I started walking backwards, away from the snarling wolves in front of me. I tripped over a tree root and fell backwards.
A big, russet wolf loomed over me. I braced myself for impact.
Then the wolf stopped and almost... laughed?
The werewolf turned around and stalked back to its pack.
Billy wheeled his chair out of the house.
"You might want to come back inside, Ray Ray. When the boys change back, they'll be indecent."
I apprehensively walked back to the house.
Billy and I sat in silence. I couldn't speak a word. I had spent my entire life believing that werewolves and mythical creatures were purely just that- a myth. When all along there was a werewolf living with me for nearly my whole life.
The boys came back in, shirts off. Wow.
I know I shouldn't be thinking that, but it was a bit hard not to appreciate the hard muscles under the boys' tan skin.
"Explain," I said, "Now."
"Well," Jacob started, "As you probably know already, Quilettes are descended from wolves. Our ancestors could shapeshift into wolves to protect their tribe from threats."
"What kind of threats?" I asked.
"Vampires."
"They're real too?! What's next, the Frankenstein is President?"
"Ha. Well Frankenstein isn't real as far as we know. But werewolves and vampires definitely are."
"We change into wolves when vampires are around, so that we can essentially 'protect' the people of La Push," explained Sam.
"I'm leader of the pack, the first Quilette descendant to shape shift. And before you ask, yes. There are vampires around. Luckily, they feed on animal blood as opposed to human blood."
Well, that was a relief.
"So, werewolves are super strong. But what else? Do they have any other powers?"
"Yes and no," said Embry, "It depends on how you look at it."
"Wolves are also really fast," explained Paul, "And we also do this thing called..."
He stopped mid-sentence, almost afraid to speak the words he wanted to say.
"Imprinting," finished Jake.
"What the hell is imprinting? Super healing powers?"
"No," Jake laughed. "Imprinting is when a wolf essentially falls in love. But it's even more than love. It's like gravity isn't holding you to the Earth anymore. It's them. Wolves will do anything, be anything, to protect the person they love."