Adding the two companies, New Shadow and Lightning, there were 1200 active employees in total. It was impossible not to have something to advertise in that place, and it was impossible for the two companies not to be known throughout the city. Cassie was one of the people that everyone tried to recruit, and she refused everyone because she didn't have time to deal with many problems, and the work she had was already taking up too much of her time.

The theme of the party was still open. There was a poll among the employees to decide what would be the best theme.

While arranging his work material in his briefcase, Kurt was talking to his partner, Jack. "Which option and theme did you vote for?" he asked.

"I didn't vote, we won't, you know that you know why," Jack replied, also tidying up his material. "I know we should participate, it's important and all, but we can't," he commented, as he closed his work case. "We're not in the condition to break the camera or anything else that can be broken, like anything in the building."

"Can't we even stay for a while? I know it's risky, but we work here," Kurt rebutted.

"Kurt, you know we can't. Stop talking about it, before we...", Jack didn't finish his sentence, he stopped for a moment and his breathing gradually quickened, Kurt watched him for a few seconds. "What time is it?", Jack asked slowly, keeping eye contact with his friend, who seemed as restless as he was.

"Holy shit, Jack. You always get an early start, let's go!", Kurt shouted, pulling his friend along and starting a race towards the nearest elevator to get down to the parking lot. Using the stairs would take too long. "Come on, I'll drive, get in the back seat," he ordered, already pushing his colleague through the car door, looking around to make sure no one was seeing anything. Kurt didn't have a car yet, so he often used Jack's. Sharing the driving of the vehicle was very common between the two of them, especially in this situation. Jack rebuffed his friend for a few seconds because he wanted to get in the front seat, but Kurt ignored him and kept pushing him out the back door until he finally made sure he was sitting in the seat. Then he ran and got into the driver's seat, starting the car almost immediately. The car still smelled as strongly as it used to. Their smell, the smell of wolf.

"Are you feeling anything yet?" asked Jack as he staggered around sitting in the back seat, quite breathless and struggling to speak. "My vision is pretty blurry."

"Don't you dare surrender now. Hold on, it's your fault, we should have left earlier, asshole," protested Kurt, behind the wheel, looking impatient and slowly demonstrating he wasn't as sure of himself as he would have liked, since his move wasn't starting that late.

A few minutes passed, and they were already halfway there when Jack simply threw up on the floor of the car and collapsed on the seat. Kurt made eye contact in the rearview mirror, and at that moment he knew he had to stop the car right there. There wasn't enough time to get to the usual spot. "Get out of the car, Jack," Kurt ordered, having already parked in the middle of a half-open thicket. Jack replied that he couldn't get out on his own, as his vision was even more blurred, and he felt that his body already had some internal modifications that made it impossible for him to walk without having problems. The friend then pulled him out of the car, with some difficulty, Jack was bewildered enough that anyone who saw him would ask if he needed help. Fortunately, on that late afternoon, on that avenue, there wasn't much traffic, also it wasn't the first time they had passed that way, nor that situation.

"It's going to be here today, Jack. I'm sorry, but in these conditions, you can't go on, and you're probably already losing all consciousness, I can already see some changes in you." Kurt supported Jack on his shoulder as he walked with him into the thicket that lay on the side of the Avenue. The city was full of woods, and most of them were so dense that almost all of them had prohibition notices. People even respected it, normal people at least.

"Kurt, here, leave me here, go!" gasped Jack once again. Now it's for real, you must be hearing the sound of bones breaking, right?" asked Jack, already trying to get loose from his friend. Kurt finally left him there and prepared to walk away, as he already felt his change. "I hate this part," Jack said to himself, before giving the first cry of pain from the change. The first stage was the breaking of the spine. Then the rest of the body, the feeling of the blood rushing through the veins at high speed, the heart racing, the heavy breathing, the pain of the bones breaking and coming together in different ways, the pain of the change of body and mind as he screamed.

Exactly ten minutes later, Kurt walked past where Jack had been before, at least when he was still Jack, in human form. Kurt was no longer human at that point either, and he didn't like to be too far away from his friend in that condition, he was terrible when he had to fend for himself. His animal side didn't know how to hunt well, and they were new at this yet, very new, it had only been a few months since they had started to transform.

When he assumed the form of a wolf, Jack had a ritual, first to find the nearest safe place, then to meet Kurt, and finally to hunt something. There wasn't much to do while transformed, so he let his instincts guide him, after all, he had almost no consciousness in the process, often waking up without remembering anything.

