-Corrine- “You’re daydreaming again.”I jumped at the sound of Gary’s, my classmate, voice. I blinked and turned towards him, then returned his smile. “Busted,” I murmured.“The lecture’s over.” Gary nodded towards the front, letting me know that the professor had left the classroom.“Oh...” It took me a few seconds to realize what I should do. Gather my books and stationery. “Oh!” I exclaimed.I bent down to grab my bag from under the desk and placed it on my lap. My movements paused when I saw what was inside.Andrew’s jacket.Yeah, call me a pervert. I have been carrying that jacket for the past week. Ever since I met him at Houghton Commons, I thought I would meet him again. Maybe he would show up at the same place, or he could suddenly appear in front of my dorm room.Who knows?“Nice jacket,” Gary said, peeking into my open bag.Reflexively, I closed the bag and grimaced at him. “Not mine,” I muttered.Gary withdrew and gazed at me. The gleam in his eyes radiated curiosity.“Boy
-Corrine- We stopped after leaving the department building. I turned around, slinging my bag over one shoulder, and pointed at him. “You made me skip class.”Andrew cracked a smile. “Between you and me, who dragged someone and took them out of the classroom?” After that, he perfectly arched one eyebrow.Hearing the word “drag” made me realize that I had still been holding onto his arm. I quickly let go and clasped my hands together.“What do you want?” I asked, turning my face away."Haven't I already told you?" Andrew tilted his head. That annoyingly sexy little smile appeared again. "You.""And what exactly do you want from me?" I pressed."I want to spend time with you.""First things first," I shot back. "If you're trying to seduce me, you’re really suck at it.""There's no harm in trying," he shrugged. His expression showed that he found my behavior amusing, and I felt like a helpless child in front of him.I glared at him, telling him to shut his mouth, and continued speaking. "
-Corrine-The rackety sound of a game center welcomed us as we entered that place.“First time?!” Andrew half shouted to overcome the surrounding noise.I looked up at him and shook my head. “No!”I didn’t want to go into details about my experience at the game center. First, because places like this brought unpleasant memories for me. Daniel used to take me to the game center in Wesgrove when we were still dating. Second, because I was a terrible player at games like these.Daniel would often mock and scold me every time I made a mistake and suffered defeat. Looking back, I should have realized how repulsive his attitude was. But love did make people blind sometimes.I was lost in my thoughts about Daniel, staring blankly at the row of games when Andrew bent down towards me and whispered in my ear.“Wanna get out of here?”His deep and sexy voice made me stumble. I turned and almost kissed his lips. Our faces were only about an inch apart.I lingered, gazing into his dark blue eyes.
-Corrine-I should have guessed where Andrew would take me. He was a bad boy; it was obvious. So, where else would a bad boy go if not to a place where troublemakers gather?There was no such place in Wesgrove, or maybe I didn’t know. Trevor had many friends back in our place, and he always got reports on where I went, so I never went to places on his forbidden list.If Trevor knew I went to a place like this, I’m sure he would pick me up right now and tell me to move out of Golden Leaf.The roar of the car engine made me shudder. My hands were tightly wrapped around Andrew’s waist while my eyes darted around, seeing girls in skimpy outfits, some seemingly underdressed, dancing on top of car roofs with beer bottles in their hands.The place looked like an abandoned luxury housing complex on the hillside. Surrounded by dense forest with no other settlements or life around, this area was indeed suitable as a gathering place for youngsters who wanted to party to their heart's contents.A
-Corrine-The nauseating sting hit my head on the first gulp, after which I didn’t know how to describe the various sensations assaulting my body. But one thing was sure; I screwed.The girl before me, the one who handed me the booze, split in two. Or maybe it was just my imagination.“Is the—,” I paused to burp, “—booze should be this strong?” I swirled the plastic cup in my hand, almost dropping it in the process, then looked at the girl’s face again. Her brown skin glistened as she tilted her head and smiled.“Is great, isn’t it?” she cheered. “You want more?”I shook my head. Wrong move. My vision immediately spun as I did so. I closed my eyes tightly, dropped the plastic cup from my hand, and tried to find something to hold onto to avoid falling.Someone caught my arm, and I fell backward. My head hit something, and as I looked up, I found a pair of eyes staring at me. Not Andrew.“Hey Lily, what did you give to her?” I heard his voice echo in his chest.Lily and the others laugh
CorrineI was pretty sure there was a sledgehammer slamming into my head repeatedly because, damn, an incredible pain welcomed me as I opened my eyes. I groped in the darkness and groaned as a sharp sting in my thigh fully woke me up.Where am I? What happened? Am I dead already?I tried to move my legs, but something restrained my knees from moving. I squinted in that direction and found Andrew sitting near my feet. His hands were on my bare knees.Wait a minute.I was wearing pants when I left. Why are my knees uncovered now?“Don’t move too much,” Andrew’s voice sounded like a low growl. “You’re injured.”The first thing I wanted to do was find something to cover my legs because, for fuck’s sake, I was half-naked in front of a boy I had only met three times. The only boy who had ever seen me in panties was Daniel, and I wasn’t the one-night-stand type of girl. So being in this situation made me incredibly uncomfortable.It seemed Andrew realized my discomfort. He moved, and I saw h
