Chapter Text
In all the years he’d walked this earth, Maul had never found a way to describe the power of the full moon. It was some base, primal feeling, just as much a part of him as the drive to keep breathing. As the sun sank lower in the sky, slowly disappearing behind the buildings of the city, Maul could feel it humming beneath his skin.
Maul was not a man who knew what peace felt like. It wasn't something he would ever think to seek out. But the moment of the shift was how he imagined it might feel. That moment of knowing that once again, he’d won out against a force of nature, that he was the true master of this power, was exhilarating.
Rather than shift before the moon’s power reached its peak and forced the change, Maul held himself in his human form. In the isolated stretch of forest he’d made his home, it wouldn’t matter. But here, in the heart of the city, he couldn’t risk being seen. He glanced back at the house one more time before sliding around the side of another building just a few doors down the road.
When he emerged into the alley, he immediately fixed his gaze on that very same house once more. Perhaps he’d missed the moment when they left. They must be gone by now if they wanted to get the boy somewhere safe before sunset.
But he could still smell them. The clear scent of something close by, not the faint trace left by a quarry long gone. And there was no fresh trail leading away from the house in any direction. Then he heard it – the muffled sound of a young human’s voice.
The boy was still in the house. And there was only one way humans would allow a wolf to stay under their roof during a full moon.
The moon’s power pulled at him relentlessly and Maul was forced to turn his thoughts away from the boy. He’d pushed things too far, and the time to shift was now. Focusing only on keeping that vicious, feral force under his control, Maul let his human form give way to the hulking gray wolf. A low growl rose in his throat he paced the width of the alley. He wanted nothing more than to barrel through the door and rip out to throats of the humans who were keeping the boy—his boy—locked away during the most powerful time of his life.
But he’d gone to great lengths to maintain a low profile since he’d come to the city. Leaving a trail of blood and dragging a confused, disoriented, terrified pup away wouldn’t do. Not now.
So Maul forced himself to remain in the shadows, watching the back door of the Bridger house. Most city-dwelling humans, he’d long since learned, couldn’t really tell the difference between a wolf and a dog. If any of the neighbors stuck their heads outside, they would likely see just another stray. And when the sun rose, Maul would hear the boy’s voice again and know that the only other living member of his pack was safe once more.
Ezra huddled in the corner, silent tears trailing down his cheeks as he braced himself. The change would begin any minute now. It started the same way every month, with his skin tingling and burning.
The burning sank deeper, stabbing viciously into his bones until he cried out. He clapped his hand over his mouth even though he knew no one could hear him, muffling his screams as he fell forward, dropping to the floor in a heap.
Don’t fight it. That was the only advice his parents had been able to give him, that tensing his muscles as he fought to cling to his human form would probably make the shift hurt even more. And even that was only a guess. Still, it was the only thing Ezra knew that might make this easier, and so every month he repeated those words in his head. Don’t fight it. Don’t fight it.
He whimpered, curling into a ball as he felt the very shape of his body begin to change. Ezra quickly tilted his head, focusing on the door, where he knew his parents were waiting on the other side. For the last few fleeting seconds before everything slipped away, a strange, protective feeling enveloped him, as if they were there, in the room with him, standing guard as Ezra vanished and the wolf appeared.