It was chaos. Tasela could not comprehend anything. This woman, this situation, himself, everything. All he knew right now was that everything was a mess, and he was scared.

Seeing his tenseness, the woman stepped forward, her eyebrows slightly raised in worry.

“What's wrong?” She cautiously raised a hand, as if wanting to pet him. Tasela took a step backward to evade her. He was mortified. He feared he might lose himself if she touched him.

Cassy watched the beast before her in worry. Its ears were flattened on its head, its fur was bristling, its tail was tucked between its legs, its breath was heaving, but most of all, its eyes were wide with fear as it looked down at her.

What could have scared a giant beast like it so much? Did it feel unwell? Did she do something to scare it? Judging by the way it was looking at her, it really seemed like the beast was afraid of her, but why?

She took a step forward. If the beast truly was scared by her, then she wanted to comfort it, and reassure it that there was no need to fear her. But, every step she took forward, the beast took a step backward. With every attempt she made to pet it, the beast moved aside to evade her.

“Um, did I do something wrong? Why do you look so scared of me?” She retracted her extended hand and held it by her chest. She felt kind of hurt.

“I…. thought we had gotten a little closer” She whispered, half to herself, but half towards the beast. The beast flinched. It took a small step forward. It raised another paw but stopped, as if hesitating another step forward.

Suddenly, with loud grunt, it turned around and dashed into the forest, disappearing into the shadows of the night, leaving Cassy alone at the pond to call out for it

The night glimmered with stars as the bright full moon reached its highest point in the sky. The nightlife of the woods was wide awake. Crickets sang their nightly melodies, fireflies danced above the grass, owls hooted, and the undergrowth rustled with the scurrying of small critters.

The tranquil serenity was disrupted by the loud running and panting of a giant wolf. Running through the woods, the rhythm of its four paws soon blended into the orchestra of the night.

Pada-pada

Pada-pada

Tat-tat

The rhythm was broken by the shift from the running of a four legged beast to the running of a two legged being.

The clearing bustled with excitement for the coming of age ceremony that was about to take place. The alpha couple sat atop the gathering rock, awaiting their son's arrival. A group of nine young wolves sat together beside the rock, waiting for the youngest member of their group to arrive. Lastly, Nokomis, who always remained in her deer form these days, sat at the entrance in her wolf form, tail wagging in excitement. She knew how much her baby brother had been waiting for today, so she wanted to be the first to see his adorable little smile, and to welcome and congratulate him when he arrived. 

The foliage near the entrance rustled loudly, and the scent of the star of tonight's ceremony drifted into Nokomis’ nose. Her brother was back.

She jolted up in excitement. Noticing Nokomis’ excitement, all the tribe members looked towards the entrance. The sound of rustling and the scent grew stronger. Any second now the star of the ceremony would show up and rampage around, even worse than he'd done the past two moons, or this morning, but for tonight, it was welcome.

As everyone looked at the entrance in anticipation, a tall, naked human man came out from the foliage. The clearing fell silent, as everyone stared at the human in shock and bewilderment.

The man was in shock. He was heavily panting, and his whole body was frantically shaking, as if he was about to fall down any second. His face was pale, as if he'd just seen a ghost, and his eyes were looking at the crowd in fear and despair, pleading for help. 

After a moment of stillness, the human fell to his knees, his hands on the ground. He desperately looked up at Nokomis, with tears starting to gather in his eyes.

Nokomis looked at the human standing before her. Despite being a human, his scent belonged to that of a werewolf. The man had wolfish eyes, a signature trait of a werewolf. Nokomis would recognize those eyes anywhere. They were round, puppylike eyes of a bright, fiery amber color.

It was clear to everyone in the tribe who this human was, it was just a matter of who would break the silence first.

"...Tasela?” Nokomis broke the deafening silence at last.