Shift.

It was a command, not a question. Levi had me running through the forest this morning, as we usually do, but this time, he had me shifting back and for in between my forms on his command.

It was incredibly strenuous.

He said that I would stop once I could shift without even thinking about it, when it became second nature–like breathing. At first, I thought it would be easy, but as I ran barefoot through the forest, grateful for the soft grass of the spring, I came to realize how hard this actually was.

"Shift" he commanded into my mind again. I took a large step then jumped, hoping I could jump into my form. My bones and body ached as we did this for what felt like the hundredth time. My wolf was annoyed and just as tired as I was. She did not like coming out only to be put away within a few minutes. Snapping and growling at me; I was trying to wrangle her in while pushing through the pain of it all.

We stumbled a bit as we landed; our shift through the air was not as graceful was we had planned and took one second too long to be completed. But we regained our footing and continued on dashing through the forest like white hot lightening, a feeling that was in itself the definition of bliss.

"Shift," he commanded again.

My wolf growled and grumbled as his request. I let out another breath and tried to time the shift better. We took two large strides before jumping up and reaching for our skin.

I found my skin but fell perfectly on my ass as the fur finished receding back. I let out short hot breaths and tried to let my lungs have a break. My legs felt like jello and my mind felt like mush. It may not have hurt as much, but it took a ridiculous toll on my body. I could only hope that Levi would let me have a long hot bath after this.

"Girl, why aren't you running?"

I groaned and stood back on my two feet. I looked around and tried to remember what direction I was going in. I had some sense of direction, but my wolf knew where we were. She pushed me towards a familiar scent of home, an invisible trail that only our nose could see.

I started jogging again. Levi and I were the only real predators out here. I kept my head forward but let my ears pick up the melody of the forest; the sounds of squirrels scampering, birds flying to their nests, and rabbits hopping quickly to cover as we approached.

It was like seeing the world for the first time. Everything hummed like there was energy coursing through it, through the forest. It was contagious and energized my spirit that felt severely drained after the last few days.

"Shift," he calmly ordered again.

I took another long step and leaped into the air. Fur and teeth quickly replaced our skin and our bones cracked quickly into place. We landed on our feet, stumbling only just a bit, before continuing our journey.

She was magnificent, my wolf. She was so proud of us, proud of me. It had been so long since someone had actually been proud of me, that when I felt the emotion coming from her it almost scared me.

She was teaching me to be strong again, to be myself; and I was teaching her to be tactful, to be cunning and wise, using our words when teeth would not be necessary. We were learning to blend together, like a perfectly harmonized duet.

We kept running back towards home as we followed the invisible trail the scent had left behind. It started to fade a bit and we paused to sniff around and make sure we weren't following a false lead. We did a big circle and sniffed out every rock, tree, and leaf just to be extra cautious. After we reaffirmed our confidence in our trail, we picked up our paws again and took off.

"Shift."

I didn't feel like arguing with Levi, I was too tired. I had done this at least a hundred times this morning and knew he would probably make me do it a hundred more times. I pushed myself harder; I wanted to do this, to be able to do this seamlessly. It was going to be hard enough to function in a world where 'bitten' wolves are normally looked down upon more than regular wolves; they were usually omegas, weak omegas–it made sense. I couldn't give them a reason to pick on me, like Levi said, I had to back up my status as an alpha female.

I leaped again and felt my skin quickly blanket my body as my two legs spouted back into place and picked up the strides that my paws had left off on. I grinned to myself in satisfaction; that was my best shift yet. My wolf yipped proudly in the back of my mind, she knew that we were strong and would eventually mold into the strong she-wolf that we are intended to be.

Sometimes I wasn't so sure, but I trusted her. I had to trust her, she was a part of me now. She was interwoven in the very fiber of my being, my heart was her heart, my legs were her legs, and my soul was just as much hers as it was mine.

I had forgotten a while back that I was naked as I continued running. I should have been horrified, and freezing, but shifting so much pushed any embarrassed feelings out of my brain while my new natural high body temperature prevented me from getting cold.

