“I heard the traditions of Winter are quite strict about mates, is that true?” asked a woman wearing white rabbit ears.

Granger looked at her and nodded.

The welcome at Spring had been an all-day event— they had games, small parties, a large party, dancing, eating, and so much more. He wasn’t sure if he was visiting a pack or an amusement park.

Looking around, the members of Spring wore costumes of different animals, both real and imagined. The woman in front of him wore her bunny ear and a short white dress, complete with a cotton tail.

“What kinds of traditions?” yawned the man beside her, he wore smaller ears, brown, and a red bowtie.

Granger had yet to figure out what he was supposed to be.

“We cannot marry before both mates have reached the first full moon after their eighteenth year,” Granger answered, thinking of Ashleigh, wondering what she was doing now.

“Oh my, so if you find your mate before then, you can’t mark each other?” the rabbit asked.

“No,” Granger replied.

“But surely you can enjoy each other,” the other one commented through another yawn, and a wink.

“If you mean, intimately, no,” Granger answered, clearing his throat awkwardly. “It is an insult to the Goddess to be mated before the age of maturity.”

Granger looked away, searching for an escape from this conversation.

“I couldn’t handle that,” the man said, wrapping his arm around the rabbit’s waist, “I haven’t been able to keep my hands off her since we found each other.”

The rabbit laughed as the man kissed her throat.

“True, and we met when we were both fifteen!” the rabbit laughed, reaching her hand up to stroke his chin._.

“Especially tonight,” the man whispered as he trailed kisses up her neck, drawing a soft moan from her lips, “I could never hold back at the full moon.”

The man bit softly at the rabbit’s throat.

“But that is why Winter has another tradition,” came the voice of Holden from behind Granger, “one that says any mated pair shall stay apart on the night of the full moon, until their wedding. The first full moon they share.”

Granger turned to see the familiar smile.

“Isn’t that right Granger?” Holden asked.

“Yes,” Granger replied.

“It makes a lot of sense, it’s quite smart really,” Holden nodded as he spoke, “I mean look at these two fools.”

Holden waved toward the rabbit and the man. Granger turned to find the rabbit had her legs wrapped around the man’s waist, his hands firmly gripping her bottom, as their mouths now fought for dominance.

“Such is the pull of the mate bond,” Holden whispered over Granger’s shoulder, making the latter tense. “It would be hard for any mates to resist when together under the full moon.”

***

[Present]

Ashleigh walked down the unfamiliar halls; she didn’t understand how she had found her way here. Or where here was.

There was a scent in the air, something that called to the wolf in her. Something that she needed to hunt. She smiled at the thought.

This scent was leading her somewhere completely unknown to her. She had hunted all over Winter, she knew the land, the animals. The thought of

something new was exciting.

“Strange,” she thought to herself suddenly, “why is the scent inside?”

She wanted to follow the thought, think it through, and come to a rational conclusion, but the scent was driving her crazy.

Taking a deep breath, rolling the sweet aroma over her tongue, she could taste her prey. It made her shiver with anticipation. Her skin prickled, she wanted to shift, she felt it in the innermost part of her. However, something still told her to wait.

Ashleigh continued turning down hall after hall, sometimes the scent would grow stronger, other times it would fade. Her impatience was growing.

Just as she was starting to get frustrated, she recognized another scent. It was familiar but still new. Ashleigh looked around for the source, she ducked behind a wall as she recognized it. The Summer wolf Bell had flirted with, Galen.

He had walked out of a door, shutting it behind him. He paced back and forth, staying close to the door while he held his phone to his ear.

“Yes, of course,” he said into the phone. “He wasn’t feeling well. He’s fine, he just needed time to himself.”

“Is Caleb sick?” she wondered to herself.

The thought was interrupted when the door opened once more. A man walked out and stood beside Galen. The man did not close the door, suddenly

Ashleigh’s full attention was on the door. The scent was coming from there.

She felt a growl rising from her belly.

Quickly she threw herself back against the wall and covered her mouth hoping they hadn’t heard her.

She glanced around the corner, Galen and the man were still talking. Finally, he put his phone down and they both walked in the opposite direction of the door. Ashleigh smiled to herself.

