Chapter 6: First Shift

Wolfgang

~Dammit! What the fuck is wrong with me?~

I had come here on a mission: to see whether or not she could become the luna that the Blood Moon Pack needed.

And now it was clear as day. She couldn’t. The only thing left to do was reject her and get on with my life.

But I couldn’t utter the fucking words.

I kept rambling on, about her being a liability, and worthless to me and the pack as my mate, but still I could not reject her.

She stood there before me, trembling and crying as she listened to my reason for not wanting her.

I felt the urge to take her into my embrace and never let go of her.

But I couldn’t do that. I could not risk this pack’s safety just because of her.

~“Quit the fucking yapping, kid! You’re breaking her heart!”~ Cronnos shouted in my head.

I looked into her eyes. Those huge gray eyes that showed every emotion within her. I was afraid her petite form might collapse at any minute.

“I…I understand,” she finally said. She looked down at her feet, still visibly trembling.

~It’s now or never. Reject her and get over it.~

“I—” I began, but was cut off as I received a mind-link from my gamma.

~“Alpha. We have reports of rogues sighted near our borders.”~

I growled. It was already beginning.

~“I’ll be right there,”~ I replied.

~“How was your visit to Aurora Craton? You weren’t too hard on her for taking the maid uniform back with her, were you?”~

I looked at Aurora. She looked heartbroken. Cronnos urged us to go to her, to hold her and wipe her tears away. But I had other things to take care of.

~“Taken care of. For now. Don’t engage the rogues unless they cross into our territory.”~

I stepped towards the window and jumped out into the night, leaving a part of me with the teary-eyed girl I left behind.

Aurora

Needless to say, I couldn’t go back to sleep after he left.

I cried all night, cried until I had no more tears left in me. I barely flinched with the first rays of sun filtered through my window.

~“What’s the point of the mating bond if all it does is cause this much pain?” ~I asked Rhea.

She could only whimper. ~“He does want you. I can sense it. He just can’t accept it yet,” ~she said. ~“There has to be a reason why he’s being like that.”~

~“I think he made it clear. We aren’t good enough.”~

I ignored Montana when she asked me what was wrong. I didn’t respond to Emma’s concerned texts and ignored her calls. I know that they meant well, but I just didn’t have it in me to pretend I was okay.

I couldn’t even tell them I was rejected by my mate…much less that it was Alpha Wolfgang.

I was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

I don’t know when, but eventually I fell asleep.

When I woke, it was nearly dusk, so I got up and decided to take a walk to clear my mind.

I went downstairs and saw my stepmother fast asleep on the living room couch.

I didn’t want to disrupt her, so I walked quietly out of the house and down to the park where my dad used to take me to play.

Once I got there, the sun had sunk and the moon shone brightly above. I sat on one of the swings and thought about the events of today.

How Alpha Wolfgang had treated me. The words he’d said about me.

My sadness was soon replaced by rage. I felt my body boiling with anger. I felt like I was going to burst at any minute.

~“It’s time for us to shift, Aurora. Since it’s your first time, it’s gonna hurt a bit,”~ Rhea said from within my head.

~“I recommend you run into the woods, then strip off your clothes and stash them somewhere. Once we shift, they’ll tear, and you’ll be left nude when you turn back to your human form.”~ she explained.

I vaguely remembered my dad telling jokes about how he’d end up nude after shifting, and have to walk back home covering himself with whatever leaves or pieces of cardboard he could find.

I looked around and saw that I was completely alone. I got up, then ran to the forest just beyond the playground and hid behind a tree.

I glanced around once more, just to make sure I was alone, then quickly stripped from my clothes.

I hid them in the hollow of a trunk, then waited for more instructions from Rhea.

~“Okay, now concentrate. Feel the aura that I’m sending to you. You’ll feel heat emanate from your chest and spread to your entire body. Don’t fight it. Just let it take over your body.”~

I did as she told me, and felt a tingling sensation begin in my chest. Slowly, it began to grow stronger.

Then pain erupted from within me, causing every bone in my body to ache as if it was breaking in two.

“Aah!” I grabbed my arms as the pain intensified.

~“Don’t fight it. Let it take over you,”~ Rhea said in my mind.

I tried my best to not hold back. To let go. The pain spread to my arms and legs, my fingers and toes.

I could feel every bone inside me stretching. My legs bent backward in an awkward way.

I fell to the ground, watching as my hands slowly transformed into paws with sharp claws. Fur spread over me, covering my nakedness.

My mouth elongated, turning into a snout as sharp fangs replaced my teeth.

I looked up at the moon and felt all my senses heighten.

My vision was as keen as a cat’s. I could see a little ladybug that was fluttering over a shrub a couple of meters from where I stood.

My sense of smell became stronger as well, allowing me to smell the day’s moisture settling on the grass. I could smell rabbits that ran past the tree near where I stood.

I could smell everything from what seemed like miles away.

~“You did it, Aurora! You’ve transformed into a wolf. How do you feel?”~ Rhea asked me.

~“I feel…like running!”~ I said to my inner wolf, earning a sweet chuckle from her.

~“Then do it! What are you waiting for?”~

I didn’t hesitate, just sprinted off like a wild dog.

I ran so fast that my vision blurred. I felt so free, so alive.

A couple of miles later, I reached a clearing with a massive lake. I felt parched, so I walked over to it and dipped my head to take a drink.

But I stopped when I saw my reflection.

My fur was as white as snow, and my eyes shone purple, like amethysts. I’ve never seen or heard of a transformation like mine before.

~“Maybe we are unique,”~ Rhea told me.

I snorted and drank my fill of water.

~“Yeah right,”~ I answered back.

I lay down in the clearing, giving myself a chance to rest after all the running.

~“You are special Aurora. You just don’t see it yet,”~ Rhea continued.

~“I’m not special, Rhea. I’m useless. You heard the alpha himself. He won’t take me as his mate because I’m a weakling. A useless wolf.”~

As I spoke, I recalled his hurtful words. I couldn’t help the whimper that escaped from within me.

~This is pointless. I have nothing good in this town to hold on to. Maybe I should pack my things and leave,~ I thought to myself.

~I could go to the village where Mom grew up, in the East. I’d always dreamed of going there one day.~

I was deep in my thoughts when I heard the snap of a twig.

I stood, suddenly alert, and faced the source of the sound.

I found myself looking at a huge black wolf with icy blue eyes. They seemed so familiar but I couldn’t tell where I’d seen them before.

The wolf moved threateningly toward me. He growled, baring his fangs.

~Shit.~