Hello everyone! Sorry about the wait, I am just becoming notorious at inconsistent updates, aren't I...I really am sorry, fate likes to cockblock progress in any aspect of my life. This is an extra-long chapter that will hopefully compensate.

Anyways, aroooo to all my wolfy fic fans! how are y'all? I know Megan has been waiting, so I'll make this brief. I like to spread the word of Good Music, especially music that has proven supportive and inspirational to my writing, whenever the heck I DO get around to writing.
So for this fic, this chapter, here is a sort of playlist:
30 seconds to mars - attack
Florence+The Machine - howl
Lady Gaga - Monster
Blake Shelton - Honey Bee
Evanescence - The Change

Author note BS aside, let the wolves run free, and please review if the mood strikes ya! XOXO

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Megan was muttering to herself as she trudged blindly through the darkened woods; no other word accurately described what she had done and was doing. Her stubborn will and "I am woman" attitude had led her to leave the relative safety of Tyler's cabin, without him there to lead her, because he'd gone off on some silly little walk, and she was now in the middle of the woods, the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. So it was dark. And cold. And these woods also happened to be in the center of the north Cascade mountains. She was so screwed.

As if to cement the idea in her mind that she was inevitably going to die in the woods, probably covered in pine needles and mud, an ear-splitting howl sounded from somewhere nearby; there was no way to gauge direction, the stupid trees - why did they even exist - made it impossible, as the noise slowly died away.

Megan shivered, halting her progress. She was really just feeling her way around, which was completely idiotic - the next instance of facial contact with a branch was going to lose her an eye. With a bandaged leg, a backpack full of useless items and no actual supplies, and a distinct lack of any navigational instruments...Yep, somehow, she would be ended tonight.

Another howl erupted from the throat of whatever beast was in the neighborhood, sounding much closer, and magnified in menace. She had no clue what to do. Try to climb a tree? Like that was going to happen. Try to negotiate with the thing? She didn't even know what it was, or where it was, but chances were, it sure as hell wasn't friendly, and could hear and smell her, if not see her, at this very moment.

Panic started to set in; gripping the straps of her backpack as firmly as she could with sweaty palms, Megan tried to silence herself, slowly turning in a circle to see if she could hear anything more. She finally noticed she was at the edge of a large clearing, just as the full moon came out, illuminating completely the entire area. And also showing her the large wolf crouched across the clearing, ready to launch itself at her.

Megan took a step back as the wolf growled loudly, her sneakered foot finding uneven ground and sending her falling backwards into the mulch covering the forest floor. Of course this would happen to her. Really, a bear first, now a wolf? And she, on her ass on the damn ground? The proverbial lamb being led to the slaughter...She had no time to rue her circumstances before the wolf was moving forward, stalking towards her, and her brain flatlined.

"Oh shit. Oh shit." She scrambled backwards, her back hitting a tree. She used it to raise herself from the ground, cursing again as her backpack snagged a rogue branch. "What sort of cosmic luck is it gonna take to get away from a random hungry wolf?"

She was far too busy grumbling, the sound a loud contrast in the silence of the night, than to notice the effect her voice was having on the beast. She didn't see the pause in its forward progression, the way its ears pricked up, moving back and forth as it hesitated. By the time she had ripped her backpack free from the troublesome tree branch holding it and her captive, the wolf was about five feet from her, its charcoal-colored coat a dark blur in the dim moonlight.

As Megan turne back in its direction, she froze, her eyes locking on the wolf that was suddenly a thousand times closer than a moment ago. She didn't know what to do. Totally had no clue as to how one commenced Beastie Negotiations 101.

"Hey there," she tried, sounding remarkably calm. She assumed it was shock settling in. At the sound of her voice, the animal's ears twitched again, and it seemed to shudder, shuffling and tossing its head nervously. Megan missed all of these movements, as the moon had passed behind a thick pack of clouds, and so she remained perfectly still, leaning back against the tree that had ensnared her backpack, afraid to move.

She hadn't been torn apart for talking, though, so she decided to pursue that same plan, starting to ramble about everything that had happened in the past couple of days. She could tell the wolf was still there, but her fear was quickly abating, nonetheless. She didn't understand, but perhaps it was merely the sound of her own voice, eerily calm.

