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Jude’s wolf was a dark onyx creature with a beige patch of fur on his underbelly, his brown-black eyes nearly identical to those Delilah was used to seeing. He was a large wolf, but not nearly as large as Graham.
Graham’s massive form was covered in russet hair, except at the tips of his tail and paws, where it seemed to fade into white. His eyes were magnificently golden, but still had hints of green and aqua.
They didn’t seem to be actively pursuing much of anything, Delilah noted. And as Miranda dashed ahead and Delilah followed, chasing her, Graham and Jude seemed content to watch from a distance.
Miranda would occasionally slow down just enough that Delilah felt like she could reach out and touch her before Miranda rushed ahead again. She proved that her energy reserves were nearly limitless… that Miranda could probably run forever if she needed.
Delilah had made it her goal to catch up to Miranda, but to no avail. Every time she reached out to her, being just a hair away, Miranda dashed out of reach. Beneath her wolf form, Delilah could feel herself chuckling.
It was the best full moon Delilah had ever experienced. Despite being a stranger, she felt welcome here. She felt like anequal.
Chapter 12
Graham
Nightsunderthefullmoon in Fang Park felt like home, more so than any other time of the year. In this form, running on all fours, paws out, Graham felt true to himself. He believed that in his wolf form, he was at his most pure, and most honest, and he believed the same applied to everybody else.
Graham and Jude lingered in the dust, watching Miranda and Delilah chase each other through the park. They both studied her movements. Graham always learned the most about a shifter through the behavior of their wolf because it was harder to lie when you couldn’t speak, harder to conceal your nature.
Miranda was as fast as ever. It had always been a mystery to Graham how she could exert so much energy yet never show any signs of exhaustion. She didn’t pant, never slowed down, and never yielded.
Graham could see how Miranda enjoyed teasing Delilah, watching as Delilah pushed herself to keep up with Miranda, but always at the precipice, Miranda sped up. However, they didn’t see frustration in Delilah’s actions. They couldn’t sense any conceit or melancholy, even as they watched Delilah realize in time that Miranda was uncatchable.
Instead, Delilah pursued her ambitiously and expediently, always slowing down to try and reach out to touch Miranda, and always speeding up just as Miranda sped away.
It spoke to Delilah’s competitiveness but also to her tenacity, patience, gregariousness, and cooperation. These were all wonderful traits in a new recruit. Other undesired traits—aggression, wrath, jealousy, and impulsiveness—were nowhere to be seen.
Graham and Jude continued to watch from afar, enjoying the scenery. They reveled in the smells of passing rose bushes and herbs. They glimpsed their own reflections in the moonlit waters of rushing streams and calm pond water.
They watched the forms of distant shifters, silhouetted against the scenery and bathed in moonlight, unburdening themselves from their human lives as they reveled in their truer, more honest forms. Occasional fights broke out among the other shifters. This was inevitable, as they romped about the woods, rolling through the distant scenery. But thankfully, there was never any urgent need for intervention.
It was only dangerous to be a shifter when you were lying in your daily life—when your human face was nothing but a mask. This spoke to integrity, to each pack member’s true intentions ultimately benefiting the sanctity of the district and the good of the collective.
That’s why, for many members, the full moon ultimately served as a test of each member’s character, showing any holes in their integrity and whether they secretly harbored dangerous intentions. It worked two ways as well because no shifter wanted to be caught on the city streets under a full moon.
Delilah was remarkable, though. As he watched her playfully rolling under the moonlight, her yellow and gray coat reflecting the light of the moon, Graham was struck by her gracefulness.
As Jude looked on beside him, Graham wondered if he saw the same positive traits in her. If he could see how beautifully she moved, how kindly she conducted herself. He wondered if he could also see how great of an asset she would be to the pack or whether he saw something different.
Graham had to admit to himself that from the moment he saw Delilah, he had been struck by something. At first, he told himself it had been idle concern for his safety or fear of the danger a rogue shifter running about might pose to the secrecy of the pack and to shifters as a whole. It was in everybody’s best interest to ensure no shifters wandered the streets alone, lest they be caught transforming on a full moon.
He had been singularly consumed in finding her, wanting so desperately to reel her in and bring her home. He could see the loneliness and fear in her eyes—a trauma so deep he could hardly bear to understand. At night, finding her was all he thought about. He had even forgotten to eat some evenings.
He still caught himself wondering what had troubled her so much. She had run from them both in such a hurry, not for who they were butwhatthey were. Surely, being abandoned by one’s pack could be traumatic, but there was something deeper that Graham longed to understand—a pain more intense than being abandoned, more poignant than being ostracized, ridiculed, or shamed.
And that might have been what enticed him. Maybe it was the mystery—the fact that even in spite of her strong integrity, she guarded her pain and kept it hidden from everybody around her in whatever way she could. It was a selflessness unlike anything he’d ever known.
Maybe he wanted to fix that, to show Delilah a haven from her fears. Even from just their brief interactions, Graham could tell she didn’t deserve to shoulder that pain, at least not alone.
Graham realized he’d lost Jude somewhere in the presence of his thoughts and rushed to find him. He had cut himself a good way off from the rest of the pack.
Through forests and over benches, Graham dashed, trying to catch Jude. Then at long last, he found a shadow, set apart only by the tan patch of fur on its underbelly, darker otherwise even than the night. Playfully, he tackled Jude to the ground.
But Jude hadn’t expected him, and for a brief moment, the scene shifted to one of competitive aggression as Jude tried to defend himself from the unseen assailant. Jude tore into Graham’s shoulder in self-defense, and Graham jumped back, recoiling.
“Ouch, dude,” Graham said, now back to his human form.
The shift to wolf form was forceful and natural with the full moon, but shifting into and out of the form throughout the night was easily attainable with a little self-control.
