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.
"There's another way?" I automatically asked in my surprise.
Now Aquila wanted me to drop dead together with his uncle. He looked personally offended that I had asked the obvious follow-up question.
Aquila breathed in and out deeply. "A bite," he finally pressed out of his mouth. "You can become a werewolf if you're bitten by one during the full moon."
"Huh," I said. I didn't understand why that was such a big deal and why Aquila looked so uncomfortable saying it. "That sounds a lot easier and faster than trying to marry humans and have kids."
Boris snorted loudly. "Yes, Aquila, that's a great point. It does sound a lot easier and faster," he said. "Why don't we all go around finding people who are worthy of our secret and turn them into werewolves with a bite?"
Boris looked downright gleeful, while steam came out of Aquila's ears.
Aquila's lips curled up in a snarl. He stalled by munching on another piece of meat. After he swallowed, he suddenly found the window behind us very interesting as he spoke up with obvious reluctance.
"You can't just bite someone who promises to keep the secret and wants to stick around," he grumbled. "For one, we're not letting just anyone into our packs. They have to prove that they're worthy of the honour, which very few humans are. Second, the person being bitten needs to be ready to share a close bond with the werewolf who bit them for the rest of their life."
"It's used to turn the lovers of werewolves." Boris leaned his chin on his palm and leaned closer over the table, clearly savouring every word. "You know, should they want to be a werewolf as well. Often, they want to."
Boris winked at me then looked at his nephew. "Aquila, if you're to become a leader of a pack, you need to be able to talk about these things to humans without getting grouchy. It's not embarrassing to talk about love and mates. It's all part of the beautiful circle of life."
Aquila's shoulders drew up. He growled, and even I felt kind of sorry for him now and the way Boris was pushing him.
"I see," I said, breaking the silence and drawing the attention to myself. "So you have to be really sure of yourself if you accept a bite. It's not easily reversible, I take it."
"Nope," Boris replied. "Once you're a wolf of Pinewood, you're a wolf of Pinewood. The ties are eternal."
Aquila wolfed down another another piece of meat and stood. "Tea?" he asked tersely.
Boris clasped his hands together. "Yes, what a great idea!"
"Tea sounds nice," I agreed quietly.
Aquila grunted and turned to the kitchen, seemingly eager to get out of this conversation. No surprises there. Boris, however, wasn't ready to let him escape yet.
"Aren't you forgetting something, dear nephew?" he spoke up. "You should ask our guest what kind of tea he wants."
I raised a brow at Boris. He'd never once asked me or my parents what kind of tea we wanted when we came over to his house. In fact, he seemed to be giving Aquila a hard time on purpose, pushing his buttons.
Aquila breathed in and out deeply. "What kind of tea do you want?" he then asked me through gritted teeth.
"Any will do, really," I answered quickly, thinking I was helping that way. But Aquila grumbled something under his breath in response.
"Just come over here and pick one," he then said, gesturing at me to follow him to the kitchen.
I glanced at Boris, who'd already started attacking the meat on the table again. "Excuse me," I said politely anyway, before getting up from my chair.
I walked into the kitchen. Aquila took out a box with an impressive collection of teas from the cupboard. Boris had been keeping that a secret from us, always giving us the standard black tea. I didn't want to intrude, so I looked for the bags Boris usually gave me and pointed at one of those.
"Good," Aquila said. He grabbed the bag I pointed at and put it on the counter before moving to the faucet to fill the kettle.
I was about to mutter a thank you to Aquila and then be on my way to the living room again, but then I remembered what Boris had told me. About trying to meet Aquila in the middle and help him by 'speaking' his language. I knew how to say 'thanks' in werewolf now. If Boris wasn't just pulling my leg. Then again, he hadn't been joking when he recommended I bought Aquila flowers and he probably wasn't joking now.
My discomfort purely came from not knowing what I was doing. The same way Aquila was probably uncomfortable in school all the time because he expressed himself differently and didn't know what he was doing around humans. It wasn't like the wolf 'thank you' was difficult. All I was supposed to do here was briefly brush my shoulder against Aquila's. A small gesture, yet it made my heart hammer and my skin crawl with nerves.
I stepped next to Aquila at the counter. Slowly, I leaned closer until I could gently brush my shoulder against his.
"Thanks for making me tea," I also muttered, mostly out of habit and to make this situation slightly less awkward for myself, just in case I did do it wrong.
Aquila turned his head to look at me, lips parted in surprise as our shoulders touched. Then he frowned. "You don't have to do that," he murmured.
We were standing very close, but because Aquila didn't move away I didn't either. Even if it made my heart pound even harder in my throat. "I know I don't have to," I replied. "It's just... I realised you're constantly walking around in a human high school, trying to adjust to the people here. Now that I know who you really are, I can also adjust to you in your house."
Aquila stared at me. His brow smoothed over and his frown disappeared. He didn't say anything, but after a few moments he leaned in and returned the gesture I'd made; a gentle brush of his shoulder against mine. Then he offered me a small smile before walking past me to grab three tea glasses from the cupboard.
Seeing Aquila smile was a rare occasion, and seeing him smile at me even rarer. It made me pause and gape at him while he unpacked the tea bags. I shook myself out of it before he'd notice I was staring and walked back to the living room, unable to keep the smile off of my face.
Boris looked up at me with an amused expression. "Told you so," he mouthed at me, before raising his voice to a normal volume. "Let me know when you have finished reading my book, Xavier."
"Uh, sure," I replied as I took a seat. "At this rate, I should finish it tomorrow."
Boris snorted. "Good. Nevertheless, in the meantime, if anything else comes up, you know where to find my nephew. He'll be happy to help you."
Aquila appeared at the entrance of the kitchen. I had expected him to scowl at me or his uncle for volunteering him yet again without his permission. But this time, Aquila just glanced at me and nodded without protest.