"So I wake up, bare-ass naked, on this couch belonging to Mr. Smokin'-hot-but-still-super-shady mountain man, and I'm like what the legit fuck? But who wouldn't be, right? Because you're naked, vulnerable, been out cold for at least a few hours, etcetera."

The wolf suddenly let out a strange sound, something between a whimper and a very human-sounding groan of pain.

"Ohh boy. That sounded just great. I'm all out of Pepto Bismol Wolf-relief, umm..." Megan began to inch backwards, moving around that same meddlesome tree. She emitted a squeal of fright when the wolf made another groaning noise, her own vocal cords giving out as she heard a sudden, muted crunching noise. And another, followed by another.

The moon emerged from behind the thick cloudcover just in time to reveal the wolf in the middle of what had to be a seizure or something, in Megan's mind. Its body was contorting grotesquely, paws bending at unnatural angles, fur...retreating back into its skin? The moon retreated behind clouds once again, plunging the clearing into darkness.

Her mind dove into rationalization mode. She must have smoked something she couldn't remember, eaten the wrong kind of wild mushroom, her last eye exam must have been performed incorrectly...Any theory was better than what she was really thinking. Sure, she'd heard weird theories about the habits of west-coasters, and Bigfoot, and Edward and Jacob, but...

Her mind was racing like that stupid cartoon roadrunner, and by the time she shook herself back to awareness, the being in front of her was eerily silent.

Cautiously, Megan pushed away from the tree, inching forward in an attempt to see what had happened. Lucky for her, the moon decided to reappear from behind the rapidly-drifting clouds again, illuminating the entire scene before her. She nearly died of shock.

No longer was there a snarling wolf crouched a few paces away. In its place lay an unconscious human, male, and that shiny, dark hair was already all-too familiar to Megan.

"T-tyler?" She managed, trying not to choke on her own tongue.

There was no response for a moment, then Tyler stirred, groaning and beginning to shiver uncontrollably. Belatedly, Megan noticed he was completely naked. As if someone who had been an animal mere moment ago would've had time to browse the shelves of Gap or something. And the temperature was only going to drop further as the night progressed...

Frantically, she rummaged through everything she had on her person. Digging through the backpack, she found, at the very bottom, a rain-repellant poncho, something she'd found in a bargain bin at the sporting goods store. With her newbie status in the mountaineering world, she'd assumed basically anything she could find in the store would be useful, somehow, on any sort of outing, so she'd grabbed it. Maybe that was the right thing to do...

She pulled it out quickly, squinting in the still-inadequate light, and eyed Tyler, whose teeth were chattering, his boy glistening with a sheen of sweat as he remained in the fetal position on the forest floor.

She made her way to his side, feeling a pang in her heart at the handsome man, whose strength she'd seen with her own eyes, reduced to such a state. Not to mention how freaking odd the circumstances were. Setting aside her doubts to await a later explanation, she crouched next to Tyler, moving his hair out of his face. "You helped me, even though you didn't have to. Whatever canine-shaped skeletons are in your, uh, cabin's closet, I can only hope to return the favor." She did not voice out loud the bizarre attraction she'd felt since the moment they laid eyes upon each other, the emotional connection that felt as though it had merely lain dormant until they met, then sparked to life with a vengeance.

As she spoke, she wrapped the poncho around as much of him as she could reach, trying to respect his space at the same time, though she longed to run her hands over those biceps, those abs...Shaking her head violently, she used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe the sweat from his face. "Are you...well, you're obviously not alright in any sense I guess, but do you think you can move? Maybe, um, get us back to the cabin? I'm sort of a big epic fail in the navigational department today." Her voice still held that eerie calm, and she guessed her psyche was just preparing itself for the Mother of All Breakdowns as soon as she was not stuck in the middle of the woods at night.

Tyler, who had not spoken the entire time, stirred again, raising his head, and in the process, leaning his cheek into her touch as she felt his forehead for fever or any weird lingering effects of wolfiness. "Megan...?"

