AUTHOR'S NOTE: Belated (sorry!) thanks to @Marilize02 for the request! It was made last year, so I know it took me a while to get to it, but there's the proof that I do keep a list!
Families could bring out your best and your worst, and Seth supposed packs were no different; if anything, they probably amplified every emotion, every squabble. Becky's pack—a significant portion of her father's side of the family, plus some members of a much smaller werewolf clan—was large and loud, occasionally lacking boundaries and common sense, but Seth could see the good and bad in that. Caitlin had bugged Becky relentlessly about her 'new friend' and made sure Seth knew he didn't need condoms on a full-moon night. "I don't know how long it'd been before you, but it's about time she was banging someone," Caitlin declared. "I was about to tell her to at least shag that Charlotte girl, but big fake breasts are so off-putting when they're in your face. If I wanted fake, I'd fuck a doll, you know?"
"You have, Cait," Becky had replied, rolling her eyes. "At Isibeal's hen night, remember?"
Rather than being embarrassed, though, Caitlin shrugged it off easily. "Couldn't have been a very memorable doll then."
Raunchy jokes and bizarre questions aside—one of Becky's cousins asked which name his family called him by—Seth found himself fitting in easily, at least for the human portion. It was after the family picnic that the true test would begin, and he noticed that Becky always stayed close, touching his hand or the back of his neck to reassure him. "They know you didn't have a pack growing up," she said softly. It wasn't for privacy—she knew the others could hear them—but because the words were just meant for him. "They're not going to judge you if you do something slightly different."
The idea had never really occurred to him. How many possible ways could there be to shift? It seemed like a rather singular thing. "Do I? Do things . . . differently?"
Becky shrugged. "Don't forget how long I've been in the States. I usually only get to run with my family once a year, and that's if I'm lucky."
That put the night in a different perspective for Seth: Becky hardly got to spend any time with her family, and here she was, sharing one of their most important days with him. He thought about offering to leave, but he forced himself to stay quiet. There were the obvious problems he would have—not having a ride, still needing a place to run—but he knew this meant as much to Becky as it did to him. "I just don't want to embarrass you," he said gently, kissing her after they had grabbed their bags. The others were already starting to disrobe, talking half-naked with their kin with nary a blushing face in sight. They were all in decent shape, but there was no shame shown about wrinkles or body hair or any other perceived imperfection. Caitlin might have whistled when Seth took off his pants, but then she blew Becky a kiss and hooted, "Cousin approved!"
"And now you know why I never brought my ex over to meet the family," Becky said with a slightly strained laugh. She was already naked, digging her toes in the grass to familiarize herself with the terrain again.
Seth crouched and started repacking his bag so his post-shift items were at the top. Many members of Becky's family were just leaving their clothing in piles, but Seth was used to being careful. He winked up at Becky and said, "So does that mean I'm the first?"
Becky made her eyes comically wide. "The first werewolf I've brought home? Yes."
Part of Seth had expected a pack to shift was one great unit, so he was surprised to see people shifting at random. Some took their time, reminding him of a cat's languorous stretch, while others transformed as quickly as a bubble popping. He recognized the energy of the change, though, and it had been heady enough when it was just him and Becky. Now with dozens of others feeling the same drive, singing the same song, it was almost transcendent. Without even thinking about it, he felt body start to melt into his wolf form and he caught glimpses of Becky doing the same. Dozens of howls lifted into the sky and then the ground shook with so many paws starting to run.
Becky had suggested they be social for at least an hour and Seth didn't disagree; he was eager to meet her family in their wolf forms as well, and found it far easier to remember their scents and fur markings than their human names. They loped alongside her father for a while, and without words, Ken somehow managed to impart childhood stories of Becky's werewolf mishaps. They even ran with Caitlin for a bit, if only so Becky could pounce on her and send her tumbling into the river. Once they had done their rounds, though, they snuck off on their own, following an old deer trail past a series of crumbling caves. Seth lingered, wondering if it would be safe for them inside, but Becky nudged him away. Dead things echoed in his head, and he hoped he remembered to ask her about it later.
