Note: this is based on what is essentially the "demo" /prologue.

What the story stands for  shows promise, but as it currently is, it's an incomplete story, one that I have trouble staying within. I felt like I learned more about what the protagonist didn't know, then about the protagonist when we had so many things to react to. A sort of outline of what he wasn't, and while in a way that defines him, the image I got wasn't clear enough to fill in the space. Maybe even more so bout the brother than himself, which is another curious way to define him. 

 It's very much a queer story (the incurable disease (reminiscent of the HIV crisis), the rejection of the self, the untimely demise, the literal kink community within) and yet we also have other supernatural beings that don't seem to have the same limitations, which kind of pulls it away from that othering (to me). They exist in the same space-- it's the supernatural community, not the werewolf community. Do they have their own health limitations? The rabbit seems to live freely, as does the kitsune and bartender.  The werewolves have an actual built in-limitation (of which the kitsune seems to suggest that trying to seal away things isn't the answer, and yet that feels like sort of the xmen third movie paradigm of "Woman with really awesome powers says there's nothing wrong with being a mutant" whereas "woman who can kill everyone she loves in a touch and never know their embrace wishes to be "normal", if that makes any sense. 

A message can be true, but the preponderance of evidence suggests the full moon, eg. a full embrace, would lead to a lack of sanity, and that it's right to not try and embrace the othering state. And then I'm back to kinda of wondering where this extended metaphor stands, and what the incompleteness obscures that perhaps the full narrative would be able to capture.

I think this work would be more thematically consistent and maybe address those narrative concerns better if it were only werewolves, because that existence of the other supernaturals weakens the pup play/daddy play dynamic with Nino as a parallel to having to have one's interests hidden/a subcommunity within a subcommunity/being "straight passing" by day and then cruising at night. BDSM and the related kinks are pretty openly present at pride and comingled in the overarching community (to be able to have discourse about something means it's present enough to be visible) to me. And I'd say they were still even connected further back to make it being a point of pride discussion, with the hanky code, Tom of Finland, etc etc. They're already communities with a certain degree of overlap.

To me, it makes it very the "author's kink here" and like, there's nothing inherently wrong with that--Christopher Claremont built some beloved storylines doing so (and with some noticeable hiccoughs along the way)--but the structuring of the metaphor gets shaky given the worldbuilding surrounding the presentation. Like, Werewolves queer, the various others also queer? But without the HIV crisis sort of analogue in the werewolf curse? And able to perhaps blend in better most of the time?

If it's meant to be a foil to sexuality more directly, whereas the Werewolf nature is more implicit, then I think it would best be kept by removing the other supernatural creatures and strengthen the theming.

If it's meant to purely be a flavorful tie to the brother, then pop off but I was taken out that someone that the narrative felt like described to me as that serious, composed, etc would spend time with Nino of any nature. I would have believed desperate hanger-on in the outer circle more so than former partner of some measure.

While what may come would likely be enjoyable if crafted with the same care that was put into the polish of this piece--and there was certainly a lot of care as to what the visuals were showing, the manner they were shown (if only for a fraction of a section)--and yet, for me, what's currently present isn't the same as what it promises to become, and that disconnect leaves me wanting and a bit wary.