Winter's Howl

As expected she blocked the strike and met it with one of her own, but in addition to that she swept her leg and was able to knock Samuel to the ground.

The alpha female looked down on him.

"Seems that you've run out of ideas."

That's when Samuel did the stupidest, most reckless thing he could have possibly done in his situation: he grabbed her leg and crawled up her body. Naturally she hit and scratched his back and arms, wounding him in multiple places. Once he made it to her torso he used his arms and legs to attach himself as tightly as possible.

This maneuver put his head in a horrible place, right in front of the she-wolf and completely unprotected. She was in her hybrid form at the moment and clawed at him.

The moment she started that motion Samuel released his arms and let himself fall back, though it wasn't fast enough to stop her from slashing several parts of his cheek. But that wasn't what Samuel was trying to accomplish.

When he leaned back all the way he heard Morgan's voice yell "NOW!"

Without looking he held out his hand and felt Morgan's spear land on his palm.

Using what felt like all the strength he had ever built up in his life, he used his core and arms to rise back up and drive the spear into the beast's heart.

His aim was true and his attack landed where he needed it to. Blood spurted out of her, getting all over Samuel. As his legs gave out and he fell to the ground he noticed that even though the blood was fresh, it was oddly cool in temperature.

The night's many injuries caught up to Samuel and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

*****

Shiloh was separated from the rest of the omegas and walking alone in the forest. He looked for a place to hide and wait things out.

The omega eventually found a spot under a tree and laid down in the snow, his powerful body heat protecting him from the chill.

When he listened closely he could hear the faint sounds of fighting. Things seemed really dire for the Romulus pack.

Shiloh relaxed in the snow.

Then the wolf's lips curled into a smile.

Everything was going according to plan.

Suddenly he was startled by a noise behind him. When he stood and turned to investigate he was surprised to find Tim.

Tim, where have you been? You left the group and I got so worried I ran off to look for you.

The other omega growled.

You can drop the act. I know what you did.

Shiloh took a step backwards.

Wait, I don't know what you're talking about.

At that moment he noticed other omega wolves approaching. He looked back at Tim.

My husband almost died because of you. All our families and friends are in danger.

Tim started to move forward while Shiloh kept backing up.

Please, there's got to be a misunderstanding here. I would never do anything to hurt you, you're my best friend!

We were never friends. That was just another lie you told me.

Shiloh was surrounded on all sides.

Tim and every other omega in Romulus pounced as one.

*****

Paine felt like he was floating in a dark void. Time was meaningless, but it seemed like quite a bit of it had passed.

Eventually he felt what he knew was Tim's presence. Nothing was more important than returning to his mate, so he pushed through the fog as hard as he could until he opened his eyes.

When everything came into focus he found that he was in a tent. Then he heard a familiar gasp.

"Paine! I'm so glad you're awake!"

He turned his head to find none other than his husband, looking overjoyed.

His mind was still a little foggy.

"Where...where am I?" It occurred to him that his voice sounded different.

"You're in the infirmary. There were a lot of injuries last night, but most of the pack just needs time to rest and lick their wounds. You and Samuel on the other hand..."

Paine turned his head and saw the pack's leader in another bed on the ground next to him. He was bandaged in several places and being tended to by Ike.

Suddenly what Tim said fully sank in.

"Wait, last night, what--" he tried to sit up and almost blacked out.

"No, no, you need to rest some more!" Tim put his hands on his husband's shoulders. "You're still in rough shape."

The young man gently lowered his husband back down.

As he processed more and more of what was happening, Paine realized that everything felt different. It wasn't just his voice, his whole body was a weight and size he wasn't used to. Then he remembered what he'd asked Tim to do the night before.

"Baby, am I...a lycan now?"

Tim nodded.

"I'm an omega, too?"

"Yeah."

"Everything feels so weird. Do I look different?"

"Yes. You still look beautiful, if that's your concern."

Paine chuckled weakly.

Tim crawled next to Paine and laid down.

"I'm sorry this all happened. It's such an awful way to spend your birthday."

It was Paine's birthday? He'd completely forgotten.

"Well, if you ask me, you've gifted me the best present I could have ever asked for. You gave me a new life."

