The Turn of a Page

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

            Back then I was still just a human; and as I was a human in every werewolf’s eyes, Baz got it in the neck when it came to mocking someone for any particular reason. And I had given the whole school reason for mocking him. In junior school, no one cared about things like status or pride or honour; but since moving up to secondary school level, things started to change. It was harder when we went up to eleventh year.

            There were a lot of fights that brewed around the school, but being so close to Baz all the time, I could easily make him calm and back down. During some larger fights, the head teacher would intervene; I had only ever seen any head as a wolf, and very few people knew what he looked like in human form.

            It all started when a particularly large boy began mocking Baz in the canteen as we were at lunch; at first, Baz tried to push it aside but it went on and on and eventually Baz snapped. That was one of the times when I saw how quickly any werewolf could go from docile to wild. Bearing down on each other, the two boys went for each other’s throats and backs. The amount of blood that dripped from their teeth and tongues gave them a malicious aura and I was scared to even say a word in case Baz snapped at me; some part of me was telling me he had red mist in his vision for shutting up his rival for once.

            No one else dared get involved, not Baz’s mates, not his rival’s mates. The only person who did dare to stop this madness was, indeed, the gym teacher. He was the fittest person, and wolf, in the entire school. He leapt from off one of the tables and landed on top of Baz while snarling and clamping his jaws down into the scruff of his prey’s neck. After crying out in sheer agony, Baz lay on the floor shaking while the gym teacher gave the same treatment to the other wolf in the room.

            Thinking back on this, I realised what this had done to some of Baz’s pride but he eventually got it back after the gym teacher, evidently, had spoken to him (in wolf) about something or other; Baz refused to share what passed between them with anyone else.

*****

            Even though it hadn’t even been a week since my new found self, I doubt I could ever get over being what I always wanted. It was so much fun; I let the excitement build up every day until I had to change and do some running around as much as I could until I had worn myself out and needed a nap.

            After about four days of doing this, Baz got annoyed. ‘Do you have to do that?’ he asked.

            Crossing my arms, I replied. ‘Yes. I don’t think you understand, but this is what I’ve always wanted, to be able to share all this with you.’ I could not understand why he was acting this way, as if he wasn’t truly glad that I was now a werewolf like him.

            ‘No, because you never told me. Out of all the things we have shared, you never told me that you wanted to be a wolf. I wish you had, now.’ As his words left his lips and he bowed his head, my breathing had become pitiful beats of air, almost like on a drum.

            ‘What are you saying?’

            He didn’t look at me. ‘I’m saying, Kez, that I had never wished this. I would never have wished this on you. Especially as I’m the Alpha of this pack.’

            ‘I don’t understand...’ I blurted. Tears streaked down my face and I couldn’t think of anything else other than the inevitable words he would say; and he said them.

            ‘I want my human lover back! I never wanted a werewolf mate.’ And he stormed out after barking at me the way he had.

            My breathing almost stopped altogether until his words properly clicked in my head as to what he really meant; the aching was unbearable. It sunk so deep into my chest that I collapsed onto the kitchen floor with one arm clutching at my heart and the other palm pressed to my forehead. The screams warped themselves out of my constricted throat and my lungs were aching from lack of air.