Mate.

That one word seems to change everything. Laiela's eyes widen and she takes a step back. 

Not possible. 

Mr Coleman is now looking back up at Alex and the expression on his face is almost painful to see. He looks so tortured and so sorry yet also happier than I've ever seen him. 

"Luna." He says his voice filled with so much emotion I can barely interpret half of the meaning that word carries for him.

It must mean something to Alex as well because tears suddenly appear in his eyes and start running down his cheeks. At this Mr Coleman springs up from his kneeling position on the ground and goes over to Alex, bringing him further into the room and closing the door behind them before enfolding him in an embrace. Alex stands there stiffly for a moment before almost collapsing against Mr Coleman and sobbing into his shoulder.

"Shhh. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." Mr Coleman soothes as he strokes up and down Alex's back.

"How is this possible?" Laiela asks. "I thought the bond could only be formed between a man and a woman?" 

"That's true." Mr Coleman answers calmly.

"But then how . . . ?" Alex sniffs looking up at Mr Coleman desperately.

"You know how Luna. You remember at least some of it." He replies, wiping the tears from his cheek.

"But that was just a dream!" exclaims Alex.

"Not a dream. A memory from another life. One of many in fact. I believe this is your 19th lifetime on this earth." replies Mr Coleman.

Both Alex and Laiela's eyes go wide. Both are shocked and silent but then Laiela looks as if something dawned on her.

"Wait do you mean to say . . ."

"Yes, Nix. You and your sister are reincarnations."

"Wait a minute! What the hell is going on here?!" I exclaim standing up from where I had still been kneeling.

The three of them look over at me like they'd forgotten I was here.

"James, I . . ." Laiela stutters.

"You haven't told him?" Mr Coleman asks. She shakes her head and looks down at the floor.

"I didn't want him to find out like this. I've never had to deal with someone who hadn't turned yet. I didn't know what to do."

"Seriously what's going on!?! You all know something I don't and I'm starting to get a little freaked out over here!"

Before anyone can respond the bell rings and I can hear people outside coming towards the class.

If you want answers then play along!  It takes me a second to realise that that wasn't said out loud and that I was now hearing Mr Coleman in my head too.

Before I know what's happening Mr Coleman has disengaged from Alex and is back crouching on the ground by the broken mug. He picks up the biggest piece of the mug before going back over to Alex.

"Do you trust me?" He asks holding out the broken bit of crockery. Alex nods and sticks out his hand. In one fluid motion, Mr Coleman draws the sharp fragment over his palm, cutting him and causing blood to well up from the gash. He then motions for me and Laiela to come over to them before throwing the piece of mug back onto the floor. No sooner had he done this than the door opened and students came pouring in. 

As soon as they saw Alex holding his bleeding hand with Laiela, Mr Coleman and I surrounding him, they stop in astonishment. Someone screams and another person looks like they're going to be sick. A general commotion starts up from the crowd. 

"Everyone calm down!" Commands Mr Coleman, looking up at everyone and scanning the crowd.

"Molly go get the janitor." He orders pointing to a tall girl at the back before turning back to us. "You two take him to the nurse, I'll come check on you as soon as homeroom is finished. No one else touch that broken mug!"

The three of us are then ushered out the door, the crowd parting to let us through and we walk down the hall towards the nurse's office, one of us on each side of Alex pretending to support him.

What should we do? We can't actually go to the nurse. His wound is almost healed already! Exclaims Laiela.

Wondering what she's talking about I look down at Alex's hand and am shocked to see she's right. The cut which had gone from one side of his palm to the other was now no more than a scratch.

Go into the room adjacent the nurse's office. It'll be empty and there's a back door that leads to the staff carpark. My car's the silver pickup truck. Wait for me there. Mr Coleman instructed.

This is crazy! How are you almost healed?! I exclaim.

Calm down. Everything will be explained, but for now, we just have to get out of here so we can talk. Replies Laiela.

She gives me a shaky smile and I can feel her trying to calm and reassure me over our bond. I take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand.

We get out into the car park without any interference and quickly find Mr Coleman's pickup since all the other cars in the lot are either Sedans or convertibles.

"Ok, now that we're out of there can we talk?" I ask out loud.

The twins look at each other then back to me.

"We don't know everything. In fact, we have almost as many questions as you, but we can tell you the basics." Says Alex after a minute of silence.

