Archive of Our Own ^beta

A shiver runs down Kei’s spine, shaking him from sleep in an instant.

As he sits up, goosebumps travel down his arms. It’s cold, with the sunken hearth long extinguished as snow falls outside.

But the shiver wasn’t from the cold.

He sits there for a few moments, questioning if it could’ve been a dream. Who could be so close to his home, and so far from the rest of society, in this weather?

But the feeling isn’t disappearing. It isn’t the remnants of a nightmare or haunting memory. There’s someone out there who needs his help.

Even as dark as the night is, navigating the cabin is second nature. He piles another kimono and hanten over the clothes he was sleeping in, pulls on his boots, and heads out into the snow.

Outside, the night seems unusually light thanks to the light of the full moon bouncing from the blanket of snow on the ground. But the snow is coming down so thick and fast it’s hard to see far. He sets off in the direction of the village—though it’s hours of walking away, it’s the most likely direction someone might be coming from.

“Hello?” he calls as he steps further away from the house. To be woken up from sleep by the sense of someone nearby—they must be fairly close. It’s not strange to think they could be close enough to hear him, but not see him through the trees and the snow.

“Who is out here?” he calls again, moving further into the trees. “You can’t be out in this weather!”

His fears rise as he walks on, receiving no response. It’s a death wish to be out here at night in this weather.

“Hello?” he calls again.

The forest is cold and silent. He can’t see his house anymore.

He moves off to his left rather than going deeper into the woods, intending to do a loop around his house. He hardly takes a few steps before there’s a dip to the ground, sending him skidding a few feet in the snow.

While Kei isn’t usually the clumsy type, the ditch is hidden by the trees at first. There’s also the matter of the boy laid at the bottom of it, his body a dark dent in the snow, causing Kei to falter as he tries to catch his footing.

Kei shouts out in surprise, steadying himself with a hand in the snow, hastily wading closer to him in the sliding snow of the bank.

The boy is laid out on his back, eyes closed, skin pale and bitten by the cold. Snowflakes are settling in his lashes, but otherwise his clothes stand out starkly against the snow—he must’ve fallen here only minutes ago.

In the snow beside him there are streaks of red. Kei would bet they were streaked down the slope too, before Kei himself fell down it and covered them.

“Hey, kiddo,” he says, coming to his knees and patting the boy’s cheeks firmly. “Wake up for me.”

He holds two fingers to his pulse point. It’s weak, but there’s something there. The boy’s eyelids flutter open, but his eyes struggle to fix on Kei’s face.

“What happened to you? Is anyone else out here with you?”

The boy doesn’t seem to hear Kei, only blinking blearily before his eyes roll back into his head.

“No, no, don’t fall back asleep. I got you, come on.”

He pushes his arms under the boy, digging into the snow to grasp him under the legs and behind his shoulders, lifting him as carefully as he can. He doesn’t know the extent of his injuries yet.

The boy cries out nonetheless when Kei lifts him up off the ground. He’s not as heavy as he expected for a teenager his size, and Kei is able to carry him easily enough.

He steps quickly but carefully over the snow, sinking into it more with the added weight, but he knows the forest like the back of his hand. The boy makes pained little noises and buries his face into Kei’s shoulder with every step, and Kei does his best to mutter reassurances while keeping an eye out for whatever the hell put the kid in this condition.

He’s back inside his cabin within minutes, laying the boy on his furs and blankets by the fireplace. With a flick of his hand, he beckons new flames in the hearth.

The boy is semi-conscious now, watching the flames with wide eyes, quickened breath.

“Try to stay calm. We need to make sure you don’t lose any more blood,” Kei tells him, and it brings the boy’s attention to him properly for the first time. “I’m going to take your yukata off to look at your wound, alright?”

The boy watches him, mouth moving as if he’s trying to find the words, but all he can do is groan at the pain. Kei takes that as his cue to begin treating the wound.

The boy’s dark nagagi is already torn to pieces over his chest, and pulling the clothing aside doesn’t make the sight any better. Deep claw marks slash diagonally across his chest, the blood running in every direction across his pale skin. In his shoulder, large teeth marks are indented deep enough to bleed too, but less than the chest wounds.

Kei recognises the bite wound for what it is immediately. It might be the thing that saves this boy’s life tonight.

“Hold that,” he tells the boy, pressing the remains of the nagagi over the wound again. “Hold it as firmly as you can, I’ll be right back.”

He rushes to get water, bandages, and some of his own herbal remedies. He needs to keep this boy alive just a little longer.

When he returns, the boy has fallen unconscious again. Kei sets about cleaning his wounds and pressing a cloth over the harsh gashes, waiting for the bleeding to slow enough that he can dress the wounds.

The bite won’t infect, but it will hurt for a few days—he applies some salve to it now, hoping it will help a little.

That will have to do until the morning. He makes sure the boy is thoroughly covered in blankets, and lays down on the other side of the fire, wondering if the lone wolf that bit this boy is still out there tonight.

And more importantly, how this boy ended up out here, alone, on the night of the full moon.

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Kei wakes up a few hours later to stoke the fire and check the boy’s wounds. He hasn’t bled through the bandages, so he doesn’t change them yet—he needs to make his current supplies last until the next market day.

The bite on the boy’s shoulder is already healing over, as expected. His breathing is steady, and he’s made it through the night. The next thing he needs is to eat.

It doesn’t take him long to prepare some soup, and the boy quietly wakes up as Kei brews it over the sunken hearth. His house isn’t big—it’s not like there are other rooms for him to disappear into for the sake of privacy. But Kei gives him some time to get his bearings before speaking to him.

“How are you feeling?”

The boy raises his eyes to meet Kei’s gaze, before looking back into the fire. “It hurts.”

“How badly, on a scale of one to ten?”

The boy blinks a few times. “I don’t know.”

Kei pours him a small serving of soup. “Can you sit up? It would be good for you to have something to eat.”

The boy grimaces, but begins to push himself up. Kei comes around to help support his back, and the boy is panting and frowning when he finally makes it up.

Kei holds the bowl to his mouth, seeing the shake in the boy’s hands, and he accepts the soup hungrily. It’s finished quickly, and the boy’s shoulders relax when Kei lowers the bowl again.

“You want some more?”

The boy looks conflicted, then nods. “You are the man from the market, aren’t you? With the remedies.”

Kei looks up. “Yes. My name is Kei. Did you know I live out here?”

The boy looks a little forlorn. “I knew you lived in the forest. It was the only place I could think to come…”

He looks down at the bite wound, now exposed as the blankets have slipped down from his shoulders. He sucks in a breath and looks away from it, eyes shiny.

“You know what happened to you?” Kei asks gently, returning to his side with the soup.

“Yes,” the boy says, and accepts Kei’s help again to drink it all.

“What’s your name?”

“Taki.”

“Taki,” Kei repeats. The name rings a bell—he has seen this boy at the market before, with his mother. His family is relatively wealthy, but they never buy anything from Kei. “Why were you out last night?”

Taki looks forlornly into the flames. “Hunting. My family are werewolf hunters.”

Kei’s stomach sinks, though he’d guessed as much. “But the wolf found you first?”

Taki lifts his eyes. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t shoot it.”

Kei nods, though his heart pangs for this boy. “You know what will happen to you now, don’t you?”

“They’ll kill me,” Taki says in a quiet voice, and Kei sits up a little straighter.

“What?”

“My family have been hunters for generations. This has happened before. If you get bitten, you die with honour, rather than become… become…”

“A werewolf.”

“There wouldn’t be any honour for me, though. I’ve never killed one before.”

“Good,” Kei says, suddenly ferocious. “Killing is not easy, and in most cases, it’s not right. You’re just a boy, and your heart is good, if you couldn’t even shoot something attacking you. You don’t deserve to die for that.”

“I can’t become a w-werewolf either,” Taki bursts, voice cracking. “I can’t go home like this, and I-I don’t want to become one of those things… they’ve killed that wolf, they’ll be out for me next. Isn’t there anything you can give me to stop it?”

Kei shakes his head sadly. “I can’t stop this. I’m sorry. You’re not just a boy anymore, Taki.”

“I’m a dead boy.”

“No. Your life isn’t over. I can help you, I know a thing or two about werewolves. Stay here, at least until you’re better.”

Taki’s eyes are wide. “Why would you do that? You don’t know me.”

Kei pours some soup out for himself, contemplating his answer. “But you know me, at least a little bit. Enough to come to me for help. What do you know about me, Taki?”

“I know that you make the remedies. You sell them at the market. And you live alone in the middle of the woods.”

“Why do you think I do those things?”

“To survive?”

