Someone once told me that man's best friend is dog. How about wolf? Apparently wolves are considered to be nuisances, man-eaters, even monsters. I could beg to differ. After all, I should know if wolves were evil, black-hearted, fiends. I was Loup Garou, or were-wolf. I could change from wolf to human at ease. We weren't monsters, we cared about are family as much as any normal human. But men didn't believe that. They hunted us to near extinction, but they didn't even bother others that fit the description of their other "Mythical" beings.

I awoke one day, in my family's little house at the base of Olympia Mountains, to my mothers worried voice. My room was on the second-floor, with a beautiful view of the mountains and forest beyond.

"Alex! Wake up Alex; you'll miss the bus," My mother called from the kitchen.

I groaned, my hand covering my eyes. "Mother, can't we go on foot today?"

"No Alex, remember what happened last time? Animal control almost cleared the forest, looking for us."

I sighed, getting up out of my bed, and calling down the stairs. "Okay, I'll be down in a sec."

Quickly I looked at myself in the mirror, running my fingers through my hair, and swiftly taking a hot shower, letting the water warm my skin. I was down in less than 10 minutes, in a pair of jeans and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt.

I smiled. "So, is Jake and Seth ready yet? The bus isn't going to wait for them."

My brothers looked up from the T.V. set.

"Alex, look at this" Seth said, pointing his long fingers at a guy talking on the news station.

"Two tourists were killed today at Denali, Alaska. They seemed to have been killed by some kind of animal, their bodies' dry of blood. Not very much information is known about this killer. The town's police have been researching searching for this lethal killer, but if you live in this region we advise you t-"

I shut the T.V. off. "Come one guys, we're going to miss the bus."

Jacob grabbed his backpack, followed by Seth. I walked out of the door, my brothers trailing behind me, with frowns. "Chill Alex, It's not like it's another Loup Garou." Jacob said, sitting down on a rock by the bus stop.

The bus came slowly, its roof coated with snow and its tires all but freezing. The bus driver opened the door, "Hurry up, you Slavens, the whole bus'll freeze."

I growled, sitting down at the seat at the end of the bus. Jacob and Seth split off to sit with their friends, grins on their faces. The bus eventually filled up, but I told anyone who had wanted to sit next to me that the seat was taken. They'd all given me glares, and sat somewhere else.

Now that the bus had made all its stops, we had a 30 minute ride to the High School were I was enrolled at. The forest was too my right, the snow covered meadows to my left. I was prepared to sit there mindlessly staring out the window for another 30 minutes when the bus swerved at a dirt road and went on there. I leaned towards Seth who was sitting in the seat across from with his friend.

"Seth? Did the driver say anything about more kids on this bus?"

I desperately wanted to know because there was only one full seat left, and then the seat next to me. I ran my fingers through my hair as Seth talked on; I knew he had heard me.

"No, but it's the day after a five day weekend, there's bound to be one kid at least." Seth was being sarcastic.

The high school I went to was so small, everybody knew each other. "Seth, I'm serious."

"Jeez, antisocial sister is antisocial." Seth punched my shoulder playfully.

"Seth," I almost growled.

The bus stopped suddenly at another snow-covered dirt road, and three people walked on to the bus. Great, three students exactly. Only the bus driver greeted them, with a quick hello, which drowned out to a gasp. I have never been intimidated by any human before, and for a second I thought they weren't. A boy and a girl walked side-by-side, their hands intertwined. The other boy walked slowly behind them, he had brown and bronze hair, and his eyes locked on the floor looked like he was upset about something. The first boy who was holding who was holding hands with a small, pixie-like girl, maybe 17 or 16 sat down with her on the empty seat, her short spiked black hair went out in all directions. The boys were both tall though, one taller and wiry, the other muscular and tall, but shorter.

The boy had light brown hair, and flashed the other a smile. "Sorry, bro, two to a seat."

I almost growled, moving my stuff onto the floor. The bronze haired boy sat down in the space next to me, setting his bag under the seat. Suddenly I felt like an electric current had passed through me, and I pressed myself against the cold bus wall.

The bus started, sending a black puff of smoke out behind it, and it made its way back to the main road, the one that led to the school. Trying to keep my self distracted, I looked out the window. The trees blurred, the forest seeming dark, even with the white snow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the boy was sitting on the edge of the seat, as far away from me as possible without falling off, his fists clenched so the tendons were clearly visible. I thought about the three new students. They all had pale white skin, lean figures, and all obviously were intimidating. Something about them stirred an instinct inside of me, some old, long lost knowledge that I couldn't seem to recall.

Twenty minutes later the bus pulled into the school parking lot, the doors opening up so we could climb off. I practically ran off the bus, considering I had a back seat and I was the first one off. People protested as I shouldered my way through, but there complains were silenced by my glare. I took one glance back, and I swear I saw him laughing.

"Have you been shifting lately?' Gabrielle's accused voice asked as he tapped his long fingers atop yesterday's newspaper.

I stifled a snort. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

Gabrielle's eyes hardened. "I'm serious Alexis."

"Alex." I corrected him quickly.

"Alex," He said.

"No, I haven't. I can't say the same for them over there. Why don't you go ask them if they've been committing murders over night?" I jabbed a finger towards my brothers', who were sprawled over the couch playing video games.

