Chapter 22

He nodded.
"Does anyone have any more questions?" asked Peter in a voice devoid of emotion. His gaze roamed the room, probably looking for someone who wanted to cause trouble.
"Is she polite?" asked Geo again.
Isabella suspected there were many questions they wanted to ask, but they were either too afraid to ask them (not in front of her, but in front of Peter), or they didn't want to do it in front of her. Either way, no one said anything.
Isabella understood that she wasn't part of their pack, and the less she knew, the better. But she knew with every breath that she'd not betray Peter for anything or anyone.
"Do you want me to go?" asked Isabella Peter over her mind link. It was at times like this that she appreciated the benefits of having a friend. You always had someone you could talk to about anything without worrying about someone else finding out.
"No," he replied in an irritated voice. "You can go back to class." He informed them. They stood silently as the cafeteria emptied; occasionally, when someone got too close, Peter growled and held them tighter.
"She's beautiful." said Isabella, looking at the girl; they met at the front door.
He whirled around and looked at the girl. "Oh." He turned his burning gaze on Isabella. "I don't know about that."
"Peter." Isabella warned.
"Seriously, in my eyes there's only one beautiful girl. I only see you."
Isabella looked down at her hands, her cheeks suddenly feeling hot from both embarrassment and anger. "Ugh."
He lifted his chin so I could look at him. Isabella took two deep breaths. His mesmerizing beauty surprised her every time she looked at him, leaving her dazzled.
"Would you rather I thought she was pretty?" Of course he'd take that the wrong way. His need to make and keep her happy overshadowed everything. And if Isabella wanted him to see the girl's beauty, he'd, just for her. "Um ... she might be pretty, now that I look at her, really look at her."
Isabella could see the sacrifice, he must've searched deep to find this beauty, but she didn't miss Pretty either unlike beautiful.
Isabella shrugged her shoulders. "She's not that pretty after all. Especially now that you mention it," the realization was painful and made her stomach ache, she'd have preferred to cry because she was an absolutely stunning blonde.
They were the last to go into his classroom, but still the first ones there. Typical student, Isabella was sitting in the very back of the class when Geo walked in. He smiled at her, and she forced her lips to form into a smile. It probably came out as a grimace. He sat down next to her. She couldn't take her eyes off Peter, no matter how hard she tried.
"Does anyone know how Wendigos came to be?" asked Peter in a professional manner. Isabella was sure that this was only for her benefit. She'd been asking this question for ages.
"I do." said Geo next to me. Does he ever shut up?
"Oh Geo, what am I going to do with you?" said Peter to no one in particular.
"Kiss me?"
She moaned warningly.
He raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, I was kidding, Geez."
Embarrassed, Isabella looked down at her hands. Somehow they seemed more interesting than anything else.
"The first Wendigo to ever walk the Earth was Hayden, who was then ...," he paused and cleared his throat. "He was a human who was more intelligent than the average human. He knew of the darkness of the night and its sinister creatures..." at that he looked at her. In fact, the whole class looked at her, but Isabella said nothing. She'd nothing to say.
"It was during the full moon when he went hunting. His wife was weak and dying of hunger. He couldn't leave her alone for long. He preferred to leave while she slept."
He sat down on the corner of his desk and flashed his stunning smile at her.

"While he was away, Commodore, the second of the wolf brothers ate his wife. By the time he returned, the wife, Melissa, was almost transformed; she was almost a werewolf herself. Commodore had unwittingly transferred enough poison to turn her. Hayden was freaking out. He tried to fight off the wolf, but he couldn't. The wolf fled out of sight."
"Is that why werewolves are insane during a full moon? They can't control themselves during a full moon. They attack without thinking. ", Geo asked.
Peter heaved a frustrated sigh. "Yes Geo." He paused for a moment, probably expecting to ask another question, but he didn't. When he was sure he wasn't going to speak, he said. "When he woke up in the morning, he found that his wife was still in pain and he was dying of hunger. Someone had stolen the deer he'd killed the night before. At that moment, he thought only of satisfying his hunger and ending his wife's pain. He devoured her shamelessly."
He sat up and walked aimlessly.
