It was the first night of the full moon, all of us were in the main room of the Bunker along with Cas. The ghost hunt had gone smooth which had helped Oliver and Roy deal with the wolf thing, but all of us were edgy the closer to moon rise it got. Coyote had tried to get in touch with Fenris but he hadn't responded. We were sure what that meant. Her other guides were playing hard to get as well. She said she could still feel them, but she got the sense that they were waiting for something. Maybe they didn't know either, or maybe figured that this was something we'd have to go through to understand. That hadn't helped her nerves.

"Do you think it will make a difference if we're awake or not?" Sam asked.

"Don't know. Maybe. If we don't freak out a few hours in we can have Cas knock us out, I doubt we'll be able to sleep on our own."

Oliver and Roy weren't saying much, although Oliver was pacing the room while Roy fidgeted in his chair. I just poured myself another drink, held Coyote's hand, tried to keep everyone calm and waited. I wouldn't be able to stop what was coming, we just had to ride it out.

As the hours ticked by something did start to change, my senses got stronger and this overwhelming urge to go outside started taking hold. There wasn't a feel like a shift was coming on though, not yet.

-Hunt?-

It wasn't just my wolf that said that, it was a collective voice. All of us froze.

"Cas, things could be getting dicey," I said.

My adrenaline started going, the urge to move kept getting stronger and I had to stand up. It wasn't just me, Sam, Coyote and Roy all stood up with me, Oliver had never bothered to sit down.

"Try to push it back," Coyote ordered.

-Why? It's time, hunt- That was my wolf arguing with her about it, in our heads.

She snapped her head around and glared at me, "Not helping.."

I tried to reason with him -Wolf, do we have to hunt right now, can we wait? -

-Hunt!-

It tried to take control, the rest of them flinched.

-Pack, hunt- I barely recognized the voice, it had just enough of Coyote in it for me to understand that her wolf was trying to push her out of the way too.

Roy gasped, "Help...can't.." This surge of sheer need to hunt whipped through the bond, nearly taking the rest of us with him.

He dropped to his hands and knees, Oliver's face started losing form. Not good.

That's when Fenris' energy came pouring through all of us, "Let them run, they need to feel the earth beneath their paws."

"Will this be how it is every full moon?" Coyote demanded.

"It will get easier over time, but for now, don't resist it."

She was pissed, "And the reason you didn't tell us this?"

"You needed time to process what had happened. Go, run, they will let you guide them if you don't fight them. If they are forced to take you over, you will have no say in the hunt."

Roy closed his eyes and his and Oliver's faces solidified back to human, I heard a whisper of Roy's voice inside my head. The pack was merging even closer together. He nodded, stood up, stripped and started to shift.

"Damn it!" Sam groaned as another new presence assaulted me. I looked over, his face and hands were contorted, caught between fighting and shifting. His wolf was almost entirely in control already, I could feel it itching to get out.

The first pains of the shift hit me, - Hunt! Dean! Now! Let us run!- I could have sworn there were claws digging at the inside of my head. I dropped to the ground.

"Do it," Coyote ordered as she ripped off her shirt, sweat beading on her forehead, "Cas, do not let us out of here unless you can tell we're not raging monsters. No matter what it takes."

That was the last thing she got out before her face distorted and she couldn't speak. I gave up at that point, slid the sweats I'd chosen to wear off and let my wolf take over.

-Thank you-

Was the first thing it said. Not what I'd been expecting as I got shoved in the passenger seat of my brain. That came in a close second in what the hell realizations to the utter calm that reverberated through the pack bond once we'd all shifted. I knew the wolves were in charge, not the humans, but they weren't acting like crazed out monsters, they were acting, well, like wolves. My head turned to look at Coyote, who stood up, shook out her fur and stared up at Cas.

"Yes? What is it?" Cas asked, in a totally normal tone of voice. Guess the sight of us shifting into wolves didn't really rank that high up on his list of weird.

She loped past him and headed up the stairs, Roy, Oliver and Sam followed, I brought up the rear, protecting the pack from any threats. It was instinctive, my wolf just did it with no thought. Once we reached the platform she peered back down at Cas, her ears straight up and every muscle in her body calm, relaxed.

