"Who is that woman?" Sierra asked without any intention of getting up.

Her energy was drained and her mind was exhausted. She needed a few minutes of rest.

"Get up, Sierra. You can't rest here," Josh sat up. He was not a giant wolf anymore. He truly returned to his human form.

Sierra breathed with relief before looking away from his naked body.

"You said she can't pass through the gates."

"But this isn't a place for you to rest. The ground is hard and cold."

"Just give me a few minutes," Sierra closed her eyes. "This is not the first time I lay on the ground. I won't get sick because of this. My immune system is..." her voice faded when she felt herself being lifted off the ground. Again. "Josh, put me down!"

"Rest inside. I also need to get dressed," he said and when Sierra opened her eyes, he was grinning naughtily at her, as if nothing strange had happened. "Unless you want to stare at my naked body until our friends arrive?"

"Are you sure they will come?" Sierra glared at Josh.

"Of course," Josh confidently replied after stepping on the porch. "Open the door."

Sierra did as she was told but her suspicious stare returned at Josh.

"You are not that confident earlier."

"It was because I'm not feeling well," he seriously reasoned while heading towards the staircase. "I forgot how strong they are. They can protect themselves and your friends as well."

"Put me down. I don't want to stress your body," Sierra said, feeling a little guilty but Josh only tightened his grip around her knees and shoulders.

"I feel better whenever you are this close to me," Josh was not smiling when he said those words, but Sierra was still suspicious no matter how dead serious and unburdened of her weight he might appear.

"My locket is still glowing. You are not well. Stop lying, Josh. Put me down."

"Your locket glowing means I will stay human," he explained with a confident smile.

"Why?" Sierra curiously asked.

"We are here," he stopped in front of his room. "Open the door."

"I want answers, Josh," she impatiently demanded after opening the door.

"This one too. Open it," he ordered once more after halting in front of another closed door inside the room.

Sierra let out an irritated sigh before turning the knob.

"I want to understand what's happening," she firmly insisted after entering a huge bathroom.

There was a cozy bath tub in there, a shower room, a toilet, and a spacious dressing room that were all separated by glass walls and doors.

"I'll tell you everything," he promised before putting her down. "Stay close to me if you don't want me transforming back into a monster."

Sierra tried her best to keep her eyes on his face. He was still naked. She did not want to see something she should not see.

"What is the connection of my necklace to your transformation? Why only now?" Sierra asked but Josh was busy choosing clothes from the cabinet. "I once borrowed a book from Kate," she decided to continue while her heart pounded hard with anticipation. "Based on what I saw, your transformation is similar to one of its characters," she took a deep breath before asking, "Are you... a werewolf?"

Josh pulled a white long-sleeved shirt from the cabinet and put it on before seriously replying, "Yes, I am." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath then smiled sadly at Sierra. "Don't you want to call your friends before we talk?"

"You said that your friends can keep my friends safe. Why tell me to check up on them?" Sierra asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ask them how long before they get here. Let's see if I have enough time to answer all your questions," Josh explained with a brighter smile.

"Fine," Sierra agreed. "Put on some pants while I talk to my friends."

"I know," Josh beamed a bit wider as he opened another cabinet. 

Sierra turned her back towards her classmate and dialed Kate's number. This time, her friend answered the call right after the first ring.

“Kate! What happened?! I’ve been calling you for…”

“I know, Sierra,” Kate quickly told her. “I’m sorry.”

“Your voice sounds a bit shaky. Are you crying? What happened? Is Ella with you?” Sierra anxiously rained questions on her friend.

“Ella is with me. Dan and Renzo are also with us,” Kate sobbed. “We’re on our way to you.”

“Sierra, how’s Josh?” Dan asked.

“I’m fine,” Josh answered, holding Sierra’s hand that was gripping the phone. He paired black pants on his white long-sleeved shirt.

Sierra wondered how Josh heard Dan when the call was not on loud speaker and Dan was speaking on a low anxious voice. Then she remembered how Josh transformed into a giant wolf.

“I thought you are brewing medicine for me?” Josh asked, taking the phone from Sierra. He was the one who put the call on loud speaker.

“I’m sorry, Josh. Renzo needed my help,” Dan sounded guilty. “I’ll explain everything when we get home. We are thirty minutes away. Stay where you are.”

“Wait for us, Sierra,” Kate said before ending the call.

“Hey, how did you know that Dan is with them?” Sierra suspiciously asked Josh. "How did you even know that he stayed in the mansion to brew medicine? You were unconscious. Or were you just faking it?"

"I get sick once in a while. Dan is the only one staying in the mansion when it happens and he is always brewing medicine for me. I am quickly building resistance to any remedy he makes. That's why he needs to keep inventing effective medicines for me," Josh explained with a sad reminiscent smile. "For your first question, I knew that Dan is with Renzo because they are like twins. You cannot separate them unless extremely necessary. If he is not inside this mansion then he is certainly with Renzo."

"That medicine... is it to suppress your transformation?" Sierra curiously asked. "And what could have happened to Renzo that Dan needs to aid him first before you?"

“I will be fine as long as you are with me. Dan knows about it. As to what happened to Renzo...” Josh hesitated for a moment then guiltily breathed. “This is all because of me.”

“Why? Are you that important?” Sierra snapped at him then dragged him out of his room. “Where’s the kitchen? It’s nearly twelve midnight. I skipped dinner because of all the craziness that happened tonight. I’m exhausted and hungry. I need to eat and you need to explain a lot of things.”

"Wait, I'll get my bag," Josh pulled her back to the room and picked his bag from the sofa.

"Hey, I'm hungry," Sierra impatiently reminded Josh. "Before we go anywhere, I need to eat first."

“You can’t eat anything from the fridge,” Josh anxiously told her. “It's a good thing I bought plenty of instant noodles last night.”

“Why? What’s on your fridge? Platters of hearts? Pitchers of blood? Or bottled souls?” Sierra asked while glaring suspiciously at Josh.

"Check it out if you want to. But I'm sure you will lose your appetite," Josh seriously warned her.

"Are you killing humans to feast on their heart like in the book I've read?" Sierra curiously asked as they were heading downstairs, towards the kitchen.

"I've killed plenty of people, Sierra," Josh gravely confessed.

"Because you need to eat or only for pleasure?" 

"Both."

"If that's the truth then why were you resisting that woman earlier? And who is she anyway. Why did she tell you to kill that man?"

"She is a monster," the seriousness in his face was replaced by rage. "Don't ever talk to that cunning woman. She can turn anyone into a monster."

"Is she also a werewolf?"

Instead of answering, Josh only gazed at Sierra with amazement.

"What's with that look?" she asked in confusion.

"Aren't you disgusted with the fact that I'm a monster and I eat human heart to survive?"

"I'm surprised with myself either," Sierra sighed. "I should be disgusted, right? But I'm not. I don't feel frightened either. I'm just... curious. Maybe I can't absorb everything yet. Or maybe it's because I saw how you resisted earlier and I haven't heard anyone from our school went missing or die from an animal attack or with a missing heart. I want to hear your side first. I want to know the connection of my locket to you," she tightened her grip around her glass clover-shaped pendant. Only then had she sensed fear rising up within her. "Maybe..." she went on with a pounding heart. "Maybe in those memories I can't... or I don't want to remember... I might have killed people like you did."

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