Chapter 1-Introduction/First Shift

Introduction

For the last century, we have had peace. Peace between the lycan packs, as well as peace with other supernatural beings. The Elder Council settles any disputes between the lycan packs, and other supernatural’s rarely attack us. But my pack was attacked a year and a half ago, and no one has ever told me why. We had no ongoing conflicts with other packs in the area, nor with any other supernatural creatures.

To this day, the Elder Council insists we were attacked by rogues or a werewolf pack, but both are impossible. While some rogues will work together for survival, they only look out for themselves and take orders from no one. I know what I saw that day, and the attack was too calculated to be rogues.

As for the werewolves, the sad tales of our wars with them can be found as far back as our history books go. Although we are both born of the Moon Goddess and are considered cousins of the shifter world, we’ve never been able to put our differences aside.

We’re stronger and faster than our werewolf cousins, and our lycans look like actual wolves, but we’re bigger. We run on all fours and have the ability to shift at any time. Werewolves, on the other hand, cannot control their shift and must turn on the full moon with less enhanced abilities than us. Lycan elitists consider them a lesser species because they appear more human than wolves when they shift. They also stand on two legs, like the werewolves depicted in human horror movies.

That’s how I know they weren’t involved because it was wolves who came that day. They assassinated our Alpha and Gamma, as well as innocent pack members. We were one of the country’s strongest packs, and yet we never saw it coming.

I will never forgive myself for leaving my father on that fateful day. As Gamma, he had ordered me to the northern part of the territory to help others, but when our Alpha was killed, we returned to help. When we got back to the main fight, though, my dad was shot and killed. My father was my hero, and I can’t move on until I find those responsible for his death. So tonight, I leave the safety of my pack and territory to find answers, and I will not return until I have avenged my father.

But first, let’s go back to the night my story began…

Chapter One—First Shift

Eight Years Ago

‘Wake up, Athena…’

My eyes flutter open, and I sit up, rubbing my eyes, adjusting to the darkness in the room as I search for the voice that woke me.

“Hello?” I whisper, my heart beating faster as I realize there’s no one else in my room. The full moon shining brightly through my window is creating scary shadows, and I pull my blanket up to my nose. “Mommy?” I whisper a little louder. “Mommy, was that you?”

‘It’s okay, Athena, I’m here now,’ I hear a soft voice say.

I scream in fear and hide under my blanket. “Who… who said that?” I call out as I start to cry.

‘I’m Enyo. I’m your lycan, Athena,’ she tells me, and I realize the unfamiliar voice is in my head.

“What’s happening, Enyo?” I ask her. “Why did you wake me? How are you here?”

‘We’re shifting!’ She says excitedly, and I gasp.

“But… No! I’m not old enough!” I panic. “I’m not ready for that!” I cry harder.

‘The Goddess wouldn’t make you shift if you weren’t ready, Athena! So, we will do this together!’ Enyo says, trying to calm me down.

I suddenly feel an intense pain in my back, and I scream in agony as my back arches and my bones crack, making me fall off the bed and onto the floor with a thump as my body convulses.

“Athena! Is everything okay?” My mom asks as she rushes into the room and turns on the light. I try to answer her, but I can’t control my body as my muscles continue to contract and spasm, and I scream as she looks down at me in shock.

I hear my mom gasp, and she runs from the room. “HECTOR! SHE’S SHIFTING!” I hear her yell out to my dad.

My dad runs into my room a minute later, my mom right behind him, and when he sees me hunched over in pain on the floor, his face turns white. “This can’t be happening!” he yells. “She’s only ten years old!”

I scream again as my spine cracks and breaks, and it feels like my skin is ripping apart, like my bones are tearing through my skin.

“Elena, go get a cool washcloth,” Dad tells Mom as he rushes over to me, gently lifts me from the floor, and places me back on my bed. Then he pulls the blankets off my bed as he mind-links someone in the pack.

‘We can do this, Athena! But you need to focus on what’s happening,’ Enyo says, trying to calm me down.

“It’s okay, sweet pea. Your body knows what to do. Just try to focus on your breathing. What does your lycan look like?” Dad asks me as Mom comes back. She sits on the floor next to my bed and wipes the cool washcloth over my face and arms.

“I don’t… know… what… she looks like, daddy,” I say between sobs.

“Ask her. She will tell you,” Mom says softly.

Before I even ask, Enyo tells me what she looks like. ‘We’re beautiful, Athena! Our fur looks like the night sky, black with silvery flecks through it that make us shimmer like stars!’

I close my eyes and try to focus on what Enyo described, but the pain is so bad that I can’t.

I hear my parents’ front door open downstairs and footsteps coming up the stairs. A few moments later, the pack doctor and Beta Damon come into my room.

“Are you sure she’s shifting?” Beta Damon asks my parents. They both nod, and I feel pain in my fingers as they extend, and my mom cries out in pain. I look down and see blood coming from her hand where my new claws have cut her.

“I’m sorry, Mommy! I didn’t mean to do that!” I sob and pull my hands away from my parents, so I don’t hurt them.

“It’s okay, honey, you didn’t mean to,” she says as Doctor Apollo comes over to my bed and looks at her hand, but she’s already healed. He kneels next to my mom on the floor and opens the small doctor’s case I’ve seen him carrying around. “I’m just going to check on a few things, Athena. Just try to relax,” he says and smiles at me.

He checks my temperature, then shines a light into my eyes, but frowns and puts the light away. “Hello there, young lycan. You’re here early, it seems,” he says. He turns to Beta Damon and nods. “She’s shifting alright. Her lycan is trying to come through,” he says.