"Ahh, I see. How do I know you won't go after humans? Admittedly you're calm now, but what happens once you get out? I can't exactly keep up with you."

There was this absolutely massive pull on the pack bond which sapped a ton of energy out of us. The temperature plummeted and a very faint outline of Fenris appeared in front of Cas. "I give you my word angel," his voice echoed off the walls, "They will not harm a human. My true children would never do that. Let them out." Then he faded and all of us stumbled as the sense of him disappeared as fast as it had come. I can see why he couldn't show up and kill Mairyn if that short of a time here took that much effort.

Cas was still somewhat unsure, Coyote laid down and her body language relayed to the rest of us to do the same. Five wolves laid out across the platform, waiting on an angel to let us out.

"If you were truly monsters you would be trying to break down that door," Cas stated, "I hope I am not making yet another error in judgment." He walked up the stairs, threaded his way through us and opened the door. We slowly got up, partly because we were still kind of wiped out by Fenris popping in and partly to not startle Cas and walked outside.

-Free!- My wolf said as soon as the smell of the outside air hit him. All the wolves got amped at that point, we surged up the stairs and bolted into the woods behind the Bunker. There wasn't a single hint of violence in my wolf, he was too busy enjoying running, smelling things, I was so damn confused.

-What is this? You were all fired up to hunt.- I thought to him.

-Hunt isn't just kill, this is hunt too.-

Our claws dug into the dirt, Sam's wolf hit the ground and rolled around in a nice pile of dirt, Oliver's climbed into a tree just for kicks. That was a sight to see, a wolf climbing a tree just as easily as a cat. Roy just took off at top speed and ran until he was almost out of sight, then spun around and dashed right back. Coyote hopped onto the top of a small hill, closed her eyes and raised her head towards the moon. This sense of balance echoed out from her, her and her wolf were partners at that moment. Her paws started to shuffle as she did a four footed version of the dance I'd seen her to as a human shaman. A cascade of power, her power, not her wolf's, rippled through us, bringing us all to a standstill. She was doing her shaman thing, joining with the world around her. She'd tried to describe how it felt to me several times but I could never picture it, now that I felt it, I'd never be able to understand how she ever managed to shut it off before, or why.

Every inch of my body tingled, a sense of both being completely insignificant yet incredibly important swirled within me. I felt like I was floating even though I could clearly feel the earth under my paws and I could sense lines linking every tree, rock, scrap of dirt together. Then the sense of love from beings far beyond what we were took over, her guides, had to be, or maybe her Dad and Rising Dove, maybe even Fenris was in there somewhere. I had no clue. All I knew was that whoever it was cared far more about her and I than I'd ever thought was possible from gods, guides or whatever. For once in my life I didn't feel like everything supernatural was out there trying to kill me, hated me or saw me as some sort of tool. Maybe this is what people who have faith feel, nice thing was I really didn't need to take it on empty faith anymore. It was real. Maybe this was what Cas had felt for all those billions of years when God was still around. To lose this, have it ripped from you, no wonder he was such a wreck.

That's when she howled in sheer joy, her guides were still with her. The four of us flung our heads back and howled right along with her.

A mess of memories and emotions collided together, just like when we'd fought through the walls. Oliver's pain, Roy's losses, what Sam and I had been through, Coyote's life, they all converged and our wolves absorbed them, took in the knowledge and wrapped it all together into this thing, this pack, which as I watched, became something more, something greater than all of us. Our wolves were not just separate entities within us, pack was one, pack was all, pack was a collective. They'd needed this to finish the rebirth.

We ended the howl but it echoed for several seconds afterwards, probably scaring the living crap out of anyone that happened to be near us.

-Pack!- My wolf said, excitement bursting out of him.

-Time to hunt- Coyote's wolf stated as she loped down from the hilltop, -We are ready now-

The five of us formed up and loped further into the woods.

The smell of rodents, birds, insects, small game filled my nose. Each tree had it's own scent, I could tell how long it'd been since an animal had been by based the smell. Especially when we happened across piles of shit or traces of piss. The wind shifted bringing a whole new array of scents, one of which was a rabbit which was hiding near by. I instantly crouched down.

