ng through the dense canopy of Crescent Pines. For Kael, the approaching fullness was a familiar torment, a mont

nsformation. The scent of damp earth and moss filled the air, a stark contrast to the metallic tang that often accompanied the shift. He had learned over the years to ant

d his other form. The image of her startled face, the silver feather she might still possess – these thoughts fl

he air seemed to crackle with the moon's increasing power, resonating deep within his bones. He c

is teeth began to lengthen, a faint scraping sensation against his inner cheek. His senses sharpened,

ate and, to some extent, manage the shift. He had developed mental exercises, focusing on calming images – the flow of

essence of his being. The tremors intensified, his bones beginning to ache and shift. His

the agonizing transformation. His vision blurred, his perspective shifting as his skull elongated, his

rm being forcibly reshaped into the beast. He bit down hard on his lip, a strangled cry escaping his throat. The mental exe

e force of the transformation. Within moments, the change was complete. Kael Thorne, the brooding exile, was g

s were now acutely heightened – he could hear the rustling of a mouse in the undergrowth hundreds of yards away, smell t

ingered, a foreign element in the primal landscape of his transformed mind. He could still faintly scent

felt in a long time. He patrolled the edges of his territory, his powerful muscles rippling beneath his silver fur, his sense

to the shadows, a silent observer in the moonlit woods, his golden eyes scanning the darkened houses. He could

ing about this human, something that resonated on a primal level he couldn't explain. It wasn't just the fact

wards the human woman remained, a dangerous curiosity warring with his ingrained need for solitude and secrecy. The first shift of the new lunar cycle had passed, leaving him with a heightened awareness of the fragile human who had witnesse