Chapter Thirty-Three

I back up frantically, nearly tripping over myself as I watch Adrian’s body collapse into itself with horror. Gentle hands meet my shoulders, preventing me from running away to hide behind the desk, and Dean De Leon’s voice is in my ear. “You would not believe us otherwise. This was the only way to gain your trust,” He says, tone low and grave. Not threatening, just wise understanding.

I can’t take my eyes off of Adrian, who no longer looks like the bodyguard I know. His shoulders are hunched into themselves as he bows to be on all fours, mouth open in a silent scream as his body changes. My eyes burn from keeping them open for so long, but within a matter of seconds Adrian is gone, and a gray wolf is standing in his place.

I open my mouth to scream, but a hand clamps over my mouth to silence me. The Dean’s voice comes from behind me again, louder this time to be heard over my muffled yelp. “Hush now, Ms. Loveday. He won’t hurt you. That is Adrian, after all.”

My knees buckle beneath me, but the Dean is somehow strong enough to keep me from falling. “H-how” I stammer, feeling my body quake with shock. “How- how did that-”

“He mentioned it to you, didn’t he? That he is a-”

I cut the Dean off as the realization sinks in. “A werewolf,” I finish the sentence in disbelief, cutting him off. The wolf is the same height as the stack of books on the desk, which I assume is unheard of for the animal’s usual size. I’ve never seen one in person, but it looks more like a bear than a wolf. It gazes straight at me with dark eyes, the color of freshly brewed coffee. Adrian’s eyes, I realize.

I take a hesitant step forward, my legs still shaking with terror. “It isn’t you, is it?” I ask, voice coming out in a whisper. The wolf lowers his head, keeping his eyes trained on mine. A normal animal would never hold eye contact like that, right? I feel like I could laugh at the absurdity of the situation, my mind refusing to grasp what my eyes just saw. After all, I guess I did witness a woman and her car disappear on the side of the road. This academy is no joke.

I lower myself into a crouch a few feet away from the wolf, studying it closely. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but those eyes are definitely his. The animal keeps his head lowered as he steps closer slowly, eyes calculating to see if I’ll run off or not. Though every instance in me screams at me to bolt for the elevator, I remain still as he approaches. The wolf shows no signs of aggression towards me, and the Dean remains calm behind me.

I suck in a breath as the wolf comes to a stop in front of me, remaining a respectable distance away. The familiar scent of pine and mint wafts to my nostrils, and it’s not the stale scent that remains on Adrian’s coat. My throat goes bone dry. “Adran?”

The wolf closes its eyes briefly, but longer than a blink. Confirmation? He slowly, cautiously, edges closer, trying not to frighten me off. I hold my breath as he stops in front of me, inches from my face. “There’s no way,” I breathe, reaching a tentative hand out to touch the wolf’s ear. He doesn’t flinch away but leans into my touch, instead. As soon as my fingers make contact, the image of Adrian’s grinning face, dimple and all, pops into my brain. I’m not sure how, but I know that this animal is him. The image gives me the courage to sink to my knees and lean forward, burring both of my hands into the animal’s fur. Surprisingly coarse on the surface, but when I dig deeper inside, I’m met with fur as soft as freshly fallen snow.

“How is this possible?” I ask the wolf. He answers with a low-pitched whine, nuzzling me with his cold nose. Looking closer, he isn’t quite black, though the body is very dark brown, getting even darker at the feet and tip of the tail. The fur near his face lightens to russet, lightening the closer it gets to his eyes, highlighting the deepness of them. He presses his face against my chest, almost as if he’s hugging me. In return, I push my face into the fur of his chest, listening to the heart beating strongly beneath it. “It is you,” I murmur against the wolf’s chest. Except, it isn’t the wolf’s body anymore.

Adrian’s arms are suddenly around me again, embracing me against his smooth, warm skin. “Yes, it’s me,” He whispers into my hair, holding me tighter. “You recognized me.” His words make heat blossom inside of my chest. He sounds so gentle and relieved that it makes me want to cry.

I pull back to look at him, baffled to see that it’s really his body, no longer the wolf I was holding a moment ago. His eyes search my face as he brings a hand to caress my cheek. I lean into his touch, grateful for his skin against mine. “How did that happen?” I breathe.

Adrian’s smile is small as he brushes his thumb against my cheek. “That’s a long story. Let me get dressed first,” My eyes burst open in sudden realization and I jerk away from him, realizing that he has been holding me while butt-ass naked this whole time. He laughs as he pulls away, reaching for his clothes as I avert my eyes.

The Dean locks eyes with me and slowly raises an eyebrow. “There now, dear. Surely you’ll believe us now,” He says, still leaning on his cane as if what he witnessed was a regular occurrence. It probably is, considering his hallways are filled with other monsters during the day. Even the professors? I suppose that would be likely.

Adrian’s fingers brush my jaw, closing it gently for me since I left it ajar. He now has his pants back on, though his shirt remains balled up in his hands. His skin is almost uncomfortably warm to touch all of the sudden, and I can almost swear I see steam rising from his damp skin. From what I witnessed, I’m sure changing his shape like that is no easy feat. It sounded painful, excruciating even. “How… How many times do you do that?” I ask, looking up into Adrian’s deep, brown eyes. They seem so much more open now than they used to like he has nothing more to hide. The honesty makes my throat seize up painfully. He hasn’t been lying to me to hurt me, he was doing it to protect me.

He raises his eyebrows and pulls me to my feet, lifting me from the hardwood floor by my arms. “How many times? Do you mean on a regular basis?”

I shift my gaze from his bare chest, finding it hard to maintain eye contact when his burning skin is so taut over his every muscle. “Like, with the moon phases and stuff?” I clarify, hating how clueless I sound. Anything I’ve heard about werewolves has been from shows and movies, so I don’t know how much knowledge I have is accurate. Judging from his expression, probably not alot of it is.

Adrian glances to the Dean, who takes a seat at his desk again. “The full moon has a psychological aspect in everyone, but it doesn’t make us go crazy or anything. Maybe just a little more irritable if anything,” He says, reaching to brush the escapee hairs from my forehead.

Us. There are other werewolves at this school then. “How many are there?” I can’t take my eyes away from him, scared that if I blink he’s going to revert back to the wolf that stood there minutes before. “Can you control when that happens?”

Adrian smiles softly, looking more like himself than he ever has. “I figured you would have a lot of questions. You should sit down and then I’ll tell you everything you want to know until you’re satisfied, okay?” He ushers me by the small of my back to two chairs that suddenly appear in front of the Dean’s desk. I don’t remember them being there before, but then again, I was pretty occupied having my mind blown into a thousand pieces.

I nod, too distracted to care about the sudden appearance of the furniture as I lower myself onto one of the cushions. Adrian takes the one next to me and answers my last two questions. “About half of the student body here is the same species as me. We can control when we shift, yes. Though the angrier we are, the more likely our wolf is to force itself out of its own volition. Anger puts us into fighting mode.”

I guess that makes sense, sort of like an automatic armor. “Oh, okay,” I say numbly, still reeling to catch up with the information. He said species. As in, not of the human species. As in, he’s not human. And neither are the rest of the students. “But wait, what about Jasper? And Serene? Why are they here?"