Truths Collide (WolfGirl 2)

Chapter 1: Innocence

(Scarlet James)

I splash some cold water on my face and stare hard into the mirror as my eyeliner smears. Damn, not the brightest idea, but I had to. I grab my towel and start to wipe my face but when I look back into my mirror, I flinch. I'm not the only one in the mirror. There he is, staring right back at me.

"I'm coming for you," a voice in my head hisses. I blink and blink again until he's gone. Then I rush to the toilet and empty out the contents of my stomach. Not again. This has been going on since the past month.

"Scarlet?" the worried voice of my best friend calls out to me from the other side of the bathroom door, "you okay?"

I flush the toilet and rinse my mouth before opening the door for her. She takes one look at me and frowns, walking in as I reach from my toothbrush.

"Another hallucination," she states, taking a seat at the edge of the bathtub.

"I can't wait for Friday," I groan, glancing at her through the mirror.

"What'd you see this time?"

"Caius was in the mirror saying he's coming for me," I reply after I spit out the toothpaste in my mouth.

"Well, he is..." Anna trails off. Her long black hair cascades down to her waist from both sides, nearly hiding the pink dress she's wearing.

"Besides the point. This was creepy. Caius is not creepy," I remind her. Every shifter gets a symptom as they near their transformation night. It wasn't always like that though, but then the evolution in the shifter world started. Another major shift is our transformations happen after our eighteenth birthday not seventeenth like it had been for centuries. The Royals don't really know why this change happened or what caused the process of transformation to change after so many years. It's pretty simple already. On the first full moon after our eighteenth birthday, we transform into the animal of our Pack. There are many forms of shifters, so which ever animal we are born into is the animal we change into later. Most of the residents of ShadowBrooke , Oregon are shapeshifters. Wolves to be exact.

Anna is my best friend and one of the only people who know about my symptom. She says it's normal, that they all went through it before their first shift. I thought I was going crazy, but she's kept me pretty grounded lately with everything catching up to me fast, seeing that I turn eighteen tomorrow.

"No," she smiles, "Caius is not creepy. But from what I hear downstairs, he is coming back from his trip."

"Is he?" I frown, wondering why he didn't tell me. Caius Asher is the pride and joy of this town. He's also the Alpha of our Pack and a close family friend.

Anna looks up at me as I fix my makeup using the extras I keep in the bathroom, "You want him to be your mate, don't you?"

I let out a laugh, "Wanting Caius Asher as a mate is like being the social outcast in high school with a ridiculous crush on the most popular boy."

She gives me a blunt look, "But you're not the outcast, you were literally the cheer captain," she points out before sighing, "those Asher brothers though...like Caius and Tristan look nothing alike but god damn they got some fucking great genes."

Hearing his name makes the butterflies flutter nervously in my stomach. I turn to Anna, "You ready to go back down to the luncheon?"

"If you are," she nods, standing up on her black high heels. I tug on my orange and white dress before walking out with her and heading down. The aroma of expensive perfume hits me once again as Mom's friends fill the bottom level of our home. Every year, at the beginning of summer, once all the kids are out of school and are back in town from college, the moms get together and throw a picnic to kick-start the summer. It's been going on ever since I can remember. The ladies are over to finalize the plans for the picnic on Sunday.