Outside in the backyard, James and Nate returned to check on the grill. They had steaks cooking and weren't too far away from being done when the family had stopped to watch the lunar eclipse and then transformed under it. The four transformations, counting May's, had left the grill largely unattended. Now they returned to it, and James found himself surprised by how good his sense of smell was. Steaks always smelled good, but now it was even better.
"Smells good, doesn't it?" Nate asked him as he noticed the look on his brother's face.
"Never thought I'd feel that something that already smelled good could smell better," James shrugged.
"Just the enhanced senses of a werewolf," Nate smiled.
James slowly nodded and looked up toward the moon above them. In the time it had taken his family to transform, the moon had begun to move out of the Earth's shadow. It still had its red hue, but parts of it was beginning to grow lighter and more easily visible.
"And all thanks to a rare eclipse," James commented offhand, "I suppose the moon will be far more important for my family now."
"It will," Nate nodded as he glanced up, "For the three nights of every full moon we'll HAVE to change... though with time and practice you'll be able to change at will."
"You'll need to let us train you for so that way when you're frustrated or stressed you don't force a change inadvertently," George commented where he was picking up the scraps of clothing that James and his son had destroyed when they changed.
"So things at work that generate strong negative emotions could trigger a change?" James asked.
"Strong positive emotions can to," Nate gave a chuckle, "without control, you and May could probably trigger a change by having sex..."
James only blinked and turned his focus to the grill for a moment. Smoke rose from the grill as he opened the lid and drifted up into the air. From there, it was easy to see the status on the steaks. Luckily for them, while they were close to being done, they still had a little more to wait before they would be done.
"Not too much longer to wait," James announced, feeling relieved that his transformation hadn't ruined dinner. He lowered the lid again to let the steaks finish and then looked up to see the moon again and thought over the changes that came from the eclipse. Transforming was obvious and being careful not to reveal to the neighborhood that he and his family were werewolves was obvious, but he had other wonders... "So... Nate... what is that werewolves do? A part of me feels inclined to hunt and be a predator... but there is nothing would match the notion of horror movie monsters."
"Those things are nothing but lies," George growled, "there have been werewolves that have murdered people... but that was a CONSCIOUS decision to do so. Those people would have likely been murderers regardless of whether or not they were werewolves."
"I never said the movies were accurate," James answered his father, hearing the irritated tone in his father's voice.
Nate waived his father off, as he knew James was still very new to all this. He and his family would have a lot to learn about being werewolves and that Nate and his wife and his and James' parents would need to explain and teach a lot about being a werewolf. The fact that James was willing to ask questions was a sign that he was at least adapting well to what he was.
"We can be hunters yes... but as dad pointed out in his own way... our mind isn't lost to a blood lust," Nate explained, "If you don't want to eat people, you won't be forced to."
"Good to hear," James gave a sigh, "but is that all you do? Go hunting?"
Their town wasn't a small one, though it wasn't necessarily large either, but it did have the benefit of being surrounded by the Rocky Mountains with plenty of forest to explore in. James had even taken his family hiking along some scenic trails outside of town a couple of times. The area had to be well stocked with deer as there seemed to be a large influx of people coming in in the fall for the hunting season.
"Well... no... but a lot of what we do isn't really different from what normal people do to a degree," Nate answered, "Just to live beside humanity... and to protect them as well..."
"Protect them? From what?" James wondered.
"In case any werewolf comes in and thinks being a werewolf gives them a right to bully others," George answered, "though I'd think they're likely rather rare. Our family appears to be the only pack in this town."
"You don't have any rules about who my sons can date?" James asked carefully, "Do they have to date other werewolves?"
"Not if they don't want to," George answered, "Besides... Nate and Jeanie were very intimate with each other for quite a while before she joined the pack..."
"During sex," Nate answered.
James then breathed deeply while Nate paused to collect his thoughts. Once he did so, Nate returned to explaining what it was the pack did.
"Anyway... we've also done hiking, jogging, and a fair number of outdoor games for fun," Nate continued, "and sometimes we stay in to dine and talk and work on things that our human lives are dealing with... things like hunting is part of the wolf part of us... but it doesn't control us... in fact, as I'm sure you've found out... we control it."
"I see," James answered, "I... I think I do seem to understand this... instinctively, but I just had to hear you say it, bro."
"Well, that's good," Nate smiled, "Let's check the steaks one last time..."
James nodded and found the steaks to finally be ready. Reaching for a set of tongs, he then collected all the steaks and began placing them on a platter, ignoring the fact that his father's grizzled black muzzle was drooling at the sight of the steaks to match his brother and himself. The steaks smelled that good. Once they were on the platter, James shut the grill, and turned the series of vents to smother the fire inside it. Once that was done and there was no danger of a fire, James turned to his father and brother and nodded to the patio door they had come out through.
"So, shall we go in and tell the others that dinner is ready?" James asked, eager to hear his father's story about how he found out about their family's genetic history and how he and Nate had awakened it in themselves. Being assured that they would have control over themselves and that the changes in their lives wouldn't be too terribly drastic and wouldn't be to bad. The idea of chasing deer actually sounded like a fun game, and given the various reports of people complaining of deer coming into town or getting hit by cars, he figured there wasn't that much of a threat of them eating all of the deer in the area.
"Yes," Nate smiled, "Lets."
They went back inside to find all but Hunter standing quietly in the back living room. Mikey stood by May who was holding him to her furry hip while Jeanie stood on May's other side. Margaret quietly stood waging her tail. They all seemed to be focused toward the entryway into where the dinning room and kitchen was and a different corner that lead to the front entryway, though thanks to the corners in the house, no one at the front entry could see them for the moment. None of them even bothered to acknowledge that the pack's adult males had returned with the cooked steaks.
"What's going on?" George asked for a moment, finally getting a turn of heads.
"Alice came by," May answered, "apparently Hunter left his backpack there while they were working on their homework for their High School."
"She..." James began, sounding almost fearful.
They hadn't truly become something ugly, and he found May to still be quite beautiful with her muscles enlarged greatly but not to the point where she lost her femininity, her large and firm blonde furred breasts, wide hips, athletic legs and feet, and a fluffy blonde wolf tail with a protective fierceness that he could see in her eyes and muzzle. May, to James, was the most beautiful she-wolf he'd ever seen... or course, he'd also thought May was the most beautiful human woman he'd ever seen when they first met. James also had to admit that his brother looked fairly handsome for a male werewolf. Strong muscles, a strong jaw and muzzle, and his black fur actually glistened in low light in a way James' reddish brown fur didn't, which made him a little jealous of his brother. However, how he saw May now and how he saw himself and his brother as werewolves was irrelevant to how a normal human might see them. A human could see their great muscles and see their physical power. A human could see their claws and fangs and know they were well armed. And a human could look over the mythology of werewolves and see something that was nothing but a mindless brute. That could mean that poor responses could happen. A scared human could attract attention that could get them killed or get them on the run.
"From what we could hear she's responded rather well," May answered, "Hunter just asked her if she wants to come meet his grandparents and aunt and uncle and of course... the new us..."
"Hopefully she doesn't mind us all being naked," Jeanie commented.