"Yep! Have you seen any other humans wandering these woods tonight?" She asked cheerfully, reorganizing her backpack and stuffing all the useless supplies back inside. When she had swung it back on and adjusted the straps, she turned back to find him climbing shakily to his feet. When he stumbled, she darted forward and grabbed his arm, helping him regain his balance. The movement brought them into very close quarters; looking up, Megan found Tyler's face inches from her own, and had to swallow with effort as she tore her eyes away, throwing her gaze anywhere but at him.

Tyler cleared his throat wearily, and adjusted the poncho around himself so that it was tied like a towel, more or less. Megan tried not to oggle the area it covered, raising her chin and looking determinedly towards the woods surrounding the clearing. "Which direction?"

"Um...not that one," Tyler said, amusement audible over the exhaustion in his voice. "Before we set off...You...Are you, you know, okay with everything you saw?"

I didn't see the parts I wanted to see - Megan cut off her thoughts before they went much further, nodding briskly and still not looking in his direction. "I'm perfectly fine. I am chill. I got this. Just want a roof over my head right now."

Tyler murmured something about retaining some "wolfish" instincts after each "change", and set off in a specific direction, Megan keeping close behind him, wincing at the thought of bare feet stepping on the branches, rocks, and other hazards littering the ground. Neither those nor the cold seemed to bother Tyler, who appeared to gain more and more of his strength back as they walked. He managed to look dignified even with a rain poncho wrapped around his midriff.

Megan gritted her teeth, resigned to her fate as the laughingstock of the squirrel, opossum, and chipmunk community, as she trudged along, stumbling occasionally as she followed Tyler's broad back through the pitch-black forest. He obviously knew where he was going. This was a bizarre situation, served on an odd plate, with weird sauce poured all over it. How was she taking it so...reasonably?

Voicing her thoughts, Tyler spoke, his words carrying easily through the still night air. "You are taking this insanely well. I don't get it."

Swallowing thickly, she just barely avoided tripping over a fallen log, not responding until the trees had thinned a bit. "I...I don't know what to say. I think I know what happened, what I saw, and...It doesn't make sense. It should not be...real, what just happened. It's...it's not something I wanna discuss, still out in the middle of the woods, freezing my ass off."

He made a sound that might have been a snort of laughter. "You shouldn't have left the cabin."

"You shouldn't have flipped a mental one-eighty and made me feel like an unwanted, burden-ey, whiny, damsel in distress!" She shot back, welcoming the warming sensation anger brought as she clenched her fists, her actions invisible to him.

"Don't you see, now, why I wanted you gone?" His tone grew louder as he grew angry as well.

"You went on a stupid little casual stroll, and I was left alone, and like I said, feeling unwanted! And I am an independent sort of person, what else was I going to do, twiddle my thumbs and knit you a sweater for when you came back?" Her words were echoing now, bouncing off the thick trunks of surrounding trees.

"I...If my mind doesn't stay calm for as long as possible, the Change will occur sooner, and more violently! It was to protect you, I had every intention of coming back in time to figure something out for you!"

"How was I supposed to-" Megan's words were cut off as she was suddenly caught in a strong grip, pushed back against a tree before Tyler's lips found hers.

She protested the action at first, but his grip was strong, his lips tantalizing, and she was one-hundred percent certain her mind had replayed this fantasy a dozen times in the past two days. So she let it happen, her mouth allowing his access, soaking in his intoxicating presence. After a moment, he tore himself away, leaving them both gasping, chests heaving as they fought to steady their breath.

"That...shouldn't...have happened," Tyler managed, quickly adding to his statement when he caught Megan's hurt expression in the dim moonlight. "I mean...I wanted it to, but you know, we've only known each other two days, half of which you were out cold, but...after the Change, I always have all these...animalistic instincts lingering inside me, and...and what happened tonight, me changing back prematurely, that's never happened...So there is more...wolf residue than usual..." He stumbled over his words, rushing to reassure her, and Megan took pity on him, tossing her backpack to the ground and moving to stand in front of him.