I let loose the breath I hadn't realised I was holding. "I can deal with that. Shoot."

I had expected Alex to start talking first but it was Laiela who took a deep breath and started to explain.

I already told you we're not human, what I didn't say is that we're Werewolves.

"What?!?" I exclaim. I don't know what I had been expecting but that definitely wasn't it.

Werewolves. Repeats Alex. We have the ability to change from human to wolf and visa versa. We also have other powers like enhanced strength and speed, but that's not important right now.

"What . . . But . . . I . . . This is crazy! There's no such thing as Werewolves!" I shout in denial.

James calm down! It's not safe to talk here. Laiela urges.

"But this doesn't make any sense!" 

Well, what do you think then?! There's no logical explanation for what you've experienced. It has to be something magical and out of the ordinary. Why not Werewolves? Insists Alex.

"I . . ." 

He has a point.

Prove it. Turn into a wolf. I say finally.

Of course but not here. We can't risk people seeing. Replies Laiela.

That threw me. I had expected them to say no or to laugh and say "Got Ya!" while pulling out a camera, or maybe that was just what I had hoped for them to do. I don't know anymore. My mind was reeling.

Just then Mr Coleman came out of the side door and came jogging towards us.

I see you told him. Mr Coleman says addressing the twins. They nod in unison.

Well then shall we go somewhere we can prove it to him? I think if he see's us change he'll better be able to accept the reality of what we have to tell him next. He continues.

We have some questions of our own. States Laiela.

Of course and I will endeavour to answer them.  He replies. He then turns to me to tell me what he just said.

"I heard. Where are we going?" I ask. I'll go along with this for now. What choice do I have?

At that, the three of them look a little stunned but they quickly recover and Mr Coleman goes up to the car door pulling out his keys.

"We'll head to the woods." I don't have enough room for all four of us so someone's gonna have to go in the back.

Isn't that a little dangerous, I ask shocked he even suggested it.

For you maybe but we're Werewolves. We'll be fine. Alex replies jumping up into the bed of the truck with stunning grace and ease.

"Ok then, you two in the front." Mr Coleman tells us as he unlocks the door and hold's it open for me and Laiela to jump in.

The drive is spent mostly in silence. I try to process the possibility of them actually being Werewolves and what that could mean. I have a million questions flying through my head and my emotions are all over the place. I couldn't describe how I felt if I tried but probably the biggest and most present emotion I was feeling would be doubt. I just couldn't believe it. Not without proof.

We turned a corner and for a moment I was blinded by the sun. I lifted a hand to shade my eyes but there was no need as we were suddenly in the forest driving down an ancient looking dirt road I'd never seen before.

I sat up straight and paid attention to our surroundings more. I recognised this part of the forest from my exploring but I don't remember this road being here.

"Mr Coleman where are we going? Is this road new?" I ask breaking the silence.

"It's not new." He answers casually.

"What . . .but . . . I've been through this part of the forest before and this wasn't here." 

"Are you sure about that?" He replies pinning me with his stare like he was willing me to know what he meant by that.

"I . . . I'm sure. There was nothing. Just trees and . . ."

"It's magic James." Laiela interrupts.

That statement stops me in my tracks. Magic? Actual real magic? Impossible. But how else do you explain this ancient road suddenly appearing in the forest?

"What?! But how? I thought . . ."

"Werewolves didn't have magic?" Mr Coleman asks smiling. "We're basically made of magic James." He pauses and I think he's done talking, but then he adds, "Me especially as I'm on of the original Werewolves made by Zenon 3000 years ago."

That brings me up short.

"WHAT!?! You're an Immortal!?!" Laiela screeches, her eyes going wide as her mouth dropped open in astonishment.

The three of us sit there silently, none of us knowing what to say. Laiela is now staring at Mr Coleman in shocked admiration like she was seeing a living legend, and my guess is she was. Mr Coleman was staring forward at the road and not saying anything. I could tell he didn't know quite how to respond. I had no idea what was going on. This situation was getting crazier by the second. 

Then to make it worse Alex's head suddenly appeared in Mr Coleman's window and scared the crap out of me.

"Is that true?!" He asked sounding amazed but also sceptical.

"Jesus Alex don't do that! Scared the shit out of me!" I exclaim.

"Luna what are you doing?! It's dangerous!" Exclaims Mr Coleman.

"It's ok I won't fall. Just don't brake suddenly." He smiles. 

