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I’m a wolf. I kept repeating that simple fact over and over in my head, occasionally mumbling it out loud while Night continued to hold me. Shortly after I’d shifted back under his command, I began to cry hard from the shock of both my first shift and the way his voice had forced its way into my brain.
Night held me so gently and kissed the top of my head. He apologized for commanding me like that, said that he hoped I wasn’t scared of him. But how could I be afraid of him? I trusted him when he said that he hadn’t known what else to do. It was my first shift, and I had no idea what caused it, let alone how to return to my human form.
I’d since calmed down. I let myself melt into his arms as I told myself over and over again that I was a shifter—a wolf! And I realized that I sensed another presence in my mind. It wasn’t the lingering effect of Night’s Alpha command—it was something that paced back and forth and scratched and panted within me. It was my wolf. But the only thing I understood from her was a single word—Mate.
I wanted to ask Night why my wolf, who I had just met, kept repeating the word like it was the only thing she could convey. But before I could speak, Night kissed me softly.
“We need to get dressed,” he told me, tenderly wiping the remainder of a tear from my cheek. “You have to see my mother and the Elders.”
I had never met the Elders before, and the thought of doing so made me nervous. “Do you think they’ll be able to tell us why this happened?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. The answer made me even more nervous, but I appreciated his honesty. “But they might be able to give us some clue.”
“Okay.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead, and I felt some of my anxiety disappear. He was so gentle with me, so careful, as though I would break to pieces the second he let me go. But I held myself together. I was nervous about the elders, but Violet and Night would be there. I knew I didn’t really have anything to worry about as long as they were with me, but my concerns lingered.
Eventually, we separated long enough to get dressed. I put on one of his large t-shirts and a pair of leggings I’d grabbed from Violet’s cabin the night before. I quickly washed the remainder of the makeup off my face, brushed my teeth, and pulled my hair up into a messy bun. When I emerged, Night took my hand, holding it gently in his.
We headed for Violet’s cabin and walked in without knocking, finding Violet waiting for us at the kitchen table. She beamed at us both and quickly hopped from her chair. She pulled me in to give me a tight hug, much tighter than any she’d given me before. I noticed that Violet’s herby scent had grown deeper now that I had sharper senses. It was something I would always be able to pick out of a crowd.
When she stepped back, she tapped her nose and let out a quick breath as if to say I smelled potent. My face burned bright red while Night rolled his eyes.
“Mom, stop that.”
“Fine, fine. But you can’t blame an old woman for having her fun.” She gave me one last, lingering smile and then turned back to the kitchen. “I made enough coffee for you two. Come sit with me at the table.”
Night and I sat together at the small table while Violet served coffee. We were both quiet as Violet sat across from us; neither of us were sure how to broach the subject. Violet, for her part, just set her chin in her hands and kept smiling at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“So, Bryn,” Violet said, “how was your first shift?”
The question shocked both Night and me. We exchanged a quick look, but neither of us had expected Violet to ask such a thing.
“How did you know? Did you…” My eyes widened as I recalled some of the cryptic language Violet had used around me. “Did you know this would happen the whole time?”
Violet shook her head and sipped her coffee. “I suspected, but I didn’t know for sure. Actually, Bryn, I tried to tell Night, but like I told you before, he’s not as good a listener as you are.”
I giggled, and Night, to my surprise, actually turned a bit red. He sat back in his chair, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Great, you two are going to gang up on me all the time.”
The comment just made me and Violet laugh harder. When we calmed down, I heard footsteps outside the front door. I tilted my head. It was more than one person, but I couldn’t determine the exact number of visitors.
“Don’t worry,” Violet said, giving me a knowing smile. “It’s just the Elders.”
I ducked my head, a bit embarrassed that I had been so distracted by the noise. “Oh. Gotcha.”
Soon, two older gentlemen and one elderly woman walked inside without pausing to knock. The first man was bald. An old, brown scar ripped across the top of his head. I knew better than to stare, but I was curious about how he’d received what could have been a mortal wound. The second man had tufts of gray hair starting at his temples, which wrapped around to meet at the back of his head. The woman had a full head of gorgeous hair that was almost as white as Violet’s. She kept it short and curly—it looked like a cotton ball on top of her head.
They began to seat themselves at the table but needed another chair. I started to grab a chair from the living room, but Night caught my wrist. He pulled me to his side and sat me in his lap. It was an unorthodox way of providing an extra chair, but I wasn’t upset; I was just as eager to stay close to him. I leaned back into his chest, and he immediately wrapped his arms around me.
The Elders smiled at us, not at all perturbed by our public Display of Affection. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bryn Hunter,” the woman said. “And Alpha Night, it is, of course, always a pleasure when we get to see you.”
Night nodded in acknowledgment of the greeting while I stuttered out, “It’s nice to meet you all too.”
“I am Elder Patrice Woods,” she said.
“I am Elder Neil Thread,” the bald man said.
“And I am Elder Jacob Westley,” the final man said. “We three are the Elders of the Wargs pack.”