Reaching up and running her hands along his jawline, she gaped mentally at her brazen actions. But it felt so right, like one of the story books she'd read as a child had come true, and this was her Prince Charming...She mentally slapped herself at the childish notion, and made Tyler's gaze meet hers, as best she could in the lack of light.

"It's fine. It's more than fine. I...had no idea the changing-back was happening prematurely...What do you think caused it?"

His hands moved to cover hers, still cupping his face. "Honestly? You. Your presence, your voice, somehow it all...overpowered the wolf, brought me back. I have absolutely no explanation, I just know that's what happened. Nothing of the sort has ever happened to me, as many times as I've changed. My interactions with others have proved...dangerous."

There was definitely a story behind that statement, but Megan shivered as a cold breeze suddenly whipped through the trees, chilling her to the bone. She slowly let her hands drop from his face, regretfully. "Fascinating, but really, we should get back. Right? Right." She nodded and backed away to give herself some space, grabbed her backpack again, and gestured for him to resume their path.

Tyler grinned, acknowledging the elephant in the...forest? that was their unfinished business, and began picking his way through the trees again. He was gonna need a hell of a foot massage when they got back...

It was growing light out by the time the cabin was in sight; Megan had obviously made it pretty far on her own, and Tyler was impressed.

At the appearance of the now-familiar structure, Megan almost burst into tears. Her feet were nearly numb from plodding along on nearly-frozen mulch all night, even with shoes; the damned backpack's straps were digging into her shoulders, loaded with unnecessary stuff as it was; and the adrenaline rush from the wolf encounter had ebbed away, leaving her feeling completely drained.

Once she'd made it inside, she flung the stupid backpack to the ground, cracking her neck and marvelling that the place was still warm.

"All in the insulation," Tyler said, entering behind her and stretching his arms above his head. Ignoring the way the movement drew attention to his abs and well-muscled chest, Megan frowned at him. "How do you seem to read my thoughts? It's freaking creepy at this point."

He looked at her, innocent-eyed and puzzled. "Things just pop into my head and I say them. It feels nice and toasty in here; I'm actually shocked you didn't leave the front door flung open when you left, you were probably in such a huff." He grinned to soften the statement, dodging when she chucked a small pillow at him. "Got it right, didn't I?"

"Except, of course, for the door left open," she scowled as she retorted, removing her various layers of random clothing. "I do have some sense, after all." Once she was only in a tanktop and her jeans, complete with the rip where her leg had been cut, she sat down on the couch to tend to the still-recent injury.

"Oh, I think that's debatable, considering you ran out, in the middle of an autumn night, into the most heavily-forested part of the Cascade mountains, with not the faintest idea of where you were going." Tyler was enjoying riling her up, sauntering past the couch on his way to take a shower and retrieve some clothes. He was answered with the thud an old hunting catalog made as it sailed past him and hit the doorframe he was approaching.

Megan glared at his tanned, in-shape, sexy, retreating back as he disappeared through the doorway, turning her attention back to her leg. Peeling off the bandages from yesterday, she made a small noise of satisfaction. Her nighttime wanderings hadn't damaged the bindings too much, and the wound itself was looking as good as it could, given all circumstances. She took deep breaths, letting them out slowly through her mouth, as she worked to rebandage it, tying the last knot with a little flourish, and sighing loudly.

She sagged back against the couch, staring at the wooden rafters, taking the moment of solitude to rapidly mentally recount everything that had happened. It still sounded nuts. Something out of a romance novel. The fantastical production of a young girl who'd eyed one too many lumberjack-covered Bounty packages. Her mind rushed to dwell on that mental image, the red plaid shirt, the rugged-looking hair...She had seen the real deal. She giggled to herself, turning her attention to the dying embers of the fire and deciding to try to poke it back to life. That was how it worked, right? She was such a city girl...

Grabbing what looked like the correct poker, she crouched carefully before the fire, screwing up her face in concentration as she looked for a sign of what to do, where to poke, exactly. She shrugged after a moment, starting to stab ash-covered logs at random, enjoying the feel of the poker scraping over the wood. As she turned over what looked like the largest log, the fire suddenly sprang up, flames flaring to life and jumping out at her.

