Hazel frowned a bit and pet Rex some more. Simone hugged him tightly and looked like she was going to choke him. “My handsome boy. My poor handsome boy,” Simone wailed a bit as she snapped her head in the direction of Natayl. “GET LOST,” Simone breathed fire in the girl’s direction as she got up and ran.

“Um, Simone… your head…”

Simone realized her head was doing what an owl normally did and she turned her head back and blinked. “I’m becoming more like a bird every fucking day.” She hugged Rex to her more. “Please, take care of Rex… I feel like the kids would torment him.”

–

Once Simone and Lewis were gone Hazel took Rex inside the house. “I don’t know how to tell you this… I don’t think you’ve noticed but…” She got a mirror and put it down so Rex could see his whole self. “But you’re a wolf now… I have to undo the hex on you. I can understand you though I promise. I just didn’t want to freak you out in front of Simone… She’s already pretty pissed.”

–

A week or two later Hazel threw herself on the floor next to Rex, “I can’t undo the hex on you…” She pouted before almost throwing a tantrum. “I was going to have sex with you that night and she fucked everything up.” She rolled on her stomach and looked at Rex. “I really hate that woman. She’s an inconvenience.”

At the sight of Simone’s head snapping behind her, both Rex and Lewis merely stared in shock. Lewis knew that she was capable of it, but there was something…unnerving about seeing her that way. Still, it got the required effect, and Natayl went running home. Lewis noted which way she ran…perhaps she would receive a visit later that evening….

—

Once they got home, Rex was finally told what had happened. When Hazel put a mirror in front of him, there was a low whine followed by a lot of barking. He spun around once more, and let out a huff, laying down. This was going to get really hard to get used to. He let out another series of barks, looking at Hazel with puppy dog eyes. He was hopeful that she would still say yes. That much shouldn’t have changed.

–

Time as a wolf seemed to pass at a regular speed for Rex, which was a little bit surprising. He had gotten used to walking and running, but there was a little bit of a learning curve when it came to scratching the itch behind his ear. Hazel had been accommodating of course, and human food seemed not to bother him. And, being smart and all, he had already figured out doors.

When Hazel threw herself on the floor next to him, he rolled over into her. He liked feeling her presence, even in this form. It made him feel comforted. When he heard that she was going to have sex with him, though, he let out a whine, and followed up with a bark. He rolled back over and started to bark, nosing her.

There was a huff when she gave the expected answer. He let out a whine, followed by murmured barks. He rolled over, and let out an obnoxious yowl. Despite this, though, in a few moments his tail was thumping against the floor, and he rolled back onto his stomach, barking at Hazel.

“Yes, yes! I can fix it I just need time Rex.” She gave a smile and pet his head. There was laughter a bit, “I can move the bed down here unless you can make the jump into the loft… that or I can just lift you in using Jack… You are always welcome in my bed for cuddles.”

–

Once she had let out her secret Hazel blushed, “Rex, you are a wolf. That’s not right or okay.” He caught himself and she laughed as she rubbed his head and gave him more cuddles. “Yeah, our first time needs to be special.”

Once he gave her the pep talk she kissed his nose and thought about it, “Research. Which means we need to go to the library.”

After that Hazel spent a lot of time in the library. She had even talked Teulia into letting Rex in after the second straight day of her being there. Teulia said if he drooled on anything she was going to cut his nuts off. “No, no… He will be a good boy. I promise. Right, Rex? You won’t ruin the books?” Hazel gave him a serious look.

After a month of research, Hazel slammed her head into the table. “Gah, I can do it. I know I can…” She slid the chair out. “I can’t make you Rosenite again though.” She had a red mark on her forehead. “I wish there was…” It clicked. “We need to go to your parents’ house.”

She practically dragged Rex through a portal and into their library. “Hi, Simone. Hi, Lewis. Hi, Lucas. Hi, Ezili. Hi, Janus. Hi, Lila. HI, EVERYONE ELSE,” they were in a dead bolt to the library where she got chalk and began writing on Simone’s blackboard she used for teaching.

She was writing out a series of mathematical equations and symbols representing ancient witchcraft. “I think I got it.”

While Hazel was doing her research, Rex was quite well behaved. For the most part, he simply sat next to Hazel. Occasionally, he would rest his head in her lap and ask for pets, but mostly he just stayed by her side and supported her the best he could. It was when she said that they needed to go to his parents house that he gave her a weird look, and without warning, he was thrown into a portal.

What greeted him was a small part of his family. Lucas and Ezili practically lived in the library, so it was no surprise to see them there, but Lewis and Simone were there as well. Apparently, Hazel wasn’t the only one doing research into fixing Rex. Hazel started to write down complex equations, and Lewis, Simone, and Rex all stared in confusion once she finished. She seemed content though.

