1 Amaris: Introductions

The story of how I lost my virginity is not one I'm entirely proud of. If I think back on it now, I can't help but feel that it was a strange premonition of what was to come later on. A premonition about how, once again, a werewolf was not only going to fuck me but fuck me over, too.

They're such clingy creatures, werewolves. Of the three supernatural species that coexist with humans, werewolves are the only ones subjected to what they call an Affinity Bond. In layman terms, it's a soulmate —someone they're destined to be with. Upon seeing each other for the first time, they are immediately drawn to one another.

The thing is, it's only supposed to happen between werewolves or, sometimes, with a human. It can't happen with a vampire because they're naturally solitary creatures and they can't have kids, they can only create new vampires and, most importantly, they're technically dead or non-living, if you want to be politically correct. Nor can it happen with a witch, because we're carefree, no strings attached kind of women, and don't really do the marriage or equivalent relationship thing.

We do casual dating and hookups, that's pretty much it. If we have a daughter —and it's always a daughter— she's taught witchery and independence and she carries on.

So junior year of high school when upperclassman James Dean —everyone's favorite werewolf and starting quarterback— was convinced I was his soulmate, I knew he was wrong. But he couldn't be told otherwise. So to prove him wrong, I took him behind the bleachers out in the football field and let him bite me.

What does that prove, exactly?

Well, after a werewolf finds their soulmate, they have to mark each other. This mark comes about via a bite to the neck. The bite mark heals on werewolves, but the scent of their mate becomes mixed with theirs and so all werewolves know they're together. It doesn't heal on humans, though, so when they're mated to a werewolf, it becomes an apparent and visible thing. On a witch? Well, I've never seen a witch with a mark because it doesn't happen, but we can heal ourselves just fine.

A side-effect of the bite is euphoria and arousal; together, these two feelings are a potent aphrodisiac. So a bite always ends in consummation. But this is only if the bitten one shares the Affinity Bond. Otherwise a werewolf has an angry, bitten and bleeding person on their hands.

I didn't feel euphoric when James bit me. I felt pain and the blood running down my neck, staining my favorite jacket. The thing is, I'm a bit of a masochist sometimes. So I definitely felt aroused.

Next thing I knew, James and I were naked and I was letting him rearrange my virgin guts like I'd done it a hundred times before. When we were done, I was so incredibly sore, I could barely walk. Not to mention I had blood and his semen running down my legs.

Afterwards, James became more convinced I was his mate. I still knew I wasn't, but I discovered two things that day. One, I like sex. And two, James was good at it. So this time, I went along with his ridiculous notion.

He was my first and only boyfriend —werewolf or otherwise. Until I cut him off a couple weeks later because he was clingy and jealous. He'd want to know what I was doing at all times and he'd want to spend every waking moment together. When I broke up with him and started hooking up with the running back —this muscular human named Terrell— he didn't take it well.

One night when I was out with Terrell, James came upon us while we were in the middle of the act. He was livid and feral. But I didn't expect him to grab Terrell and break his bones like twigs. I should have known better though. Then I could have cast a shielding spell or something to protect Terrel. He was supposed to be going off to college on a football scholarship. Of course that dream was shattered when the ambulance came and it was discovered that not only was Terrell paralyzed, but that his lung had been pierced.

It was too late for my healing spell to have an effect. He died on his way to the hospital.

James was arrested and told the police that he caught me cheating and he lost it. I wasn't given the opportunity to deny it. When my picture made it on the newspapers, everyone believed him. Everyone knows witches are just promiscuous whores and werewolves are passionate creatures who value loyalty above all. And when they saw me with my strange eyes and fully-developed body at just sixteen, they didn't question James' reasoning.

He got off on probation and went back to school.

I couldn't.

Everyone hated me.

So I did what any witch does when she's been outcast: I dropped out and joined a bounty hunting coven in the city.

I stopped fucking werewolves and started hunting them down instead.

This is how I met Samson Romano.

The next werewolf who was going to be a huge pain in the ass.