Mentioning the ful moon felt like a chal enge, and Bonnie settled next to him, then squeezed her hands together and jumped right in. “I’m sorry I cal ed you a kil er,” she said. “I know now that I was wrong to accuse you of being responsible for the deaths on campus. I should have trusted you more. Please accept my apology,” she finished in a little rush. “Because I miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” Zander said. “And I understand it was a shock.”
“Seriously, though, Zander,” Bonnie said, and shoved him a little with her hip. “You just tel me you’re a werewolf?
Did you get bitten when you were a kid or something?
Because I know getting bitten is the only way to become a werewolf without kil ing someone. And, okay, I know you’re not the kil er now, but Meredith saw you with a girl who’d just been attacked. And … and you had bruises, real y bad bruises everywhere. I think I had every right to think something was hinky with you.”
“Hinky?” Zander laughed a little, but there was an edge of sadness to it, Bonnie thought. “I guess it’s kind of hinky, if you want to put it that way.”
“Can you explain?” Bonnie asked.
“Okay, I’l try,” Zander said thoughtful y. He reached down and took her hand, turning it over in his and playing with her fingers, pul ing them lightly. “As you apparently know, most werewolves are created either by being bitten, or by having the werewolf virus in their family and activating it by kil ing someone in a special ritual. So, either a terrible attack, which usual y screws the victim up, or a deliberate act of evil to grab the power of the wolf.” He grimaced. “It kind of explains why werewolves have such a bad reputation. But there’s another kind of werewolf.” He glanced at Bonnie with a sort of shy pride. “I come from the Original pack of werewolves.” Original. Bonnie’s mind raced. Immortal, she thought, and remembered Klaus, who had never been a human. “So
… you’re real y old, then?” she asked hesitantly.
It was fine, she guessed, for Elena to date guys who had seen centuries go by. Romantic, even. Sort of.
Despite the crush she’d had on Damon, though, Bonnie always pictured dating someone close to her own age.
Even Meredith’s cute, smart Alaric seemed kind of old to her, and he was only in his twenties.
Zander snorted with sudden laughter and squeezed her hand tight. “No!” he said. “I just turned twenty last month!
Werewolves aren’t like that—we’re alive. We live, we die.
We’re like everybody else, we just…”
“Turn into superstrong, superfast wolves,” Bonnie said tartly.
“Yeah, fine,” Zander said. “Point taken. Anyway, the Original pack is like, the original family of werewolves. Most werewolves are infected by some kind of mystical virus. It can be passed down, but it’s dormant. The Original pack is descended from the very first werewolves, the ones that were cavemen except during the ful moon. It’s in our genes.
We’re different from regular werewolves. We can stop ourselves from changing if we need to. We can learn to change when the moon’s not ful , too, although it’s difficult.”
“If you can stop yourself from changing, do some of you stop being werewolves?” Bonnie asked.
Zander pul ed her closer. “We would never stop being werewolves, even if we never changed at al . It’s who we are. And it hurts to not change when the moon is ful . It’s like it sings to us, and the song gets louder and clearer the closer it gets to being ful . We’re aching to change by the time it happens.”
“Wow,” said Bonnie. Then her eyes widened. “So, al your friends are members of the Original pack, too? Like, you’re al related?”
“Um,” Zander said. “I guess. But the relationship can go back pretty far—it’s not like we’re al first cousins or anything.”
“Weird,” Bonnie said. “Okay, Original pack, got it.” She snuggled her head comfortably against Zander’s shoulder.
“Tel me the rest.”
“Okay,” Zander said again. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and wrapped one arm around Bonnie. It was getting a little cold sitting on the concrete, and she nestled grateful y against the warmth of his side. “So, Dalcrest is on what’s sort of a hot spot for paranormal activity. There’s these things cal ed ley lines, see…”
“Already know it,” Bonnie said briskly. “Go on with your part.”
Zander stared at her. “O … kay,” he said slowly.
“Anyway, the High Wolf Council sends some of us to Dalcrest every year as students. So that we can monitor any dangers. We’re kind of like watchdogs, I guess. The original watchdogs.”
Bonnie snorted. “The High Wolf Council.” Zander poked her in the ribs.
“Shut up, it’s not funny,” he said. “They’re very important.” Bonnie giggled again, and he elbowed her gently. “So, with al the disappearances and attacks, things have been bad on campus this year,” he continued, sobering. “Much worse than they usual y are. We’ve been investigating. A pack of vampires in a secret society on campus is behind it, and we’ve been fighting them off and protecting people when we can. But we’re not as strong as they are, except at the ful moon, even if we change. And so the bruises. And your friend seeing me guarding a girl who’d just been attacked.”
“Don’t worry. We took care of the Vitale Society tonight,” Bonnie said smugly. “Wel , the leader at least, and some of the others,” she amended. “There’s stil a bunch of vampires on campus, but we’l get rid of them.” Zander turned and stared at her for a long moment before he spoke. “I think,” he said at last in a careful y neutral voice, “that it’s your turn to explain.” Bonnie wasn’t actual y that great at properly organized, logical explanations, but she did her best, going back and forth in time, adding side notes and remembering things as she went along. She told him about Stefan and Damon, and how everything had changed when the vampire brothers came to Fel ’s Church
