Hi there! Just wanted to take a quick second and say thank you for reading my little story. I haven't written fanfiction in a long time and I've been having so much fun getting back into it. I love reviews so please don't be shy with comments!

And of course, I don't own Twilight. L

Nessie's POV:

By dinner, I was twitching worse than a drug addict jonesing for a fix.

The collective pulse of all the students in the dining hall beat against my skull. I could hear the blood running through their veins, coursing, pulsing rivers. My throat was scorching, dry, hot dust. We didn't go back to the dorm before dinner, like I had assumed we would. I hadn't had any blood since this morning and if I didn't get some soon, I was going to slaughter one of my fellow students.

I pushed the lumpy turkey potpie around my plate and bit down on my tongue until I drew blood. I didn't usually get bad cravings. It must've been the new surroundings and people that had my body running on overdrive. Plus I had a pervy professor who spent his entire class undressing me with his eyes. Everything just had me on edge.

"Hey, you okay?"

I had to close my eyes tight before I could look at my roommate. Caitlin was so close to me. I could've had my fangs in her neck and her blood on my tongue in less that a second. My eyes focused on the pulse point in her throat. I felt myself swallow. I licked my lips.

I finally made it to her face. She was starting to look wary. She leaned slightly away from me.

"I'm going to go for a walk." I stood up on shaky legs and had to grab onto the back of my chair as the room swam around me. Red tinged the edges of my vision. I'd never felt bloodlust so acutely before.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need some fresh air."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

I shook my head as I turned away. I couldn't say another word. I couldn't open my mouth. I clamped my teeth together and held my nose, desperate to keep the aroma of human blood from my senses.

I raced through the blessedly deserted campus. Everyone was eating dinner. I headed for the woods instead of my dorm room. Right now, I was sure that hunting would be better than just drinking. I had some crazy pent up energy that I needed to burn off. The cool night air was helping my head clear. I entered the edge of the forest and started racing. It felt good to run, to use my body and let the natural hunter instincts run rampant.

I found a deer after only a few minutes. I stalked it through the trees, quiet as a mouse, until it stopped at a small stream to drink some water. If I hadn't been so drunk with bloodlust, I'd have left the poor thing be. It really was beautiful but my thirst won out.

I climbed the tree closest to the deer and jumped onto its back from above. It struggled but I was much too strong for it. I latched onto the long column of its neck and let the warm gush of blood fill my mouth. I closed my eyes in pure satiated bliss for two seconds before flying back. My back collided with a tree and I fell to the forest floor, gagging and coughing. The taste in my mouth was death. I frantically spat the blood from my mouth as my vision blurred and dimmed. My ears were ringing and I could barely make out the sounds of someone near by before my world turned black and I collapsed face first on the dirt.

I jolted awake in an unfamiliar bed, clenching my head, moaning in agony as the debilitating pain hit me full force. I barely made it to the toilet in the adjacent bathroom before emptying my stomach. My knees shook as I leaned into the sink, funneling handfuls of water into my dry mouth until I could no longer taste the acrid blood from the deer.

The mirror reflected a version of myself I'd never seen before. I looked haggard, like faded, worn leather. My clothes were caked with dirt and blood. I turned away quickly, disgusted with myself. I'd been away from home for less than seventy-two hours and I was already failing at independence.

My vision was still blurry as I stumbled back into the bedroom. I plopped down on the side of the bed and tried to get my bearings. Slowly, the night's events came back to me. I surveyed my surroundings, a spike of fear shooting through me as I realized that I had no idea where I was, who had brought me here or how long ago I'd left campus. The room had one window that I definitely wouldn't fit through. Reluctantly, I went to the door and pressed my ear against the wood. There was a faint buzzing in my head but I could make out voices on the other side of the door. There were at least four people out there and they sounded mostly male.

I shook my head, hoping the fog would abate so that I could get out of here unscathed. I was stronger than any human but I knew better than to think I could take on four or more men and come out on top, especially since I hadn't fed. However, I knew I could outrun them.

I cracked open the door just enough to get my fingers around the edge. The front door was a straight shot through the living room. If it wasn't locked, I'd open it and be gone before anyone could try and stop me. If it was locked, hopefully I'd be strong enough to wrench it off its hinges. I backed up to the end of the bedroom and bent my knees, ready to spring off. I sprinted forward, threw the door open and was just passed the threshold when-

"Whoa! Slow down!"