Mr Coleman continued to look worried.

"Anyway is it true? Are you really one of the Immortals?" He asks again.

"Yes. I'll explain more when we're out of the car. We're almost there." Mr Coleman replies.

No sooner than he said that then we turned a corner and were suddenly in a clearing. The trees and other plants just stopped and were replaced by neatly mown grass. In the middle of the clearing was an old two story villa with a big porch out the front. 

This definitely wasn't here last time I came to this part of the forest.

Lying asleep on the porch was a dog, or at least that's what it looked like from far away. As we got closer it lifted its head from where it had been resting on its front paws. Mr Coleman parked the car and got out to help Alex jump down from the back. The dog observed us for a minute before standing and trotting over. As it came closer I noticed that it didn't look like any other dog I'd seen before. I couldn't tell what breed it was. It took me a while to realise it wasn't a dog at all but a large brown wolf. The wolf went up to Mr Coleman and sat down beside his leg where it stayed quietly observing us as we got out of the truck.

"This is my companion Sirius." says Mr Coleman gesturing to the wolf.

"Sirius? As in Sirius Black from Harry Potter? You have a pet wolf and you named him after a wizard?!" I ask nervously.

"Not a pet. You must remember I am a Werewolf. Keeping a wolf as a pet would be the same as having a pet human! Sirius is not my pet but my friend, or more like a lazy roommate who eats all your food and sleeps most of the day."

At that last comment, Sirius bumped into him as if to say "cut it out".

"He can understand you?" Alex ask.

"Somewhat. His great grandmother was a werewolf so he has human intelligence, can't transform though." Mr Coleman replies patting Sirius on the head. The wolf looked up at him in annoyance.

"The wolf thinks like a person. Okay, I'm starting to feel like I've had enough weird for today." I say half to myself.

"Oh don't say that. It's about to get a whole heap weirder. Which one of us should change?" Replies Mr Coleman directing the last question at the twins.

"I'll do it." Say's Laiela before she starts taking off her shirt.

"What are you doing?" I hiss pushing her arms back down.

"Stripping. If I don't I'll shred these clothes and I happen to like this top," she replies stepping back so she can pull her shirt over her head. Then come her boots and her jeans so that she is reduced to nothing but her underwear, when she reaches to remove that too I turn away. My face feels hot and I know I'm as red as a tomato.

She gathers her clothes off the ground and hands them to Alex who stows them in the truck bed.

"You ready?" She asks me.

I take a deep breath and turn back to look at her. She's beautiful, every part of her. I can't help but run my eyes up and down her body, from her head to her feet and back up to look her in the eyes. She blushes and gives me a nervous smile before taking a deep breath. 

Then something amazing happens. Her form begins to morph and dissolve until it's no longer Laiela standing in front of me but a giant white she-wolf, the same one from my dreams. Its head is bowed and Its eyes closed but I can tell it's the same one. Its fur is white as freshly fallen snow. Its shoulders come up to about the middle of my chest and its paws are the size of catching mitts.

The wolf opens its eyes and raises its head so we're looking eye to eye. It has to look up to do this but not much as it's head is the same height as my chin. As I look into it's glowing forest green eyes the realisation that the wolf is really Laiela and that Laiela is the wolf hits me like a tonne of bricks and suddenly my legs can't hold me up anymore. I collapsed to the ground, landing on my ass in a sitting position.

"James!" Exclaims Alex. Mr Coleman puts a hand on his shoulder stopping him from coming over here.

The wolf; Laiela - goes to come towards me but then hesitates and backs off instead, her tail between her legs and her ears dropping.

"W . . . Wait!" I shout reaching out my arm towards the retreating wolf, towards Laiela.

She freezes and instead comes back towards me, slowly and cautiously as if approaching a frightened animal. She lowers her head and presses it up against my outstretched palm. Her fur is so soft. I immediately start stroking her face and muzzle.

"This . . . I . . . How is this possible? Werewolves are just a myth!" I exclaim as I scratch behind her ears. She closes her eyes and gets this dreamy satisfied look on her face. If she had been a cat she would have purred.

Mmmm. Keep doing that. Feels nice. she hums over the bond.

"Well that's a bit of a long story but since we have some time I'll tell you as much as I can." Answers Mr Coleman.

Alex comes over and helps me to my feet then the four of us with Laiela still in her wolf form go over to the porch and sit down on the couches there and wait for the story to begin.