Ten

TEN

I return home.

But it no longer feels familiar to me.

Everything has changed.

The world has shifted beneath my feet.

I enter the pack dorm.

My friends are snoring in their bunks.

I fall into mine and pass out.

My dreams are full of Patrick.

I need him. I need to see him again.

Just one hour without him feels like agony.

When I wake, the dawn light is blistering through the window and Tomasina is bouncing on the bed beside me.

"Come on sleepyhead," she says. "Let's eat!"

Alia is already half way out the door, eager for breakfast.

I rub my sleepy eyes and follow them to the mess hall.

All she can think about is him.

Patrick.

Patrick.

My mate.

My one true love.

It makes me twitchy.

Just thinking of him in this place feels dangerous.

I realize my plan to meet with him secretly is never going to work. He was right to challenge me. To ask me to leave the pack. It would be too dangerous. His life would be in danger. How long would we last? A week. At most.