My wolf didn't care, she was proud of our body; both skin and fur. If it were up to her, we would flaunt our ass all over town.

"Shift."

I ran over a fallen tree with mushy green moss growing over it like carpet. I pushed off the edge of it and let her come forward. I hardly felt anything that time, it was more like cracking my knuckles than breaking my bones.

We smiled to ourselves again and pressed forward. The scent of home was growing stronger and the hunger in our belly was demanded that we eat soon.

Once we could see the cottage we slowed down to a trot and looked for Levi. He was sitting comfortably in a little green plastic chair and drinking a lemonade out of a large plastic cup.

We were panting hard from our laborous run. He gave me a coy smile and stood up with his drink in his hand.

"Shift."

I sighed again. My body was so over this, it was tired and still recovering from my first turn. I felt my skin quickly come back and my fingers stretch out. Someone was wrapping something warm around me, preventing the chilly wind from touching my skin glistening with perspiration.

I blinked a bit and clung onto the large green knitted blanket wrapped around me then looked back to Levi who sat back in his chair. "Thank you."

"Welcome girl, how do you feel?"

I sighed out a long languished breath. "Exhausted."

He chuckled a bit and took a sip of his lemonade. "Good, it's good for ya. When you shift, you should be able to do it without even thinking about it. You did good there towards the end, but every morning I want you to shift back and forth at least twenty times on our runs, understand?"

I nodded and pushed down a growl of annoyance from my wolf. I wasn't in the mood to argue with Levi, nor did I have the energy.

"Alright, let's get some lunch. After that we can take it easy. Let Derek give you an Epsom salt bath and try to soak those limbs."

"That sounds wonderful," I murmured out.

"It's not easy for anyone girl," Levi said as he stood up and folded his chair. I reached through my blanket and took it from his hands as we started to walk side by side towards the cottage. "Even wolves that are born struggle with shifting after their first turn. Like you, their body isn't used to going back and forth between the two forms, it takes a while to get used to."

"It wasn't so bad the last few times. It didn't hurt, but it tired me out more than I thought it would."

"Yap, it will do that," he replied as we walked up the front porch stairs. "Be proud of yourself Charlie girl, you were shifting better than a lot of weres that I've seen that have been round longer than you."

"Thank you," I said back as I stepped into the door. My wolf laid down in the back of my mind as happiness coursed through her. She wanted to please her alpha, Levi; she wanted to prove to him that we were not a weakling, that we were in fact strong.

"Well," he said while setting the cup on the counter. "Don't let it get to that little head of yours. Pride comes before the fall, don't forget about that."

My wolf snorted but I nodded my head in agreement and scolded her. We couldn't let ourselves become cocky; it's in the false sense of security that overconfidence brings, that people make some of the worst mistakes.

"Charlie, I was thinking you could have lunch in the bath?" Derek popped his head around the corner opposite of Levi and I, where another hall led to his and Levi's rooms.

"Sounds perfect," I breathed out.

Derek winked at me then nodded to Levi. "Alright little one, follow me. We'll get you cleaned up and get some food in your belly."

I don't know what could have been better, or why I had not done it before; but as I bit into my third grilled cheese, with four different kinds of cheese courtesy of Derek, while sitting in his large stand alone soaker tub, I couldn't wrap my mind around how something so unlucky completely changed my life in the best ways possible.

He came back into the bathroom with a large plastic cup that had a straw sticking out of it. I set my sandwich back on the plate that was resting safely on the bathtub tray before taking the cup from him and sucking down the cool water inside of it.

"Feel better?" he asked while taking a seat next to me.

I swallowed down the last bits of water and nodded to him. "Much, my limbs felt like they were about to fall off, they still kind of do."

Derek gave me a half-smile before taking a bite of his own sandwich. "Yes, that is one thing I am thankful that as a vampire, I will never have to do."

"Must be nice," I groaned out.

