Chapter 1 - Chapter One

“Arianne! Get a move on will you? We’re going to be late, and Jaxon’s going to give me hell!” Kieran shouted, mentally adding the word “again” to the sentence.

He watched as Arianne dragged her bags to the top of the stairs. He wondered how she came to grow up so quickly. Fifteen years had passed too quickly to his liking. No that time mattered to him, but still. She had grown from a baby into a teenager with straight jet-black hair and glittering emerald eyes.

“Jax won’t give you hell, he’s too nice!” Arianne protested, kicking her bags down the stairs, then half-tripping over them.

“Yeah, that’s why for the past fifteen years I’ve had you, he’s been giving me hell every other month,” Kieran muttered. “Here sweetie, let me take those.” He reached for her bags.

“Thanks, Ki.” Arianne piped, climbing into the passenger seat of Kieran’s car.

Kieran loaded her luggage into the back trunk, and then sat himself in the driver’s seat. He started the engine, and pulled out of the garage. When they were on the highway, Arianne spoke for the first time since she had gotten into the car.

“Ki, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“Ki…how old are you?”

Silence. “I’m nineteen.”
“But you and Jax have always been nineteen.”

“Ari…didn’t we promise not to have this conversation anymore?”

“But—”

“I don’t want to talk about this. End of conversation.”

“But—”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it. And don’t you dare going around and asking Jaxon about it, okay?”

There was a long silence, and then came a sulky reply, “fine.”

She cheered up immediately when they picked Shari up at her house. Shari had dyed her hair so that streaks of honey and gold decorated her wavy chestnut hair. Ari thought she looked amazing. She was going to have to ask Jaxon for permission to dye her hair, too.

The smile, however, dropped from her face when she saw Shari’s older stepbrother, Luca standing behind her. Luca was seventeen years old, around six foot three and, quite undeniably, hot. He had midnight blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through you. Ari shuddered when he lifted his gaze from the ground and looked at her. He had a head of inky black hair that was a bit on the long side and partially shaded his eyes, which, in Ari’s opinion, gave him a mysterious, moody air (which, also in her opinion, made him even hotter—that is, if that were even possible). She also hated him and thought of him as an arrogant idiot. She knew that the idiot part was quite untrue, but somehow, it gave her some kind of satisfaction.

At school, he was one of the elite and popular, and he came first in his class. Hell, he even came first in his whole year. Being fairly pleasant and sociable, he had managed to befriend people ranging from cool to nerdy, tall to short and fat to skinny. Of course, he also had a truckload of girls fawning over him. Not that she cared.

What not many other people knew, however, was Luca’s background. His Italian mother had abandoned him with his father once he’d been born and had taken off with another man. Heartbroken, Luca’s father had moved back to America, where he had met Shari’s mother, and later on married her.

After Shari was born, Luca was pushed aside. In fact, Luca’s father saw Luca as a reminder of his horrible past, and ignored him and blocked him out as often as possible.

“Did you have to bring Luca?” Ari hissed to her best friend as she got into the car.

“Well, it’s not exactly like I had a choice. You don’t argue with mothers. At least, not mine. She wanted him to come, you know, to make him feel a bit more welcome and all that shoot.”

Meanwhile, Luca had slipped into the car so that he was seated next to her. He shifted his gaze onto her. “Hey.”

Ari shot him a glare, but it softened as she momentarily forgot why she hated him so much.

“How’s school? Are you failing anything yet?” He asked, his grin turning into a smirk.

Ari gritted her teeth. Maybe it was because he annoyed her to no end, and was always rude and unbelievably arrogant. She glared at him again before turning her back on him and engaging Shari in a conversation.

Fifteen minutes later, Kieran pulled into Jaxon’s driveway, where Jaxon was sitting on the porch. Arianne jumped out of the car and into Jaxon’s arms while Shari and Luca remained sitting in the car, looking the house up and down.

“Jax, I’ve missed you so much!”

“Hey Ari,” Jaxon hugged her tightly. “You’re late again.” He narrowed his eyes at Kieran.

“No, I’m not. I can’t help it if your watch is fast.” Kieran snapped, taking Ari’s bags and dumping them onto the porch. He motioned for Jaxon to come over. Jaxon untangled himself from Ari’s arms and walked over.

“Ari, you want to go in first?” called Kieran.

“No.” She glared at him.

“Ari,” said Jaxon, smiling at her. “I need to talk to Kieran for a minute…can you go into the house? There’re milk and cookies on the table if you want them.”

Ari grinned. “Okay,” she said, running into the house. “Come on, Shari!”

Shari went after Arianne into Jaxon’s house, with Luca following silently behind.

Kieran sighed, lifting his eyes heavenward.

Jaxon chuckled. “Still not listening to you, eh?”

“Fifteen years, and still as stubborn as a mule.”

“So…what did you want to talk to me about?”

“It’s Ari…she’s been wondering why we don’t age. Again.”

“She’s asked me about it the month before, actually. I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Do you want to come inside? It’s freezing.”

“Only to say goodbye to Ari.” Kieran followed Jaxon into the house and went into the living room. Ari was sitting next to Shari, who was sprawled across the sofa, eating cookies and watching the telly. Luca was sitting on the floor, flipping cookies with his thumb up into the air and catching them.

“Hey, I came to say goodbye,” said Kieran softly.

All he got in reply was a noncommittal “Mmm.”

Kieran sighed inwardly, leant down to plant a kiss on her forehead, and left after giving Jaxon a curt nod.

On the way home, Kieran wondered what he did wrong to make Ari so sad and sulky.

