Teeth Out And Growling ||Gerbert||

o. Moon phases

o. Moon phases

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It's an odd thing to notice about it, but people in New Jersey were, well, superstitious. They believed in witchcraft and evil and horoscopes. They brought crystals back home because their friends from yoga told them they were good for their auras. They didn't touch pups, but they warded them off in passing with crucifixes and never left their windows open during a full moon. I had to live here - just my luck, but people mistaken me for a person worth their respect often - I was slight and, unlike my brother, I never moved like a wolf would because I copied kids from TV; I wanted to be a superhero, or at least it's equivalent - an actor. A singer, a dancer, a poet - something equal parts meaningful, meaningless and flashy.

Instead, at seven, I was selected as the leader, an 'Alpha' if you will. It was sort of fun until I realized that's the closest to an actor or a superhero I will ever get. But it was too late to refuse. My Dad sat me down and told me about the single law that must never be broken, ever. Wolf Law, pack order. I remember thinking he was never a leader, he can't imagine what it's like, but everyone else told me the same. I couldn't settle, I couldn't leave - I was stuck mid step like a ghost. Even at seven the realisation was enough to evoke this dread in me and in this whole town. And the whole wolf thing.

Most wolves' first transformations were mixed from what I've heard: they were freeing, but painful to the point of passing out, a brain overload they called it. I didn't pass out when I had mine, I just screamed face down at the rain soaked Earth. It felt good, then it hurt in hot white flashes, something being pulled away from me, stretched away from my skin. Everything bleeding, like my gums beneath grinding teeth, like my bone marrow and my skull that shifted to accommodate new shape. I only tasted metal, I only ever tasted metal for a week after that.

I remember after my first full moon I was due to start school, but I walked while shaking, like I had some sort of a health condition, because my body was so shocked by the experience. Or maybe I looked like someone under the influence. At seven! So they forged a doctor's note and I was "sick" for two weeks of September until recovery. I don't remember much of it, just Mikey staring up at me with doe eyes full of horror.

"Is it really that bad, Gee?" he asked and he buried his face in the covers like I was about to tell a scary campfire story. I suppose I was.

"Of course not, you'll probably pass out first," I said, because that's what I heard everyone say. I was just special, not in that good way either.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Pass out..?" the concept of my five year old brother wanting to howl in agony didn't quite fit in my brain.

"No," Mikey shook his head and added more silently, "be a wolf."

I blinked at him. That was not an option. He was. So I told him he was and tears swelled under his hazel eyes, golden specks shining brighter for it.

"But I don't wanna be!" He cried, utterly confused as to why the universe wasn't bending to his will. I never wanted to be a wolf either, but it was never something I dared to question. Then again, Mikey was five and I was seven - my logic was aeons beyond his comprehension.

"You are, Mikes. You just are," I said. He didn't speak to me the rest of the day, like I've cursed him to be.

I looked at the night sky when he fell asleep in a bed next to mine, the stars and the moon mingling together, and I was angry at it. There was no fucking way she didn't poses power over us with her changing phases - the moon was a beautiful lady, and it was her curse we shed skin and grew a new one every month, like snakes. I just don't know what for she cursed us - I've tried to ask, but just like Mikey, she didn't speak, just watched over us from above, mute.

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❇️ Author's Note ❇️

What is this? Nuisance to friends to lovers, but there's a love (??idk what shape, it has so many points all over, def not a triangle). Also nature porn, maybe some actual porn for diversity.

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Updates. Weekly (Sat/Sun)

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Credits.
Cover by SeraphStarshine (thank you so much ♥️)

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!CONTENT WARNINGS! & DISCLAIMERS

C.W. Racism, sexism and homophobia/transphobia discussions; cheating (both physical & emotional); explicit erotica; gore and body horror; toxic relationship/s; animal abuse; substance abuse; religious themes; language (typos, also I physically can't go two paragraphs w/o a simile, help).

!Trigger Warnings included for each chapter individually!

Enjoy!