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There was always a weird headspace between having a sudden suspicion and the final realization of it being true, and Thunder had been walking through it for the past few days.

The black wolf had tried to disregard his initial thoughts after seeing the name of the hiking club advertised on the noticeboard and the strange description that followed:

Tired of your nights being boring and quiet?

Do you feel like you want to reconnect with your wild side and let loose?

Join the Full Moon Hikers NOW and get ready to hunt the night as the proud member of our pack.

Let’s claim back the night, TOGETHER!

Obviously, the first thing that Thunder had thought was that it seemed the only members in the club must be either wolves or teenagers using the jargon to try and sound cooler. How else could you justify the use of the word ‘pack’ there, when you were simply talking about going on a walk with some friends? Sure, they were through the forest and the mountainside – and at night – so perhaps someone had chosen to draw some parallelisms between that and the werewolf pack myth, but it was a bit intense for a public announcement.

And the big picture of the full moon on the poster didn’t make things less weird. Whoever had placed the announcement on the town square was probably immune to whatever their neighbors thought about them, or so Thunder thought. He would have been embarrassed to come up with such an edgy text and picture – but then again, he’d never been that extroverted.

Things sort of made sense when he met the leader of the club. He wasn’t surprised at all to see that he was another wolf just like him, albeit slightly older and with thick, copper-like fur that gave him the appearance of being somewhat… wilder. His yellow, piercing eyes had been fixed on Thunder’s frame for quite some time, as if analyzing him. Thunder had felt slightly uncomfortable at first, but then he’d decided he didn’t really care.

To be honest, the stranger was rather attractive.

“It’s good to see a new face,” the wolf had greeted him with a toothy grin. “When you spend a few years in this town, you start thinking you’re never going to meet anyone outside your twenty-people social circle.”

It was a small town indeed. Thunder had been living there for the past few months and still hadn’t managed to meet any new people, which was partly why he’d decided to give the hiking club a chance.

“Name’s Darric, by the way.”

“Thunder.”

“So, do you like hiking, Thunder?”

The black wolf had pondered briefly.

“I do, but I think what most got to me was the fact that you guys specifically do your hiking at night.”

“Ah.” Thunder thought he could see a strange gleam on Darric’s eyes. “Why so? Don’t tell me. You like seeing the moon as it shines above your head.”

There was a hint of a chuckle in that last sentence and Thunder wondered what that could possibly mean. It didn’t feel like the copper-furred wolf was making fun of him. Must be something different.

“Almost,” Thunder answered with a shy smile. “I mean, yeah, I like the moon as much as anyone, but what I really like is looking at the stars.”

“The stars, hmm? Well, that’s something different.”

Different? Thunder had found himself thinking.

“Most people in our club like the moon a lot,” Darric continued, as if guessing what Thunder was thinking. “It comes with prowling around at night, I suppose.”

“Right.”

“But the stars are good as well. I’m also happy to see another wolf joining us, I must say,” Darric admitted. “Up until now, I was the only wolf in the club. It’s always nice to have another of us in the lists, you know.”

Thunder nodded. He could get that. However, there was something that had been bothering him for a while, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Again, it seemed Darric had already considered answering the question before he would even ask it.

“Uh, am I making you uncomfortable? Staring at you a little too much?”

Thunder felt relieved that he didn’t have to say it.

“Er, yeah, maybe a little bit. Is something wrong?”

Darric chuckled.

“Oh, no. Not at all. As the leader of the p… ahem, club, it is my duty to make sure we can trust you to join. So that’s why I was doing all that. Perhaps it made you feel a bit uneasy, but that’s totally normal.”

“I see. So, did I pass the test?” Thunder asked, trying to overcome his natural shyness and make himself a bit more proactive.

“Did you now? Okay, let’s do one thing. Let me look into your eyes for a second and I’ll tell you. Deal?”

There was something about the way he said that, a barely hidden wild enthusiastic edge in his tone, that made Thunder think there was more to it than just ‘looking into his eyes’. But he nodded.

The stranger’s piercing and yellow gaze met his light blue eyes. Darric didn’t speak a single word as he stared and his face seemed to get rather serious for a second. Thunder remained there, unmoving. Darric was slightly bigger than him, his aura definitely more dominant. He tried not to think about that as they stared, but the thought kept coming back to his mind even if he tried to pushed it away.

He felt…

“Okay, that’s enough.” The bigger wolf shook his head and Thunder was able to look away again. What? “You pass the test, of course. I didn’t have to do that just to know, but I wanted to make sure, heh.”

“Oh…” Thunder blinked a few times. It was a good thing to hear he’d passed Darric’s test, even though he wasn’t sure what it entailed. “Yeah, haha. Thanks!”