He splashed water at me playfully which caused a gasp of surprise to escape my lips. I gave him a low warning growl, playful in nature, to which he just chuckled and bit back into his sandwich. My wolf shook her head and receded back, she loved Derek too much to ever hurt a hair on his head.

"So how are you feeling?"

The question triggered something in me. I sighed and moved to the corner of the tub so I could face him. I may have been nude, but Derek was certainly not interested in any part of the female body, that and, ever since I turned it felt like I took a shot of everlasting confidence juice. Both of them noticed it, how much more sure of myself I was.

My beast was to thank for that. It was more her than me doing so. She reaffirmed me and reminded me of our potential, of the person we wanted to be. It was hard to believe her though. It was hard to look into the mirror and see all the scars of my past an imagine that I was going to live up to expectations I could have never dreamed of.

But she believed in me. She would always believe in me. Most of all she was in my corner, she would always be in my corner, even if I was wrong.

That's one thing about being alone, there's no one but you to fight for you. Even the strongest people long for someone to be by their side. It's funny, though, society expects women these days, especially single women to be fierce little Beyonce minded minions with a Jennifer Lawrence attitude and the grace of Charlize Theron. You are to be strong, but not that strong. You are to be fierce, but not to the point were you're shoving feminism down everyone's throat. You are to be beautiful; an expert in contouring, because of course you watched every Instagram tutorial on how to do it, and you're to be a gym rat who is living off of overprice meal replacement shakes. Yet you couldn't be that beautiful, that intimidating.

Many people think that we are forced into this mold because of the men of the world, because when a man says that he wants a 'gorgeous smart independent woman who can support herself,' he's usually lying through his teeth. Most men, when met with such a woman, revert back into their pubescent nature as their insecurities demand someone that won't make them feel inferior, less of a man. Someone less intimidating, less pretty, less smart, less fierce, but just enough so he can check off the boxes on his little list.

But one of the core problems are women themselves.

Women are the worst judges of each other, the harshest critics. I remember walking into a yoga class, one of those taught by a Stepford who had nothing better to do, in yoga pants that were Target brand. I thought nothing of it; they were comfortable and I was going too busy bending around to be worried about the label on my ass. However the scrutinizing eyes I got sent me right to the LuLulemon store as my own insecurities screamed out in pain.

"Those aren't LuLuLemon?"

"So they're a knock off?"

"Well, it is expensive..."

The women who put these ridiculous expectations on each other in this keeping up with the Kardashians culture. You're expected to be a loving wife, because God forbid you are not at the country club after your husbands long round of golf to have a drink with him and listen to him recount his every shot of the day; and after that you're supposed to let him have you in any way he pleases. Swallow with a smile.

You're expected to have a hobby, because don't you have a hobby? Don't you do something that you can put on Facebook so you can look 'busy'? You're expected to be well kept, and chic; J Crew on the outside and Victoria's Secret underneath. Perfect hair cut at one of those overprices salons that everyone goes to, perfect skin thanks to cult-like beauty regimens, and a perfectly practiced plastic smile plastered on your faces as you go about your day.

If you don't meet the expectations of this all-female jury, then you can bet your french manicured ass that you will be judged harshly, shunned from the herd; the recipient of scrutinizing eyes and whispers that cut like knives.

Eventually, you end up drinking so much of their bleached Kool-aid that you don't realize what it's actually doing to you. How it's changing you and making you into this perfect little doll that society can abuse for its own pleasure.

Being strong by society's standards is bullshit.

Because at the end of the day, none of those women in my yoga class had the strength to ask me a simple question: Are you okay?

No one asked if I was okay when I had bruises covering my arms or when I had to cover a black eye with so much concealer that I looked like a damn birthday cake. No one asked if I was safe when I mistakenly wore shorts to a spin class, shorts that were thrown on in a rush decision where I completely forgot about the scars on the backs of my legs; everyone stared, but no one opened their mouth.

