CHAPTER 1

Bianca

"You think you are one of us, but you will never be a shifter," I hear their voices echoing all around me, like daggers falling and aiming for the place where it hurts the most.

The woods aren't my friend. Not tonight. Not after all the nights I spent here, listening to the hooting of owls or the soft murmuring of the stream, as the moonlight oozed from above, sprinkling us with its sparkly dust. All of that is forgotten now. All I see, all I hear is hate where there is supposed to be no hate, because I have done nothing wrong, other than be myself in a place that seemed to have accepted me as I am.

I was wrong. So dreadfully wrong.

"Why do you even stay here, huh?" I hear another voice, and someone from behind pushes me forward so forcefully, I almost fall down. But I manage to regain my balance quickly, and I remain standing. I plan on standing for as long as I can, because that is what they want. They want me on my knees, to admit that I am beneath them.

"I don't want to fight you," I say, much more softly than I wanted to.

"I don't want to fight you," Gala, the unofficial leader of this shifter torment pack mocks me with my own words, twisting them into a grimace.

I know these shifters. Every single one of them. I've known them all my life. We've never been friends, but I thought that we were at least tolerating the other's presence. It seems I was wrong, once again.

This supernatural town inhabited solely by shifters has been the only home I've ever known. I don't have a mother or a father. I don't have a family. I don't have anyone. It's a life I've grown accustomed to easily, because I never had anything else to compare it to. You can't miss what you never had, is something I was once told, and the older I get, the more I realize what this truly means.

Sometimes, when I see other shifters with their parents, I feel a pang of jealousy. I wonder how come I can't have that. How come I can't have someone who loves me so much that they would do anything to protect me, to keep me safe from all harm?

Maybe I did something in my previous life, and now, I'm not deserving of someone like that in this one? No explanation makes sense.

My mind comes back to the present moment. I need to stay on my feet. I'm outnumbered. It's five against one. I could maybe take on one, but that would leave four more. I'm not as strong as they are. I'm not as fast as they are. I'm not as skilled in fighting as they are. I guess they're right. We can pretend as much as we want, but I'm not one of them and I will never be.

I know them all. I know the redheaded Gala, with her fiery hair and even more fiery tongue. I know Cassius, the dark curly haired boy who once lent me books from his dad's library. I also know Willow, the soft-spoken Willow who is here because Gala is her sister, and she would follow her sister to the pits of Hell, if she had to. She won't even look at me, but just by being here shows where she stands. On the opposite side to my own. I know the other two as well, but I don't even bother thinking about them.

This isn't the first time I've been accosted by them. I thought they would eventually leave me alone, if I didn't antagonize them, if I just kept my mouth shut and didn't tell anyone about their bullying, but the situation has been worsening. I never mentioned anything to the shifter leader. I don't want him to think that I am turning my back on them in any way, the only family I've ever known. But this… I can feel it in my bones that tonight, they mean business.

I can see it in their eyes. Their bloodthirsty eyes. They don't think I belong here. They don't think I should be here at all and they will make sure I disappear. Maybe I never existed in the first place. That thought settles deep inside of me, frightening me even more than the look in my enemies' eyes.

At that moment, something crackles in the bushes. They all turn their heads in that direction. A soft growl is heard. None of us knows where it's coming from exactly or what animal made it.

"Gala?" Willow whispers softly. I can hear fear in her voice. I don't want to say anything, because my voice might sound the same.

"Shhh," Gala shushes her, as always.

Once again, the same growl, only louder. They all take a step back, looking around, their eyes wide and cautious.

A wolf? A bear? There haven't been any bears around here in years. But, whatever animal that is, it is my friend.

"This isn't over," Gala snarls at me, pushing past me and hitting me hard with her shoulder. It might leave a bruise, but I know that it's far less than what she was planning on doing to me tonight.

They run away, leaving me alone. I swallow heavily, staring in the direction where the growl came from. The bushes rustle again. I dare not run. I am too close. The rest managed to escape the fate of being mangled to death. I might not.

Instead, I take a small step backwards. Then another one.

