A/N: Teehee!

xx-Kitten

Tethered

By Kittenshift17

Chapter Nine

Remus's nostrils flared as he sat on the back porch with Sirius, sharing a pipe filled with a blend of tobacco, pot, and aconite. Sitting up slowly, Remus's eyes darted to the sound of rapidly approaching feet and he rose to his feet with a low growl when James rounded the corner from the backyard, followed promptly by Hermione.

Moony howled at the sight of the witch and Sirius looked over, frowning in confusion at Remus's reaction.

"Hermione," he greeted, grinning. "You're awake! How're you doing, love?"

Hermione didn't answer him and when Remus's traced his eyes over her face, he found that her irises were shot through with the gleam of her wolf, her pupils dilated, and her heart-beat rapid and uneven inside her chest.

"Fuck!" Remus cursed, darting a look at James. "Prongs, you shouldn't have brought her here. She's not safe here."

"She wasn't safe at headquarters, either," James said. "Sat up in bed and practically ran down the stairs before Harry could stop her. Her adrenaline levels are off the charts, according to Lily's diagnostic charms, and she's been asking for you, mate."

"Moony?" Sirius said, standing quickly and clapping Remus on the shoulder.

Moony wasn't listening. His wolf was focused solely on the little she-wolf inside the curly-haired witch who was hurrying toward him. She was scratching at her skin like she wanted to claw herself out of it, and she was still dressed in his bathrobe. Remus noted idly that it hung open indecently, revealing her cleavage and the top of her midriff, the loosely tied sash just barely holding it closed to hide her nipples. She had wild bed-hair after being unconscious for days, and she was trembling.

"You shouldn't have brought her here, Prongs," Remus rasped in a low voice, fighting the urge his wolf had to pounce on the young witch and ravish her right there on the grass in front of his friends.

"Snape tried to sedate her," James offered quietly. "Her reflexes are too fast and when she grabbed him, her allure slammed right through his defences. She was going to cause problems at the house."

"What do you think she's going to do here?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows as the young witch walked right up to him with all the confidence of a lingerie model, tipping her head just so, her wolf controlling her actions and exposing her throat to him even as she advanced, clearly intent on coming close enough to touch.

Remus let her.

He couldn't help it. As it always did at this time of the moon's cycle, his libido raged out of control and despite having dealt with the problem as best he could alone and with the assistance of enough alcohol to almost kill him and a bit of submission on Padfoot's part, he couldn't push away the pretty witch as she invaded his personal space, still offering him her throat. She whimpered as she reached him, hesitating only a moment before putting her hands on his abs and then trailing them around his waist, burying her nose in the front of his shirt and curling herself around him.

James and Sirius didn't say anything, both knowing from past experience what it was like to be faced with his full, unrelenting allure and having done something similar. When Remus lowered his nose to skim it over the side of Hermione's exposed throat, the little witch whimpered, nuzzling her cheek against his chest and Remus recognized the canine urge to mark him with her scent, and to coat herself in his scent, too.

Without even planning to, or thinking about it, she'd declared herself his packmate, without the need for biting to be initiated, and Remus realised with a jolt that she'd already bitten him. She had her wolf in the first place because she'd bitten him and ingested his blood. Technically, that made him her alpha and he could feel her trembling lessen the longer she simply stood in his embrace, leaning into him and breathing in his scent.

"Moony?" Sirius asked carefully, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright," Remus said, aware that his voice was husky. "I'm in control."

Sirius breathed out slowly, squeezing his shoulder lightly before bringing the pipe back to his lips and inhaling the mind-altering concoction to hide his smirk. He passed it to James when he'd taken his hit and James took it gratefully, strolling over and flopping down into one of the chairs on the porch. Remus turned carefully, curling one arm around the teenage witch's back and turning her along with him.

For a long time, he stood there, letting the younger witch nuzzle into him, feeling more of his strength passing from him to her, and feeling the strange tingle when some of her adrenaline coursed from her and into him. Their tether had linked them for the rest of their lives, he knew, and the little wolf inside of her was writhing for release. Remus had to clamp down on the urge he had to lower his mouth to her exposed neck and sink his teeth into her flesh. Until he transformed, he couldn't further infect her, but he knew that biting her would be a bad idea. She was struggling enough with having a wolf of her own as it was. He didn't need to make it worse by biting her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered eventually, her voice as husky as his had been even as she slowly pulled out of his embrace, stepping back and dropping her hands until they were no longer touching.