“Yes. But why do I do them alone?”

Taki fiddles with his fingers. “I don’t know. Your family, are they…”

“They haven’t been around for a while,” Kei says quietly. “The people I did have fell through my fingers. I had a kid I loved very much…” Kei trails off, swallows. It’s been a long time since he last spoke about Harua, and it’s harder than expected. “He would be around your age now.”

“I’m sorry,” Taki says.

Kei shakes his head. “For your family to kill you is unthinkable. Let me put something right in the world by helping you.”

Taki looks no less defeated, but he doesn’t reject Kei’s proposal, focusing on easing himself back down onto the blankets. “Maybe this wound will kill me first.”

“They wouldn’t let me back to the market if my remedies didn’t work,” Kei says, and Taki just stares up at the ceiling. “I know this is scary. But just stay until the next full moon. Try to live with your fear until then, and I’ll get you the rest of the way.”

Taki blinks a few times, eyelashes wet. “I’ll try. Thank you for helping me.”

Kei leans over to pull the blankets over him properly. “Don’t thank me yet. Thank me after the next full moon.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Over the next few days, Taki is a good patient, eating when Kei offers him food and gritting his teeth whenever Kei checks his wounds and reapplies bandages. After only two days he’s on his feet again, trying to pull his weight in Kei’s solitary life.

“Will you teach me?”

Kei looks up from his work. “Teach you what?”

“About the things you make,” Taki says, watching Kei now as he weaves a basket together. “I’m useless, lying here.”

“You don’t need to have use in order to be here,” Kei says, shuffling over to Taki’s side of the hearth. “You’re my guest. But if you want to learn something new, I can teach you.”

“I want to try and help somehow,” Taki says, and Kei settles in beside him with some strips of bamboo. “You are the best at bamboo weaving in the village. Maybe I could just strip the material for you? I don’t want to be a hindrance…”

Kei passes him the already stripped bamboo. “I will teach you how to make a simple basket, and you can use it for foraging. How about that?”

“Okay,” Taki agrees, shifting to pick up the bamboo carefully.

His wound has improved at the rate Kei expected for a baby wolf like Taki—his body is stronger now, and so he’s able to move his arms around freely and walk about without reopening the wounds. Since Kei gave him a set of his old clothes, Taki has been monitoring his own wounds closely to be sure he won’t bleed onto them.

It’s sweet, really. It’s also relieving that Taki is being so considerate about Kei’s clothes and the burden of having another mouth to feed this far into winter. It means he’s planning to be here for the month they agreed, and Kei won’t wake up one day to find him gone.

“Starting it is the hardest bit, so let me start one for you and show you the weaving pattern. Watch this.”

He begins setting out the bigger strips for him, and weaves a few of the smaller strips between them to form a base. Then he hands it over to Taki, and watches him slowly, carefully weave the bamboo together in the same way Kei had.

“Good,” he says, picking up his own project again. Taki huffs when Kei resumes his weaving at a much quicker pace.

“How are you so good at that?” he grumbles, painstakingly turning over his basket base to thread another strip through.

“It’s how I survive. I’ve had a few years here alone to get good at it.”

“You’re good at lots of things like this, though. Loads of kids on the village have a temari made by you, too. And your remedies—so many people envy you, how you always make the best ones. It’s not like you’re a wizened grandma who has had decades to get good at this. You’re so young.”

Kei chuckles. “Sounds like there’s plenty of gossip about me back at the village.”

“Of course. You’re a mysterious man who lives alone in the woods and creates the most amazing things the village can’t live without, but they’re also a little bit scared of how good they are.”

Kei squirms. Though he was never under the illusion he goes unnoticed by the village folk, it’s uncomfortable to hear confirmation that they are a little afraid of him. Perhaps after he gets Taki through his first full moon, it’s time for Kei to find a new place to call home.

“I live out here so they don’t have to be scared.”

“If you lived in the village, they might be less nervous about you.”

“I can’t live in the village.”

“Why not?”

Kei puts his weaving down to shoot Taki a look. “What else do they say about me in the village? What do they think I am?”

Taki is silent for a moment, like he’s weighing up whether Kei will get upset by the answer. Kei just raises his eyebrows.

“Most people believe you are a witch,” he finally admits, and Kei sighs.

“I’m shocked I’ve been allowed to stay here if they believe that.”

“There are good witches, right? Also, no one wants to mess with you if you really are a witch. Your remedies are too good.”

Kei laughs. “Well, they can continue believing it, in that case. I’m nowhere near as powerful as a witch.”

Taki’s breath catches, just slightly. “So you are… something?”

Kei cocks his head. “What do you think?”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Can’t you just guess?” Kei parrots. “Amuse me, it’s been a long time since I made a new friend.”

Taki sits up a little straighter. “My family taught me a lot of things about magical beings. But everything is just stories, I have never really met someone like you before. I don’t know… are you a kodama?”

Kei’s eyes flick up to meet Taki’s, smile growing on his face. “You’re actually pretty close. Kodama are born from trees, but I was born from a flower.”

“A flower? Are you fae?”

“Gold coin for you, Taki.”

When Taki doesn’t respond, Kei looks up from his basket at Taki’s wide eyes.

“Does that scare you?” he asks softly.

Taki shakes his head, but his breathing shakes a little. “Just funny. Of all the places to end up, the home of a fae.”

Kei continues weaving his basket for a few beats. “I know us fae have a bad reputation. Would you believe me if I told you fae are created to protect children?”

“Protect?” Taki echoes, and Kei nods.

“That’s how I knew you were out here in the snow in the first place. I can sense when a child close to me is in danger.”

“Huh,” Taki says, fiddling with some bamboo. “So it isn’t true that you… steal children?”

Kei hums. “It does happen sometimes, I won’t lie. But only when their homes are too dangerous for them. Only when their life is at risk. Everything we do is to protect younglings like you.”

“I’m fifteen,” Taki protests weakly.

“Exactly.”

“Is that how I knew the way to your house? When I was bitten, the pain was so bad I could hardly tell where I was going—I just kept running as long as I could…”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It could’ve been pure luck. Or perhaps you remembered I live somewhere here, and your instincts guided you.”

“Either way, you saved my life. Did you help me heal with magic? Fae magic?”

Kei waves his hand from side to side. “Kind of.”

“Kind of how?”

“I use magic to grow my ingredients. It’s why my remedies are so good, I can grow just about anything at any time of year. I can’t use spells like witches do, so my magic isn’t exact enough to perform healing. I can only influence elemental things.”

“Like when you light the hearth by waving your hand.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s so cool. Sounds way better than being a werewolf.”

“Hey, you actually said the word this time.”

Taki scoffs. “I’m still a monster.”

“I’ll have you know that werewolves are very misunderstood. I know it must be terrifying to have everything about you change like this. But there are far worse things to become than a werewolf.”

It’s Taki’s turn to shoot Kei a disbelieving look. “I don’t believe you. One nearly killed me a few days ago. I don’t want to be one of them.” He rolls his injured shoulder uncomfortably.

“Only a lone wolf would do that. A werewolf needs a pack to support them, you see. That’s what keeps you connected to the world, helps you regulate the pull of the full moon and ease the burden of transforming every month. Lone wolves only exist if their pack has been killed. Hunters create the problem they are so afraid of.”

“Aren’t I a lone wolf, though?”

“Not yet. You’re a baby wolf. You’ll need your own pack eventually, to avoid becoming a lone wolf. But when you first transform, and you learn to howl, a pack will find you and welcome you in. Until then, I’m your pack.”

“Oh, no.”

“Hey! I may not be a werewolf, but I can help you out. We got this.”

Taki shoots him a side-eyed look. “How do you know so much about werewolves, anyway?”

Kei chuckles. “That’s a story for another day. Your basket is becoming very unique.”

“What? Am I doing it wrong? Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

“Somehow, you started threading it completely wrong, can’t you see that hole there?”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

After a few more days, the snow clears away enough for the earth to become visible again, frost making the ground hard and trees still. For Taki’s first day of wolf training, they simply take a walk along the river—partially to check there’s no lingering ice on the ground, and partially to check Taki’s stamina on the cusp of recovery. They can start by getting him used to his new senses, but soon enough he will need to work on his new physicality, strengthen his body for his first transformation.

Fuma had often told him that there would be no cases of werewolf attacks if only every wolf had the chance to embrace their nature, to be with other wolves the way their biology yearned for. Without a pack of his own, Kei will have to hope he can be enough to help Taki over the next few weeks.

“How are you doing?”

Taki shrugs as they walk leisurely along the frosty bank of the river. “I’m okay. Other than healing really fast, I don’t think I’m that different yet.”