Suddenly, the bushes spread open, and a man appears. His dark complexion almost blends into the darkness around him, his charcoal curls falling over his head. The moonlight is illuminating only a part of his face. The part with a deep scar that looks like it healed a long time ago.

"Did I scare them away?" he asks, leaning against a tree. "Looked like you needed help."

"I…" I start, unable to finish my sentence with a coherent thought. "Who are you?"

"Your savior, it seems," he tells me, walking over to me.

I notice he inhales deeply, staring straight at me. It almost feels like he is trying to steal my scent. I want to forbid him, but I don't dare say anything. I don't know who he is. I've never seen him before. That means he doesn't live in the town. I'm sure I would have noticed him otherwise.

His tall, muscular build is striking even in the darkness. He takes his fingers through his hair, but the curls just fall back to their original place, defying his wishes. Now closer, I see the scar more visibly. His eyes are a striking light green, as if the sun itself is shining from inside of them, turning his irises into sunflowers.

"I didn't need any help," I say stubbornly, hoping he can't read the trembling lies in that statement.

I don't want him to think I'm an easy target. First the shifters, and now him. I don't know what he wants, but whatever it is, he won't get it. I'll fight him till the last breath in my body.

"Didn't seem like it," he corrects me.

"This happens often," I say boldly, raising my voice a little, to make him believe that despite what he thinks, I had the entire situation under control. "They know what line they shouldn't cross."

That was exactly what I'd been afraid of tonight, that they would cross that very line and something terrible might happen. Him appearing was truly a Godsend, but I would rather die than tell a perfect stranger that.

"Are you sure?" he asks, tilting his head a little to the side, as if to take a closer, more intimate look at me and decide on something he's not willing to divulge. His eyes are looking at me as if I'm dessert.

"Yes," I snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to town."

"You live there?" he is quick to ask.

I face him, keeping a safe distance. You never know.

"What if I do?" I ask back.

"You're not a shifter," he points out something we both know.

"How can you tell?" I ask, shocked.

Not even shifters can tell if someone else is a shifter or not just by looking at them. It takes more to know. Much more.

"I can tell a lot about you, just by looking at you," he tells me, as if reading my mind.

This is where I'm sure that I need to go back. Gala and her pack of wolves are gone, but that doesn't mean that I'm safe. This guy is another kind of danger. A threat. I need to get back. Right now.

I take a trembling step back.

"I really have to get back," I tell him. "Someone will be looking for me."

"Yes," he nods, smirking at me.

I can see his scar more clearly now. Curiosity takes over me. I want to get closer to him, take a closer look, but I don't dare diminish the safe distance that is between us. He can't reach out for me from here. But if I get closer to him, I don't dare think what might happen.

The story of his scar has to be mind-blowing. I've never seen anyone with something like that on his face. Yet, it doesn't seem to diminish his wild beauty. In fact, it only makes it more striking.

Once again, I feel like my mind is an open book to him. Instead of me coming closer to him, he nears me. There is a scent about him that fills my nostrils to the brim. Earthy, musky. He smells like the woods, wild and ferocious. More dangerous than anything I've ever encountered before.

Then, why can't I run away? What is keeping me frozen in this place, just waiting for him to devour me?

He is so close now that our noses are almost touching. I can feel his hot breath on my lips. It is spilling over me, tempting me to do… something. But what? I dare not act on any of the impulses, desires that he awakens inside of me.

Using the last morsels of common sense I have left, I manage to fight off his magic, and I pull back. He grins at this superhuman effort.

"Go back home, sweet human," he murmurs so softly, that it sounds like a playful growl. The same kind that frightened Gala and her pack away.

I take another step back, feeling more bold. Maybe he's a shifter from another town, come for an unannounced visit. I'll talk to the leader about him. He'll know.

"It's late," I say, as if my excuse to leave matters at all. He is still grinning.

I turn around and start running back to town, back through the beaten paths that I've taken so many times before, and yet now, they seem like a whole new path altogether.

I keep running until I am breathless, until I know that man's grin isn't following me anymore. When I finally stop, I see the outlines of the town, the houses, the street lights. It is a sight I know, a sight I recognize.

But, if that is so… then why does this path back still seem new and undiscovered?