3 The Gang.

Warm sunlight, orange rays, the soft carpet of the floor, neatly shelved ornaments, lines on the wall with names and height, convenient technology, and the smell of well-cooked food. This was a comfortable home, but it was not hers, Brayleigh thought.

"Brayleigh, to your room. Your cousins are away now but they will be back soon, why not settle in and come down for... an overdue breakfast." Her aunt says to her. Walking over from the door.

She looked apprehensive wiping her hands on her clothes and reaching over at her.

Brayleigh was shocked. Did she want a hug or something?

"Don't let your imaginations run wild, the bag please." Her aunt says walking behind her.

"Oh." Brayleigh sighed. There was no more audience, why did she need to pretend?

 Helping her carry her bag. She struggled to carry the bag that a malnourished Brayleigh could. It made Brayleigh wonder how sick she was.

"That's heavy," Drew said without looking Brayleigh in the eye. "Up! I will put this away for now."

Brayleigh walked into the bedroom and shared with her cousin, Lily. They were the same age and always fought and made up like a toxic couple.

Brayleigh had only lived within this shell, the one surrounded by her cousins. They were the ones that hug her with their hearts. Everyone else either wanted something from her or wanted her gone. But not Sasha or Sophie

She brushed her hands against the bed frames. She remembered hiding under the sheets with Lily, her cousin. She would tell Lily about all her adventures. Lily made her pains seem like an adventure. She would look at her with big green eyes in awe. Brayleigh envied Lily for having parents and four walls. Ever since Brayleigh could remember she was alone. She doesn't know how she was left alone. But as far back as her memories go, she would hide in the woods on weekdays and walk to Lowy on weekends. Her aunt wanted her gone, but her uncle thought she would be of use. She stayed here for three years before packing up one night and leaving. She had heard her uncle talk about her being too expensive, so, she packed up and left silently. She was six and she wasn't afraid to be alone she thought.

She met with the organization that took her in and aimed to train and brainwash her into a weapon of some sort. But Brayleigh wasn't stupid, she was six. She stayed because they had food. She visited her aunt every weekend without fails, but eleven years later when the organization wanted her to die for them, she packed up and left again. Brayleigh wasn't stupid. She was seventeen.

In the bathroom, she slowly peeled off her clothes unsure where to put it. She did not want to dirty anything.

She decided to take them into the bath and wash them as she washes herself carefully avoiding the mirrors.

While changing into one of lily's clothes, she heard the door open.

It has been a whole year since she last came. Lily stood at the door unsure of what to say. Lily had recently turned eighteen. She looked at it. Mature. Her hair was down and glamorous like she had actually seen a salon. It seemed her bra was finally a good fit. She dressed neatly. A mini white dress and black knee-length boots. She was wearing a simple necklace with a tiny key for a locket, unlike the gaudy mess of chokers and surprise pack beads she use to wear.

Brayleigh was unsure how to react to the change.

They both stare at each other for a long time neither saying anything. Lily slowly walked over and hugged her with a warmth much missed by Brayleigh.

But all Brayleigh could think about was how human Lily smelled. But her eye betrayed her, when She heard Lily crying on her shoulder, for she too started crying and the maturity they both thought they'd found vanished as they wept loudly.

In a teary voice, lily whimpered. "I thought the worst. I always think the worse when you are not here." Lily was used to Brayleigh not talking. Lily talked too much, so it made up for Brayleigh's mute personality.

"Mum wants you to eat. The food is ready." Lily sobbed not breaking away from the hug. "Luke and Lucas missed you too. Natasha and Ruben ask after you too." Just then she felt two more hugs surround them and she knew it was her cousins, Luke and Lucas. The fondness made her heart melt.

"We need to feed you," Luke said looking at her ribs.

Lucas pokes at her face with a scowl on his face. "You are so bony." He said. "You don't even have boobs."

They all laughed except Brayleigh who smile. "I'm hungry." She says.

"Yes. Food." Lucas grinned carefully carrying her.

Brayleigh was dumbfounded trying to squirm out of his grip, but Luke stopped her shaking his head.

"She can walk," said Lily amused by her brothers but made no move to stop them.

Deep down Brayleigh was happy. Relieved her cousins at least have the instinct of men to protect the weak females of their pack even though they smelled awfully like humans.

At sunset the gang moved to the park, Natasha and Ruben included.

"So, are you staying for good this time?" Ruben asked. His brother had left when he was just thirteen. He had struggled that year and even worse the following year. When Brayleigh left it was different. She still came every weekend but after Fortitude left, she too began to falter. He fears that one day she would not come back too.

There was a strange bond between them all. A need to protect each other. One greater than anything they had experienced individually, running together, playing together, or simply sitting like this was different when they did it. And they all fear it was doomed. It was like losing their selves. Which was why they did not want Brayleigh gone too.

Brayleigh said nothing for a while. But they all patiently waited. They knew her since she was three it was a forever bond. Or at least that was what they called it.

"No." She said. "Sorry."

The group sighed and let out the breaths they were holding. Quiet. Unsure how to continue. The light shone against them from the moon making them look like a cartoon. Their green eyes shone in the dark.

"When next will you visit?" Ruben persisted his eyes drooping. He wasn't sure what the answer was, or he pretended not to know.

These were Brayleigh's family. These five, were her closest family, as close to her as her own soul. She would never lie to them. "Black moon."

Shocked by those two words they look up at her. With full understanding of those two words alone.

