Some slight language in this chapter so be warned please!

XxXxX

The evening went fairly slowly after dinner. I was in my bedroom doing calculus homework when my phone buzzed. I picked it up and was surprised to find a text message from Jake. We'd only swapped numbers earlier that day.

Hey Lee

So I hope this isn't a creepy request.

I'm really struggling with this calculus.

Do you think you could nip over and help me out?

Jake

I frowned and looked at my clock. It was only half eight and he only lived next door. I shut my text book, grabbed my work book and my notepad. I picked up my English stuff too, I'd struggled a little bit on writing an analytical essay. I held the whole lot under my arm as I went down the stairs, texting Jake back as I went.

'Hey Em, just nipping across to see Jake for a bit' I shouted

Emily stuck her head out of the kitchen door and looked at me confused.

'Whoa, wait! What happened to his smell is so strong I can barely think straight?'

'I'm getting used to it' I lied

'You've been keeping away from their house for ages!' Emily replied

'He's a friend, I have to go there at some point'

Emily made a noise that sounded halfway between a groan and a sigh before shaking her head.

'Home, before ten thirty' She sighed

'Thanks Em. It's not entirely a social visit anyway'

Before she could reply I went out and shut the door. I didn't even bother going down the steps and I simply vaulted over the dividing wall between our houses. I straightened my clothes and quickly smoothed my ponytail before knocking on the door. I heard Jake yelling that it was for him before he opened the door suddenly.

The fiery smell billowed out of the door and I had to force myself to not let my knees buckle. His hair was messed up, probably from only just resisting tearing it out by the looks. He'd abandoned his hoodie and his plain white t-shirt and blue jeans also looked slightly wrinkled.

He pulled me inside and shut the door. He explained to me as he went up the stairs, I hadn't expected to be going to his room.

'Hey Lee, sorry it's late. I'm really confused though and Simner wants it in tomorrow or else I would've left it' He said

'No need, I could do with a bit of help on lit myself' I smiled

He pushed open his bedroom door and the fiery smell went up. I blinked and immediately reverted to breathing through my mouth but it was so strong I could practically taste it too.

We settled on the floor and sat cross legged to study properly. As I helped him though I gradually got used to the smell and was able to ignore it and focus. The calculus work between us got done properly and then he helped me with my lit. Turns out he'd already written his essay, but now as he was helping me he was leaning right over me.

The skin on his arm brushed against mine and as he leaned on his arm to look at my workbook he fingers brushed my leg. I couldn't resist taking a slight inhale through my nose, immersing myself in the scent-

'Lee, are you alright?' Jake asked

I jumped slightly 'Oh, yeah! Sorry' I smiled sheepishly

'You seem distracted. You alright?' Jake frowned

I smiled and nodded, folding a loose bit of hair behind my ear nervously. Jake carried on explaining and I wrote furiously. After the homework we chatted for a bit. Somehow we got onto the subject of Mythology lessons and Jake started telling me about this Rottwood he'd mentioned earlier today.

'As far as I know, we're off dragons and onto Werewolves next' Jake said, flipping through his textbook which also appeared to have been written by the same professor.

'Werewolves?' I asked, resisting a nervous edge

'Yeah, but I've already read the thesis. It's a load of crap, there's no way werewolves are that lame' Jake replied with a laugh

'I don't have one of those textbooks' I said

'Yeah, you have to get em off Rottwood. They won't publish them but he still uses them in the curriculum' Jake said

'Right, I'll make a note of that'I replied

I looked at my watch, ten fifteen. I stood up and brushed myself off and pulled my fingers through my ponytail. Jake stood up and stretched, I purposely kept my eyes off him. It seemed that during spending more time with him my curiosity had turned to fascination and from that, stupidly, attraction.

He led me back down the stairs and handed me my school stuff.

