CHAPTER ONE
"This is bullshit," Zora said, a low grumble of a belch exiting her mouth after a final chug of beer.
Leah burped after her. "You say that every day."
"It's my duty to constantly remind you." Not that she needed it, Zora thought, watching the blank expression on her friend's face, waiting for any sign of sadness she knew was lingering within.
The two were sitting on Leah's front porch, eyeing passerby with the meanest looks they could muster – for fun. The sun was dipping below the trees, a watercolor mix of deep blue and orange in the sky. And the moon, a faint little crescent slowly gathering its brightness, rose higher and higher.
They would have to start patrolling soon.
Sam was kind enough (Leah would say this with extreme sarcasm) to pair the two girls while they wandered through the woods, looking out for any sign of danger in the form of sparkling vampire. Sometimes, he placed Seth with them or one of the other guys—except for Paul, who was a master at getting underneath a person's skin—Zora believing that Sam harbored some sexist ideals about hers and Leah's ability, or rather, power. Most of the time, though, it was just Zora and Leah, the only girls of the pack, the two brought together by similar circumstances.
Before Zora made the change, about a month or two before she joined the pack, she hadn't been feeling well. She started experiencing intense headaches, stomach pain, and sometimes, she was feverish. And on top of that, her body had started to change. She'd already gone through puberty (and hid any horrendous remnants of that time), so she was confused as to why her hips began widening, why her thighs were thicker and filling with muscle, why her arms had become more defined, and why her physical strength was suddenly increasing.
Sometimes, she'd wake up in the middle of the night with a painful hunger gnawing deep inside her stomach, so she'd consume most of the food in the fridge in one sitting. With the snap of a finger, she could go from happy to livid. In truth, she thought that she was transforming into some sort of buff monster.
And hardly anyone noticed. Her mother was a nurse at the hospital in Forks and worked long, tiring shifts; and her father lived in Oregon with his longtime girlfriend and their two dogs. It was almost comical how alone Zora was; the friendships she had didn't extend beyond her shared lunch table, contributing to conversation here and there, complimenting a haircut or a new pair of shoes when necessary. She didn't mind that things were this way because she wanted to leave La Push. She wanted her future to stretch beyond the rez. And leaving would be painless if she didn't have anyone to leave behind.
But then those damn sparkling vampires fucked up everything.