Erich wakes with a groan, body aching and mind sluggish. His mouth tastes like cotton and there’s a headache pounding across his temples in time with his heartbeat; he feels scraped raw and wrung out, like whatever he tangled with the night before won and then kept at it, and… frankly, from what little he can remember, that’s probably accurate.

(Really, investigating a strange village with only Alexis at his side?)

(What was he thinking?)

“If you move, ’m biting you,” Alexis mutters against his neck, sounding about as terrible as he feels.

He huffs but doesn’t move more than that, despite the rocks digging into his back and the cold stone plinth he’s wedged against. When Alexis threatens to bite, even as a human, she means it, and certainly not in a fun way.

(He just wishes they could have found a better place to sleep.)

(While being wedged between the statue’s base and the tree is probably out of the way, it’s certainly not comfortable.)

(He’s going to be stiff for days after this…)

He can hear movement nearby as something approaches them, followed by the distinctive, familiar noise of canine curiosity. He sighs, already knowing exactly what he’ll see when he opens his eyes; some dog will be staring down at them, head tilted and ears perked forward, and right behind it will be the dog’s owner, who will want to know who they are and why they’re on the ground naked…

He opens his eyes.

Stares up at the—

Wolf?

Erich blinks. Reaches up to rub at his eyes. Squints at the canine that’s looking down at them. Wishes desperately for his glasses but knows that they, like his clothing, are back at home.

(He really wishes they could retain clothing during their shifts.)

(It would make everything so much easier.)

“Alexis,” Erich says, staring up at the white wolf with… red markings? He squints again. Tilts his head. Watches the way the red shapes blur in and out of sight, there then gone like mist before the sun. He can’t tell if it’s a trick of the light, a trick of his senses, some weird power-hangover result, or an actual thing, and frankly he doesn’t know which he’d prefer. “Is that… a wolf?”

Alexis snorts and presses her face harder against his neck. “Moon’s down,” she grumbles into his skin, not even bothering to look. “Can’t be one of us. Wild wolves don’t enter villages. So. No.”

The white maybe-wolf’s mouth opens in a canine grin and he can just barely see the tip of its wagging tail, hidden as it is behind the large tree root the maybe-wolf is leaning over.

He gets the feeling they’ve amused it.

(Wonderful.)

(Just what he always wanted.)

(An amused maybe-wolf staring down at him.)

“I’m not so sure this one agrees with your logic,” Erich says dryly, poking his wife in the side as he does. He wants confirmation, and since Alexis doesn’t need glasses to see, she’s going to have accept her fate and get up.

She grumbles and drags herself upright. “Fine, fine,” she mutters, pushing her hair away from her face. “I’ll look so you can stop worrying—uh. Oh. Huh. Hello there.”

Erich narrows his eyes, taking in the stiffness of Alexis’ body and the way she’s turned towards the maybe-wolf. He has a sinking feeling that he’s just received the confirmation he really didn’t want. “Lexi?”

“Yep. That’s a wolf,” Alexis tells him flatly, then twists around a bit more to scan the area. “I don’t see any others, though… nor any humans…” She hums and carefully pulls away from him, settling into comfortable crouch and giving him room to sit up. “What in the world are you doing in the center of a village?” she asks the wolf in exasperation. “I know this place has plenty of wolf statues, but surely they don’t just… accept wolves wandering in and out?”

Not unless the village had some sort of history of shapeshifters, Erich thinks ruefully as he tries to brush the dirt and tiny stones from his skin. They still don’t know if there are any wolf-shifters around; if there are, he really hopes that his family hasn’t intruded…

But at the same time, a village being familiar with shifters like Erich and Alexis would make the coming… confrontation… a bit easier.

(Two naked strangers wandering down from the probably sacred hilltop is… not how he wanted first introductions to go.)

(Ugh.)

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to steal some clothing for us?” Erich asks the wolf dryly, not expecting an answer of any kind. He can read wolf body language and understand their noises better than most humans, but being a werewolf hasn’t exactly given him the ability to talk to wolves. Familiarity simply gives him an edge that others don’t have.

(No matter how much he wishes otherwise.)

The wolf cocks its head at them and makes a questioning noise, then leans forward a bit to sniff his face.

Erich wrinkles his nose and leans back, unwilling to risk an unknown wolf’s teeth so close to his soft human skin. “Yes, I smell like wolf. No, I’m not currently a wolf. The full moon isn’t out.”

The wolf makes a curious noise and leans forward a bit more, cold nose just barely brushing against his forehead as he tries to lean away, tries to avoid any potential danger, and…

Tumbles back against the statue’s base with a yelp, having lost his balance.

The wolf grins at him, ears forward and mouth agape, tail wagging so hard he can barely see it.

(This was not how he expected the day to go, damnit!)

Alexis snickers at him, drawing the wolf’s attention back to her, then slowly reaches out and lets the wolf sniff her hand. “Being wolves would certainly make our escape easier,” she agrees almost wistfully, clearly not looking forward to trying to sneak out of the heart of the village either. “Not that—woah!”

The wolf pulls back abruptly. Flicks its tail up in a strange circle and—

Something flickers in the corner of Erich’s eye, like parchment and ink and—

The change overtakes him.