Luna stood still, watching him approach. He had the same eyes, every time. She hadn't been able to connect them because the wolf she had treated had had simple, murky grey eyes most of the time, only clear at the beginning and the end of the process. When he was unable to move, they had gone dull.
Now Luna stood before the same wolf, the same massive black wolf that had been more than three times her size when she had first encountered it, and now, she was nearly on the same level.
At least, she thought that she was, until Lukas came closer. He was still larger than her, but it was much less of a size difference than their human bodies had. Despite the fact that his wolf form was still as large as a normal man, it was smaller than his human form. He must have shifted once Luna had gone blank and went out to search for her.
Or maybe he had followed her scent. Luna couldn't be sure if she had inhabited another wolf or formed a new body entirely, but her guess was the latter. The Lycans occasionally dealt with Northern raider wolves, but the wolves seemed to have a certain respect for them, and left their land alone most of the time, unless desperate or starving. Luna wasn't sure why this was happening, or, if she had formed a new body, why she had appeared outside instead of where her human body had been, but she wasn't going to complain about finally having the energy to keep up with Lukas.
Although...
Earlier in the night, they had been kissing, but she hadn't run out of breath like before. She had been too caught up in the moment to pay much attention to it, but it was obvious now that that was an anomaly.
Luna wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, so she took the best path she could see.
She submitted to Lukas.
As he drew near, his black fur rustling and shining faintly, she bowed her head. The way the moon reflected off of his smooth coat made her shiver, and she let out a small whine as he stepped close enough for her to smell.
The instant his scent hit her nose, she was immediately overwhelmed. Her heart stopped beating, then stuttered back into action, leaping up to a ridiculous rate as though it was competing in a race. She had no doubt that if the wind hadn't been blowing from behind her she wouldn't have been able to even look up to see his eyes in the first place.
His musk was so heady, worse than the half mug of Dwarven Ale she had drunk when she had been young. She had taken it from a bar, not understanding that it was different from water, and had drunk it in a few gulps. Her throat had burned and her eyes had barely worked, but it was the most alive she had felt before or since.
Until Lukas.
And right now, he was making it worse with every step as he came up alongside her. She had found it hard enough to control herself when she had been close enough to smell him as a human, and that was with her practice at detecting and resisting amorous potions and candles that relied on scent. But no amount of practice could have prepared her for this. Her nose was much more sensitive now, and his scent much more potent, to the point that she though she would die from the heat that was building up inside her body, tightening her muscles, begging for her to move, to be closer to him, to press herself against him and never back away.
But she contained herself. She would obey his direction and do nothing else, as long as she was in this form. Admittedly, much of that resolve came from the fact that she knew that he would likely give her exactly what she wanted and more sooner or later, and she was willing to pay any price for that.
Lukas's teeth scraped against her sensitive ear, and her heartbeat froze, then she raised her head, following his motion as he gently tugged on her ear, carefully holding it in his mouth so that it wouldn't be hurt.
He directed her head into the wind, and she saw in the distance a massive gate, the same one she had passed in the day. Somehow, despite the structure not having changed, it looked much less menacing at night, without color except for the sliver moon's light and surrounded by indistinct shapes.
That gate was the way out. The way to adventure, to freedom. With Lukas.
And he was pulling her right towards it.
With a joyful howl, Luna bounded towards it as he did, hot on his heels.