Agony.

I pulled away from Tiffany, collapsing next to her. The pain of the morph is too much to maintain a connection.

Bones cracked and reformed, and I couldn’t help but scream and cry out. My teeth and jaws elongated. I felt feverish. This was worse than going through Enmagica.

How long would this last?

I felt sick at the sound of ripping. My muscles tore and stretched unnaturally.

A growling could be heard. Was it me or Tiffany? Was it her wolf?

It felt like hours had gone by. I understood why Tiffany was afraid.

Then it was all over.

Panting, I felt strangely full of energy. I opened my eyes to see fur as black as the night and hands on my body.

“Thank you.”

It was her wolf with eyes shining bright, reflecting the clear full moon in their yellow iris. She laid on her back and rolled over to her four paws.

I shifted too, to sit up, but quickly stopped when the feeling felt foreign.

“Lexi.”

My movements felt heavy as my head turned to Leo. His hands touched my body… but not my skin.

“This is outrageous!” Carl shouted; his face red as he fumed.

“Do you think to mock us?” he spat, quickly walking away in frustration, the circle broken.

‘What?’

Leo continued to speak to me calmly, “Can’t turn into a cat, but you can turn into a wolf… unbelievable.” He smiled and shook his head.

My eyes widened, and I lifted my hand to my line of sight.

Lo and behold, a larger white paw entered my vision.

Goddess!

Cheryl entered my vision, and I heard the alpha ask Tiffany, “Are you okay?”

Tiffany howled, “Why didn’t I do this before? This is amazing!”

“Your first shift is painful. After tonight, no more pain.”

She ran out of the area as fast as possible, leaving the fur pelts and shredded dress behind. It was like a blur. Her brother Corey quickly followed suit. Probably to keep an eye on her.

Whereas I am a Bambi trying to stand.

“How do I change back?” I tried to ask aloud.

Leo just looked at me confused, “I can’t understand you…” He looked to Cheryl for guidance.

Instead, Jack guffawed a laugh before Cheryl could say anything, “Full of surprises, lass!”

After being coaxed by the Luna, I sat on my newly formed four-pawed posture. A light bulb finally hit Leo, while Jack remained unhelpful.

“You don’t know how to turn back, do you?”

I gently shook my head. No.

A howl overtook the full-mooned night. Excitement overtook the pack, and Alpha and Luna shared a look before quickly moving to the treeline and transforming.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The pack party began.

Jack included, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, Leo!”

Jack began to shift into his larger wolf form.

“This is going to hurt…” Leo murmured and took a breath.

Wincing, I watched on. Leo’s clothes shredded away from his body as black fur grew over his body. Steam seemed to rise from his skin. He panted before looking around with new eyes.

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Weaving through the trees, I was chased by a black wolf with bright blue eyes.

We looked like runts compared to the werewolves. They were larger than an average wolf. Much larger.

However, they were not offended by our joining… And who would give up an opportunity to run with the wolves?

An eighteenth birthday well spent, an impossible tick on a bucket list.

Leo slowed down to a trot. We were both tiring while other wolves were still whizzing around.

The brief pause made us lose track of the pack.

“I’m done,” I panted.

“Now to change back…” Leo hinted.

“Easy for you to say…”

My ears began to pick up on running water… A drink and drip sounded like heaven.

Looking back to Leo, I hinted to follow with a tilt of my head.

My favourite spot to dip with the coven.

Although… I was too large to dip!

A whine escaped me.

“Just think of yourself instead of an animal,” Leo explained, appearing in his human form… and naked.

If I needed the motivation, that was it.

I sighed, leaning against a small rock. The grime and dirt from the Wolfen dance easily washed away.

“You know, I think I had a dream about this place… Have you been here before?” Leo asked.

“Oh yeah, this is where we normally come for a dip.” I turned to him, cleaning the sweat from my arms and shoulders.

“Hm.” He looked to the side, “Do you normally sing…?”

“Sing? Not always…”

A smirk grew on his face, “Follow you down to the river?”

My eyes widened in shock. We had not sung that rhyme since before Leo… and the strange presence I felt…

After a moment, I giggled, “Well, the water isn’t clean anymore!”

Still smirking, he stalked closer to me in the water, and I moved around the other side of the rock, still giggling.

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The sun broke the dawn, and we returned to my home without a soul-stirring for a warm shower this time. I don’t think I need to explain the ordeal of realising our clothes were shredded and we had nothing to cover ourselves… Skyclad it is!

“I think one school day skipped isn’t going to hurt…” I murmured, turning off my alarm.

Leo chuckled beside me, burying his head into my hair, “You know your brother will probably wake you, right?”

I groaned and sent him a text: [DO NOT DISTURB. x]

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Midday. I opened the front door to be greeted by someone other than our lunch delivery.

“Hi?”

Tiffany stood with a wide grin on her face, “Hi! Sorry. I tried looking for you at school… You forgot this!”

She held up a backpack. It was the one we took last night with all the supplies inside.

“Oh! Thank you,” I said sheepishly, taking it from her, “How are you?”

“Great.” She smiled wider, showing teeth, “I really don’t know why I was that scared.”

I stayed quiet while she continued, “Also, thank you for everything. I half expected you to tell the others how I was feeling. Oh! And for sharing your past…”

I held up a hand fleetingly, “It’s fine. There are some things people shouldn’t know. I didn’t realise how intimate the spell would be. Any other person may have…”

‘Stopped. Chastised her. She would be back at square one.’

She hummed, “I know.”

“By the way. If you ever want to run again, howl!” she joked with a wave behind her, and she left.

I couldn’t help but giggle as I closed the door. I opened the zip on the back, and everything was neatly placed back inside, including the five partially melted candles.

“No food?” Leo joked, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

“Not yet. Just Tiffany, dropping this off,” I replied, placing it off to the side.

As Leo approached, Sooty jumped from the stairs into the bag.

I laughed, “Buddy, I don’t think you’d like the dirt in there.”

I opened the zip further to see his paw clawing at the bottom of the bag. Tutting I took him out and zipped it shut.

“Letter.”

I paused, hearing the sudden voice.

“Letter?”

“Does he mean the paper we printed out?” Leo asked.

I shrugged and pulled out the printed notes and images I had taken before to help us prepare for the night.

“These?”

I knelt to him and held them out. His tail thumped and wagged in agitation.

“No! Letter.” His paw swatted the small pile in my hand.

“Sooty!”

The paper scattered all over the floor, and he pounced and batted around a small envelope with familiar green wax and ‘M’.

“Oh, for fuck sake,” Leo muttered under his breath.

I shortly wrestled it away from the pouncing cat.

Sure enough, the same calligraphy handwriting. This time, it was addressed to ‘William and Rose’.

Sooty continued to jump and play with the now ripped pieces of paper while we both stared at the unopened letter in my hand. He loved the noise a little too much.

Leo just kept staring as I opened it and read it aloud.

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Hello Lexi,

I hope you enjoyed a romp with the wolves. I imagine it was a surreal experience.

Happy Birthday, and many happy returns.

I’m looking forward to both of you visiting. However, I don’t think a week will suffice.

I will see you after Yule, and we can develop a more long-term plan.

Lastly, I hope my raven does not scare you too much.

Morgan.