---Felix' POV---

My routine has slowly changed. The days where I normally took a short walk had turned into days with long walks, often until I heard my mom call out in the distance.

I didn't want to leave the forest.

I didn't want to leave someone who finally, finally understood me. The wolf had kept to the same area, slowly appearing out of the dense shrubbery whenever I started down the trail. It felt...weird, to have a companion on these walks but nice as well.

Each day that passed, I grew more comfortable with the wolf, allowing it closer to me. I don't know why but being near the creature was soothing the nervous energy coursing through my body, calmed me down whenever there was too much input at once.

Right now it was walking ahead of me, pausing regularly to look back. His ears would perk, twitching slightly as I walked closer, pausing with twitching fingers when I heard a voice call out in the distance.

Mom... Time to go back.

The wolf seemed to understand our time was up, turning around to the beginning of the path with a whine. It caused me to pull my lips up in a smile, though doing so felt...odd. I hardly ever smiled anyways. Glancing down, I watched as the wolf's shoulders drooped, head hanging low.

Sad?

It wasn't up until now that I realized the wolf paused, standing at the edge of the forest to look down the trail. Almost as if contemplating if it should come along with me.

But I have to go now... Mom spoke about family coming over...

Already I could feel bile burning my throat at the mere thought of a social gathering. Lots of sounds, sights and scents all combined in one area while I was forced to stay. To try and blend in, acting as if I wasn't overwhelmed with each sound and gesture around me.

I stopped as I heard an odd and loud sound. My hands flew to my ears as I turned back, watching and listening carefully as the wolf threw its head back and howled loudly. Unconsciously, I had kept walking as it had stopped and now it seemed to sing its sorrow to the sky.

"..."

The song cut off as it lowered its head slightly, ears tilted back before he howled again. Shuffling my weight on my feet, I couldn't control the urge to mimic him, although a lot softer, voice scratchy and broken.

But the sensation! The noise was loud, intermingling with the wolf's howl but I could feel the force of it. Vibrating through my chest, ears and throat as it kept a steady pattern. One tone, prolonged and intermingling with the other's voice into a song that fit perfectly with the sensation.

Opening my eyes, I noticed the wolf taking a few steps to the forest before walking back. He had to go but didn't want to and neither did I. Turning, I let out a deep heartfelt sigh, hand reaching up to rub over my throat. It felt nice to speak with my wolf. Really nice.

I frowned to myself as an idea came to mind. He needed a name, something else than wolf. And I had thought of this a few times in the past but hadn't expected the wolf to linger, to come back to me.

But knowing it did and actually called out to me, something I knew wolves only did when they were in packs, made me feel like I belonged. My wolf made me feel good, safe and understood.

Milo... That's what I'm going to call him.

Milo...my wolf.

I blinked and jerked back, surprised that I had walked all the way back to the porch without noticing. Already my mother was standing there, her sister and brother behind her.

My eyes flashed over the thick, curly hair of her sister, the pearl earrings that glinted in the evening sun and the flashy flowers on her red dress. "We were waiting for you Felix, where have you been? Get inside, quickly. Your cousins were getting restless and hungry."

One, two, three, four, five-

I mentally counted till ten as I walked into the room, breathe already picking up its pace.

Eyebrows arching up before bunching together, eyes sharp as they watched me scurry past them and inside. I inhaled deeply but gasped, nearly choking as my senses fired up at the same time. My fingers scratched over my wrists, pausing in the doorway as I didn't dare look up.

"Yeah, I told you I was at my aunt's house? Of course we'll go out this weekend-" Erica was talking softly on her phone, my eyes snapping at her wrist when she moved her fingers through her hair, bracelet tingling sharply with the motion. All the lights were on in the dining room, blinding me and making me blink rapidly.

"Oh joy, it's our freaky cousin. Why do we need to be near him?" Shane muttered softly against his brother, who elbowed him sharply as I glanced at them before looking at my feet. The hum of the refrigerator intermingled the clattering of plates, the grunted "Finally!" coming from Matthew before I hummed deeply when a chair was dragged over the floor.

My fingers tapped in a restless pattern as I stared at the table, my usual spot already taken. I swayed on the spot, glaring down at my feet when I was guided to another seat, my attention snapping to my plate as it was placed down in front of me.

The scent of the thick beef stew smacked me in my face; the heavy scent of beef, spices like pepper, bay leaf and the hint of mustard burned my nose. I inhaled deeply, heart racing in my throat as father walked past with another dish of vegetables and potatoes, bringing along the scents of carrots, potatoes, garlic.

The air rushed in my face as he walked past, choking me as his cologne added into the mix.