"You are a wolf?" Natasha asked. Surprised. She had shared a lot with them. But not this. Natasha looked shocked, but Brayleigh shared and found no repulsion on her face.

"You will die," Lucas said with his usual worry.

"You are a wolf?" Asked Ruben. Still dwelling on that. He turned to the triplets. "You guys too." Ruben looked pleasantly surprised. He bent over looking at the group. "I am too." He said whispering. "My dad is a wolf, my mum is a spark."

Sparks, are fairy tales, Brayleigh thought. She wasn't surprised. She has lived as a wolf, so, a lot of things didn't escape her. She did not know Ruben was a wolf or ever thought about the possibilities, but she found it made sense now that she thinks about it.

"You too?" She asked Natasha who froze under everyone's gaze.

"Yeah." She said raising her hands as if answering her name at roll call. "Both parents are wolves."

"Wow!" Lucas said leaning back where he sat. "And we thought we knew everything about each other, and we didn't know the one thing we all had in common." Lucas laughed. Looking deeply at his shoes.

But Lily was unamused. She had suspected most people of this town as being wolves. Everyone acted like they had a big secrete and were too 'on the wolf thing' according to her. Most people had a 'stay away wolf' strategy but when you step back and look again, you realise it's more of a 'this is why I am not a were' strategy. The more she thinks of it, the more she feels everyone in Lowey is a were. "When are you going to Black moon?" She asks Brayleigh.

"In four months time. I go to Sophie's in 2 months time. Say goodbye. Then I hunt and store meat. Before taking a boat at Lark. I must get there in mid winter."

"Okay, you've lost it," Luke said. "You want to die." He said flatly.

Luke stood up with Lucas and they both walk towards Lily and Brayleigh, pushing Lily aside to sit on either side of Brayleigh. "why?" Lucas asked with an elbow on one knee and his other palm flat against his other knee looking at Brayleigh.

Look was easily good looking and so was Lucas, as they had the same face. They were identification in looks and sturdiness. But Luke was softer and had a more cheerful disposition, while Lucas was gloomy to outsiders but oddly identical to Luke in disposition when among his friends.

Black coils for hair, green piercing forests for eyes and jaws that hurt to look at. And Lily was a female version of this impossible perfection. Obsidian skin and long legs, she was born to be dangerous -with the secretes lurking within her and the looks she was blessed with.

Brayleigh had been very jealous of this since childhood. To her, she herself looked like a rat. Skin on bones. Nothing about herself appealed to her. As she snapped open a special tree-nut, mulu that only grew in the south of Yeama, the country they residence in, she quickly cut the nut as it bounced out making a sound as it scurried.

Looking at the boys who had always been protective of her. She answered.

"Not because I want to die, but because I want to live. Life is scary as a were... and there is a lot I can't live without. And I need to live. You are lucky. I am most lucky. But that is not enough."

"Wow. That is a lot of words, guys. She means it." Natasha says getting off the ground. The red haired, Nairon girl, from Nairoya, a country up north spoke.

"You've lived dangerously for so long. What can be so scary?" Brayleigh knew Lily wasn't just asking a question. She was scared. Lily was a gentle soul who idolized her, despite them being of similar age. In her mind, if Brayleigh could not do it, no one could.

"Everything." Was Brayleigh's reply. She had scouted this place for 6 years now in search of a way to get in without people spotting her. Once she gets in, she would claim she was born there by an immigrant who snuck in 15 years ago and her family is dead now. It was not concrete, but it was better than the woods. The hunters had become innovative and the price for a were's head has gone up.

"Then come live with us," Lily said crawling over to Brayleigh, holding both her hands in hers. "We can all live together once we turn eighteen. Please." Everyone stared with hope in their eyes. But Brayleigh's reply was everything but hopeful.

"That's even more scary." Brayleigh nailed. Living here was scary. Watching the triplets grow was scarier. They will never shift at this rate. Living surrounded by wolf's bane, her aunt's dumb plan. Living amongst humans every day. The day you slip up you die. To pretend under the watch of humans for a long time is impossible.

Lily's facial muscles twitched, and she let go of Brayleigh's hands looking betrayed.

"you will die," Ruben repeated looking horrified. Ruben has always looked out for her with fortitude he was more hushed and looked forced whenever he does something nice. So, Brayleigh assumed his brother made him do them. But even with his brother gone, he was the exact same. Brayleigh grew to understand he was shy.

Ruben's Green eyes flashed as he thought deeply trying to find a sitution silently. His jaw ticked but no answer came.

"I won't die," Brayleigh said confidently trying to comfort the group. But this was futile. "I have been six times already. I have the plan to get in without competing. I am not stupid." Brayleigh hated people thinking she was incapable in any way. And when they said she would die constantly, it gnawed at her.

Everyone was sceptical except Lily. Lily sitting crossed legs in front of her, held her hand, and fidgeted a few times before looking her in the eye and asking, "can I come?"

"No." Answered Brayleigh without hesitation. She had thought about it. But these 'humans' will not survive the journey.

"I will," Lily said determined to go. No longer asking for permission.

Brayleigh looked at Lucas and Luke hoping they would say something. But they looked deep in thought.

Brayleigh looked at everyone and was mortified to see everyone was thinking about it.

She had wanted to say enjoy watching the stars with them. But she feared for their lives and had to end this. "It's late." She said standing up and walking away hoping they would snap out of it, and everyone would go home.

Lily jumped from where she sat and followed her, Natasha did the same, but the guys remained. As they walked back home Brayleigh looked at their faces while they chatted wanting to memorise what they looked like.