-Corrine-Was it wrong to miss someone you don’t have a relationship with?From our last meeting and the agreement between us, I thought there would be a second date with Andrew soon. But it’s been almost a month since the incident at Mythic Manor, and I haven’t heard anything from him.That night, I didn’t ask for his phone number. I was too excited about the idea that we would meet again and assumed it would happen soon. Turned out, I was wrong.On the other hand, Andrew’s absence brought back Eva’s cheerfulness and her kind attitude towards me. She no longer let me eat alone in Houghton Commons and always said goodbye whenever she left our room.A part of me was tempted to secretly take Eva’s phone and look for Andrew’s number, but the more sensible side of me prevented me from doing so and surrendered our next meeting to The Moon Goddess.We were walking towards the dorm after spending the afternoon at the library working on assignments.“Who is he?” Eva whispered to me. I, who was
-Corrine-His sudden presence paralyzed all my senses. I could only stand there at the doorway, my breath caught.“You?” My voice felt strange as if it didn’t come from me. “What are you doing here?”It was just a casual question to conceal the jumble of emotions in my heart. It felt like someone had just burst a balloon and poured a bucket of icy water over my head. I was paralyzed but felt relieved. My anger towards Jerome was extinguished as easily as a candle blown by the cool night wind. The night wind in the form of Andrew.“Are you crying?” He repeated his question, ignoring mine. The tension in his jaw and the sharpness in his eyes showed that the question had only one purpose: that he cared about what happened to me.Or maybe I hoped so.One second, that’s all I had to decide whether to lie or tell the truth.“Yes.”“Who made you cry? Your ex?”He gave me the idea to lie. Although I had been honest with my first answer, I didn’t want to explain about Jerome and his obsession
-Corrine-The scream froze everyone in place, and together they looked back and forth between me and Andrew.“You cheated!” accused the teenage girl. “You deliberately distracted us by accepting this fight, and then you had your friends create chaos, didn’t you?!”“No!” I yelled. “I would never use such a cheap trick!”“You are cheap!” the girl shrieked.Rage boiled in my chest. I had been holding back, tolerating her insolent attitude, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I dashed to her and slapped her cheek as hard as I could, making her stagger and nearly fall.“Did your parents not teach you any manners?!”I still wanted to hit her again, but a few people ran toward us and separated us before the fight escalated.“That’s enough, Abby!” shouted Harry, who held the teenage girl back. I remembered her now. Abby. She had always disliked me because Jerome paid more attention to me.“We should have killed her!” screamed Abby as she struggled in Harry’s grip. “She only brings trouble to this
-Corrine-Believe it or not, the first fight was won by me.I had just defeated one of the strongest warriors in Moon Dust. And it wasn’t just me who was surprised; all the pack’s members who were present there were stunned, watching as Sam was thrown to the ground after I landed a fatal blow to his chest.Harry counted to ten, but he didn’t get up.“The first fight is won by Corrine!” he announced, and only Andrew clapped and cheered.“Five minutes break for you, Corrine. After that, you’ll face another candidate,” Harry said then.Sam had returned to his human form—he was still breathing, thank the Moon Goddess—and some people pulled him out of the arena.I walked over to Andrew at the edge of the arena. He unfolded a robe for me, and quickly wrapped it around me the moment I turned back into my human form.“That was awesome, babe,” he praised, grinning.I returned his grin weakly. He told me to sit down, then handed me a bottle of water, which I chugged in one go.“He was a tough o
-Corrine-Even though I didn’t want it to, the day I dreaded the most finally came.My heart raced faster as the car carrying me entered Moon Dust territory. Harry and the pack members were waiting for me in the front yard of the Alpha’s house. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a welcoming party, since no one smiled when they saw me step out of the car. Even Harry looked more tense than I was.“Dad,” I greeted softly, nodding my head. My eyes instinctively darted to his side, and my heart sank with disappointment when I didn’t see my mother there.“Your mom is not feeling well,” my father said. He knew who I was looking for.I pursed my lips and exhaled. I didn’t ask further about her condition because I didn’t want to hear the reason why she was unwell. I’d bet my life it was because of me.“So… who are the challengers?” I asked, scanning the warriors and pack members surrounding me.My father shifted awkwardly. “Most of them wanted to challenge you, but—”I swallowed hard. *Most of t