One, two, thr-three, four,

Halfway through the counting I jumped as a hand settled on my shoulder. "Focus Felix... Everything is fine. We're just having a small family dinner."

No, it's not fine. There are too many smells and sounds and you guys haven't started eating and talking yet....

I could only rock in my seat, humming sharply as I bared my teeth at being touched. Of course they never understood and father squeezed my shoulder before going to his seat. Meanwhile my aunt sent down beside me, spreading the scent of her own perfume over the table.

"Well" she asked, "Is he still going to that special needs school? I don't see any improvement." She looked down at me and her lip crawled up in a smile, nose twitching slightly before mom cleared her throat.

"Irene, Felix made progress but you know as well as I do that he's low-functioning. Doctors warned us he'll never reach the mental capabilities of a five year old."

My eyes were burning... Why are they burning?

"Ding!"

My eyes flew to the cellphone as it buzzed sharply after producing the shrill sound, before I glanced to my left where Shawn was loudly slurping from his soup. Dad was speaking with Uncle Simon to my left, while mom and her sister were discussing my 'disability' loudly.

I could hear Erica's fingers tap on her phone as she shuffled in her seat, another loud, obnoxious slurp piercing through my head to add to the steadily building headache. Rocking didn't help anymore: every time I moved I caught more of the scents around me, could even smell a hint of sweat coming from my nephew to add to the thick fragrance around the table.

"Ding! Ding!"

"You should really think about institutionalizing the boy sweetheart and I mean it in the kindest way. You hardly do anything for yourself now! And I'm sure that-

-caught a carper I hardly could lift into the boat, I swear! Nearly broke the rod in half, not to mention my back when I tried to drag him up!"

My eyes were flying everywhere, humming continuously as I was trapped in a hurricane of sensations. Loud laughter filled the air and a hand slapped sharply on the table, rattling everything on it.

I snapped.

My chair landed on the floor with a loud bang as I jolted back, startling everyone before dad stood up, grabbing me by the hand when I went to bolt for the door.

"He's having another outburst. Felix, calm down!" Sound ripped from my throat as I fought against the hold, against the fingers digging in and holding me, an arm tangling over my chest as I screamed and shouted, kicking with my feet.

I need to go outside!

I want Milo!

Snarling and fighting to get free, I clawed at the hands around me, feeling disgusted by their touch. When clawing didn't help, I bared my teeth and bit down on the wrist, which instantly released me.

Fleeing for the door, I was almost within reach as I was tackled and held to the floor by a heavy weight, pinning me down.

"Felix, we're trying to help! Calm DOWN!"

You're not helping. I need to go outside.

Let me outside!!!

PLEASE!

Instead my mouth was forced open and the bitter medication slipped inside before a hand clamped over my mouth, forcing it to swallow. Everyone sighed in relief as my body calmed down.

But I was trapped in a body that didn't react. I couldn't kick and scream when they lifted me up and brought me to my bed, couldn't even hum to deal with everything.

I could only suffer in silence until the meds were out of my body.

---Milo's POV---
The boy was late.

He never was late though. I could trust him to arrive at the trail at the same time, I even looked forwards to it. But today was different. I sat and waited for hours until I heard a faint noise in the distance.

My head lifted from my paws, ears perking and a happy yip slipping from my lips as I saw the boy walking closer. He staggered oddly on his feet and his scent... It was off, sharp and metallic...

A soft whine slipped from my lips as he staggered and fell, making me trot to the boy. My tail wagged softly but I stilled when he stayed down and started sobbing on the forest floor. The sound burned through my body, settling in my chest with a heavy feeling.

It reminded me of my howls when I had called out for wolves, to form a pack...to find a family, a place where I belonged. But no-one responded.

Nobody except this boy...my boy...and my pack.

His answering howl had stunned me, excited me. The sound of two loners howling together, forming a bond. Forming a pack.

And right now, my pack needs me.

I didn't even notice I was moving until I was but a huff away from the boy. And instead of shying away, I slowly arched my head lower and nuzzled under his arm.

His reaction was instantaneous and hard to process. Arms wrapped around me, fingers digging into fur until I was almost resting on the boy, his face buried deep in the fur of my throat.

And even through my thick coat, I could feel the moisture of his tears.

I twisted slightly, feeling him hug me closer as we both laid down on the forest floor. I didn't care he was touching me, that a human held me so close, in such a vulnerable position.

My boy needed me.

And as I kept licking at the never-ending stream of tears, I could feel him bury deeper into the comfort of my body. Could feel our bond growing.

And more importantly.

I felt his pain.