Once they were far enough away from the others—he strongly suspected Ken had told everyone to give Seth and Becky some private time—playtime truly started. They pounced and ran and playfully nipped at each other, tumbling over each other like clumsy puppies. First hollow tree, Becky communicated, sniffing at the opening of a lightning-split tree. Seth could automatically see the appeal of the haven to a child and knew it would have been his favourite place too. On the way to the promised larger tree, they wandered off the path, finding a tree with low-hanging branches to fuck under. Since wolf-form sex didn't have the array of options than human sex did, they were always much quicker as wolves, but Seth always made a point to make it up to her when they shifted back.
Seth thought Becky would go back on the path and show him the larger hollow tree, but she sped back to the gathering area where they had left their bags, a blur against the dark night, and he struggled to keep up. He might have the strength advantage in human form, but he didn't know if he would ever beat her as a wolf. By the time he found her, she had his bag held delicately in her mouth. Let's go! The command was full of infectious enthusiasm and he followed her happily, yipping quick greetings to the other wolves they passed. How she was running so fast with his knapsack in her mouth, he didn't know, but before he knew it they were past the first hollow tree, past the spot where they'd just fucked, and stopping in front of a looming tree that would have looked right at home on the cover of any horror novel. It had great gashes tearing through it as if some monstrous beast had sharpened its claws on the trunk, and when Seth went up on his hind legs, he could look through some of the gaps.
Becky dropped the bag near the entrance and started to shift back, stretching and sprawling until she was human again, on her back and looking up at the sky. "You said you wanted to take some pictures," she said, voice sluggish. "But we forgot your bag."
Not quite ready to shift back yet, Seth settled beside her, resting his muzzle on her hip and wagging his tail when she stroked his ears. It gave him a whole new appreciation for how his dog could sit in the same spot for an hour if you were willing to pet him. With her other hand, she pulled out his phone and typed in the code. "It wasn't that hard," she said when he gave a surprised snort. "You picked the premiere date of Game of Thrones." Once his phone was unlocked, she went into the camera app and framed the tree as best she could. "What do they call that when you use weird angles? Forced perspective or something?" She lurched to her feet and started to look for other things to photograph.
Seth would have happily run with her all night, but he knew some of the moon's greatest pleasures were yet to come, so he didn't mind forcing himself back to human form. The suddenness of it took his breath away for a few moments, but he caught up with Becky quickly enough. "The tree is this way," he said, picking her up with one arm around the waist and carrying her back to the bigger hollow tree.
"I was trying to find you some shamrocks—" Becky stopped when Seth plucked his phone from her hand and let her back down on her feet. "Hey!"
"That was leading to a getting lucky pun, wasn't it?" Seth pulled her in close and kissed her. "Come on. Show me the inside of this tree."
Becky grabbed his free hand and led him into the huge hollow trunk. He expected all sorts of decay within, dangling spider webs and skeletal leaves, but it was oddly peaceful, like the ruins of a cathedral. "We keep it clean," she explained when she saw the look of wonder on his face. The tree looked big enough from the outside, but inside it was cozier, making them press against each other. "There are a few other werewolf clans around and we all share the various territories. Easier that way. I love the light in here," she added, "and the acoustics." The word had barely left her lips when she wrapped a hand around his cock, making him moan. The sound stretched out like taffy, curling all the way up to the top of the tree before dripping back down.
If one moan sounds like that. . . . Seth didn't even bother thinking about the possibilities. He dropped his phone on his bag and pressed Becky up against the tree's inner wall, entering her easily. Soon the tree was echoing their pleasure back at them, the song reverberating through the wood, and in that moment—tangled with Becky, linked to a supportive pack—he knew he'd never have to spend another full-moon night alone.