Lucas, on the other hand, looked at the equation with concern. “Are you…sure?” The rest of the family looked at him.

“You can…read that?” Lewis asked. “What is it?”

“It’s a modification of an old curse. Lycanthropy. It’s…not like the current version at all. It’s like you’re trying to recreate it. But where are you getting the source? And the magical source? You’d have to have an insane amount of mana. Even more than Mom and Dad have.” Lucas frowned. “It’s solid in theory, but…no way to do it in practicality.”

Simone tilted her head and tried to read it but she couldn’t. Color her surprised that Lucas could.

Hazel nodded to Lucas, “Yes, that’s exactly what it is. I don’t have a source for it at the moment but… what I actually need is the bare basics of what lycanthropy is. Once I have that I can make Rex’s very own lycan line.”

There was a pause and Hazel hugged herself, “As for the source of magic… I’ll use myself. I have it toned down right now but under the full moon, I’m stronger and have more access to my eldritch powers. That will be more than enough for this. Rex will become a progenitor. The very first of his kind.”

There was a look in her eye as she grabbed her shawl, “I need… you to watch Rex for a bit. I need to go somewhere and I can’t take him with me… Just… Please.” She bent down and kissed his nose. “Stay here. I’m taking the portal to Elysia.”

It was many hours later when Hazel came back with a small vial of blood. “I got it… I paid a price for it but I got it. Give me another month and I can turn Rex back to human. One month on the full moon.”

–

With all the math done, all the research done, everything set up. Hazel got asked to be left alone with Rex. “There’s a good chance that you’ll only recognize me, Rex. Okay?” She had him inside a circle with strange symbols. There were runes drawn down her arms in a strange luminescent paint. She looked up as the clouds began to part. “Okay, Rex… Let’s do this.”

She took the dagger and slid it across her hand. The sky around them turned an eerie green as did her eyes as she began to chant. Her blood hit the ground and she began to weave the curse of lycanthropy. Rex’s own version of lycanthropy. “No more a beast but now a man. On the full moon, you’ll return to your wolf until you are strong enough to resist the call of the mother moon. By day a man. By night a beast.” It was stupid but it was the key phrases in one of the original curses. A few keyword changes were all it needed.

It was another month before the final ritual took place. Rex had been patient, but when the night finally arrived, he was more nervous than anything. It was a large spell, and he was worried about what it would do to Hazel. Still the ritual went as planned, and soon Rex was enveloped in pure mana. And once it was done, he felt…nothing.

Rex barked a question, but before he could ask it fully, a sudden pain shot through him. He curled up on the ground, writhing in pain as his body fought against the sudden agony. Hazel called out to him, urging him to not resist against the magic, and he did the best he could. Rex wasn’t sure how long the transformation took in reality, but to him it felt like an eternity.

Finally, though, Rex felt something. His fingers. Toes. It was cold, but not unpleasant. There wasn’t fur to protect his flesh now. He shivered, realizing he was coated in sweat. But there was something else. He could still smell her. Hazel. She was intoxicating. He rolled over, revealing his naked form.

His eyes met hers, and without a second thought, he was up, pouncing on Hazel. His mouth met hers, forcing a passionate kiss as he pinned her down. Everything about her was practically screaming at Rex. All he wanted was her…to taste her, be with her, mate with her, make her his for now and forever. Another kiss, now mixed with pulling up the hem of her dress. It was now. He would get what he wanted…

What he needed.

Hazel was breathless. She wanted it too, but this wasn’t it. Not yet. Something told her it wasn’t right. It took her a moment to gather the willpower. She had to practically force the words from her lips.

“No.”

Rex stopped. He was panting hard. All it would take was a swift motion, and he would be where he wanted to be…where he needed to be. He could ignore her. Do it now.

But…

The new lycan let out a slow hiss, and rolled over, curling into a ball as he bit into his own arm. “Fucking fuuuucckkking FUCK!” he yelled. But it wasn’t at Hazel. It was at himself. Even she could tell that.

Rex was shivering, now realizing just how cold and exposed he was. “Can we…go home….” he said finally, without looking at her. He rolled over, looking at her. “S-sorry..I…..wasn’t….I didn’t mean…”

“Rex! You have to stop fighting it!” Hazel kept up the spell just in case but even she was getting tired. Her getting tired turned into a problem once he regained his human form. Her eyes got big, “REX!” However, he was more like a predator as he overtook her easily now. He was so much stronger than before as he pinned her down and kissed him. Hazel even kissed him back at points but she was trying to resist. The no left her mouth and Rex stopped. She could see the struggle in his eyes.