"Don't be," Remus smiled kindly. "It's normal that your wolf would seek out mine on a moon night."

"Perhaps, but I should have better control over her," Hermione said, frowning and taking another step back, putting more distance between them two of them.

"You probably would have, if not for being tethered, love," Sirius piped up, handing over the pipe to Remus once his hands were free once more.

Remus took it, drawing the intoxicating smoke deep into his lugs, letting the calming effect of the cannabis and the poisoning effect of the wolfsbane penetrate his lungs to sing through his blood and further relax his wolf.

Hermione watched him with glowing gold eyes, stepping closer again quickly and taking the pipe from his hands when Remus made to pass it to James. She brought the pipe to her lips in such a way that Remus had to look away, lest his lecherous inner animal acknowledge the erotic way she wrapped her lips around the end of the pipe as she drew on it.

"Done that before, treasure?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows when she didn't choke or cough as she held the smoke deep in her lungs for three long beats before exhaling, some of the tension in her shoulders loosening.

"My grandpa used to smoke a pipe," she nodded slowly. "When Gran wasn't looking, he'd let me try it. I… I should go. This is your first moon with James back, after all. I don't want to be in the way."

"You can't leave," Remus shook his head, aware from the low and gravelly tone in his voice, and the fact that the words came out without permission, that Moony was speaking through him.

"I can," Hermione assured him.

Remus growled at her very softly. "No. You can't. You won't be safe anywhere but here tonight, gealai."

Her eyes widened at the name, and she looked momentarily stunned and rather like she wanted to argue. Remus narrowed his eyes on her in return, the wolf inside him raging for release, demanding her submission, insisting that she do as she'd been commanded by her Alpha. She tipped her head once more, almost subconsciously exposing her throat, and she sighed before she carefully moved across the space between them to plop down on the armrest of his chair. She didn't look at him as she did so, passing the pipe over to James.

James and Sirius shared a look that Remus wasn't sure he liked, but he didn't say anything.

"Will she be safe here when you transform?" Sirius asked eventually when they'd all passed the pipe around their little circle once more.

Remus glanced at the little curly haired witch where she sat perched on the armrest of her deck chair. She'd pulled her knees up to her chest and she was idly scratching at her skin, obviously still feeling the effects of the full moon as it rose. He knew, all too well, the terrible itching sting under the skin as the fur of the wolf threatened to poke through flesh when the moon rose, so he didn't blame her for scratching.

"She'll transform this evening," Remus said quietly, and Hermione looked over at him sharply.

"You said I wouldn't," she argued. "After I bit you, you said I wouldn't."

"And you won't, next month, or any month after this one," he told her, tipping his head to one side as he regarded her, ignoring Moony's insistence that she'd be more comfortable sitting in his lap and grinding on his erection.

"The depletion?" James guessed, handing the pipe to Sirius before cracking open a bottle of whiskey he'd brought with him and conjuring four glasses.

Remus nodded. "With her regular magic as a witch being so depleted, and the fact that I've been channelling my magic and my strength into her for days, in addition to the new formation of her little wolf, there won't be enough witch-magic to override the lycan-magic. She'll transform."

Hermione watched him with wide eyes, and Remus hated the way her gaze darted repeatedly to his lips as he spoke. He knew it was only as a result of the pheromones he was putting out in waves, and he knew that in the morning it would wear off and things would be back to normal. Until then, all he had to do was resist her for just a little while longer. Just until the moon rose and he didn't have to worry about the very human urge to snog her senseless.

"There's no risk of you biting her and infecting her further?" Sirius asked, and Remus glanced at the other wizard, grateful for the distraction and for the fact that he was trying to keep Remus's mind on the effects, rather than on the urge he had to pull the messy haired young woman into his lap and bury his fangs in her flesh.

"Not if she fully transforms to wolf – which she should do. This evening it will be as though she was fully afflicted with lycanthropy, the same as me, and therefore she shouldn't be in danger," he said.

"And next month?" she asked.

"We'll deal with next month when it comes," Remus said gruffly, tipping his head back and bringing the glass of whiskey James poured for him to his lips, gulping down the liquid until it was all gone.