“Just wait until you’re back to full health. You’ll have lots of new energy, new instincts. For today, we’ll try to hone your new senses. Can you smell anything right now?”

Taki watches him with an open expression. He’s a curious kid, and while he’s wary of what he’s becoming, he’s not the kind to be difficult on purpose. He tries to sniff the air now, even though there won’t be much to work with in the barren forest at this time of year.

“I can smell… the river, I think. It’s different to the grass and earth.”

Kei hums. “How about what you can hear?”

“I can hear the river the loudest. Louder than usual. I can… oh! I think I just heard a plop. Like a fish coming to the surface.” Taki looks up and down the river eagerly. “That’s cool.”

“Come over this way.” Kei leads them down the river for a few minutes more, before it becomes wider, and begins to cascade down a rocky outcropping. It’s not a high cliff, but it does overlook the tops of the trees of the lower part of the forest, and in the summer it makes a beautiful view.

“Woah,” Taki breathes, taking in the view. It still looks pretty in winter, with many evergreen trees blanketing the landscape for miles around.

“What can you see?”

“Everything,” Taki says, gazing out to where the river continues through the trees below. “Everything is sharper. Wow, I didn’t know how much I couldn’t see before now.”

“Not so bad, huh?”

“I wish I had friends to show off to about this.”

Kei turns in surprise. “You don’t have friends back at the village?”

Taki shrugs. “Not really. It’s like… everyone looks up to my family, because we have the most weapons. We’re kind of the protectors of the village. But because of that, some people are afraid of us, or wary, I suppose. And the ones that aren’t, the kids who admire my parents… I don’t click with them.”

Kei reaches out to ruffle Taki’s hair. It’s so long and layered and fluffy he’s had the urge to do so for days, but now seems like the appropriate time. “You’re a good kid. If you didn’t click with them, that’s their loss.”

Taki crosses his arms across his chest, shifting in place. “What about you? Are you going to tell me how you know all this stuff about werewolves yet?”

Kei side-eyes him with a smile. “Are you going to leave me alone about it if I don’t tell you?”

“No.”

“I thought so.” He shakes his head, looking out to the view again. “I had a lover who was a werewolf, years ago.”

He catches Taki smiling with satisfaction out of the corner of his eye. “Knew it.”

Kei tsks. “You’re nosey.”

“Can’t help it, you’re interesting. How did you find a werewolf lover, how does that even work? Don’t werewolves move around in packs?”

“Not all the time. Fuma was in his family’s pack when we were together, and they lived in my village through the warmer months, and travelled south in the cold months. I lived further south, then, so it was warmer for more of the year. They were there more often than they were gone.”

“They lived in a village? A full pack?”

Kei nods. “They were accepted for a similar reason I’m allowed to live by your village. They were the best hunters, and they protected the people there. They served a purpose, and didn’t pose a threat.”

“Why did you leave that village? What happened to him?”

“One year, he told me that he wanted to start a pack of his own. It’s not unusual when wolf packs grow bigger, sometimes they split off to form two smaller packs. But Fuma wanted to start one completely on his own—he wanted to start it with lone wolves. Hunting was on the rise, so lone wolf attacks were too. He was passionate about finding these wolves, giving them a fighting chance for a family.

“He said he would be leaving his pack after the winter, and over the summer he would search for new packmates. They would spend the winter together, and then he would come back to get me after that. He would be gone for more than a year, and he was forming a whole new pack, so we broke things off. A year is a long time. There was no telling if he would find a more suitable mate, a wolf mate, in his search. There was no telling if he would come back at all. If he failed, he might not survive the winter alone.”

“He didn’t come back?” Taki asks tentatively.

“I didn’t see him again. I have no idea what happened to him.”

“I’m sorry,” Taki says softly. He shuffles over, and lays a head on Kei’s shoulder.

Kei’s hands tremble under the cover of his thick clothing. It reminds him of Harua, this gentle action, the trust Taki has gained in him so quickly. His open heart and kind soul.

“I like to hope for the best. I couldn’t stay in the village until the following winter—the people there decided they didn’t want me there anymore, and I had to leave. Maybe he did come back for me, maybe he didn’t. I like to believe he’s out there with his new pack, like he dreamed.”

“Haven’t you thought of moving south and looking for him? He might still be looking for you.”

Kei shakes his head. “I doubt it. The pack was what he truly yearned for. It’s easier for him to have a life with them than with an outsider like me.”

Taki nuzzles his head against Kei’s shoulder and whines softly. “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have attachments back home, then.”

“Maybe so,” Kei responds. “Oh, that’s the other thing. You need to practice howling.”

“What?”

“Howling. It’s your main way of communicating with your pack. When you first turn, you will naturally howl a lot to find your pack. But the more you practice now, the easier it will be then, the better you can communicate. Who knows, maybe you’ll be heard by your future pack on your first moon, if you get good enough.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking.”

“I’m not joking!”

“But I’m not a wolf right now, I don’t need to howl!”

“That’s why it’s called practice. Give it a go.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Are you going to trust me to be your pack, or not?”

“I don’t believe you, why would I need to practice that? Do I need to practice running on all fours, too?”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s not a bad idea!”

“You’re making fun of me!”

“I’m not! Here, if I howl first, will that make you feel better?” He clears his throat, looking up to the winter sun. Close enough. “Awoooooo!”

Taki laughs out loud. “You’re serious?”

“I’m always serious. Come on, howl with me. Awooooo!”

Taki laughs again, but then he grabs onto Kei’s arm, and on his third howl, joins in.

“Awooooo!”

“See, you’re a natural!”

“Wait, why is this kind of fun?”

“Awoooo!”

“Awwwwoooooooooo!”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Though he warns Taki he will be leaving for market before daybreak, and that there is no need for him to wake up and see Kei off, he still feels bad not saying goodbye. Though Taki has been with him a little more than a week, it feels as though they’ve known each other for much longer, and he’s uneasy about leaving him alone all day.

The market is held inside the village hall during the winter months, and he is among the last to arrive, so he only gets a stall in the corner of the room. He doesn’t mind that—his regulars know him and will look for him, and if he can avoid attention from the rest of the village, it’s all the better since Taki’s disappearance.

He does see some long, hard looks cast his way between sales. That’s not unusual, and perhaps he’s feeling it more keenly, knowing the whole village must be on alert after the wolf attack.

But it still shakes him up when Taki’s mother approaches his stall.

She doesn’t say anything at first, just inclines her head slightly when he greets her. She casts an eye over his wares—his jars and pots of remedies, the baskets and toys and other trinkets weaved of bamboo. Looking at her now, after spending so much time with Taki, the similarity in their faces are obvious. But where Taki’s face is open and wondering and gentle, his mother’s face has become hardened, closed-off, and cold.

“You live to the south of the village,” she says, a statement rather than a question.

“Yes,” Kei says neutrally. “I often make takeami goods for folk here, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

She picks up a basket and inspects it. Then she places it down again. “I’m not looking to buy. You may not have heard, not being from around here, but there was a werewolf attack on our village about a week ago.”

“I hadn’t heard. Was anyone hurt?”

Taki’s mother looks at him, eyes piercing. “Our only son was attacked. He was almost certainly killed. But no matter how much we search, we can’t find a body in the forest.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Kei says softly, maintaining eye contact. “I didn’t hear nor see anything unusual this last week.”

There’s a long moment where she doesn’t say anything. “If you find him, you bring him home to us. We will reward you.”

Though Taki is hours away into the forest, and although the family that he was so afraid would kill him is standing right in front of Kei, he gets shivers up his spine at her tone.

“I’ll keep a keen eye out. No reward necessary.”

Taki’s mother bows her head to him. “All we want is to sleep at night, knowing where he is.”

Kei watches her move around the market out of the corner of his eye for another hour after that, his mind racing.

Taki’s family knows he was bitten. Taki had already said as much, but it’s another thing to hear it from the mouth of the monster who would execute her own child for it.

More than that—it’s chilling to hear that they are still looking for him. That they know there’s a chance he’s survived, and in just a few weeks he will become the very thing they hate.

As soon as Taki’s mother is out of sight, he can’t bear to be there any longer. He can’t stop thinking about the fact he doesn’t know how large Taki’s family is, how many of them could be out in the forest right now. His mother knew he would be here today, knew his house would be unguarded. They clearly believe there is a possibility Kei could be protecting Taki.

He was a fool to come out here today, leaving Taki alone and defenceless.

His one comfort is that nobody from the village has ever come to his house. The townsfolk may not know exactly where his house is.

