The campus basketball court was nearly deserted by the time Lenz Tarnbrook finally decided he had endured enough for one night.

Almost.

The squeal of trainers on polished wood had died away, the overhead lights were out in half the building, and the last few members of the basketball team had already vanished into the changing rooms. Lenz, however, stayed sprawled across a bench near the court, long legs stretched out, a towel hanging loose around his neck. His platinum hair was wet with sweat, strands stuck messily to his forehead, while his black sleeveless jersey stuck to his broad shoulders.

He was exhausted.

Naturally, he was also in a thoroughly foul mood.

he muttered, tipping his head back to the wall.

His teammate, Ilija, laughed from the far bench while shoving his things into a gym bag.

Lenz slowly turned his head.

Ilija immediately looked away.

Lenz said pleasantly.

A few minutes later, Lenz was finally alone.

He showered fast, pulled on a loose black hoodie and dark trousers, and slung his gym bag over a shoulder. His silver jewellery caught the strip light as he passed the changing-room mirrors, and he paused to push his unruly hair off his face.

For a moment he looked like any other student finishing a late practice.

That was exactly how he preferred it.

Nobody needed to know his reflexes weren't entirely human. Nobody needed to know that his hearing was sharp enough to catch conversations across a crowded room, or that he could recognise people by their scent before he saw them. And absolutely nobody needed to know that the persistent ache under his skin, the restlessness he had been fighting all night, had very little to do with the game.

The moon was almost full.

Lenz could feel it in the tension gathering beneath his muscles, in the heightened awareness that made every sound seem unnecessarily loud and every unfamiliar scent irritatingly distinct. His wolf had been restless since the afternoon, and the extra training had done remarkably little to exhaust it.

He needed to get home.

Preferably before his patience ran out completely.

He pushed through the side doors into the cool evening air, inhaling slowly as the night breeze brushed against his face. The university grounds were quieter than usual, the pathways illuminated by scattered lampposts and the occasional glow from a student accommodation window. Somewhere in the distance, a group of students burst into laughter.

Lenz barely paid them any attention.

Then he caught a familiar scent.

He stopped.

It was faint at first, carried on the breeze from somewhere near the side of the sports building. But there was something unmistakable about it, something that made his wolf lift its head beneath his skin.

You.

Lenz frowned.

He knew your scent well enough to recognise it without thinking, although he had never entirely understood why his wolf seemed particularly attentive to it. Whenever you were nearby, his instincts tended to settle into an unusual state of alertness, as though some part of him had decided you were worth paying attention to.

It was irritating.

Deeply, profoundly irritating.

Especially because he had absolutely no intention of examining the matter any further.

He followed the scent around the side of the building and found you near the steps, illuminated by the warm glow of a nearby lamp.

For a second, Lenz simply stared.

Then his familiar, infuriating smirk appeared.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and approached at an unhurried pace.

His gaze travelled over you briefly, checking that you seemed unharmed before returning to your face.

He tilted his head, one eyebrow lifting.

His mouth curved into a teasing grin, although the expression faded slightly when a sudden wave of dizziness swept through him.

Lenz stopped mid-sentence.

For one uncomfortable moment, the world seemed too sharp. He could hear the faint hum of the lights above him, the rustle of leaves across the courtyard, and the distant sound of a car travelling along the road beyond the university grounds. His pulse quickened, and a strange heat spread through his chest.

Not now.

He clenched his jaw.

His fingers curled inside his pockets as he fought the familiar pressure building beneath his skin. His wolf was agitated, responding to the moon, the exhaustion from practice, and the fact that he had spent the entire evening forcing his instincts into submission.

He needed to leave.

Immediately.

he said, taking a small step backwards,

The words came out more abruptly than he intended.

He turned away, then stopped when another sharp wave of pain travelled through his body. His shoulders stiffened, and he pressed a hand against the brick wall beside him, lowering his head as he attempted to steady his breathing.

The word escaped beneath his breath.

He could not transform here. Not with the sports building behind him, the university accommodation only a short distance away, and you standing close enough to notice that something was seriously wrong.

he said, forcing himself to look at you. His usual sarcasm had vanished, replaced by an unfamiliar urgency.

He swallowed, trying to ignore the way his heartbeat seemed to thunder in his ears.

His voice sharpened when another tremor ran through his arms.

The word sounded strange coming from him. Lenz Tarnbrook rarely asked anyone for anything, and he certainly never pleaded.

He was about to try explaining himself when his body seized with another violent wave of pain.

He staggered away from you, catching himself against the wall. His gym bag slipped from his shoulder and hit the ground with a heavy thud. For a few seconds, he could do nothing except breathe through clenched teeth, fighting an instinct that had become considerably stronger than his ability to control it.

His nails lengthened into dark claws.

A low, involuntary growl rumbled in his chest.

Lenz froze.

Slowly, he lifted his head.

You had seen it.

There was no hiding his hands, no explaining away the sound that had just escaped his throat, and no convincing you that everything was perfectly normal.

For the first time since you had met him, Lenz looked genuinely frightened.

Not of you.

Of what you might see next.

he warned, his voice strained.

His pale eyes flickered, their colour shifting towards an unnatural silver-grey. Beneath the collar of his hoodie, the muscles in his shoulders tightened as his body began to change, the familiar human shape of his hands becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

He looked at you again, and something in his expression softened despite the panic tightening his features.

he whispered.

Another growl escaped him, deeper this time.

Lenz squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to regain control, but his wolf was already pushing towards the surface. The moonlight spilled across the courtyard, catching in his pale hair as he sank to one knee.

Then he looked up at you one last time.

he managed, his voice breaking around the words,

It was an absurd thing to say under the circumstances.

Even now, with his secret falling apart around him, Lenz Tarnbrook was still trying to hide behind a sarcastic remark.

But when his transformation finally began in earnest, his expression told a different story.

He was terrified.

And whether you chose to run, help him, or stay beside him as the impossible unfolded before your eyes was entirely up to you.