'Right well, I'll see you tomorrow Lee. Same time to walk to school?' Jake asked

'Uh, yeah sure. See you later Jake' I smiled

I could not get to sleep properly that night, no matter how hard I tried. I stood up and went to my window. As I suspected the moon was full in the sky. It didn't make me transform but I was often very restless on this night every month. I dressed and snuck out.

XxXxX

Jake hadn't known of many unusual things in the grand scheme of things. Yes, the fact that he was half magical reptile was unusual, the fact that he protected the likes of fairies, pixies and unicorns to name but a few was unusual and yes, the fact that his Grandpa's dog was over 600 years old and could talk. But the fact was that this was unusual for others but not to Jake.

However, the fact that one of his newest friends seemed constantly distracted in his presence was bothering him. Selena was, to him anyway, a different kind of girl. In everything else he'd seen her do such as dealing with her rambunctious nephew, bonding with his own friends and the way she spoke to the rest of the students and even the teachers at Filmore she seemed very confident. But as soon as she was within five feet of him she seemed distracted and slightly tense.

She was different even without that, Jake was still completely curious about what she was. He'd never known anyone but another magical creature and a slayer knocking him off his feet unless he'd been unaware. He'd been completely aware that once Selena had left that top step she was going to land on him and he'd been ready to catch her.

He entered the shop but this time Fu moved out of the way. Lao Shi recognised the same look of distraction on his grandson's face. It seemed Fu did too.

'What now?' The dog asked

'She was just at my house. I'm pretty sure she was...smelling me' Jake pulled a face

Fu Dog and Lao Shi exchanged a look before Lao pulled a book off a shelf and opened a page. Jake saw a few of them were marked.

He looked at the first page. It read "Succubus. Female. Typically attractive but very physically strong. A very dangerous breed of humanoid creature that preys on any kind of male creature but prefers the soul of a magical being"

Jake pulled a face and flipped to the next marked page "Nix" He flipped to the next page "Werewolves. Highly dangerous on the night of the full moon but otherwise are harmless human beings with few differences. They can speak to dogs, they have highly sensitive hearing and senses of smell, physically strong and easily disguised"

He looked up at Lao Shi who put his finger on that page.

'I think we could be dealing with a potentially dangerous creature Jake' Lao Shi said

Jake looked out of the window. The moon was high and full in the sky, he looked back at Lao Shi.

'I don't think she's dangerous though. She's different' Jake said, his voice low.

Lao Shi and Fu Dog looked at one another. They didn't need reminding of Jake's former love to know that despite everything; he knew what was real in someone. They just had to trust that he wouldn't be wrong this time.

XxXxX

The next morning I got up and showered and dressed as usual but I had to rub remaining sleep from my eyes. I was slightly disturbed about the fact that on full moon I was getting more restless. I wasn't forced to transform but I felt compelled to. I went into the kitchen and Emily winced slightly.

'I checked my lunar calendar, it was a full moon last night' She commented

'I'm getting restless. I may have to take a trip to go and see Bryce' I replied

Bryce was the only other Lycanthromorphic being I'd encountered. As a full Lycanthropic, his senses were a lot stronger than mine and he'd been able to detect me instantly and he'd known juts from my scent that I hadn't been infected with it later in life, I'd been born that way.

He was the one who'd given me the knowledge about Lycanthropics. He was the reason I knew it was a disease, a virus to be exact which was why it couldn't be cured despite the many remedy myths, told me about silver allergies which explained why I couldn't wear silver jewellery without breaking out in rashes on the area it was worn.

Emily tipped my head back and delicately covered up my dark circles. She dusted my face off with powder and dabbed some slight blush on.

'There, much better' She said softly 'And yes, if you feel it's necessary. I trust Bryce with you'

I nodded. Snow sat closely by my side, her worry hung heavily over me. I scrunched her ears reassuringly before shouldering my schoolbag and getting up to leave.

