Hunter and Sasha drove in silence, the moon silver and fat in the air, Sasha’s eyes upon it, something itching at the back of her mind, but her unable to quite put her finger on it. When she finally did, she was standing in Hunter’s bedroom, looking out of the window, still at the moon while he took a shower. She had just taken one, standing under the hot water, letting it run down her nude body, letting it wash away the grime of the day, allowing it to rejuvenate her.

She felt some embarrassment as Hunter came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his lower half. She was wearing his robe, blue and fluffy and long on her, the hem tickling the tops of her bare feet.

“Can I ask you something dumb?” she said, turning as he pulled the covers of his bed back and let the towel drop, his penis long but un-erect, hanging down the inside of this thigh. Her eyes traveled along it with interest, but she was exhausted, and she found sex seemed far from her mind.

“Of course,” Hunter said.

“The moon is full,” she said.

He laughed, understanding exactly what she meant.

“We’re shifters, not werewolves,” he said. “We control it.”

“Are there werewolves?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Hunter said truthfully.

Sasha thought of course there were not werewolves, how could there be such a thing, that was like saying there were vampires or zombies.

But then, she was standing just feet away from a man who could turn into a wolf at will. Was the idea of a werewolf, or Dracula, too crazy? She would have thought wolf shifters was crazy too, but here she was, with all that had happened that day.

“Come to bed,” Hunter said softly, lowering himself onto his bed and under the blanket. Sasha untied the robe and let it fall to the ground, Hunter’s eyes shining softly in the moonlight as he took in her form. She found she had more of a sexual appetite with every step towards the bed, and instead of lying she took the covers and pulled them back, pleased to see Hunter’s manhood twitching and hardening at the sight of her naked breasts and form.

She knelt on the bed and lowered her head over his member, parting her full soft lips and taking him into her wet mouth, her tongue swirling around his bulbous head.

She worked him for some minutes, and then it was her turn, he took her by the shoulders and lay her back, shifting down the bed so he could bury his head between her legs his tongue lapping up along her, plunging inside of her.

He brought her to climax, which she announced by gripping his hair tightly in both fists and arching her back so she pressed her pelvis against the bottom half of his face, screaming out as the orgasm rocked her body.

He began climbing atop her when she was finished, laying back and panting, sweat making the sheet below her damp, but she pushed him away so that he lay on his back, and then she threw one leg over him, lowering herself onto him.

She rode him, grinding her hips slowly against his. She rode him for what felt like an hour or more, until he could no longer take it, and he grabbed her by the hips, his hands having previously been on her breasts, and he pulled her down as he arched upwards, emptying everything he had inside her.

After they lay down together, limbs entwined, and they slept deeply, their troubles momentarily forgotten.

The morning sun brought those same troubles back, however, and they each showered again and then dressed, Sasha choosing some clothing from a cardboard box Hunter brought in from the basement.

“It’s my mother’s winter stuff. Hopefully, you can find something you like,” he had explained as he dropped the box onto the bed. “I told them I would take what they weren’t taking down to Florida with them, I guess I kept meaning to donate it or something, but it’s just been sitting downstairs.”

“This is great, thank you,” Sasha said, choosing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and dressing quickly. When they were ready, coffee in travel mugs and taken with them, they rode back to the hospital.

This time the doctor let Sasha in to see her grandfather, and Hunter told her he would wait for her in the waiting room. So, she went in alone, and since she had expected the old man to be sleeping, she was surprised to see him awake.

He was heavily bandaged, thick gauze wrapped carefully around his neck, but he seemed alert, and he smiled when he saw his granddaughter.

“And you thought Tall Tree wasn’t going to be exciting,” he said, and it made Sasha laugh and cry at the same time. She went to her grandfather’s side, bending over the bed and hugging him gingerly. He reached up, which clearly caused him great pain, and hugged her back. When she pulled away, she was surprised to see tears in his own eyes.

“I’m sorry I got you involved in this,” he said. “I never would have thought…” he trailed off then, looking up at his granddaughter.

“It’s alright,” she said.

“I should have told you, I should have told you what you would be getting yourself into,” the old man went on. “I should have told you what I was.”

Sasha managed a small smile. “I can’t even wrap my head around it all. I keep waiting for it to really hit me, and then I’m worried I might have a stroke or something like my brain will just turn to jelly. My grandpa is a wolf-man.”

