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“I…I don’t know what you’re talking…talking about.”

A bemused smile lights her face. She knows I’m lying. “Sure you don’t. Did you talk to her like you said you would?”

“No,” I say as I pop the rubber band on my wrist. Always soothing even when it inflicts pain.

“Do you need my help?”

I shove off her door frame I’m leaning on, my temper flaring. I might not have anything else from my father, but I sure did get his temper. Swallowing down the anger, knowing Gail means well, I give a slight shake of my head. “No, I’ll handle it.”

Before she can say anything more, I walk into my office shutting the door behind me. At least here, in this space, I can control everything that happens. There’s nothing to consider, no obsession to focus on, nothing beyond the blank screen of my computer, and the numbers that never fail me.

Chapter 3

Selene

Monday, June 16 - This isn’t what dreams are made of

The silhouette of a man hovers just over me. Just out of my reach. I’m determined to unmask him, to figure out who was watching me. I reach out, my fingers falling through the smoke that once was him. Only for him to reappear at the foot of my bed, but each time I get closer, he dissipates and reappears further away from me. Always close enough for me to see him, but far enough I can never catch him.

My alarm rings out startling me awake.

A heavy sigh rushes out of my lungs as I throw my comforter off. The scent of wild musk sat heavy on the air. Almost as if theman from my dream was actually standing over me. My heart rate picks up as I glance around my room. Surely, nobody is dumb enough to sneak onto pack land and break into my room. Rubbing my eyes vigorously, I shake off the lingering images from my dream.This is so weird.

My laptop still sits open with the stack of papers for my English assignment resting on it.Fuck.I didn’t manage to finish that assignment before I passed out last night. Means that between classes, photography, and my pack tasks, I’ll have to squeeze it in somewhere. It’s going to be a rough week, that’s for sure.

My closet door is open slightly, something I was sure that I closed last night. I tiptoed towards the door, my breath sawing out of me. There better not be a damn man with a Michael Myers knife in my closet. I’m not afraid to throw a shoe and scream for my dad.

Instead of slowly pulling the door open, or you know maybe calling for my dad, I wrench it open. My breath is stuck in my lungs before I realize there is nothing there except my clothes all over the place, in complete disaster.The relief.Looks like I won’t be starring in my own horror movie today.

Grabbing a shirt, leggings, and a pair of socks, I make sure I shut the door this time. Confirming that it is in fact…closed.

As I’m putting on my mascara, I can’t help but replay what Aspen said yesterday. I shouldn’t be mad at her, there are reasons she acted that way and they had nothing to do with me. It’s a little weird that she sought me out for photos. I’m sure Warrick told her more about our conversation, and maybe, that’s why? I guess I can give her some of my photos, it’s not like I’ve got people knocking down my door for them anyways.

Speaking of photos, I grab the polaroids from yesterday, now that I’ve got time to look at them. The shots of Shadow turned out great! I still can’t believe this wolf lets me basically pose him.I swipe to the next photo, one that is just of the stream as it comes down the mountain with the tree line on the right side. I’m about to move on to the next one when something catches my eye. Right in the corner of the woods, almost perfectly hidden by the shadows of the trees, is the same silhouette of a man. The same one I saw in the You’re Bacon Me Crazy door. My eyes have to be playing me. There’s no way that I captured him in a photo before I later saw him in that door. The photo shakes in my hand as I bring it closer to my face. I can’t make out any details but honestly, I’m pretty sure that my mind is playing tricks on me.

Feeling as if I ran a marathon instead of sleeping, I trudge my way into class an hour later. Our high school is a jumbled mix of shifters and humans. You're more likely to bump into a shifter than a human, but our human friends know of our existence. Kind of hard to hide it in a town of 2000 with 80% of the population being supernatural. Between horny teenage boys and gossiping teenage girls, I’m sure the councils of each species would spend most of their time trying to cover up rumors more than anything else.

English is my first class of the day and it’s of course on the other side of the building. There are huddles of teenagers lining the hallway. Their whispered words are almost as loud as if they were talking at a normal level. I don’t think anything of it as I move along until I notice that each group turns to look at me as I pass. The fuck? Why are they all looking at me?

I rush into the bathroom, hoping I didn’t like forget to cover a pimple or Goddess forbid I get my period today. A quick examination in the mirror and I’m no closer to understanding what they are gossiping about until…

My phone vibrates in my purse. Pulling it out there is a notification on the screen from Odessa, my soul match.

Bish, tell me you’ve made it to school.

Uh, yeah. I’m in the bathroom.

Does that mean you’ve heard?

Heard what?

Everyone is talking about Aspen stopping you yesterday. Why didn’t you tell me?

Because…there isn’t shit to tell.

Not according to the rumors bouncing down the hallway. All I’ve heard all day is how she confronted you outside her bookstore and how you looked like you would rather be anywhere other than there.

Yeah, well nobody likes being accused of shit they didn’t do. Obviously after the big blow up in the diner, everyone spread some seriously salacious comments about me. You would think I had drawn a scarlett A on my chest with the way they acted.