I left the house and put on a smile for Jake who stood waiting, his scent hit me like a ton of bricks. I hissed when I realised my senses must've been stronger from the full moon the night before. Like me, it seemed he'd also had a rather restless night but unlike me he hadn't covered it up with makeup. He still seemed able to tell I was tired though.

'Rough night Lee?' He asked, an unusal pointedness about his voice.

I frowned, he couldn't possibly suspect anything 'Yeah, Buck kept jumping about in his cage. What about you?'

'Yeah, I couldn't sleep either' He said

We walked in relative silence, an unusual awkwardness hung over us both. It was strange to say the least, Jake had always seemed comfortable in my presence and even though I couldn't say the same I never let it bother me.

It didn't go any further than the school doors though and as soon as Trixie and Spud were there the atmosphere went back to normal. Soon we were in the first lesson of the day which was History; I had that with Spud and then Art again with Trixie.

Break went as normal and then the other three groaned. I checked my timetable. Mythology was next, the lesson that all three had managed to warn me about at least once. It seemed to be one of those lessons that people took as that lesson where you didn't try too hard.

'I can't wait to see how you react to this' Spud joked as we lined up outside the classroom, waiting to be let in.

'Why?' I asked

'Because Rottwood is a complete joke' Jake replied

I frowned but didn't comment. I'd taken this lesson with the hope that it actually had some truth about myths and I'd possibly learn more about Lycanthropics.

An unusual man made his way up the corridor. He dressed in extremely odd and ill-fitting clothes and he even had one of those one lense things on a string, held in place by one squinty eye.

He unlocked the classroom door without a word and everyone went in one by one. I stood awkwardly at the front but Jake stayed with me. He pointedly cleared his throat.

'Yo, Prof-'

'No yo-yoing in my class Jake Long!' He snapped

I blinked at the heavy german accent and he finally seemed to notice me.

'Ah you must be the new student Selena Tyler?' He asked

'Yes' I replied

'You will take a seat there between Mr Long and Miss Carter. Here is a textbook, do not lose it I need to collect these at the end of the year for my next class of students' He said bossily and then with that, turned his back right to me.

I shrugged and followed Jake to my seat. I was quite pleased to see that Jake, Trixie, Spud and I occupied the middle row of seats. I sat down and waited patiently while he wrote in big letters across the blackboard; An Introduction to Werewolf Theology.

He then turned, rather dramatically, to the class. His eyeglass swung from his eye and he quickly caught it swinging on the end of its string and stuck it back into his right eye. I sighed; I knew right away that this had been a mistake.

'Turn to page three hundred and ninety four if you will class' He said

I only just managed to not smirk at the similarity between his statement and Snape's from Harry Potter but I did hear some slight muttering about it.

When I got there however I was stunned to see an illustration of a Chupakabra like creature underneath the title; Werewolves. I was aware of my expression of distaste on my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Trixie had lifted her textbook and turned it on its side, the corner of her lip lifted in disgust.

'Yes, they are quite ugly' Rottwood commented 'As I said in our last lesson that we would begin to study werewolves as our next subject'

'Dude, that's one messed up werewolf' I heard Spud comment

'Yeah, I thought the whole reason they were called werewolves, was that thney resembled them in some way' Jake said

'Ah ah ah ah, simply myths, however they are known to howl like wolves' Rottwood replied 'Please take out your notebooks and make notes, this is very important information, I am about to reveal'

I pulled out my notepad and a pencil but I knew instantly I wasn;t going to write any notes down. Once Rottwood was satisfied we were all ready to 'learn', he began his lecture.

'Now, most theories on Werewolves come from works of fiction and myth. Allergies to silver and other things associated with them are complete nonsense. And that their transformations are said to be furry in some way is also nonsense. They are actually scaly, like lizards, usually grey or green in colour or a combination of the two with glowing red eyes and sharp fangs which would actually break if they bit anything and they are usually around three to four foot in height. They also hop like kangaroos'

I heard a few giggles from around me. I looked around, Spud had completely zoned out and was chewing the end of a pencil hanging out of his mouth, Trixie was laughing silently but hysterically behind her textbook and Jake had an incredulous look plastered on his face. Rottwood however was ignoring his student's reactions and was carrying on.

