Chapter 24 024

• "Now that you know that werewolves and other shapeshifters really exist, I'm sure you're wondering about a lot of other things. Vampires did exist, but if they're not extinct, they're in hiding as the wolves haven't seen one in 200 years. If you have sex with a wolf male, you won't have a litter of puppies. It will be a normal nine month pregnancy, resulting in the birth of a single child, who will appear human in all respects except for this. He or she will reach full maturity at about the age of seven or eight. Because of the growth rates, packs have to raise their own children, they can't go to human schools.
• "They don't develop the ability to shift until they reach maturity. Their first shift occurs around the time of a full moon for some unknown reason, but they can shift at any time, not just during a full moon. The more often they shift, the faster they become. Conor was slightly slower than Brigitte, who is likely slower than Gerhard. When I say that they reach full maturity earlier than humans, Conor is thirteen years old, Dawn is twelve. Conor has been working as a bodyguard for close to six years.
• "Brigitte, on the other hand, is sixty years old, which brings up another point about werewolves. They live longer than we do, approximately three hundred years, and they won't substantially change until they get close to the end of their life, about three or four years before they die. Then the decline is sudden, as if all of that stored youth was suddenly exhausted. Brigitte will still look like she does in another 180 years. Conor's father, Rene, currently in his 130's, witnessed the treaty signing in 1899 as a young puppy, which is what they call their young, and he still looks like a young man, not much older than Conor. Rene told me he believes that the constant change between wolf and human forms, refreshes their genetic material, retarding aging. Brigitte, why don't you change back."