She tipped toed to the door, looking back over her shoulder to make sure Galen wasn’t coming back yet. When she saw no one, she went in and closed the door behind her.

“What are they keeping in here that smells so tempting?” she wondered as she looked around the room.

The room she had entered was a small office, a desk with various file folders and paperwork, a row of keys marked with room numbers. On the other

side was a series of five different monitors. Across the room were a window and another door.

Ashleigh approached the window carefully, trying to see if she could see anyone else as she got closer. But the window looked out to a small hallway with a door at each end.

She stepped out into the hallway, looking at each door she didn’t see anything that identified where they led. Closing her eyes she sniffed the air, once more a prickling of her skin, and that deep longing sensation.

The door to the right.

Upon further inspection, she realized the door had no handle.

She went back to the small office, she looked around the window. Just below she saw a button, she pressed it and heard a small buzzing sound. Looking out the window she saw her success. With a giggle, she ran through the open door.

It closed after her. Once more, Ashleigh noticed the door had no handle on this side either. On the wall beside the door, there was a white button and a camera.

“Well, guess I’m stuck in here… no choice but to find what I am looking for,” she giggled to herself.

“Shouldn’t I be worried about this?” she wondered to herself until the scent danced around her nostrils once more. She followed it.

Her nose led her further down the hall, past several doors, and around two corners. Now she stood in front of one of the most impressive doors she had ever seen. It was thick, some kind of metal, even without knowing any more she knew it would be reinforced. Whatever was on the other side of this door, was supposed to stay there.

But this was where the scent came from. The air was thick with the scent now. Ashleigh felt as though she were being caressed by it, as though she could feel it touch her skin. She let out a soft moan.

Her heart was racing, her breathing was getting shallow. Her skin, the prickling was still there, but now something else. She knew this feeling.

“It’s like before…” she whispered out loud through hot breaths “like the Blood Moon.”

There was a sudden and intense stimulation throughout her body that made her feel weak. A sensation of both pain and pleasure ripped through her from head to toes.

Ashleigh gasped for air. Falling to her knees once more the sensation tore over her body, stirring even the most intimate places making her ache.

She cried out, still gasping for air.

“It leaves you breathless. And not in that ‘swept away in the moment of it all’ kind of breathless,”

Bell’s words suddenly rang clearly in Ashleigh’s mind.

She lifted her head, staring at the door in front of her.

“Caleb?” she called. “Are you in there?”

Again, the sensation engulfed her, she was on hands and knees, panting. Desperate to breathe normally. Overwhelmed by a strange feeling of pleasure

and pain.

“…the suffocating, ‘I can’t breathe!’ kind.”

“Is this what she meant?” Ashleigh whispered, her chest burning.

A howl of pain came from the other side of the door.

“Is he feeling this too?” she whispered to herself.

Ashleigh reached for the door, she grabbed the handle, holding onto it tightly as the air got thicker and her skin felt like it was on fire.

“Stop!” someone shouted from behind her.

She looked back to see Galen out of breath, clearly having realized someone was in the area that shouldn’t be.

“You can’t go in there!” he shouted.

“Is he… in pain?” Ashleigh asked through gasps.

Galen was quiet for a long moment, “he will be fine in the morning.”

Ashleigh let out a soft chuckle, “no, he won’t.”

She turned the knob and pulled on the door hard, it opened for her. The room was dark, but she could see him. He was down on his knees and limp in the chains that held him to the wall.

“Caleb…” she whispered into the darkness.

Slowly he lifted his head, their eyes still finding each other.

Pain grew and spread deep in her heart until tears poured down her face.

“Only when you look into their eyes, finally touch that person, only then can you breathe again.”

Bell’s words continued to haunt Ashleigh as she walked into the room. Her body felt heavy, aching to shift, to be powerful, to be free to do what was needed.

She saw it in his eyes, the pain, the fear, the arousal. Their bond was real, it called to both, drowning them in their ‘blessing’.

Tears streamed down her face. She was standing inches from him now and every fiber of her being longed to touch him.

She reached her hand out to his cheek, her fingers lightly touching him, he looked up at her with a question in his eyes. She placed both hands on his face, and suddenly the air around them was breathable once more.

“That’s when you realize that they are another half of you, that something deep inside of you wants them with you. No matter who they are.”