Once Upon a Full Moon

It's the full moon tonight. I feel the pressure of it in my bones. It pushes against the cage that holds a restless wolf at bay.
I locked myself away. Not for my own protection, but the protection of those I love. From the monster I become.
But that was before. Now I have her. My savior. My tonic. My love…

"She comes."

From across this vast castle I feel him within the very depths of my soul. I know he needs me. So I run. Through deserted corridors, down dark hallways, up the ever changing staircases, I run. A sudden sharp pain courses through me. I must hurry. My wolf needs me.
I turn the last few corners leading to his chambers, just in time to hear a howl. I enter. It has begun…

"She arrives."

Pain has started burning its way through my body like a wild fire. I am blind with this pain, wishing against hope unconsciousness will come, and with it, peace.
I know she is here. I can smell her. She comes, slowly, carefully, as if not to startle, who? Me or the Wolf? It matters not what she does. The Wolf always knows where she is. She is as much a part of him as the Moon is to her stars. He would never hurt her. This, we both know.
Then we feel it. A gentle cool hand placed against our skin which burns with such an intensity incomprehensible by many, is slowly extinguished. She draws us to the floor, where we sit, wrapped in her arms. Safe.

"She stays"

His eyes flash amber. Signaling that the wolf inside him comes, tearing at my love relentlessly. Sitting with him in my arms by the light of the fire, he calms. I wipe the sheen of sweat from his brow, and run my hands over his shoulders and down his arms, chasing away the tension. I kiss his neck, then his shoulder, while trailing my fingertips back up his arms, meeting fur. The transformation is progressing. Bones pop and break and reform.
He is tranquil and unperturbed. No longer in that excruciating pain, he smoothly shifts into that other form. Where once my man lay, now lays a strikingly handsome gray wolf. His head resting peacefully in my lap. My wolf…

"She cares"

It is finished, and the night has begun. I lift my head, my new eyes meeting hers. Love radiating through her. She moves back scooting across the rug to lean back against the couch. I stand and pad over to her, sinking down to lie beside her. Silently we sit together, watching the flames within the fire place lick at the wood, their dance a mystery to us both. We stay like this for the remainder of the night, content, waiting for the break of dawn, thinking, how could we ever live without her?