The park is empty, a lonely expanse of wide-open danger beneath the glare of the full moon. I run with uneven strides, the harsh light exposing my desperation, exposing my frantic pace as I stagger across deserted trails. My body rebels against me, its primal need unleashed, uncontainable, throwing off my balance with each unsteady step. The threat of transformation bears down, urgent and unstoppable, ripping through my skin, my veins, my muscles as they spasm with intensity, with heat. My jaw clenches against it, my teeth too sharp, too foreign, and I fight to make it to the woods before I am gone. But I am too far, too exposed, too close to losing everything. My claws begin to emerge, begin to betray me. Then I hear it—a noise behind me, another presence in the dark, too close, too close
