The Turning

Look at the time. Tick tock, its fuck the world up o'clock! Sunset at nine, it's half eight. I can feel it under my skin. What do I do?!! I can't tell her, right? Or can I... I ponder on that thought for a bit too long, and decide the answer is yes. At least if it doesn't work out, she'll leave; so win-win, right?

"I know we've only known each other for a week, but you trust me; right?"

She looks at me, kind of surprised but also with that little genuine twinkle in her eye. She doesn't smell apprehensive, which is enough for me to know the answer. But she says it anyway.

"Yes, of course I do. I mean, I think we get on pretty well; why, what's the matter?"

What now? Spill the beans? Nope, throw the can at the wall and watch as they explode all over your nice furniture.

"Well, I'm not all that I seem; if you can't my drift."

She doesn't look surprised or scared, she looks caring. It's like she actually wants to look out for me and help me with whatever problem I've got. And she smells like it. Well, at least what I can smell over that stupid perfume.

"I don't care what you are, I want to be your friend. I want to get to know you. I want to be with you." Famous last words? We'll see.

"Well; long story short I'm, uh..." Still doesn't look worried; she's surprisingly calm. "I'm a werewolf."

Waiting for the penny to drop. Waiting for her to nope the fuck outta here. But she doesn't. She looks at me with those caring eyes.

"In what way?"

*Gulp*

"In the way that I turn into a big fluffy thing every few weeks." Tick; tock. "And it's about to happen in half an hour." She hasn't freaked the fuck out yet, so I keep going.

"I'm pretty sure I won't hurt you; I don't lose my mind; but I've never done it around anyone else before so I can't guarantee what's going to happen." Well, I have an idea what's going to happen, but I'm pretty sure it's about to end in a literal bloodbath. But she doesn't run. She puts her hand on mine, in the same way someone does when you're talking about your dead grandma.

"That's OK. We've all got our own oddities and secrets, and that's yours. What do you want me to do then? Can I do anything to help you?" Wait, what?! She's asking me? Uh, run away, I guess?

"I'm going to be honest; I have no idea. I mean, I suppose you could stand outside while I change in the bedroom? I'll let your back in when I'm done and we *growl* can keep watching TV afterwards if you want." She smiles at me. STOP! SEND HELP! You've lost your damn mind; the both of you!

"OK, that's fine with me." She didn't even sound stressed. I'm beginning to wonder if she legitimately has brain damage, because that's my only explanation for what's going on now.

How is she so chill about this? She finds out werewolves are actually real, and then is like "oh yeah, that's cool, I guess. I watch Powerpuff Girls in my free time. We've all got our secrets. Herp derp". Fuck. It's starting. I can feel my bones literally aching to go all super Saiyan. It's fine. Deep breaths. It's all cool.

"Right, it's starting. It should only take about 5 minutes. You'll probably hear some strange sounds, but it's all normal. I'll let you back in when I'm done; but if you don't hear anything after 15 minutes, here's a key to let yourself back in because I've probably blacked out."

I pretty much throw her out of the front door as the hair begins to grow on my arms. What the actual fuck is going on.

Anyway, 5 minutes later, I'm done. I let her back in. My theory was that if I went completely mad there's no way I could unlock a door. Mainly because keys and door handles weren't exactly designed with paws the size of watermelons and big claws in mind. Especially if you can't actually think. But fortunately, using my big brain, I just about figured out how to unlock the door. She looked at me and walks in. WHAT. THE. HELL. MAN. Generally a normal person's reaction to an 8-foot hairy thing is to get the hell away. But she just waltzes right past me.

She sits down on the sofa and pats the cushion besides her. So, I go and sit down. She gives me a cuddle. I mean, I can't exactly blame her; my fur is soft as hell. I'd give myself a cuddle if I could. She looks at me and starts asking the big question.

"So, what does it feel like? Is it painful? I didn't hear much noise."

I response in my best English, which is a challenge considering my lips and vocal cords weren't designed with speech in mind.

"It doesn't really hurt, it actually feels kinda good." She looks surprise, but in a good way; I guess?

