"What are you still doing up? I told you I'd be home late today."

"Huh? Oh, hey mom."

Koko sighed. "Lloyd-"

"Mom, I stayed up because I wanted to show you something. Look at this passage in this book." He held it up to her and she took it from his hands. Koko began to read it carefully, and for some reason her eyes widened.

She laughed nervously and handed it back to him. "Lloyd, you believe in all this nonsense? It's just a myth, hence why it's in the mythology part of the book."

Lloyd took the book back, but narrowed his eyes at his mom curiously. "Mom, whenever I bring up wolves you flinch or get nervous or something. Now I show you this, and I tell you all the time full moons make me feel strange, and I finally found something interesting." His eyes widened, and he began to feel nervous. "Mom...what if I'm-?"

"Ridiculous!" She shouted, catching him by surprise. "WHY would you think you were a human-wolf? That's nuts. You've been reading too many stories."

"But what if Dad-"

She leaned in closer, giving him the most furious look he'd ever seen. "We do NOT talk about your dad. Understood?"

"Mom-"

"Go to bed, Lloyd. Now. You've got school tomorrow."

Lloyd immediately grew frustrated. Why did his mom always do this? His father was always such a damn touchy topic, and he knew nothing about him. Every time he brought him up, his mother would we stay silent or tell him the usual "we'll talk about it later." After years of this, it was finally getting to him.

He stood up from his chair at the kitchen table and growled at her furiously, his teeth bared like a dog. "Mom, I've had enough of this. You always do this! Can't you talk to me about anything?! Can I at least know my dad's name?!"

Koko looked hurt, but defensive, like she was trying to hold something in. "I do want to talk about your father! But it's hard! He was different! You're different!"
She suddenly put her hands over her mouth.

That made Lloyd curious. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What does that mean, Mom?"

"I-you-"

"Forget it! I'm going to bed. Talk to me when you're not a scared little-" He stopped himself right there, before he said something he could regret. He'd never want to hurt his mother. "Whatever. Goodnight."

Before she could reply, she stomped down the hall and into his room, slamming the door. He flumped onto his bed and let out a heavy sigh. He half expected to hear a knock at his door and the usual "Lloyd come out, please," but nothing. Good. He wanted to be alone.

Lloyd turned and lied on his back. He let out a long sigh. Thoughts were rolling around in his head. Why didn't his mother ever want to talk about his father? Even a little? And did he think he was a human-wolf for a second? That was freakin ridiculous. That actually crossed his mind. Silly.

He turned at looked out the window above his bed. The beautiful full moon was there, shining brightly, almost calling to him. He stared at it, almost in a trance. He always felt like this, every time. He trembled. He began to think of the human-wolves myth.

How had he never thought about that before? How had he never thought he was one? He thought about the symptoms. Trembling, staring at the moon almost in a trance.

Wasn't he doing that right now?

Lloyd's thoughts began to race. How could he be a human-wolf? They were extinct!

Unless...unless some of them lived on.

But it would have to be hereditary! Wouldn't it? His mother wasn't half wolf! Wasn't she? Then he thought about...

His father.

Was his father...? Wait. Was that why his mother never wanted to talk about him? And whenever he brought up wolves, she grew nervous. Something was up. But what could he do about it?

The he thought about the forest next to Ninjago city., and the deaths of those two men. What if they were killed by human-wolves, and not regular wolves? Lloyd grabbed his head with his hands, trembling. This was all too much.

Maybe if he went for a walk. Yeah, that could soothe him.

He opened the door slowly to see if his mother was asleep. All the lights in the apartment were off. Good. She was asleep. He carefully walked slowly and silently to the door and opened it carefully and slowly. He stepped out into the hall and closed the door silently.

….

His walk was nothing special. Although being under the full moon outside for once was something. Lloyd would look at it and stop walking for a moment, which lead to people bumping into him.

"Sorry!" He would say, but they'd just grunt and keep walking, one snarling "stupid kid."

Lloyd frowned and kept walking. The cool, crisp, and clean night air felt good. But he couldn't help but look at the moon. Its light was beautiful, almost like it was calling to him.

"MOVE!" A person shouted, nudging him aside. Lloyd rubbed his arm and frowned. People were especially rude tonight. Must be the full moon. His mother always told him people would act a little different under full moons.

He realized he kept stopping to stare at the moon, and it was annoying people. He sighed, and decided to walk somewhere else. He thought of a place where no people would be. However, it was a dumb idea, and he pondered in his head as to actually go.

….

Well, he did it. He was in front of the forest.

Lloyd sighed. He knew this was a stupid idea, especially since two people had just had their throats ripped out in here. However, he was never really one to avoid danger. He was no chicken.

He decided to do the stupid thing and hop the fence. He stared into the forest. It was dark, but for some reason he felt like he could see it pretty good. He always had a knack for seeing good in the dark. Lloyd took a few steps in, almost as if his feet were making him walk in more.

After a few minutes of walking, he realized he couldn't see the fence anymore. He was surrounded by woodland and chirping crickets. Damn, how far had we walked in?

Almost as if his mind told him to, he looked up at the full moon. Its shine was even better in the forest. So beautiful. So calming. So...

Suddenly he began to feel strange. His stomach began to hurt, and legs buckled from other him.

"Agh!" He coughed. His head started to hurt, and he felt a weird sensation through his whole body. He began shaking, and he grit his teeth.

Ow! What the?

Something was wrong with his teeth. He put a hand to them and felt around. Four of them felt sharp. What...

FANGS?! HOW COULD THIS BE POSSIBLE?!

Lloyd grasped his stomach again, shaking more. Suddenly his hands felt strange. He looked at them and...he couldn't believe it. They were turning into paws.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!"

….

Further in the forest, three people were relaxing in a trailer. One lying in bed sleeping, one cooking, and one sitting at the kitchen table relaxing, his arms behind his head.

"Smells good, Zane. Is it almost ready?"

"Almost. Should I save some for Nya when she wakes up?"

"Yeah, do that. I don't want to wake her up. She needs all the rest she can get." He sighed. "I can only imagine what it feels like to get shot. She's in so much pain." He balled his hands into fists. "If I had just-"

"Kai, there was nothing you could do. And she'll be fine, don't worry. She just needs some rest. I already removed the bullet, and it's not infected."

Kai smiled. "Thanks Zane. You're the best."

Before Zane could reply, they suddenly heard a loud noise from outside. It sounded like...howling. But not regular wolf howling. It sounded...almost like theirs...

Was it...?

"Do you hear that?" Zane asked. "That howling, it's-"

"It can't be," Kai said. "One of us? Around here? That's never happened before. How-"

"Do you guys hear that?" A voice popped up from the other room. Nya was standing in the doorway, limping on one leg. "It woke me up."

Kai frowned. "Get back in bed, you need rest."

"Wait, Kai," Zane said. "Maybe you and I should go check it out. Nya can stay here and let us back in. We're going to lock the door, you know."

Kai growled. "Zane, it could be a trap! Humans have those wolf calls, you know! They can be luring us to them, and then they'll shoot at us!"

"Kai, that's not a regular wolf howl and you know it. Come on, let's go check it out." Zane made his way to the door and opened it. "Or am I going by myself?"

Kai snarled at the idea, then sighed. "Fine," he turned to his sister, "stay here. Wait for us to come back. We won't be gone long."

"Ok," Nya nodded. He and Zane stepped outside and changed into their wolf forms quickly. Nya shut the door behind them and said, "good luck."

The two took off into the night, anticipating what awaited them.

Notes!

Woahhhh, far out