His eyes traced the sky, noting the way the sun was dulling. In the middle of summer, it wasn't going to fully set for hours yet, but the moon was rising. He could feel it crawling over his flesh and he could feel the way Moony raged within him, ready to burst free. He should go. He preferred to transform in private, where his friends didn't have to see the gruesome ways his bones broke and his skin split wide open as the wolf inside him burst free, his limbs reshaping and his body sprouting fur. He hated that they had to hear him screaming, and he preferred it if they didn't have to watch the reason why he screamed.

He darted a look toward Padfoot, and then Prongs, before holding his glass out for another whiskey. James poured it, grinning at him as he did so.

"Hermione, you want another one, love?" James asked when Remus had sat back in his chair and brought the glass to his lips, drinking from it deeply.

Remus watched the way the witch ceased her scratching, looking at the glass of whiskey she'd yet to touch.

"You've had whiskey before, right?" Sirius confirmed, raising his eyebrows at the girl.

"I… once or twice," she admitted. "Grandad used to sneak me all the illicit things when I was younger. I never really cared for the taste, back then."

She sniffed the contents of her glass before taking a hesitant sip. Remus watched the way the liquid dampened her lips even as she swooshed it around her mouth, rolling it across her tongue and sampling the flavour. He growled low in the back of his throat, his nails lengthening toward claws and his entire body leaning subconsciously toward the girl.

Moony wanted her.

Sirius nudged him, narrowing his eyes slightly when Remus darted a look at him and Remus realised he was poised to pounce on the witch. Skolling his drink, Remus held his glass out to James for another and Sirius smirked just a little bit.

"It's nice," Hermione said, oblivious to the way Remus had watched her and planned to ravish her in those brief moments.

"You better drink it down, love," Sirius said. "If your transformation is anything like Moony's, this might well be the worst night of your life."

Remus frowned at him, not wanting him to scare the girl.

Hermione sighed, and she darted a look at Remus, finding him reaching for more whiskey. Their eyes met briefly and Remus almost lost control.

"Drink more," he said quietly. "You'll need it."

She traced her eyes over his face, shot through with gold as they were, and Remus knew in that moment that she wanted him. She tipped her head up, her eyes tracing the sky above the forest surrounding the cottage and searching for the moon.

James poured her another glass, refilling his own cup and Sirius's before handing the bottle over to Remus rather than bothering to keep pouring him more. Remus took it gratefully, unable to take his eyes off the witch.

"Well," James said, though he was grinning just a little bit. "This will be a long night."

"Moon nights are always long, Prongs," Remus muttered, forcing himself to look away from the smooth expanse of Hermione's neck as she continued searching the skies, sipping her whiskey.

"Not when I'm around," James said. "Forgotten what it's like to run with us, old boy?"

Remus met James's eyes before glancing at Sirius, who began to grin widely. Yes, he had almost forgotten what it was like to run under the full moon with the two of them. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to not be so alone under the glow of the full moon every month.

"Let's just hope I don't attack you, yeah?"

"Please," James rolled his eyes. "You've been taking Wolfsbane all week. You're not even going to lose control of your faculties. Not like you used to when we were at school. If anything, the most dangerous one here tonight will be me. It's been a long time since I ran on four hooves."

"And you always were a big clumsy git," Sirius needled immediately.

"Says the goofy canine," James rolled his eyes. "Go back to licking your own sack, Fido."

"You're just mad because you wish I'd lick yours," Sirius argued, and Remus shook his head, watching Hermione blush at their banter.

"Come on, Pads. We both know you want to run your tongue over every inch of me," James smirked.

"Did you even shower today?" Sirius asked.

"Did you?" James replied, smirking.

"Nope. Thought the smell might keep you away."

"Idiot," James laughed. "No wonder you stink."

"Should've known you were attracted to my masculine musk, old boy," Sirius said.

"Look mate, I was dead, not bloody stupid," James said. "No one wants to get within ten feet of that funk you're putting out."

"You're already less than ten feet from me, stupid," Sirius laughed.

"Yeah, but that's 'cause I'm a good bloke and don't want you to get your feelings all hurt. I know what a drama-queen you are when you break a bloody nail, let alone when no one wants to talk to you."

'Please," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Feel free not to talk to me, dickhead. Merlin, I'd forgotten how bloody annoying your voice is."

