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"Keep moving, pup," Orion growled from ahead of me. Despite his gentle voice, he seemed to enjoy using it threateningly. "We've still got some ways to go."

My reply was slow as I hefted my pack and jogged to catch up with the older man. "Can't you slow down? I need a break."

The two of us had been walking for hours, and the sky had turned dark long ago. We kept by the tree line of the forest, apparently going the long way around instead of directly through the woods. Despite that, Orion had spurred me on at a brisk pace, saying that he had packmates to meet with and couldn't afford to be delayed. I would never have guessed that such an old dog could move so quickly. Whenever I lagged behind him, I found myself looking into the forest, wondering where the wolves were at that moment.

"We'll take a break when we get there," The wolf answered, not slowing down. "For the son of a blacksmith, I can't say I'm impressed. If you're going to join this pack, you're going to need to learn to run with wolves."

The wolf's comment grated on me, and I snapped my response. "I'm a smith's son, not a dog; I sit in front of a forge folding metal, not chasing game." I kept the fact that my father didn't consistently let me do that much to myself.

I should have realized by this point how bad an idea it was to snap at the old man, because it seemed he was very physical when irked. Orion stopped, grabbing me by my fur coat and yanking me towards him. Despite how dark it was; I could clearly see his angry expression thanks to the light of the half-moon, unhindered by a cloudless sky.

He growled and I thought I heard a twig snap, though his hot breath and insulting words held my attention. "You have quite the sense of humor for someone who's a dog-in-training."

"That's only because you threatened to let fairies take my sister! You even said your pack would abandon the town; it's not like I had much of a choice."

The tall man laughed loudly, and I frowned. "Most of the fairies are bound in a treaty with the packs, pup. The fae of the Seelie court can't take children."

I paused, glaring at him in disbelief. As my thoughts raced, Orion's smile widened, his teeth glowing menacingly in the light of the moon. I was almost sure I could hear branches snapping in the forest beside us. "You're telling me you lied to me?"

Orion broke eye contact, looking past me into the forest. "Not necessarily. Most Unseelie live far from here, where your father's from; aside from their lot, there are still Solitary fae."

"Fairies or not, your town would have still been decimated by vampires, or worse."

The voice that spoke didn't belong to Orion; I knew that because it was feminine, and as far as I knew, being a werewolf didn't allow one to speak without moving their mouth.

Orion released me from his grip and I turned around to behold a tall, pale woman whose naked skin and long hair seemed to glow in the half-light given by the moon. Beside her was a large brindle wolf that easily up to the bottom of my ribcage not including his large ears, and a head that must have been as wide as my chest. I stared wide-eyed for a long moment, face flushing and gaze shifting between the nude woman and her lupine companion before turning back around to face Orion. The old man looked at me with what I suspected was genuine amusement as his eyes turned yellow.

"This isn't where we agreed to meet, but I guess this is as good a place as any." He said with a chuckle.

"You didn't say he was going to be a prude, Orion." The woman commented from behind my back. "He's going to need to get used to naked people if he's going to join the pack."

"True, but you probably should have let Rigel carry some clothes for you. You know how pups are."

The wolf began to growl, a startling sound that echoed in the otherwise silence of the night. I breathed heavily, watching my hazy breath dissipate while doing my best to ignore Orion's gaze.

Orion grinned and pulled off his fur coat, reaching beyond me to pass it to the woman; I heard her grumble and he instead pushed the coat into my hands. When I looked at Orion in confusion, I heard a grunt of pain from behind me that was swiftly followed by a wet tearing sound. Against my better judgement, I turned to see what was happening.

I stared in abject horror as the beautiful woman who'd once stood before me writhed and groaned as her body broke and reshaped itself before my very eyes. I could see her grit her teeth as she fell onto all fours due to the wrong shaping of her legs. I watched as her skin tore and reknit itself around the tail shot from the base of her spine, sprouting fur the entire while. Worst was watching her head: her hair receded into her scalp and white fur taking its place as her skull changed, ears moving and growing, eyes shut tight against the pain.