Strong arms locked around me and I started thrashing around like a wildcat. "Get off me!" I screamed, scratching at the arms that banded around me so tightly my ribs hurt.

"Calm down! It's okay. You're okay!"

"Says my kidnapper!" I kicked my legs out, trying to throw my captor off balance but his grip only constricted me further.

"You're not kidnapped. We found you in the woods."

"And brought me back to your rape house!" I continued to twist around in his arms but my strength was running thin fast. There were two other guys and a girl standing there, watching my drama unfold.

"What's a rape house?" one of the guys asked.

I froze. I knew that voice. When I fixed my gaze on him, I recognized the guy from Professor Hot Stuff's class. "Embry?"

He smiled hugely, like he was greeting an old friend. "Hey, Nessie. How you doin'?"

"Been better." The guy holding me had the nerve to laugh and he loosened his hold a bit. I breathed in gratefully.

"Sorry for the grip." I closed my eyes. I recognized that voice too. I turned around slowly to look up into the face of Professor Hot Stuff himself. "You're stronger than you look."

He said it teasingly but looked at me with suspicion. Still, those eyes drank me in, swallowed me whole and I latched onto them, feeling a surge of pure energy spark between us. My knees shook. I needed blood and the professor smelled shockingly good. Too good. A million times better than any human I'd ever been near.

I stepped back further and he let me go but it was quite clear from the tension from all of them that they weren't going to let me leave. At least not easily.

"I should probably get back to campus." I inched toward the front door and Embry stepped in front of it.

"Don't worry." The professor said. "I called your dorm mother and told her you were staying in the clinic overnight. She informed your roommate."

"Why would you do that?"

He smiled and though I didn't know him at all, I could tell that it was false. "You're a new student. I didn't want you to get in trouble for being off campus, after hours, on your first night. You could get in serious trouble for that."

"Off-campus?"

"I found you in the woods." I turned to look at the girl. She nodded and smiled gently. "You were passed out."

"And you brought me here." I didn't mean for it to sound as disdainful as it did. The place was old and had the style of my grandfather's house. There were fish and deer heads mounted on the walls and terrible shag carpet and old cracked leather armchairs. There were beer cans everywhere and an overwhelming smell of smoke. The only thing new in the place was the gigantic television and the assortment of game consoles littered under it.

"Well," said the professor. I looked back at him. He was settling himself into one of the chairs. "She called me and we brought you back here." He picked up a beer bottle and indicated the chair next to him. "Have a seat."

It wasn't a suggestion. The quality of his voice told me that I'd be sitting in that chair whether I wanted to or not. I walked slowly, hoping they couldn't tell how jittery I was.

"Do you want something to drink?" the girl asked me.

The way she said 'drink' made me anxious. Their collective stares chilled me to the bone. "Water would be nice."

She smiled then and I knew that she knew something. Suddenly, some deep inherent instinct told me to be terrified. "Coming right up." As she left, the two guys sat down on the floor, blocking the only exit I could see. She came back and handed me a cool glass of water filled to the brim then sat down beside the guys. I began to gulp it down.

"So, what are you?"

I choked and spluttered, water dribbling over my chin and onto my lap.

"Excuse me?"

"What are you?" the professor repeated calmly.

"Don't you mean who?"

"No. I mean what are you?"

I was thrown for a moment. Humans don't ask questions like that. "A girl?"

"Try again," he whispered and his voice was strained.

"Your student."

He shook his head. "One more guess."

He waited patiently for the answer he already knew. She must've seen me with the deer. They must've figured out what I was, or at least part of it, while I was passed out. But that didn't explain why they weren't freaking out. Humans reject the unknown. These guys were threatening it.

It could only mean one thing.

"You first."

He blinked. He sat back. Then he turned to his cohorts for help. When they said nothing, I figured I'd give him a break.

"The way you asked that question implied that you don't think I'm normal…or, more specifically, human. But that's impossible, right?"

He glared at me, knowing where I was going with this. It was my turn to lean forward. "The only way you can ask that question without being crazy is if you're not human either."

When he smiled at me this time, it was real. "If I'm not human, what am I?"

The answer was so obvious, I wanted to kick myself for not knowing it the instant he touched me.

Fuck my fucking life.

"You're a werewolf."