-Food- My wolf sent out to the others. -Rabbit, may be more-

-Here too- Roy's wolf sent back.

-You get those, we'll keep going- Coyote's wolf said.

It a was a different kind of tension that filled my body, not fear, not nerves, expectation. I inched closer to the rabbit, the wind was going the right way for me, the wrong way for it. I still couldn't see it, but I could hear it breathing, it's heart beating. I'd never moved so slowly in my life. I'd always wondered how predators did it when I watched nature shows, the amount of muscle control and patience they must have had to pull that off. Now that I was one I was even more blown away. My wolf set our paw down so softly, I didn't even hear a sound. The rabbit must have moved it's head because I caught a glint of the moon off it's eyes. It had to know we were close, I mean I am all white, kind of hard not to see at night.

-It waits, it thinks I can't see it- my wolf explained. -Rabbit not used to being hunted by wolf-

It sounded kind of smug.

-It will bolt soon, then we will catch it-

It wanted the chase, which kind of struck me as cruel but better a rabbit than a person.

-I am not an it Dean, I am male. Like you. It's are things-

-Sorry, trying to keep things straight in my brain here-

-Our brain..shh-

The rabbit bolted, we took off like lightning and before I knew it hot blood was pulsing into our mouth as the wolf's teeth pierced the rabbit's neck. It screamed and he shook it rather violently till it stopped struggling, then set it on the ground and started chowing down.

Just as that happened we heard another rabbit scream and this feeling of triumph from Roy. The rest of the pack felt our successes and seemed to get a sense of satisfaction from them.

The wolf crunched through that rabbit in record time. When it, or rather he, was done he licked our paws to get the last of the blood off them and looked out into the moonlit night. -I will not cause you harm, nor cause others like you harm.- he said, -I understand now, all of us wolves do, we saw what you think we are. We are not that. Not things, we are not monsters, we help.-

-I get that, but this full moon thing, it may not always be possible to do-

I heard whispers from the others, similar words to what he was saying.

-We know now, but we need this to be able to help. Your pack, our pack, same but not same-

-Does that mean you really are separate beings inside of us?-

-Yes, we share this space with you but we are ourselves, just as you are-

I wasn't quite sure what to say to that, or think. Coyote's wolf was urging us to join her again, Roy and I moved without question to follow her request.

-Let me get this straight. You and the other wolves need this time to be together, be family, be pack? -

-Yes, when you are in control, we cannot merge with each other like this. We all came from Fenris, all part of him, separate now to be in you, need to join again for some time to be happy-

-So the feeling what each other feels when we're in human form?-

-Is for you, not us. Is part, not all, of pack.-

My head hurt.

-Our head hurts- he corrected.

-Right, sorry. Let's get to the point here. If you don't get to hunt like this, all together what happens?-

-Madness, death, pack must be together.-

-What about the other ones, the ones we sent to live with Rick?-

-They have each other, they are pack. Oliver and Roy can hunt together, you, Sam and the Alpha can hunt together, that will work. If one of you live alone and never hunt with the rest, madness for that one, and the rest may feel it-

-How about the whole living forever thing?-

I got some sort of mental shrug from him -Wolves live as long as they live-

We met back up with the others. Coyote's wolf was staring off in the distance. I smelled goats, sheep and some chickens, uh oh. There were a few houses around us with large properties that kept various livestock.

-Yeah not a good idea- I told my wolf.

His ear twitched, -Why?-

-Because then those people will try to hunt us down, if they can't find us, they'll kill whatever they can that makes sense. No need to get innocent animals killed-

My mouth started watering as the smell grew stronger, the rest of the pack stood up. -Wolf, don't do this. Please. Talk her out of it-

He was shocked at that idea -Talk Alpha out of something?-

-She's your mate too, this won't go well. I know we can't be killed all that easily but still. If you won't, let me do it.-

He thought it over, I could tell he was rummaging through my memories and thoughts. -I see, yes, not good idea. Talk to her-

Suddenly I was in charge again. Great. The pack bond seemed oddly out of synch, Coyote was talking with her wolf too, trying to reason with it. I stepped in front of her, she tried to stare me down. I had to look away but that didn't keep me from talking -Alpha, this is a bad idea. The people will try to take out whatever they think killed their livestock. I know it seems fun but we don't need to do this. There are some rabbits down the way, let's go for those.- It didn't quite seem right to call her by name. Her wolf was in charge, not her.

