Well, maybe not so much more mature as more stubborn.

“Stop being a wimp.”

“Jase!”

He walked over to where I was sprawled across the couch and towered over me, his well-defined arms crossed over his chest in a mimic of Toby’s I-am-Pack-Leader-and-you-will-listen-to-me stance. “What am I thinking right now?”

That you can bully pitiful Talley into doing whatever you want?

“I don’t know. I’m not touching you.”

He took a step closer so that his leg was almost, but not quite, touching mine.

“And now?”

I looked at the fraction of an inch that separated us. “You’re still not touching me.”

“Exactly.” I could tell from the smirk on his lips that he thought he just won the debate. Problem was, I didn’t have a clue what his argument was.

“Sorry, Jase, but I’m not following.”

“Here. Let me help,” he said in a tone I knew was supposed to mock the way I always insisted on helping when he was ready to give up on a homework assignment. “Do you know where I’ve been today?” he asked, dumping himself into my mom’s sewing chair.

“Not really…”

“Everywhere.”

Well, that narrowed it down. “That’s an awful lot of place to be.”

“I’ve been to Wal-Mart, Piggly Wiggly, and The Strip. Saw thousands of people--”

“In Timber?”

“Okay, hundreds of people. And do you know how many I touched?”

“Jase--”

“None. Not a single person.”

Ah, so this was his argument. I let out a sigh without meaning to. “It’s not the same--”

“Of course it’s the same.” He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. His intense green eyes were focused on mine. “You don’t have to touch anyone. You’ll be careful, pay attention to what you’re doing, and avoid as much contact as possible. And when you can’t, you’ll just deal with it.”

“Jase--”

“You’re stronger than this, Talley. You’re not a coward who hides in her house and is afraid of her Sight.”

I didn’t agree. I am a coward and am in no way strong, but somehow I found myself consenting to give it a try. My first few trips out of the house had given me enough hope to actually show up this morning, but school was more of a challenge than a visit to the mall. There was no way to maneuver the halls of Lake County High without jarring against dozens of other people. I had a moment of panic during first period when I seriously considered calling Mom and asking her to pull me out, but then I remembered Jase’s face when he told me I was capable of dealing with this. He believed it, and I wanted to believe it too. So, I stayed.

And I was going to power through this day, this week, this year. I could do it. I just had to be strong.

I was snapped out of my self-motivational pep talk by a familiar figure dropping into the seat next to me. My best friend looked like she was ready to forcefully remove someone’s head from their shoulders, which wasn’t new and different, especially at school.

“How is your last first day of high school going?” I asked, giving her an opportunity to get the rant she was storing inside off her chest. I didn’t have to be a Seer of any sort to know she would take me up on it.

“It has sucked, big time. Jase totally hogged the bathroom all morning. Then, he insisted on picking up Nikki Anderson, who made us wait fifteen minutes in the car while she painted on her perfect face. And, of course, Jase then made me ride in the back seat of our car so that he could stare at her unnaturally perky boobs as he drove us to school.” The mention of Nikki Anderson’s unnaturally perky breasts made my stomach drop. I try not to be jealous of all the skinny, pretty girls that populate our school, but some days it’s harder than others. “Ashley Johnson is in my AP English class, and Mr. Beck is a complete tool who refuses to call me Scout. And, remember that guy I told you about from The Strip? Mr. Tall, Dark and Insane? His brother is the new guy.”

My stomach dropped another few inches, or maybe even an entire foot. Scout’s Mr. Tall, Dark and Insane was a Shifter, one who wasn’t supposed to be on Hagan Pack Territory without permission from Toby, which he didn’t have. In a moment of complete insanity, Jase had confronted him. Toby hadn’t followed up because he thought the guy was just passing through and giving Jase a hard time, but if he had a brother going to our school…

“There’s a new guy? What’s his name?”

While I may have just come into my Sight, I’ve been in a family of Seers and a member of two different Packs my whole life. I knew the name of most of the Shifter families in the United States, and all of the ones who lived in the states surrounding Kentucky. Maybe he was someone the Pack knew and had given passage to without bothering to inform me. If not, and he was banished, well then I would probably recognize that name, too.

“His last name is Cole.” The Cole Pack? I’d never heard of them. “I don’t remember what his first name is though. Some really generic “A” name. Alan? Andrew?”

I could feel him behind us before he spoke. “Alex,” he said. “Should I call you Scout or Miss Donovan?”

I turned around to face the new, unwelcome Shifter. With the way his Dominance was making chills run up and down my spine, I expected a large, serious man with a chip on his shoulder the size of Nebraska. What I got was a guy with dimples.

A guy with dimples who was looking at Scout like she hung the moon.

Scout’s body, covered in blood. Arms cradling her against his chest.

The flash of memory caused bile to sting the back of my throat.

It’s nothing, I reminded myself. Just a crazy hallucination. You don’t See the future.

It sounded good in theory, but considering the similarities to the guy in the not-really vision I had over the summer and the new Shifter in town, I had a little trouble believing myself. Panic was a living thing inside of me, clawing at my heart and using my stomach as a trampoline.

You don’t See the future. You’re a Soul Seer.

A Soul Seer! That was it! There was a simple way to wipe away all this doubt and fear.

“I’m Talley,” I said, holding my hand out. Alex’s smile didn’t falter as he took it, or when my fingers spasmed in response to the amount of Dominance I could feel through our connection.