That now familiar gust of wind hit him in the chest, and he stopped short.

Mary Ann had to be nearby.

He looked down the hall—and there she was, rushing toward him. The intensity of his relief was staggering.

“Aden,” she called.

She halted just in front of him, panting a little, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. “Aden,” she repeated more quietly. She offered him a hesitant smile, as if she was unsure of her welcome.

“So now you’re talking to me again?” Aden couldn’t help but ask. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

Her smile fell. “What do you mean? I wasn’t avoiding you. At lunch, you avoided me.”

“You kept taking off after school,” he reminded her. “I would approach you and you would run.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…that wasn’t what I…oh, I’m making a mess of this. But I promise you misunderstood my intentions. You’re my friend and, well, I need to talk to you.” Her gaze darted to the kids shuffling around them. “Now isn’t the time to explain, though.”

A misunderstanding. Thank God. He was new at this friend thing and clearly had a lot to learn. “What are you doing here? Why weren’t you in first or second period?”

“To answer your second question, I, well, ditched.” She chewed her bottom lip. “To answer your first, I’m stopping you from running off to wherever it is you usually go at lunch.”

He didn’t tell her he’d already had to change his plans. “Walk me to my locker,” he said, and she nodded. They kept pace beside each other.

“So where do you go at lunch?” she asked, still seeming nervous.

“I sneak off campus and search the forest for the…” His gaze circled the crowd pointedly. “You know.”

Her jaw dropped. “You do? Why? And Aden, that’s not good for you. You need to eat.”

“No worries. Dan’s wife packs me a lunch every morning. I take it with me and eat in the woods.”

“Oh.”

Kids still buzzed around them and lockers slammed shut.

“You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Look for Wolf, I mean. He and I have talked.”

First came surprise. Then anger. Then fear. “I told you to stay away from him, Mary Ann. You’re lucky to be alive. A…friend of mine told me wolves like that are vicious killers.”

The color in her face drained, and her hand fluttered to her throat. “What friend? Someone else knows about what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry. She’s not a…human,” he whispered.

Mary Ann’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? What is she?”

Should he tell her or shouldn’t he? Only a brief struggle was required to reach a decision. He needed her help. Therefore, she needed all the information he could give her, even about Victoria.

Keeping his voice low, he said, “My friend, she’s a vampire. And a princess,” he added. That fact didn’t bother him, not anymore, but it still managed to stun him. He was dating a princess. Well, he hoped they were dating.

Mary Ann didn’t laugh at him. Didn’t tell him he had an overactive imagination and walk away. She gulped and nodded. “You mentioned vampires before but I didn’t, I mean, I didn’t think you actually knew one.” She rubbed her neck, as if she could already feel fangs sinking into her vein. “How did you meet her?”

A group of giggling girls passed him, once again reminding him of their potential audience. “I’ll tell you everything, just not while we’ve got ears all around us. Right now, I need you to promise to stay away from that animal. Besides wanting to kill me, there’s something off about him. I shouldn’t have been able to…you know that day.”

Her brow scrunched as she peered up at him through the thick shield of her lashes. “I don’t. I’m sorry.”

“Possess him.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“When I’m with you my abilities stop working. But that day in the forest, every single one of them worked perfectly. Has to be because of him. He was the only variable.”

“First, I still want to know what those other abilities are. Second, Wolf isn’t dangerous. Not to me, at least. I think he likes me. He’s walked me to school every morning and home every afternoon.” Again she chewed on her bottom lip, and he realized it was a nervous gesture of hers. She drew her arms around her middle. “He’s softening toward you, I just know it.”

So said the girl who had a very good chance of being on the morning news one day, her body mangled and riddled with teeth marks.

He couldn’t believe he’d spent so much time worrying about her, thinking she wanted nothing to do with him, and she’d merely been playing with a wolf as though it was a pet.

“Is he why you’ve run from me every day after school?”

Her cheeks flushed. “Yes, but please don’t be mad,” she said. “I can’t seem to help myself. I’m…drawn to him.”

That, he understood, even as it worried him. Victoria drew him, too.

They reached Aden’s locker and he worked the combination. “I’m sure Tucker will love that you’re crushing on someone else. Especially an animal.”

“Hey!” She slapped his shoulder. “He’s not an animal. Not all the time. Not that he’s shown me his human form,” she muttered. “And besides, it doesn’t matter if Tucker likes it or not. We’re over.”

Aden stilled for a single heartbeat, books frozen midair, unsure he’d heard correctly. “Really? You’re broken up?”

She nodded, the blush in her cheeks deepening. “No question. He slept with Penny.”

“Ah.” He dropped his books inside and slammed the door shut. “That’s what you were so upset about this morning.”

“Wouldn’t you be? They betrayed me, then acted as if nothing had ever happened.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not surprised they kept it quiet, though. No one likes to broadcast their mistakes.”

“Ugh. You sound just like Wo—” She waved a hand through the air, expression pinched. “Never mind.”

Her wolf? Sounding just like a vicious killer was not a compliment. Maybe he needed to, like, get in touch with his feelings or something. Act sensitive. “You’re better off, you know. Tucker is an…”

“Ass?” she said, and they both laughed.

“Yeah. An ass.”

“I agree.” She released a shuddering breath as she tugged him forward. “Come on.” They walked several steps before she picked up the conversation where it had left off. “If all we’ve got to look forward to is disloyalty and treachery, why do we even make friends?”

He hated that her usual optimism was gone. “Again, human nature. Hoping for the best is what drives us.”

“Now you sound like my dad,” she grumbled.

“Well, then, he’s clearly a genius.”

Mary Ann laughed.

The cafeteria doors came into view. Any minute now, they’d be joined by Shannon and John O’Conner. He pulled Mary Ann aside and peered down at her, a sense of urgency overtaking him. “I need to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sobering.

“Please don’t take off after school without me. Find a way to get rid of the wolf. There’s so much I need to tell you. Not just about the vampire, but about me. There’s something I need your help with.”

She reached up and squeezed his forearm. “Whatever it is, I’ll help you any way I can. I hope you know that.”

So easy, and so swift. He had to fight the urge to hug her, and it had nothing to do with his ability or her ability but everything to do with her. With how great she was.

With all the people who had cut him loose over the years, part of him had expected her to balk. “All last week I thought you were frightened of me, that you wanted nothing to do with me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how you’d react today.”

“Oh, Aden. I truly am sorry about that. I should have told you what I was doing, but I was afraid you’d try to protect me and end up hurt.” Those white teeth emerged and she started chewing on her lip again. “And if you’d gotten hurt because of me, well, the guilt would have killed me.”

He smiled slowly, relieved, and she returned the smile with one of her own.