At first, I was terrified. What if someone saw me like this? What would I even say? Worse, what if I lost control and attacked someone—like the thing that had attacked me?
But as the fear settled, I realized something strange: I didn't feel violent. Not yet. I didn't want to hurt anyone. Instead, a thought crept into my head. Is it even a full moon tonight?
Curiosity pushed me to the door. Without hands, opening it was… awkward. I ended up biting down on the knob, twisting until it snapped loose. The door swung open with a groan.
I spat the mangled metal onto the floor. "Well," I muttered in my head, "guess I'll be buying a new doorknob." At least I hadn't destroyed the whole door.
Outside, the night air hit me like a second breath. I started slow, padding across the yard, awkward on four legs until I found my rhythm. Then I ran.
God, I ran.
The ground blurred beneath me, the wind rushing past. My house was surrounded by woods—fifteen acres of it. My own private world. No neighbors to worry about, no one to see me. Just me, the earth, and the freedom to run as fast as my legs could carry me.
A flicker of movement caught my eye. Instinct took over, and I darted toward it. A rabbit. Before I knew what I was doing, my jaws snapped shut around it. Warm fur, a kick of tiny legs—and then nothing.
I froze. I'd never eaten raw meat in my life, but now? The taste was… good. Too good. Was it because I was a wolf now?
The world itself seemed different too. Every rustle in the underbrush stood out to me, every subtle twitch of movement in the dark. My ears swiveled on their own, tuning into whatever I wanted. The forest was alive in a way I'd never noticed before.
By the time I stumbled back to my porch, I was exhausted. I curled up right there and drifted into sleep, the night fading around me.
---
When I woke, the sun was high again. Noon.
I was naked on the porch, shivering, but that wasn't what shocked me. My body felt… different. Stronger.
Inside, I stumbled to the mirror in my bedroom. The reflection staring back at me wasn't the tired, middle-aged man I'd grown used to. My face looked younger—like I was in my twenties again. My body looked sculpted, powerful, like I'd been living in a gym for years.
I laughed, then almost cried. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"
I had four days left before work. Two before my younger brother's wedding.
Somehow, I had to figure out how to live like this.