I watched breathlessly as the transformation took place. It could not have taken more than two minutes, but it felt as if it were much longer. When it was over, a gorgeous white wolf stood before me, and for the life of me, I'd swear her green eyes betrayed amusement. Behind me, I heard movement and the sound of fabric ruffling but paid it no mind; instead I fell to my hands and knees and retched. It seemed that not eating for most of the day had paid off in at least one way.

When I looked up from spitting bile onto the grass, I found myself being stared down by both wolves. The brindle one, I assumed he was Rigel, sniffed at my hair and face before snorting. When the large wolf had cleared my field of vision, I found myself staring into the naked crotch of Orion; I blushed despite myself and fell back onto my ass.

"Look at me, pup." The old man spoke, and I did my best to avert my gaze; however, the growl of Rigel forced me to snap my attention to the naked man. I couldn't help but notice how many scars ran over his body. I swallowed hard as my face flushed.

"In case you haven't realized it, I am the Alpha." Orion spoke, and for the first time, I recognized the warrior he must have been, the fighter. It showed in how he held himself before me scarred and nude, and in every word he spoke. It glared in the bright yellow of his eyes that glowed in the moonlight. I was an idiot not to have noticed sooner. "That means I am your Alpha. Am I understood?"

Not for the first time in this unending day I found myself speechless, so I nodded my head vigorously. Apparently, Orion was satisfied with this despite Rigel's growl, because he continued speaking. My heart beat strongly in my chest and in my ears.

"You belong to me, from this day until the day I die. You belong to the pack until the day you die." As he spoke, the tall, older man began to shift and his face elongated as his body began to sprout more hair than it already had. "You will fight by our side and eventually join us to howl at the moon." His voice grew rough as his mouth filled with teeth still too big for it to hold, his vocal cords changing and stretching.

I watched in awe and terror as the muscles shifted beneath his skin. As I stared, his body was covered in fur that I could only describe as beautiful. The reds, browns, and blacks mixed unevenly and rippled across his muscled body even as he hunched and stood on digitigrade feet.

"You will eventually be claimed by one of us, and the hand of death. We will rejoice with your mating and mourn your departure. But from now on, you are ours. You are a pup now, but you may just live to be a wolf." He fixed me with his green wolf's eyes. I was short before, barely up to his shoulder, but now he towered above me in this hybrid state. "You are mine."

I nodded, and this time I spoke, albeit only being a whisper. "Yes."

My alpha reached out to me, and I took his hand. The hand dwarfed mine beyond belief, and Orion showed no discernable effort as he helped me to my feet. I found myself staring at his hand and the claws at the ends of each finger. His voice snapped my attention back to his face.

"Gather my clothes and put them in your pack. We run to the camp soon. Rigel will be your ride."

I looked at the brindle-furred wolf. The glare he returned was far from the amused thing that the female had given me earlier. I looked back to Orion.

"Are you sure? I don't really know if he's fond of that idea."

Orion smirked, a horrifying gesture that somehow managed to compliment his many yellow teeth. "He does as I say. Hurry up, it's late and I have business to attend to at camp."

With a sigh, I complied, quickly gathering and rolling up the tall man's clothes and stuffing them into my pack; I took note of the fact that it seemed he hadn't worn any sort of undergarment. With no idea what to do with his boots, I tied their laces together and slung them over my shoulders. While I worked, I again heard the painful rending of bone, muscle, and skin; when I had finished, there were three wolves standing before me, the newest standing tall and regal between the others.

Orion turned around and dipped his head. With nary a warning, he took off, the white wolf quickly giving chase. I turned to look at Rigel. The brindle huffed at me and I was glad I couldn't read his mind. Slowly I approached him, wondering how I was meant to get atop him, and if he could even support my weight.

Due to my diminutive height, I'd never been much of a horse rider; needing help climbing on and off a horse was far too embarrassing, so I had declared my disinterest quickly. Climbing onto an overgrown dog was no easier, I found. Rigel growled whenever I gripped him, and I found it too hard to balance while trying to hop onto his back.

Eventually, Rigel seemed to decide he'd enjoyed being difficult enough for the time being and crouched low to the ground. This allowed me to quite easily step over him before he stood and lifted me off the ground with little effort that I could discern.

