The hunger was too great.
I could feel the fur coming in.
My teeth were getting longer. My thoughts were becoming more feral. People no longer smelled like people.
They smelled like blood, muscle, and sinew.
They smelled like dinner.
I was surrounded by an endless buffet and I wasn’t allowed to eat. Not yet anyway.
The infernal light from the moon was coming through the window. Contrary to popular belief, we could change mostly when we wanted.
But the full moon called us to hunt.
To eat.
The window was open and the night air was cool. I was sweating. I should go outside.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
But it wasn’t.
The night air carried the scent of a hundred different targets.
I sat on the porch. My wife will be home soon. She was much better controlled. Worst case scenario, she would lock me in the basement. It was reinforced. There I could wait out in relative safety.
The windows were barred. The door was metal. It was soundproof. The neighbors couldn’t hear me howling.
My nails were changing to claws. I could hear an ancient force calling me to hunt.
It was too much.
The change came suddenly. I was a full wolf now.
I wasn’t supposed to hunt this close to home.
I could smell blood.
Human blood.
Not far away.
I bounded through the trees until I found the little street on the edge of the woods.
There was a boy walking home.
The wolf took over.
My tongue licked needle like teeth. Drool dripped from my mouth.
My first meal in so long.
The wolf was so hungry.
So very hungry.
I was behind the boy.
A hundred yards away. He had no idea death was behind him. A killing machine his kind had been telling stories about for years.
Fifty yards away.
Thirty.
Ten.
The boy was nearly a goner when i heard my wife “John no!”
The wolf turned to see my wife holding a small revolver that carried six silver tipped rounds.
We both carried them if the other lost control.
But that wasn’t the worst thing.
I was so hungry. The wolf wanted to eat.
But I regained control long enough to turn and see my son’s shocked face.
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The hairs on my arms are literally up. Ooft. That last line got me!