'Also contrary to popular belief, they don't hunt humans or any other animal for that matter. They feed themselves by smelling things that smell pretty, like flowers'

I couldn't help the loud scoff that came out of my mouth. Trixie twitched at my reaction and I heard her giggling slightly now. Rottwood carried on rather admirably despite my less than discreet reaction.

'True legend has it that Werewolves, even female ones, are particularly enamoured by beautiful young women'

It actually effectively silenced the room and caught everyone's attention. The clatter of Spud's pencil dropping from his mouth was the only noise in the room. I stared at the mental professor with my mouth hanging wide open. Where the hell did this idiot get his theories?

'So the best way to capture a werewolf is to go out on the full moon if you are female and are of an attractive persuasion. Wait for a werewolf and strip yourself naked and then the werewolf will be overcome with lust and will be easy to capture' Rottwood concluded 'They have relatively short life spans compared to the longevity of things like woodland sprites, only the average length of about ten years. They also cannot mate'

I raised my hand; Rottwood looked at me before waving his stick at me.

'Yes, Miss Tyler?' He asked

'So how do they spread their disease?' I asked

'It is unclear whether it is actually a disease' Rottwood replied

'Okay, the condition they are afflicted with' I countered

Rottwood looked at me, his mouth open like he was going to answer but he clearly couldn't think of anything. I carried on mercilessly.

'You're saying they cannot bite, they cannot mate and they have the lifespan of the average domestic dog. Wouldn't that make them extinct as a species?' I pressed my voice sarcastic but innocent.

The class seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for Rottwood to answer me. He didn't actually bother, he simply tried to move along but I raised my hand again. He grated his teeth in frustration and answered me tensely.

'Yes, Miss Tyler?'

'How do you suppose they came into existence then?' I asked

'They tend to pop out of holes in the ground' He replied

'What, like plants?' I asked

'Clearly not plants' Rottwood snapped and then tried to carry on but I raised my hand again.

'Yes, Miss Tyler?' A definite pink tinge was colouring his cheeks.

'Is it too late for me to pick another lesson option?' I asked

I heard Jake let out a huge guffaw and like Trixie; he too dived behind his textbook to laugh. In fact, I heard a few giggles. I could barely keep the smug smirk off my face and keep the innocent expression. Rottwood went beet red with anger or embarrassment, I wasn't sure which.

I was quickly handed a detention for cheeking him and he went back to the lecture. I sat quietly, flipping through the rest of the book, occasionally laughing quietly at the snippets I heard from Rottwood or I was reading in the book.

Apparently ogres were no more harmless than a butterfly and dragons smelt of lavender.

Eventually the bell went and I hung back to get my detention slip. I slammed it into my bag and exited the classroom. Jake, Trixie and Spud waited for me. Spud took hold of my shoulders.

'You are officially my new hero' He said

Trixie pulled me away 'High fives! That was awesome. I don't think I've ever been so excited in a lesson'

'Yeah well, even if werewolves did exist I really don't think his theories are correct' I replied

'How can you be so sure?' Jake asked

I looked at him, he looked on edge. I frowned.

'Come on Jake. Have you ever heard of a werewolf sniffing flowers to feed because their teeth will break?' I asked

He didn't answer, he just nodded and sloped off. Spud and Trixie frowned after him but walked beside me. Jake was quiet for the rest of the day and he didn't wait to walk home with me.

I wondered what I could possibly have done to offend him so and I also wondered if he suspected anything. I didn't see why he should, anyone with a brain could tell that Rottwood's theories were complete shite.

Then my skin bristled and I looked around sharply. The sensation that I was being watched came over me. I realised I hadn't felt it since I'd been hanging around with Jake.

