WARNING: This story will be focusing quite a bit on how the wolf affects the Pack members. If you're looking for something light(er), I recommend "Loba Bella's Tale" by lifelesslyndsey (a great story, for sure!).
This story is rated "M" for a reason, and I will go into wolf social structure and habits (including those relating to mating). If this makes you squeamish, I recommend finding a different story. Though my work isn't necessarily considered "dark", some scenes may be considered bestial.
Prologue:
"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way." ~Carl Sandburg
The first time is always painful- a sharp, searing agony that rips its way through the body and destroys all traces of serenity hampering its path. Technically, it lasts only seconds- a mere minute at the most- yet it feels like an eternity in those moments. Luckily, that pain fades with experience and time until it's dismissed and ignored. The ache though, beginning days before as a flicker and slowly building into a raging inferno. The feeling of being reshaped- remade- into something seemingly alien-different. It never fades. Seeking, dreaming, of finding release in some form or another, but never finding it.
My name, that's not important, and my story's one that's been told a thousand times, a thousand different ways.
The following story is the truth, such as it may be, and life is cruel and painful. Dreams are crushed, hopes are rebuilt, and thoughts re-forged. There is no perfect happily ever after.