He saw Tim's eyes get shiny.

"I love you so much."

It was quiet for a bit until Paine started feeling drowsy, which Tim noticed.

"Get some more rest, okay? I'll be right here the whole time, I promise."

Feeling weak and feeble in a way he never had before, Paine fell asleep, his husband by his side.

*****

Three days.

Paine was out of commission for three days. Samuel had recovered before he did, so it was just him and his mate left in the infirmary by the time it was over.

Tim kept his promise that he would stay for the whole process, though Paine only regained consciousness for a few minutes at a time. Eventually he'd healed enough that Paine felt he could get out of bed. He was shaky, but with some help from Tim he got to his feet.

When he stood it was like he got whiplash. His head was so much lower down that Tim was almost eye-level.

"Holy shit, how much did I change?"

"Well, there's a full length mirror here. You want to take a look?"

Paine nodded and Tim guided him to a corner of the room that was out of his field of vision for the recovery process.

What he saw rendered Paine speechless.

The biggest change was the height difference. Paine used to be 6'7", but now he was 5'10" at most. He hadn't been this size since middle school. He also lost nearly all of his muscle. Pain had been a professional football player, built like a tank, but the man looking back at him from the mirror was quite slender. If he were to guess what that person did just from their body type, he would assume they were a gymnast or a dancer, if they did any athletics in the first place.

He also happened to be naked and couldn't help but notice the changes to his endowment. Before he was 7 inches soft, 10 inches hard, but at the moment his soft dick looked to be 4 inches long, if that. He also felt a change in his buns. They'd gone from firm and muscled to soft and a little jiggly.

Everything about him was softened. His features were less sharp, he didn't have much body hair at all, and when he spoke his voice was a lot gentler as well as higher in pitch. He heard Tim's voice next to him.

"I know it's a lot, but you'll get used to it. It's gonna be okay."

Paine grinned from ear to ear.

"'Okay'? This is amazing! I love it!" He gave his now much closer-in-size husband a hug.

"Really?"

"Absolutely! Thank you so much for giving me this body!" He kissed Tim's lips, which were right in front of him, inviting him closer.

Over the years Paine grew to sort of resent his size and strength. Sure, it was useful, especially when he wanted to protect the ones he cared about, but when he looked in the mirror he was often reminded of who he used to be, a heartless bully who used his bulk to push people around and take what he wanted without asking.

But now the person he looked like was more in line with the person Paine wanted to be. It was clear that Tim had become a part of him.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to be so happy about this."

"How could I not be? My mate saved me and gave me a new existence. I'm fucking ecstatic!"

They hugged again and held the embrace until Paine remembered something.

"I still don't know what happened that night. Can you tell me?"

Tim ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't think I could give you the full story on my own. We should meet up with Kayleigh and Samuel."

*****

Kayleigh was astounded when Paine came to her tent with Tim. He had gone from a gigantic, formidable human to svelte omega wolf. She had no idea that transformation could change the human form so drastically.

Paine was wearing some spare clothes of Samuel's that were a bit too big for his slightly taller but much thinner body. He looked like a little kid wearing hand-me-downs.

But she had to admit, when he was with her brother the two looked good together, even more than before.

Samuel was still a little patched up but left the infirmary earlier for the sake of his duties. He definitely was hit hard that night, he had a few scars on his face that wouldn't heal. But to Kayleigh he was just as handsome as ever.

Once the four of them were together Kayliegh, Samuel, and Tim told Paine more about what exactly happened on the night of the full moon.

Legion was a formidable pack, but unlike most the leadership was split evenly between two lycans. The first was Pilar, the huge female that almost killed both Paine and Samuel. But there was another one just as ruthless: Shiloh.

Paine vaguely remembered the night the pack was briefed on the upcoming invasion.

"Wait, that tiny omega kid?"

"The same," Kayleigh said bitterly.

"I didn't know omegas could lead packs."

"We didn't either," Samuel admitted. "But apparently Shiloh and Pilar are a different breed."