“You’re welcome. Perhaps we could meet again tomorrow and I can walk you through one of our basic routes,” Darric offered. “How does that sound?”

“I’d like that, yeah.”

“Nice.” There was another brief moment in which Darric held Thunder’s gaze and he felt instantly smaller, weaker. “Meet me in the square tomorrow. At midnight. Understand?”

The proposition felt more like a command, but Thunder nodded before he could think about it. A soft chuckle escaped Darric’s throat and he stood up, leaving the bar.

It was then when Thunder remembered they’d met there.

That was weird. For the past hour, and for as long as he’d been chatting with the wolf, he’d completely forgotten about his surroundings.

* * *

The town looked even more deserted at night than it did during the day. Weird shadows crept in every corner as they tried to escape from the orange-ish light old lampposts casted on the streets. Following Darric’s directions, Thunder had decided to wait until midnight before stepping out of his house and walking to the medium-sized square. The other wolf was already waiting for him there.

“Ah, glad to see you here,” Darric smiled when Thunder appeared. His eyes had been fixed on the black wolf since he’d appeared on the street that led to the square. Thunder couldn’t help thinking Darric must have heard him or… smelled him? “It wasn’t like I thought you wouldn’t come, but honestly, I hate waiting.”

He shook his head and began walking along empty streets. Thunder followed him.

“Is it just the two of us?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought I’d wait until tomorrow before introducing you to the rest of the… gang.” There it was again. Like he’d been about to say a different word and had managed to stop himself just in time. “Do you know the forest outside town?”

“Yeah,” Thunder answered.

“Have you ever explored it?”

Thunder hesitated.

“Well, I just came here a few months ago and… uh, no. I haven’t.”

“Sounds like you thought about doing it and then kept postponing it until you forgot,” Darric chuckled. “Not the first one to make that mistake, I assure you.”

“It looks like a pretty thick forest,” Thunder noted, “at least from outside. I don’t know how it is when you start walking through it. I’ve never seen a track that goes through the thicket, but then again, it isn’t like I’ve been paying much attention.”

“Oh, there is a track. It’s just a bit hidden from view and you have to leave the town to see it. But you’re right – it’s a very thick forest. One you can easily get lost in… and prowl around without being seen, as well.”

Darric’s tone suggested yet again that there was something he found really funny, although Thunder couldn’t really understand what it was. The wolf had a weird way of interacting with him, like his mind was thinking of something else all the time. It was a bit unnerving, but not necessarily bad. Well, I guess I’ll meet the other members of the club soon anyway, Thunder found himself thinking. Even if it isn’t tonight, I suppose he’ll introduce them to me at some point.

It wasn’t long before they left the town and began walking along the winding path of gravel that Thunder had seen a few times during his walks. He’d never ventured too far, but he’d seen the forest Darric was heading towards. It wasn’t too big, but it stretched between the town and the mountainside nearby like a blanket of trees. Now, beneath the silver light of the practically full moon, the forest looked completely different. There was an eerie, supernatural atmosphere in the air. Thunder could understand why Darric had chosen that night to guide him through that path.

He also imagined that meeting the other members in the club would probably be reserved for a night with a full moon, even if that was just to fit with the name of the hiking club. So, tomorrow, the black wolf thought.

“Do you see how the forest bends there?” Darric asked then, pushing Thunder’s thoughts aside. “That small curve it does right before reaching the mountainside?”

Thunder had to make an effort to see what Darric was referring to. As a wolf, he had quite a gifted sense of sight, but there was no doubt the leader of the club was much, much better at it.

“I think so, yeah,” he mumbled.

“That’s where the track starts,” Darric explained. “If you ever want to walk through those forests easily, that’s where you need to go. The other option is getting scratched with a lot of low branches and hawthorns which, uh, you’re also free to try if you want.”

“No, thanks. I think I’ll try the easier option.”

“Heh. Clever boy.”

There was something about the way the wolf said that last compliment that made Thunder blush a bit. For some reason, he found himself thinking about that long stare the other night. Those piercing, yellow eyes. The bar fading out in the background. The commands that had…

“Are you coming?”

Again, Darric managed to break Thunder’s train of thought. The black wolf turned to his guide, who was already near the spot where the forest curved. He must have walked ahead while Thunder had been fantasizing.

“Sure thing.”

He quickly closed the gap between the two of them, feeling slightly self-conscious. When he was finally by Darric’s side, Thunder noticed he hadn’t been lying. There was a track there that went deep into the forest.

“There’s a clearing at the end of this track,” Darric explained as they walked. “There, you can pick between two other tracks that take to different routes.”

“You can’t see the sky here,” Thunder noted. It wasn’t like he felt the need to see the sky – he was simply surprised that, after putting so much emphasis on that when redacting their flier, they’d decide to meet where the sky wasn’t visible at all.

