The morning began with another lecture. Jan's mom, a warm, plump woman with kind eyes, put her hands on her hips again and her big wolf tail was impatiently lashing the table behind her.

"Janek! Well, how long can I?" her usually soft voice now boomed like thunder, "We took you to ALL the local girls, but you keep pretending that you're five years old!"

Nata walked around the table and approached her son.

"You fool! I'm worried about you," she pressed her son's head to her warm chest, stroking his hair, "You're going to become a man soon, you need to be prepared for the obligations that will follow." Nata stroked Jan's blonde, straw-colored hair, and then lightly slapped the back of his head.

Jan snorted, listening to his mother's words. She had been harassing him with such conversations for the past month, and the words "man" and "obligations" were already making Jan allergic.

"Okay, Mom," he drawled, trying to hide his sudden irritation.

"Now go mow the grass for the cattle!" Nata resumed her usual, menacingly caring look, "And don't snort at me here!" she slapped him on the shoulder with a towel, "Go to the meadow! NOW!"

Jan laughed, trying to dodge the towel with which his mother chased him out of the hut onto the street. The day greeted him with bright sun and blue sky. Sighing with pleasure, Jan took the scythe off the barn wall and headed to the nearest meadow.

The scent of freshly cut grass tickled his nostrils and made him want to sneeze. Jan stretched his tired shoulders and yawned, wiping tears from his eyes. The air smelled deliciously of wildflowers, wild honey, old hay and fresh grass. Bees and bumblebees buzzed through the flowers like tiny fluffy bullets. Jan loved it all. He loved life.

"Oh, how good," he muttered, stretching his muscular back with a crunch, "Oh, I think I cut myself."

Jan examined his palm carefully. Indeed, a cut from the scythe stretched across the skin.

"It seems that I will have to go to the doctor for help again," a satisfied smile spread across his face, and his fluffy straw tail rose and swept over his sides, "The doctor is so kind and smells so delicious."

Jan picked up the scythe and slung it over his shoulder, joyfully striding towards the village. Leaving the scythe by his barn, he walked briskly to the local hospital - a small wooden building with carved shutters and peeling paint. Inside smelled of antiseptic and bandages. Jan sneezed, ducking to avoid hitting the beam with his head. He went inside as if to his own home, heading for the small wooden stool next to the hospital bed.

"Miss doctor!" Jan charmingly lowered his ears, looking like an offended child, "I cut myself while working in the meadow."

He extended his palm - a big, warm, boyish hand with calluses and pale old scars.

The young doctor looked at him and Jan, for the umpteenth time, felt like he was drowning - in the depths of her eyes, in the warmth of her fingers. His wolf inside stirred, feeling something primal awakening. The world in front of his eyes seemed to darken slightly as his consciousness narrowed to focus on her.

Jan shook his head, not understanding the sudden clouding in his mind.

"Help, please, it hurts," Jan stretched out his palm a little closer, noisily inhaling her scent. His body reacted immediately in a completely primitive way. Jan blushed deeply, fidgeting on the stool and crossing his legs, trying to cover the growing bulge in his light linen trousers.

Please, pretend you don't notice, he silently begged.