"Maria, Isaac, how nice of you to join… well, us," The Alpha seemed to be smiling at us, Isaac pulled me closer, "I'm sure you're not aware, so my name is Deucalion and you Maria. You are very fascinating."

He was threatening me, and I sunk back even closer to Isaac.

Deucalion, sensing me shrinking back into Isaac, stepped forwards. "A witch, yes?"

I nodded, despite my obvious distress, trying to seem formidable. I forced myself to look directly into his eyes. I knew he couldn't see me, but I knew he could feel what I was doing. I felt my palms heating up with fire, and I didn't need to look down to know they were glowing. Isaac had let go of my hand, not wanting to get burned.

I stepped towards Deucalion, getting as close to him as I dared, and I stared at him straight in the face. I knew he couldn't see me, but I saw him tense up, already preparing for a fight, just like me. "I don't want to fight you," I told him.

He smiled, "You shouldn't. I'd win." He grinned maliciously at me and stepped closer. Isaac backed up, but I moved closer, trying to at least show him I wasn't scared. Of course, I was beyond scared.

Deucalion removed his glasses, his eyes were a pale and glassy brown, and didn't move as I leaned very slightly side-to-side. It was more than eerie, it was absolutely horrifying. No wonder he was so murderous, he couldn't see. His entire life he had had to work twice as hard as everyone else to do the same things that we could, and he was still treated like a child even when he had proven himself over and over again.

I sympathized with him.

All my sympathy was drained when I remembered what he was threatening my pack with, but I was still convinced of what I had to when he held out his long hand to me, his fingers beckoning to me like the hands of death. He was offering me to come with him. I knew we had a truce; he couldn't touch me and I couldn't touch him, but I was uneasy about trusting him.

Nevertheless, I gave him my hand, ignoring the sharp inhale that Isaac gave as I did so.

"What the hell are you thinking, Maria?," Isaac whispered at me, as if Deucalion couldn't hear every word.

I turned around to face Isaac. "It's fine, I'll be okay."

He looked at me with an expression that was equal parts fury and pain. I ignored all of the invisible daggers I felt stabbing me and I left Isaac behind with his father.

Deucalion, surprisingly, did not take me back to an underground lair filled with bats and dead bodies. Surprisingly, he took me to a Starbucks, where he bought me a muffin and a latte. I felt a little strange about this whole thing, especially since we were in public, but I supposed it limited my chances of getting torn apart by angry werewolf claws.

I ate my muffin nervously, picking apart the top layer with my hands until it was a mess of little sugary crumbs. I tried to put a little bit in my mouth, but it was hard for me to swallow, like I had a giant lump in my throat, so I pushed it to the side and sipped at my drink.

After about a minute of this I broke my silence, "Why did you want to talk to me?"

The alpha frowned and put down his drink, "I wanted to learn more about you. I've found that in all of my years, and my nineteen years of being an alpha, I've never come across a witch. I've never even met a lesser witch or a carrier. So imagine my surprise when I find a witch in a ragtag pack of werewolves. I simply had to get to know you."

I didn't buy his answer. Someone as powerful as him didn't want to "get to know me". Getting something out of me would be more accurate.

"Why is that not believable?," he asked politely, though I could practically taste the venom in his voice, just begging me to answer him in a way that wasn't compliant with his wishes.

I downed the last of my coffee, "I believe you," I lied. I decided it was not my day to make an enemy.

"Then tell me what powers do you have exactly?"

I didn't want to tell him, I didn't want him to know who I was. When I told people it was like they could defeat me because they knew exactly what I was capable of.

I knew I had to lie. "I can control the elements. Not particularly well, my mom was considerably better, but I have the hang of air."

That was extremely untrue, but I had to downplay the extent of my powers.

"And how does the magical bloodline work?"

"Witches are only female, and they can only have kids with carrier men to have full bodied witch children. Any boys born to a witch mother and a carrier father are carriers, just as a daughter born to them would be an unnatural witch. Carrier father and normal mother would make normal children. Witch mothers and carrier fathers will make witch daughters and carrier sons."

"Can these carriers do anything special?"

I shook my head, "Just about the only thing they can do is make witch daughters."

"Just about?"

"Well there is the rare case that they possess very small and very uncontrollable bouts of telekinesis."

Deucalion nodded. "Was your brother one of those carriers?"

I choked and started coughing. I didn't know how he knew that and I didn't want to be near him any longer. I grabbed the bottom half of the muffin I hadn't eaten and left the coffee shop as quickly as I could without attracting suspicion.

The Starbucks he had taken me to was in the center of the town, and not too far from my house either, so I shoved the muffin in my mouth and started sprinting towards my home, thinking of all of the ways I could kill Deucalion.

He had the nerve to come to this town and threaten my pack. He threatened me into telling him anything about myself and my people, then he reminded me of my past.

I was going to end him or I was going to die.

I reached my house with my lungs burning and dusk quickly approaching. Outside Isaac's bike was parked. Apparently he was waiting for me.

The lights in my house were out, but I could see the TV on and Isaac standing in front of it as I pushed myself through the door.

He whipped around to face me, his expression wrought with anger.

"You left me alone in that graveyard. You left me!," he stalked towards me, his face twisted up into an ugly grimace, "I thought you'd died. I came back here praying to God, who I don't even believe in, that you hadn't been cut open like a piece of meat. What on earth did you two even talk about?"

I didn't know how to respond to Isaac, I didn't want to risk upsetting him even more, so I just told him the truth, "I told him about me, about witches and shit." I could feel myself getting pissed off; I rarely swore.

"Why did you do that? Now he knows about you! You could be in danger!"

"What the hell else was I supposed to do? He threatened me!" I felt my hands heating up again, glowing red hot.

"Then you refuse, you say know and you tell him to go screw himself! You don't skip off into the sunset with him!"

"Bullshit, I didn't skip off into the sunset with him. I did what I had to do, now get out of my house."

Isaac turned around to storm out of my house, but before he could get to the door he turned around and walked back towards me, "Don't be a dumbass, Maria," told me, his voice suddenly much lower, and as he tried to walk out of my house I threw a fireball at his head. Lucky for him he ducked, but it singed the ends of his hair.

He looked at me, his eyes tearing up a little. I didn't think it was because he was sad or anything, but it was probably from shock.

He got very close to me, and his words were as icy and cold and venomous as Deucalion's were earlier that day. "Don't do that again," he said.

His lips were tickling my ear, and I moved myself so I was doing the same, "Do not ever pretend that you have any ownership over me, or I will personally end you."

Trying to assert his wolf-y dominance, he pressed his lips to mine softly, but then suddenly much more forcefully. He was pressing me to the wall with his hips, and opening my mouth slightly. I bit his lip as hard as I could and pushed him off of me.

"If you ever touch me like that again it'll be worse," I said as I back handed him across his right cheek, his bloody lip getting on my knuckles.

Isaac left the house, and a few seconds later I heard his Harley growl and leave the premises.

I slid down the wall and groaned. That was absolutely nothing like I'd hoped. I needed a distraction, I needed Peter.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and found Peter in my contacts. I pressed call and I waited until he picked up.

"Hey, Maria. What's up?"

"Can you please come over, I seriously need some help."

"On my way," he said right before the line cut.

All I had to do was keep myself occupied until Peter showed up.