Chapter 4

Belle's P.O.V

I scanned the huge shelves for the book I was looking for. Apparently, this bookstore had the last copy of it. I needed this book; it would explain everything that's happening to me.

My stomach growled violently. Was it happening again or was it just anxiety? Well, I wasn't about to find out. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and concentrated on pushing it away. I clenched my fists as I put all my strength into stopping it. There was no way I could let it get me now, it hadn't happened for so long.

Suddenly a rush of pain swept over me as the urge grew stronger and I fell to the floor clenching my stomach. The pain was overbearing and I let out a small yelp of pain as I still fought against it. I dug my nails into the floor and got up onto my knees. I was just about to give into the pain when a tap on the shoulder snapped me back into reality.

"Belle, are you ok?" Sam said concerned. He knelt down beside me and turned my face to look at his.

"Huh, oh yea, I'm fine" I said unconvincingly and he raised his eyebrows.

"You don't look fine to me" he frowned.

"Oh it's nothing really. I pass out all the time" I assured him and stood up hastily to prove my point.

"Well ok then. Did you find what you were looking for?" Sam asked grabbing my shoulder as I swayed to the side.

"No I couldn't find it".

"Maybe I could help, what are you looking for?"

"Oh it's called, Wolf ology". He raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the words leave my mouth, but then quickly set off to the back of the store.

"So, what was all that about?" Cole asked walking toward me.

"I told you it's no big deal".

"That looked like a big deal to me. You were convulsing" he said with a look of concern on his face.

"Oh well I'm perfectly fine, don't worry about me".

"Whatever you say. So why did you move here?" It was like he was trying to squeeze something out of me. Surely I hadn't done anything to make him suspicious.

Panicked, I lied, "Well I wanted to move out of home, away from my parents. This seemed like a nice, small town. Just the kind of thing I was looking for".

"Uhuh well you came to the right place because it's definitely small here". He paused for a bit as though he was thinking, "So do you have any special male friends".

Oh my God, was he really hitting on me? I just met him and before he was questioning me like I was a criminal. "Um no, but I'm happy being single at the moment". My polite way of telling him to piss off. What was this guy's problem?

"Well if you ever change your mind ju-" He began before being silenced by the return of Sam from the back of the store.

"Here it is" Sam said handing the thick book to me. "It's the last copy too, they stopped printing these".

"Well thanks Sam, I've gotta go" I said shoving the book into my bag and heading for the exit. He waved goodbye as I opened the door.

"See you later gorgeous" Cole said in a flirtatious tone. I rolled my eyes and waved at him.

Sam slapped him on the back of the head, "Shut up Cole".

I closed the door to the store glad to be out of there and headed for my car. A cool breeze ran through my body, making me shiver. I reached into my bag for my keys when my stomach let out another growl. I needed to get back home and read this book.

I flicked the pages angrily, desperately scanning through every word of the book. There's got to be something here that can help me, I thought in frustration. If there wasn't anything here, then I would never find anything. I started to get nervous as I reached the last chapter of the book, but then the title caught my eye. Rare cases. If it was going to be in the book it had to be there.

I felt excitement beginning to bubble up inside me as I was about to discover what was going on with me. Suddenly there it was, a case describing exactly what was happening to me. I was about to read it when my ears pricked up at a knock on the door. Damn, of all the times to have a visitor. I stuffed the book under the couch and went to answer the door.

To no surprise at all, when I swung the door open I found Cole and Sam standing at my doorstep. I sighed quietly to myself, not really in the mood for a chat.

"Well, we meet again" Cole said with a cheesy grin on his face. God, this guy was starting to get on my nerves. I ignored him and gestured for him and Sam to enter the house.

"So, is there something I can help you two with?" I asked wanting to get this over with so I could continue reading.

"Not really, we just came to make sure you were ok. You gave us quite a fright back at the bookstore" Sam said in a friendly, yet somehow also suspicious tone.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, really" I replied shooing them toward the door again. "Well see you later".

"We can't go yet. There was something we wanted to ask you" Sam said standing firmly in his spot.

"Um, ok. What is it?" I didn't really like where this was going. Were they on to me? There's no way they could have known. I mean, normal people don't believe in that sort of thing.

Sam took a deep breath, as if preparing himself for what he was going to say next. "What do you know about wolves?"

Uh oh. My stomach dropped at the question. I was done for, for sure. There was no way I was going to be able to keep lying to them like this. But I gave it a shot just the same, "Oh just the usual biological stuff, you know how it is" I laughed nervously.

Sam raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Cole. Yea, they did not buy my story.

"But what have you heard about the wolves here?" Sam asked trying to corner me.

"Well there's a pretty big pack and there have been a few attacks" I replied not exactly lying but rather, not telling the whole truth instead.

Cole grunted loudly as if in frustration and said, "Ok, I've had enough of this so I'm just going to say it. We know you're a wolf. That's why you collapsed at the bookstore, you were going to shift". Sam glared at him and I stood there in shock. How was I going to answer that? This was certainly not going the way I had hoped it would.