Josh had been pacing restlessly off and on all day, growling at shadows and barely suppressing the urge to snap when the wind shifted and brought strange scents his way. He could feel something under his skin and sparking along tendon and bone, stretching at the wrong side of his skin, unfamiliar and strange and vaguely disconcerting, for all understood exactly what it was and what was to come. Dwayne's presence has been infinitely comforting and settling, though, and when he padded back into the room Josh turned immediately towards him, ducking down to press his nose into the hollow of his throat, drawing in the scent of Mate and Pack and Alpha.

"It's gonna be soon, isn't it?" he murmured, big hands settling at Dwayne's hips, clenching and unclenching once before stilling. "Can feel it, like being stretched."