“Dear, why on earth would you think that? I can feel your wolf,” she asked.
“I think you are feeling my nature, not my wolf. I’m twenty-two and my wolf has yet to show herself. If I have a wolf, she is probably too weak to break through,” I said.
“Now, this is just nonsense. Why would you have a weak wolf?”
“Everyone knows that a strong wolf will come to you early. I’m almost at the point when all hope is lost.” I didn’t expect to have to defend why I had a weak wolf.
“Most strong wolves tend to come early,” she agreed. “But there are strong wolves that bide their time. No one knows why. Maybe they are waiting on something or maybe the conditions aren’t right. I have spent the day with you, Amie. There is nothing weak about you. Not in your person, not in your wolf. Mark my word, it will come,” Matilda said with confidence.
“That is enough, aunt,” Finlay said. He looked at me with worry. I understood he didn’t want to give me false hope, and I appreciated it. It had been hard to accept my fate and there wasn’t room for false hope.
“Very well,” she said with a nod. The topic was changed but during the next hour or so, many of the parents accepted my offer to watch over the pups. Cadence was thrilled. I promised him I would tell him some of the old stories my mother had told me when I was little and we could have snacks while we waited for the rest of the pack to return. It wasn’t long before Finlay stood up. The surrounding conversations stopped.
“It’s the full moon. Let’s head for the forest and run,” Finlay said and there were cheering and people started walking into the forest. “Will you be okay?” he asked me.
“Of course she will be,” Matilda huffed. “I’ll keep her company and help her keep an eye on the savages,” she added. Finlay looked at me and I gave him a smile and a nod. He headed for the forest, but stopped at the edge to look back before disappearing into the darkness. I held up my promise to Cadence and he and the other pups got to choose snacks, and sat down all around me and Matilda as I started to tell the old tales. After two stories, the younger pups had snuggled into blankets and were sleeping. The older ones were running around, enacting the battle scenes. “You have a good hand with pups,” Matilda said.
“I have had a lot of practice. As I don’t shift, I stayed behind with the pups in my old pack,” I told her. I was starting to get warm. Maybe I was sitting too close to the fire?
“How old were you when you left your own pack?” Matilda asked.
“Eighteen.” I looked around, making sure none of the pups were close by. “I was rejected by my mate,” I said. She looked as shocked as Finlay had.
“And you doubt your strength? You will find your way, and I’m sure the moon will give you a more deserving mate,” she told me and patted my leg. I gave her a smile. She was really sweet.
“Is the fire hot?” I asked, pulling my sweater over my head, leaving me in a tank top.
“Do you feel hot?” she asked.
“Yeah. And a little funky. Maybe I ate too many snacks with the pups?”
“How long have you been feeling like this?” she asked. I had to pause and think.
“I have been feeling a little restless all day, like I should remember something, but I have forgotten what. But the heat has only come the last thirty minutes or so,” I told her. She studied me and nodded.
“It will be fine. Just relax and don’t fight against it,” she said.
“Fight against what?” I asked as Finlay stepped out of the tree line. He was only wearing shorts, and I was confused by why he was back in his human form this early. He walked up to me and kneeled down in front of me, and placed a hand on my forehead.
“You are burning up,” he said and looked at his aunt. She nodded. What was that all about? “The others are coming as well,” he told me.
“Why?” I asked. Then there was a cramp in my stomach which took my breath away.
“You are turning, Armeria. And a pack should surround you when you have your first turn. It helps,” he said. I just stared at him like he had spoken Martian.
“Turning?” I asked.
“Your wolf is coming,” Matilda softly told me. More and more of the pack were walking out of the forest, all half dressed. Some of them gathered up the pups, others just gathered around us.
“Amie, do you remember what your parents told you about your first shift?” Finlay asked me, and my focus returned to him. No one had ever talked to me about my first shift. That was not how it was done in my old pack. When someone showed the first signs of shifting, they were taken by their parents or close relatives into the woods and then the next morning they were back. I shook my head.
“No one has told me anything,” I said as another cramp hit me. I didn’t miss the looks being exchanged between Finlay and his aunt.
Chapter 7
Finlay
How was I supposed to help Amie through her first shift when no one had told her what to expect? I didn’t know if we had time to explain it all. I felt my anger rise at how unfair it was to her. Hadn’t she suffered enough? When she told me the real reason why she had left her old pack, it almost broke my heart. I had known her for a couple of days and I already knew she was an amazing wolf. How someone who grew up with her couldn’t see it, I didn’t know. Her story had also pained me in a whole other way, a way that wasn’t the least logical. She had found her mate, it meant she wasn’tmymate. Which I knew. If she had been, I would have known as soon as I saw her in the diner. But somehow, a small part held out hope. Maybe because she didn’t have her wolf, it hadn’t clicked into place. It was stupid; I knew it didn’t work like that. But a part of me had held out hope, growing a little stronger with each new thing I learned about her. It didn’t make sense to be bitter at the moon goddess because she had paired Amie with someone so unworthy of her, instead of pairing her with me. But now was not the time to sulk over it. Amie needed me. She needed the pack. She may not beone of us, but I had hoped she would become one. And no matter what she decided, the first shift was hard and confusing. It was better to have a pack around you. I took her hand and she looked at me.
