To Luca the Pack was more then just a group of ragtag mutts working putting up with one another in order to survive. They were more like a family for her. She had lived alone for far too long before meeting the Pack. She had gone from being the only child of her loving parents, to a werewolf orphan living alone in the woods. Luca often was kept up at night, haunted by the memories of her early years as a werewolf. In the times she frantically killed and ate everything in her path. The constant fear and anger as Luca was unable to control her own instincts and the need to hunt to kill. In my times of guilt and my resentment for my past mistakes, it was nice to be part of a pack.

But this Pack wasn't like a normal one. There was no pecking order. Even though Luca was the youngest and smallest, she wasn't kicked around by the older members. She wasn't forced to eat whatever scraps the others left behind. They hunted with each other, for each other, and it lead to a rather healthy bond between them all. They all looked out for each other. It was almost like Luca had a family again. A family made up of multiple fathers, mothers and siblings. 

One thing that her Pack mates were unable to stop was the pain of the Change. Luca could only blame herself for the pain she was forced to endure every time she changed. After years of suppressing her need to change it became more and more hard as well as painful and time consuming. Her first time being forced to change by the moon filled her with hours and hours of pain. And even after changing many times since then, it's still pretty difficult and painful. Luca often tries to be near her trusted pack mates when she changes, it's almost a comfort for her knowing her friends are nearby.

Even now as she changes, she knows some of her friends are in the area, but the pain still hits her like a ton of bricks. The stretching and reforming of bones, the morphing of skin as fur shoots through it, the stabs of pain as her spine and limbs reform her shape. Luca tries to muffle her grunts and sounds of pain as tears threaten to spill over her eyes. She tries to tell herself that eventually it will get easier for her, and soon she would get to go hunting with her friends. The whole process takes nearly forty five minutes. And Luca dreaded every second of it.

But eventually she was finished. And god did it feel good to be changed. Luca pranced around in a circle, jumping up and down with joy. She let out and excited howl in response to the members of her Pack. She could tell them all apart by the tones of their howls. Luca let out another joyful howl as she trotted towards the others, excited to play and hunt.