“Don’t worry. You’ll see it when we reach the clearing,” the other wolf replied. “Some of the routes will take you to the mountainside. Plenty of good spots to watch the sky there, as well.”

Thunder nodded. That made more sense.

They reached the clearing a few minutes later. The moonlight seeping through the thick branches above their heads wasn’t enough to light their way and Thunder had been relying mostly on following Darric through the dark, so he was relieved when they finally reached the spot they’d been trying to reach.

“So, you guys meet here?” Thunder asked.

“We don’t meet that often,” Darric explained, his voice deep and gruff. “Just in special occasions. Everyone’s free to go where they please most of the time.”

How is this a hiking club, then?, the black wolf found himself thinking. He looked around to measure the clearing. It was fairly big and the sky was perfectly visible, so he could totally understand why the club would meet there – even if Darric insisted that didn’t happen as frequently as he’d thought. But then?

He turned to Darric, looking for answers, but something made him stop as soon as his eyes rested on the other wolf. He hadn’t noticed when they’d been walking through the forest, since the dim light had kept Darric’s frame mostly hidden from Thunder, but...

… but he could have sworn he’d gotten bigger. Taller.

The copper-furred wolf had wider shoulders now and those arms were… well, they were definitely stronger. Muscles were more defined and the fur that covered them also seemed to have gotten longer. Thicker, even though Thunder had already considered it pretty thick the first time he’d seen it.

“Wh… what’s going on?” Thunder asked, stepping back.

Shit. On second thought, perhaps he shouldn’t have followed a complete stranger into the forest. There were enough things that were weird about Darric in order. He should have been more cautious.

Thunder turned back and got ready to run, even though he wasn’t entirely sure he’d know his way back through the thick, dark forest. Perhaps he hadn’t been too active lately, but he was a good runner. The muscles in his legs tensed as he got ready to escape, but then a single word pierced through the air and seemed to override every previous instruction he’d given to his body.

“Stop.”

Thunder felt his muscles freezing. His body tensed alright – but then it didn’t move. He just stood there, ready to run, but completely motionless. A soft whimper escaped his lips as a flash of those yellow eyes went through his mind, together with the urgent question of what was going on.

The shadow of Darric kept getting closer. Thunder could see him out of the corner of his eye. There was no way the other wolf hadn’t undergone some kind of transformation in the past few seconds. He was a completely different creature altogether – and when he licked his muzzle with a mix of anticipation and excitement, Thunder could see sharper, bigger fangs that hadn’t been there before.

“W… what…” he managed to say.

“I know what this looks like,” the new Darric growled. “I know you think this is scary. But don’t worry. It’ll be over soon and then this will be the best night of the rest of your life.”

Thunder tried to struggle against the invisible binds that kept his body motionless, but Darric kept getting closer. A single word echoed in his mind as that big, strong body approached him – a word he had always relegated to the realm of fantasy and horror fiction.

Werewolf, werewolf.

But there wasn’t much else Thunder could think about before the massive body closed his arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. Fangs sank into his shoulder, finding the perfect, tender spot to bite. Thunder’s eyes opened wide as he felt the painful, yet surprisingly welcomed sensation. For a split second, the whole world faded into a whirlwind of fur and moonlight as the pressure in his shoulder kept rising, rising, rising. His vision was obscured by the werewolf’s chest, but he could still see those eyes, commanding him to remain perfectly still.

Thunder felt transfixed by their piercing gaze even after he passed out, like twin lighthouses in the middle of a deep, dark ocean.

* * *

There was something awfully uncomfortable between the sheets in his bed.

That was the first thing Thunder thought as he opened his eyes the next morning, a soft groan escaping his throat as he tried to break free from the grip of the past night. It took him a few seconds to become aware of his surroundings. He’d been somewhere else, but now he was in his room.

Yes, his room. And the sheets were still pretty uncomfortable.

His body felt numb and over-exercised, like he’d run a whole marathon when nobody was looking. Perhaps he had. Thunder was having trouble trying to remember what had happened during the last night and there were only bits of it that seeped through the haze covering his thoughts. He finally managed to sit up and took a look at his sheets.

No wonder he’d thought they were uncomfortable. There were clods of mud, grass – and what looked like fur way longer than his? – all over the bed. It took him only a few more seconds to find out that said mud and grass was also stuck to his own fur. Thunder felt bewildered for a second until memories flooded his mind like someone had opened a dam.

One of his paws moved to his shoulder, which was still sensitive to the touch. The bite. Yes. Darric… Darric had bitten him there, last night, after he’d followed him to that clearing. And then…

And then.