Gabrielle flinched. "I am just trying to protect your family, little cub."

Little cub?!? Who did he think he was? "Okay. I understand, now get out of the house before it freezes over." He was standing in the doorway while there was a blizzard outside.

Gabriel grinned and shut the door, walking back to his SUV. The sky was pitch black, dark, as he swerved and drove back up the dirt road.

I rushed up the stairs to my room, after bidding my family farewell, and lay down, stomach first on my bed. For some reason I started thinking about the new students on the bus today. Something about them made me freeze over inside, they made me feel like death was glaring me in the face. I looked out the window to the full moon.

As I looked at the moon, my body began to respond in the way it always does on a full moon. My mind roamed towards the forest my body calling out. My jaw clenched in pain and I could feel fangs growing. The tips of my fingers curved into claws, my arms lengthening. A tail sprouted and ears grew pointed on my head.

I rolled out of bed and landed on all fours.

I awoke next morning under the bed, my clothes torn and ragged from the transformation. I gripped my arms, and a cold shiver of fear raised goose bumps on my arms. Most of the time I was able to control the transformation, but the full moon triggers something that made it so you had to change, you didn't have a choice. I could hear ragged breathing downstairs, and shot down the stairs quickly.

A lump of dark gray fur rose in rhythm with the ragged breathing, and I exhaled in relief; just Jake, snoring like he does when he's not a wolf. I looked around for my mother or Seth. Seth was sprawled out on the couch, as a human, his sandy hair covering his eyes while my mother was curled up on her chair, her pale brown body rising and falling softly. I walked into the kitchen and glanced at the clock. It was two hours into school started so I decided to wake my brothers up early like any older sibling does.

"Wake up!"I shouted standing in the doorway where the kitchen and living room met.

Seth blinked and yawned. "What's the time?" He said the same time Jake shot up and bristled.

Jake shifted and he was grinning. "When's breakfast?"

"I can't multitask." I laughed and answered Seth's first. "It's 5:44. And breakfast is whenever you make it, lazy."

My brother's eyes widened in synchronization. "You woke us up 2 hours and 22 minutes early?!?!?"

"Look on the bright side; at least we won't be late for school this morning." Jake shrugged and gave a huge yawn.

"Uh-huh, sure. Wake me up at 7:30." Seth collapsed on the couch, and his jaw was slack in less than 20 seconds.

Jake yawned and lay stomach down, on the floor. "Me too."

I sat down at a dining room table chair. I wasn't hungry and didn't feel like I was going to be so I gathered my school supplies and went outside. I yawned and sat down on a boulder that was knee-deep in snow. I watched quietly as the sky grew brighter. The beautiful colors reflected on the snow, swirls of orange, pink, purple and red. The trees shadows stretched towards me, and as I was gazing at the scene something moved out of the corner of my eye. I flipped my head and stared at the shadowy figure, it paused for a second then I blinked and it was gone. I kept watching the scene until a noise disturbed me.

The backdoor from my house slammed and Jake called out, his voice hoarse. "Alex!! It's 7:44! Come on, we have to worry or we'll miss the bus!"

I quickly ran up and into the house, grabbing my book bag, running past my still sleeping mother, out the front door, and at thee bus stop where my brothers were waiting. Seth was leaning sleepily against Jake who was more or less holding onto the stop sign as he snoozed. I kicked snow at them and they both jumped up.

"Who-wah where!" Jake shouted incoherently.

I cuffed Jake over the head. "Get up, moron. The bus's here."

The bus came right on cue, its big yellow bulk driving unhurriedly then stopping with a puff of smoke. The door gradually opened, the bus driver glared at us. "Get in! The whole bus'll freeze cus' of you!"

Seth ran into the bus, tripping at the stairs. A group of girls in the front of the bus laughed and snickered. I helped him up and practically snarled at them, they huddled against the wall of the bus with fear written all over their faces. Seth broke off from me and sat down next to his friend. As Jake walked past the people who had laughed at Seth, he glanced towards them, and one of them yelped with fear. I sat down in my usual seat, dreading the kid that sat next to me. Jake walked over and gave me a high-five, a giant grin on his face, then went to sit wit his friends. The bus started with a jerk, took off on the icy road, the tires squealing and sending up sprays of dirt and ice.

As the bus drove on I looked out the window at the scenery, which was blurred to normal human eyes, I at least thought. I could see the snow covered trees, every little detail from the frost covered pine needles, to the rough looking bark of the actual tree. As I was staring, again, the bus turned the corner so fast; I thought g-force must've overtaken it. The cold glass of the window pressed against my cheek and then lifted off as the bus jarred to a slow stop. The three new students walked into the bus and I noticed something. The loud chattering that had occupied the bus suddenly stopped, and there was an eerie silence as the three students walked past me, and one sat next to me. The boy sat on the edge of the seat again; I pressed myself against the cold, hard, metal of the bus wall.

Suddenly he cleared his throat, and I looked up. "Hello," He said quietly. "My name's Elijah Griffiths."

"Err, hi?" I replied. "Ummm, so you're new here, right?"

"Actually yes," He was staring at me intently. "From a small town in Alaska………….."

"………..to an even smaller town in Washington?" I suggested feeling awkward.

"Precisely," He answered, his smile faded and his brow furrowed.