He's running. Not without purpose. We're on the prowl. Not for rabbits, but for dryads. So far, we've run into three who all just stared at us, wearing scarfs. One even had a little hat on top of one of their biggest branches. They all shooed me away, telling me to leave them alone. I was welcomed in their forest, but I wasn't welcomed to stand and stare. No one likes to be stared at, after all. It was helping me and the wolf though to catch a proper scent of dryads.

They smelt of dirt. Of bark. Dead leaves. They walked around leaving that scent all over the forest, but it was hard to distinguish theirs to what the forest usually smelt of. It was like a combination of all three, rather than the three smells being individual smells.

None looked like the other. All three were emulating different sorts of trees. Birk, maple, ash. All native to the forest so nothing out of the ordinary. But the dryad I had seen at the campus, both the wolf and I didn't recognise that. Its bark was darker, the trunk thick, the branches thin and almost swirly. I had also noticed pink flowers on it. I wished I knew more about flowers. Or trees. Or plants in general.

This was going nowhere, and I needed to get back anyway. Dawn would soon be here, and the full moon would be over.

"Did you find anything?" Creek asked.

"Nothing. Or well, I met three dryads, but they were all wearing Mags' knitting so they weren't the one we're looking for." I shrugged and took a sip from my coffee.

"Knitting?" Liza asked, arching her brows. She resembled her sibling in so many ways. They had the same high cheekbones. Creek was shorter, but they looked practically like twins if it hadn't been for Liza's long kinky hair and Creek's buzzcut with a fade up their neck.

"Mags knits scarves and hats for them. The dryads get cold apparently and come to her for keeping warm. So that's how we'll know if they're the good ones or the one bad one. It doesn't go to Mags'."

Liza frowned a little and then went back behind the counter as a customer entered the bakery.

"What's your plan now?" Creek asked, eyeing the customer. A handsome boy, our age. I had seen him around campus before.

"I don't know. That was my last night for this month with a full moon. If I go off running again, the elders will know I'm doing what they told me not to do. Like, your mum is going to be so mad."

"She is. She wasn't happy to hear you were out roaming last night or the night before, but she knows you don't have full control yet. Like you can occasionally shift, but during the full moon you have no choice."

I nodded a little and pushed my finger down on a sugar wrapper. "I just don't feel good sitting on my ass all day."

"No, but you still have some messed up ribs, mate. Don't be a dumbass. Not to mention, your arm isn't even fully healed yet either. What're you going to do against a feral dryad?"

"I've got you, don't I?" I asked with a sly smile.

Creek rolled their eyes. "Eh, screaming at it just makes it run away."

"Yeah, we could make it run into a trap."

"You're an idiot."

"Am I though?" I smirked at them.

"If we get caught dryad hunting, we'll both get skinned alive." They sighed deeply. I think I was winning in on them.

"Yeah sure, but what if we don't get caught," I countered. "We're not the only ones who're really tired of waiting for the dryad to claim their next victim. We really should all be out there looking constantly, shouldn't we?"

"Well, it's dangerous, innit. And in the end, we're all just a bunch of... Kids, really. We don't really know what we're up against."

"But we do know that they don't like your scream. And we know I can at least hurt it... Somewhat."

"And it can hurt you." They pressed their lips together and shook their head. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"It's a brilliant idea." I winked at them.

It wasn't really a brilliant idea, and no one was really that on board with it. Cal was reluctantly digging a trap with her brothers. Fred was lounging on a big trunk next to Abel, while Creek anxiously walked around the clearing.

I spent my time scouring through the forest, the wolf having lent me his sense of smell. I kept circling the clearing, slowly working my way further and further away, but never so far, I couldn't still call for help in case the dryad appeared.

A very familiar smell hit me, and I looked over my shoulder, waving at Abel, as he was coming towards me.

"Find anything?" he asked, his hands shoved into the pockets of the bomber jacket. It was almost as if he was cold. Had even borrowed a scarf from me.

"Nothing but you, I'm afraid."

"Well, I'm a catch." He did that dorky wink of his and grabbed my hand. "You catching anything but me?"

"No, I can't catch a scent of this thing. It's like it has disappeared. I scoured the woods with the wolf too and nothing." I threw my hands out to the sides and sighed deeply. "This is getting dumb, Abel. We've been here for hours and it's getting dark soon. What's the point?"

"You tell me," he said and ran his thumb over the back of my hand.

"I don't know. I thought I could make a difference, you know? I wanted to do something but fuckall is hap-" a loud crack interrupted me.

Abel grabbed me and shoved me behind him. He had his fingers wrapped around my arm and they were rapidly turning darker. With longer nails that rapidly turned into claws. Like actual legit big-ass black talons.

"I think you found it," he said with a deep voice that didn't at all sound like his regular one. He looked back over his shoulder, the dark dot now covering all the white in his eyes. "You smell anything?" He had a hard time talking, his fangs much longer than I had ever seen them before. The pointy tips were turning dark too.

I was staring wide-eyed at him, watching my usually sweet boyfriend turn into something else entirely. He still smelt the same. His presence felt the same. But he was not looking like himself anymore. Everything that could turn pointy, did. His cheekbones were about to jump out of his face, and his ears were growing like an elf's.

