His English paper, which was due today. Aden hadn’t even realized it was gone. All the work he’d put into it…if Ozzie had succeeded, he would have received an F. He popped his jaw, wishing he had punched the dreg again.

“Thanks.”

Shannon nodded. “Owed you. For—” His gaze fell to Aden’s shirt. “Y-you know.”

When he turned, intending to head off, Aden grabbed his arm. “Wait. You’ve hardly spoken to me all week, but you just saved me from being kicked out of school. What gives?”

A muscle ticked in Shannon’s jaw. He ripped free of Aden’s grip, but he didn’t race off.

“You might as well tell me now. I’ll just hound you till you cave. In the forest. At school. After school. During chores—”

“Th-that day in the forest,” was the growled response. “You were right behind me, man. Then those k-kids showed up and you took off, leaving me on my own. I know we haven’t always been the b-best of friends, but we had reached a t-truce.”

“So you really were in a fight?”

Another nod, this one stiff.

Shannon wasn’t the werewolf, then. That left…who? Victoria’s bodyguard, maybe? No. Couldn’t be. Victoria thought werewolves were vicious. She wouldn’t want to be guarded by one.

Aden thought of everyone else he knew with green eyes. A lot of names came up. What if, when a human shifted into werewolf form, his eyes changed color? Aden was living proof that eyes could change hues in the blink of, well, an eye. If that was true, anyone could be the werewolf.

“I’m sorry,” he told Shannon, realizing the dreg was waiting for his response. “I didn’t know you were ambushed. I didn’t see the guys. If I had, I would have stayed with you. Maybe. I mean, I heard Mary Ann scream and rushed to see what was wrong.”

“She okay?”

“Now she is.” He hoped. Somehow, some way, he had to corner her today and force her to talk to him. “So what made you decide to forgive me for bailing on you?”

“Hard to be m-mad at the guy who kicked Ozzie’s ass.”

They shared a grin, then gathered their sack lunches from the counter beside the front door where Mrs. Reeves always left them.

Shannon can’t be the werewolf, Julian said. He did you a favor. The wolf would have chewed the paper up, spit it at you and laughed.

Then lit you both on fire, Caleb added.

Since Aden hadn’t spoken his thoughts about this very subject aloud, they couldn’t know that he’d already reasoned this out.

Unless this is a trick to throw you off, Elijah said thoughtfully.

Not a trick, he wanted to say, because he didn’t want to believe it. His life finally seemed to be on the right track. He’d ruin that himself if he allowed suspicions to poison him. After all, suspicions led to paranoia, and paranoia was classic schizophrenic behavior. He’d be gift-wrapping his doctors’ diagnosis when he’d been struggling so valiantly to disprove it.

He has enough to think about, boys, Eve said, probably sensing the intensity of his thoughts. Let’s give him some peace this morning.

Yes, Eve, everyone said at the same time Shannon said, “You need a good story for your f-face or you’ll get kicked out. And maybe don’t bring up Ozzie. Do, and h-he’ll have the others plan a sneak attack.”

Took Aden a moment to sort through the voices and pick out what Shannon had uttered. See? The guy hadn’t been faking his gesture of friendship; he was still trying to make things better.

“I can’t leave Ozzie out of it because Ozzie has the same beat-up face that I do. We deny it, and Dan’ll know we’re lying. We’ll be in worse trouble.”

“Maybe you’ll get to put it off. Maybe he’s gone.” Some mornings Dan was up doing chores, but a few lucky mornings, he slept in or was off running errands.

For the first time since starting school, they headed outside together. The air was cool, the sky overcast. Dan was at the truck, about to open the door when he spotted Aden and froze. As if Aden were cursed, the sun broke through a wall of clouds and spotlighted him, seeming brighter than ever. He had to blink against it, his injured eye burning and tearing. Guess he wouldn’t be putting off the conversation, after all.

“Where’d you get the bruises, Aden?” Dan only used that hard tone when he was fighting his anger.

Here goes. He squared his shoulders, even as his stomach clenched painfully. “Ozzie and I had a little disagreement. We’re over it, and we’re sorry.” Short, sweet and honest.

Dan stomped around the truck, bearing down on him. “You know better than to resort to physical violence, no matter the problem. That’s one of the reasons you’re here, to get a handle on your violent tendencies.”

“This was a one-time thing and won’t happen again.”

“I’ve heard that before.” The big guy scrubbed a hand down his face, some of the stiffness leaving him. “I can’t believe you did this. I get you into public school, I buy you clothes, make sure you’re fed. All I ask is that you get along.”

His companions started screaming inside his head, trying to tell him what to say. Loud as they currently were, he heard only a jumble of indistinguishable words. “We made a mistake. We learned from it. Isn’t that what’s important?” Hopefully, that fit.

Dan worked his jaw. “Doesn’t matter if you learned something or not. Actions have consequences. I have to punish you. You know that, too, right?”

“Punish me?” That, Aden heard. He tossed up his arms, his irritation boiling over with the same potency his rage had boiled over last night. “It’s not like you’re perfect, Dan. It’s not like you haven’t made mistakes.”

His caregiver’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Don’t do it, each of his companions shouted in unison. No mistaking their meaning this time.

“You know,” he said anyway. “You and Ms. Killerman.”

Now his companions moaned.

Dan’s mouth fell open. He stared at Aden in silence for several moments, the time ticking away in tune to the crickets’ chirps. Finally, his gaze shot to Shannon. “Get in the truck. I’ll drive you to school.” His tone was no longer hard or upset, but flat. No emotion.

Shannon hesitated only a moment, his expression sympathetic, before obeying.

Dan crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know how you learned about Ms. Killerman or what you think you know, but I assure you, I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. Because that’s what you’re getting at, isn’t it?”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and nodded, the action tentative. He’d started this; he would see it through.

“Well, you’re wrong. I flirt with her solely for the sake of you boys, and Meg is very aware of it. Sometimes she’s even in the same room while I’m doing it because it’s the only way I can stomach what I have to say and hear. But I do it because it keeps you boys here when you should be pulled in for violence. Or drugs. Or theft. Or any number of other things. I do it because your requests are processed before anyone else’s. How do you think you got into public school so quickly?”

“I–I—”

Dan wasn’t done. “At first, I couldn’t believe I’d called her and asked her to make it happen. But then I remembered your disappointment when I told you it wasn’t going to happen. So I called her again and asked her to hurry things along. And you know what? She did. Do you think she does that for everyone? She had to get state and school approval. She had to fight the powers that be. I had to fight.”

Guilt, white-hot and laced with acid, swept through him. He’d judged and condemned Dan without all the facts. Something that had been done to him time and time again. Something he’d sworn never to do to others. As honest and forthright as Dan was, he should have known better.

“Dan,” he began, tortured.

“Appearances are often deceiving, Aden,” Dan said softly. “Next time you think poorly of me, I hope you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt. Come to me, talk to me.”