Jayden held her gaze, the orchestra's waltz thinning to a hush at the edge of his awareness. "I did transform once," he said, voice low. "But I had to use pain as the trigger."

Miss Kate nodded without surprise. "That's how I used to do it too," she admitted, eyes warming with recognition. "I'd hurt myself just to transform. It was ugly at first, but it got easier with time. All it really takes is focus."

She lifted her glass, watching the champagne bead along crystal. "Pain is just a shortcut to focus," she went on, tone even, teacher-steady. "Your brain floods to the hurt, narrows the pain down and channels it into anger. That anger fuels the shift." She glanced back up at him. "But it's better.. safer, to learn to do it by will. No pain. No crutch. Just you and your control."

"I'll try," Jayden said. "I've actually… been keeping my anger in check since my first transformation. I don't get unnecessarily angry anymore."

Miss Kate smiled. A soft, knowing chuckle left her throat. "That's your connection to the moon. Before that night, you hadn't awakened your true nature. You were bottling a thousand emotions and only letting one leak out… anger." She tilted her head, the mask's silver edge throwing a shard of light across her cheek. "Your first transformation purged that stockpiled rage. It's normal for werewolves. After the first shift, they settle. They get calm. Even agitation doesn't spark them like it used to."

Jayden fell quiet, letting the words settle. She was right. He had truly been calm since then. He thought of a hallway, of tears and apologies, of finally letting go.

Miss Kate's voice gentled, as if tracking his drift.

"It could also be because you let go of something that's been bothering you for a long time," she added softly.

Jayden chuckled. He exhaled, a rueful smile tugging at his mouth. "I was thinking about… reconciling with Jessica," he admitted to himself more than to her.

But the smile faded just as quickly. Jayden just realized something… the calmness didn't come alone. Rather, it felt like the anger was replaced with something else entirely.

Desire.

Miss Kate's brow creased; she caught the shadow crossing his expression. "What's wrong?" she asked in concern.

Jayden hesitated at first, but then he decided to trust the woman who'd always spoken to him without flinching.

His lips parted slightly. "Lately… I've been having urges. Desires."

Miss Kate lips curled, teasing on instinct. "Well, If you're spending a lot of time with girls, that's bound to happen." she chuckled.

But Jayden shook his head immediately. "No, not that kind of desire. This one is sorta like a… hunger, for battle. A pull toward conflict. A kind of obsession with the thrill of hunting."

Miss Kate's expression became serious. Her playful air faded. Her eyes dropped for a beat in understanding, not judgment. "Mm." She looked back up and finished the thought for him, a mirror to his confession. "Let me guess… You crave the fight. The chase. The excitement of being challenged?"

Jayden gave a single, grateful nod.

Miss Kate sighed, then told him what he probably already feared. "The desire for battle is a flaw of every werewolf," she said plainly. "Just as vampires seek blood, we seek battles. A werewolf will go into a fight… even one it knows it cannot win. And not because it's brave." She tapped a finger lightly against her glass. "But because it's a craving. The thrill itself is addictive."

Miss Kate's voice was certain. She didn't sugarcoat it. "Sometimes it helps; it builds a terrifying kind of confidence," she conceded. "But it's also very bad. And it only gets worse with time if you don't manage it. You'll start chasing the feeling… picking unreasonable fights with random people, charging in without a plan. Your strategy erodes because the euphoria blinds you. You lunge straight in, certain you'll tear through anything. And that could lead to you losing the fight… or even your life."

As Miss Kate said this, a memory flashed across Jayden's mind… branches splintering, hot breath, his own heartbeat roaring as he overcommitted on a beast's feint and nearly ate a stone spike through the ribs.

He also thought back to when he almost got pulverized by the Chthonix. Or frozen forever by the Winter wolf.

Jayden swallowed, coming to a realization. "Yikes. I've done that one too many times." he thought, finally realizing how reckless he had always been when fighting beasts.

"But it only gets worse," Miss Kate said, pulling him back from his thoughts as the weight in her voice darkened.

"It can also infect your lycan form." she said.

Jayden blinked. "What does that mean?"

Rather than answer directly, Miss Kate steered him. "That transformation you mentioned, the one you did without the full moon…did you have a particular goal in mind before you shifted?"

"Yes," Jayden replied. "I wanted to defeat a beast."

