Chapter 1

1

The new, brooding guy at school is a Succubus.

My childhood friend, Wyatt, with a smirk that just pissed me off, shoved me right into his arms.

"Go on, Bailey! You've got that skin hunger thing, right? Go hug him!

"Looks like he's desperate for the touch of a woman, so you two are a match made in hell."

I stood there, frozen in the middle of the party room, the sound of the other students' mocking laughter hitting me like a tidal wave. So, I ran.

Later, that Succubus guy found me hiding out, trying to ride out my skin hunger attack. His voice was like velvet, and he whispered, trying to hook me.

"Want to sign a contract with me, Bailey? I can help you."

"Yes…"

I was a mess, crying, and so, so carefully leaning into his chest.

Then Wyatt walked in on us.

He lost his damn mind, tearing through every book he could find, trying to figure out how to break the contract.

...

I'm the oddball of the Hawthorne rabbit family.

All because I've been best friends with a werewolf, Wyatt Blackwood, for nineteen years.

To the point that whenever my skin hunger kicks in, he's the one who helps me deal with it.

So, at this party, when I felt that familiar tingle, I ran straight to Wyatt.

But instead of lending me an arm to hug, like always, he shoved me toward the brooding guy lurking in the corner, with a smirk that really got under my skin.

"Go hug Kael Sterling!

"You have skin hunger, and he needs women. You two are perfect."

I had kept my medical condition a secret for so long, but now it was out in the open for everyone to see.

I stumbled back, looking up at him, lost, the taunts of the other students ringing in my ears.

My long rabbit ears drooped even lower in embarrassment.

I wanted to ask him why he was humiliating me like this, but the laughter was so loud it drowned out my questions.

I stared at Wyatt, trying to get an answer from him.

That's when I saw him glance over at the freshman standing not too far away.

She was a werewolf too, I remembered.

She and Wyatt probably had more in common.

It felt like a tiny electrical shock was running through my heart.

Not enough to kill me, but it did make my throat tighten, making it hard to speak.

In that moment, it hit me: Wyatt and I, this weird childhood-friends situation, was about to end.

I fought back the urge to grab someone, anyone, and get a hug. I ran out of the room.

I locked myself in a bathroom stall, biting down on my knuckles.

I was trying to use the pain to numb myself.

Through my tears, I felt like I was five years old again.

My parents were taking me to see my grandma when a drunk driver ran us off the road.

Mom shielded me, and I survived, but my parents didn't.

It was in the middle of nowhere, and the only thing I could do was listen to my mom die.

Even though it was summer, I was freezing, my blood like ice.

Ever since then, I've had skin hunger, the need to get close to someone, to feel warm skin.

And Wyatt, being a werewolf, was always warm, so he became my fix.

But now…

I was going cold turkey.

My finger was bleeding, the taste of iron filling my mouth.

I cried harder.

I even found myself wishing I had died that summer night.