No one ever stood up for me, ever. Not even when my husband would make harsh remarks towards me in front of his friends, or behave crudely. The best was the time I actually told someone. I told the woman who was giving me a bikini wax. She saw the sea of bruises covering my thighs and looked at me empathetically. I felt like I had to explain myself, like I had to tell her. So I did. She nodded her head and gave me a kind smile, and for a second I thought that maybe she could save me. Maybe she could save me from the guilt that I knew was keeping me in the vicious cycle that was my marriage.

But she didn't.

She just patted my hand and said, "Keep your chin up."

I cried the entire way home, then put on more concealer so my husband wouldn't see my puffy eyes.

The only person who ever actually did anything for me was someone that was not afraid to receive the repercussions from the herd; because you see, secretly no one wants to leave the herd. They all hate the herd, yet they say that they would do the right thing when the time called for it. Of course, they would extend their manicured fingers to a woman who was battered and help her to get off her feet. Of course, they would bring a meal to a homeless person that their personal chef made. Of course.

Lies.

So many lies that they continue to feed each other. Herd mentality. If one of them actually did step out to help someone like me, they would be shunned–banished from the herd that spread lies to themselves to justify their grotesque actions. Because of course they are doing the right thing, she deserved it. She was such a terrible wife, mistreating a husband that took care of her. She's just so spoiled and apparently had an affair with the pool boy, she totally had it coming.

But one person did not care about the herd. They saw the herd for what it is, shallowness. In a herd full of people everyone was devastatingly alone.

It was our maid, Yolanda.

She found me one morning, as she did so many mornings, locked in the bathroom and asleep. I had hidden there after Marcus decided to beat the shit out of me again. I remember she knelt down and asked me, 'Do you like living like this?'

It was a funny question. I didn't like it, because the chains of guilt were so overwhelming, so heavy.

She sighed and put her hand on mine and said, 'Baby girl, you need to pull your head out of your pretty ass and look around. What are you staying here for? A husband that 'loves you'? He loves you as much as he loves his shit in the toilette, and baby girl, I can't stand to watch him hurt you any longer.'

I remember crying. I cried and cried and cried and vented to her. I told her that I didn't know. I was so scared. How could I just leave? I didn't even know where to start. I hardly had ever even been on my own.

I felt guilty. I felt trapped. I felt weak. I felt incapable.

I felt like I wasn't worth the effort, some days I still do.

But Yolanda was calm and patient with me. She wiped some of my tears away and sighed. 'I will help you. I know you're scared, but if you stay here one, of these days I will find you dead instead of asleep. We will make a plan, and then you will run and never look back.'

That was the day I decided to leave. The day I realized that not only did I want out of the herd, but I hated all of those two-faced demons who called themselves my friends. I hated my husband. I had to hate him. I couldn't let myself feel sad about leaving, because if I did I knew I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't leave.

Yolanda helped. She held onto all my cash so he would never find it, then drove me to a gas station on the outskirts of town where her brother was waiting with an old beat up truck, Ted; he owned a used car lot, and would do anything for his baby sister. 

When I left, she kissed me on the cheek, handed me a large sack of food she had made, gave me my cash, and sent me on my way. Telling me to never look back–and I wouldn't. 

I will never look back. It's a mantra I have to keep telling myself.

No one had been in my corner for years, no one wanted to, not even me.

But Derek did, and Levi did, and now my beast did. My beast did and she always would because at the end of the day she was totally and completely mine, and that in itself was worth all the pain that I had suffered over the years–it brought me to her.

It was so hard to fathom; how could something who had only been around me for a few days love me unconditionally as she did? Werewolves and fairytales aside, that notion in itself baffled me.

My wolf is patient with me though, she has seen my past and looked into the memories that still haunt me, she understands. But she keeps fighting for me, for us.

It's hard to fight. It's so easy to go back to the herd and become a drone again.

But I won't do it. Even if I wanted to, my wolf would never let me; thank God for her strong resolve.

Love.

I was still getting used to her unconditional love and the power that surrounded it. It was love like hers, Derek's, and even Levi's that scared me at times. The only love I ever knew, besides my parents, abused me and exploited me. Love was dangerous if you allowed it to be.

