More than once, Cory looked back over his shoulder at Neve, who silently followed. Why Neve would not walk next to Cory concerned him, but he guessed Neve was still angry with him. Hidden now were any emotions that may have emanated from Neve and Cory made every attempt to keep his hidden. The impression Neve would still flee at any moment was putting Cory on edge. However, it was still daylight and Cory hoped Neve wouldn’t make a scene in public.

On their arrival home, Sarah called out a greeting to Cory from the kitchen. Cory indicated to Neve to follow as he led them both through the house.

“Mum, this is my friend, Neve.”

Sarah looked over at Neve and gave him a big smile.

“Hello Neve, it’s nice to meet you. Will you be staying for dinner.”

“Thank you, Mrs Wellan that would be lovely.”

‘We’ll be in my room,” Cory said.

“All right, I’ll call when dinner is ready.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs Wellen.”

“You too, Neve.”

Cory moved out of the kitchen, and looking back at Neve, gave him a look.

“What?” Neve asked.

Cory rolled his eyes, and replied, “Nothing.”

After a moment, Neve replied, “I was being polite.”

Cory looked back at him, and giving him a cheesy grin, nodded.

Neve sighed and shook his head slightly as Cory came to a stop at his bedroom door and pushing it opened, waving an arm for Neve to enter.

Neve took in the details as he entered the room and Cory moved over to the chair and pulled it towards the bed. Cory then sat on his bed and when Neve looked at him, Cory indicated towards the chair for him.

Neve pulled the chair back another foot from Cory and sat. Silence filled the room as Neve looked everywhere but at Cory and so Cory decided he would come out and say it.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

Neve didn’t look at Cory right away as he stared towards the window. When he did look at Cory, a wave of frustration flooded Cory’s senses. So intense was the emotion directed at Cory, he recoiled and his breath lost.

“Steady Neve,” Cory gasped. “This is all new to me and I’m still trying to get my head around it all. Talk, it’s all I’m asking for right now.”

Neve stared at Cory, wide-eyed, and as he lowered his head, the emotions disappeared.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Neve murmured.

The frustration of hearing that sentence again made Cory more determined to know what Neve meant by it. But before he could ask Neve explain, Neve looked up and, staring hard at Cory, he said, “What we are, there is no defining title that we call ourselves, but history refers to us as werewolves.”

“What! Werewolves? But we don’t transform... do we?" Cory then laughed, and continued, “Right, that’s a good one but seriously what is going on?”

Neve stared at Cory, his face emotionless.

Cory slowly shook his head from side to side; what Neve was saying was impossible. Yet... Neve continued to glance at Cory as though what he was saying was the truth. This realisation hit Cory rather hard.

“You’re not joking, are you?” he asked Neve.

All the anxiety and stress Cory had carried around over the months rushed forward and consumed him. It was not until Neve grabbed him by the shoulders, his faced winced in pain, did Cory realise he’d bombarded Neve with his raw emotions.

“Get a grip Cory, we don’t transform.”

Cory stared up into Neve’s eyes and wanted to believe him. Neve had no reason to lie, and he was still to explain what he meant by what he said. Cory let out a breath, exhaustion suddenly overwhelming him, as he slumped in Neve’s grip. Neve hesitated only a moment before releasing his grip and sat back down. Arms crossed over his chest Neve now looked annoyed, almost cross with Cory.

“Sorry,” Cory murmured.

“We’re taught from an early age about our heritage and history so I understand most of what I’m going to tell you will be somewhat of a shock but try to bear with me.”

“Okay,” Cory said, now ashamed of his outburst.

“What we read about werewolves in fiction is that, fiction. However there was cause in the beginning of our existence that may in some way have led to such stories existing. Before we came to understand, our kind partook in hideous barbaric activities hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. As we evolved, we’ve learned to hide our existence but the falsehood was already established. We personally don’t label ourselves as werewolves but outsiders certainly do because our abilities become superiorly enhanced during the full moon and weaker around the new moon."

Neve paused to take a breath before continuing.

“Our turning, or our abilities, appears around the age of sixteen or seventeen. Our maturity is around thirty years of age. What tends to make outsiders refer to us as werewolves is that when we reach our maturity, we become aggressive and over time go berserk. We become territorial and destroy those who come within our territories, including innocent humans. Whether they were once friends does not matter because our instincts will override any rational thought we once had.”

“So, even if we remain friends, when I reach maturity I'll turn against you?” Cory questioned.

Neve’s frustration at Cory’s interruption pushed against Cory’s mind, forcing Cory to clam his mouth shut. Neve continued.

“There are families or let’s say ‘packs’ that have control of certain territories. To amass larger territories the larger packs will absorb smaller packs into theirs by offering protection or finance, but this is only after the leader or ‘Alpha’ of the smaller packs has been destroyed.”

“It’s like it would be with wolves in the wild. Same predatory instincts for survival?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so I can see where the misunderstandings about us comes from. We have the same instincts and behaviours but we don't transform.”

“Right. No one knows how we came to be. Documenting our existence wasn’t done until the point where we were intelligent enough to track our history. Before that, we relied on stories from those who had experience with our kind. Overall, we don’t know enough about where we came from or how we came to be."

Neve continued, “In the late 1500s an Englishman by the name of Reginald Scot, researched the existence of witches, including werewolves. What he found in most reports were elements of mental illness associated with the accusations. This is, in most part, the truth. However, those who did witness our species going berserk, would've been under severe conditions such as terror and fear, and without understanding, would interpret what they saw as werewolves. For these people, it gave a plausible explanation, yet it left them mentally unbalanced and often led to early deaths due to this illness or even institutionalised.”

