The Animals Have Come to Play (Completed) (unedited)

Rose

(Chapter 5: Rose)

"Yeah, well, you don't seem to change your appearance at all." I glanced at him, noticing how he had unbuttoned his shirt, leaving his toned stomach exposed. He even had a tattoo that scrawled down his left side. That one specifically was of a Chinese dragon flying downwards, claws outstretched and reaching for a sphere.

"Like what you see?" he asked cockily, a smirk tugged at his lips. I met his eyes briefly before looking back at the tattoo.

"What's with the dragon tattoo?" He glanced down at it before pulling his shirt over to cover it.

"It represents power, strength, and good luck... Something I've needed and still do," he muttered vaguely, but you could tell it was something big to him based off his tone.

"What did you get the tattoo for then?" I asked curiously. He buttoned a few buttons, making sure the shirt wouldn't fall open again.

"What did you get the sweatpants for?" He countered defensively. I sent him an odd look, but let it slide for now. He got up and went to back out of my room when something caught his eye. Inviting himself in, he grabbed my sketchbook.

"Hey-!" I protested, only to stop when he gave me a harsh glare. He flipped through my pages. His eyes stayed narrowed as he scrutinized each doodle. Then he stopped. He held up the page to me and pointed at it. I felt my breath catch.

"What's with this drawing?" I strode towards him quickly and snatched my book away.

"It's nothing," I said harshly. Leander's eyes lit up in pleasure as a grin spread over his face. There was a part of our history that lead to the Purebloods being protective of people questioning our pendants.

In the beginning, there were once 100 Pureblood families. The first ruling family, at the time, had two sons. They were complete opposites with one brother being logical, Alistair, and the other being reckless, Bandi. Once they had grown up, the Bandi had stolen a witch's grimoire on a dare from his friends. He asked his brother to hide him from the witch's wrath. Alistair, although knew he shouldn't, could not turn down his brother.

Days passed before the witch had finally found Bandi. She burst into the house Alistair had outside the castle and faced Bandi. At some point, she had spied his necklace and questioned him about it. Proud and arrogant about his power, he boasted about the abilities his necklace held. The witch had smiled, before teleporting her grimoire to her side and  snatching the necklace. She cursed the brother, saying that he would never be able to return to his human form, nor ever have his powers again.

With that, the brother turned into an ordinary wolf and took off out of the village and into the woods. The witch turned to the remaining brother. He stood there, staring at her without moving. He waited for her to bestow him with the same fate. "You are a smart boy," the witch commented. "You make no moves to attack me and readily accept punishment for housing your brother when you knew he had something precious to us witches. But, you also refused to turn down family even though you knew you should not have allowed him in.

"With this, your better deeds outweigh your bad deeds. I'll spare you of any punishment, but I will leave you with this. You will spread word of what has happened here. You will warn your brethren that they shall not boast about the powers they hold. If they do, my curse shall be laid upon them, and they shall suffer the same fate as your brother." Even though the witch had died long ago, us Purebloods still held the superstition close to heart.

"It's a picture of your pendant, isn't it? Now that I think about it, I don't see a chain on you. Where's your's?" my wolf growled out, using my throat.