The two were apparently twins, of what age nobody knew for sure. There was something about them that made them exceptionally dangerous, especially when they were working together. The twins were a study of contrast: a tall intimidating female and a small endearing male. Pilar had silver eyes and hair while Shiloh's were gold. Shiloh always exuded warmth and only wore clothes when absolutely necessary. Pilar was always cool to the touch and was rarely seen without her combat fatigues. It seemed that the only thing they had in common was a lust for power.

They were such a formidable team because each had strengths to make up for the other's weaknesses. Pilar was fairly unintelligent but a master of combat, as well as having instincts and wolf senses more powerful than anyone knew possible. Shiloh on the other hand was tiny and weak with no strength or instinct to speak of, but also a genius adept in trickery. He was powerfully skilled in seduction, persuasion, and manipulation. To put it plainly, he was the brain to Pilar's brawn.

Most of this information the lycans of Romulus wouldn't have any way of knowing. That's where the other members of Legion came in.

"They apparently had plans to overthrow the two for a while," Samuel said. "Legion was a tyranny, ruled with fear. There was a reason why Romulus got out of this with no casualties."

Legion had been on a warpath for almost a year at that point and it was clear the two leaders didn't care about anything besides gaining more power. Because of that, the other members wanted to get them deposed by sabotaging one of their plans. They purposely didn't kill anyone from Romulus and let Ike go without permission.

"I'm sure you saw him a few times in your stint at the infirmary," Kayleigh told Paine. "He was the one Shiloh set his sights on the most."

Seduction was something the gold omega was quite good at, not only because of his acting prowess but also because of an odd ability he possessed. Shiloh could release certain pheromones to fool other wolves into believing he was their mate, which he used to his advantage whenever he could. Ike was reluctant to believe it at first, but when multiple males and females from Legion told stories that matched up with his own so well he began to realize he'd been had.

"Ike wasn't the only one Shiloh tricked," Tim said ashamedly. "I fell for it too. I was so sure he was my friend, that he couldn't hurt a fly. But then he did what he did to you."

Paine raised his eyebrows. "Me? I didn't even know who he was until a few minutes ago."

When Legion captured Ike there were a few hours when Shiloh and Pilar met to finalize their plan. Shiloh had already infiltrated Romulus and gained the trust of several of its members. With the knowledge he had gained and Pilar's might they formed an attack strategy that would put them at a huge advantage. However, one of the rebels in Legion overheard something interesting. According to Shiloh, Romulus had a wild card: a large human who was with them. He was stronger than any of their lycans besides Pilar and needed to be eliminated as soon as possible. They would accomplish that by Shiloh getting his scent all over Paine's clothing beforehand if he found an opportunity. That way Pilar could find him and take him out right away.

Paine remembered that he removed his jacket while he was chopping wood and didn't put it back on again until after the omegas had evacuated. Shiloh must have put his scent on the coat during that time.

He sat back a bit in his chair.

"That's insane. I would have died if Tim hadn't transformed me."

Kaleigh glanced at her brother.

"Actually, it was a bit more than that. Tim figured out what Shiloh did and came to me about it."

Paine looked at his husband.

"Wow, really?"

Tim nodded.

"When I was evacuating I kept feeling like something was wrong, and eventually I needed to get back to you. I didn't realize until later what tipped me off was that when Shiloh ran up to evacuate, he had your scent on him, which didn't make any sense. When I found you I realized what had happened once I smelled him on your jacket."

"Damn, you really did save my life that night, Tim." Paine leaned in and kissed his husband on the cheek.

When Kayleigh heard what Tim had to say she made the decision to trust his judgment. A lot of the information Shiloh had given them was revealed to be wrong already, but she never thought it was to purposely screw them over.

"We owe a lot to Tim. If he wasn't here, even if we still defeated Pilar, we would have welcomed Shiloh back into Romulus, none the wiser." Kayleigh lowered her head. "When he told me about what Shiloh had done I did something I'm not really proud of."

She was the one who made the order for Tim and the rest of the omegas to find Shiloh and take care of him once and for all.

Samuel put his hand on her shoulder. "Babe, we've been over this. That little monster needed to be stopped. I would have done the same thing."

With Pilar and Shiloh both dead the other members of Legion surrendered peacefully. The forest fire burned itself out and Ike returned before sunrise, ready to help the wounded.