“That could still continue to happen in this day and age though?”

“It could, but we have laws we must abide by, making the incidences obsolete. Until two or three hundred years ago there were still some occurrences but if you said you saw a human-like beast crouched over the body of another man tearing him apart with his bare hands, you might have been locked away unless many people saw the same thing. As the myth was already established, these sightings only fuelled the myth and created an even bigger lie.”

“So because of our ignorance we created this werewolf image to try to explain what was going on.”

“Exactly. What was happening was our lack of understanding about our species? As you’ve now discovered, we live a normal life and then suddenly we have these extraordinary powers. In the past, these powers were exploited and used to gain wealth and power. These people may have become community figures, looked up to and revered, or felons who created gangs to terrorise people. When they reached their full maturity the desire for dominance would take over and with every full moon thereafter the madness grows stronger until it kills them or they’re killed. There is no way to fight it. Some would take their own lives when they realised what they had become, but others didn’t. They might've gone on to destroy those who tried to stop them as they slowly went mad.”

The room went silent as Cory thought about what Neve had told him. It was exactly like any wild animal that lived as a pack. They defended their territory and their pack from other predators, including other packs that encroached on their territory. But the madness was not something any animal had to endure and his next thought left him with a reeling.

“So, when I mature I will turn against everyone – including my family?”

Neve sighed again and Cory didn’t need to feel his annoyance.

“The only way to stop going berserk is if you were to mate with another werewolf before you and they matured.”

Cory stared at Neve, and out of curiosity asked, “Say, for curiosity's sake, I was gay or considered a same-sex relationship, would that be enough to ensure I didn’t go feral?”

Cory saw, for a brief moment, hope in Neve’s eyes before it vanished.

“No. There has only ever been one documented case of a same sex relationship existing and it didn’t end well.”

“It didn’t?”

“No. You have to mate with someone of the opposite sex to stop the final transformation from happening before you mature and it’s… it’s an abomination to be gay amongst our kind. Even if we became lovers, we would be killed if found out.”

“What! What the heck, Neve? Then why the hell are you here? Wouldn’t it be better if you weren’t here?” Cory said, as he now sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yes, it would and I would have stayed away if you had let me.” Neve’s agitation about the subject was obvious.

“Oh right, sorry I’m struggling in the dark here. But, Neve, what will you do?”

“Nothing I can do, before I mature I’ll have to mate with someone within the family and breed if I want to live.”

“Why your own family? Why not with another pack?”

“Because we are the only pack, or clan as we call ourselves, in Australia.”

“Really, why?”

At that moment Cory’s mother called out that dinner was almost ready and Neve said, “We’ll continue this after dinner.”

“Sure.”

After washing their hands for dinner, Cory introduced Neve to his father, and they sat down at the table. Sarah served roast pork and vegetables and the transformation of Neve was mind blowing. The genuine smile on his face was hard to believe after the seriousness of their conversation only minutes before. Cory held his tongue, tempted to make a smart remark about Neve's change in personality but thought better of it. Instead, Cory allowed his parents to dominate the conversation, pleased to learn more about Neve over dinner.

“You go to uni, Neve?” Sarah asked.

“I did. I graduated last year. I’m working now.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a lawyer.”

“Really?” Cory asked, surprised. “A lawyer.”

Neve laughed, and a warmth came over Cory, pleased to see Neve a little more relaxed.

“Yes, our family have a very strong tradition to live up to. It was either a lawyer, a doctor, or a politician and becoming a lawyer was the easiest choice of the three. I studied commercial law. Thankfully my family allowed that.”

“So long as you’re happy with your choice. We’ve always encouraged Cory and Molly – our oldest – to do what is right for them.”

“I am happy. Commercial law is very fascinating and with workplace legislations becoming more dominant in industry there is a need for lawyers to be able to understand the changes and how they'll affect both employers and employees.” The confidence in Neve’s voice was a vast difference and one Cory preferred.

“You and I should have a talk sometime about workplace legislation,” Derek said.

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Here we go."

“Sure, it’s fascinating from a legal point of view. I’d be happy to talk about it with you some time.”

“But not tonight,” Sarah said, staring at Derek and then at Neve.

Neve laughed again and replied, “Not tonight then.”

His parents and Neve continued to talk about his career and Neve spoke briefly about his family telling them he was the youngest of five children. He also mentioned moving out of home before his siblings to live with his cousins, who were a handful. Their family were grateful for Neve's level head and ability to keep them out of trouble. Cory didn't doubt for one minute Neve was the sensible one between the three of them.

When they had finished dinner, Cory and Neve helped clean up the table before Derek waved them off telling them that he would help with the dishes.

Back in his bedroom, Cory sat back down on the bed as he watched Neve hesitate at the door. Suddenly, Cory suspected Neve no longer wanted to be there.

“You don’t have to do this now.”

Neve hesitated before coming into the room, and closing the door behind him, sat back down on the chair.

“So where were we?”

“Your family.”

“My family, I guess I should start from the beginning and you should know our story has never been shared with an outsider.”

“The first rule about our clan is there is no clan,” Cory joked with a huge grin on his face.

Neve stared at Cory, unmoved. The jovial Neve he’d seen at dinner was gone, replaced by unpleasant Neve.

“That was pathetic, you know that right?”

Cory gave a small laugh, “Yeah, anyway... you were saying?”

The corner of Neve’s mouth turned up slightly and Cory forced his smile to go, taking on a more serious face.

“Good thing we have all night. It’s going to be a long story,” Neve said seriously.