Chapter 6 | The Shift

Lux

By the end of the day, I was completely healed and feeling fine. I can’t wait to talk to my wolf, Kodi, and express my gratitude to her, but I know that’s not supposed to happen until the next full moon, which is in 2 weeks.

I know Kai is eager to shift. He’s eager to take his place and to find out what his wolf looks like. It’s a luxury he talks about constantly and doesn’t recognize how hard it is for me to hear because I’ll never know what I look like. 

As we finish up eating our cake, I hear Kai whisper softly to me so that no one would notice us, “Hey sis, you wanna go for a walk?”

My eyebrows furrow, surprised by his request. It’s already so late. I ask, “This late?”

“Yeah, come on you’re going to be with me, don’t you trust me?” He asks teasingly because he already knows the answer.

“Of course I do.”

“Then come on.” He responds as he takes my arm and excuses us. I wasn’t fully paying attention, but I know his excuse had something to do with hanging out with his favorite sister. 

He leads me towards one of my favorite areas, which is the garden. Normally, I’m always found in the garden or near the waterfall. I can’t help but take a deep breath as the floral scent invades my senses.

He leads me to a bench and we each sit down as he asks me, “How are you feeling? The nightmares still bothering you?”

He had to ask me that. I don’t want to think about it, especially so close to bed. I bite my lower lip as I think about how I should answer, but ultimately I sigh and tell him the truth, “I’m scared, Kai, what if the reason I have been having these nightmares is that it’s foreshadowing that something horrible will happen to me?”

He takes a deep breath and rubs my back as he tries to reassure me and says, “Lux, nothing will happen. And if any guy tries to lay a hand on you, then you know he will have to deal with me, David, Calvin, Silas, dad, and all our uncles! No guy would even think of messing with the princess.”

He has a point, but I can’t help but huff, “Yeah, okay, then what if the only reason he wants to be with me is because I’m a princess? I mean, other than the title, I’m not anything special.”

He scoffs in response, and I feel as he stands up and I can hear him pacing around me. He seems to have a lot of energy, but I’m not sure why. Just the vibe coming off him is unusual. He says, “You’re wrong, Lux, you need to believe in yourself.”

I roll my eyes, and I hear as Kai sputters out a breath and falls to the ground. I stand up and try to come closer to him as I hear him softly murmur, “I don’t feel so good.”

As I take slow steps to get closer to him, my knees buckle and I fall to the ground and mutter, “Oh no.”

He asks with his voice laced with worry and concern, “What’s wrong?”

I ask, “Is tonight a full moon?”

He responds with a raspy voice, “The opposite, it’s a new moon.”

My lower lip trembles as the pain rushes through my body. I ask softly, “Do wolves shift on a new moon?”

“Um no, the only times wolves shift for the first time and it’s not a full moon is if like something traumatic happened.”

I chuckle nervously, “Well, we’re shifting, little brother.”

I called him little brother to ease the tension. He’s only 12 minutes younger than me and I know it will annoy him a little. He huffs as he asks, “How do you know?”

“I’ve shifted before, remember? It’s just been like 8 years since the last time that Kodi wanted to come out. But this is definitely her.”

Kai doesn’t respond, but I’m sure he’s nervous. The pain courses through me again and I say through gritted teeth, “Give into the pain and let the wolf take over. Our wolves will want to be in charge for a bit, so let them do their thing.”

My jaw clenches as I get down on my hands and knees and allow my body to do what it needs to do. It feels painfully slow as my bones rearrange, and my face elongates into a snout. I shift and when I sniff; I realize Kai’s scent changed slightly and he must’ve shifted as well. 

His body rubs against mine so that I know where he is, and he mind links me, "You think you can handle a run?"

I nod my head as I respond, "Need to find a way for you to lead me so I don’t get hurt."

"Give me a minute."

A moment passes and I hear Kai say, "Hey give your wolf control. My wolf, his name is Loki, but he says they’ll be able to handle it better if we do."

"Okay."

I trust in my brother and in my wolf and when Kodi’s voice came in my head and said, “It will be easier to handle if you give control. I’ll take care of us; I know we aren’t like other wolves.”

I exhaled as I gave her control, and I took a back seat in my mind.

It’s nice for me because I already knew I could trust in her. She helped me so much as a child, even though it caused both of us a lot of pain. I look forward to getting to know her better now that I was old enough for her to stay permanently.

I’m not sure how she and Kai’s wolf made it work, but I could feel her trotting through the trees and even getting playful with his wolf, Loki. I could feel how happy she was in this moment. 

Suddenly I hear a crashing sound and I feel our body stiffen... what just happened?

I hear Kodi groan, and I can hear her as she links his wolf and snaps, "Loki!"

