Xavier and the Wolf (Legends of Pinewood 1)

17. If you lean into it

When Aquila saw me sitting at his kitchen table, he came to an abrupt halt. While he stood frozen in the middle of the living room, his scowl vanished and his eyebrows raised.

I wondered why he looked so surprised to see me here. He was the one who had invited me over this morning, and in what universe was a human not going to drop by at the first possible occasion to ask questions about a literal being of legend?

"Uh, hi," I greeted Aquila awkwardly.

Aquila's eyes darted to the meat on the table before settling on my face again. "Hi," he replied. He resumed his course and took a seat on the other side of the table.

"You told me to come visit you after school," I explained, because Aquila still looked confused at my presence. "So, here I am."

"I told you Xavier would be interested," Boris said sing-song, shooting Aquila a meaningful look. "You're always so pessimistic. A lot of people from your new high school would be interested in getting to know you since you're a hero now. If you would just talk to them you'd have lots of friends. Right, Xavier?"

I tensed. Why did Boris have to implicate me in this too? "Of course," I said.

I gave the polite answer. But in all honesty, I wasn't lying. If Aquila told them about being a werewolf, or even better, showed them he could turn into a wolf, I definitely agreed. Many people would want to talk to him. Including researchers who'd lock him up in a lab to study, but that was beside the point. Even if Aquila was just a human...if he'd sauntered into our high school acting like a confident guy from a neighbouring village, he'd have to fight people off. Everyone would have wanted to be friends with the buff, handsome guy who looked like a younger version of Boris. And his almost yellow eyes were insanely pretty.

While I was sitting in my chair, feeling embarrassed, there was a silent argument going on at the table. Aquila glared at Boris. Boris just grinned in return. Eventually, Aquila seemed to give up. He snatched a piece of meat and aggressively started stuffing his face.

When in Rome do as the Romans. Boris and Aquila started eating, so I helped myself to the peanut butter and a piece of bread. I'd kindly been provided with a knife and a plate, so I could eat my lunch like a human.

Boris smiled at me. "Didn't you have questions, Xavier? Go ahead, start asking Aquila. He doesn't mind talking while he eats."

The low growl that came from Aquila in response told me otherwise, but Boris gave me an encouraging nod. 

I cleared my throat. "Uh, alright," I said. "I was wondering: does it hurt? Like, when you change forms?"

"No," Aquila replied curtly between bites.

"Were you born like this?"

"Yes."

"Are all of you born like this?"

Aquila stopped chewing. He stared at me like a wolf in the headlights, then turned to Boris. He pleaded for help to answer this question with his eyes. Boris smiled pleasantly, seemingly with no intention whatsoever of helping with Aquila's tongue-tied situation.

Aquila grimaced and slowly turned back to me. "When one of the two parents is a werewolf, their kid is too," he said. "Usually. There are exceptions."

I nodded. That made sense to me. If the kids of werewolves and humans weren't werewolves, there was no point in them wanting to marry humans and having children.

"And the other way?" Boris prompted with a smirk. "You're letting out some information, Aquila."

Aquila pressed his lips to a thin line and looked at Boris like he wanted him to drop dead.