Tina was just applying the last bit of makeup she needed when the doorbell rang, and she smiled as she looked in the mirror at the gorgeous girl looking back at her.

"Tina Yates," she said to her reflection. "You are hot!"

She had bright blue eyes and silk blond hair that curled just slightly at the ends. Long, slim legs on a tall, thin frame completed the package and made her look like a young cheerleader.

"I still can't believe you got Joel Stewart to ask you out!" her best friend Sissy told her, and she grinned at her.

"What guy can resist this charming little bundle?" she asked innocently although the truth was, she couldn't believe it either. Everyone knew that Joel Stewart, the hottest senior at Western didn't date – period. All the girls were hot for him, and basically threw themselves at his feet every chance they got, but it was Tina who had won in the end.

"Is that him?" she asked her mom, who had answered the door.

She nodded, a twinkle in her eyes.

"I can see why you girls like him. He's such a charming young man, and good looking too."

Tina nodded, her head bobbing up and down as she gave herself a last look-over to see how she looked.

"What do you think? Do I impress?" she asked Sissy.

The other girl nodded. "You look hot baby."

Tina's grin widened and she exited the bathroom to meet her date for the night.

His back was to her when she entered the living room, and she took the chance to look him over.

Darkly tanned skin stretched over the hard muscles that strained against the blue shirt he was wearing. Dark coppery hair curled near his ears and shone like melted bronze in the low light. When he turned toward her, the black tribal tattoo on his arm seemed to ripple and then his golden eyes caught hers from across the room, and she felt her breath disappear.

A scowl lit his expression as he faced her, a growl rumbling deep in his chest, but as soon as he saw her, he stopped and stared, shock lighting his face where shadows had been only moments before.

He stood straight instead of crouched toward her like he was going to pounce on her, and then leaned back with a startled expression – all within the same few moments of time.

When he got his expression under control, he cleared his throat and smiled at her, his gold eyes glowing slightly. Tina felt her knees go weak, but she also remembered the look in his eyes only moments before – the feral glare that made her want to cower before him in terror.

"Tina," he said, his voice smooth as honey.

"Yes?" She barely heard her answer as she tried to regain the breath he'd taken from her.

He smiled even wider, as if he knew the effect he was having on her – the bastard – and nodded his head to her in greeting. "Shall we go?"

She nodded and turned on her heel, trying not to fall flat on her face as she headed toward the door with him following close behind her.

"I'll return your daughter before midnight, Mrs. Yates," he told her mom, and she turned just in time to see the dreamy expression on her mother's face.

"Oh, stay out as late as you'd like."

Tina wondered why her mother would say that. She'd never been allowed to stay out as late as she'd like with a boy before. Yes, she was a senior now, and yes, she was eighteen, but this sudden change in character might have worried her had Joel not grabbed her hand and led her to his car, helping her in before he went around to the other side and got in himself.

Tina watched him even more closely than she ever had before – suspicious all of a sudden. She had never noticed before, but he moved like a wolf stalking its prey.

"So, Miss Yates, where would you like to go tonight?" he asked when he'd shut his door and had turned those golden eyes toward her.

Her breath caught in her throat again. She blinked, trying to think, but she felt like a deer caught in the glare of headlights.

"Ummm. . ." she started to say. "How about some dinner and a movie?" she asked.

He smiled and it was everything she could do not to faint right then and there. How come he made her react like this? No other guy ever had before, but then again, no other guy had been a male god! She shivered in delight.

"Are you cold?" he asked her, his eyes growing concerned.

"No, I… I'm fine," she protested, but it was too late. He pulled off the light jacket he'd thrown on just before coming outside and handed it to her.

"Put this on." It wasn't a request, but rather a demand.

She did so anyway, just happy to be near him even if he was making commands of her that she wasn't really willing to listen to, and nuzzled against it, enjoying the smell of him that lingered on the jacket. It smelled as she assumed he would if he'd let her get close enough to him – wild and kind of like a forest.

The movie was a typical action movie, but Tina didn't care. She snuggled against Joel's side, wallowing in the scent of wild forest as the feature played through. She was surprised but pleased when Joel put his nose in her hair and took a deep breath, letting out a sigh of pleasure. She shivered in delight, causing him to chuckle slightly.

Dinner after the movie was simple too. Joel admitted he didn't have a lot of money, making Tina laugh, and they had a couple of burgers with milkshakes.

The conversation during dinner was better than the meal itself. They discussed the movie and the sequence of events that had occurred, and what they would have done differently. From there the conversation turned to favorite movies, actors, actresses, phrases, lines, directors and so on.

It was nearly midnight when Joel finally took Tina home, not that she minded at all.

"I had fun," she admitted to him at her door.

He smiled at her. "I'm glad. I did too."

"Does that surprise you?" she asked.

"Does it surprise you?" he countered.

She grinned. "Actually, with how quiet and withdrawn you are, it does. I was completely surprised when you asked me out at all."

He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What can I say?" he asked with a grin. "You are damn good looking."

She sighed as his mouth found hers. The first kiss was light and simple; the second kiss was a little hotter, but the third kiss was completely wild.

"Ow!" Tina cried as Joel bit her lower lip. She caught the taste of blood.

Joel stared at her in horror. "I'm sorry. Are you OK?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

"I have to go," he said and without another word, he turned away and left, leaving her standing on her front porch, confused.

Joel didn't ask her out again. From time to time, Tina caught him watching her in the hall, as if looking for signs of something, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what, and every time she went to talk to him, he disappeared.

Tina soon figured out why.

A week after the date, Tina woke up early in the morning feeling sick to her stomach and grumpy. She grumbled unhappily every time her stomach twisted, as if trying to reconstruct with a new shape.

She stayed home with the excuse that she was sick with some kind of stomach virus and stayed in bed where she tossed and turned as her stomach twisted and turned unnaturally.

During this time, Tina dreamed.

She saw a large dog come through her window and stand beside her bed. No, not a dog – a wolf.

She stared at it in horror, and whimpered.

The wolf copied her noise, lowering its head and ears, as if to apologize.

That was when Tina realized she wasn't dreaming, and she screamed but no sound came out. Instead, she growled and changed.

Her body changed from its human form into the unnatural form of a wolf. Her pelt was a sandy gray and her eyes a deep blue, but she was no longer human.

"What's happened to me?" she asked, the sound coming out in a whine.

"I'm sorry, Tina," the wolf said. "I bit you and changed you. I didn't mean too. I didn't know this would happen."

"Joel?"

The wolf lowered its head.

"You did this to me!" she growled.

"I'm sorry," he said. "If it makes you feel better, it only happens the day and night there's a full moon. When you wake tomorrow, you'll be human again."

She screamed, the sound coming out as a snarl in her wolf form.