The pine forest echoed with the last, dying note of a small, awkward and certainly unusual howl.

  “Awoo?”

  The instructor’s ears twitched as her jaw clenched. Though she was Lupine, she had long since bucked the untamed wild stereotype that followed her people, as she instead had been raised well in a house of means. The involuntary twitch and clenched jaw would be absolutely scandalous in high society, yet here she was attempting to model proper etiquette. Her dress was fashionable and well stitched, her fur carefully brushed and styled. Though she presented herself in a partial transformation, neither fully human nor wolf, she was looked every bit like the nobility she worked with.

  Many years she had served as a howling instructor, for numerous families. And for many years, she had loved passing down the art of the perfect howl. Today was different; she just had not had a student this clueless in many years. She exhaled sharply, crossing her arms and eyeing the young werepup on the stand beside her. His tail wagged hopefully.

  “No, no. That was an awoo, not a howl,” she corrected, her voice precise, elegant, like a tuning fork in perfect resonance and her words were proper with carefully measured inflection. She smiled, just slightly, and carefully prompted the young pup, "Try again. This time, from deep inside. Channel your wild side, and let it flow."

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  The boy scrunched his nose, inhaled dramatically, and tried again.

  “AwhOOOOoo?”

  A beat passed. A bird flitted away somewhere behind the trees. The instructor closed her eyes as she sucked in her breath. After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes in forced cheery manner, half smile again and attempted to correct the young boy once more.

  “Still wrong,” she gritted through her carefully maintained teeth. “Too much of a question, not near enough confidence. You aren't asking to allow your presence, you are announcing it. You are the alpha male, not them.”

  He looked crushed.

  “But I did the chest thing you said! It came from here this time!” He thumped his tiny paw against his sternum.

  “Yes,” she said dryly. “And yet, it sounded like that. Little alpha, try again. This time, deep down inside, unleash your inner pack leader. Like this.”

  She reared her head back, took a perfect pose, and gave a masterful howl. The notes hung in the air, at first deep, long and low but gradually rising into a haunting crescendo. The howl ended, and the nearby woods stood still in awe. Even the wind stood still, not daring to interrupt such a performance.

  The boy’s ears drooped a little, intimidated. “Oh. Well, yeah... I think I’ve got it now. Really. Yeah.”

  She stepped aside with a sweeping gesture, resigned. “By all means. Dazzle me.”

  He stood tall, drew in a breath like a champion about to unleash a war cry -

  “AwoooOoOo-hweee!”

  A high-pitched squeak at the tail end, like a kettle whistling gleefully that it was boiling.

  She blinked. “Did… did you just... squeak at the moon?”

  He looked sheepishly proud. “I felt... joyful.”

  She turned toward the tree line, muttering to herself.

  “This is it. This is how I go feral.”