"Interesting." Yeah, you could say that. "Is it alright if I ask some more after watching this? We're getting to the good part." PRAISE BE!! Let's watch some stupid Anime and then maybe she'll fall asleep and think it was all a dream.

Well, I was wrong about that. We finished the episode, then she was all like "yo, wanna drink or snack?" And I was all like "I've got all I need, grab something outta the cupboard for yourself." She sat back down, bowl of popcorn in hand, and started her own session of Mastermind. To her credit, she didn't ask super-personal question, but it was the usual kind of thing you would expect on a second date. That is, if having a second date with a god-damn werewolf was usual. And the worst bit is, she was really understanding. She smelt, how do I put it? Apprehensive? Yeah, apprehensive. But not scared, or nervous, or shitting herself. Just apprehensive. And happy.

Finally, interrogation over. We finish the rest of the episodes, and would you look at the time? 11 on the clock.

"While it wasn't exactly the kind of date I was expecting, it was good none-the-less. Thank you for spending your time with me; and revealing yourself so much with so much honesty."

Aw man, my heart is starting to melt! Oh wait, that's not a good thing. I didn't want her to like me, but I have a feeling it's too late now. So, we say our goodbyes and she gets in her car and leaves.

Fuck man, I felt this strange feeling inside that I hadn't felt for a long time. It was compassion. I never realised how much of a cynical bastard I'd become over the years, just assuming that it was the wolf inside of me. But the wolf inside of me was happy; it felt the same thing too. It just wanted to be loved, like a big god-damn dog; get a ruffle behind its ears and a dog biscuit when it does a backflip like a good boy. It was just me all along. It's like I wanted to be an arsehole because I thought it was the right thing to do. But instead, tonight revealed that I can be compassionate; no matter what I look like.

I'm not gonna lie, I just curled up and cried for the rest of the night. Not in a bad way, or a self-loathing way. But in a happy way. I was happy. I felt loved. I felt that little gooey bit right in the middle start to melt; and it was amazing after so long of it being frozen solid.

Well, that got real deep; real quick, right? Anyway, don't wanna drag you down with my super-edgy My Chemical Romance lyrics, so I'll get back to the good bits.

***

Shit, five minutes to go. I'm not sure that's enough time!

Steve was sitting at the foot of the double bed, meanwhile Mary was getting undressed.

"So, how much will it hurt?" Mary queried.

"I'm not sure. I think the initial bite will hurt a lot, but the adrenaline should cover the transformation." Steve tried more to reassure himself than to reassure her.

"OK, I trust you. How long?" Mary sounded both nervous and excited.

"Not long." Steve growled as he grabbed his chest.

The moon was beginning to peer over the horizon, its white rays flowing through the window. Steve could feel the familiar heat under his skin, waiting to burst out. But he was going to take it easy tonight; he didn't want to hurt Mary in any way.

***

Sex. Wow, that's a heavy word, right? It's confusing enough to understand it all when it comes to humans, but me? I've got to deal with dogs as well! I'm going to be honest, at first, I was very confused about what was going on down there. But with a significant amount of internet research I managed to figure it out.

The only time I've ever got close was when I encountered a wolf in the woods. I'm guessing she was in heat, because she smelt strange; almost inviting. And her behaviour was strange, it was like she was drunk. And then, she started presenting and my wolf brain went into autopilot. I managed to stop myself before I got there; partially because just the thought made me want to vomit, but also because she was about four times smaller than me, and there is no way in hell she would have survived the encounter.

I think it was the total loss of control that scared me.

***

It was beginning. I couldn't hold it back anymore, I had to just release it.

Mary sat in silence as the man started to change. This wasn't the first time she'd seem him do this, but even so it still felt off. Not quite right. And this time was even worse, because she knew what was coming next.

It only took a minute for Steve to finish changing. She liked the way the moon shone through his Auburn fur; it made it look there was a pale-yellow aura surrounding him. He looked at her.

"Are you sure you want this? There's no going back." The beast growled.

"I'm sure. Do it." Mary couldn't wait any longer. If this was the only way she could spend her life with him, then that's exactly what she would do.

"OK, if you're sure." He growled, but not in violence.