"Good." Miss Kate exhaled. Relief eased the tight set of her shoulders. "You must always have a clear goal before transforming."

"Why?" Jayden asked with a raised brow.

"Because in lycan form, you're only partially in control," Miss Kate replied. "The primal instinct is still there, watching for the moment to surge forward. And depending on how you transform, that instinct can take over completely."

Jayden was troubled by this. He had witnessed just how bad losing control to his primal side could be. He certainly didn't want that to happen again.

Miss Kate let out a sigh. Her tone crisped. "If you shift by anger… pure, unfocused anger, the primal side might seize the wheel. And if there's no specific goal tethering it, it'll either go rampage… or it'll seek a marked target."

Jayden's brow knit. "Marked target?"

Miss Kate dropped her glass. "That is a person or beast you've already consciously or unconsciously decided to confront," she explained.

"And it's not just limited to a fight." she continued, her tone stern. "It could be anyone you've been thinking deeply about, planning something with.. or against.

"A successful 'mark' usually happens when you've had contact with that person before. It can happen without you realizing.. especially when you're angry or fiercely determined." Miss Kate added.

Jayden was stunned. He had no idea about any of this. "So if I transform without a clear goal," he said slowly, "I'll go after the marked targets?"

Miss Kate nodded once. "Exactly. The instinct follows the thread you've already tied." she said, before turning to face him.

"Have you marked anyone recently?"

Jayden blinked. "No, I mean.. I don't know." he replied.

"How do I know if I've marked someone?" he asked, unsettled by how easily the idea nested under his ribs.

Miss Kate shrugged. "That isn't so hard. A conscious marking happens out of your own will and intent," she replied. "But a subconscious marking is done without mental awareness. And because it's subconscious, you can't know who's been marked. Not directly."

Jayden sighed deeply. A tight breath left him. "Great." he raked a thumb along the ridge of his mask, thinking. "So how do I even check?"

"Actually… there is a way to suspect," Miss Kate offered. "Narrow your thoughts to specific elements. Who and what are you always constantly thinking about?"

Jayden went quiet, sifting. "Well, If I don't have a beast in mind to fight… I'm mostly thinking of my sister," he said, the word thick in his throat, "Or sometimes.. the EVA." he hesitated at the last part, as if the letters themselves were a trigger.

Miss Kate let out a breath.. relief mixed with caution. "Then there's no… precise or delicate target there," she said. "That's good."

But Jayden wasn't relieved. He had left some things out—and the realization hit like cold water. Penelope. Cassandra. Tasha. Jessica. Jacob. Harleen. He thought about them every day… their safety, their protection, the way he calculated rooms, exits, threats whenever they were near. If thinking deeply and contact are part of it… then he might have marked them without meaning to.

A chill licked down his spine.

"What happens…" he asked, voice a notch lower, "…If the primal instinct takes over and I don't have a marked target?"

"Like I said before," Miss Kate replied, steady and unflinching, "You will go on a rampage. You might even attack anyone in sight."

Jayden inhaled sharply. His face paled beneath the mask.

Anyone.

The word sat heavy, an anvil on his chest. But then a thought popped into his mind. According to Miss Kate, the primal instinct can only take over prior to the kind of emotional situation he transformed in.

"If that is the case," he thought, "Then I can't let myself transform in extreme emotional distress."

He locked the rule into place, hardening it into instinct.

Miss Kate saw the storm gathering in his eyes and reached for calm. "Listen. Don't borrow disasters from tomorrow," she said gently. "Your primal self doesn't choose chaos for chaos's sake. It seeks the opposite of what your conscious self actively fights. If you fight humans more, your primal will go for beasts."

Jayden's eyes sharpened, a single lethal line. If that was the case… then the situation was much worse.

He fought beasts more than anything. Day after day. Hunt after hunt. Training, practice, missions… his claws tore creatures, not men. Whatever skirmishes he'd had with humans were fewer, scattered between long stretches of blood and fur.

Which meant…

If he lost control, the instinct would pivot.. away from beasts.

It would go for humans.

The orchestra swelled in the distance, bright and careless, as the calculation clicked into place inside Jayden's head like the teeth of a trap. He felt the answer settle.. cold, precise, merciless.

"Which means, if I lose control… I will become the thing I swore to protect them from…

A monster.