And then my attention was almost violently pulled towards the trees. The dryad stumbled out between the larger trunks, looking even worse than what it had the last time. Several of its branches were broken off, and it kept shedding pink flowers.

"You gotta get out of here," Abel said and let go of my arm, spreading his own out to the sides, the talons growing even longer.

"I'm getting the others!" I said and hauled ass back to the clearing. I didn't get far before Cal landed in front of me with a thump.

"Where is it?" she asked, her wings flapping.

"That way!" I yelled way too loudly, pointing towards Abel. She didn't hesitate for a second before she stormed towards Abel and the dryad. I followed back too. Abel was latching onto the branches, cracking them off before one came almost out of nowhere, slamming into his ribs. And that's when the wolf jumped out.

We both went at the dryad together with Cal. She dug her talons into the bark of the dryad, as I buried my teeth in what was probably its leg. It let out a massive screech and shook us off, going for the clearing.

Cal took off a meter above the ground and slammed into the dryad again, making it fall. I jumped on top of it, digging at its back. Abel was back up again and grabbed another branch, tearing it right off.

If I had had the time, I would've been stopped and admired the sheer strength he was showing off, but I didn't have time at all. The dryad was getting back up on its feet, and I was doing everything to hold on for my dear life.

I was on top of it as it rose, swinging branches around, trying to get me off, but I held on. Barely.

Cal grabbed another branch coming flying straight toward me and broke it clean off. And that's when Con and Coop decided to join in. They grabbed branches, breaking them off, before Con caught one with his face.

Abel stepped in and got the branch broken off. I kept biting bark off of its head. Or what I thought was its head?

But then I was flying all of a sudden. And then I hit the ground. Hard. Things blurred for a second and then a tree was in front of me. But also pink yarn?

My vision cleared properly and that's when I realised other dryads had joined us. All dolled up in Mags' knitting. And they weren't going after us – they were going after the feral dryad too.

One grabbed onto a branch and screamed, making the feral dryad halter. It stopped but then it slammed a branch straight through the trunk of the dryad wearing a hat. It screamed so loud it made my ears ring.

The wolf howled through it, making me focus on something else than how badly my body hurt. I got back up and made this loud roar. The feral dryad turned towards me, and I charged at it. I jumped off the ground, hitting a branch but using it to get me further up this thing. I landed on top of its 'shoulders' and then bit down hard. Something wet and disgusting filled my mouth and the dryad screamed, but I bit down harder. The dryad finally fell to the ground with me on top, biting and biting and biting.

"Gael, you can let go now," Abel said softly, carefully running his hand over my back.

I carefully let go and stepped back.

I looked back to the dryads in knitwear, finding two of them tending to their wounded friend. Fred was by them too.

I was dead tired. Creek came to me with a pair of shorts and a hoodie. I let the wolf rest and changed back. Abel immediately put his jacket over me while I got dressed.

"Ah shit," Cal muttered, holding on to a torn-up sneaker. "I always forget to take these off."

"I don't know where my clothes go," I said, looking down at myself. "I reckon it gets torn to shreds. Good thing I didn't wear anything good this time."

Cal snorted and looked down at her t-shirt that was very ripped. Same as her sweats. She was much larger whenever she shifted.

"How's the dryad?" I asked and went to Fred.

She had her hands carefully on the dryad's trunk. "She'll be fine. She's just mad her bark is all messed up. I've told her she should go to Mags for a sweater."

"You understand them?" I asked, surprised.

"I understand nature," she said as if that made any sense.

"Can you thank them for me?" I smiled up at one of the dryads wearing a blue scarf. It had a mitten on a branch too.

She nodded and turned her attention back to the wounded dryad. I didn't wanna interfere more and I went back to Abel. He had changed back to his softer less pointy self.

"You're amazing," I said quietly, so only he could hear.

He had been looking at Cal and her brothers checking over the feral dryad, but he turned his gaze to me.

"What?" he said with wide eyes.

"You heard me. You're amazing. You were so powerful. The way you changed... It was like I was seeing you for the first time, but... At the same time, that I had seen you this entire time as well." I went to him and put my hands on his hips. "You are beautiful, Abel."

He blinked rapidly for a moment and then he bent down, kissing me. And then he inhaled sharply, grabbing my shoulder to steady himself.

"Sorry, my body is killing me. I desperately need to feed." His brows were pushed together, making his forehead wrinkle and he looked pale. He usually looked golden, as if he had stepped right out of the sun, but he was clammy and pale. It took so much out of him to show his true form.

"Let's go home. I'm knackered and I wanna sleep for like... Fifteen days at least."

"What're we doing with the dryad?" Abel asked with a louder voice so Cal and her brothers could hear.

"Bringing it back to the elders," Con said. "So, they know we did something about the problem rather than just sit around and chat over tea." He grabbed a hold of one of the few branches that hadn't been broken off and lifted the dryad off the ground.

"Text us about what they have to say," I said and put my arm around Abel, letting him lean on me. "Gotta get this one home and put some blood in him."

"The way you talk about me while I'm right here," Abel chuckled and kissed my hair.

"Come on, love. Let's go home."