Steve sat down on the bed next to her. He looked at Mary's skin, it looked so pale and so smooth, especially under the moonlight. It seemed a shame to ruin it, but it was what she wanted. And deep down inside; it's also what he wanted.

He closed his eyes and began concentrating. He could feel the saliva begin to thicken in his mouth. He swilled his tongue around, hoping to mix it up and make the process go faster. After a few seconds, he felt it was about right. How much was about right to turn her? He had no idea, but the wolf inside him seemed to know, so he listened intently; almost like a child listening to a parent.

His eyelids shot open. His pitch-black pupils had dilated, replacing most of his yellow irises. He moved his muzzle towards Mary's shoulder. She could feel the warm breath emanating from his nose. As he parted his mouth slightly, she could feel the warm, viscous drool drip onto her shoulder and run down her chest and her back. Then the pain began.

Steve sunk his large teeth into Mary's shoulder. They had decided that the bite should be there because it would be much easier to hide the scars than somewhere more obvious, like the neck. However, it did mean it would take a lot more to fully infect her, resulting in much prolonged pain on her part.

Mary cried out in pain as she felt the long daggers plunge into her tender flesh. Steve quickly raised his arm to her mouth, and she bit down on it as hard as possible. She knew it would hurt, but she wasn't quite ready for how much it hurt. Now she could feel the saliva rush into the holes in her skin, circulating around her bloodstream.

After what seemed like an eternity; but in reality was only a few moments, she felt the pain begin to ease. However, she could still feel Steve's jaw clamped onto her shoulder with the same pressure as before. Did this mean it was working?

The wolf in Steve told him to keep going. He could feel her pain; smell and even taste it. But she knew what she was getting into, and if he stopped now, he was certain she would die of blood loss. Also, she was biting down on his arm with such force that it was beginning to hurt. He took that as a sign she was hurting a lot.

Not long now. Keep going. His brain told him.

Finally, the pressure released. Mary looked down at her shoulder, and she could see it was pouring blood from the multitude of small holes in it. But the strange thing was, it didn't seem to hurt. Was that the adrenalin, or was it the wolf? Then she felt it. It was like her insides had decided to give up completely on her. This hurt; this hurt a lot.

As she grabbed her stomach, Steve reached down to grab her with his large paws.

"Are you OK?" He growled.

"Hnnngggg" Was all Mary could let out from between her clenched teeth.

He sat her back up and tried to steady her by the shoulders. He noticed her scent had changed. It was like before, but there was something else in it. It triggered something in is brain. It's like he'd smelt something like it before; but just couldn't remember where.

Mary's skin felt like it was going to tear to shreds, but it wasn't painful. It felt normal. That's when she noticed she could suddenly smell something. It was very strong; much stronger than anything she had ever smelt before. And then she realised it wasn't one thing. No; it was everything. Everything smelt, and each smell was different. Thousands of individual smells surrounding her. And she could even start to pick individual ones out. It was akin to a magic eye picture. At first there is just static, but then pictures started to form when she looked hard enough.

Before she could fully wrap her head around what she was smelling, she felt something inside her; it was moving. Then she realised it wasn't something inside her; it was her. Her bones started to move around; some elongating, some shortening. She could feel new ones forming at the base of her back. Was that the tail? And her face. It was elongating. The same process was happening with her muscles, her organs and her skin. They were all effortlessly moulding themselves around her ever-changing skeleton. In a way, it felt good.

Then she was distracted by her skin. It didn't look like it had before; the thin layer of peach fuzz was gone, and in its place, there were brown hairs. And they were growing both in length and number. Soon enough, they were starting to cover her entire body; resulting in a thin brown coat. She brushed it with one of her fingers, which she realised now had a hard pad on the bottom and a long claw protruding from the tip. It felt good, her warm pads on her cold, soft coat.

Steve let go of her and stood in the corner of the room. He wanted to give her as much space as possible to change; he didn't want her to lash out in fear, especially on her first time. He admitted she looked quite nice, with her long bushy tail and soft, immaculate brown coat; much better than his. And she smelled nice. Her scent was so powerful he could taste it. He recognised the feeling. It was the same he felt when he saw that wolf in the woods. His heart began to race.

