Page 63 of Blood Moon
Article II, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
In a blink, Julian was human again, naked and staring at me with the proudest smile I’d ever seen him wear. I closed my eyes once more, covered my face with both hands. “A warning!” I screeched. “A warning would have been nice!”
“It’s not like I can speak when I’m in that form,” he teased, and then he murmured something sarcastically.
“Hey!” I shouted blindly. “I heard that.”
“You didn’t.” He laughed a little, and I smacked my lips.
“I did,” I corrected, lying through my teeth. I wanted Julian to tell me what he said without asking outright, but that plan was backfiring rapidly.
“You didn’t,” he said again. “Because if you had, you’d probably be launching your shoe at me.”
“Don’t tempt me.” I huffed. “Is it safe for me to open my eyes yet?”
“Yes.”
When I did, I placed my hands behind me and leaned back, watching him tie his shoes. Human again. So peculiar. So inconceivable. Julian smoothed his shirt out, wiped some dander away from his jeans, and then sat on a smaller rock across from me, where he put on his chain. He beamed again, glistening from ear to ear.
“You must be really proud of yourself,” I said, and he smiled even wider, resting his arms on his legs.
“I am. I’ve actually never been able to show anyone my true form.” He took a breath. “It feels really good,” he said, a rosiness in his cheeks.
Habitually, I wouldn’t have said anything in response, but because there was this sense of honor from being the first to witness him shift, I said, “You should be proud.”
Julian thanked me, rubbed his hands on his legs. “I’m curious … what did you think?”
I didn’t miss a beat. “It was absolutely incredible.” And still, I couldn’t believe it was real. “Can you do that whenever you want?”
“Yeah.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No,” he began, folding his fingers. “It’s not like the movies where they portray it as skin ripping gruesomely from the body and growing new bones, while simultaneously fighting the urge to destroy everything in sight. My people are different. While we are considered werewolves, we’re technically shapeshifters. Logistics are funny in that way.”
I imagined shapeshifting was like magic. A snap of the fingers, and one could be human or wolf. “How long has this been happening to you?”
Julian looked at his chain, then his hands. “As pups, we are born human-presenting, entering the world like any mortal, but as toddlers, some of us shift for the first time. It’s usually not for long, or often, but it happens until the gene goes into remission. We spend the rest of our childhood like normal kids, and once puberty comes to an end, shifting hits us like a sickness. For me, I was out sick for a month, writhing in agony as my body adjusted to what it was meant to be. I knew what was happening, but it was still the worst pain in my life. When the transition was complete, I was gifted this chain as a rite of passage. Everyone in the family owns one.” Julian smiled again, realizing he’d offered more than I’d asked for, but it was captivating learning how it worked. “To answer your question, I’ve been able to fully shift for two years now.”
I remembered the men Julian had been with that evening in the woods. “How many others are like you? Are there a pack of wolves running wild on campus?”
“I wouldn’t say we’re running wild on campus.”
“But there’s a pack?” I raised a brow.
“Kind of.”
“Do others know?” I asked, but I knew the response. “The bond,” I muttered to myself, but even with the oath in place, there were loopholes … there was that book.
“Right. It’s what connects us together. Especially when we’re in wolf form.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“When we’re animals, we can’t speak, but we’re able to transmit our words telepathically. It’s similar to mind reading, only we have the ability to withhold thoughts we don’t want to share.”
I nodded, thinking of something witty I could have said, but deciding against it. How mature of me. I asked another question, a more burning one. “How does aging work?” Because Julian and I—I assumed—were similar in age, but with him being a paranormal creature, I wasn’t sure.
“Are you asking because you’re ageist?”
