Rowena“Here’s your ticket, Rowena.” Adrian held my ticket out to me with a smile on his face. I took it, still ignoring Eric’s looming presence beside me, and felt my heart leap a bit.It was a scary movie. It was actually a genre that I enjoyed, but the thought of leaping into my date’s arms during a scary scene with my overbearing older brother right next to me felt…Weird, to say the least.“Scary movie, eh?” Eric said as we made our way to the theater, popcorn bags in hand. “Rowena doesn’t like scary movies.”Adrian raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you don’t? I can—”“I do like scary movies,” I said, shooting Eric a warning glare. “He’s just messing with me.”“Oh.” Adrian looked back and forth between the two of us, but said nothing. The three of us made our way to our seats, and of course, I got stuck in the middle. Eric leaned over as the trailers began to play, whispering in my ear.“Sorry for crashing your date,” he murmured.I whipped my head around and glared at him. “Just sit there

RowenaThe kitchen smelled like fresh coffee and pancakes as I sat at the counter, finishing up my breakfast. I yawned, scrolling through my phone as the latest news headlines popped up on the screen.Next to me, my father, a tall and elegant man with slightly graying hair and a neat beard, flipped through the newspaper, and beside him my mother sipped her coffee. It was a relaxing Saturday morning, especially with the sun streaming in through the window.“Hey, look at this,” I said, holding my phone up. “They released a list of potential suspects for that missing princess. I wonder who it could be.”“Likely someone not from around here,” my father said casually without looking up from his newspaper.As I scrolled through the list of names, though, my eyes widened upon seeing a familiar name. My name, to be exact. But it made no sense. “My name is on here.”My father slammed down his newspaper, and my mother nearly spilled her coffee. “What?” they both said in unison.“My name is on h

RowenaThe light from my desk lamp was all that illuminated the room as I hunched over my textbooks. Soft music was playing through my headphones, and I hummed to myself as I flipped to the next page.Ever since I was in high school, studying had strangely become a sort of comfort for me.When I couldn’t physically keep up with the other kids who had their wolves, I would instead turn to my studying. It initially started out as a way to try and improve myself and prove them all wrong, but now it was more of a habit than anything else.And truthfully, I already knew everything I needed to know in this chapter of my textbook; I just needed something, anything, to help calm my nerves after what had happened at that party earlier.However, my studying was abruptly brought to an end when I suddenly felt warm hands reach around my head and pull off my headphones.“Studying on a Saturday night?” Eric asked, smirking down at me.I spun around on my chair and grabbed my headphones from his han

Rowena“I… I need help.”Emma staggered into my office, clutching her stomach, and immediately I knew that this was serious. Without hesitating for even a moment, I rushed forward and wrapped my arm around her, letting her rest her weight on me as I led her over to the exam table.“What happened?” I asked, helping her up onto the table.Emma swallowed hard. “I… It’s a long story,” she managed through grit teeth.I frowned as I looked at her. The way she was clutching her stomach could indicate many things: food poisoning, a stomach bug, maybe even appendicitis. But it was then, as I looked over her, that I saw the dark red color seeping through her jeans.“Emma,” I said, shooting her a worried look, “is it your period?”She gritted her teeth and shook her head, which confused me even more. “It can’t be,” she groaned.“Why?”“Because…” She drew in a sharp inhale. “I’m pregnant.”My eyes widened. If Emma was pregnant, then… this was even more sinister than I thought.Without waiting for

RowenaThe cool night air blew across my face as I stepped out into the backyard. As I made my way toward the lone figure sitting by the pond, the sounds of the party began to fade and were soon replaced by the chirping crickets and the wind rustling through the trees.As I approached, the figure didn’t look up. But I knew it was Eric, not just from his familiar head of blond hair, but from his broad shoulders in the darkness.He was sitting in the grass by the edge of the pond that was situated at the center of all of the warrior cottages. It was a serene place here, with the sounds of the bullfrogs croaking just offshore.Without saying anything, I walked up to Eric and stood beside him. We both stayed like that for a while, neither of us speaking, just enjoying the view.Across the pond, the golden lights of the other cottages twinkled and mingled with the light of the moon rippling on the surface of the calm water. With each passing breeze, another ripple would blow across the sur