“No.”

His laugh echoed off the surrounding trees. “Will you promise to try not to freak out on me?”

“I will put forth a valiant effort,” I conceded.

“I was going to sneak into your room and leave it.” His words came out so rapidly it took a minute for me to realize what he said.

“You were going to break into my house?”

“You live ten miles outside of Timber, Kentucky. I was going to walk through the unlocked front door. That hardly constitutes breaking in.”

Illogically, the thing bothering me most was that my room was trashed. There were probably bras and panties sitting out in plain view.

“Itʼs a good thing that plan didnʼt work out,” I said. “Jaseʼs room is next to mine. You wouldʼve totally been busted.”

“Actually, I was coming to talk to Jase, to let him know we were back in town. I was going to say I ended up in your room by mistake.” Obviously, he thought he was very sly. I, for one, felt certain that Jase would have easily seen through such a weak lie, but I allowed him to believe his little fantasy.

“There is no gift tag on here,” I noticed. “How was I supposed to know it was from you?”

“Open it.”

It took some time to get through all the tape, but eventually I was looking at an old, yellowed paperback. The cover had a beast that looked like the illegitimate love child of Chewbacca and Lassie and read, “Werewolf Autopsy by PJ Smith.” He thought an ancient pulp novel was going to sate my curiosity?

“In 1955 George McPhearson, a werewolf, turned himself over to a scientist at Cambridge University. After two years of observations and experiments, Dr. Smith presented his findings, and was subsequently laughed at by every academic institute across the globe. Maybe it wouldʼve been different if he could have offered proof, but George conveniently disappeared right before the study went public. Eventually Smith was only able to get his findings published as fiction with only one limited press run. You may well be holding the only copy of the only book that tells the truth about werewolves.”

“Where did you find it?” If it was as rare as he said it was, which I fully believed, he must have searched everywhere for it, or got really lucky on eBay.

“It was my dadʼs. I guess that technically qualifies as re-gifting.” In the back of my closet there is a box filled with some of my motherʼs things - her favorite albums and books, some pictures, a few pieces of jewelry, and her wedding dress. None of the items would bring much at an auction, but theyʼre my most prized possessions. I couldnʼt bear to part with any of them.

“Iʼll take good care of it,” I said, turning the pages with care, as if it was an invaluable holy document. My eyes skimmed the pages, pausing on words like muscular regeneration, skeletal fusion, and passionate embrace.

Passionate embrace?

“This is all real?” I asked as I quickly read a paragraph detailing the trials and tribulations of kissing with fangs.

Alex looked over my shoulder. “Well, not that stupid love story stuff. The publishing company added all that crap in, but the pages upon pages detailing werewolf anatomy and the Change in ʻas scientific terms as possibleʼ is as real as itʼs going to get.” I was holding all the answers I had been so desperately seeking for the last month. Ever since the moment I realized what Alex was, my world had been off balance. I found comfort in logic and reasoning. Werewolves defy both. Alex gave me a way to turn the impossible into something that could be explained and studied. Tears stung in my eyes. “Thank you.”

“Iʼm glad you like it,” he said. “Does this conclude the interrogation portion of our evening?”

“That depends.” I gently placed the book in my lap, gathering up every ounce of courage I had to reach over and grab his hand. “Does Dr. Smith also cover the science behind vampires?”

“Vampires? You think vampires are real? Seriously?”

“The werewolf is asking me if I believe in vampires?” Alexʼs smile only widened. “Point taken.”

“So, there are no vampires?”

“As far as I know, vampires are just a legend.

“How about faeries? Ghosts? Witches? Zombies? Unicorns?” He squeezed my hand and moved in closer so that we were leaning against one another. My heart rate kicked up a few notches and my brain threatened to shut off completely. “Or, you know, gnomes. Maybe gnomes are real. Are gnomes real?”

“Gnomes? I donʼt think so.” We were sitting so close I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. “Iʼve never seen a ghost, but I wouldnʼt discount the possibility. There are women with supernatural senses, but theyʼre called Seers.”

“Seers? Like precogs?”

“There are a few very powerful Seers that can catch a glimpse of the future, but itʼs extremely rare. They come in different varieties. Some are dream walkers, Seeing things that have happened in the past or something going on a thousand miles away, but only when theyʼre asleep. Some Seers can See your thoughts, emotions, or deepest secrets just by touching you. The Seer that served my fatherʼs Pack could See everywhere an object had been when she held it in both hands.”

“Served your fatherʼs pack?” Itʼs not like Iʼm a donʼt-shave-your-legs-in-definance-of-our-patricarical-society type feminist, but things like a woman serving a pack of men made my skin crawl.

“I didnʼt mean in a sexual way.”

Oh gross. I hadnʼt been thinking that, but I was stuck with a searing visual and queasy stomach anyway. “How did you mean it?”

“Seers are honored, exalted members of the Pack. Like lycanthropy, itʼs an inherited trait, but itʼs a recessive gene. When a werewolf has a son, he knows that one day he will be a werewolf too, but the daughter of a Seer doesnʼt necessarily have the gift. The ratio of Seers to Shifters is probably less than one to ten, yet they are important for our survival.” Alex paused and looked at me expectantly.

“Important how?” I didnʼt want to disappoint.

“While their other talents vary, all Seers have the ability to communicate with us in our animal form They can warn us if someone is coming too close to our hunting ground, or tell us if one of our brothers is in danger. Itʼs a bit more effective than the howl and growl system Liam and I use.”

“Seers are telepaths?” My world was beginning to look like a cheesy made-for-SyFy movie.