Wolf Moon

[ticktockgrin]

The world hadn't actually ended, it just seemed like it. Dwayne has to keep telling himself that sometimes, between long nights at the radio, on his endless rounds of the yard perimeter and all the hundred little things that their new home (for now) required to keep running. The world was running on duct tape, spit, and baling wire, limping along, but it *was* still turning.

They'd come pretty damn close, but it wasn't quite over. They were the ones left and that meant they had a lot of work to do.

And maybe most importantly...Josh had officially Survived.

It was hard to believe how many weeks has gone by, but he'd *lived*. Some days were still a little shaky, but the traces of fever were completely gone. The wolf had won, and Dwayne's desperate last-ditch Hail Mary had actually *worked*. Somehow, that made everything right, when he could roll over and watch his mate asleep, warm and well and *alive*.

Now all that was left was for him to get used to the Change, to figure out what kind of wolf he was going to be. There was no going back, but it had saved Josh's life, kept Dwayne from having to go through this hellish epilogue of a world alone, and that alone was worth it... Even if he had any doubts at all that Josh could handle the Change. There would be some acclimatization, some trial and error... That was why Zach was keeping his distance and Rhys spending nights in the little caretaker's cabin... But it would pass.

Josh would have a mate, and a pack, and he would get used to it, given a little time. Dwayne was sure of that, even though the approaching full moon gave him nerves. The first change could be tough, and Josh... He was still recovering.

So Dwayne did all he could to keep things running.

Comments

[ticktockgrin]

"I think the choice makes all the difference," Dwayne agrees sleepily. Josh is bigger, but he doesn't always feel like it, and after everything, he feels a little fragile. If Aaron had given Dwayne the choice? Well, he still wouldn't have taken it, but trust was also an issue.

In a little more time, Dwayne could have offered, and it would have worked. This wasn't what they're wanted, but it was enough. "I think it all works out, that's the important thing," he says. "I think it all would have anyway, but... It worked this way, too, and that's what matters." He likes to think about that perfect life sometimes, retired in a nice house in the Caymans, running or ATVing in the dunes and watching the sun set over the beach with frilly drinks and steals on the grill.

But they have this instead, and it's not bad... It's just going to take some work, and adjusting, and a lot of leaning on each other. "You should at least try and jog a little today if you can manage, too, get some stretching in." Josh's muscles are changing even though he hasn't shifted yet, and the exercise is good for shaking off the nerves. He doesn't move, though: it's just a note. For later. "But I think you're gonna be a great wolf. We'll get through the first change, let you have a while to get used to it, and then you can have a chance for the *good* that comes out of... this whole mess."

[tinkermoose]

"We're together and we're alive," he murmurs. "Only thing that matters." He hates the thought but much as he loves Rhys and respects Zach, so long as he has Dwayne he could survive without them, too. This, right here, is all he absolutely has to have to make it, though he'll do absolutely anything he can to keep the others safe. He can already feel the idea of their little pack settling into next to the idea of Dwayne as his alpha, even though he knows he's still not actually safe to be around Zach, and still has to watch himself around Rhys. But that'll pass, he's sure of that, and until it does he has Dwayne.

"I will," he promises, and doesn't move either, because Dwayne obviously doesn't mean now. Instead he shifts his head a little so he can lip at Dwayne's jaw, follow it up with some gentle nibbling as he listens to Dwayne's voice, lets it sink deep into his bones and settle him in a way nothing's ever been able to. "Already got the good out of it, though," he adds, and his grin is impish, though mostly lost with his mouth still pressed to Dwayne's stubbled jaw. "I got you."