I mean, sure we've been going out with each other long enough; but I'm not even sure how it works for werewolves. Can they get pregnant? I'm guessing STDs aren't an issue with our healing, but what about contraceptives? Do they work? Do we even need them? But it's going to have to happen at some point; she's made that decision and I agreed.

Mary felt as if the transformation was finished; she could no longer feel her bones reorganising themselves. She cautiously stood up, and to her surprise it was easy. She could feel her pointed ears touching something and realised her head had hit the ceiling. She crouched down slightly, matching Steve's posture. She took a long, sharp breath through her nose, taking in the scent of her surroundings. The window had been left open, and she could smell the trees in the distance. She also noticed she could hear the crunch of twigs and rustle of leaves, and that they were far off in the distance.

"How do you feel. Are you OK?" Steve asked concernedly. Or at least with as much concern as a wolf can give.

"I'm fine. No, I feel great!" Mary growled as she wagged her tail.

"I think we should take this slowly; we don't know what could happen." Steve said this more to reassure himself.

Mary padded over to Steve and licked his face. He wasn't expecting the gesture, but her warm saliva wetting his fur felt nice.

"Stop it!" He chuckled.

She stopped, and he returned the gesture. She pushed back against his body and they both fell to the floor. They spend the next few minutes rolling around on the floor laughing.

You know what, I think I could get used to this. I think I finally found my "mate", if that's what you want to call it.

They were lying there, drinking in each-others scent, when Mary sat up.

"Do I smell steak in the kitchen? I'm starving!" There was a gleam in her eye.

Steve was still laying on his back. "Yes, I prepared it earlier. Want to get some?"

Mary smiled and darted out the room.

"Oi! Wait for me! I don't want you eating all of it!" Steve yelled as he followed behind. "And be careful of the carpet!"

When Steve got to the kitchen, Mary had already found the steak cubes on the countertop. She was chewing on one when she noticed him. She skewered one with her claws and held it out towards Steve. He leaned forwards and grabbed it with his mouth and slid it off.

"This stuff's nice." Mary mumbled through her chewing. She was still figuring out which teeth were useful for which food.

"Yeah, it is. I know a cattle farmer, so I get it straight from there. Super cheap as well." He said as he sliced the cube up with ease in his mouth. He reached over Mary's shoulder and grabbed another cube, throwing it in the air and catching it with his mouth.

They decided it would be a good idea to go sit down and finish the TV series they were halfway through. As they sat on the couch that was far too small for them now, munching on cubes of steak, Mary grabbed her head with her hand and let out a groan.

"Are you alright?" Steve put his arm around her to console her.

Mary groaned. "I've got the weird headache. It started shortly after you bit me, and then it's been off and on since."

Steve had a quick sniff of the air. And there it was. That smell again.

Do werewolves have heat? Is it linked to their human cycle, or a wolf cycle? It's the middle of summer, so there's no way that's possible.

A look of horror started to form on Steve's face.

Is it the change? Has it messed with her hormones? Or does she just like me that much? What do I do? I'm pretty sure werewolf sex is going to get real messy real quick.

Mary sniffed the air and looked at Steve. She took a long inhale through her nose, moving closer to Steve as she did. She pushed her nose right up to his chest and took a lung-full of air. She grabbed Steve's clawed hand with her own and placed it on her breast. Underneath the fur it felt much like a human breast, nipple and all, but it was firmer. He put this down to the increase muscle mass in her entire chest. He could also feel the heat emanating from her body. It's as if she was burning up inside.

"I think I know what's causing my headache." She said with a deep growl.

Steve gulped. "Yeah, I figured it out too."

Mary licked her lips.

"Let's do it." Her tone was one of desperation.

Welp, there's no going back now.

"OK, but let's take it to the bedroom." Steve was fine with the idea of destroying the bedroom, but not the entire house.

Mary smirked. "You'll have to carry me."

Steve let out a playful sigh as he stood up and grabbed her from the sofa. As she was cradled in his arms, she took a long lick of his chest. It sent a shiver up his spine.

Steve threw Mary on the bed. She growled and leaped to her feet. She ran at Steve and tackled him to the floor. She lay on top of him, growling and sinking her claws into his arms.