"I'm going to serenade you, just for that," James informed him, flicking his wand at the wizarding wireless radio on the kitchen window.

Remus watched the way Hermione jumped when the music began to blast – playing an old record from the 70s that they'd listened to pretty much every moon night since their fifth year. The tune was familiar, and Remus found his foot tapping to the tune even as James began to sing – badly and far more off-key than he usually did – just to torture Sirius.

"You're going to deafen us, you bloody wanker," Sirius said, clamping his hands over his ears though he'd begun to laugh as James got up and began to dance along to the music, too. Equally badly, in accordance with his singing, of course.

"Pair of sods," Remus muttered, bringing the bottle of whiskey to his lips and gulping down more of the amber liquid when Sirius began to sing, too.

Hermione began to laugh softly, shaking her head as she watched the pair of them dance and sing, trying to outdo each other like they always did.

"Are they always like this?" she asked, turning to look at him slowly, unfurling her legs from where she'd pulled them to her chest and stretching them toward him as she turned a little to better meet his gaze.

"This is just the beginning," Remus admitted, smiling a bit easier when his idiot friends began waltzing as James tripped over his own feet and Sirius caught him, heedless of the fact that they were waltzing to Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising. James kicked his feet about like a salsa dancer and Sirius twitched his hips and shook his long hair in time with the music and for the first time in a long time, Remus began to laugh as the moon rose.

"Will it hurt?" Hermione asked him quietly and Remus looked away from the pair of gits still dancing and howling out the lyrics to their favourite full moon song to meet her gaze.

"Yes," he admitted, not wanting to lie to her. "I don't know if you'll retain control of your faculties, since you haven't been drinking Wolfsbane. If you fully transform to wolf tonight, it will hurt like nothing you've ever felt."

She nodded, frowning a little.

"Will I be safe?" she asked.

"With me?"

She shook her head. "I mean, will I be safe to be around?" she clarified. "I don't want to hurt any of you."

Remus's lips pulled into a grimace at the oft-uttered sentence he'd spoken a million times before every full moon with his friends before the Wolfsbane potion was invented.

"You won't be able to hurt us. They'll be transformed to animals, so you won't want to hurt them. And you won't hurt me."

"How can you be sure?" she asked, and Remus watched her reach for him carefully, peeling her hand form her own flesh where she'd been clawing at the skin and dragging too sharp nails lightly over his forearm, apparently unable to resist.

Remus trembled just a bit at the touch, almost unable to bear it when all he wanted to do right at that moment was show her just how much of an Alpha male he happened to be.

"You're not fully infected. Only your depletion will allow for the transformation this full moon," Remus told her in a low voice, tracing his eyes over her legs when she slid them across his lap, her dainty ankles looking so utterly breakable.

He almost smirked when he noticed that, due to her unconsciousness, she hadn't shaved her legs in several days.

"That doesn't mean I won't lose control," she whispered. "I don't want to hurt you, Remus."

Tipping his eyes up to meet her brilliant bronze gaze, Remus twisted his lips into an expression caught somewhere between a smug smile, and a grimace.

"You can't hurt me, gealai," he murmured. "I'm your Alpha."

She made a soft sound that reminded him of a cat purring and Remus lost control of himself. Sliding his hands up her legs, heedless of their ungroomed state, he parted the fabric of the robe she wore to get at more of her skin. She didn't try to fight him off or push him away when he curled his hand around the back of her knee before gently pulling her into his lap until she was perched very much inside his personal space.

From the way she ducked her head and nuzzled her nose against his chest where his top buttons were open, Remus knew she was having as much trouble fighting her newfound animal instincts as he was. Remus suspected she didn't need a textbook to tell her what the hard, hot lump under her under was, either. He growled low when she shifted her weight on his lap, grinding herself against his rigid cock.

"Hermione!" Sirius said. "Dance with me, sweetheart."

Remus growled at the Animagus in warning when he reached for the girl, warning him away. Sirius made a face at him, trying to tug on Hermione's hand but the witch curled her arm around Remus's neck, refusing to budge.

James danced forward, grabbing Sirius and pulling him away by the hand. Remus turned his attention back to the female in his lap, his hand sliding north from her knee, unsheathed claws trailing over her inner thigh and revelling at the heat pouring off her. Merlin, she was burning up.

The thought penetrated his lust filled mind long enough that Remus blinked slowly.

