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“
Hi,” I answered, amazed at how glad I was to see him. It was like seeing a tiny patch of a clear blue sky after four straight days of solid gray rain clouds.

“
It’s pretty dead in here tonight,” Jace said, glancing around.

“
Yeah, I know. I’m hoping to leave early; my head’s been killing me.”

Concern entered his stare. “Why don’t you clock out now? We can go back to my place, and I can make something for us to eat there.”

“
Sounds great.”

I made my way back to the kitchen where Dewey was busy cooking and proceeded to give him my best “I’m not feeling too well” performance. It wasn’t hard to pull off since it was borderline the truth.

I clocked out and five minutes later stood beside my car with Jace, smiling. It was only 6:42—I still had nearly three hours before I had to be home by my curfew of 10:00 p.m.

* * *

“
How about a ham and Swiss?” Jace asked, while rummaging through his fridge.

I nodded and continued massaging my temples.

“
That bad, huh?”

“
Oh, yeah,” I muttered.

Jace set all of the ingredients he’d be using on the counter before turning to face me. “This is the worst of it; your body will accumulate to all of these changes quickly and by this time next month it won’t be nearly as horrible. Trust me.”

“
God, I hope so,” I said. His words had relieved me, but not entirely, due to the fact that I was still suffering at the moment.

“
So, do you think you’re ready for tomorrow night?” Jace asked, going back to making our sandwiches.

“
Do I even have the option of being ready?” I snapped unintentionally.

“
Ouch, that was harsh, but understandable.” Jace smirked.

My face flushed as my gut twisted with guilt. We’d already been down this road before, and there was no point in rehashing everything again. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’m just a little freaked out about everything.”

“
I’m
sorry,” he said, making direct eye contact with me for a brief moment.

His apology wasn’t what I’d been looking for, though. I’d been looking for a way to ease into all of the questions that had plagued my mind from the night before… not another
I’m sorry
.

“
I know,” I said, dropping my hands to my lap. “So, how does this whole Pack Leader thing work?” I asked suddenly, deciding it was now or never.

Jace froze at my words, and I heard his breathing hitch. “What do you mean?”

“
What’s expected of you? Of
us
… I guess. You haven’t told me anything about it,” I said, tracing a small circle on the counter with my index finger.

“
Well, it’s sort of like becoming mayor. I’ll take over all the responsibilities from my father that deal with our pack,” he answered without looking at me.

“
How big is this
pack
?” These were questions that were all long overdue. Now that the initial shock of what I was becoming was beginning to wear off, I needed some details. And right now, I felt bold enough to get them.

“
There are about forty-seven of us, including the kids. We’re one of the smaller packs. Most of our kind live in places around Montana were the sighting of a wolf isn’t so rare,” he answered.

“
Are there any actual wolves or are there only werewolves and humans just don’t know enough to know the difference?”

Jace turned to face me, a little smirk twisting up the corner of his mouth. “Looks like I won’t be getting any easy questions to answer tonight, huh?”

“
Nope.” I grinned.

“
Well, there are some legends. One is that regular wolves are simply werewolves who chose to not change back. They say if you don’t change back willingly before the sun comes up, then you’ll be stuck in your wolf form until the next full moon or longer. And then there are some who say there is no choice. That if you refuse to change back willingly before the sun comes up, then you’ll change back anyway, but that it will be the most painful experience of your life,” he said, intensity etched into each word.

“
Have you ever tried to do either?” I wondered. “Or even tried to fight the change completely?”

Jace turned back toward the sandwiches to flip them. “You don’t want to fight the change, Tessa, trust me. But, I can understand why it’s so tempting.”

“
To do what, stay a wolf forever?” I asked, ignoring his first few words about not fighting the change.

“
Yeah, or even just to be one or the other, but no longer both,” he muttered with his back toward me still. There was sadness in his tone that made me uneasy, so I ventured to my next question in hopes of shifting his thoughts to something else, determining the way the conversation was headed was nowhere good.

“
So where do werewolves come from anyway? How did they come to be in existence?”

Jace chuckled. “I feel like I’m being interrogated or something.”

I waved my hand. “Oh, whatever. All I’m asking are rational questions.”

He spun to face me and a wild gleam sparked to life in his eyes. “Okay, so you wanna know how our kind originated, huh? Think you can handle it?”

“
What do you mean,
think you can handle it
?” I asked in a mocking tone.

“
Just preparing you, because no matter how
magical
this story might sound… you know it’s all true.” He grinned as he studied my reaction.

“
Just tell me the damn story. I’m a big girl.” I smirked.

“
All right, all right.” He held up his hands and laughed, then turned off the stove and placed our sandwiches on plates. “Long ago, in the days when Gods and Goddesses were recognized and worshiped individually, people would perform rituals, have feasts, and hold large bonfire gatherings in their honor. The Gods and Goddesses watched over man closely and relished in all their praise, gifts, and undying good faith bestowed upon them.” Jace paused, moving to sit on the barstool beside me.

I took a small bite of the sandwich he’d sat in front of me and noticed a distant gleam in his eyes.

“
One cold day, in the middle of winter, a young boy at the age of thirteen set out into the woods against his mother’s wishes to prove to her that he was a man and old enough to hunt for her and his three younger sisters the same way his recently deceased father used to.

“
The winter had been especially harsh, not only for the humans, but for all the animals, too. The boy was young and naïve in his journey and didn’t pay attention to his surroundings… before he knew what was happening he’d been surrounded by a small pack of hungry wolves in the middle of a dense forest.