As he steps outside the village hall, he contemplates. Leaving while it’s light would make him easier to follow, but also make it easier for him to catch a potential tail.

He promised himself he would never use magic within the village. He never wanted to appear otherworldly, to scare the local people into forcing him out again. Now, aching to be back home and see for himself that Taki is alright, it’s time for him to bend his own rules.

He sets off into the forest, and takes a winding path through the trees. Reaching out to the trees with his magic, he requests for them to extend their branches, rustle their leaves, raise their roots to trip up any potential tail. He beckons the light to bend a little, casting shadows over him. Under his feet, the moss shifts under his footsteps, rendering his movements almost silent.

It’s more than he ever usually does with magic. But all his requests are in the name of getting back to a child in need of protection, and this is what he was born for. The forest, his kin, obliges him.

There’s no sound of anyone getting tangled in roots or thwarted by dark pathways. There’s no indication at all he was followed.

He arrives back at his house after night has fallen. Kei is breathless and pink-cheeked when he opens the door.

Taki looks up from where he’s sat poking at the sunken hearth, the flames crackling in the otherwise quiet and empty room.

“You’re back!” he says, and Kei almost drops to the floor with relief.

“I’m back,” he says, dropping his bags, kicking off his shoes, and kneeling at Taki’s side to hug him.

“Is everything okay?” Taki asks, arms wrapped around him, voice muffled into his kimono.

Kei pulls back, looking into Taki’s worried face. “If you’re alright, then everything is just fine.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Over the next week, he and Taki remain undisturbed in their part of the forest, and Taki’s training becomes bolder. After starting him out with some steady runs through the forest to build his strength back up, the two of them carve out a path for him to sprint in long bursts.

“Today, I’m going to time you,” Kei tells him, and Taki looks aghast.

“Time me?”

“You need to push yourself to keep getting faster. The more physically able you are, the more you’ll be able to control yourself when you first transform. Look, I’ll begin a new basket while you run, and we’ll see how much I can make before you finish.”

“But…”

“No buts! Run, wolf boy, run!”

Kei sits atop the rocky outcropping that overlooks the south part of the forest and weaves as Taki runs. He’s always comfortable with the ambience of the forest, even though it’s chilly. The snow has melted completely now, at least, and he has a small rug to sit on so his clothes don’t get muddy.

“I’m back!” his voice shouts, and Kei already knows it’s his quickest time yet. The basket is only half complete. Setting a time limit is a good motivator.

Taki flops down beside him, catching his breath. “I saw a group of squirrels.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I was so fast they all scattered. I felt kind of bad, but it was also kind of cool.”

Kei laughs. “You should’ve caught one. We could have cooked it for dinner.”

“Unless you’re telling me I can magically scale trees now, it was way too high up for me.”

“Don’t know until you try,” Kei says cheerfully. “Ooh, that’s a good test. You should go and sit by the river and try to catch a fish.”

“What? That will never work.”

“It will! I saw Fuma do it all the time. Your reflexes are faster now, go and try.”

Taki props himself up, staring at Kei with his mouth open. “With my bare hands?”

“Yep.”

“I can’t!”

“Just try! See if you can catch one before I finish the rest of this basket.”

Taki scoffs, but stands anyway and stomps over to the river, perching at the edge of it. He’s within Kei’s line of sight, but out of speaking range, though Kei can still hear the odd splash and shout in the distance every now and then.

Lo and behold, within half an hour, Taki cries out and stands, turning to face Kei. He’s holding a wriggling carp triumphantly in the air .

“I did it!”

Kei looks down at his basket. He’s just putting the finishing touches on it. He smiles to himself, and beckons Taki back over.

They walk back to the house together, Taki bursting with pride over his carp the whole way, bouncing around and gushing to Kei about how many he caught that just slipped out of his hands before he properly grasped this carp.

When they arrive back, Kei takes the carp from him and ruffles his hair. “You’re doing so well, my little wolfling. But you still have too much energy. Do your run again while I prepare the fish.”

“Again?” Taki asks, eyes wide. “But it’s getting dark!”

“And do you know what you now have?”

Taki pouts. “Improved vision at night?”

“Exactly. You’ll have some good food when you get back!”

“Ourrgghhh,” Taki grumbles, before setting off at a dash towards his running route.

Kei chuckles to himself as he prepares the fish. Taki is just too cute.

He’s much more worn out by the time he returns, washing himself behind the house with some of the water reserves before he comes inside to try some of his carp. The food does cheer him up—most of what they eat is frozen meat and salty preserved food, so fresh food is a treat—and he’s sleepy and soft at the edges by the end of their meal.

“Kei,” he says as Kei packs away his tools and materials for the night

“Yes?”

“What will it actually feel like when I turn for the first time? Do you know?”

He closes his toolbox and comes to sit on the other side of the hearth, meeting Taki’s sleepy gaze through the flames.

“It will be quite painful, and quite scary,” he says softly. “The first time is the hardest, I hear. The physical change is so intense and overwhelming. To suddenly be in this new body, to have every part of you transform into something so different… it’s hard to process. You might lose time, find yourself running around the woods. You might give into instinct and kill an animal without realising it. You might forget who you are, struggle to reconcile yourself with the wolf you’ve become. That’s why I’m trying to make you as strong as possible. There’s no way to prepare yourself for all that, but the better your body can handle the change, the less painful it will be. The more you are used to running and hunting, the less confused and fractured your mind will be when you are driven to do that as a wolf. You understand? All this is for a purpose, I promise.”

“I know. I trust you. Does it get easier after that?”

“Yes. Your second transformation will feel amazing. You’ll run and howl and feel free. It’s just the first we have to get through.”

“Okay,” Taki says in a small voice, eyelids drooping. “Does that mean you won’t be there?”

“What?”

“For my first transformation. You said I might forget who I am, I might try and kill. So you can’t be with me, right?”

Kei nods after a moment, slow and reluctant. “That’s right. We’ll find a safe part of the forest for you to transform in, and I’ll come and find you once day breaks. I’m sorry, Taki.”

“It’s okay,” he mumbles. “It will be easier, knowing you’re safe.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Kei is awoken by a rolling, grumbling wave of thunder overhead. Rain pelts the ceiling above them, but after a few seconds of lying there, it doesn’t sound like any water is leaking inside, or any of the windows have been broken by the storm.

There’s something not quite right, though.

He props himself up on one elbow. It’s pitch black with the hearth extinguished, and he considers lighting it again just to check on Taki.

Taki—his breathing is ragged. They are each lying on adjacent sides of the sunken hearth, their heads close together, Taki under the blankets and furs while Kei sleeps in his winter clothing.

Kei looks over his way, wondering whether he’s sleeping or awake, when lightning strikes.

For just a moment, the room is lit up. It reveals Taki trembling under the blankets, eyes trained on the window, before they dart over to Kei.

“Taki?” he asks, not hesitating to coax flames back into the hearth with a bit of magic. Warmth springs back into the room, lighting up the terrified lines of Taki’s body.

“S-sorry,” Taki says, voice wet, and Kei’s heart breaks a little. “Don’t like storms.”

“You’re safe here,” Kei murmurs, reaching out a hand to him. Taki reaches out in return, and squeezes it hard. He shifts up onto his knees, like he’s about to move over to Kei’s side, and then pauses, shuffling awkwardly in place.

Kei opens his arms to him, and Taki moves without hesitation.

They shuffle the furs and blankets to the side closest to the window, but Kei turns his back to it, positioning Taki closest to the light of the fire. Taki comes to lay beside him, still clutching his hand, and presses his nose against Kei’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” he says again, and Kei hushes him, placing a soothing hand on his back and gently petting his hair.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll watch the fire.”

He continues soothing him until Taki does eventually fall back asleep, the storm rumbling on. Kei stays up to keep the fire lit until morning breaks, and the storm with it.

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

With just a few days left until the full moon, Taki is getting agitated and antsy, and no amount of running seems to dispel his energy.

It’s time to show the place Kei has picked out for his transformation.

“We can run there together,” Kei tells him, and Taki cocks his head.

“You can run?” he says doubtfully, and Kei playfully swats at him.

“Maybe even faster than you, wolfling.”

They set out early, and Kei packs them reserves for the trip. It’s not too far away, but the plan is to spend the full day out there so Taki can become acquainted, and they can make sure there are no traps set or any other risks to the area.

Taki is delighted to find Kei can in fact run—he’s fast even for a fae, and Taki picks up speed as they leave the dense part of the forest, pushing Kei to show his limits. Kei is similarly delighted to learn he can keep up with Taki—he could never run as fast as Fuma, but a baby wolf, he can match.