She squeaked in surprised delight when Remus pushed a hand to the middle of her shoulder blades, forcing her to hunch over before he moved her hair out of the way and pressed his lips directly to the back of her neck.

"Oi! Moony, come on. She's sixteen! She's still underage, mate," Sirius interrupted them, breaking from his dance with James to hurry closer again.

"I know that, you bloody tosser," Remus hissed. "I'm not biting her, I'm taking her temperature. She's burning up like she's got the fever."

Sirius frowned, and Hermione made a noise of surprised protest when Sirius copied his actions and pressed his lips to the back of her neck.

"Shit," he said, jerking away and reaching up to touch his lips as though they'd been burned. "Prongs! You test her."

"As though I know anything about health?" James asked. "My wife's the healer, lads, not me."

"Just bloody do it," Sirius commanded.

James sighed.

"Sorry, Hermione," he apologised awkwardly before copying his two best mates and pressing his lips against the back of her neck.

"Oh, bloody hell," he muttered as he pulled away. "It'll be the firewhiskey, you tosspots! She's never had it before when she's also smoking our unique blend of pot, aconite, and tobacco. Any one of the two would've knocked her on her arse even if she wasn't already depleted and about to go through the full metamorphosis from human to werewolf tonight. Hermione, love, you feeling alright?"

Remus flipped her the right way up, but not before she wiggled around enough in his grip to sink her teeth into his forearm.

"Ah, fuck," Remus groaned, tipping his head back as the witch sat up with his flesh still in her mouth.

It felt way too fucking good for his peace of mind, though it didn't hurt in the slightest. She hadn't even broken the skin, she was nipping just hard enough to sting, and definitely hard enough to get his attention, but not so hard as to draw blood. Merlin's hairy toes, he was going to come in his fucking pants if she didn't stop wriggling in his lap and nibbling on him like he was her new favourite chew toy.

"Shit," Sirius muttered. "I think it's hit her all at once. Hermione? Treasure? You with us?"

Hermione turned her head in Sirius's direction, letting go of Remus's arms.

Remus couldn't see her face, but from the way Sirius recoiled in surprise, he got the feeling it wasn't good.

"What?" he asked, frowning at his two best mates even as he subconsciously wrapped both arms around her waist, overcome with the strangest sense that she was going to lunge at Sirius.

When she tried, he knew he'd been right to be cautious.

"She's transforming," Sirius said quietly, skittering back a few steps to keep from getting bitten.

Remus doubted she'd be able to infect anyone since she didn't have the full, raging lycanthropic infection coursing through her veins, but she could certainly do some damage.

"We'll shift," James said. "Let her go, Moony."

Remus wasn't sure he wanted to. In fact, he kind of wanted to tell his friends to fuck off, yank her house-coat out of the way, rip his jeans and bury his cock in all that heat pouring off of her.

Sixteen, he reminded himself. Underage. Off limits.

Not that Hermione seemed to care. Neither did Moony, for that matter. By wolf-logic she'd bled, and she was a woman capable of bearing children and therefore more than mature enough to be rutted like the pair of horny canines they were.

When she suddenly went lax in his grip, sprawling back against his chest and turning her face into his neck, Remus frowned. For a terrible moment he thought she could smell the desire pouring off him and was reacting to it. Still gripping her tightly, lest it be a ruse, he blinked when she clenched her teeth and balled her fists.

Her breathing grew laboured and Remus knew in a heartbeat that she was trying to regain control of herself.

"You don't have to fight it, gealai," he murmured into her ear. "Padfoot and Prongs are used to shifting early when I lose control."

She whimpered and nipped his neck in a way that made him want to slide his hands the length of her torso to burrow between her legs, but he held firm.

"I can do it," she said raggedly. "I can. I will."

Remus chuckled.

"No amount of willpower will stave off the effect of the moon, Hermione," he said. "Believe me, if it could, I'd never transform."

"I can," she growled fiercely, and Remus chuckled, supposing it wouldn't hurt to let her try.

Keeping one arm belted around her waist, he reached for the whiskey bottle with the other, brining it to his lips and drinking deeply. Hermione writhed in his hold as the change began to hit her, and Remus tightened his grip, still drinking the whiskey greedily and hoping that enough of it might knock him on his arse before he could do something stupid, like attempting to fuck her the minute they were both transformed.

