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“No, he really doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to,” Bel quickly countered.
River turned so that he was partially facing Bel, allowing Wyatt to still see the smile forming on his lips. “No, I was just giving Wyatt grief. I don’t mind. There isn’t much to the story, and now I feel like he’s built it up to be something big.”
Bel turned on his stool and placed his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, giving River his full attention. “Wyatt was telling me that young werewolves must perform their first shift in front of the entire clan, making it a big event for everyone.”
“More like a nightmare,” River muttered, but he shook his head and pushed on. “I was fourteen, determined to shift before my older brother who was turning sixteen in a month. I talked to everyone I could about their first shift and how they shifted. I was going to do it. My parents were humoring me by letting me even attempt it. If Dale hadn’t shifted yet, then they were sure I wouldn’t.”
“But you were going to show them,” Bel prompted with a growing smile.
“Damn straight. I was fourteen and knew everything.” River stepped away from Wyatt so that he was completely free to gesture. He spread his legs apart as if bracing himself while tucking his arms against his sides, hands balled into fists. “I picked a nice open spot in the field, stripped naked, and blocked everyone out.” He closed his eyes. “Just me and the cool grass under my feet. I focused on what I was sure I was going to look like. Black fur, big ears, long nose, sharp teeth. I was going to be furry death.”
“But you’re gray and white,” Bel whispered.
“A shifter doesn’t know what he’s going to look like until he changes for the first time. Colors don’t necessarily carry down from parents,” Wyatt said.
River cracked one eye open and smirked. “And every wolf wants to be big, black, and scary like Wyatt.”
“Your wolf is gorgeous,” Bel quickly said, and River straightened, his chest puffing up as if his inner wolf was preening under the praise.
“Back to the story,” Wyatt prodded.
“That’s right!” He got into position, eyes closed. “It took only a couple of minutes before the pain started. It was incredible. Every muscle burned. I thought bones were breaking. But everyone had warned me about that. I pushed on. After a few minutes, the pain eased, and I opened my eyes. I was furry and on four legs. But my brother and dad were laughing. My mother looked horrified. She just kept crying, ‘Where’s your tail?’ ”
“What?” Bel gasped.
“I had no tail,” River moaned.
Wyatt chuckled. “River got stuck in a partial shift.”
“In all my imagining, I forgot about my tail. It got stuck and didn’t come out during my first shift.”
Bel rubbed his hand over his mouth, like he was trying to either hide his smile or just use it to hold in his laughter. “How did you fix it?” Bel asked, his voice rough for a moment. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I’ve seen your tail. It’s very nice.”
“I had to shift to human first.” River shook his head, but there was still a smile on his face. “By the time I was human, I was so exhausted, I couldn’t try for wolf again that night. It took another week for my body to stop hurting enough to make another try. Just with my dad that time.”
“And the tail?”
“Not a problem.”
River stepped over to Wyatt and leaned against his chest while settling between his legs. “My dad was so proud of me. One of the youngest wolves to shift in quite a while. He didn’t care that I hadn’t gotten it quite right on the first try. My brother was pissed. He stomped off and wouldn’t talk to me for months.”
The laughter died off, and the mood in the room grew solemn again. It was difficult at times to talk about what it meant to be a werewolf when so many painful memories were tangled up in their stories. Thoughts of family were so complicated. Wyatt had wasted too many nights wondering if any of his siblings would accept him if it wasn’t contrary to pack law. All werewolves grew up believing family was the center of everything. To do anything that would force a wolf away from his family was thought to be insane.
But then, Wyatt would do anything to keep River with him.
Tilting his face, Wyatt brushed a kiss across River’s temple and nuzzled his hair.
“I think that’s enough work for tonight,” Bel suddenly declared, breaking the silence that had descended upon the room.
Wyatt’s head snapped up and he looked at the austere clock hanging on the far wall. They hadn’t been in the lab for more than a few hours. They usually didn’t take a break for food for at least another three hours.