“I know…” She pulled herself up and put her shawl around him. “I know Rex.” She hugged him close and kissed his forehead. “Let’s go home, Rex.” She brushed his long red hair with her fingers as she smiled. She helped him along and pulled out some of his old clothes for him. “I don’t know if they will fit… You’ve gained a lot of muscle now.”

Hazel thought he looked more delicious but she kept her thoughts to herself. “I meant to tell you… there are moments where a lycanthrope finds their mate so to speak… they get obsessed with them.” She blushed a bit. “I didn’t think… you would stay with me after this. So… I didn’t bring it up… That and I knew you would be really worried if you couldn’t stop yourself.”

Once he was dressed she pulled him into bed with her and snuggled up to him. He smelled bad though and a chuckle left her lips, “You smell like a wet dog now. You really need a bath tomorrow.”

“Why….why wouldn’t I choose you?” Rex asked as he tried to get his old shirt and pants on. They barely fit, and he could feel the fabric on his shirt threatening to tear with every move. “Hazel…you’re my everything. Even before all of this…you were my everything. You’re my…” He paused. He remembered something that Mia had said to Xeik while he was staying with them.

It had been a few weeks after he had been turned into a wolf, and Xeik had been looking him over. He was talking it over with Hazel, and the two had discovered just how botched the hex was. Not only was it a complex spell, but it was one that was multiple hexes interwoven into one. As a healer, Xeik knew how to dispel a variety of hexes, and even multiple ones at once…but whatever had been done with this one had made it nearly impossible.

“It’s as if the ‘strands’ of the hex are…knotted,” Xeik tried to explain in simple terms for Rex. “You can pull at the individual strands, but they all lead to this massive knot that can’t be undone without intense precision. And there are repercussions if it’s done in the wrong order, too. It’s…really complicated.” The short version was that Xeik couldn’t fix it.

It was about this time that Rex had seen something, a messily drawn picture on Xeik’s desk. Rex barked at Hazel and Mia with a question. When it was translated to Xeik, he smiled.

“That? It’s a drawing Mia did for me. It was how she told me that she loved me. I’m her moon. She’s a lycanthrope, and the moon is everything to her. So, she was trying to tell me that I’m her everything.” The Divine Mender looked to Mia and smiled. “It was sweet.”

That all brought it back to where Rex was with Hazel. “You’re….like the moon to me. I need you…otherwise…” He was bumbling over his words. Did she understand? He nuzzled her as they climbed into bed. At her comment that he smelled like a wet dog, he wrinkled his nose. “And…you smell like a walking spice display…intense.” He agreed to take a bath the next day, though, and soon they fell asleep.

In the dead of night, Rex bolted up, eyes wide. He looked around, panicked, and then realized where he was. What he was. He took a breath, a deep calming breath, and sighed with relief. “I’m still me…” He yawned, and stretched out like a dog, arching his back on all fours. Then, he lifted his leg, reaching for his ear.

Wait… He paused. Sheepishly, he sat back down, and scratched his ear normally. This was going to take some getting used to…

Hazel looked a bit shocked for a moment. “I’m… your moon?” Her eyes watched him for what seemed like a long time before she smiled, “I’M YOUR MOON!” She jumped on him and hugged him tightly. She knew what it meant because Xeik had explained it. She was his everything. “Rex…” She kissed him soundly and rubbed her nose to his. “You are my everything too… I was so scared I wasn’t going to be able to have you back.”

Once they climbed into bed she snuggled up to him. He was more like a furnace more than ever but she appreciated it during the cold Sularia nights. “Are you complaining?” She chuckled up at him. “Could be an empty spice rack with me on the other floor away from you~” She teased him before kissed his nose and happily closing her eyes.

When Rex bolted up she did the same, “Rex?! Are you okay?” It was a nightmare for him and she calmly put her arms around him after watching him act like a dog. There was laughter. “This is going to be a long… adjustment period.” She pulled him down over her and looked up at him curiously. “You…” She paused and held a thinking look.

“Rex, I think I love you. More than anything. You are my moon too.” She wrapped herself around him and smiled. “And I’ll never leave you or hurt you. Only love you and adore you.” She rubbed her nose against his.

“If you want something from me all you have to do is ask…”

Now that they were both awake, Hazel wrapped herself around him. She had taken the time to think of what he had said before they went to sleep, and answered in kind, using the terminology that he had used. They were each other’s everything, each other’s moon. Rex felt something close to overwhelming joy when the words left her lips, and he hugged her back, laughing as she nuzzled him.

“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me,” Rex said as tears formed in the corner of his eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine my life without you. Without you…I’d…” He merely let the thought trail off, and kissed her passionately. Her words lingered in his thoughts for a moment, and he kissed her again, pushing her onto her back. Once more, there was a hungry look in his eyes, but this time he felt more in control.

“I…want you. All of you…” His words were soft. “Please…”