But I did love her. I couldn't help but adore her. I loved Derek too, and Levi; even though he was one cranky asshole.

I looked back at Derek and smiled. "I feel different but still like myself. I feel so much love for her, and her love in return. It's hard to think that I did life without her with me. I never want to go back to that life."

"I'm proud of you Char, you've come a long way little one. You still have far to go, but you can do it and we will help you. We will always be there for you, you know that right?"

I felt a small tear fall down my cheek. They were not my herd, they were my pack–my family. I realized that. I never wanted to surround myself with mindless drones again, or people that would want to take advantage of me. I would hold my pack close to my heart and guard them with my life, my wolf rumbled in the back of my mind in agreement. She saw all. She saw my past and mourned for me and for what happened. She understood. She would always understand. And she would love, she would always love me.

"Yes, you both saved me," I let out a sharp breath and brushed the tear away. "I don't know if I could have done it alone, actually, I don't think I could have."

He gave me a quick kiss on my forehead as he helped me out of the tub and wrapped a large robe around me, then opened his mouth to say something when a knock on the door interrupted him.

Derek's eyes immediately dilated and turned more black than brown, his nostrils flared as goosebumps began to leave faint trails on skin, and when he sucked in a breath you would have thought that he was breathing for the first time.

I looked at the door then back at him. I couldn't sense danger, but my wolf was anxious. She was prowling back in forth in my mind and pushing me to slowly rise out of the bath.

"Derek?" I asked softly while I wrapped an emerald robe around myself.

"Am I interrupting something?" a red haired man said as he poked his head out from behind the bathroom door.

Derek didn't have to tell me who it was. It was Elliot.

In a flash, Derek was embracing his mate and locking him in a chaste kiss filled with underlying passion. They reeked of desire, their pheromones were starting to make the room feel stuffy and make me feel like a third wheel.

Elliot pulled away and chastely kissed Derek again before looking at me. "Derek, have I taught you no manners? You didn't even tell me Charlotte was standing right there!"

Derek rolled his eyes as Elliot walked towards me. He was lankier than Derek but around the same height. His hair was just as red as it was in the photos I had seen, if not redder. A true red. It was long and secured back by a bandana that he used as a headband.

He was more earthy than Derek. He was wearing brown hiking books, worn Levi's, and a long sleeve black shirt under his green Patagonia vest that said 'bite me.'

He smiled and held out his hand to me; green eyes sparkling like emeralds. "It is finally a pleasure to meet you. I'm Elliot, although you probably already know that."

If he wasn't Derek's mate I would have been swooning. His Irish accent was still evident and the man was some hunk carved out of the Alaska wilderness.

I tried to dry my hands off and took his cool hand to give it a firm shake. My wolf was curious of him. She knew he belonged to Derek, so she was not threatened, but she wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he ever harmed Derek.

"Oh come here, we're practically family anyways," he said while pulling me into a bear hug.

I squealed then started laughing as he released me and took a step back. "Derek's told us so much about you, I was wondering if I was ever going to meet you."

"Well, looks like you'll be seeing a lot of me," he grinned then looked back to Derek.

"Why's that? I thought they wanted you for the summer?" Derek asked curiously as he leaned against the door frame.

Elliot sat on a wooden stool in front of Derek's sink and bit his lip a bit, drawing a subtle growl from Derek's lips that I easily caught with my new hearing. "Well, I told them that my cousin was having a baby this summer and well, you know, since babies are very high maintenance, she needed some help. I may have also made up some story about how her husband ran off with a younger woman and how she could be having twins to our HR coordinator who's having a baby herself. She actually offered me family leave, so I am taking it."

I looked back at Derek who was staring wide-eyes at his mate before he flickered his shocked gaze at me. Laughter filled the room and I wasn't sure if my belly could handle it. I laughed so hard with Derek that I was practically rolling on the floor.

"Oh my God, that's amazing!" I tried to say between laughs.