When they finally met, both wolves began the hunt. Jack had already learned to track his prey, probably his habit of observing everything around him at work had given him a certain experience with this, even as a wolf. Kurt, as a wolf, had an excellent memory, a fact that matched his human personality, since he had a shrewd and reasonably vivid memory than the others.

It was almost dawn when they lay exhausted and bloodstained after their meal of the day, an adult deer. They used to split the hunt every time, after all, it was not worth the waste. Whenever they fed, they needed to lie down for a while, to process the information a little. It was always interesting to realize that they were not humans at that stage, that they were animals, and that no matter how hard they tried, they would remain so, at least for a few hours, for a few days, or nights, sometimes afternoons. They were figuring out how to deal with it because they didn't have much basis for it, the truth is that they knew almost nothing about that condition and avoided having to deal with it, they just hadn't been able to process the stages yet. Jack used to turn first than Kurt; it had always been that way. If Jack felt strange, he knew what it was, and Kurt knew that it would soon be his turn. Because of this, Kurt often ended up seeing the beginning of the process, which always haunted him: seeing what was happening to Jack and knowing that the same thing would soon happen to him.

The next day, the sun's rays penetrated the woods. To a normal person, it was just another day, just another ray of sunshine, but to the boys, it was beautiful. The way they learned to see some things were simply beautiful. Moreover, it was the moment when they came back to themselves. They had never seen the regression of the transformation, they always woke up human, and usually at different times. Jack, just as he was the first to change, was the first to wake up too. The routine was to wake up, and notice the level of dried blood in his body, if it were too much, he would have to clean himself first, if not, he would have to go back to the car - when unforeseen things like that happened - and get dressed in new clothes, then get the other clothes and take them to Kurt. It was no different this time. Jack, finding his friend already regaining consciousness, threw the clean clothes in his direction and asked if everything had gone well with the transformation, to which Kurt confirmed that he had at least managed to remove all his clothes before screaming in pain. Jack was frequently not so lucky.

“I wish I could understand when it starts and when it ends, I didn't want to always have to run off not knowing how long I have until I become a wolf,” Jack said. Apparently, he had more trouble coping than he wanted to. “Let's be honest, the whole thing is horrible. I spend the full day afraid to feel this because if I feel something, I have to run away as fast as possible, and because if I do, it's probably because you're almost at your limit too,” he blurted out, getting up from the floor, fully dressed in his new clothes. “Anyway, have you noticed any worsening?” he asked. Before he could answer, he noticed that Kurt already understood that there was something wrong with him, so he continued. “I've been having trouble controlling certain things. Occasionally, I do wolf things, even though I'm human,” he confessed.

“I understand, sometimes I wake up with my sheet all torn and bitten, it's really weird,” Kurt agreed, confirming that he went through some situations similar to his friend's.

“I growl,” Jack said, avoiding looking at his friend, “It's happened that I've just been taking a shower and started growling. Sometimes in a conversation, I feel and need to get away from people, and sometimes when I sleep I know I'm making the sound. I also have this thing about tears, and I've seen them around my house during the day. And the car…”

“It stinks like hell, I know. It's animal smell, our smell, especially yours,” Kurt confirmed as they got into the car. “We need to fix this.”

The rest of the way followed with the two of them in silence. Kurt then parked the car on the second floor of the residential building's parking lot. The company was directly connected to a residential building. You could say that they lived at work in a way. The apartment of the two had a difference of two hallways. Still in the car, just after it had already parked, the two got out of the car. “Well, here we are. Home sweet home,” Kurt debauched. “Remember to clean up that vomit you left for yourself. I could send it to the car wash, but you can't get around that strong smell,” Kurt finished with a laugh. Jack grinned sarcastically, dismissing his companion's mockery. Finally, they reached the elevator and went up to the floor where they lived. Fortunately, at that time, you could hardly see anyone in the area, which made it much easier not to have to deal with embarrassing situations. Once in their apartments, they took care of what they needed to do since they still needed to help decorate the party in the morning, and try to find an excuse not to attend.

Jack liked Cassie, the most coveted woman in the sectors, and she was his target too. He had never dared to ask her out, mainly because she was engaged, but he was interested. The attraction he felt for her intensified even more when she turned for the first time. It wasn't normal to feel everything I felt. Sometimes it felt like he couldn't hold it in. He had had some sex dreams about her at times, but it helped that he woke up with a bed and a house full of hair and scratches. He thought that if he could do all that just by sleeping, maybe he should keep his distance from her, but he couldn't, she was constantly present in his life and thoughts. Not only that, but he would have to devour her at some point.

At the company, a giant shipment of decorations, sounds, drinks, and food had arrived. It was going to be a big get-together between the two companies at their official merger, as well as a celebration of new employees that would be joining the team in the coming days. Everyone needed to help a little in the organization, especially those who lived nearby, as most of them did.