Memories grew even more confusing after that. He had no idea what he’d been doing, but he sort of remembered the gravel crunching beneath his big, bare footpaws. A view of the town from the top of the mountains, bathed in the beautiful moonlight. The feeling of being bigger. Stronger.

Wilder.

No, Thunder thought. There’s no way that’s what really happened. It must have been one of those wild dreams.

But a quick glance at his sheets told him otherwise. Still confused and tense, the wolf stood up and walked to the shower. The hot water cleared his thoughts and helped him relax, even if only a bit. Washing the clods of mud and grass from his fur made him feel a bit better – and massaging his own footpaws, which were sore from roaming and running over thankless tracks of gravel and dirt, felt like heaven.

He then sat under the stream of water and thought about it.

He had a feeling Darric had been right. Yes, it’d been scary at first. Yes, he’d wanted to run as soon as he’d seen the transformed wolf approaching him, but… Now, thinking about it when it had already happened, feeling the phantom pressure of those fangs against his shoulder, Thunder was overcome with a strange sensation of…

… euphoria.

He took a look through the open door of the bathroom, to the window on the opposite side of the room. It was dark outside. Had he really been sleeping for a whole day?

No. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that the moon was completely full. And Thunder knew what he was supposed to do.

His clothes had been piled up in the corner of the room. Some of them were torn completely, although it looked like his jeans had survived. They might have been more elastic than Thunder thought – or perhaps his legs hadn’t grown so much when he’d…

It was still a weird thing to think about, so Thunder shook his head and decided to put them on. If they’d been good for a night, they’d be good for a second night. He just made sure to pick one of the few shirts in his wardrobe he didn’t mind tearing and then walked outside.

The night was warm, but there was a cold breeze blowing through the empty streets of the town. The full moon shone brightly in the sky and Thunder found his eyes wandering. The stars were barely visible, though, but that didn’t worry him in the slightest. There’d be time to go stargazing.

That wasn’t what this was about. Nor it was hiking.

He followed the same path he’d walked with Darric the past night, remembering the spot in which the forest bent and the hidden track began. He walked through the forest, surprised that it didn’t seem to be as dark as the night before. Even though the moon was bigger tonight, Thunder knew it probably had little to do with the fact that he could see those trees better right now. It probably had something to do with the moon, but more with the way the moon was affecting him and less with the silver light it was casting on the forest. The branches were still as thick as the night before, after all.

It was his eyes that had changed.

He reached the clearing a few minutes later. He wasn’t the first one to get there, but he wasn’t surprised to see a bunch of figures roaming between the trees – some 0f them, mid-transformation. For some reason, a peaceful, reassuring calmness had rooted itself deep within his soul, as if now that he knew what was going on, things weren’t scary anymore, but normal and even slightly appealing.

Darric wasn’t far from there. Thunder could see his big, yellow eyes looking at him, feel the invitation they hid. The copper-furred wolf still hadn’t transformed and there was a smirk on his face.

“I told you I’d introduce you to the rest of the pack tonight, didn’t I?”

Thunder remembered. Darric hadn’t used the word ‘pack’ back then, but ‘gang’. Still.

There were at least a dozen other members in the club. From his position, Thunder could see a fully transformed werelion and an otter that was resting on a branch, waiting for it to hit finally. There was a bull, transfixed, thick arms resting at the sides of his body. On the opposite corner of the clearing, there were a vixen and a coyote viciously scratching their clothes. Most of them were looking at the full moon, a longing desire deep inside their pupils, or growling mid-transformation as their bodies grew bigger. No other wolves in sight, just like Darric had mentioned the other day. For some reason, he’d known that bit was true from the beginning.

Thunder felt the distant urge to speak, but he knew that wasn’t what Darric was expecting from him, so the words died in his throat. Instead, he looked up to the bright full moon and accepted the invitation of the other wolf as if it was a physical thing he could take. Something inside him stirred.

His body began changing. There was an itch all over his fur as it grew longer. Thicker. When Thunder moved his paws to scratch it over his shirt, almost involuntarily, he found his body bigger than usual. More muscular. And that shirt… It was a good thing he’d picked his least favorite one, because he wouldn’t need it anymore.

As his body grew inside the shirt, the fabric began creaking until a big tear opened at Thunder’s back. The black werewolf removed the rest of it with his new claws – sharper, more solid, ready to strike. The mere gesture of tearing his shirt with his own hands caused a wave of wild excitement to wash over Thunder’s heart and he decided he needed to do it.

He brought his head back and let out a loud, echoing howl. He was quickly joined by the other werecreatures in the clearing, and having his call to action replied by so many brethren filled him with joy and savage enthusiasm.

As the choir of howls faded, only Darric’s chuckle remained in the clearing.

“Heh. Welcome to the pack, wolf.”

He began a transformation of his own, knowing that was going to be a hell of a night.