“Are you sure you want to go?” says my friend Clara worriedly.
I had been looking forward to this dinner with my three best friends all day, but Clara, Lola and Sofia have all been picking at their food for the past twenty minutes. Now I know why. They have been working up towards asking this question.
Now that Clara has, the other two looked relieved and dive in with their concerns.
“You said Finn had been acting oddly with you,” says Lola. “You sure this romantic getaway is the right answer?”
“Dating him has changed you, Clara,” says Sofia. “Maybe you should take it slow.”
I gasp in surprise. “But I love being with him! He’s exciting and interesting and… so attractive.”
“You forgot rich,” says Sofia.
“And dangerous,” says Clara.
And hotter than hell.
I haven’t told my friends of all the mornings I’ve woken up wet for him after nights of dreams in which he’d ravaged me. How I’ve been longing to get his hard cock between my thighs. My fingers have been a poor substitute.
I sigh. My friends would never understand. They are worried about me, but it still hurts a little to hear the doubt in their voices.
Finn Cavendish is tall and broad shouldered and so handsome, with his wavy brown hair and his amber eyes. He’s sexy and kind. A knockout combination.
In high school he had always dated the popular beautiful girls, whereas I had been more of a stay-at-home bookworm type. He’d been every girl’s biggest crush, including mine.
I never dreamed that we’d end up the same college, or that he’d take any interest in me. We have been dating for just over a month now. The girls think I have fallen for him too hard and too fast.
The thing is that they are probably right. Finn is a werewolf, a secret he kept really well in high school. I am only human.
Since he told me, I have googled werewolves obsessively. His pheromones must be what make me crave him so much. My nights are filled with images of our naked bodies intertwined, him thrusting into me as I scream in passion. Even the thought makes me blush.
In reality, even though I have been naked in Finn’s arms, practically begging him to take me, we have not gone all the way yet. He always cools things off.
I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what is wrong.
“How was your date yesterday?” says Clara.
“It was great. We went back to my room afterwards and I thought maybe he’d stay the night, but then…”
“What?” Sofia asks eagerly.
The next part will only make them angry, but I came here tonight to ask their advice. I take a deep breath and say it.
“Celine came and knocked on the door. I tried to get rid of her, but she invited herself in and threw herself on my bed like we were best friends or something.”
“That bitch!” says Lola.
“She stayed for nearly two hours, flirting with Finn in front of my face. He left in the end.”
“Isn’t that the third time she’s done that?” says Clara. “Why didn’t you tell her to get out?”
“I didn’t want to be rude,” I say, embarrassed. “I saw Finn talking to her earlier this week. It looked like they were friends.”
“More like she’s trying to steal your boyfriend!” says Lola angrily.
I flush with pleasure at the word boyfriend. But it doesn’t apply to our relationship. Finn has some interests that I have been too shy for. I worry he may be having second thoughts about me.
Celine is the opposite of me. She is the hottest girl and queen bee in our dorm, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head that Finn might prefer her.
That is why I jumped at the chance to go away on a ski trip together even though it is in Otherworld.
I want to seduce him, and show him that I can be everything he needs. I had thought my friends would help me, not stage this intervention.
“Jenna,” says Clara hesitantly, “you did say he’d been getting more messages on his phone than usual, and that he got moody when you asked him about them.”
“That doesn’t mean that Celine has been messaging him!” I say.
But my cheeks flush bright red because this is exactly what I feared.
“I don’t think going away with him is the answer,” says Clara. “It’s not even like you’re going to be alone. Won’t it be awkward with his uncle and his brother there?”
“Not to mention your stepbrother!” says Sofia, wriggling her eyebrows. “He is so yummy. But I thought you two didn’t get along?”
“We don’t. But the point is that Finn will be there, and there’ll be romantic things like snow and fire-lit evenings. I want to take things to the next level with him.”
The girls exchange a meaningful glance.
“But it’s not just a ski trip,” says Clara. “It’s in Otherworld. Otherworld! Imagine what your parents would say if they knew.”
I knew this would be coming. I shouldn’t have told them yet that Finn was a werewolf, and I definitely shouldn’t have mentioned Otherworld.
