Here I am! Sorry I've been gone so long- hiatus AND a cheating boyfriend can really occupy one's time, huh?

But I've written an entire story in 3 days and am currently in the process of writing another one! And these chapters will be quite short, so sorry 'bout that.

And I've been thinking, and have decided that, to make sure people are actually reading my stories, I won't post another chapter until I get at least 3 reviews!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it.

Chapter 1

I walked down the beach, looking for conchs. It was summer. It was relatively cool out. So of course I was outside.

Coop, my wolfdog, was at my side, until he saw a bird. Then he raced after it. I laughed and watched him for a few seconds before returning to my search.

Then Coop growled suddenly, and ran towards me, hackles raised.

"Whoa, what is it, boy?" I asked, concerned. He'd never acted like this before. The dog snarled and jumped in front of me, turning and glaring at the bushes by the forest. I rubbed his back. "It'll be fine, Coop. Nothing's out there."

The twigs snapped abruptly, and a figure emerged. Coop growled loudly, then sniffed the air and loped towards it.

"Cooper, no! Stop! Heel!"

Upon hearing that, he slid to a stop and fell over. The person, originally standing in shock, laughed. It was a female's laugh.

I jogged up to her. "Hey, sorry about him." I swatted Coop gently. "He's usually so well trained."

"Don't worry about it," she said, petting the now standing wolfdog. He yapped, tail wagging, and licked her hand. "We have a dog. His name's Rascal." She laughed again, and it sounded a little familiar, but I was sure I'd never seen her before.

"Do I know you?"

She flushed and shook her head quickly. "No, no. I'm new here. My name's my- Caitlin, I mean." She coughed. "I'd gotten a bit sick on the plane ride here."

"Where are you from, Caitlin? I'm Tory."

She shook my hand. "I'm from North Carolina. My family recently relocated. New job."

"Where at?"

Caitlin shrugged. "LIRI. My mom's a vet."

"Will you be going to Bolton this fall?"

"Yeah. I'll be a freshman. My parents had me start school early."

"How old are you now?"

"Thirteen."

I looked her over. She was wearing jeans and a tank top- the kind you'd get from Wal-Mart, and a dark blue amulet around her neck. She had dark brown hair and grey eyes, high cheekbones, and full lashes. To say she was pretty would be an understatement. Another understatement was that she looked familiar. I knew I'd seen her before, but I didn't know where.

"Well, I don't know about this year's freshmen, but if they're anything like the ones I had to deal with, then let me wish you good luck. I skipped the sixth grade," I said, glancing over at Coop to see how he was doing. He was chasing birds again.

I rolled my eyes at him, and turned back to Caitlin. "What all do you like to do?" We started walking.

"Oh, I like fishing, boating, forensics, experimenting with technology, and natural science."

"Really?" I was surprised. It sounded a lot like my pack combined.

"Um, yeah. Why?" Her eyes met mine, and the recognition hit me again, more powerful this time. I knew her. I did, I could feel it in my bones.

"It's just, my friends and I like the same kind of stuff."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah. You wanna meet them?"

"If I could, that'd be great!"

We walked to Hi's house. I knocked on the door, and he answered a few seconds later. His eyebrows rose when he saw Caitlin, then he blushed.

"Tory, who's this?"

I introduced them, and he shook her hand.

"She's going to be a freshman this fall," I told him. "She skipped a grade, like me."

Hi nodded, smiling at her. She smiled back shyly. "Have you met Shelton yet?"

"No," Caitlin said.

"Then maybe I can come with."

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. Is that okay with you?" I asked Caitlin. She nodded.

Hi and I introduced her to Shelton, who was also astonished by her beauty, apparently. We ended up all walking along the beach together. I stopped and stared when we got to The Place. Where he used to dock Sewee.

Tears welled up in my eyes at the memory, but I pushed them back. It wasn't like we'd never see Ben again. He was just with his mom in Mount Pleasant this summer because Tom had to work down in Georgia.

Did I even want to see him?

Of course I did. He was pack. He was... Ben. How could I not want to see him?

I guess I missed him. But I was also still hurt and a little angry. More than a little. He'd aided a murderer. Whether he meant to or not didn't matter. What mattered was that he never told us.

I came so close to crying every time I thought of his confession, his explanation. He'd done it to get my attention. He wanted me to view him as more than a pack.

I didn't even know if I did or not. I'd never thought of it. Never wanted to.

He was a part of my pack. My family. If I started paying more attention to one person in the 'family', then the other members might get jealous. And if things didn't work out between us...

It would be ugly. Hideous.

So I avoided romance within my own pack. It was safer that way. Cleaner.

"What's wrong, m-Tory?" Caitlin asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked over at her.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Really."

She still didn't look convinced.

"Oh, she just misses good ol' Benjamin Blue," Hi said, slinging an arm around Caitlin's shoulders. "He got expelled from our pristine, snooty private school and now has to go to a public school with normal people."

"Lucky bastard," Shelton muttered.

"What?" Caitlin's eyes were huge. "D- he got expelled? Why?"

I suddenly didn't like how she was prying. "He got mixed up in something," I snapped. "Something he didn't know he was getting himself into. When he found out how bad it was, he refused to tell us and tried to solve the problems on his own. Then it snowballed out of control and he got kicked out of Bolton. Now he's in Mount Pleasant with his mom."

"Permanently?" Caitlin gasped, looking panicked. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she care? It wasn't like she knew Ben. Not like I did.

"Just for the summer," Shelton said before I could snap at her again. "His dad has a gig in Georgia that he has to do."

Caitlin looked around, then at the dock. It was like she knew something was missing from it. "I have to go," she said quickly, apologetically. "It was nice seeing you, unc- I mean, Hi, Shelton and Tory. Nice to meet you. I'll see you around!"

She was gone before any of us could even react.

"What the hell?" Hi said.

"Strange." Shelton tugged on his earlobe.

"Something's up," I said. "With Caitlin. Did you notice how she keeps correcting herself? It was like she was used to calling us something else."

Shelton shrugged. "Maybe she has a stutter."

Hi agreed. I didn't.

"No, no," I said. "If she had a stutter, it'd be more obvious."

"Maybe she's getting over it."

I shook my head. "Even if that was the case, she's still lying about something. She'd said her mom was a vet at LIRI. All of our parents work there. Don't you think we would've found out by now if they got another vet? There's something up with her. Something abnormal. And I'm going to find out what it is."

The two boys groaned.

What'd you think?