Slowly, the employees began to arrive, some already dressed for the party. For some reason, the winning poll had been a mask; everyone should wear a mask and dress in plainer clothes. Jack and Kurt agreed, except for the masks, since they didn't plan to stay that long.

Cassie looked stunning, wearing a slightly tight white dress. Her blonde hair was loose and flowing, she looked beautiful. Whenever he could, Jack looked at her, but even though she was coveted by everyone, he didn't want them to know that he included himself in that. He thought that Kurt suspected it, but he had never told them or mentioned it yet. It was like a secret he could possess just for himself, although he really wanted her to know because he just couldn't stop thinking about her.

Cassie's perfume was strong. Both partners had a keen sense of smell even as humans, so they couldn't disguise the sweet smell they smelled coming from her. Kurt, unlike Jack, felt no walk for the woman, as he felt there was something more exciting in the future in store for him.

Finally, a while later, more and more people were arriving. With this, the time for the constant transformations was getting closer and closer.

Music was already starting to play to cheer everyone up. The Lightning employees were already mingling more with those from New Shadow. Some of them even greeted Jack and Kurt and congratulated them on the excellent work they were doing. Almost all the employees wore simple masks, some even more provocative. Some others didn't wear any at all. You could tell that besides the duo, others were not so keen on staying for the get-together. Not everyone liked the rival company, there was a certain hatred in some parts, especially against a certain sector that had a bad reputation for publishing dubious articles. This sector had about twelve members, rightly called “The Twelve”. Jack didn't like them, and Kurt was indifferent, but if he had to have an opinion, he would say he didn't like them either. Few NS members liked that section. They were all together and almost matched. They laughed a lot and seemed almost drunk, even though the party had just started.

It was almost 6 pm when the courtyard was completely packed and had turned into a huge dance floor. Jack was still cleaning up a few small things from the place, as was Kurt. They were in the living room and felt nothing abnormal, apparently, they were not going to transform that day. Transformations used to happen around 6 pm, but not every day. There were days when they just didn't change, but there was no rule for that, it just didn't happen. Everything indicated that they were safe this time, they could enjoy a peaceful day after all.

Kurt, at the party, was chatting in the corner with a girl from one of the farthest sectors of the NS, her name was Kaya. The two of them had talked before and Kurt was truly interested in her because she was also into photography, plus her not having a boyfriend cleared the way for him; he just needed a more open opportunity and this was the appropriate time for it. Although he was trying to talk properly, and coming out with phrases of sheer embarrassment, like saying that their names were super cool because they started with the same letter, the woman seemed to think it was funny. If all went well, they would be having sex in a nearby bathroom.

When he had convinced himself that he wouldn't be transformed that night, Jack realized that mingling might not be so bad, deep down he thought like Kurt, he wanted to enjoy life. He considered asking Cassie to dance or something, but her sweet-smelling perfume was slightly distant, so he concluded that maybe she was unreachable.

He walked down the corridors, which miraculously weren't filled with couples making out until he passed the storage room and realized that his two co-workers were at the famous “finally”. Following the corridor, he passed by a room that was ajar, unlike all the others that were completely closed and closed. Jack wasn't that curious about trivial things, but he couldn't help overhearing the conversation going on inside. Peeking discreetly through the open doorway, he could see about a dozen men, all dressed in black and none wearing a decent mask.

“Are you convinced this will work? Is it reliable?” one of the men asked, curious. You could tell in salt's voice that he was slightly out of sorts.

“He said it was when he offered it to me. It will only make a little smoke with a bad smell. After that, we'll go in and finish it off, it'll be fun to blow up that team”, replied the other, holding up some little black balls that looked very much like bladders.

Jack knew that this was the famous rival group, thirsty for trouble and problematic things. He was not surprised to find them drunk, but he was intrigued by the situation in question. It was quite common for them to make pranks around, some lighter and some heavier, especially since most of the bully boys came from that sector. Jack knew that fire and smoke of dubious content was not a good idea, especially if it was accompanied by an alcoholic beverage that he had no idea where it came from. The smell permeated the room and even the corridor, his keen sense of smell was irritated by how strong it was. Through the doorway, he could see several full and empty bottles. He thought about intervening but realized that it would be a mistake because the boys were too many, and he couldn't guarantee himself against too many people, mainly because he lived with the fear of changing in front of someone, even if it had never happened. He also considered setting off the fire alarm and preventing something from happening, but that would ruin everyone's party. It would be very difficult to accuse the newcomers because that plan was absurd even for their level. He would not be able to prove it.