They end up dashing through the forest side by side, trees rushing past, pounding the soft earth beneath their feet. It’s been a while since Kei was reckless like this, the two of them crashing through the woods without a care in the world, his bag bouncing on his back, Taki’s laughter ringing out around them.

He skids to a stop when they reach the part of the forest they’d been heading for, but doesn’t call out for Taki, who bounds on ahead. He’ll see how long it takes for him to notice.

A good five minutes later, Taki dashes back to where Kei waits, feeling out for the trees, asking them if they’ve seen anything untoward lately.

“Why did you stop?”

“We’re here. I won, by the way.”

“You totally didn’t!”

“Not my fault you overshot the finish line.”

“This part of the forest looks like all the rest of it,” Taki says, looking around, and Kei shakes his head.

“Look, come here.”

He leads Taki over to where the land slopes upwards into a small hill. “On the top of this is where you will transform.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a good vantage point. You’ll be able to see all along the forest. Any lights from people approaching, you can run in the opposite direction. Also, you see that big tree at the top?” He points up at the thick, old tree that towers over the others. “It’s hollow. I’m not entirely sure whether you’ll fit, but it’s the best hiding place I could think of, if you need it.”

As they come up to the peak of the hill, the hollow part of the trunk comes into view. “You’re not sure if I’ll fit?”

Taki walks inside now easily. The gap is tall enough for him that he doesn’t need to duck, and the inside is wide and tall enough for him to even take a few steps.

“Werewolves are big.”

“Huh.”

He circles the tree, then comes over to Kei’s side, looking over the treetops together.

“It’s beautiful here at sunset, too. You can see it so clearly. That’s something nice you’ll have before the transformation begins.”

Taki looks up at him with wide eyes. “You really thought about this.”

“Of course I did.”

“Thank you,” he says quietly.

“You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do, though,” Taki says, voice wavering. “I would probably be dead now if you hadn’t found me. Either by my family’s hand, or… my own, to stop myself from turning.” He shivers, and Kei puts his arm over Taki’s shoulders, holding him a little closer.

“I’m glad you found me too, kiddo. I’ve been alone for so long I forgot what it was like to have people. I forgot how easy it was to love.”

Taki blinks a few times, swallows. “You know, after my first full moon… I know you said I will need a pack, eventually. But, can I still stay with you for a while?”

Kei pinches his cheek affectionately. “Like I’m going to turn you away after all my hard work raising you.”

Taki laughs, but it’s a little shaky, and his shoulders slump like it’s a huge relief. “You’ve known me for like, a month.”

“Yeah, and I raised you into a baby wolf in that time. I like having you around, you know. It’s not a chore, taking care of you.”

Taki nods, eyes a little shiny. “I like living with you. You’re nice, Kei.”

Kei’s heart swells with fondness. “So are you, Taki.”

“What about when I’ve found a pack, and—and I grow into an adult, and we have to go south for winter and stuff… can I come visit you, still?”

“Taki,” Kei says seriously, running a hand through his hair. “I told you. You’re my kid now. Even when you’re no longer a kid, you’re always gonna be my kid.”

Taki’s face breaks out into a real smile at last, and he leans into Kei’s side, putting his arms around him.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“I just told you not to thank me!”

“Well, I’m gonna!” Taki says stubbornly, and he laughs, and that’s all Kei wants to hear, really.

They set off together to comb the area for risks or signs of life, and for Taki to get acquainted with the lay of the land. Taki runs up and down the hill a few times just to try it out, then around and around the perimeter. This gets him hungry enough for lunch, which they eat against the trunk of the great old tree.

“Kei,” Taki starts, swallowing a bite of food.

Kei takes the sleeve of his kimono to wipe around his mouth. “Yes?”

“I can’t figure out a good way to ask about this, but I really want to ask something,” Taki says, and Kei pulls back, watching him.

“Just ask.”

Taki hesitates, withdrawing his hands into his sleeves. “Um. Will, uh, my body change any more? You know, any more significantly?”

Kei stares at him, narrowing his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re asking.”

“You said that you had a child,” Taki says warily. “But your lover—your lover was another man. Did he… I mean, do male werewolves… have… children…?”

The smile splits Kei’s face faster than he can tamper it down. “Taki… Harua wasn’t my biological child. He was birthed by a human woman. Is that what you’re asking?”

“Oh,” Taki says, and Kei can’t help it. He laughs loudly, throwing his head back, and Taki shoves him with his shoulder. “How could I know! That’s what you told me, that he was your kid!”

Kei tries to catch his breath, but finds himself giggling for a little while longer. “No, you don’t have to worry about anything like that.” Taki crosses his arms across his chest, and Kei reaches around to squeeze him in a hug. “You are too cute.”

“Where did you get Harua from, then? How did he become your kid?”

Kei rests back against the tree again, sobering up at the question. “I took care of several small children in my last village because their mothers would spend all day in the fields, and their fathers would spend all day in the mines. I taught them numbers, grammar, basic skills. I cared for Harua more often than the others, because his mother passed away when he was born and his father was always, always drunk. He couldn’t give Harua any time or attention. I think he forgot about Harua some days. Harua knew our house as more of a home than his father’s house.”

“He was your kid,” Taki says solemnly. “What… what happened?”

Kei looks out to the trees, watches them rustle. There’s a long, quiet moment.

“You don’t have to say…”

“It was a chain of events. Fuma left to start his pack. He loved and raised Harua too. I truly believed he would be back for Harua, if not for me. But Harua was too young to fully understand why he was going, and he was upset. Not long after that, Harua gained the mark of a fae. Right here.”

He touches just above the crook of his elbow. He still remembers it starkly—the faint mark of a flower. The kind he was born from, the marigold.

“What is that?”

“It’s something that can happen, when a fae cares for a child. It’s a small piece of my magic that is transferred to the child, and it heightens their sense of danger, helps keep them safe. I didn’t choose for it to happen, I’m not sure why it did. Maybe Fuma leaving triggered it, I don’t know. But his father didn’t like it. I suppose it scared him. He started spreading rumours about me at the village, that I was casting spells on the children.”

“That’s why you had to leave?” Taki asks.

Kei swallows. “Harua went missing around that time. His father believed I had killed him, or taken him. I knew I had to leave, or the village would turn on me, if Harua’s father didn’t kill me first.”

“What? Where did he go?”

“I don’t know. As soon as I heard the news, I went out looking for him, I looked everywhere. A nine year old boy…” he chokes up. Even now, this question haunts him. “The trees told me that he went out into the forest. I don’t know why. I lost his trace after a while… I don’t think he could’ve survived on his own. I wonder if he wandered out there for some reason, believing he would be safe with my mark on him, and got lost. I don’t know, I really don’t. I wish I knew. It would be easier to put it behind me if I knew. But I still think about him every day.”

Taki rests his head against Kei’s shoulder, face long. “I’m sorry.”

Kei rests his head back against the top of Taki’s. “He was such a sweet, silly kid. I think you would have gotten on well with him.”

“I wish I could’ve met him. That would be the one thing that would make living with you better, if there was another kid my age.”

Kei laughs a little, and wipes away a tear. “I’ll keep that in mind, in case another child stumbles across my home in the forest. I could start a pack.”

“Yes please,” Taki says. “Then I wouldn’t have to leave.”

Kei ruffles his hair. “I’ve still got you for now, kid. You’re not going anywhere.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

The full moon comes around in the blink of an eye.

Though Kei is determined to make it as normal a day as possible, they’re both feeling the tension of it. Taki is quieter, more distracted, and Kei finds himself worried too.

This time last month, Taki nearly lost his life out here. Tonight, Kei will have to leave him alone, and trust that they’ll find each other again in the morning, both in one piece.

All too quickly, sunset arrives at the hollow tree.

“You’re going to be alright, kiddo. Remember, if you wander away, try to get back here for sunrise, okay? This is where I’ll come and get you, you’ll probably be exhausted when you turn back. And if you see anyone, run as far as you can, you’ll be able to find your way back to the house, you know these woods well now. And…”

“Kei,” Taki says, taking his hand and squeezing it. “It’s okay, I know. We’ve been over it a hundred times.”

“Yeah,” Kei says, nodding. It feels like there’s something heavy and solid in his chest. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll see you then,” Taki agrees, and Kei squeezes his hand back before they both release their grip. Kei turns, and begins to walk back to his house.

It’s dark by the time he gets back. He sets about stoking the hearth, because he knows there’s no chance he’s sleeping tonight. All he can think about is Taki, out there alone—he’s never witnessed another wolf’s first transformation, because Fuma’s pack were mostly born wolf, and it’s different when they learn how to transform from a young age. Having it all happen so suddenly is what makes it so hard.

