“Wait, Iris?”
Her voice comes back low and soft. The way it is when it’s just the two of us.
“Yeah?”
My mouth opens, and a million words come to my mind.
I want to tell her to be safe.
I want to tell her that I didn’t mean to scare her.
I want to tell her thank you for being the distraction I always need.
But it all gets stuck, and the only words that creep out are, “I’m sorry.”
Even though that doesn’t really begin to cover it, it seems like the right thing to say.
The line is quiet as she considers my words. And the pressure around my throat eases when she answers, “I know.”
I retreat to the relative privacy of my room as I wait for the midnight hour to draw near. And when I feel my wolf begin to claw his way to the surface, I know it is time.
Jeffery waits for me at the top of the basement stairs, head bowed and a solemn expression on his face, knowing what comes next.
Hours of bone-breaking, jaw-cracking pain, as a shift is forced upon me by the light of the moon.
Mother is already in position when I enter the dark and damp little room. She doesn’t ask me where I’ve been when I return. She doesn’t care. Just as long as I’m in my cage by midnight.
Her chains have been latched around her wrists and ankles, and beside her, Vanessa is preparing her own.
They are anchored into the concrete walls and floor. Four points of contact for each limb. Mother’s only have two, but Vanessa has grown more resistant over the years. Soon she might be just like me.
I do not have any chains.
Not anymore. They stopped working when I was about fourteen. Instead, a corner has been carved out just for me. Bars embedded from floor to ceiling, and I go slowly to my fate.
The cage swings shut behind me with a loud clang, the iron bars shaking the floor as the vibration moves through the room.
Jeffery follows, keys in hand, and I wait until the mechanism clicks into place before removing my dampener and setting it aside.
He may act like he isn’t afraid of me, but on nights like tonight, I know he is. They all are.
He tests the door once before scurrying back up the steps and leaving us in the dark.
We do not talk as we wait. The dreadful thump of our hearts is too loud to hear over anyway.
The next sound I hear is Vanessa’s screams as she goes first.
I watch, wincing as her body slowly rearranges itself, bones shifting beneath new skin.
I bear witness because someone has to, but even after seeing it a million times, it never gets easier.
The shift is not usually so violent. On an ordinary day, it takes mere moments. A single breath. Quick, but not painless. But a full moon shift is different for our clan.
With our power at its height and so much to contend with, it takes the wolf hours to emerge.
Mother goes second, but she doesn’t scream.
When my time comes, I try not to cry out as every bone breaks and reforms, but the pain is more than even I can stomach, and eventually, I can’t help but let it out.