-Trevor-“Shit,” was the first word that escaped my lips. The next thing I did after cursing was to push Leana off my body. I got up as quickly as I could and ran out of the arena to chase after Eva.My eyes stayed focused ahead, searching for Eva. I could see her back in the distance. She was half-running down the corridor, heading toward the main mansion building. I quickened my pace and caught up to her.“Ev—” I said after grabbing her wrist and pulling her, forcing her to turn toward me. “Ev, wait. Listen—”Eva yanked her hand away and grasped her wrist with her other hand. Her gaze was vacant as she looked at me, and her lips curved into a bitter smile. “Congratulations, Trevor,” she said, her voice trembling.I spread my arms in confusion, frowning. “Congratulations for what?”“For dating the hottest girl in the alliance.”“We’re not dating,” I denied, my tone too insistent, making it sound like I was hiding something.Eva crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. “Oh, so you
-Andrew-Seeing and hearing Eva say those words to me made me briefly think of Gary. But this wasn’t about some horrible obsession; it was pure desperation.“No,” was the first word I said, a firm rejection that made Eva flinch.“B—but, Andrew… I’d be able to protect myself if I became a lycan like you all.”I shook my head. “That’s not how it works, Ev.”“Andrew—”I pointed sharply at the door, my eyes wide. A flash of guilt hit me as my action startled Eva, but I continued anyway.“You’ve seen how Corrine struggles to live her life as a werewolf, haven’t you, Ev? She was born a shapeshifter, yet that doesn’t automatically mean she’s great at fighting or can protect herself all the time. Becoming like me—like Corrine—won’t magically solve all your problems. You’ll only fall deeper into the dark side of this world.”Eva’s mouth opened and closed, her eyes trembling. She was probably trying to craft a solid argument to counter what I said, but I knew she couldn’t find one.I stood up f
-Corrine-I had never imagined there would come a day when Leana said something like this that she was proud of me.“It’s… kind of weird,” I said, half laughing. “You, out of all people, said you are proud of me.”“I know, right,” Leana laughed along with me. “But that’s the truth. I wouldn’t say such a thing just to please you. So, go out there, meet your pack, and kick their asses.” And then she added, “If you want, we can do two more training sessions, tonight and tomorrow morning.”My brows shot up. “Really? But… how about your condition?”Leana rolled her shoulders one by one and snapped her head to the left and right. “It’s not like I am paralyzed, Corrine. I just cannot shift for a moment. I still can fight.”I grinned. I didn’t know when, but I gradually loved her spirit and her personality. She was a true badass. “Alright, then. Thanks.”Leana returned my grin. “No problem.”*After we finished talking, we walked back into the mansion and straight to the treatment room. Leana
-Corrine-Tomorrow night? Had my father lost his mind? Or was he trying to get me killed?“That’s impossible,” I said, feeling anxiety surge within me. “I—I can’t even beat Leana! How could I possibly defeat those fucking warriors from my pack?”“Corrine—”“I—I think it’s better if I just surrender, Andrew.”“Corrine, listen to me—”Andrew tried to reach for me, but I swatted his hand away before he could touch me. Then I walked out of the treatment room.I didn’t know where I was going, and eventually, I ended up sitting in the backyard of the mansion, on the bench I always sat on whenever I felt restless.I buried my face in my hands.What was I even thinking all this time? Trying to show them I was strong? Who was I kidding?I was born a werewolf, sure, but I wasn’t that strong. Defeating Leana and killing Jerome was nothing but pure luck.“Hey.”I jumped and looked up. “You. What are you doing here? Are you feeling better?Leana gave me a brief, lazy smile. “This is nothing,” she
-Corrine-The deeper we went into this, the more complicated it became.I followed Andrew and Bria down the hallway, to a part of the mansion I had never been to before. There, in a large white room that almost resembled a laboratory, I met several other lycans whose faces I’d only glimpsed in passing before.“Andrew,” greeted a man—he looked to be about Bria’s age—while motioning for Andrew to come closer.Even though Andrew had told me he didn’t want anyone else to know about his family or what we were investigating, that no longer seemed to apply. Not after we had to ask the lycans for help to save Trevor and Leana.I followed Andrew as he approached the man. On the table in front of him were several blue flower petals glowing faintly.“Wolfsbane,” Andrew murmured, studying the petals.“Yeah.” The man nodded.“Larry found something interesting,” Bria said. She joined us, standing near the table and examining the flowers.“What do you get?” Andrew asked.“So, apparently, this flower
-Andrew-A small door beneath the desk swung open when I pulled the knob. Dust flew out, some clinging to my nose, and I wiped it off.There were books inside. I reached in and took them out, frowning as I examined their brown leather covers. These books looked ancient, with pages yellowed and browned, exuding a strong musty smell.“What do you find?” asked Corrine. She bent slightly from where she stood but didn’t force herself to squeeze under the desk with me.“Books,” I muttered, still inspecting them.I crawled out and placed the books on the desk. Standing up, I put my hands on my hips. Beside me, Corrine leaned in to examine the books as well.She reached out as if to touch one, but then hesitated. Instead, she looked at me and asked, “May I—?”I paused before answering, “Yes.”Only then did Corrine pick up one of the books—the largest of the three—and carefully open it. On the very first page, we saw elegant, looping handwriting, as though written with great care.Personal Not