"That's pretty much everything we know right now."

The four lycans talked a bit more until the two omegas left. Paine noticed a look on Tim's face as they walked.

"Is something on your mind, baby?"

Tim sighed.

"I really was furious at Shiloh. Not only did he put a target on your back, he used me, tricked me into trusting him. I've never been so angry before. But then I think about our first full moon together. I stopped you from killing Tanner, and you listened to me. But I helped in the assault against Shiloh. I feel like a hypocrite."

"I really don't like the idea of you hurting anybody, but I would never hold that against you. It's okay."

When the two finally made it to their tent, which was now very out of place in the beta encampment, they snuggled in the sleeping bag that was now excessively big for both of them. Paine reached out and cupped Tim's face.

"You know, I might have been protecting you in the beginning, but you've proven that you can take care of yourself, even protect me. You're kind, smart, and brave. I'm so happy to be your mate."

Tim choked back a few tears. Paine put their foreheads together.

"Come on, baby. Can I have a smile?"

Tim smiled wanly and Paine kissed the tip of his nose.

The two took a nap together. For the first time, Tim was the one holding Paine.

*****

It was a few more days before Paine was fully healed. In the meantime he and Tim changed location to the omega settlement and the newly made lycan had to get used to his new life.

Besides the dramatic physical changes, there was also a change to his mental state. His personality was more or less the same as it was before, but his interactions with others had a notable shift. He found himself spending much more time listening than he did speaking. He was reserved, soft-spoken, and shy.

The only person Paine acted completely like his old self around was Tim, who he loved the same way he always had.

It was late at night a week after the full moon that the two of them were snuggled up in their tent together.

"Hey, Tim?" Paine whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

Paine felt around his mate's body. It was familiar to him by then, but it made him realize something.

"The two of us haven't had sex since I changed."

"Huh. I guess we haven't."

"Well, that just won't do at all. We need to remedy this situation immediately."

The two started kissing. Usually Paine took the lead but now both kept it gentle, allowing their arousal to warm up slowly. Eventually Paine knew he was as hard as he was going to get and got out of the sleeping bag, Tim right behind him.

His new dick was respectable, but nothing to write home about. It was around five and a half inches long with moderate girth. It meant their lovemaking wouldn't be as intense as it used to be, but it would be a lot more comfortable, especially for Tim.

Using spit as lube Paine eased his member into his fellow omega wolf and began his motions. Tim's passage was wonderful as usual, warm and tight. Paine felt right at home, even with his new equipment.

Paine lowered his head and met Tim's lips with his own. His baby boy's lips were always so soft and pliant. Was Tim now feeling something similar kissing Paine?

There was no intensity to their lovemaking, no sense of domination. Both omegas were completely prostrated by the sensations. Paine felt like his body was dissolving. It was a feeling he never experienced before, but he loved it. He felt young again, fully green and ready to explore this new world of eroticism with his husband.

The two wolves mated for nearly an hour, neither making much noise except the occasional whimper. They changed positions a few times until Paine was laying down on Tim's back, a position they rarely did before due to the size difference they once had. At long last, Paine climbed up, and as he did he felt something really strange.

He felt like his dick was somehow hardening and expanding even more, even though that didn't make sense. Then he felt something completely removed from his old life: the base of his penis was inflating, stretching, ballooning into a bulbous form. Tim was experiencing something similar, his hole was stiffening and tightening around Paine's cock like a vise.

Suddenly it hit Paine what was happening.

"Am I knotting you?"

"Um, yeah. I think you are."

Tim had only ever had sex with Paine as a human before, so he didn't know that this was a part of intercourse between mated lycans. It was weird and a little scary, but also exciting.

Then, once both Paine and Tim's bodies had made sure they couldn't separate without injury, Paine shot so hard it triggered his husband to orgasm as well. If coming as a human felt like getting taken out by a tidal wave, coming as a werewolf was like getting hit by a train. His whole body went rigid, as if every resource it had was being used to shoot his seed as deeply into his mate as possible. It was over after only a few seconds and he promptly collapsed, so exhausted he could barely think.