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I could hardly believe it when Kaden Bowers stepped out of the woods. The same floppy caramel blonde hair, the same light brown eyes with flecks of green, the same warm smile — and though nothing could ever be the same again, my heart still skipped a beat when he said my name.
Kaden Bowers was dead — or at least he was supposed to be.
"Kaden," I breathed, "After..." I swallowed away the lump in my throat, remembering what had to have been one of the worst days of my life. "After what happened that day at the lake, I... We all thought that you—"
"Ember, it's okay. I'm here now," he smiled softly, dropping his duffel back to the ground and enveloping me in a hug, the scent of pinecones surrounding me.
"Ember?" Theo said, breaking the silence that had been hovering in the air.
"Hmm, yeah?" I raised my eyebrows, turning away from Kaden and toward Theo. I pushed down the blush that threatened to rise as I remembered how we'd been a few moments before — me flirting daringly with him, our faces so close we could've kissed, the rush of fire burning through me.
He signalled for me to come closer and when I was close enough, he whispered, "What's going on?"
I glanced back around at Kaden, who was leaning against a tree facing away from us. Theo deserved to know the truth; what was going on must've been confusing as hell to him. Well, it's confusing to me, and I know the truth — or part of it.
"Kaden Bowers is supposed to be dead," I told him, lowering my voice so Kaden couldn't hear. "It happened in the summer, a couple of years ago. It was a school trip to Lake Oldoy, and we were rafting on the lake. As stupid 14-year-olds do, we were daring each other to see who could get closest to the rapids at the far end of the lake."
I pointed to the other side of the lake, and from there we could see the deadly white-water rapids churning up the edge of the still lake.
"Kaden got cocky and said he could raft down the river, past the rapids, to this big rock and back. He never made it back," I finished.
"Crap," Theo simply said, before adding, "Was he always a werewolf?"
"What?" I exclaimed, "How can you tell?"
"It took a while to get past the scent blocking that he's got going on... But for some reason, I've encountered his particular scent before. That's how I recognise him," he tapped his nose knowingly, "That's how I know he's a werewolf."
Overwhelmed, I shook my head. "He wasn't a werewolf when he went off those rapids."
Theo grabbed my arm and led me a little further away from Kaden. "It's possible that he was moments away from death when he was bitten and transitioned. That would have... brought him back, I guess." His mouth twisted in hesitation.
