Dawn broke over the horizon the next morning and I laid in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the window. I'd been staring at it all night, unable to sleep. With the calming light of day, and several hours to think about what I had seen, I was able to determine the figure I saw outside wasn't a ghost, but had definitely been real. A woman had been standing by a tree watching into their apartment. What for, I had no idea. Her eyes, though . . . I twisted my neck so I could look over my shoulder at Derek . . . her eyes glowed similarly to Derek's when he transformed. With my brain coming down from its paranoia riddled high, I was able to think much more clearly. The woman had been a werewolf. Of course! But why was she spying on us? My mind whirled back to when there werewolves tried to recruit Derek into their pack. Could that have something to do with it?

I hoped not.

Derek's eyes began to flutter open. I quickly turned my head back around and closed my own, pretending to be asleep. Derek was an early riser, always had been. I, however, was not. If he saw me awake this early—god, was it even six yet?—he'd know something was wrong. I didn't want him to worry. At least, not any more than he already was. The bed jostled as he stretched out his arms and legs and then again as he rolled out of it. His feet made no noise as he walked, but I knew he was heading to the bathroom to take a shower. Although Derek himself was the embodiment of silence, the door to our room was not. It squeaked as he pulled it shut behind him. Sighing, I turned onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.

"—hopefully it doesn't run too late tonight, but you never know with these things, right?" Derek's voice filtered through my ears and was slowly computed by my brain. "Chloe?" He asked, coming closer to peer down at me with an amused expression. "You listening?"

"Sorry, what?" I blinked several times. Didn't he just leave? A drop of water from his hair fell onto my nose. How'd he shower so fast?

He tilted his head, his brows furrowing together, "Sorry, were you asleep? I thought I saw your eyes open."

Realizing what had happened—I'd zoned out again—I winced and quickly lied, "Y—yeah, I was, but then, uhh, I fell asleep while you were talking. Sorry." Wow, there were a lot of sorry's being thrown about this morning. Three in one minute? Unheard of.

Chuckling, Derek shook his head and backed away, "I'm not surprised. I'm glad you're getting some extra sleep, so it's whatever."

"What were you saying, though? Start over."

"Oh, just that I have an exam tonight at eight. It should take too long. I know the material really well, but you never know. So I might be late." He pulled a shirt over his head, then shook out some of the excess water from his hair.

"All right, thanks for letting me know." I smiled at him. It was probably a tighter smile than I would have liked, but he was too busy putting his socks on to notice. "Derek," I started suddenly. Hesitantly. "Do you know if there are any packs in the area?"

"Packs?" His head snapped up, "As in werewolf packs?" He shook his head vigorously. "No. None. It's too urban for packs here. Less places for them to hide when things . . . go wrong. Why?"

"No reason. I ahh—had a dr—dream about them last night. That's all."

Smiling sweetly, he walked over and pressed a tender kiss to my lips, then my forehead. "Don't worry, Chlo'. We'll never have to deal with the packs ever again." He turned and walked out of the room to continue preparing for the day. His words kept repeating in my head. Brushing my hair back with my fingers, I sure hoped he was right.

God, did I hope.

A/N: Hi there! Yes, I and this fic are alive. I know it's short, but I wanted to let you all know that I haven't given up this fic. I just had a few mental blocks to muscle through. For one, I've got a clearer look in terms of plot so whoo! Hopefully now I can start pushing out a chapter a week and we can wrap this bad boy up before summer's end!

Side note-I changed my name on tumblr to scribomaniac. Highhosilverwings is my main blog and someone who I don't feel comfortable sharing the fact that I write follows that one so if anyone ever wants to ask about updates for fics or see some of my other writing, scribomaniac is the blog to check out!

As always, please review and let me know what you thought!