Elliot just shrugged while Derek padded over to him and sat on one of his thighs. Derek pushed some of his hair back and let out an exasperated breath. "We're going to have to do something about this, your hair has gotten too damn long."

Elliot just rolled his eyes and kissed Derek's cheek. "Fine, but I want to go for a run first and see if I can get a few deer. Charlotte, do you want to go?"

I nodded. I may have been soaking wet and my limbs may have been sore but my wolf was suddenly giddy to run with out new guest. "Let's go, should we invite Levi?"

Derek took a step towards the door while pulling Elliot with him. "No, he already knows Elliot's here."

I followed the two outside and couldn't help but feel a warm feeling when looking at them. They were so happy. They didn't even have to say anything to each other, it was in their eyes. It was in the aura they gave off as well as the scents rolling off of them.

My beast was happy for Derek but the sight made her groan a bit. She had a longing too, a void to fill, but I was in no rush to do that so she could just wait.

It was dusk out. The perfect time for a run and a hunt. I hadn't actually killed anything yet, but the thought made my wolf lick her lips in anticipation.

"Char, are you sure you won't be too sore?" Derek called as we stepped through the tree line. I shook my damn hair out and chuckled to myself. My wolf pawed at the ground, she was eager to show the men who she was–who we were.

"No I think we'll be good," I replied with a mischievous grin.

I dropped my robe then took two long lunges before leaping into the air and calling her forward. It was like blinking. Like breathing. It was like second nature this time.

We landed on the ground and shook out our fur. It was wet, but not as soaking wet as my hair had been.

She stretched our legs a bit before trotting over to where Derek and Elliot were waiting. Elliot looked at us curiously. His green eyes were filled with awe and heavy with questions. He looked back at Derek who smiled proudly at me before taking a step towards me.

She wasn't threatened by this male, just a little apprehensive. He reached his hand out, palm up, a sign of peace to us. She flickered her eyes to him then back to his hand. Carefully she sniffed it and inhaled his scent, burning into our memory so we would always remember; he smelt of wildflowers, pine, and summer rain.

She licked at his hand and he was chuckled a bit before running his fingers through our fur, drawing a pleased purr from our lips.

"You didn't tell me that she was an alpha female," he said over his should to Derek while he played with my fur.

Derek shrugged. "I didn't think you would believe me."

Elliot nodded in agreement. "No offense Charlotte, but I am sure you understand why."

We did. It wasn't his fault and my wolf knew that. In this world we were an anomaly, it would be natural for others to think of us only as a myth.

"Alright, let's go then before it gets too dark," Derek said to us before zipping forward. I looked playfully at Elliot then let forward as well and chased Derek through the woods.

The woods were full of life at dusk. Little animals scurrying back to their home before their nocturnal predators came out to play. My wolf licked her lips. She hadn't tasted blood yet, the blood of her own kill, and she was thirst.

I receded back some more and let her have this time. It was healthy, according to Levi, to let your beast take control for a while and enjoy being a wolf in its most natural form.

Derek and Elliot were chasing something, but my wolf's eyes caught a rabbit that was much too far from its home. Bingo.

She lunged at it and easily had it between her jaws before the poor critter couldn't even scream.

The meat tasted delicious in her mouth, filling. It filled us in a way that normal food would not, and immediately I knew that I would have to continue to satisfy this hunger to keep her healthy.

It shocked me how natural it felt. I should be gagging and throwing up all the raw meat, but the taste was almost intoxicating.

She licked her lips then went out in search of her companions. Cracking caught her attention. She snapped her head to the right to see Derek snapping the neck of a decent sized doe.

Elliot bit into its jugular, sloppily drinking without giving a care about the blood that was running everywhere. Derek didn't hesitate to join him, he took the other side of the doe's neck and sunk his long fangs into it.

Animals.

It was here in the forest that we could let our beasts roam in their most raw form.

Derek licked his lips then looked at me with brown eyes that seemed to be glowing. "Hungry?"

My wolf licked her lips but did not take another step. This was their kill and she was not about to enjoy what was not hers.