Once he got home, he slipped into the shower, and could feel himself relax almost immediately under the hot water.

He stood under the water for a long, long time, letting it soak through his hair and run down his face, enjoying the heat, and how it chased away all its troubles and worries.

He looked at his waterproof watch. He had better get out now unless he wanted to be permanently wrinkled up like a prune.

Just as he was towelling his hair dry, the phone rang. Kieran raised his eyebrows, wrapped the towel around his waist, shook the water from his ears and picked up the phone.
“Ki?” a sobbing voice came down the phone.

“...Ari? What’s the matter? Are you okay? Did you forget to bring your teddy?”

“My ‘teddy’ has a name, and no, nothing’s okay. It’s all gone wrong…” Her sobbing escalated.

“Ari…calm down. Tell me what happened.” In the background, Kieran could hear something crashing to the ground and Jaxon yelling “Tell him! Tell him now!”

“Just after you left, this woman came running up the driveway, and said that we n-n-needed to leave, she also said something else b-b-but she spoke s-s-so quickly I couldn’t understand her. Then she l-l-left and Jax told me to pack and said he would pick you up on the way and-and-and then I saw a man walking up the driveway,” Arianne sobbed.

“So I told Jax and-and-and he got r-r-really worried and he told me to phone you right away and …and then the door just exploded and a wolf came in and it-it-it…tried to take me but Jax knocked it out of the way and they’re fighting n-n-now…”

Kieran swore. “Where are Luca and Shari?”

“Shari’s hiding in the kitchen cupboard…next to the cheese, and Luca…I don’t know where Luca is.”

“Ari, get all your bags and slip out the back door. Try to get Shari and Luca to come with you once they’re not so freaked out. Bring their bags as well. Make sure that the man doesn’t see you. I’ll be there in five minutes.” He hung up the phone and pulled on his jeans and t-shirt, jammed his feet into his shoes and flung the towel on the bed. Stumbling on his shoelaces, he ran to the car and pulled out of the garage so quickly he left tire marks on the driveway.

He was there in three minutes.

Kieran saw Ari sitting on the steps in front of the back door, still crying and sobbing. Luca was sitting next to her, looking awkward and totally at loss. He was used to girls fawning over him, flirting and bantering. Crying? Not so much.

Kieran leapt out of the car and pulled Ari into a tight embrace, whispering “It’s going to be okay” over and over again. He knelt down so that he was face to face with the crying girl.

“Where’s Shari?” He asked.

Ari sobbed even more loudly, burying her head into Kieran’s neck. Kieran looked at Luca questioningly.

“She…ran off,” Luca said shortly and looking away.

Kieran cringed, and put his hands on her shoulders. This was worse than he thought. “Get your bags and wait in the car, okay? I have to help Jaxon. Luca, can you help Ari?” Luca nodded.

“Oh, and bring your things as well,” Kieran said after pausing momentarily. “You’re coming with us.”

Luca looked surprised, but he nodded wordlessly, and with his arm still around Ari, picked up the bags with his other hand and gently led her towards the car.

Kieran crouched into position, leaping towards the house, being very careful to phase only after he’d gone into the house so as not to let them see.

He followed the noises and discovered a weak Jaxon dodging a wolf’s huge and powerful bites, as he was so tired he could no longer attack.

Kieran growled and pounced onto the wolf, knocking him onto his back. He lifted one paw and slammed it on to the wolf’s chest. He could hear the sound of breaking bones, and the wolf bellowed out in pain.

Kieran looked up for a brief moment to see where Jaxon was.

And in that brief moment, the wolf tensed up, and lashed out at Kieran’s throat.

Kieran was thrown back against the wall, but he was quick to crouch into position, panting heavily. He could feel the blood trickle down from his throat and drip to the floor

Oh hell. The searing pain roaring in his throat was almost unbearable. Each breath hurt like torture. He growled. Pain sliced through him. Stupid, Kieran silently chastised himself.

The wolf rammed Kieran to the wall once more. Kieran gasped in pain. He couldn’t move. All he could do was watch in horror as the wolf came closer and closer to strike again. Kieran closed his eyes and waited for the blow. But all he heard was a crash.

He opened his eyes, and saw Jaxon in a crouch snarling and baring his teeth.

The wolf, which was lying on a heap of broken furniture, phased back to human and slowly stood up. He seemed to have no more energy to fight. Too weak to maintain his wolf form as well, Kieran phased back to human.

“Kill him,” he rasped to Jaxon, his throat sore.

Jaxon hesitated. Kieran rolled his eyes. He already knew what Jaxon would say.

“I can’t.” Jaxon spat bitterly.

“Not even when he’s trying to kill you?” Kieran challenged.

Jaxon gritted his teeth, and shook his head. Then he faced the man. “Leave before I scratch your eyes out,” he snarled, his voice wavering.

Kieran rolled his eyes. Way to go, Jaxon. You just told a man that you couldn’t kill him, but there you go, “threatening”—double emphasis on the quotation marks—to scratch his eyes out. He really needed to learn the art of threatening people.

The man although visible with relief, glared at Kieran and Jaxon.

“I will come back for her. She is mine,” he snarled.

Kieran was furious. “Hey, listen, you ungrateful piece of—”
But before he could finish his sentence, the man had slammed his foot onto his arm, crushing it. Kieran yelled out in pain, while the man dived out the door.

Jaxon glanced at Kieran, still sprawled with his back on the floor.

“Looks like you’re going to have to drive,” said Kieran, giving Jaxon a weak smile before he fainted.

Jaxon rolled his eyes, and then leant down to carry Kieran out to the car.

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