Connor laughed, a reaction that seemed to cause him pain because he stopped suddenly and pressed is hand to his throat.

“These little shits will need to learn that I’m tougher than them,” the old man said. His voice was hoarse and raspy, and Sasha realized she couldn’t believe he was even talking. The surprise must have registered on her face because her grandfather shrugged his shoulders and spoke again. “Damien does good work,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” Sasha said, pulling a nearby chair over to the bedside and sitting. “Tell me about all of it.”

Connor didn’t need her to clarify, he knew exactly what she meant. He nodded, reached for a nearby cup of water, took a sip, and then started.

“I was only fifteen when I was given the gift. That's what I’ve always called it, the gift, being able to shift, to change. I was fifteen, and I was working on a ranch, and there was this old Indian out there. Well, Native American I guess is what you gotta say now, but we just called him an Indian back then. We called him Blue because he used to always wear this bright blue woven bracelet around his hand, and I’m not sure any of us knew his real name.

“He and I got to be friends, and he gave the gift to me. It’s something strange. Giving and getting the gift is an old bit of magic.  Yeah, I guess that’s what we call it, even though no magic is supposed to exist in the world, but there it is, and it’s in me, and old Blue gave it to me.”

“What did he do?” Sasha asked, her eyes wide.

Her grandfather was clearly back, in another time, his eyes hazy, his voice almost sounded far away. “We were out, in the moonlight, you have to do it in the moonlight, not a full moon or anything, but it has to be nighttime, and you have to feel the moon on you. There’s something about a wolf and the moon, and it won’t work otherwise. Blue, he lay his hand on my head, and I just felt it, I felt the power coming into me, and he had his eyes closed, and I closed mine and I could feel him, and I could feel the moon, and it felt different. It has to take hold. And you have to have something, something you love, and something the person you’re changing loves. Blue held his bracelet in his hand, he said his mother had made it for him before she died.

“In his hand with that bracelet, he held a picture I had given him, a picture of your grandmother. I knew her way back then, and I knew I would marry her, and I loved her. So, he held those two things, and he put his other hand on me, and under the moonlight, I changed. It took with me. It won’t work with everyone, Blue must have seen something in me, he must have known it would work because it did. And that was that.”

“Was grandma a shifter?” Sasha asked.

“No, she was never interested in it, she never wanted it, she seemed to look upon it as… I don’t know what. But no, she wasn’t, and it wasn’t a part of my life I shared with her often.”

Sasha was surprised to hear that. Her grandfather picked up on her shock, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Not everyone takes to it, right? Like I said. Your grandmother, she didn’t take to it. This world, I’ve learned there’s a lot more to it than we thought - than most people ever realize. I guess that’s why it all stays a secret or stays a myth. It’s because most people aren’t made for it, so they just don’t see it.”

“Like Harry Potter,” Sasha said, and her grandfather laughed.

“Whatever that means,” he said.

“Why did you call me? Why did you have me come out here?” Sasha asked, the question entering her mind suddenly, but forcefully, shoving its way to her tongue, and then out past her teeth and lips.

“I feel you sometimes,” the old man said, his voice quiet. “I know it would take with you. I wanted… I wanted to give you the gift.”

Sasha felt her breath catch in her chest, a sudden sharp intake. It rattled around her ribs. “Me?” she said.

“I thought so. But now, after all of this…” the old man trailed off.

“I don’t know,” Sasha said. “I don’t know if it would work.”

“Would you want it to?” Connor asked his granddaughter.

“I don’t know,” the girl said with a shrug. “It’s… it’s too much right now.”

Connor nodded. “Is Hunter here?” he asked suddenly.

“Yes.”

“I need to speak with him.”

Sasha couldn’t help but feel as though her grandfather was dismissing her. She nodded. “I’ll send him in,” she said as she stood, but before she went she bent over and kissed the old man’s forehead. Then she turned and left, and Hunter took her place.

Sasha waited for the man she had fallen in love with in the waiting room, and he was only gone for ten or so minutes. When he came out, he looked as though he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders.

“Are you alright?” she asked him.

He looked at her as though he was seeing her for the first time. He forced a smile on his face and nodded. “Yeah. I just have a lot of work to do. Are you staying here?”

“Yes, I don’t want to leave him.”

Hunter nodded. “Good, you’ll be safe here.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked him.

“End this,” Hunter said, and after quickly kissing her, he left.