"Later that day ..." he began.
"So that means Wendigos are heartless?" interrupted Geo.
Everyone, including Peter, growled at him. Isabella could only smile. Subliminally, what he said was true.
"What?" he asked when he saw them staring at him. "But it's true, isn't it?"
"Get out," Peter roared. "Get out now, Geo."
"Sorry." He said and slumped down in his seat.
The authority in Peter's voice affected everyone. It was that of an animal, and at that second he looked more beautiful than everything else in this world put together. Isabella exhaled loudly, trying to calm the racing beat of her heart. He looked at me sharply before turning into his beast and pouncing on her.
Confused, Isabella looked at him with wary eyes. He shoved her behind him and snarled angrily at the Wendigo that approached. It dawned on her at that moment that they must've picked up my scent.
"Stop that." he said through our connection.
It didn't help that his coat was touching her bare arm, he was so close.
He groaned in warning.
Slowly, she took deep breaths through her nose to calm herself. After a minute, she said, "I'm fine."
A few minutes later, they picked up where they left off. "... So that afternoon he hunted down the Commodore and killed him. He found that the only thing that could keep him satiated for long was werewolf meat, but once he sucked the life essence out of him, he realized he was much more powerful. Wendigos are as old as time. And only then could he transform and realize his true nature, he wasn't human after all."
"Sir," said a girl in the front row, "how did werewolves come to be?"
She smiled. "Isabella will tell us all about it." He reached out to take her hand.
Isabella couldn't do it. Not with everyone staring at her.
"Yes, yes you can," Peter said.
Isabella shook her head.
"Come."
She sighed and took his hand. She looked down at the ground. "Werewolves, I've been told, are as old as life. They were created on the same day as humans."
He squeezed her hand. "You can do this."
Isabella smiled sadly at him. He'd so much faith in her. "Originally, there were four siblings - Commodore, Carzo, Hopewell and Zane. In the beginning, they didn't know the effects of the full moon. They indulged in their wolves and then learned the next day about the horrors of the previous night."
"They'd no companions?" asked the beautiful girl.
"Oh yes, they did." Isabella frowned. She, too, had a beautiful voice. "Only Hopewell didn't have one, and he'd to suffer from a disease called maylis - that's what they call those who don't have a mate. Normally you transform violently when the moon is in the same position as when you were born seventeen years before, and it's so traumatic that once you're in wolf form you can't change back. Usually your human self gets lost somewhere and you eventually have to be executed."
"Why?" asked Peter.
"If you don't, you'll either betray us or kill everyone?"
"Isn't there a cure?"
Isabella gave him an evil look. "I thought today I was the one asking questions."
"You'll get your chance." He argued. "Two days in a row."
Isabella smiled. "No, there's no cure unless your mate comes, though sometimes it can be too late. It only takes six weeks for the wolf to die on its own. So yes..." she shrugged.
"And what if your companion is human?"
"We wouldn't know. I mean, no one has ever had a human mate before."
"And what if one is rejected?" Peter kept asking new questions. "What happens then?"
"You go through the same horrors as a maylis, except you don't turn. You experience everything in human form."
He winced. "That must be painful."
"I bet it's."
"So," he said again, more concerned with himself than with his students. Isabella felt like the teacher. "What happens to the refuser?"
"He'll feel a slight pain only if his partner doesn't welcome the separation. But if they reject each other as...."
"Has there ever been a ... us before?"
Isabella smiled sadly. "Not that I know of. And even if there had been, they'd probably take it to the grave."
"Like us."
"Like us," she agreed, "when partners can feel each other. Their souls call to each other, no matter how far away they're. There's something like an invisible magic thread that holds them together. Why did you come to the forest the day we met?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I was walking with my siblings when I heard someone - an angel - calling to me. I couldn't ignore it. It's been happening for half a decade. If I'd known, I wouldn't have ignored it."
"I didn't feel anything. If you were a werewolf, I'd have. With our species, it works both ways. But because you're a different species, fate gave you a choice. It was up to you to choose."
"And if I hadn't? Don't you get a second chance, buddy?"
Isabella laughed. "Peter, there's only one partner, one soul. It's divided into two."