Werehistory

After an uneventful breakfast with Ryker, I head off to my first class of Werehistory. The classroom is located in a lecture hall that's near the tunnel I used to enter this academy on my first day.

I walk through the familiar passage that is cut from stone and covered with moss and other living plants that I can see while they are bathed in light shining from the magical orbs floating above. The door to the classroom is open, and I can see that it is made from a dark type of wood and adjourned with metal that has been darkened and worn over time.

There is a wide metal bar across the top and the bottom of the door that are decorated with swirls that turn into droplets as it falls down the length of the door. As I walk past the door, I can see that at eye-level, a wolf head is carved into the wood that has its lips peeled back in a growl and exudes ferocity and authority.

I walk in and since the classroom is so large, I head closer to the front of the class than I normally do and sit near the middle row. The room is lit in a soft glow that adds a warm tone to the tables and chairs that are tan in color. Students are spaced out, so no one sits on either side of me, but I can hear a couple of girls settle in behind me based on the feminine whispers that reach me.

In my own thoughts, I don't pay attention to them and bite my lip worriedly as I think about seeing the dark stranger again tomorrow. The butterflies in my stomach let me know I am looking forward to it, but I am also anxious to be with him alone again. He makes me feel vulnerable and nervous, but I also feel sympathy towards him since he strikes me as a very lonely and isolated person.

I have so many questions I need and want to ask him.

I am pulled out of my thoughts and I turn my head to the side when I think I hear my name suddenly.

"She can't even shift, no wonder Javier dumped her. She's pathetic." My eyes narrow and I feel prickles of awareness travel down the back of my neck and down the length of my spine. My ears start to burn red with ire at their outlandish and cruel gossiping.

"She doesn't belong here," someone says with a snort.

"I say we show Layla exactly what we think about her -" I turn around and sit on my knees so I can lean over the back of my seat and look into the faces of the callow and callow bitches behind me. I tighten my grip on the top of the chair so I can get closer to them.

"Do we have a problem?" I hiss at the group of three girls that are looking at me with wide eyes, surprised with my sudden confrontation. The one in the middle recovers the fastest, and when she whips her hair over her shoulder and gives me a familiar condescending look, I remember who she is right away. It's the girl that was in my Transfiguration course and threw insults at me when I was leaving with Professor Florentino.

Her red lips are painting a large, pompous smile on her face and her strawberry hair is down and looks so shiny and smooth that it makes me narrow my eyes further. She just looks too polished, too put together and it's irritating me.

"That would be like having a problem and picking a fight with the gum on the sidewalk. It's just not worth it," She sneers at me. I give her a crazed smile and lean closer to her so that she has to lean away from me to avoid us touching.

"I didn't catch your name…" I say in a low, menacing voice.

"Audrey," she says and I give her a slow nod while I commit that name to memory and put her on my list to consider as potential enemies. She has been nothing but spiteful towards me, almost as though her issue with me is personal.

"Well, Audrey," I start, dripping poison down my lips with every word. "The only reason I haven't ripped you in half is because then there would be two of you, and you're wasting enough space as it is. Don't like me? Fine. Off you fuck," I say while motioning my fingers in a "shoo" motion, watching her face turn darker with each word I throw to her. "Try not to choke on the shit you talk on your way out."

She jumps out of her seat with her hands clenched at her side, bristling with my insults. I slowly raise myself to her level and step over the chair so we are eye to eye, so close our noses nearly touch. I stare her in the eye in challenge, and her wolf rises to meet me.

She bares her teeth which start to elongate and claws grow out of her fingertips as her back hunches to prepare herself with the coming shift. Still clearly human, I bare my own teeth so she knows I won't be backing down without a fight. As she reaches back and prepares to strike me, we both pause at the sound of a door slamming.

My eyes snap to the front of the room where I see a middle-aged man in a brown suit march to the center of the room where the teacher's desk is located. He has hair that is peppered with both dark grey and white and is shaven to a short buzz cut. His face is clean shaven, his skin is light and from here, his eyes look like a dark blue. He places a leather briefcase down and looks up to the both of us that are frozen, but prepared to lash out at the drop of a hat.

"What is going on here?" His voice booms across the room, in a commanding tone that acknowledges his dominance. "You," he says as he points to Audrey.

"Layla is upset that she can't shift into a werewolf. See, she's defective. And I was trying to help her by showing her what a real wolf looks like," Audrey lies, and I start sputtering a response but am cut short by the professor's voice that booms across the room once more.

That lying bitch.

"Is that true?" he scoffs as he looks at me.

"No -" I start to say.

"Can you shift?" He talks over me to ask.

I swallow while I think of an answer to this complicated question. I can, technically, but not at the moment. Not until someone unlocks the sigil placed upon me.

"Not exactly -"

"I expect a yes or no answer. Can you shift?" he asks this time with the power of an alpha command behind it. I scrunch my nose and clench my teeth trying to fight the alpha call, but as I fight it I feel my air supply cut off and my throat tightens in panic.

"No," the answer is forced from my lips, and I take a large inhale of breath to fill my starved lungs.

"I see," he sneers. "In all my years I have never heard of such an atrocity. It is shameful to this academy to have a student that can't transform into their werewolf form. You are a threat to the prestige of this university and you shouldn't have even been allowed to step onto campus. Until I can speak to the Headmistress about this matter, you will sit down, be quiet and do your best not to embarrass yourself further." His eyes flash with bright blue, showing me that his wolf is close to the surface even in human form, further distinguishing him as a true alpha.

My eyes are wide with the vehemence of his voice, but since he tacked on another alpha command to the end of his tirade, my body submits and moves to do his bidding. As I settle into my seat, I hear quiet laughter behind me and want to defend myself, but can't break free of the hold on my body.

"Well, for the rest of you that will be partaking in this course during your first year," he says as he straightens his suit and adjusts the cuffs of his jacket. "My name is Artur Ivanov." At the mention of his name, murmurs start around the room but quiet as soon as he raises a hand to silence them. "I am your Professor for Werehistory, and we will spend our time together discussing the significance of being a werewolf, you will develop a stronger comprehension of werewolf behaviors and societal norms, and by the end of the course you will have memorized the rules of our society set forth by our body of governance, the Ponoćni Savet."