Thomas Wright mumbled to himself dejectedly as he padded on all fours, sulking out from Kansas University’s Halloweenathon. He’d had the most authentic costume by fare, an Ire Wolf from House Tarks! Didn’t anyone read anymore? If only the television show had caught up to book three!

“It’s not fair!” He loudly exclaimed, voice distorted by the suit. “I wish someone would see this costume for what it really was!” The man’s eyes stung with tears as he forced himself to blink them away, the world seeming to swirl around him, spinning like he was caught in some sort of vortex.

And as Thomas’s tears started to clear, he realized that the swirling wasn’t only in his mind, and that he wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The temperate day outside had somehow become a blizzard, and while it meant that his costume wasn’t as suffocating, it also meant that something had gone very awry.

“Um… Hello?” He called, his eyes wide as he tried to stand on two legs to get a better view of his surroundings. Unfortunately, his costume protested against this effort to be human, and with a groan of dismay he fell back onto his haunches, beginning to worry. Where was he? How would he undress without that safety hook back in his dorm room? And what was that strange feeling in his back?

The answer to the last question came with a loud CRACK that made Thomas howl in pain. His spine snapped loudly, bending backwards in a savage change that left his vision swirling with pain-inspired stars. It was like he’d been bludgeoned by a sledgehammer that had forcibly straightened his spine!

Much to Thomas’s displeasure, the pain didn’t stop there. More cracks and pops assailed his body, making him slump to the ground in agony, a scream driving his throat hoarse. It was like all of his bones were being broken inside his costume; like he was being beaten senseless by a mobster he owed money.

Worse yet, his skin was burning too, like he was covered in acid; like he was being melted inside his costume. The young man’s screams grew even louder, even rougher as his lungs began to grow sore. He was dissolving into his costume; his every nerve screaming with protest.

“What’s happening?” Thomas shrieked as loudly as he could, tears spilling from his eyes and matting down the fur on his costume’s cheeks, freezing as they fell. Then he realized he could feel the tears on his costume’s furry cheeks as though they were his own, and that he had a very real muzzle on his face.

“N… No way…” Thomas mumbled, turning his head to see a shaggy pelt; to feel the icy wind whipping through his fur. Somehow, impossible as it was, he’d become an Ire Wolf… And it felt like the changes weren’t done with him yet.

His bones still ached painfully; his muscles screaming with protest as a new change assaulted him. His skin felt like it was too small for his body; his form felt like it wasn’t enough to contain him! His vocal chords twisted as his body began to grow, as his mind began to diminish as his body swelled. He was getting larger and larger, past the size of any wolf in his world and into the realm of the horse-sized animals from the books. No, even bigger than those—he was an alpha, a pack leader!

With this realization came the stunning awareness that his mind had somehow diminished; that he couldn’t remember his name as anything but ‘The Alpha’. So stunned was he, The Alpha almost missed the cry that filled the air, and the horse-mounted rider on the horizon. “Ire Wolf! To me, my kinsmen!” The words seemed strange to his canine ears, but enough of his mind recognized their danger.

The Alpha’s canine eyes bulged, and his heat pounded as he realized that today’s nightmare was far from over. He turned to run, his nose twitching as he desperately locked onto the scent of his new pack.