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]

Dwayne nods, letting Josh use him as a touchstone. His own wolf is restless, watching and waiting, but years of experience has taught it patience, and it's quietly biding its time until the sun goes down and it gets free reign for the night.

"Part of it's nerves. After the first time, it gets a little better, but the first few times, you're pretty wound up. Not knowing what to expect makes it worse," he murmurs, fingertips trailing soothingly through the younger man's hair. "The longer you can put it off, the faster it goes, though. Once you're used to it, you have more flexibility, you can change when you feel like it." It's kind of unsettling how much shapeshifting is like childbirth, complete with learning how to breathe and push, but Dwayne...really tries not to use that comparison if he can help it. It's not something you want to lose momentum in the middle of, either, though. Best just to wait until you're good and ready, then get through it fast, and that he has explained to Josh.

He's pretty sure that he's got it. And just in case, he has remedies and options. He's an alpha (how the hell that happened, he's still not sure...) and he can handle this, and Rhys is nearby just in case. They've got this.

Dwayne chuckles, low and deep in his chest. "Of course, with my luck it'll be like us in the mornings. I'll want to sleep a little longer and you'll be up and ready to run before the sun's even down."

[tinkermoose]

"Yeah," he agrees, voice going low and rough as he leans into Dwayne's fingers in his hair. Every touch is soothing and grounding, but there's no getting around the fact that, no matter how many times he's seen Dwayne and Zach, and Rhys in his way, however different, go through this, he's nervous as hell at experiencing it himself for the first time. It's not even the pain that worries him, he's not a fan of pain, but he's used to it and he knows that this pain is survivable; he's seen it too often to think otherwise. What worries him is the fundamental lack of control, of his body and mind and reactions, involved. The fear that, no matter how well prepared he is, no matter how much he trusts Dwayne to keep him in line, he'll lose it. End up like Zach was for so long, and still is sometimes. Wild and angry and almost feral. That Dwayne will have to fight him... and if he does, that he might lose.

He doesn't let him think about it, though. Pushes it to the back of his mind and lets Dwayne's solid, welcome, beloved presence ground him, and takes comfort from the fact that it seems to do as much for the wolf he can feel stirring inside him as it always has for the man he thinks he mostly still is. He laughs along with Dwayne and rubs his nose at the hollow between his mate's collar bones before pressing a kiss there and then drawing away a little. "Can't help it if I've got all the energy of youth, old man," he teases, grinning. "Just be glad you've got me to keep you young or who knows how fat and lazy you'd get." Except, of course, even before the world had gone to hell he couldn't picture Dwayne ever being anything but strong and fit and vital, and not just because he's a werewolf.