Trying to get werewolf pups to sit in a circle and listen to stories was like trying to herd a bunch of donkeys with two backsides and covered in oil that made them slippery. I was sure they were interested in what I had to say about humans, but getting them to sit down was the truly troublesome part.

Ironically enough, the only one who was easy to get into the reading circle was Etienne. He sat perched on a chair, legs crossed, looking like his arrogant vampire self. A smirk played on his lips as he watched Xavier and I try to get the attention of the kids away from the toys. Neither of us with too much success.

Stalling the toys out in the living room had probably been a mistake. I already realised that without constantly having Etienne's smug, amused face in my periphery vision.

I'd wipe that smile off his face soon enough.

Walking over to Danny, I crouched down beside him. "Hey, did you already tell the others that Etienne has no scent and no audible pulse?"

Danny looked up from his stuffed animals. "Yes," he said. "Because he's a vampire."

Harold threw his teddy bear aside with wide-eyes. "He's a vampire? You didn't say that, Danny!"

Two other pups also looked up. They both sniffed the air and seemed to simultaneously notice they couldn't smell Etienne.

"If you gather around in a circle and sit, I'll tell you about the vampire," I tried to lure the pups closer.

It worked. Sally walked over to Etienne first, but stopped at a few feet distance. She looked up at the vampire with an o-shaped mouth.

Etienne's eye twitched. "What?" he asked as the little werewolf kept staring at him.

"You're very pretty." Sally giggled and then sat beside me, still a little too shy to get closer to Etienne.

A hint of surprise flickered across Etienne's face, but then he accepted the compliment. "Yes, thank you little furball. I am pretty, and it should be acknowledged more."

Aquilla scoffed loudly, while Xavier's mouth twitched. 

Amused or vexed, Etienne did manage to draw the attention of most pups. They came into the circle and plopped themselves down with Sally, all looking up at Etienne curiously now.

Etienne looked properly uncomfortable again with all this attention from the children, and I knew a way I could make it even worse. I smiled kindly. "Etienne, why don't you tell the children something about yourself?"

Etienne glared at me, and for a man who never saw the sun, he sure knew how to glare with the intensity of the rays.

"No, I—" he started saying, but Sally didn't let him finish his sentence.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Castle Logoria," Etienne replied. 

"Do you really drink blood?" Danny added.

Etienne glanced at me. Then he reluctantly replied, "Yes."

A chorus of 'ooh' went up, but the little werewolves weren't being judgmental at all. Just very curious.

"We eat steaks. Would you only drink the blood from the steaks?" another pup asked.

"Can you eat anything other than blood?" a third added before Etienne could even answer.

Much to my surprise, Etienne answered the questions the pups had despite his obvious discomfort. He told them what he told me: he didn't like 'dead' blood from steaks and he couldn't really eat anything else.

He even answered Sally when she asked how he made his hair so shiny (according to him, the trick was natural shampoos you made yourself and not washing too often).

Danny's eyes fell on the blinds. "Why can't you go in the sun?" he asked.

Etienne had gradually relaxed while he answered questions, but now the tension was back in his expression. His jaw twitched. "I just can't," he said. "The same way you can't live without drinking water."

"Do you miss the sun?" Sally asked.

"No," Etienne said. "I don't even remember what it looks like."

His reply was flippant, but I had a hunch that he wasn't being entirely truthful. To call him out in front of a group of werewolf children was too much even for me, however, so I let it slide.

I decided I had punished the vampire enough, so I clapped my hands. "Alright, kids, let's read some stories from Pinewood's legends now."

Through some sort of miracle, the kids actually listened to me the first time I asked. They sat and even listened while I told them about the human of Pinewood, and about how we supernaturals came from another world that is now destroyed. 

I told them how we, as strong werewolves, had the duty of protecting the humans from whatever was in that other world from following us here. And that we stayed in the shadows until we as all supernaturals had made a decision on whether  we could tell the humans who we were. I also told them about how fey hypnotised investors out of plans to build new houses in these woods so they would not find us.

This was mostly new information to Xavier, too. Aquila had only told him bits and pieces considering we didn't want to overwhelm the poor human. 

Not that Aquila could have told Xavier a lot. None of us werewolves could. Like Aquila and I, most living werewolves were born in the human world. The ones who still remembered where we came from were elderly, who were nearing the end of their lives now. The people who still remembered most were the more long-living ones among us like the fey... and vampires.

I glanced at Etienne as I spoke, but he didn't show any signs of wanting to interrupt or add anything. From this reaction, I concluded Etienne had to be a relatively young vampire who was also born in the human world. If he wasn't, there was no doubt in my mind that the haughty vampire would have wanted to correct me on anything I might've gotten wrong. The few older vampires I had met were always very keen on interrupting and forcing their knowledge on us in the most condescending manner.