Fuma had, thankfully, talked about it to him in detail, as part of his fascination with and fixation on lone wolves, turned wolves, and forming his own pack. Thank goodness—if he hadn’t, Kei wouldn’t have had a clue of how to help Taki.

Though if Fuma hadn’t had that fixation, he may never have left. Harua may never have disappeared. Kei’s life might be very different. But Taki would, like he said, most likely be dead in that scenario.

It’s strange, to have Taki gone from the house for the first time in weeks. His life has changed so much since Taki fell onto his doorstep.

Maybe this is what all his hardships were for. So that he could be here when Taki needed him.

He lies down beside the hearth, trying to at least get a bit of rest over the long, dark hours of night.

As it creeps up to midnight, he wonders if Taki has turned yet. The wolves he used to live with could transform in the blink of an eye, day or night, full moon or new moon. But for the first transformation for a bitten wolf, it can take hours.

He sits bolt upright at the sound of a howl.

It’s pained, and long, and loud. He knows without a doubt that it’s Taki.

Not for the first time in his life, he wishes he could understand the nuances of the howls the way wolves do. He’s better than most non-wolves, and he thinks it’s a message from Taki that he’s transformed, that he’s alright, over the first painful part of the process. But that margin of ambiguity has him rooted in place, straining to hear for any other noises, any sign from Taki that he needs help.

Taki has done it—he’s transformed, and he’s howled. Kei can only imagine what he might be getting up to, cowering between the trees or dashing through the forest or hunting some poor animal, going wherever his nose and wolf instincts take him. Maybe he’s marking his territory or teething against the bark of a tree or trying to claw off his own skin. Maybe he’s coming back to the house.

He wishes, more than anything, to be with him, to just know. The risk of getting hurt by a baby wolf, clumsy and potentially confused in his new body, hardly seems worth the risk of leaving Taki alone.

The only reason he feels comfortable enough to stay in his house at this very moment is knowing that Taki is still close enough for Kei to feel him with his magic. If Taki were in trouble, he would know.

He’s never liked full moons. Fuma and his pack always loved them, but Kei much preferred the part when they came back.

He lies beside the hearth again, thinking about the kinds of things the pack would do after a run on a full moon. The children would be fed and put to bed, exhausted by the transformation. The adults would make love, too full of energy and passion to sleep on a full moon night. On special nights, when the moon was particularly big or had a sheen of blue or red to it, they would hold celebrations. Catch animals to feast on, start a fire and cook them, dance and sing together in the woods.

Kei liked those moons more. But nothing beat the day after, when Fuma was sleepy and happy and playful and bright, revitalised by the moon. That was the best part.

His heart clenches. Kei scrambles to his feet, a familiar feeling flushing through him like fire.

Taki is in danger.

He’s out the door in a heartbeat, nothing with him but his winter furs and the rush of anxiety, knowing that something is wrong.

Kei runs through the forest without hesitation, trees guiding him by lifting their branches and moving aside leaves so that the moonlight can shine on his path.

The moon is so bright and wide in the sky tonight.

As he approaches the hollow tree hill, he’s tempted to call out for Taki, but he doesn’t know the danger yet. He doesn’t want to make the risk worse by alerting anyone nearby of his exact whereabouts, nor Taki’s.

He climbs the hill to the hollow tree as fast as he can. It’s empty—there are tracks nearby, many muddy tracks indicating where exactly Taki transformed, where he ran around and experienced his new wolf body for the first time.

Kei follows them down the other side of the hill.

Here is a wide glade, the river running through it. Kei knows, reasonably, that a wolf would have no problem with a river like this—it’s not particularly wide or deep. But Taki, baby wolf Taki—maybe he had tripped in a fit of anger or pain. Maybe his hatred for his wolf form runs so deep that he simply let himself get washed away, as he hinted he might’ve done if not for Kei.

“Taki!” he cries out, against his wiser nature. That feeling is still ringing through him, that fear that Taki is in trouble, the knowledge that something is happening, or about to happen.

An owl hoots and swoops away overhead. Under the light of the moon, something comes into view.

The figure of a wolf.

Much like the sound of the howl earlier, he has no doubt that this is Taki. Not only is it unlikely for any other wolves to be this far north while it’s still so cold—he just knows by looking at him. This is Taki.

The wolf approaches slowly, and Kei scans his form. He doesn’t seem injured, or particularly afraid.

“Taki,” he says in a level voice, unmoving. “Are you alright?”

The wolf pauses halfway across the glade, coming into view properly under the moonlight. His fur is a shaggy brown, and though he’s bigger than a normal wolf, he’s small compared to the werewolves Kei once knew. His eyes are bright, and he looks at Kei the way a puppy might look at its human.

“You know me?” he asks softly, and Taki continues approaching, slowly, as if not to frighten Kei.

Kei reaches out a hand to him, and Taki beckons a little quicker, paws padding over the mud, and as he gets closer, his tongue lolls out like a happy dog.

“Hello,” Kei says, and reaches out to pet Taki’s head, gasping as he finally makes contact with the soft fur.

Taki, unused to his new strength and size, barrels into Kei, knocking him over.

Kei exclaims, and falls onto the mud, and starts to laugh as Taki looks down at him with wide eyes.

“Look at you!” He doesn’t care about the mud. That will wash off. The relief at seeing Taki like this—not hurting, not scared, actually okay—overrules any other feeling.

Taki does a cute little jump in the air, moving to the side of Kei so he can get up.

“You’re really alright?” Kei asks, and Taki does a little run in a circle, jumping around again. A bird from a nearby tree takes flight at the movement, and Taki attempts to run after it.

Kei laughs out loud, watching him. This is better than he could’ve ever anticipated.

But still, that feeling isn’t disappearing. The instinct of danger hasn’t changed. He doesn’t like being in an open space like this, where danger could emerge from the trees at any time.

“Taki, let's go up the hill. Come on.”

Taki doesn’t seem to quite understand him, now intent on chasing after a squirrel, despite the fact he can’t climb trees. Kei picks up a thick piece of fallen branch and waves it in the air—the wolf kids used to love this.

“Taki! Look here!”

Taki turns, and leaps in the air again at seeing the stick. He starts to dash over to Kei, and Kei throws it as far as he can up the hill, watching Taki sprint after it.

Taki is back with the stick before Kei can even make it quarter of the way up, but he doesn’t want to let it go. Kei playfully drags him along with the stick in his mouth, until Taki releases it and happily runs up the hill after it again.

By the time they make it to the top, Kei is sweaty with the exertion, and Taki is busy rolling around in the mud. He puts his hands to his hips, and surveys the forest closely.

He can’t see any lights that signal people. No strange sounds nearby.

Still, the feeling isn’t gone.

Perhaps there’s a trap nearby they hadn’t spotted. Perhaps a rogue pack is roaming, one that might not be friendly. It could be nothing external at all—maybe it’s the transformation itself posing a risk to Taki, the toll on his body rising with every passing minute, and when he turns back his body will simply give up.

“Taki,” he calls out. “We’re going back home. It’s safer there. You understand?”

Taki pushes himself up onto four paws, but Kei isn’t sure he has truly understood. He cocks his head, watching Kei, and so Kei picks up the big stick and throws it all the way to the bottom of the hill again.

As they make their way through the woods, Taki must understand eventually, sticking closer to Kei as the forest gets denser. Or maybe he simply wants to protect Kei too, now that it’s so late and dark, the forest around them more ambiguous.

Getting Taki into the house—he only just fits through his door—does make Kei feel marginally more relaxed. There are only a few more hours left before sunrise is due, and Taki will naturally begin to turn back into a boy again.

It’s not ideal to coop him up in here, but Kei would much rather have him close to home than out in the open right now.

“Come here,” he says, making as much space as he can for Taki to lie down. He takes up almost the whole room, but he does so obediently, watching Kei settle beside him.

“I wonder if you’ll like this,” he says, and begins to rake his fingers through Taki’s fur. “I used to do it when Fuma was frustrated or upset.”

Taki likes being held, even if he pretends not to sometimes. Kei isn’t surprised when his body begins to relax, and he makes a low, soft rumbling noise of satisfaction.

“Nice?” Taki drops his head into Kei’s lap, and Kei scratches around Taki’s ears, and gets a soft huff against his leg in return. “Good. You’ve done so well. I’m so proud of you. I heard you howl earlier.”

Taki looks up at Kei.

“Yeah, even from here. And look at you now, I would never have known you were a baby wolf like this, you’ve got such good control already. All your hard work paid off, right?”