“
The young boy did the only thing he knew to do; he backed slowly up to the nearest tree behind him and swiftly began to climb it. Only he was not quick enough. A wolf caught hold of his pant leg and began dragging him back to the ground. The boy tried to hold on for as long as he could to the rough bark of the tree, but a young boy’s strength is no match for a savage and hungry wolf. He fell to the ground, and the wolves began to devour him.

“
Thankfully the boy was not entirely alone in the snow-covered forest. There happened to be two hunters nearby who had heard the boy’s cries of pain. These hunters managed to scare away the wolves after some time, but it was clear to them that the boy was not well. The wolves had brought him to near death. The boy lay unmoving across the red-speckled snow, bloody and weak with not much life left in his young lungs. While one of the two men built a fire and remained by the dying boy’s side, the other ran to the village for help.

“
But, by the time the few members from the village—including the medicine man and the young boy’s mother—came, the sun had set and the full moon was hanging lowly in the night sky.

“
The young boy’s mother fell to her knees at his side and began to weep. The medicine man did his best to stop the bleeding, but the young boy’s wounds were too deep and his blood loss had been too severe. Cradling her son’s head in her lap, the mother turned her eyes to the full moon above.

“
Just before her son took in his final breath she began praying out loud to the Goddess of the Moon, begging her not to take her son’s life because she’d already lost so much and couldn’t bear to lose him, too.

“
It was on this night that the Goddess happened to be listening. She came to the woman and took pity on her, but along with her pity came a price. The Goddess asked each person if they agreed that she should interfere with the young boy’s fate and each person present answered, ‘Yes.’ She then said she would give the young boy life, but on this night—the night of the Wolf Moon—during his eighteenth year, her price would be claimed.

“
The mother had no idea what the Goddess of the Moon meant. No one did. All she knew was that her son lay dying in her arms and if she did not agree to the Goddess’ terms, he would never take another breath again. On that night, she did what any mother would do in her position and agreed to the Goddess’ terms while the others surrounding her all vowed she should.

“
The boy lived a happy life and on the night of his eighteenth year during the large Wolf Moon, the Goddess claimed her price as she’d said she would and the entire town became transformed into wolves, just like they would during every other full moon until the end of their time. The Goddess’ price had been themselves. And us.”

I couldn’t speak. I stared at Jace with unblinking eyes as the vivid story he’d just told continued to swim through my mind.

“
I always wondered if that one life had been worth saving, if that—if
this
—was the outcome,” Jace said softly, his amber eyes twinkling with emotion.

I stared at him and realized how incredibly hard it must have been for him to change me, because for the first time I noticed how much Jace hated what he was. His entire saying of
how the moon can rule a person’s entire existence
meant so much more to me now.

“
That’s so sad. She gave him life, but in the end she took his and everyone else who supported his mother’s decision. Wow…” I trailed off, unable to put the rest of my thoughts into words.

“
Yeah, it was a bittersweet trade,” Jace whispered.

Minutes ticked away before either of us spoke another word.

“
I’m scared, Jace,” I admitted for a second time, breaking the spellbinding silence that filled the room.

“
I know you are and I’m sorry.” He hung his head. “I’m so grateful you don’t hate me.”

His words shocked me. Throughout all of this, that thought—me hating him—had never crossed my mind. “I could
never
hate you,” I said, reaching out for his hand.

“
How the hell did I get so lucky?” he asked with a smirk, raising his eyes to mine.

I wanted to say something witty, something smart… but nothing came. The only thing I could think of was the burning need I felt to press my lips against his.

Which was what I did.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning when I woke I felt like there was an invisible hourglass attached to the top of my head that only I could see, which counted down the hours until the full moon.

I desperately wanted to stay home from school, but a skeptical gleam in my mother’s eyes forced me to act normal. That meant going to school with skin that felt like I had a million tiny spiders crawling all over it and rippling muscle spasms that occurred sporadically throughout my body.

The parking lot was nearly empty when I pulled in. I didn’t think I’d ever been to school this early before on my own accord, but I couldn’t stand being in the same house with my mom anymore.

I walked straight to the picnic tables outside the cafeteria and sat. This wasn’t my normal hangout spot, but nothing about me felt normal today. Slowly I watched the school come to life as more of my peers arrived, crowding the area around me. Everyone seemed so happy, so carefree, so utterly oblivious to the world I’d entered.

I spotted Sam and Darcy laughing while walking hand in hand down a covered walkway that stretched horizontally in front of where I sat. Dislike might burn beneath my skin for both of them, but now so did envy. Neither one of them would ever have to go through what I would be going through tonight. I glanced around, thinking the same about every person that came into my line of vision.

When the first bell rang I started to saunter to class, but then changed my mind and headed back toward the parking lot. I couldn’t be here pretending to be normal when I felt anything but instead, at 8:05 a.m., I drove to the only place I wanted to be—Jace’s house.

* * *

A sense of nervousness spread through me while I stood at Jace’s front door, waiting for him to answer. When I’d pulled up in front of his house I noticed his motorcycle and I’d been ecstatic that he was home. But now that I stood on his porch, I suddenly remembered he had no idea that I would be stopping by.

I knocked a second time and began wringing my hands at my sides while chewing my bottom lip, wondering if he was even awake yet.

“
Coming,” I heard his voice call through the door.

I let out the breath I’d been holding as I listened to his feet pad across the hardwood floor toward me. The door in front of me opened slowly and revealed Jace standing shirtless in a pair of plaid flannel pajama bottoms. He held a faded blue T-shirt in his hand and stared at me with a crooked grin.