Megan let out a frantic squawk, dropping the poker and stumbling backwards, her foot catching on the edge of the low table behind her. She didn't have a chance to react, waiting to fall and crash to the ground, but it didn't happen. All at once she became aware of a solid pair of arms that had wrapped around her middle, halting her fall and steadying her.

"Easy there tiger, fire burns," Tyler's deep tones reached her ears, even as her heart stuttered at the expectation of falling, and restarted with a vengeance at the realization his arms were around her, that he'd sort of saved her. Again.

When she was thoroughly on her own two feet again, his arms retreated, to be folded across his chest as he studied her indignant look.

"What were you doing?" He sounded like he was fighting down laugher.

"Uhh...kickstarting, the, uh fire." She looked at the ground, her scuffed sneaker toeing the plush carpet.

"Literally?" Her head shot up; she was sick of being joked with. "It's not my fault I'm used to hitting an on/off switch on a furnace! City girl, remember?"

"Alright, I'll give you a pass this time, but don't let me catch you doing anything else dangerous until you're back on your own terrain, okay?" Tyler moved around her to stoke the fire himself, stirring the burning wood and adding more logs with certain movements.

Megan rolled her eyes, flopping back onto the couch. "Whatever you say."

Satisfied that the fire would last another long while, Tyler retreated to the couch as well, and they sat in silence for a moment, neither acknowledging what had happened in the woods. Finally, Megan spoke.

"The..um, the wolf-ness, it's...it's gone for now?"

Tyler cocked his head to one side. "I'm not sure. I can feel The Wolf as a presence, conscious within me at all times, and right now it's sort of...writhing right beneath the surface."

Megan made what might have been a whimper, and recoiled to her end of the couch slightly. He didn't want her afraid of him; that was the last emotion he wanted her feeling towards him. Resentment, anger, they were all better than that. He turned his body towards hers, staring until she made eye contact. "I can sense when I'm about to change, Megan. I'd get far away. I would never hurt you." If I was aware of what was happening, he thought, but kept that part to himself.

She nodded, still looking slightly uncertain, and then her whole expression changed, transforming into irritation. "I wish you'd stop poking fun at my habits, my lack of knowledge, everything. I'm actually a pretty competent person, in the outside world."

"The outside...?"

"Like, society." She glared at him. "I'm not used to being made fun of, and I'm not sure I like it." She was so honestly miffed that he couldn't control the bark of laughter that burst from his throat. Her perfectly-sculpted brows furrowed at his laughter, and he only laughed harder, raising a hand to cover his mouth as he looked at her.

She grabbed the nearest thing at hand, another pillow, and raised herself up on her knees to hit him in the head, as hard as she could. He fell back against the edge of the couch, still guffawing madly even as he raised his arms to defend himself against the pillowy onslaught. When he felt she'd landed enough hits to content herself, he grabbed the pillow, wrenching it from her grasp, and gripping both of her wrists, holding them above her head as he pushed her back onto the couch.

She struggled against his hold, annoyed she was now weaponless, and wiggled around so much that they toppled from the couch onto the thick, soft carpet laying in front of the fire, he on top of her. With her wrists still trapped, Megan could do nothing but stare into his face, which was so close they were breathing the same air, his expression abruptly stilled by the position they found themselves in. She stopped fighting his hold, and they both relaxed, the crackling of the fire the only sound in the room for a moment.

They lunged at each other in the same moment, their lips once again tangling, wandering hands encountering disappointing barriers of clothing. The kiss deepened, one of Tyler's hands shaping itself to the back of Megan's head, the other dipping beneath her back to lift her to him. She moaned softly as his lips traveled down her neck, and the noise brought him momentarily to his senses. "Should we be doing...this?"

Her eyes opened, and Megan looked at him, her eyes clouded with desire, and she directed the question back at him. "Is it alright?"

His eyes traveled to the fire and back to hers as he considered. "The um, The Wolf is pretty much powerless at this point, especially if I'm physically exhausted."

She took that as encouragement, reaching up and bringing his face back down to hers, grinning against his lips. "Aroo."

Arooooooo. How was that, Team Wolf? XOXO ~Bon