Etienne being freshly turned made sense. He was very beautiful, I had to give the bastard him that. The older vampires weren't necessarily attractive; they often looked as average but liked wearing expensive clothes and boasting about how ancient they were. With vampires your age mattered. The older you were, the higher in the hierarchy, or so I'd heard.

Etienne didn't look as annoyed as I thought he would. He just listened with a neutral expression and crossed arms, not giving much of a reaction to anything I said about our supernatural past.

"And that's why we are here in the woods, and why it's so important that we take care of the humans who live here as well as our own people," I concluded my story.

I had done the impossible. 

I'd gotten the werewolf pups silent and staring at me with wide, admiring eyes. I saw a few of them puff their chest, looking resolute and proud to be future protectors. I hoped they'd hold on to that feeling as they grew older. If a new generation grew up with humans, as I hoped, there would be fewer prejudices and we could all be interwoven in Pinewood rather than living apart. It was better for all of us to work together.

I caught Etienne's red eyes for a second. Unlike the pups, Etienne didn't seem all too impressed by my story. He still regarded me with an almost chilly indifference. Vampires had never really believed in working together with anyone—they didn't need to.

Just as I wanted to quiet the kids down and ask if they wanted to hear the story about how one of us saved a human from a bear over twenty years ago, a loud banging on the door disrupted my plans.

I glanced at the living room door, then at Aquila, who shrugged.

"Just a moment," I said to... nobody, really. The kids were now talking amongst themselves about humans, Aquila and Xavier were keeping a close eye on Etienne, and Etienne himself pretended not to notice he was being watched.

I got up and walked to the front door. When I opened it, I found Trisha, Nathan, and Frey standing their with faces like thunderclouds.

A sense of dread filled my stomach and I had an idea I knew exactly why they were here. Still, I asked, "What are you doing here?" 

"What are we doing? What the fuck are you doing!" Nathan snarled. "You're letting our pups inside while the vampire is in there?"

Nathan shoved me aside and pressed himself past me into my hallway. Trisha and Frey followed.

"Damn it. Guys!" I hurried after them, but they were already standing in the living room for the second confrontation of the day.

"Filthy leech!" Trisha spat. 

Etienne looked furious, red eyes flashing and teeth bared as he hissed, cornered by the three werewolves glaring at him.

"Stop it right now!" I demanded. "You're not fighting in my living room." 

"You're scaring the children," Xavier added. He pointed at the little pups who had all huddled together, frightened by the angry, yelling wolves suddenly standing in the living room.

"That's right, we are scaring the children. We should take this outside," Nathan suggested with a smirk. "Wouldn't you like to catch some sunlight with us, vampire?"

"We are doing none of that," I said. "You are leaving."

"And leaving you in charge?" Frey challenged. "Has the vampire got its fangs in you this far already, that you would let it into the living room with our most vulnerable pups?"

I had to admit, he had a point there. This was a very unfortunate situation, and it looked even worse to the werewolves who'd just walked in. Even Aquila raised his brows at me, showing again he agreed fully with Frey. He didn't want to allow Etienne in the living room no matter what the pups wanted. 

But I couldn't imagine Etienne was going to risk whatever secret mission he had with the people of Pinewood for a dose of blood. He wasn't going to attack. He wasn't hungry right now, and he wouldn't ruin his shot for a taste of werewolf pup or Xavier. If he tried, he knew Aquila and I would rip him to shreds immediately after, and furious werewolves would bring his entire castle down. 

Judging from the looks in my fellow werewolves' eyes, I knew I wasn't going to win this argument, however. Etienne was dangerous. I couldn't say that he wasn't, and I supposed I didn't want the pups believing that Etienne was just a very pretty but completely harmless fellow supernatural. That would be a lie.

I sighed deeply. "Fine. Class is dismissed for today then."

"But you were going to tell us stories!" Sally protested.

"Yeah, and I want to hear more about vampires!" Danny said. "Etienne didn't tell us everything yet."

I cringed at the way my fellow werewolves now glared daggers at me for allowing Etienne to talk to the children. Again, Aquila didn't lift a finger to defend me, either. He crossed his arms. While he wouldn't speak directly against me, he clearly agreed with what the others were thinking again.

"We're not going to learn more today, Danny," I said with an apologetic smile. "Off you go."

Xavier placed a gentle hand on Danny's shoulder. "Come on," he said, steering the pup towards the front door.

With some more friendly encouragement, the children went outside with Xavier, Aquila, and the others. The silence returned to the house as neither Etienne and I said a word in the wake of an interruption most rude.

And we were alone again in the living room.