"Come on Char, it's not like we're going to eat the meat," Elliot called with crimson colored lips before sinking them back into the neck of his kill.

They didn't have to tell us twice. My wolf dug into the doe's chest cavity and dug out her heart, almost swallowing it whole before going back in search of her liver.

She ate the meat off the flanks of her legs and the soft meat of her breasts until her belly was full. Derek chuckled and gave Elliot a sloppy blood coated kiss. "You really are something Char."

My wolf licked his arm and sat on her haunches, giving him a wolfy grin while letting the meat settle in her belly when a scent hit us.

At first, she thought it was Levi, but it was different than his, younger. The smell of an alpha male mixed with the scents of honey and cedar.

I pushed forward a bit and she let me. We were a team, she and I. We worked better as a team, and she knew it. We had to work as a team if we were to survive in this world.

She snapped her head around while the vampires seemed to stiffen. Something was off.

The hair on her back raised a bit as she took predatory steps forward, in front of the men; protecting them from what was lurking in the woods.

A crack.

She snapped her head around and was about to launch herself towards it but I pulled her back. We had to wait, be patient and let it come to us. She groaned, but agreed. Good things come to the wolves that wait.

Another crack.

We snapped our head in its direction, in the direction where the scent from it seemed to be pouring out like a waterfall.

A black wolf.

It was black and looked almost like Levi's wolf, but it was younger. It was strong and well built; muscles rippling with each step and crystal blue eyes flickering between us and the vampires.

We held our stance and did not let our eyes look away from his. We were no weakling, and he was not our alpha.

I felt something try to push into my mind, but I just pushed it back harder. The wolf growled.

My wolf returned his growl with a low one of her own. Derek placed his hand on our neck and tried to calm us, but it did very little for us. We didn't know this wolf. He could be a threat, danger, or harmful to us. We were not about to foolishly let our guard down.

"Lander, you're scaring her and I fear if you don't stop that she'll try to rip you to shreds," Derek said with a cool firmness.

The wolves eyes didn't leave mine but his fur started to quickly ripple. He shifted naturally back to his skin and stood proudly before walking to a hole in a tree trunk and reaching into it. He pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and pulled them on, covering himself from my eyes. Not that it mattered. My wolf was not interested in him. The only thing that interested her about him in that moment was the thought of potentially ripping his throat out.

"So it's true?" He asked Derek without taking his eyes away from mine.

He was tall. He wasn't as tall as Levi nor as muscular, but he was all muscle. He looked so similar to Levi, familial. My wolf and I assumed that he was a cousin or sibling of some sort.

His hair was golden, short, and wavy. He and Levi had similar eyes, but his were more like the ocean than they were silver. He looked every bit male, an alpha male. My wolf knew from just his build that he held a high position, no regular wolf could look like that.

"Yes, it is," Derek replied cautiously.

"Shift back Char, he won't hurt you."

I sighed and looked over at Derek who nodded to me. I wasn't happy about changing into my skin, and neither was my wolf; it was a form that she felt was harder to protect us in, but I trusted Derek–he wouldn't put us in inherent danger knowingly.

I felt the coolness of the air blow across my skin before something warm was being pulled over my head. Derek finished pulling his sweatshirt around me then moved me slightly behind him. Elliot stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. It was comforting but my wolf was still pacing in the back of my mind.

Lander looked me up and down, assessing me. I tried not to let it bother me, but I couldn't help but feel like I was squirming a bit under his gaze. I felt self-conscious. Like the scars on my skin were glowing and drawing more attention than I was comfortable with.

He shook his head in disbelief and looked back at me with a gentle smile. He relaxed a bit, deflated himself, and tried to make himself less threatening to me. "I thought my brother was smoking some crazy dope up here when he told me about you, but it looks like I was quite wrong."

"Who are you?" I replied curtly.

He chuckled to himself, sounding much like Levi, and looked back at me with an amused gaze that Levi had given me too many times before. "I'm Lander, Levi's younger brother."