He doubted the truth of that. He had a solid memory, even if he wasn’t sure why he knew her face. But he couldn’t think of why she’d be lying about it, so he let it slide. “Well what brings you through this time?”
She wasn’t really supposed to let on to the fact that she wasn’t human or that she knew these people when they were children. It led to complications. “I travel a lot for work.”
That rung a few bells for him and she was about the right age to be the little girl he remembered, but he kept his expression relatively neutral, only offering a smile. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Luna. I’m Quinn.”
Her eyes narrowed once more as she scented the air slightly. He smelled familiar and she wasn’t usually wrong about stuff like that. “Are you sure we’ve never met before?”
She had tried that a couple of times before, but only when she’d been over at the pack grounds where it was much easier and more accepted generally to stay shifted for an extended period of time, and that had helped a little on those occasions, but with very few other shifters at the bar, especially ones she was close to, it wasn’t something she’d put much consideration into.
“Maybe?”
It would help if she had company during the whole ordeal, and even if he wasn’t a shifter, at least she knew him well enough to trust and feel safe around him.
“Only if you’re sure it’s okay though. I don’t wanna be getting in the way.”
“Why wouldn’t it be okay? If makes you hurt less, it’s totally worth it. Come on, like I wouldn’t want to help?” He pulled back just enough to smile at her, expression open and lacking any sense of his usual teasing.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t have a big enough bed to accommodate her while she’s shifted and still be able to get comfortable. Besides, it was almost like having an excuse to be curled up with her in some manner or another.
Frey nodded, letting herself be pretty much completely enveloped in Dyson’s arms as she buried her face against his chest. She didn’t have problems with control like some other shifters, but the scars and other permanent physical damage she had from before she was turned made shifting beyond agonising for her and made her dread it every month.
“I hate it,” she whispered, sounding a little tearful but it was hard to tell if she was actually crying yet with her face hidden.
“I know,” he mumbled, feeling more than a little lost. This wasn’t something he could fix and he wished like hell that he could. A part of him wondered if there was some sort of drug cocktail that could help at least numb her during the actual shifting, but he doubted it.
“Would it be easier to just stay shifted all three days so then you only have to shift twice? I mean, shit, you can just hang out with me while you’re fuzzy, I don’t mind.”
She looked genuinely upset about having snapped at him and she felt bad that he always took it on the chin and was nice to her after, even when she felt like she was being a bitch and didn’t deserve it.
“Stupid full moon…” she muttered, sniffling a little as she took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.
Once she was up, Dyson was tugging her gently into his arms and wrapping around her. She didn’t really have any other shifters to lean on there, so he always tried to make sure she had at least someone else’s scent on her to try comforting her.
“It’s okay. It’s only three days of forced shifting, right?” He was trying to make light of it, but he knew it hurt her more than it should.
The moment he said that she realised what she’d done and immediately regretted it.
“Sorry,” she murmured, silently scolding herself for not keeping her mood in check and taking it out on the wrong person.
“Didn’t mean to be.”
His expression softened and he padded across the kitchen towards her. It didn’t matter to him that she was fairly older than he was, Dyson had had a bit of a crush on her since he was a kid.
“Hey, quit that. C’mere,” he soothed, offering her a hand and wiggling his fingers.
“Yeah, there’s bacon. Bottom shelf, same place as it always is, Dys.”
She hadn’t even realised her tone had come across a little snappy and sarcastic, but it always tended to get that way on the run-up to the full moon, the agitation and restlessness still not really a whole lot better even though she’d been shifting now for a couple of decades.
A small pout touched his lips at her tone, but he was used to it by now. It was never fun for her when the full moon came around, so Dyson tried his best to never hold it against her.
“Frey Frey, don’t be mean this early. You’ll make me cry,” he teased, trying to coax a smile from her.
“Oh,” she answered, the phrasing clicking into place in her mind. “I see. Did you not grow up around people?” she wondered, knowing that not everyone did. It had been hard for Udella to adjust to human behavior, but she’d had decades to do it by now, so she’d gotten better.
She shook her head hard, hair flying over her face before she stopped and pushed it back with both hands. “Abandoned,” she answered, sounding terrible nonchalant over it. She had been heartbroken as a pup, but she had found her way with a lot of help.
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