I ran home. Snow greeted me normally and then bristled in alarm at my turbulent emotions. She expressed deep concern and nosed me, whining softly. I sat on the floor in the hallway and draped my arm around her neck.

A sharp knock on the door made me jump and I opened it. Jake barged his way in and shut it behind me. His scent was almost overwhelming and for a moment I was taken by surprise. He backed me down the hallway until my back hit the far wall. His face was menacing and I actually felt a ripple of fear down my body.

Snow growled dangerously and slinked her way around to stand between me and Jake. I was surprised when he quickly shoved her into the kitchen with his leg and shut the door behind her. She barked furiously from behind the wall and I felt my anger rise at him treating my companion in such a way. I put my hands on his chest and shoved him away from me, resisting the temptation to growl myself.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing? Barging in here and then manhandling my dog?' I shouted

'Alright Selena, you are going to tell me the truth' Jake snapped

I frowned, genuinely confused 'What do you mean, the truth?'

He pulled a book out of his bag, flipped through the pages and shoved it into my hands. The smell of old and well used pages rose from the book and I looked down at it. My blood instantly ran slightly cold as I read the title.

Werewolves

I scanned the page. It was a lot better theology than Rottwood's lesson and the fact that a faded ink illustration of a proud looking wolf emblazoned the page made me nervous. It looked like me in my own form. I decided to act innocent and I shoved it back at him.

'What the hell is this?' I snarled

'You know damn well what it is Selena' Jake replied

I shook my head and shoved him away again, towards the door.

'I think you are mental and you can get out of my house now!' I retorted

Jake dug his heels in and astonishingly made himself too heavy for me to shift.

'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me the truth! You act oddly around me, you knocked me clean off my feet, you argued the hell out of Rottwood and you were tired today. I know for a fact it was a full moon last night' Jake countered

'You are insane. Get out!' I shouted, I went to shove him again but he grabbed my wrists.

This time he stunned me. He leaned in and pressed his lips hard against mine. I yelped and pulled back before wrenching one of my hands free and I slapped him clean across his cheek.

We both stood there, stunned. He slowly raised his hand to his cheek where already a red print was forming. I backed away, slightly frightened now. I realised Snow was still barking furiously and was now clawing at the door frantically. Jake however seemed completely calm.

'Okay yeah, that was-'

'Alarming'

'Yeah'

'Get. Out'

This time, he listened. He turned his back to me and left, slamming the door behind him but not before he deposited the book onto the hall table. I practically stumbled to the kitchen door and let Snow out. She jumped at me frantically, licking my face all over and sniffing me.

I sank to the floor again and leaned my head back on the wall. Snow snuggled right into me, her communication was reassuring and gentle put pitted onto revenge.

'Oh god Snow' I groaned 'Somehow, he knows'

Before I knew it, I'd stood up and picked up the book he'd left. I flipped through it. It was like no book I'd ever seen and it clearly wasn't a normal book. I found the page about werewolves and found there were actually several pages but not once did it mention naturally born Lycanthropics. It was clear too that whoever had written it had a biased opinion on creatures like me.

It heavily emphasised the dangers of Lycanthropics and made us out to be monsters. I shut the book, blinking back tears. After I'd calmed myself slightly I noticed a folded over corner.

Curiously, I flipped open the book again on the page. A dragon, fierce looking a breathing fire emblazoned the page. I read through it, my eyes wide.

Dragons were protectors of the magical world, sort of like the police of that community. It described beings able to transform into dragons at will but I could tell the information was summarised. There was clearly a whole lot more but I understood now.

Jake was a dragon.

XxXxX

O.o What will happen? As usual review. I'm a bit nervous about this chapter so please please please give me an honest opinion on it. I know it's out of character for Jake to storm about like that but he's trying to determine if Selena is actually a werewolf and if she's dangerous. He's probably highly stressed about it and stress can make anyone act out.