“Have you ever heard of this, Apollo? I thought pups could only go through their first shift when they turn sixteen?” Beta Damon asks, his arms crossed as he leans against the doorframe.

“It’s unusual, but it happens,” Doctor Apollo says as he watches me with his eyebrow raised. “Not usually this young, though,” he says, rubbing his chin in thought.

I lean forward onto my hands and knees as my bones break more, trying to shift into my lycan form. I cry out as I feel the muscles in my back tear and then go back to normal again, then I feel the bones in my feet trying to move and change into a paw. But just as it feels like the bones might be in place, they snap back to normal.

“I can’t do this, Daddy!” I scream. “Make it stop!” I beg him as I cry. The pain is unbearable, and I lean over the side of the bed and vomit from the pain.

#

Three Hours Later

“There must be something wrong. Why hasn’t she shifted yet?” My mom asks the doctor.

“Some lycans can take hours to shift their first time. This isn’t unusual,” he says to her.

I feel so tired as I lie on the ground on my side, hugging my knees to my chest. Enyo has been trying to talk me through the shift. She even tried to take over and force the change, but my body refused to shift all the way.

“Mommy,” I whimper.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re so close. Just try to push through it and visualize what your lycan looks like,” Mom says.

“Doc, she’s exhausted. Isn’t there something you can do?” My dad asks Doctor Apollo.

“She does seem to be struggling more than most do. It may be because of her age,” he says, tapping his chin in thought. “We might need Alpha Niko,” he says, looking at Beta Damon. “He can force the shift with his aura.”

Beta Damon nods, and he mind-links with the Alpha of our pack.

I groan as I feel my bones breaking again. My body feels like it’s on fire. Mom tries to rub my arm, but I scream at her to stop. Anyone touching me feels like a knife is cutting into my skin. I roll onto my hands and knees as my back arches again, my spine trying to break and bend into my lycan form. Everything around me seems to fade away as I feel my neck extend, my jaw break, and my muzzle form. This time feels different. It feels like the shift is going to happen. My legs bend and snap, growing longer, and I look down as my arms break and black paws appear in place of my hands. But then, just like every other time tonight, everything starts re-breaking back into my human form, and I cry out in pain.

‘WHY CAN’T WE SHIFT ENYO?!’ I scream at her while crying again.

‘I… I don’t know Athena,’ she whimpers, and I feel her lie down with her muzzle on her paws like she’s given up.

Just as everything goes back into place in my human form, it starts again. “No, not again. I can’t do this.” I sob as my spine breaks and shifts. “Daddy, please! Please make this stop!” I beg him.

“ATHENA! SHIFT!” The powerful voice of Alpha Niko echoes around the room. His Alpha aura washes over me, and it happens. I finally shift. I feel everything click into place and I fall onto my stomach, panting. Two black paws are in front of me as I open my eyes, and I gasp, but it comes out as a slight growl.

‘Enyo, we did it!’ I say to her excitedly, and I look at my dad.

“I’m so proud of you, sweet pea. Now try to stand. You may feel a bit wobbly being on all fours,” my dad says, giving me a big smile.

Alpha Niko and everyone are smiling at me as I look around the room.

I nod my head and try to stand. Wow, this is weird. My legs shake, but I stay standing. I look down at my front legs and paws and see our black fur. ‘Wow, Enyo, our fur is so pretty!’ I squeal in delight.

‘Told you so!’ Enyo says proudly.

I look back at my mom and freeze. Her mouth has dropped open, and she looks like she’s going to cry. ‘Why is she looking at us like that?’ I ask Enyo.

‘I don’t know.’

I look at my dad, and he seems surprised. So do Beta Damon and Alpha Niko. Doctor Apollos’ eyebrows crease as he looks me over.

‘What’s wrong?’ I ask them through mind-link.

“Erm, nothing sweety. You’re just… Well, you’re quite big. Even for a Gamma pup,” Mom answers, looking to Doctor Apollo.

He nods. “This could explain why she was having so much trouble shifting,” he says. “Her wolf is almost as large as an Alpha pup.”

‘Really?’ I ask

I walk over to the mirror in my room and look at our lycan form. Enyo’s fur is jet black and shimmering in the moonlight coming through my window, and there’s a white spot on her forehead that looks like a crescent moon. I close my eyes as Enyo suddenly pushes herself forward, and I feel the shift complete as our souls connect, and we become one.

I gasp when Enyo opens her eyes, and ice-blue eyes look back at us.

‘Your eyes, Enyo! Why aren’t they yellow?’ I ask her.

‘I don’t know, but aren’t they pretty?’ She exclaims.

‘Mom? Dad? Why are our eyes different?’ I ask them both through mind-link as I turn around, casting a blue glow over the room.

My dad shakes his head and turns to face my mom. Mom clears her throat. “I’m sure it’s nothing, honey. It’s probably just because you’re so young,” she whispers, looking at Doctor Apollo again.

He looks at me with curiosity. “I can honestly say I have never seen or heard of this,” he says as he kneels in front of me. “I’m going to have to look into it.”

‘Who cares! Let’s go for a run!’ Enyo says impatiently.

‘Okay, let’s go!’ I giggle, and we rush out of my bedroom door and down the hallway. But as we get closer to the stairs, Enyo realizes she’s going too fast. She tries to slow down but ends up slipping on the hallway rug, sliding past the stairs, and crashing hard into the wall with a yelp.