Chapter 6 - The first shift
1505 Words
#musicvibe - True, Amaranthe
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***Two years later***
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Jordan POV
A loud squeal jolted me awake and I looked up to see Avery bursting through my bedroom door and jumping on my bed.
“Happy birthday Jordan!” She screeched. “I can’t believe that you’re turning eighteen today!”
He hugged me tightly and I pulled her down underneath the covers.
“Thanks kid.” I replied groggily. “Can we just stay in bed all day?”
Avery giggled.
“Nu-uh you sleepyhead.” She laughed. “It’s a full moon tonight. There’s a huge party and you’re going to shift. Oh, and you might find your mate!”
Her eyes lit up with excitement and I found myself smiling as well.
My birthday happened to be on the full moon, and it meant that the whole pack was preparing for the Alpha Ceremony. I was taking over the title from my father tonight once I had shifted into my wolf.
And all I wanted to do was stay in bed.
Avery didn’t listen to me though and pulled me out of bed despite my protests. When we got down to the kitchen, Moira handed us a small paper bag each.
“Happy birthday, Jordan.” She smiled. “I’m looking forward to having you as Alpha.”
“Thank you, Moira.” I replied before Avery took my hand and pulled me out the door.
“Where are we going?” I asked as she skipped along the path away from the packhouse.
Avery stopped, let go of my hand and looked a little sad.
“I thought that maybe you wanted some quiet time before the party tonight.” She mumbled. “I hoped that you would want to do it like old times.”
I smiled softly.
“Lead the way, kid.” I replied and took her hand again.
I knew where she was leading me, and we walked into the pack cemetery together. Avery stopped in front of Carly’s tombstone and sat down.
“Hi, big sis.” She said as I sat down next to her. “It’s a big day today.”
“Hi, Carly.” I whispered and wrapped my arm around Avery. “We miss you.”
Avery unpacked her breakfast and started nibbling on her sandwich. We ate in comfortable silence and I relished in the peace as I knew this was not going to last much longer.
And it didn’t.
About twenty minutes later, Christian and Barry showed up. They had been my best friends for as long as I could remember, and when I was taking over as Alpha tonight they were going to become my Beta and Gamma.
“Hey J!” Christian shouted. “Time to get ready, birthday boy!”.
“Thanks for the breakfast.” I said to Avery and ruffled her hair. Avery scowled at me and I got up from the ground. I kissed my fingers and briefly placed them on Carly’s tombstone before walking off with my friends.
“So, are you going to tell me where we are going?” I asked. “There’s no way that the celebration is starting already.”
“We’re going mate hunting!” Christian exclaimed. “Your future Luna is out there somewhere, and we are going to search the pack until we find her.”
I cringed internally as Christian and Barry basically paraded me around the pack while giggling like crazy. To my disappointment, I couldn’t sense my mate among the girls that I met.
“Maybe your mate is from another pack.” Barry suggested, trying to cheer me up.
“Yeah, maybe.” I shrugged.
Someone cleared their throat behind us and I gulped involuntarily when I turned to see my father look at us with a stern expression.
“No more games.” He muttered. “It’s time for Jordan to get ready for the ceremony.”
Christian and Barry smiled stiffly at me and left me alone with my father. My father turned around and started walking back towards the packhouse without sparing me a glance. I followed him silently back to his office where my father’s Beta Patrick was waiting for us.
Our relationship had taken a turn for the worse after Carly died, and I rarely spoke to him unless I absolutely had to. It infuriated my father that I wasn’t more eager to take the title, and he was always cold with me, showing off his disappointment in subtle ways.
“We need to gather your blood before the ceremony.” My father said curtly.
Patrick held out a dagger and two black jars to my father and I clenched my jaw as he proceeded to make a rather large cut on my palm.
I was careful not to show him how much it hurt. Being Alpha meant showing no weakness, and I knew that if I showed him how uncomfortable I was, he would probably pierce my whole hand with that dagger.
The two vials were going to be heated in a bonfire tonight when the full moon was rising. The heat would make the werewolf venom in our blood take over and break down the human blood. When the procedure was done, there would be two jars filled with werewolf venom. One of them would be used for transferring the Alpha power to me, while the other one would be stored in the archives along with the venom of previous Alphas.
When the jars were filled to the brim with my blood, my father closed them and gave them to Patrick, who excused himself and left the office.
“It’s a big day today, Jordan.” My father said quietly while wrapping a bandage around my still bleeding hand.
For a moment, I was expecting him to give me some advice and maybe a little pep talk before my first shift. After all, he was my father and I was going to be an Alpha in a matter of hours.
He didn’t.
“Don’t mess it up.” He muttered before he got up and left the office.
The door closed behind him and I slumped down on the couch.
“As.shole.” I whispered while glaring at the floor.
My nerves started to get the better of me, and I took deep breaths when I felt my heart sink into a bottomless pit in my stomach. The sinking feeling stuck with me during the rest of the afternoon, only intensifying when the celebrations began and everyone made their way outside to watch me shift into my wolf for the first time.
Avery ran up beside me and took my hand.
“You’ll do great.” She whispered.
I smiled softly and squeezed her hand back.
“Thanks kid.” I replied quietly.
A circle surrounded by torches was set up, and a few minutes before the moonrise I made my way to the center of the circle and took off my clothes. I forced my hands to stop shaking as I saw the moon light up everything around me.
I felt the change in my body the second the moonlight hit me. My skin burned as fur sprouted all over my arms and chest, and I swallowed a scream when a large cracking sound was heard from my back as my spine elongated.
I fell to my knees, trying to make it look like I was crouching down while my nails split open and claws emerged where my fingers used to be. It felt like an eternity of pain and anguish, and I forced myself to focus on my breathing while my rapid heartbeat was pounding in my ears.
An image of a wolf started to materialize in my head, and I felt myself lose control of my body as my wolf counterpart took over and finalized the shift by letting out a loud howl.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Avery slowly approaching me.
“Jordan, you are beautiful.” She whispered breathlessly and I looked down at myself to see what she was talking about.
It seemed like I was a light beige color with black paws. To my relief, my wolf seemed really big, even for an Alpha. It was my greatest fear, that I would end up smaller than my father expected. If I did, I would never have heard the end of it.
But it seemed like I was even bigger than my father’s wolf.
People started undressing and shifting into their wolves as well, and I took the lead on the pack run as the new Alpha.
While running, I used my heightened senses to search the crowd of wolves to see if one of the she-wolves was my mate. To my disappointment, it seemed like my mate wasn’t here.
I smiled to myself as I started to imagine what she would be like, where she was from and what she was doing right now.
- Writer