Taki nuzzles his head into Kei’s side, and he pets the soft fur of Taki’s neck.

“You’re a good kid, Taki. You’re gonna be a good wolf, too.”

Taki freezes, and sits up in a few wobbly movements, getting back onto his paws.

“Taki?”

He cocks his head, looking around the house as if he’s hearing something. Kei strains his ears, but can’t pick up on anything—

No, there is something. Taki backs up towards him, looking at the front door.

It’s the noise of something approaching.

“Taki,” he says, stepping forward to put himself in front of Taki, one hand in the fur of his ruff.

The door slides open. Kei can feel the way Taki tenses under his grip.

Taki’s mother stands in Kei’s doorway.

She steps forward. There’s a crossbow in her hands. Behind her, three men file in, blocking the way to the door and front windows of Kei’s house. One is holding a bow, another an axe. The last, a large blade that glints in the light of the fire.

Kei stares the woman down, keeping a tight grip on Taki. “Get out of my house.”

“Only if you hand over my son.”

Kei shakes in fury and fear and the knowledge that he made the mistake of bringing Taki here, the first place the hunters would come looking for him.

“We can leave the village in the morning. You don’t have to do this.”

Taki is shaking under Kei’s hand.

“This is what we do, witch. We won’t hesitate to take you down too.”

“Why come now? Why not this entire month? You knew he was here. I know you don’t really want your son dead.”

“We’re in the business of hunting wolves, not boys. If Riki had come home of his own accord, he could have died with honour. Peacefully. But now…”

“You’re not touching him,” Kei says. Slowly, he releases Taki, and begins clenching his fists. Beside them, the sunken hearth crackles. “I’m giving you one last chance to leave us alone.”

Taki’s mother raises her crossbow. “And I’ll give you one chance to hand him over. Three, two…”

Kei unclenches his first, and the fire roars out towards the hunters. Taki yelps in surprise, and Kei’s main regret is having to do this in front of him.

To them, he urges the fire. Force them out.

The fire streaks towards them in four individual paths. One of the men makes a dash for the door, but the fire still catches up to him—the four figures are engulfed in fire, and it begins to spread along Kei’s floor, up his wall, the front part of his house quickly bending a creaking and burning under the hand of the greedy flames.

They all try to run back through the door together, but in the confusion of the fire and quickly gathering smoke, two of the men collide into each other and fall to the floor, screaming. The other two figures—Taki’s mother and father, he thinks—have managed to escape outside.

“Taki!” Kei shouts, grabbing his ruff again to pull him back from the flames. “We have to go!”

He takes one of his large, heavy potion books from the table behind him, and throws it at one of his back windows. The fiber and wood of the shoji breaks easily, and he urges Taki to go forward through the hole. Taki does so without a second of hesitation.

Kei climbs through the broken window after him. On the other side, Taki is looking for him, waiting.

“Go, go! We have to run!”

They have to get as far away as possible. The hunters will surely chase them as far as they can.

Kei sets off running away from his burning house—smoke is rising over the treetops, flames bright and harsh in the middle of the dark forest—and Taki follows suit.

In the dark like this, he’s not as fast as he could be in the day. Tripping over a root and twisting his ankle would be the end of them. He knows for a fact Taki can afford to be faster, but he keeps pace with Kei no matter how he urges Taki to go ahead.

How he wishes he would listen. The danger is still on their heels. Kei can tell from the way Taki keeps looking behind them.

“Taki!” he calls between the trees. “Go on! Go!”

Taki makes a sound like barking, then crosses over to be closer to Kei. Their pursuers must be close.

They come out to an open glade. There’s an unforgiving click behind them.

Pain spears through Kei’s back.

He cries out and falls to the forest floor, gasping for breath.

Taki snarls, and skids to a stop, coming to stand over Kei protectively.

The footfall behind them slows. Kei, breathlessly lying on his front in the mud, tries to push himself up, gripping onto Taki’s fur. There’s something lodged in his back that makes every movement searingly painful—most likely a crossbow bolt.

“No, no,” he says, holding onto him. Don’t fight for me. Just run.

Pain spikes up his back as he tries to stand, tries to cover Taki, and only falls to his knees again. He can’t run any more, and the hunters have come to a stop only feet away from them.

He won’t make it through this night, but Taki still can.

“It’s your last chance to do the right thing, son. He might live if you give yourself up.”

Taki shuffles, turning to face his parents. The woman who birthed him, asking him to come and die by her hand.

Then he raises his head, and howls.

The sound is chilling, when Kei can feel the reverberation of it through Taki’s body. It’s so loud, this close.

If Taki were in a pack, it would mean help is coming. But they’re all alone out here.

Kei looks behind him as best he can with the white-hot pain that keeps him rigid, wrapping his arms around Taki’s neck to hold himself up.

The woman has her crossbow raised…

An answering howl echoes out somewhere else in the forest. Somewhere close by. Then another, then another, and then the sound of multiple heavy, fast footfalls approaching.

The hunters glance at each other. Even they know they are no match for a full pack.

Taki’s mother releases her arrow, at the same time Kei pushes himself up onto his feet. He takes the second arrow in his back to avoid it going into Taki’s head.

The pain is like fire. He supposes that’s what he deserves. Taki cries out with a pained whimper, and Kei slumps into the mud on his front.

Taki’s parents have taken off into the woods, but mere seconds later, the answering pack is upon them, footsteps thundering around Kei. He can’t see them, can’t beg them to take Taki and go. Can’t do anything but lie there, the world spinning around him. He hopes they’ll get the idea from the arrows in his back.

Several of the pack wolves press on, in pursuit of Taki’s parents. Two or three remain, and it sounds like they are circling Taki—Kei can see their paws through hazy vision.

Taki lowers himself to the floor, whimpering, begging for help.

A wolf approaches. He must be the pack leader. Kei wishes he could say goodbye to Taki, but the pain is so encompassing, he’s on the verge of passing out.

There’s a hand wiping mud from his face. It feels gentle. Kind.

Taki will be alright with this pack.

“Yudai,” somebody says, and Kei feels so cold.

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

Kei wakes up.

Slowly, he takes in his surroundings. The soft bed—a real bed—under him. The dim room, light enough to see that Taki is in the bed with him. He’s lying on his side, facing Kei, but focusing on the weaving in his hands, so he hasn’t noticed that Kei is awake yet.

Kei is lying on his front, his back throbbing with pain. Pillows are piled on either side of him to stop him from rolling over. Slowly, he tries to raise a hand to the pillows in front of his face, to press them down and see Taki a little better.

The movement alerts Taki, who jolts and drops his weaving immediately.

“Kei?”

“Where are we?” Kei says, taking a deep breath in. They’re in unfamiliar surroundings, and Kei is, somehow, alive. “Somewhere safe?”

“Yeah, safe, I promise. Never been safer, probably.”

“Where?” Kei asks again, and Taki bites his lip.

“I don’t know exactly. It’s a vampire coven’s house. Euijoo, um, knows them… a lot happened while you were sick. How do you feel?”

“I was sick?”

“You’ve been so sick with a fever, your injuries were infected. I was so scared. You’ve woken up a few times, but you were so confused and out of it. I’m so relieved you’re awake, properly awake.”

To his dismay, the last words turn watery and weak, and Taki starts to cry, heaving shuddering breaths.

“I’m okay. I’m gonna be okay. Here.” He tries to raise his hand again to reach out to Taki, and Taki quickly reaches out to hold it.

“Don’t do that, don’t move yet. Your wounds are still pretty bad. I can’t believe you—you stood up, in front of that arrow…”

“I’d do it again. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, I’m not hurt,” Taki sniffles. “I was just terrified for like, a week. So you can’t do that ever again.”

“No promises,” Kei murmurs, eyelids fluttering and words slurring as he fights a wave of drowsiness.

“Don’t sleep yet, please. You need to eat, and I need you to meet the pack, neither of us would be alive without them. You—you really need to meet them. Hold on for a second.”

“Okay.”

Taki climbs gingerly from the bed and scampers across the room, and out the door.

Kei must drift off again in the time that he’s gone, because he wakes up again to the feeling of a heavier body sitting on the bed beside him, dipping the mattress.

“Yudai,” the voice says, and Kei’s eyes shoot open. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”

Fuma sits beside him, looking down on him with a soft, tired smile.

Kei’s mind swims for a moment. He looks just like the day he left six years ago.

No, not quite like the day he left. There’s a change to his demeanour, the confident way he holds himself. The way his build has bulked out.

But he still looks at Kei the same way.

“You’re alive,” Kei breathes, and pushes himself up slightly, shifting his weight onto his side.