-Rabbits are boring- She said. I should have known Coyote's wolf would be as big on taking on challenges as she was.

I decided to use the instinctive protectiveness that came with the wolf side to make my point -How about this? Next time we can go hunt deer, go someplace far away from people. Safer for the pack. -

I wasn't sure why Coyote wasn't able to take over, maybe she was afraid if she pushed it her wolf would lose it, but her posture changed. She was thinking it over.

-We can't just scare them?-

A wolf with a sense of humor, fun -Let's just play it safe the first time out-

The other three had been watching this whole thing play out without comment, their wolves were fully in control still. They were waiting for the Alpha to decide.

-She agrees with you-

I was assuming she meant Coyote.

-Rabbits then, deer next time. Pack promise, understand?- The look she gave me made my wolf shiver. I gathered that pack promise was something along the lines of an oath you don't break, ever.

-Pack promise-

She turned away from the direction the smell was coming from -Rabbits are that way. Hunt-

I mentally breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

-Alpha listens to you, good- My wolf said, -She's very strong-

-Yeah I know. Take back over, do your thing-

He slipped up past me and took control. I spent the rest of the time sorting through the layers of connections trying to get a handle on all the wolf personalities and how they may be different from the people I knew. The more I knew, the better I could help everyone out if things got rough.

Sam's wolf seemed to be a distilled version of his analytical side. I watched as he hunted down a rabbit and I could see him thinking through all the angles the rabbit could jump, how it would move. When it finally bolted it barely got half a jump in before his jaws crunched down on it.

Roy's wolf was a ball of crazy energy, which I'd never pegged Roy for. Maybe it was a throwback to how he would have been if he hadn't had a rough life. He just loved to run, move, jump, whatever. After the first rabbit he'd caught he seemed more interested in just running around and trying to get someone to play with him than anything else.

Oliver was a whole different story. He didn't stop at one rabbit, he took out three like it was nothing.

Coyote felt like she was embodying the entire idea of being a wolf. It wasn't that she moved differently than we did, or acted more wolfy, there was just this sense about her, like this was who she was and where she was supposed to be. Not that she was half a wolf. Until I talked to her more I'd chalk it up to her heritage and shaman side.

We ran around and hunted for maybe another hour than Coyote's wolf barked once. All our wolves stopped what they were doing and gathered around her. Once we had she struck out towards the Bunker and we all glided through the woods as silent as could be.

Once the Bunker was in sight I spotted Cas standing at the edge of the wooded area.

-You take over now. Pack safe- My wolf said as it faded back into the corners of my brain.

"I was getting concerned," Cas said as we loped into view. He gave us one of his intense angel stares. "I am starting to figure out how to decipher who is in charge. It appears that you are, not your wolves. Good. I'll open the door. I set your clothes in your rooms. I thought you may prefer that."

We worked our way down the stairs and headed straight to our rooms. There were all kinds of thoughts and feelings flying around the bond and we all wanted to be back on two legs again before we started talking. I got why Fenris had held off telling us, there was no way he could explain what we'd just gone through that would make any sort of sense.

Coyote shifted fast, a lot faster than she ever had before. I wasn't too far behind her and it felt good to be alone, mostly, in my head again. It also seemed to hurt much less than before. "That was fucking intense," I said as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Holy shit," she breathed out as I squeezed her as tight as I could. "That was so far beyond anything that I thought was possible. We were really wolves, I can't believe it."

"This I can deal with, they aren't out to go ballistic and kill people. Damn, I never thought I'd see the day, something like this doesn't have a nasty ass downside for once."

She leaned back and looked into my eyes, "Guess we should book that cruise now huh?"

"Oh god yeah." When our lips met, I couldn't tell where mine ended and hers started, and I really, really liked that.