Free Ravaged By The Pack (The Alpha's Mate) by Ellen Waite Page B

office was silent, the blinds drawn to keep the sun out. He leaned over his desk and drew in a sigh. Perhaps the coming full moon was what had him feeling out of sorts. Though it seemed unlikely. The moon had never managed to instill in him so queer a feeling as this.
    It had started only hours ago, while he'd slept. A dream of the full moon, a moon so large that it filled the night sky. In the moonlight, standing at the edge of a crystal lake, he'd cast aside his humanity and become wholly wolf. He remembered it clearly, even now as he sat at his desk. He dreamt it in precisely the same way it always occurred in practice. His muscles had begun to contract and relax spasmodically, his heart had begun to race and his vision grew spotty. And then, in a surge of violent energy which traveled from his feet up to his brain, he saw his body changed. He doubled over as the energy raced through him and clawed at the ground like a dog. His features morphed rapidly into something canine; his face became host to a snout, hands and feet alike were bunched into paws, his body covered in thick, black fur. He'd howled up at the orange moon and the dream had ended soon after.
    In his dream, he'd entered into his wolf form, something he'd been wishing to do for some time. There were no conditions that needed met for him to do so; he could do it at will, at any time of day and anywhere he pleased. And yet he stayed his hand. Todd was a Blackston, and the Blackstons did their best to control their animality. It'd been his pack's way since the days of the split, when the Blackstons had decided to live alongside the human beings. The human side, it was reasoned, needed to be embraced. The wolf side was a liability. Now and then, when the urge became too great, the Blackstons would transform. Full moons would usually see them spend the night in wolf form, hunting and prowling through Twinbrook while the townspeople slept. Today however, he was having trouble resisting the urge. Something in the air had stirred his instincts.
    The last time he'd dreamt of transforming, Todd had awoken to find his bed marked with the blood of some unknown quarry, his clothes hanging in tatters around him. When he dreamt of such things, it was not unheard of for him to act upon them, sometimes unconsciously. He'd spent that particular night in a fevered state, likely hunting deer until the rising sun saw him retreat back to his home. Upon waking this morning, he'd looked over the bed and checked himself out in the mirror. This time, it had been just a dream, albeit a vivid one. But why? Why the powerful dream and the urges that came with it?
    Long ago, in the days before the Blackston pack split into two, he would have been able to act upon his urges at will. Living on the hillside, the wolves of the united Blackston pack had been masters of Twinbrook and the surrounding areas, roaming and hunting freely, never having to hide their Lycan abilities. The stories of his forebears served to demonstrate how much had changed over the years, however. There were many more people living in the area now; more than the wolves of yesteryear had ever had to deal with. None but his pack-mates knew of his Lycan tendencies. He was now a friend, a business-owner, a trusted associate to many in town, and had to take great care to maintain the facade of his humanity. And yet he was so much more than a mere human. His other side, locked away so tight, yearned for expression. He comforted himself with the knowledge that the full moon was coming, and that soon he'd be able to let the moonlight wash over his fur. But it was too soon to pine for all of that.
    This is the choice your clan made when it broke away , he thought. To live among the humans means to deny yourself the pleasure of transformation. If the humans knew... it would complicate things. This gave him little solace, however. All he could picture was the giant moon in his dream and the way it had imbued him with its limitless,