When the wolf stood, I began to tip forward, and instinctually pressed my heels into his sides. This elicited a growl from Rigel, and I jumped in surprise, almost letting go of him.

"Hey now, just hold up a moment," I began, trying to placate him. "Just let me get a better grip..."

As I spoke, I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his neck to grip his fore-chest. Adjusting the position of my legs, I gripped his sides with my knees. In this position, I found myself far less likely to lose my grip, but with my face pressed into his neck fur. I did my best to ignore the not-unpleasant woodsy smell of his pelt as well as attempt not to choke on it when I spoke. "I'm as ready as I'm going to be."

Rigel adjusted his stance, rumbling low in his throat. He turned his head to look back at me, and for the first time I saw mischievous amusement glint in his eye. That was the last thing my eyes clearly saw before he belted into the trees.

Everything was a blur, the moon's light bleeding over the trees we passed. Rigel's speed and agility was beyond belief; even with my weight atop him, he nimbly dodged trees and ducked branches without slowing. Eventually I had to press my face against his neck to keep the wind out of my eyes.

With my eyes shut tight and the wind out of my face, my mind cleared enough to recognize the fact that I was indeed clutching to a wolf for dear life. I could feel Rigel's chest muscles working beneath my hands; his energetic lope bounced me along even as I held on. I inhaled slowly and deeply, and was soothed by Rigel's scent. While the wolf's pelt held the scent of the forest, which was to be expected if he ran like this often, it also held a pleasant spice below that, and it made me relax. Clutching his fur and breathing him in, I let the ride progress and the wolf take me where he willed.

After what had to be twenty minutes of running, Rigel slowed to a halt. When I realized we'd stopped, I lifted my head from the wolf's ample fuzz. Looking around, I saw that we were still in the forest, but I could see the light of a fire between the trees. Rigel shook me off of his back and I fell with a quiet thud onto the leaf-laden ground. The wolf turned to regard me for a moment before taking off, breaking the tree line and leaving my sight in little time.

I sighed and stood slowly. As I'd come to realize, if I didn't give myself time to overthink things, I wouldn't be able to worry about them. Acting on this, I gathered my pack and made sure Orion's boots were still on my shoulders before I walked out of the trees.

My initial reaction upon breaking the tree-line was to shield my eyes from the brightness of the fire that was burning strong. As my eyes adjusted and I lowered my hand, I was awed by the sight I took in.

There were men and women everywhere, most in some state of undress, all making their way here and there despite the late of night. I'd somehow expected my arrival to be a quiet one, but most of them turned their heads to look at me the moment I'd stepped out of the woods. In addition to the people were the wolves. In total, there had to be some thirty bodies moving about, a good portion of whom were also beginning to notice me.

In order to keep myself from drowning in faces, I began to look at the camp itself. There were a number of buildings, a few of which were built in an arrangement that made the fire-pit seem as the center of camp. They were all built of solid bricks, though none of them looked as if they would hold many people. While I wasn't sure what the purpose of most of them were yet, there was what I was sure to be an outhouse some difference away from the others, back against the forest line to my left.

As I inspected the camp, my eyes caught the sight of Orion's naked form moving toward me, Rigel and some other woman following close behind him. I stood at attention when the alpha drew nearer, doing my best to keep my eyes above his waist. It seemed he and the black-haired woman were deep in conversation.

"-He's got no experience, and I heard what Meissa said, we all did!" She was saying as they approached, either not knowing or caring that they'd entered my range of hearing. "I don't care that he's the son of an old friend, look at him; he won't survive the winter!"

When they stopped, Rigel came over and pressed himself against my side, nearly unbalancing me with his weight. As I reached down to scratch the wolf, I noticed that Orion observed our interaction; I did not miss how Rigel's tail began to wag when I scratched behind his large ears.

The Alpha apparently found this worthy of note as well. He spoke with his gentle but authoritative voice, pointing at us. "Rigel likes him, Bella. And he's Nick's son. I'm acknowledging your concerns, but I will train him myself. Rigel will be his partner until he's capable of running with us."

Rigel pulled away when he was volunteered to be my partner. I didn't know what that insinuated, but the splay of the wolf's ears showed that he wasn't terribly thrilled by it.

