Sorry for the long wait! I've been busy these days and most likely I will still be, but I won't abandon this story (and the rest of my stories, so to speak)

teamBLAZE: Agreed! This is the fastest Neil-Reine relationship I've ever written (13 chapters). Of course I have a reason for this seemingly turbo relationship and there will be hints about that in this chapter ^^

"You're dating him?" Gwen couldn't hide her amusement. "Neil?"

"What? You think it's too fast?"

"No—okay, perhaps—but you seem happy."

Reine blushed and Gwen laughed. "One season ago you're on each other's throat. I just can't believe it."

"Neither do I," the pinkette admitted. She rolled the ring around her finger slowly. "But, it didn't feel wrong either."

"Then, I don't see anything wrong with you guys dating each other."

"I guess…"

Suddenly, the door flew open and Rod ran in. "Reine!"

The sisters turned to face him and he suddenly hugged Reine. "I heard you're dating Neil now! Congrats!"

"Wha—how?"

"Wolves can gossip too, y'now!" Rod grinned. "And they don't lie."

Reine frowned. Somehow, she didn't quite believe wolves believed in the notion of 'dating'. "What did they say exactly?"

"That you're Neil's mate?" Rod replied, "I mean, well, I know it should mean dating in humans, duh."

"Wait, Neil is a human?!"

Rod gasped. His eyes switched between the two women. Gwen was shocked, too, and now he had no idea how he should approach this. "Well…" he shifted nervously on his feet.

"Well?" Reine demanded. "Is he a human?"

To be honest, Reine felt wrong to ask this kind of question to Rod instead of Neil. She was his girlfriend, was she not? Nevertheless, Neil didn't seem to be willing to disclose that information—at least for the time being—and she really wanted to know what he really was. He couldn't be just a mere wolf-whisperer, right? If he were, shouldn't more 'whisperers' be here?

"I met him…" Rod began. "Ten years ago, perhaps? I wasn't quite sure."

Gwen, sensing that it would be quite a long story, gestured to Rod to take a seat. He did and continued after sitting across the sisters. "At that time, I lived as a wolf in Siberia. As you know, I am considerably larger than normal wolves, so I got hunted down."

"He… I had no idea why he was there, but he took the bullets meant for me," Rod pointed at his chest. "Right here."

Gwen and Reine looked at him in disbelief. "How could he survive that?"

Rod shrugged. "What's more, the hunter ran away in fear. I stayed with him, I tried to wake him up, but he didn't move at all…" Rod looked downwards and Reine could feel his sadness as if she had reopened a wound that he had meticulously closed. "The next day, some people came and took him away. They let me go… and I thought I'd never see him again."

The sisters looked at each other. It would be unlikely that Rod got the wrong person; it was not the kind of memory you would easily let go.

"But, maybe he was pretending to be dead—or his body went through a death trance!" Rod said in a sudden cheerful tone. "Who knows? It might happen, right?"

"So now you aren't sure he's not human?"

"I don't think he is," Rod nodded. "He passed through the Mist!"

"We did, too," Reine told him. "And I can assure you we're humans."

"How could you be so sure?" Rod asked. "Remember the Witch Hunt?"

"Uh-huh?"

"That caused many wizards and witches to build a separate world to protect their identity. In the past, there were many… purges, so to speak, to eradicate people like us."

"So, you were trying to say that one of our ancestors was not human," Gwen noted.

"Yep! Like Felicity, right?"

Felicity was a half-mermaid and her half-breed status gave her more troubles instead of the best of both worlds; she was rejected by both humans and merpeople. Thankfully Clement, himself part merman, took her under his wing and brought her to the town.

All in all, Rod's conjecture didn't seem impossible at all. Now that they lived in this town, everything seemed to be possible.

"But how long it could stay?" Reine asked, now really curious about this. "You know… the traits."

Rod shrugged. "I don't think it's the same for each species. For werewolf traits, they're not apparent on fourth and subsequent generation if the other mates were humans."

Reine leaned back into the couch. "Now you make me curious…" she said. "About who we are… who Neil is…"

Neil was walking through the forest when he sensed another presence nearby. He immediately stopped and looked up. True enough, someone was standing on one sturdy branch of one of the trees. He jumped down and landed right in front of him. Like Neil, his eyes were sharp; however, it appeared more purplish than Neil's. His sun-kissed skin and overall black attire were a direct contrast to his gleaming silvery hair. Neil stood straight in front of him and—against the usual rules—it was he who spoke up first.

"Vaughn,"

His partner was not annoyed. They had never cared much about rules, after all.

"It seemed that you've settled down well in this town."

Neil cringed. He knew what Vaughn was really trying to get at. Neil could feel his heart beat furiously against his chest. If Vaughn, from all people, came here to talk about it, something would surely happen.

"It is not a mistake," Neil insisted. "And it happens not because what you think it was. I have faith it that."

Vaughn couldn't suppress an amused grin. "From all people, I didn't think you would say that," he said. "Then again… I guess it should be expected."

"What are you really trying to say?" Neil really couldn't handle the suspense. Not when he thought he could finally be happy with his existence.

Vaughn took a breath and looked into his eyes. He knew he had to break it to Neil, sooner than later. "Leave her."

"An affair with a mortal can never be good. For both of you."

Neil clenched his fist. "I don't want to."

"I don't even need my power to see what kind of mess this stubbornness will get you into."

"I don't give a shit about what you think you see. I finally found that silver lining in this and you told me to screw this?" Neil growled, "You leave, Vaughn."

For a moment, Vaughn eyes glowed. Neil knew what it meant but like he had said: he didn't give a shit. After his eyes were back to normal, Vaughn told him.

"Believe me, Neil… you would leave her."

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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