Eight Years Ago

I sit straight up in bed. My heart is thumping hard, and I'm all sweaty. I look around my room, It's still dark out, but the full moon is shining brightly through my window. I feel an intense pain in my back, and I scream.

"Mommy!" I yell out in the dark. What's happening to me? I think to myself.

"Daddy?!" I yell again.

"It's okay, Athena, I'm here now," I hear a gentle voice say.

"Wh... who said that?" I call out, glancing around my room, but it's empty.

"I'm Enyo. I'm your wolf, Athena," she tells me.

"What's happening, Enyo?" I ask her.

"You're going to be okay. We're shifting!" She says excitedly, and I gasp.

"I'm scared, Enyo. I want my mommy," I say, tears now running down my face.

I feel relieved when I see the light turn on in the hallway and hear someone walking towards my room.

"Athena? Is everything okay?" I hear my mom ask as she walks into the room. I try to answer her, but pain rips through my body. My bones snap, and I scream.

I hear my mom gasp, and she runs from the room. "HECTOR! SHE'S SHIFTING!" I hear my mom yell out to my dad.

A minute later, my dad runs into my room. He switches my bedroom light on, and when he sees me bent over on my bed in pain, his face goes white. "This can't be happening!" he yells. "She's only ten!"

I scream again as I feel my spine crack and break. It feels like my skin is ripping apart. As if my bones are tearing through my skin. My parents rush to my bedside and hold my hands.

I hear Dad say to Mom, "Elena, go get a cool washcloth." She nods and runs out of the room. My dad's eyes glaze over as he mind-links someone in the pack.

"We can do this, Athena! But you need to focus on what's happening," Enyo says as she tries to soothe me.

"Shhhh, it's okay, sweet pea. Your body knows what to do. Just focus on your breathing. What does your wolf look like?" Dad asks me as Mom comes back. She sits next to me again 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," my mom says softly.

Before I even ask, Enyo tells me about her fur. "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 see it, but the pain is so bad I can't.

I hear the front door open and footsteps coming up the stairs of my parents' house. The pack doctor and Beta Damon come into my room a moment later.

"Are you sure she's shifting?" Beta Damon asks my parents. They both nod as I feel a pain in my fingers as they extend, and my mom cries out in pain. I look down, and I can see blood coming from her hand.

"I'm sorry, mommy! I didn't mean to do that!" I sob and pull my hands away from my parents so that I don't hurt them.

Doctor Apollo comes over to my bed and looks at my mom's hand, but she's already healed. He kneels next to my mom and opens the small doctor's case that I've seen him walking around with. "Athena, I'm just going to check on a few things. 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 wolf. You're here early, it seems," he says. He turns to Beta Damon and nods. "She's shifting alright. Her wolf is trying to come through," he says.

"Have you ever heard of this Apollo? I thought pups only go through their first shift when they turn 16," Beta Damon asks, crossing his arms as he leans against the doorframe.

"It's uncommon, but it happens," he says as he watches me with his eyebrow raised. "Not usually this young, though."

As my bones break, I lean forward onto my hands and knees, trying to shift into my wolf form. I cry out as I feel the muscles in my back tear and then go back to normal again. 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, mommy!" I scream. "Make it stop!" I beg her. I cry as I lean over the side of the bed and vomit from the pain.

#

3 hours later

"There has to be something wrong. Why hasn't she shifted yet?" My mom asks the doctor.

"Some wolves can take hours to shift their first time. This isn't unusual," he says to her.

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

I whimper, "Mommy."

"It's okay, sweetheart. You're so close. Just try and push through it," Mom says.

"She's exhausted, Doc. Surely there's 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. Then, he looks at Beta Damon and says, "we might need Alpha Niko."

Beta Damon nods, and his eyes glaze over.

I groan as I feel my bones breaking again. My body feels like it's on fire. Mom tries to rub my arm, and 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, my spine trying to break and bend into my wolf form. Everything around me seems to fade away as I feel my neck extend and my jaw break, and a snout forms. 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 my wolf as I cry again.

"I... I don't know Athena," she whimpers, and I feel her lie down with her snout 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 starts shifting. "Mommy, please! Please make this stop!" I beg.

"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. I gasp, but it comes out as a small growl.

"Enyo, we did it!" I say to her excitedly.

"I'm so proud of you, sweet pea," I hear my dad say. Alpha Niko and everyone are smiling at me as I look around the room. "Now try to stand. You may feel a bit wobbly being on all fours."

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 with pride.

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," she replies.

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

What's their problem? I think to myself. I walk over to the mirror in my room and look at our wolf form. Enyos fur is jet black and shimmering in the moonlight from my window, and there's a white spot on my forehead that looks like a crescent moon. I feel the shift complete as Enyo pushes herself forward, and my eyes turn blue.

"Your eyes, Enyo! Why aren't they yellow?" I ask her.

"Maybe you should ask your parents?" She says.

"Mom? Dad? Why are my eyes different?" I ask them both through mind-link.

My dad shakes his head and looks at my mom. Then, after a few moments, mom clears her throat. "I'm sure it's nothing, honey. It's probably just because you're so young," she whispers.

"Okay, but why are you looking at me weirdly? Do I look funny?" I ask.

"Of course not, sweet pea. We are just surprised by your size. You seem a lot bigger than a normal wolf," Dad says, and he looks at Doctor Apollo.

He nods. "Yes, this could be why she was having so much trouble shifting," he points out. "Her wolf is almost the size of an Alpha pup. But her eyes, that's the interesting part."

"Who cares! Let's go for a run!" Enyo says impatiently.

"Okay, let's go!" I giggle, and we turn and run out of my bedroom door and down the hallway. But as I approach the stairs, I realise I'm running too fast. So I try to slow down, but I end up slipping on the hallway rug, sliding past the stairs and crashing hard into the wall with a small yelp.