"Should we shift?" Sirius asked quietly when Hermione began to whimper, squirming in his lap like she was enduring the Cruciatus curse, her whole body shuddering and trembling.

"If you want," Remus shrugged. "I won't let her go. You're safe a while longer."

"What about you?" James asked, eyeing him.

Remus's mouth pulled up at one corner.

"I'm alright, Prongs," he said. "It's only just starting to itch."

James frowned at him for a moment.

"More weed?" he offered, raising one eyebrow.

"Gods, yes," Remus nodded, watching his best friend pack the pipe once more.

"Is she alright?" Sirius asked, eyeing the witch still squirming in Remus's lap.

"Course she's not," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "She's about to transform for the first time, without Wolfsbane, when she shouldn't be able to transform at all."

Hermione was breathing hard in his lap and Remus winced when she turned her head a buried her teeth in his neck, right where it joined his shoulder. Merlin's fucking peacocks, he wanted to do positively animalistic things to the little witch right in that moment.

"Easy, Moony," Sirius said, leaning forward and gripping his knee tightly, trying to ground him, trying to keep him from doing despicable things to the teenager.

"Fuck," Remus muttered, clenching his eyes closed.

"Here you go, mate," Prongs said, nudging him and offering him the pipe. "Come on. Nice big hit. I double packed the Aconite, so it's a bit bitter, but it'll chill you both out, yeah?"

Remus didn't have a free hand, but James pressed the pipe to his lips and Remus drew the smoke deep into his lung, holding it for as long as he could before breathing it out slowly, feeling the wicked curl of it through his bloodstream and racing through his head.

"Hermione, love? You next," James said, risking disfigurement when he pressed the pipe to Hermione's lips.

Remus was surprised when she managed to huff in the smoke, holding it in her lungs before exhaling, and reaching a clawed hand up to snatch hold of James's wrist before he could pull the pipe away. She took a second hit on the thing before letting him go, having to peel her fingers free of his wrist with her other hand, and leaving a welt around James's wrist. She was struggling to hold onto her humanity, Remus knew, and he knew it was a battle she would ultimately lose.

It occurred to him as he held her while she struggled for her self control, that this was what his friends felt like, and this was the impotence they'd lived with every full moon for as long as they known about his lycanthropy. Watching Hermione struggle and fight to hold on, even for just a few minutes more like it would make a difference, was like a new and unusual form of torture that he most certainly did not appreciate. Merlin, he was a tosser to have forced them to live with this wretched, twisted feeling of guilt festering in his gut and he understood with sudden clarity why it was that they often lost their tempers and shouted at him to just let go, to give in to Moony and let the wolf out, rather than grappling and struggling for dominance in a battle he was forever fated to lose.

"Let go, gealai," he murmured into her ear, pressing his mouth to the sensitive shell and feeling the way she trembled, whining softly like he were torturing her, too.

She didn't let go. She fought harder, beginning to writhe and flail in his grip until he lost his hold on her. Sirius and James jumped back when she got loose, both of them watching her warily like she might explode at any moment. Hermione staggered forward a few steps, evading Remus's hand when he reached for her, intent on capturing her once more. He winced when she stumbled right off the edge of the porch before beginning to run toward the forest across the backyard, the bathrobe slipping from her shoulders as she ran.

"Shit!" Remus cursed, passing Sirius the bottle of whiskey he'd been chugging before he ran after the little witch, expecting she might hurt herself or get lost in the woods if he lost sight of her.

The sound of her scream hit them before he could even cross the yard and Remus closed his eyes at the agony lacing her tone. A second scream ripped from her lungs soon after and Remus winced when he heard the distinctive cracking of additional vertebrae manifesting at the base of her spine.

"Moony?" James asked, his tone worried and Remus looked back at his two best friends where they cautiously descending from the porch.

James looked beyond worried, and Remus had the feeling that the magic connecting James to the witch by blood was making him worry for the girl as though she was his very own daughter.

"She'll be alright, Prongs," Remus offered quietly. "The shift has started. It'll be over, soon."

Pained whimpers came from just inside the forest, and Remus looked away from his friends, intent on finding the witch who'd so foolishly tethered herself to him and brought herself all this agony. He stepped into the forest feeling the pull of the moon, and the draw of desire, and the unusual sensation of knowing his packmate was in pain and being utterly helpless to soothe her.