something?" I ask Augustus, rising to my feet as I head for the door. He nods, looking more sane than when I first arrived. "Go to Molly. She needs you and needs to know that you are okay and not insane. She is very worried and really does love you."

As Augustus makes that promise, I leave the house, heading for my car as I know that Augustus needed that talk, that it helped him. Sure, he will still be afraid and shocked, but he will always have our chat to remember when he feels afraid. He will always have that reassurance that he is safe, that Molly is safe, and that even his children one day will indeed be safe.

As my car comes to life and I back out of the driveway, I turn on the radio, tapping my fingers to the drums of the rock music as Flynn flashes through my mind. The man I love. The man I love with all of my heart. Images of his smile enter my mind, images of him laughing as a joke is told or I do something embarrassing. I remember him at the beach, how he did not fight Augustus because he knew he had to be the bigger person, that he respected not only me, but also Augustus. I remember him accepting his mates rejection as he walked over to me, as he held me in his arms. I remember the first and only night we have been together, how in the morning he was afraid that I was not pleased or if he was okay. He cares so much for me as do I for him. To think he started off as a friend in my opinion that I was too blinded by the mate bond to see was the true male I had been waiting for my whole life.

Arriving home, I place my keys on the counter, seeing a few texts from Flynn about the day as I head up my stairs. His last text was from two hours ago. Peeling off my clothes, I hop into the shower, cleansing myself as I hum a soft tune. As I hop out and put on my clothes for the evening, there's a knock. A knock at my window.

I head out of the bathroom, heading over to the mirror to see before me a beaten and bloody Flynn. His lip busted open, hash over his left eyebrow, his shoulder looking out of place, and a black eye, instincts flood my movements as I open the window, pulling him in as I cannot say any words.

I work fast, setting him onto my bed as he hisses in pain. Grabbing a face towel from the bathroom, I wet it down, applying it to his face as I inspect his every cut. Only, my eyes widen as I peel up his shirt, claw marks over his chest as my eyes begin to water and I watch his eyes close in pain.

Whoever did this to him, they are going to damn pay.

"Flynn," I cry, grabbing scissors as I find myself cutting away at his shirt to cause no pain, only to be mortified as I only find more gashes from claw and even bite marks. "Flynn, what happened?" I sob, covering my mouth as those hunter green eyes meet mine briefly.

"I'm free," he whispers, his voice weak as his head drops to the pillow.

I scream.