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All three of them nod soberly. “Yes,” Milo confirms.
The world seems to tilt on its axis. “If that’s true, how come I’ve never changed into a wolf before?”
“There’s a manifestation ceremony that takes place, typically the first full moon of your seventeenth year. But you can only shift on this land. Smoky Falls is special; it’s magically protected. So, because you weren’t here before now, you’ve never been able to have the manifestation. There’s not much more to it.”
“So at the next full moon…” I whisper, following along.
“You’ll manifest,” Milo finishes. “Exactly.”
“When is that?” I’d never been good at keeping up with moon cycles.
“Friday is your ceremony,” Landon speaks up, his voice soft.
“You guys already know? Who are the wolves in this town, anyway? Does everyone know? Who were all those wolves in the forest?” The questions fired from my lips like machine-gun bullets, spraying in all directions.
“The entire town is our pack. All of them are wolves, and anyone over seventeen who has manifested can join the alpha in the woods for a run at midnight. Not everyone goes every night, but it’s the only time we can shift and it’s just in our nature. We have to shift every so often, run with the alpha, reconnect with the pack.”
“Wow, okay. So is that why my mom ran away, because she didn’t want to be a wolf?”
Milo swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing painfully. “I can’t answer questions about your mom. I’m sorry Lex. I didn’t know her. You’ll have to ask your uncle. But our job was to make sure you know what you are, and that you’re ready to manifest on Friday.”
A sliver of fear strikes my chest. “Does it hurt? It looked like it hurt when you guys… changed. Will you be there? Is this something I have to do on my own with like a priest or something?”
Jared reaches for my hand and squeezes it with warm fingers. “We’ll be there. The entire town will. It hurts a little, the first time is the worst. But it goes away as soon as the shift is done.”
“It’s not as complicated as it sounds,” Landon adds. “It’s more about everyone witnessing that you are a wolf, part of the pack, then running together for your first run. Sort of like a community event. Every full moon we run together, and if there’s a manifestation beforehand, we do that too.”
A few things click into place. “Wait a second. You guys took your clothes off to change. I have to change in front of the whole town. Does that mean I have to strip naked in front of theentire town?” My voice rises to a squeak and panic blossoms in my chest.
“You don’t have to,” Landon rushes to reassure me. “A lot of people will bring a change of clothes to their manifestation. When you shift, you kind of burst out of your clothes, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t take them off first, they’ll just be destroyed. We took ours off so we didn’t waste a perfectly good set of clothes, and once you’ve done it a few times, you just kind of get used to getting naked.”
“Yeah, you can just wear some crappy clothes you don’t care about and bring a spare set to change,” Jared agreed. “That’s what I did. I didn’t want the entire town, let alone Amber, staring at my junk.”
A snort escapes my nose. “Has she been after you that long?”
“Oh yeah,” Landon laughs. “Amber’s been on his junk since we were thirteen. I bet she’spissedyou came back.”
Milo smacks his arm and gives him a warning look, but it’s too late. I already caught on.
“What does that have to do with me? He clearly doesn’t want her, regardless of whether I’m here or not.”
“Of course. I think Landon just meant that’s why she’s jealous,” Milo supplies quickly. “Since he never hangs out with her, and we’ve been with you since the first day you arrived.”
I don’t miss the note of deception that pings my senses, but I have a more important question. “Yeah, why is that, anyway?”
“Why is what?” Jared asks.
“Why have you guys been on me since day one? Is that some sort of assignment from Dom or Roxanne?”
“No, not at all. I mean, yes, they want us all to get along, but it’s deeper than that. I know you feel the connection to us.”
“I do, but I don’t understand why.”
Milo sighs. “Lex, I’m sorry, but that’s one of the things we can’t explain at this moment. But I promise you’ll get a lot more answers after the manifestation on Friday.”
I glare at him, but he just looks back at me glumly. “Trust me, I’d love to tell you, but I physically can’t.”
“I get being afraid of getting in trouble, but this is a bit much.”
