Skylar

"Is this about the werewolves?" I ask Dmitri, hoping to god that this guy doesn't believe the mumbo jumbo the towns folk talk about.

They think I don't know. While no one has directly spoken to me about the werewolf rumors, I have ears. I can hear the whispers and chatter. Every second person that comes into town is suspected of being a werewolf. They even thought I was one. I mean, where does this even come from? I'm convinced that when people live in one place for too long, they find things to keep them occupied, and this seems like one of them.

"You know about the rumors," Dmitri states, looking at me blankly.

"Come on. You don't really believe in that stuff, right? The people around here are old blood and have nothing better to do than to make up stories." A smile forms on my face as I recall hearing this rumor about werewolves while walking behind two elderly residents in town one day. I had seen this married couple around before, and I knew he wore a hearing aid. Sometimes he wouldn't have it switched on properly, and his wife would end up shouting at him. That day was no different, and I could overhear their entire conversation. They said something about how many werewolves were wandering around the place and how soon the town would belong to them.

The smile on my face falters the longer Dmitri stays quiet.

"You believe it, don't you?" I put my feet back on the ground, shifting in my chair to get comfortable.

"So, what are you trying to tell me? The bear last night, that was because of werewolves?" I'm chuckling as I ask my questions. I wait for a response, taking another sip of my wine.

Dmitri remains silent, not moving, just eyeing me intently, his wine glass on the table.

"Skylar, the rumors are true. Werewolves do exist," Dmitri says, dead serious.

"What happened last night and the blood on my hands, it wasn't bears blood. It was werewolf blood. A werewolf from my pack."

I nearly laugh but looking at his deadpan expression, I decide against it. He is being serious. I put my wine glass down. Not sure what I'm feeling. Dmitri doesn't look like a crazy, but his statement certainly was. 

If what he says is true, which it can't be, then he is a werewolf. I look at his arms, not seeing an abnormally large amount of hair on them. Even his teeth looked normal, with no pointy canines. Apart from his massive size, his unusual off-white hair, and his almost photoshopped green eyes, he looked normal. Ugh. I was starting to panic. Honestly, none of it was normal. What normal person is this big? This muscular? This good looking? Something isn't right, but werewolves?

I avert my gaze, not wanting to look at Dmitri. My stomach is starting to feel queasy, and my heart rate is speeding up. My breathing is ragged. This must be what a panic attack feels like

"Calm down, Skylar."

Dmitri gets up from his chair and moves around the table. He brings himself down on his haunches before me, his jeans nearly bursting at the seams to contain his huge thigh muscles.

He moves his hand to my back, rubbing gently to calm me down. This continues for what seems like ages before my breathing normalizes. I imagine this position must be uncomfortable for him. Finally, I look up at him. 

"I'm okay now," I say, taking another sip of my wine to calm my nerves. He seems to believe me as he removes his hand from my back and moves back to his chair opposite me.

"You can ask me anything, Skylar. I will try and answer as fully as possible."

He looks at me expectantly, waiting for my onslaught of questions. I don't even know where to start. I decide the best place to start is with last night's events. It was close to my home, making me curious whether it was coincidental or linked to him.

"What happened last night?" I ask, hoping his answers don't tilt my world upside down.

Dmitri

Sky sits still, her expression unreadable as I recount the events of last night. How I smelt blood, Ruan's death, me tracking the Hunter, his capture.

"That brings us to this moment in time." I finish my monologue, watching Sky's reaction.

She is processing what I've just said. Blinking big hazel eyes, looking back at me.

"What are Hunters?" she finally asks.

"Hunters are specially trained members of an organization called The Guardians. Their existence was created centuries ago when there was a need to protect humans from a large group of power-hungry werewolves who went on a rampage killing innocent people. That group of werewolves nearly caused the extinction of the entire werewolf species."

"Those of us left knew that to coexist on this planet with humans, we would need to change our ways. We entered into agreements with humans in neighboring towns bordering our pack territories, ensuring their protection from those few of us who were still out there wanting to harm them and other supernatural beings. In exchange, over the years, we become nothing more than rumors, able to live side by side with humans. As the years went on, our protection extended to include protection against the organization created to protect them, The Guardians."

"With us no longer being the threat we were at their inception, what The Guardians stood for slowly started to rot and change, making them the organization they are today. An organization that will kill anyone for a price. No matter the species."

Sky is sitting quietly, just looking at me. Her wine is now finished, and her glass is on the table. Her cheeks are slightly pink, the alcohol's effect.

"Other supernatural beings, what does that even mean?" she asks, a frown on her beautiful face.

"Vampires, witches, warlocks, fairies, that sort of thing." I am quite frankly surprised at how well she has been taking everything up until now. I know it's a lot to take in. Maybe the wine is making her more pliable in terms of accepting what she hears.

"And our government, surely they know about all of this?" She asks, confusion still lacing her tone.

"They know. But agreements were entered into decades ago between The High Council and government, which has helped keep the peace."

While that was mostly true, there were rumors of disappearances amongst supernatural species over the years. While we couldn't prove it, we suspected that the human government was involved. We were not naïve enough to think they would just leave us alone, not planning for a day when a war might erupt between the species.

Then she asks me the most important question.

"So, what does any of this have to do with me?"

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