I must have made a funny sight, reading this while trying to eat my lunch; head bobbing up and down while mentally cursing eyes that would never come back to quite the same spot. Wonderfully written and a tale I look forward to following...

V.

Ha, I've had that experience, or similar... gulping cereal at breakfast, slopping milk over the laptop while desperately trying to finish a story you started in the wee small hours.

Thank you for following the story, Vixyy. I will try my very best to make it worth your while.

I would agree with Gareth's assessment of the quality of a life with a mate and a good friend, though I've never had the former. It's an enviable position at first glance. I do wonder about what the long term future might hold for him. Ever the realist, in his position I think I would end up worrying about unknown health risks, public exposure, the nature and compatibility of his and Aspen's children.

As a story, though, I can thoroughly enjoy the warmth of cherished company without worry. The support Lily offers promises to offer a better future for the impending newborn. And I'm not sure what it says about me, but I never considered the risk to Lily from being exposed to the same potential for unintended change as Gareth experienced.

I've seen "The Company of Wolves" twice, once in the late eighties and once ten or so years ago. I was mostly confused the first time. The second time I understood that there was a lot of symbolism I was overlooking but still didn't get much out of it. It may be time for a third viewing, if I can find a good source.

And I'll freely admit to getting a good chuckle out of Gareth's dish washing paraphernalia. I mean it only makes sense, yeah?

Like Vixyy, I'm looking forward to future installments. Carry on, good sir!

I had a long-ish list of things that Lily might want answered first, and decided to chose the one that would unsettle Gareth the most. He's most interesting to me as a character when he's on the back foot.

"The Company of Wolves" is certainly heavy on the symbolism, to the extent that the flood of tropes presented is at risk of swamping the storytelling itself. The issues at hand are powerful and needed to be explored, but their presentation is unnecessarily disjointed, at least for me. The appearance of the film is a little dated now, but it does have a haunting soundtrack based on a Scandinavian musical theme, and the very final scene stuck with me for a long, long time. Did you try the (very) short story of the same name that was the basis for the film? It's in the collection "The Bloody Chamber." Angela Carter's writing is luminous.

We'll be moving into choppy, unknown seas with 'Tremble' soon. Thank you for staying aboard for the ride!

Another great installment!
I absolutely adored the lovable goofball comment. WYSIWYG
And the end of this piece...serenade of wolf song...damn, sorry...got some dust in my eye >.>

Glad you liked it, and thank you! I dunno... part of me thinks Aspen comes across as way too human in this chapter. That said, she's probably picked up a few mannerisms from Gareth over their months of living together as mates

I need very, very little excuse to work wolf song into my stories. It becomes a more important facet of 'Tremble' in future chapters.

What a wonderful story! I was hooked immediately and devoured it all in one night. Amazing work. It's also very interesting seeing how your writing has evolved from this over the past seven years.

Reading about these two individuals, both lonely in their own deep and aching ways, coming together and forming their pack was so beautiful. Gareth's own self discovery about the nature of his isolation was especially remarkable, and was a great vehicle for their relationship to ride in on. Aspen's reason for loneliness was a little more straightforward, but the nature of her werewolf "abilities" really made up for it.

And speaking of how the werewolf abilities worked, it was so unique to see it explored as a result of coevolution. They can both shift into werewolf mode, but one returns to full wolf while the other returns to full human. Perhaps I just haven't read enough werewolf stories, but I haven't seen that before, and it was very well explained and fascinating. It also went far in providing a deeper meaning to their relationship. And passing on the wolfhood with a kiss? Awesome.

One thing I often see in stories like this is that there never seems to be a reason as to why the characters love each other. Nothing I can point to and say "that's why they fell in love". I can certainly point to multiple reasons these two worked well together, each reason varying widely in depth. It was very refreshing, never feeling like vicarious wish-fulfillment.

One thing I will say is that I noticed a shift in the style of your prose after chapter 6. It seemed to become less romantic, if that makes sense. Gareth's dreamy and enraptured descriptions gave way to a more straightforward style. That inconsistency was a bit jarring, but then again it also served to make Lily's point of view unique. I'm not sure how I felt about it.

But altogether just a wonderful read. I really enjoyed the heck out of it. Not sure if there's more to read or not, but please point me in the direction of it, if so. ^_^

Thank you for another generous and thoughtful review. Yeah, Gareth is partly-healed mess at the beginning of the story; he thinks solitude will be the antidote to his grief, but that outlook doesn't survive for very long once Aspen comes onto the scene. I wanted Gareth's attitude towards her to shift without him really perceiving it, from 'I want to save this wolf' to 'OK, I'm going to keep this wolf', and then to 'Oh gawd, I actually have feelings for this person' after her true nature becomes clear.

I'm glad you liked the co-evolution element - you can blame that on the biologist in me! As for the kiss, well, the transmission of lycanthropy through a bite is such an overworn cliché that I wanted to twist it just a little bit. In any case, a kiss seemed more appropriate for their relationship at that point, compared to a bite.

The story, as originally conceived and submitted, ended with Chapter 6. Several years later, I decided I just had to deal with Lily's discovery of the truth, and her reaction to it. That's when I wrote Chapters 7-9. I'm sure the change in tone did feel a bit jarring, but the switch to Lily's POV was at least partly responsible for that.

Chapter 9 is not the end! Although I have not yet written the direct continuation, the world of Gareth and Aspen and Lily is going to morph into the world of Spontaneous Adolescent Lycanthropy and the various stories already posted in that setting.

If you liked 'Tremble', I wholly recommend you take a look at Wirewolf's story 'Fate Also Smiles', which was its inspiration. Truly a classic of the fandom: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/500446/

I'll look forward to that continuation then! And I'll be sure to take a look at Wirewolf's story. I'm relatively new to all of this, so it'll be good to read one of the classics.

I'm working my way through the timeline you listed under Anorak, as well.