"I got kissed tonight," Miranda blurted out.

"Wow," Kylie said. "Perry finally made a move, huh?"

"About time that guy grew a pair of balls." Della giggled.

"It wasn't Perry." Miranda kicked at the dirt-worn path.

"Not Perry?" Kylie grabbed Miranda by the elbow. "Who was it?"

"Yeah, who was it?" Della studied Miranda really hard. "If you say it's Steve, I'm kicking your little witch's ass. You know I have a thing for him."

"It wasn't your shape-shifter Steve." Miranda frowned. "It was Kevin."

Kylie's mouth dropped open. "Not Kevin, Perry's roommate and good friend? Please tell me it wasn't that Kevin."

"Okay, I won't tell you." Miranda dropped her face in her hands. "What am I going to do?" She peered at them through her fingers.

"This is not good," Kylie said.

Miranda still stared at them through the mask of fingers. "I didn't

mean for it to happen." She dropped her hands. "I ... I was coming back to the cabin thinking you might be here and I ran into Kevin. I was worried about you. We started walking together and talking and then ... then, he just kissed me and..."

"And what?" Della asked.

"And I didn't stop him."

"But was it yummy?" Della asked.

"Sort of. A little bit. I don't know. Why do I feel so guilty?"

Kylie stared at Miranda. "Because you've been acting like you like Perry."

"But Perry's not acting like he likes me. Sure, he sits with me sometimes at lunch and dinner, but don't you think if he liked me he'd have kissed me or something?"

"I think he's just nervous," Kylie said.

"I think he doesn't have a pair of balls," Della added.

"Stop it!" Miranda's face grew red.

"Stop what?" Della asked.

"Stop talking about Perry's genitalia. It's crude and I don't like it."

Della grinned. "Ooh-la-la, somebody likes Perry enough to defend his boys."

"So what if I like him. What's it to you?" Miranda placed her hands on her hips.

"It's nothing to me." Della's tone now sounded annoyed. "But it might be something to Kevin since you sucked face with him earlier tonight."

"Stop it," Kylie said. "I swear. Can you two not go fifteen minutes without getting pissy with each other?"

"She started it," both Della and Miranda said at the same time.

Kylie looked from one girl to the other. "Both of you started it. And both of you need to stop it. I'm up to here with it." Kylie put her hand on her forehead. "Seriously, I mean-"

"Shh." Della put a finger over Kylie's lips.

"What is it?" Miranda whispered.

"Do you not know what shh means?" Della asked.

Kylie pushed Della's finger from her lips and listened. A silence filled the night. Not the total kind of silence as it was back in the woods, because in the distance, sounding almost like background music, she could hear the insects and birds, but close by, everything had grown quiet. Kylie leaned in and whispered, "Is it another vampire?"

Chapter Five

Della raised her nose in the air. "Not vampire. It's a wolf. It's been following us for a few minutes. I got a whiff of it a few minutes ago, and I thought it was just passing by. But it's not." She pointed toward the woods.

"What's a wolf doing this close to the camp?" Miranda asked.

Just like that, Kylie remembered the wolf from tonight. Derek hadn't made a big deal of it, so neither had Kylie.

"You wanna see me kick some wolf butt?" Della's eyes lit up as if the thought thrilled her.

Kylie remembered the wolf and its submissive posture. It hadn't been threatening. "No, I don't want to see you kick wolf butt." She grabbed Della's elbow.

"Why not?" Della asked. "It's not a werewolf. It's just an animal."

"Yeah, a real live animal. It's not hurting us," Kylie said. "So why would you hurt it?"

"It's following us. And that's creepy," Della answered.

Miranda leaned in. "I hate to say this but I agree with Della. It's creepy."

Kylie stared into the woods, and between the collage of trees she spotted the golden eyes staring back at her. A shiver ran up her spine. Creepy? Maybe, but it still hadn't hurt anyone. Then Kylie couldn't help but wonder if the wolf's presence wasn't some sort of message, or a piece of a puzzle. Or was it like Derek had said, just a hybrid animal wanting company?

"Oh man. Is that its eyes?" Miranda pointed into the woods.

"Yeah," Della snapped. "And I don't like it. I'm really in the mood to kick wolf butt."

Realizing Della was serious, Kylie snatched up a small rock and slung it in the direction of the wolf. "Go away," she yelled.

The rustle of underbrush filled the silence as the animal shot off. Then she looked up at Miranda and Della. "There, it's gone. Happy now?"

The sound of the insects started chiming again.

"Not really," Della said. "It would have been more fun if I'd done it my way. I could have used a snack."

"Tell me you wouldn't have killed it," Kylie insisted.

"Just a little bit." Della grinned.