None of us have mixed much with otherkind. The only thing we know about Otherworld is what we hear in the news, most of it salacious, none of it kind.
The only humans who tend to visit Otherworld are celebrities and the super-rich, people who can get away with being friends with otherkind and not give a damn about society’s opinions.
“Going to Otherworld isn’t that big a deal, is it?” I say desperately. “Clara, wouldn’t you do it in a heartbeat if it meant you could get with your crush?”
Clara flushes prettily. She doesn’t like to speak about the mystery man she has wanted for years. How she feels has always meant she was the one who best understood my feelings for Finn.
“I don’t know, Jenna,” she says.
“Yes you would! And Finn wouldn’t take me there if it wasn’t safe.”
“Hmm…” She still looks doubtful.
“And he invited Brandon. He wouldn’t have invited my stepbrother if it was going to be dangerous!”
“Did you say you were going to Otherworld?” says an incredulous voice behind us.
I feel the blood draining from my face. I turn around slowly and see Celine standing there with two of her friends flanking her. The three of them are tall and slender and stunningly beautiful. They look like models. Better than models.
“So Finn told you he was a werewolf, did he?” says Celine mockingly.
“How do you know?” I ask her, stunned.
“Of course I know,” she says smugly. “But who would have thought one of the Four Ahs would knowingly date a werewolf?”
“Four Ahs?” says one of her friends.
The other sniggers. “Jenn-ah. Clar-ah. Lol-ah. Sofi-ah.”
The way she says it makes us sound insipid and stupid. It makes me feel like high school nerd all over again.
I flush hotly. “What is between me and Finn is none of your business!”
“I’ll decide what is my business,” she says lazily. “Since when did a guy like Finn ever choose someone like you over someone like me?”
Her words are like a slap in the face.
Before now she’s never actually said that she wants him. I feel chilled through. I can’t compete with her, a girl who could be on the cover of any beauty magazine.
But it is more than that. There is a sort of glowing-ness about her beauty that she seems to be able to dial up whenever she feels like it. I’ve seen her do it in clubs, making guys fall over their feet to get to her.
It’s like she has a magnetic allure, and when she flicks the On switch every man, and even some women, are drawn to her like flies to honey.
“If Finn wanted to date you then he wouldn’t be with Jenna,” says Clara firmly.
I look at her gratefully.
“And Finn didn’t invite you on his ski trip,” says Sofia.
Celine lets out a peal of shrill laughter. “Ski trip?” she says incredulously. “You’re such a stupid little humans.”
“And what are you?” Lola snaps.
“Certainly not human,” says Celine, as if human was a dirty word.
My eyes widen. Celine is otherkind? I should have guessed.
I feel so stupid. No wonder Finn is drawn to her, especially if she is a werewolf. Or maybe she’s vampire or one of the angelli. These are the three most common of otherkind living in our world. It would be just my luck if she was one of the angelli, who are supposedly irresistible to mankind.
Clara and I exchange a startled glance. Her mouth has dropped open at Celine’s words. Now it snaps shut again.
Sofia is scowling at Celine. “You obviously want him badly. Too bad he’s not into you.”
Celine makes a sound almost like a hiss. For a moment I think she’s going to hit Sofia. But then she cools down so quickly that it is disconcerting.
She smiles at me. She takes out her mobile and lazily and exaggeratedly taps out a message and hits send. She shows the message to her friends. They snigger, and give me a pitying look that makes me feel anxious.
Did she send that to Finn? What did she say about me?
“Too bad you don’t have what it takes to keep your man satisfied,” says Celine as a parting shot.
After they have strutted away, I say quietly, “I’m going to Otherworld whether you like it or not. I won’t let her steal Finn away from me.”
Clara gasps in dismay. “But Jenna, we came to talk you out of it. My roommate said these so-called ski trips are actually werewolf hunts. They like to hunt for prey in the snow. There’s no actual skiing. What are you going to do in a place like that?”
“Make hot passionate love to my guy is what. I know what these trips are. While the other men are out, Finn and I will have our cabin all to ourselves.”
Clara chews her lip. “But you’ll be all by yourself.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say.