The woman, Bella, scoffed and glared at Orion; I realized that she still hadn't acknowledged my presence. "I just think that maybe it was rash of you to take the son of someone so important to you just so you don't miss him."

Orion's change happened quicker than my eyes could follow, the only hint of it being the loud crack like a branch snapping. One moment he was a naked, curly-haired old man and in the next he was half-shifted, large teeth and feral yellow eyes snarling in Bella's face. The shorter woman did not betray fear, though she averted her gaze towards me. Any wolves and people who'd approached to wait for the chance to greet me all turned and dispersed.

"I am the Alpha," Orion snarled, spittle flying from the teeth in his not fully-shaped muzzle. "I know what I'm doing, and I will not have you question my motives, Bellatrix."

Bellatrix nodded, not taking her blue eyes off of mine. I was frozen in place, my hand having found its way back into Rigel's pelt to grip his neck ruff tightly. She turned back to Orion and nodded once. "I understand, Alpha."

Despite Bellatrix's reluctant acceptance, my mind whirled. I'd known that Orion and my father had some sort of background together because he'd made it fairly obvious, but for it to be enough to cause one of the old man's wolves unrest surprised me. To make matters more confusing for me, Orion seemed adamant that whatever connection it was that Bellatrix was making was not based on fact; this was something that even I doubted based on the vehemence of Orion's rebuttal. I had not expected to see such discourse among wolves, at least not so soon.

We watched as Orion took a slow, purposeful breath to calm himself. He shrank slowly, his mouth reshaping itself while his bones groaned audibly. After a moment, he was his normal hair-covered self, standing naked in front of us. This time, I couldn't help but inspect how the hair that feathered his chest and stomach curled from his sides to meet in a sort of cowlick down his front.

"I am Alpha." His voice was soft once again, but it sounded far away, as if the man's mind was suddenly burdened. "Kenneth will stay, and he'll learn to fight and protect. If he survives the winter and spring, he'll join the pack fully at the summer camp. Am I understood?"

The woman nodded, glancing to me once more before taking her leave.

When Bellatrix was gone, Orion addressed me. "You've got a long way to go, pup."

I nodded my head, but stated my plain confusion. "I have no idea what any of what you were talking about meant."

The man nodded before looking down to Rigel, who was sitting by my side. "In case you didn't hear that, Rigel, you're going to be his partner."

My mind was racing again, and I voiced my confusion again to the man in front of me. "You keep saying he'll be my partner, but I don't know what that means."

"And that's fine, he'll show you tomorrow. Introductions will wait for tomorrow, too. For now, you need to sleep. Rigel," He addressed the brindle, who rose to his paws. "Take him off so he can rest. You need it too."

For a long moment I glared at Orion, wanting to argue against him. I was still able to do more, and I wanted to learn. However, I had just seen exactly how commanding he could be, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that to be directed at me. In addition, even as I reasoned it over, my mind and body began to feel numb from exhaustion. With a sigh, I nodded and let my self be led away by Rigel.

The wolf led me a short distance away into one of the larger buildings. I followed Rigel around a corner and down a corridor into a sparsely decorated room. The room was lit by the dying light of the fireplace, though it was enough to warm it slightly. On the floor was a single mat and blanket, along with a pile of clothes and a few weapons piled in the corner. I glanced at Rigel, who purposefully walked into the room before pacing a circle on the mat and curling up on it.

"This is where I'll sleep?" I asked without expecting or receiving an answer.

Rigel snorted.

With a shrug, I tossed Orion's boots to the side and crouched on the floor to remove mine. I made short work of my britches, coat, and shirt, and I was soon on my hands and knees trying to get the large wolf to make room for myself on the mat. It took a bit of work, but eventually Rigel complied and stood, stepping off to the side to watch as I lay down and pulled the blanket over me.

My eyes had scarcely closed before they were opening once more as Rigel poked and pushed his head under my arm. It took a longer moment before I comprehended what he was trying to do, and I lifted my arm to let the wolf lay down beside me, his warm-pelted back pressed against my stomach. Rigel snuffled in content, and with the warmth of the fire and his fur, as well as the spice of his scent in my nose to comfort me, I was quickly asleep.