“I wish I could take you home with me, have you always, but I’m sure that sounds like a selfish thing to say when you’ve been with me for years, there for me when I most needed someone,” I spoke, my voice but a whisper. “Thank you for letting me get this close. And, thank you for saving me several weeks ago.”
The wolf’s chest rumbled. With an audible sigh, I felt him shift his weight away from me. Expecting him to walk away then, instead, he made a noise, one of anguish, not quite that of a howl, but lower, more powerful. The ground seemed to vibrate under my feet.
In a moment of suspended belief, I watched the fur literally disappear, giving away to smooth skin. At the same time, claws retracted into fingers. Unaware that I was stepping backwards, my back hit a wall. Blinking from the slight bump and to make some sense of the image before me, I braced myself with my hands against the brick.
The diminishing face looked into mine. The eyes, they changed from gold with amber flecks to amber with gold flecks. I tilted my head, squinted my eyes as if they were playing tricks on me. The face that formed began to relax as the body took to an upright, two-legged stance and stepped back away from me. Suddenly, what stood before me was no longer my wolf, but Lex, completely naked and fully man!