By the time I calmed down, my breaths no longer rasping from me, Torin was long gone. The burning anger under my skin lingered a little longer, until it too faded. Feeling like I was losing my mind, I rushed from my apartment, heading toward the school. I didn’t see anyone on the way and by the time I arrived, I felt much calmer. No less confused, but it was time to focus on what had happened here in the school.

As I stepped out into the moonlight, my wolf stirred listlessly in my chest. Prodding her energy, I tried to draw her to the surface. Come on. We need to shift, to figure out what’s been hidden from us.

This piqued her interest, and she stretched languidly in my chest before pushing forward. Holding on to her energy, I crossed the parking lot, making my way to the side entrance, where Sam waited. She was leaning against the wall, looking at her phone, but when she heard my steps, she pocketed the device. “Hey,” she said with a smile. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it.”

“Had a visitor I had to get rid of first,” I said, pushing Torin from my mind.

That motherfucker was just lucky he didn’t finish what he’d set out to do. Since I apparently had the ability to control him, and with that power, I could make him eat a silver bullet. He’d do well to remember that.

“Want to shift now?” Sam asked, already lifting her shirt. “The moon is fairly high, and I can feel the pull.”

“Yep, I’m ready.”

I got undressed too, and when we were both naked, I noticed the tattoo that started on her right side and wrapped around her back. From what I could see, it looked like a wolf, but one that was half-shifted into a red-and-silver beast.

It was such a contrast to the prim and proper teacher façade she had going on that I was genuinely surprised. “Amazing tattoo,” I said, gesturing to the part of the image I could see. “How did you get it to not heal over?”

Her smile was wistful as she pressed a hand to her side. “Before I turned, I ran away with a human. This moon-loving, crystal-wearing dude who was covered in ink. He convinced me to get this done, and I didn’t think it would stick, but somehow he managed it. Must have been due to me not shifting for the first time yet.”

She ran a hand over it, and in the weird play of light, it almost looked like it moved under her touch. “Why that image?” I asked. A regular wolf would have been the logical choice, not one that looked like the werewolf of human lore.

“It called to me,” she said with a brighter smile. “My beast.”