Yep. That's what he thought. His eyes close briefly as he pulls in a solidifying breath.

"Not here," he says. He doesn't even know why anyone would want to earn it. If he could choose to be anything else, he would. "Being a werewolf here means you're a shapeshifter, and you're given two animal forms. One is the wolf, and the other one is usually a smaller animal, though you don't always immediately find out what it is."

Alek hasn't. For now. He doesn't know it yet, but he will rue the day he does find out.

"The full moon - " He swallows. "We can't control the shift during every full moon, and it's not the wolf we become."

No, it's something far, far more lethal.