“Don’t move too much, don’t move.” Fuma reaches out to steady him with a hand on his arm, and Kei comes to rest on his side with a sharp breath. His eyes are wet, and he reaches up to circle Fuma’s wrist.

“You’re alive,” Kei says again, closing his eyes as the tears drop. Fuma is warm and real under his hand. He doesn’t want this dream to end.

“I’ve been alive and well and looking for you all this time, but you’re too good at hiding.” Fuma says. “I never gave up on you, I promise.”

“You’re alive,” he whispers again, and Fuma combs a hand through his hair softly.

“So are you. And you’re going to stay that way, alright?”

Kei takes in a shuddering breath. “How did you find us?”

“We’d heard rumours of the lone wolf attack that turned Taki. We travelled north to find him, figured the full moon was our best shot. I wasn’t expecting to find you at the same time, believe me. You did a great job with him—he’s been healthy since the full moon.”

Kei chokes a little on a laugh of relief, trying to slow his tears. “He’s going to be with your pack, now?”

“Of course. And if you think you’re getting away from me again, you can think twice.”

“It was you who left the first time,” he says weakly. Fuma leans down to nuzzle against Kei’s head, gently bringing his hand down so it slips into Kei’s hold.

“It was never meant to be for this long. It won’t happen again.”

“I can’t travel with you,” Kei whispers. “You know I’ll only be a burden to your pack.”

Fuma squeezes his hand once before letting go. “I want you to meet the pack before you decide anything.”

Kei sighs, eyes slipping closed. His head feels fuzzy from the crying. “No matter how charming they are, it won’t change that fact.”

Fuma is across the room, at the doorway, poking his head out the bedroom door. He beckons to someone down the hallway.

“I think this might change your mind.”

Walking through the doorway beside him is…

Harua.

Kei takes several long seconds to look at him as he approaches. It’s harder to believe this than it was to believe the sight of Fuma—Harua has grown into a teenager, bright-eyed and smiling at Kei, real and here and alive.

Kei had the smallest hope that Fuma would one day find him again. He had no hope that Harua was still alive.

“Hi,” Harua says, crawling over the bed towards him. “Kei.”

Tears drop down his nose. Harua nuzzles against the top of his head like Fuma had, and Kei tries to take in a breath past all the tears.

On the crook of his elbow, the faint outline of the marigold remains.

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

When he wakes up next, Taki insists on spoon feeding him porridge before he can get any more answers out of anyone.

“We’ve been trying to feed you in the periods you’ve been awake, but it’s been hard—you’re so stubborn when you hardly know what’s going on—and sitting you up was painful…”

Thankfully, Fuma fills in the blanks for him while he eats, trying to ignore the pain. After dealing with the hunters, they had carried Kei through the woods all the way to the village, where Taki had managed to call in a favour with the doctor.

“The seven of us standing around Taki probably helped encourage him,” Harua says.

They couldn’t stay long, obviously, so they’d acquired a cart to transport him with and walked all the way to this coven’s house, who are old friends of one of the pack members, Euijoo.

“We were supposed to leave days ago, but Taki refused to go anywhere until you woke up,” Fuma says. “The house isn’t big enough for all of us, but I can’t say I was eager to go so soon either.”

Taki, Harua and Fuma were doing their best to recreate some of Kei’s remedies to help him along the way, but having stable food, warmth, and a comfortable bed did the most good for him. He was in and out of consciousness for days, not really able to understand what was happening, until the last time he woke up. Which was supposedly only an hour ago.

Once he’s eaten all the porridge he possibly can, and Taki peers into the bowl, satisfied, Fuma and Taki carefully help ease him down back onto his side to relieve the pressure on his back. “Harua, did you tell me where you went? What happened, the day you disappeared?”

“No, I didn’t tell you,” Harua says, and it’s incredible, seeing that cheeky smile on him the same as ever, despite how much he’s shot up since then. “You fell asleep again.”

“We shouldn’t have overloaded you,” Fuma says, scratching his head.

“No, no, I couldn’t stand another second away from you both,” Kei says, soft eyes on Harua. “All this time, I never could’ve believed…”

Harua’s smile turns sad. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left. Not without you.”

“Where did you go?”

“I went to find Fuma,” Harua says. He’s sitting cross-legged on the bed beside Taki, and glances down at his hands as he speaks. “I had a big fight with my dad. He hit me. All I wanted was to live with you both again, and you were so sad after he left, and… I thought I could find him. I didn’t know how big the world was, you know? I had never been out of the village. I just… walked and walked. I nearly didn’t make it, but Maki’s wolf pack found me, and they took me to their home.”

“Maki?”

“He’s the youngest in our pack, now,” Fuma says.

Harua looks down. “I lived with them for only a few months before hunters attacked. Maki lost everyone. I was nearly killed, and he turned me to save me.”

“You’re a wolf too,” Kei says. He hadn’t considered that Harua being part of the pack must mean he was turned too.

Harua nods. “I don’t know how we survived after that. It was just the two of us, running and hiding and hunting. Fuma found us because he had been tracking our howls over a few full moons.”

“This was before I had gone back to the village to find you,” Fuma says to Kei. “As soon as I found Harua, I knew you wouldn’t be there anymore.”

Harua’s eyes are shiny. “I’m sorry, Kei. I didn’t mean to leave for so long, I didn’t mean to do that to you.”

“It’s okay. You were so young. You were just trying to help.”

Harua shakes his head, sniffing. “I thought of you every day. I wouldn’t have survived all that time on my own if not for this.” He gestures to the mark on his arm.

“I wish I could hug you right now,” Kei says, and Harua smiles through his tears, and crawls over to drop a kiss to Kei’s head instead.

“By the time we get back, you’ll be on your feet again,” Fuma says gently. “Jungwon and his coven have promised to take good care of you.”

“Where will you go?” Kei asks, a pit in his chest opening up at the thought of them leaving again so soon.

“We’ll look for a new place to call home, and build a house there. Somewhere the nine of us can live in peace. It’s time for this pack to settle down. I’ll bring the others to meet you after you’ve rested a little bit more, and we can leave in the morning.”

Kei smiles, vision blurry. “You’re coming back for me?”

Fuma runs a hand through his hair. “As long as you promise not to run off again. I will find you, even if you do, I swear.”

He laughs a little. His heart aches at the thought of them all leaving him, of being alone again. But he can bear it for just a little while longer, for the chance of a life with his family.

Taki shuffles on the bed beside him, looking less convinced.

“Bring everyone to meet me soon,” Kei says. “Let me talk with Taki first.”

Taki raises his eyes to Kei, trying to clear his expression. Fuma and Harua pick up the hint, and clear the room with grace.

When the door closes again, Kei puts all his attention on Taki.

Taki lays down beside him in the bed. “You know, you never told me your real name.”

“Neither did you.”

Taki’s mouth quirks. “I prefer Taki.”

“And I prefer Kei.”

Taki’s smiles, but without real mirth. “I know you said I would need a pack, but I didn’t expect to find one so soon.”

“I didn’t expect to burn my own house down and be on death’s door in a house of vampires, but life has a funny way of surprising you sometimes. You heard Fuma, you guys will be back for me when I’m well enough to travel with you. Until then, I’ll be looked after. I’m afraid neither of us are going back to my lonely house in the woods.”

“I know. I just—I don’t know them. They’re good people, I know that, but I know you. I want to stay with you. I can help you get better, like you did for me. Especially when you—when you’re so hurt because of me…”

“It was my own choice. It’s not your responsibility, it’s mine. It’s better you get to know your pack, Taki, and help them pick out our new home for us. You’ll be coming back for me before you know it.”

Taki swallows, eyes shining. “I’m scared. I was just getting used to life with you. I don’t want to go without you.”

“You won’t be,” he says softly, reaching out for Taki’s hand. “Haven’t you noticed it yet?”

Taki sniffs. “What?”

Kei’s hand slowly travels up Taki’s arm, until his thumb presses into the skin above the crook of his elbow.

There, faintly marked into Taki’s skin, is the mark of the marigold.

“I’m going to be with you wherever you go. Harua came back to me after all this time, and so will you. Much sooner, I hope.”

Taki touches the mark with his fingertips, brushing over the smooth skin. He looks up at Kei, a tear dripping down his cheek. “Nothing could stop me.”

“I know,” Kei says with a smile, raising his hand to wipe away the tear from Taki’s cheek. “You’re my kid. I’d expect nothing less.”

Taki hiccups, and leans into the touch, Kei’s hand cupping his face. “Thank you for loving me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that,” Kei says. “I’ll do it anyway. Nothing could stop me.”