I can almost hear him chuckle in response and then bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

I ask, “Kodi, what the hell is going on?”

She huffs, “He has super strength and just realized that with a slight push of his paw, he can knock down trees.”

What the hell? He’s knocking down trees?!

I hear her snap at him, "Quit playing around! You’re going to hurt someone!"

I’m surprised when I hear his cheery voice. It’s not at all the way I pictured a male wolf to sound like, "Oh, come on, Kodi, this is awesome! We should see if you can do it."

I can hear him as he runs all around her and is an absolute bundle of energy. He must’ve pounced on another tree because I hear another loud bang sound. Kodi is getting quite exasperated by his behavior, and she is not afraid to show it. I feel as she moves towards him, and she ends up biting part of him lightly as she says, "Calm down and show some restraint. We’ve played a lot tonight; we need to head back home and let them have control back."

"Control back?! I just got released! I’m never going back into such a confining body. It’s so much more fun to be like this."

She lets go of him as she shakes her head, and I can hear as he continues to run along, and she trots to keep up with him. He links her every little bit, letting her know where a tree is or if she needs to jump over anything. Although he’s very hyper, he obviously cares about our wellbeing, since he is trying to guide us.

I can smell the familiar scent of the garden, so I know we’re near the pack house. I hear Kodi ask, "Have you gotten rid of the zoomies yet?"

"Come on, Kodi, play with me just a little while longer, please?"

She’s a little irritated by his request, but also can’t deny it. I can feel her happiness as she tries to play along with him. I’m surprised at how well she’s doing since we can’t see, but Kai’s wolf, Loki, seems to be mindful of her and making sure we won’t hurt ourselves as we try to keep up with him.

I don’t know how long we do this for, but I can tell Kodi is exhausted and hungry. She tells him, "Okay, we’ve had enough for a first night. Time to shift back, Loki."

He growls softly as he says, "I told you earlier I’m not going back!"

She growls back at him, angry that he had the audacity to growl at her. She responds, "We are werewolves, Loki, not full-blooded wolves. There is another half of you that belongs to this body, and he deserves to return to it. Let him come to the surface."

He growls at her again and she huffs, "Don’t make me get the Alpha King."

He scoffs, "You wouldn’t dare."

"Try me. Shift now or my human will go get him."

He’s quiet. He’s ignoring her and it’s pissing her off. She gives me control of my body and assists me as we shift back into our human form. I walk slowly and use my enhanced sense of smell and hearing to get back into the house without hurting myself. Upon walking inside, I feel the air conditioning and it makes me have goosebumps and I recognize at that moment I’m naked. Shit.

I slip back outside, and I link my parents, "Mom? Dad?"

My mom responds first with worry filled in her voice, "What’s wrong, Lux? Where are you?"

"Outside, near the garden. I need a dress... I’m naked. Kai and I had our first shift, and Kai’s wolf isn’t letting him shift back."

Dad’s response is instant, "On our way."

They rush downstairs and my mom passes me a dress while dad walks down towards Kai’s wolf. He asks me, “Do you know its name?”

I nod, “His name is Loki. My wolf Kodi tried to get him to listen, but he doesn’t want to give up control.”

My dad speaks harshly but isn’t using his command tone yet because when he does, the wolf won’t have a choice but to listen. I think dad is trying to figure out how stubborn the wolf really is.

He says, “Loki, relinquish control.”

Loki turns and growls at dad, and immediately I could feel the frustration rolling off my dad. My mom doesn’t move from my side as she tries to let dad handle this without her. At this point, a wolf has directly ignored its Alpha King’s order.

He huffs, but again doesn’t use the command and says, “I am your Alpha King. You will not growl at me.”

I swear I can hear Loki grumble back, but he doesn’t growl this time, so that’s good. My dad huffs, “Give Kai control.”

Silence. I’m not sure what’s happening since I can’t see. But after a minute, dad finally uses his command, “I am Alpha King Archer. You will relinquish control and shift now!“

The wolf whimpers, but after a moment I can hear Kai panting for a good breath and he asks, “Dad, mom, Lux, what happened?”

I hear mom mutter, “Well, that’s interesting.”

Dad says nothing, and mom walks away from me and says, “Let’s go inside and talk. I’ll make you your favorite hot chocolate.”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” 

I ask mom, “Could we get some food too? I don’t know about Kai, but I’m absolutely famished from all the running and playing we did.”

“Of course, sweetie.” My mom responds as she gently strokes my hair. My dad comes to my side and has me take his arm as he leads me to his office for us all to talk. I’m really interested to hear Kai’s point of view on all of this. But I can still feel the frustration radiating off my dad from the fact his own son tried to defy him.