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I lay there motionless for a moment. The pain was gone, but I didn't dare to move a muscle for fear that the pain would come back all of a sudden. I definitely wouldn't do that again.

Something touched my side.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Before me stood Tyler in his wolf form.

Even though it was already quite dark, I could see him surprisingly well just now.

And somehow I was strangely fascinated by him, just couldn't look away.

Again he came towards me and nudged me. Only now did I realize that it felt different than usual.

I wanted to move my hand, but it felt weirdly weird too.

I looked down at myself confused.

paws.

Damned! I had paws! Paws full of dark fur!

It was only now that my brain slowly trickled through what had happened during all the pain.

I was now a werewolf.

To be honest, until just deep inside, I didn't think it was possible that this would even work.

For a moment I wanted to see Tyler again. But froze again as soon as I looked at him.

Had I always found his wolf form so fascinating?

I don't think so, but that just seemed totally absurd. How could I ever not find him so fascinating.

Tyler rubbed his head against mine and lay down next to me.

I smelled his scent.

How could I not notice how good he actually smelled.

It wasn't something I'd smelled before, but I could almost become addicted to the scent.

With still quite stiff movements in this body, which was new to me, I tried to get even closer to Tyler. However, my hands and feet, or now my paws, somehow didn't quite do what I wanted.

Tyler, however, recognized what I had in mind and came towards me a little further.

Absolutely exhausted, but still under the influence of Tyler's immense attraction, I wanted to rest for a bit, but then felt a pang.

Tyler and I weren't alone.

I looked away from him, a little uncertain, and looked around.

Werewolves were standing, sitting or lying all around us, but they all watched us carefully.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds, but then Tyler stood up.

I looked at him startled.

Why was he up now?

Only now did I realize that I actually didn't really know what werewolves in a pack usually did on a full moon.

Once again Tyler rubbed his head against mine, then lifted his head and let out an incredibly beautiful howl.

It echoed through the forest, drowning out every other sound.

Similar to the bite, more and more wolves joined in.

The whole thing was so loud that my ears were almost ringing.

But even if there was something sinister about it, it somehow seemed completely harmonious and seemed to illustrate the connection between the pack and each other.

After a few minutes the howling, which reminded me more of a kind of singing, came to an end.

The pack scattered a bit.

Some rushed through the forest at full speed, others strolled around at ease.

Tyler came up to me again and nudged me, this time far more forcefully than before.

I should probably finally get up and take a few steps as a wolf.

Still a bit unsorted, now with four legs instead of two, I sat up.

I tried to get on all four paws with almost as much effort as a newborn cub. So far this has worked quite well. I was pretty shaky, but I stood.

However, when Tyler snuggled up against me while standing, I almost fell over again.

Why did it have to be so difficult?

After I had recovered a bit, I tried my first steps. But I didn't quite know when to put which paw best.

So I just tried it. First the front right, then the rear left, the front left and finally the rear right.

That had worked once before, but it was still damn slow and didn't seem to compare very well with the almost elegant movements of the other werewolves.

So I tried a little smoother, but got confused, stumbled, and fell onto the forest floor, my new snout first.

It had taken a while, but after a few attempts I also managed to walk through the forest with reasonably sure steps on four paws. What I had totally underestimated, however, was how exhausting the whole thing was. After only a short distance I was completely exhausted. My endurance was many times lower than that of the others, but none of them seemed to mind.

Tyler then just lay down next to me and cuddled with me. The pack itself left us relatively alone, they could probably guess for themselves that I was pretty exhausted now.

Nestled against Tyler's fur, I closed my eyes and relaxed.

"Hey Lily, wake up."

Tyler had murmured this softly in my ear and stroked my head.

Completely exhausted, I opened my eyes. Why didn't he just let me sleep on?

"Come on Lily, you have to change back too , if you want you can go straight back to sleep afterwards."

Oh right!

While Tyler was sitting in front of me in human form, here I was, still in wolf form.

I guess I had actually slept through the rest of the full moon. The sunrise in the east was already clearly visible, even here between the trees.

A quick look around also showed me that the pack was no longer here either.

I looked back at Tyler a little hesitantly. How did I turn back?

He probably recognized my problem and said: "Concentrate on your human form, as soon as the transformation begins it will all happen by itself. It is also much easier to transform into a human than into a wolf. As a wolf, your pain tolerance is much higher."

So I did what Tyler told me, concentrating as best I could on my human form.

It took a while.

After a few minutes I was about to give up, but finally the cracking I already knew started.

It hurt, but Tyler was right, the difference from the first transformation was huge.

But when the transformation was finally over, I also realized what Tyler had previously meant with the worst sore muscles of my life.

I felt every muscle in my body hurt.

I almost didn't even care that I was naked.

I couldn't cover myself either, because I felt like I couldn't regenerate any muscles without pain.

"Come on, I'll carry you upstairs to bed."

Carefully, he picked me up without getting into any intimate parts and carried me up.

However, the moment he picked me up, his smell hit me again.

I really didn't understand how I couldn't have noticed before.

I rested my head against his chest as best I could.

"The companion bond is nice, isn't it?

Believe me, once your sore muscles have subsided a little, you'll feel them even more."

I thought about his words a bit.

Yes, the mate bond...

Kinda nice right now.

He took me upstairs, laid me carefully on the bed and covered me up.

"I'll just get you something to drink. I'll be right back."

Tyler left the room, but something was very different than usual. Unlike usual, when Tyler left the room, it seemed like my soul was being torn in two. I stared at the door in needless panic. I was wondering

to

myself asked if Tyler would ever come back, even though it was actually crazy to think so.

I was genuinely relieved when Tyler came back in the door.

"Hey, it's fine. I know the bond is very new and intense right now for you. But I keep coming back."

He came to me, put the glass of water on the bedside table and stroked my cheek.

"Tyler"

We both were frozen.

The word sounded absolutely crooked and crooked, but was clearly recognizable.

"D-did you just say my name?" Tyler asked me wide-eyed.

I nodded uncertainly. Yes, I couldn't believe it myself, but I said his name...

Three weeks had passed.

Three weeks since I turned into a werewolf.

Even now, that sounded kind of crazy.

I mean not even a year ago I would have thought anyone who would have told me that was crazy.

Tyler had started to familiarize me with my duties as Luna, which somehow couldn't really be defined exactly, but included so many incredibly many things.

The social structures within a pack were also very complex and I really underestimated them.

As I have done several times this week, I went to Tyler's office.

I knocked quietly and entered the room. Tyler sat at his desk, surrounded by piles of papers and documents.

"Lily!" he exclaimed happily and waved me over.

He stood up and came towards me halfway.

"Do you actually know how nice it is when you disturb me at work."

I looked at him questioningly.

"Is something wrong?" I asked quietly.

My voice wasn't quite 'normal', but I was able to say a few sentences at a time without straining my vocal chords too much.

"Oh, there's just so much to do. Right now I have to deal with a case where an alpha who turned away from the modern world was probably separated years ago from his mate, who was under 16 at the time.

It's been over 6 years now and I don't quite understand why the old Alpha did it." "

Need help?"

"No, I'll manage that.

But what gives me the honor of your visit." He asked me jokingly. "

I missed you." I murmured softly.

"Oh, I know that all too well." He said to me and took my face in his hands. He leaned down and kissed my lips softly.

"I love you." He murmured to me.

"I love you too."

end