“How are you feeling?” Iselyn asks, taking a seat beside me on the worn fallen tree trunk.

“I’m fine,” I nod while digging my bare feet deeper into the sand and rocks. Letting the whistling wind, splashing water and the chilling breeze coming off of it calm me down. “You?”

She looks up at the darkening sky and sighs. “It’s called a curse for a reason, Mal. We knew this day would come.”

“Still,” I shrug my shoulders, and let my gaze roam over the rolling waves. “Aren’t you worried?”

Tonight is the first time Iselyn and I will have to endure the full force of

the full moon… Without the help of wolfsbane. Which means tonight, we will have no control over our wolf selves.

“About what?”

“Being a ripper,” I clarify softly, almost not wanting to say it out loud.

“Well, true, I should be worried about that. With my hot temper and all,” she laughs and fans herself with her hand. “We’ll be okay. We’re way out here and if we turn far enough out it should be fine.”

“Yeah,” I nod. Ugh, here my little sister is, reassuring me. “Where’s

Gray and Bo?”

“Around,” she shrugs. “Getting everybody ready.”

“Should we head back?”

“In a minute,” she shakes her head. “It’s nice out here. Quiet.”

We sit in silence for a while, just watching as the white foam dissipates

on the shore a few yards in front of our feet.

The waves crash into the cliffs to the left in the distance in front of us,

reaching all the way around the cove that sits directly to our left. Like a

barricade, daring any other to reach the sandy cove below. The open ocean

sprawls out as far as the eye can see to our right. The water wafts the

overwhelmingly salty and fishy scent right at us.

We sit and listen to the roar of the sea until the darkening sky turns the

waves black.

I look up at the moon, trying to get an idea of how long we have left. I

have to watch and wait for a minute as the clouds slowly drift out from in

front of it. It won’t be long now.

“We should head in,” I tell her, startling myself at the volume of my

voice after so long of not talking.

She makes a face like I was about to bite her head off, but then just

laughs, and nods. She stands to her feet and dusts sand off of her, before

following me away from the beach and into the trees.

Luckily, our camp’s not too far away, so it only takes us about fifteen

minutes to get back. The fresh scent of wet dirt and bark, mixed with the

smell of burning wood and smoke envelop me as we step through the trees

into the campsite.

The space is lit up by lanterns as well as small campfires. A variety of a

dozen or so tents litter the small clearing.

A small group is gathered around a fire, far off to our right, on the edge

of the clearing, consisting of three Omegas Cody, David and Tony, and an

Elder, Alazaer. The Omegas are each holding a glass beer bottle and seem to

be taking turns trying to get Alazaer to laugh. However, each time, he just

raises a thick gray eyebrow at them with a blank and unamused expression on

his tan wrinkled face.

That is, until Corrine runs over, and just as Cody spins around to face

the young woman, she shoves him right into the fire. Cody screams, as he

falls, ass first, right onto the flames. His green eyes momentarily lit with fear.

Corrine just flicks her long dark hair with a bronze hand and prances off with

a grin on her face.

David, Tony and Alazaer burst into fits of laughter.

The Omegas, still laughing, help Cody out of the fire, who yanks off

his brown jacket and olive colored beanie, aggressively throwing them into

the dirt. When he’s standing again, Alazaer claps him on the shoulder.

“That’s the most I’ve laughed in twenty years, boy!” Alazaer tells him

with a smile.

“Glad I could be of service, Sir,” Cody nods respectfully while wincing

and runs a hand through his blonde hair.

I scan the rest of the clearing. The members of the pack are scattered

around, finishing off their beers, food and packing everything up for the long

night ahead.

Directly ahead of us, towards the back of the clearing, Gray, Bo and

Cordelia are standing just outside of Gray's tent, respectfully the biggest in

the camp.

Grayson and Bo are Iselyn and my fathers younger brothers. And even

though Grayson is the youngest of the three, it was he who took over as

Alpha when my father died. Usually it doesn't work that way. Usually that

title and responsibility would go to the eldest. But the situation in this case

was… complicated. Because it was Grayson who killed him.

It wasn't anger, hate or power that made Gray murder my father. But

my father himself. A mercy killing. My father was dying and didn't want to

die like that. He wanted to go out on his terms. As a warrior. So, he had

Uncle Gray challenge him. One on one, for the title. My father got what he

wanted. A noble death. A warrior's death. One fit for the Alpha and leader

he'd been his whole life. So, Grayson inherited the title. And us.

Bo would've been the obvious choice, seeing as he was next in line. But

at the time nobody knew where he was. He had taken a few years,

lone-wolfing it, running around the country in wolf form. He only caught

wind of what happened a few months later, from a witch in a bar, while he

was passing through Nebraska. He came straight home after that. Where he

and Gray raised Iselyn and I as their own.

You can tell Bo and Gray are brothers, with their similar features and

the same blue blue. At the same time a lot sets them apart, like any siblings.

Gray has a thick full head of dark hair, well at least a few months ago he did, now it's riddled with gray streaks that matches his thick facial hair. He’s also

taller than Bo and always smells earthy, like the forest, even at home. While

Bo has a shining white head free of even a single strand of hair and a short

thin

mostly gray

facial hair and smells like golden spice.

Gray is standing on the left side of a semicircle made up of him,

Cordelia and Bo, with cordelia being in the middle, a few yards just ahead of

us. Gray’s holding a long thick metal link chain in his hands, conversing with

the two. Iselyn and I stop a few feet away, just close enough to alert them to

our presence and hear the conversation.

“I can’t thank you enough for this right now, Delia,” Grayson says, his

voice deep and saddened. His bright blue eyes duller than they used to be,

and his dark hair much more gray than it was just a few weeks ago.

Everything has been taking such a toll on him. I inwardly sigh, wishing I

could do more to help him.

“Aw, you’ll find a way to make it up to me,” she purrs with a wink.

“Alpha.”

There’s always been rumors about the two of them being lovers, but

nobody really knows for sure. They seem to play it up in front of people. But

behind closed doors, who knows, though neither I nor Iselyn have seen them

so much as hug.

“Don’t I always?” he replies playfully, making a show of flexing his

biceps, the chains rattling in his hands as he does.

“Oh, love,” she says, something like playful pity in her voice. “You

think you’re the only one?”

“You wound me, Delia,” Gray chuckles.

She slaps his arm playfully, letting him know it's time to get serious. He

straightens up, as all signs of amusement snap from his face in a split second

and holds still while she goes to work on the chain in his hands. She places

both of her hands a few inches above the metal and whispers some

incantation until a low blue glow can be seen from underneath her palms.

When the glow fades she moves her warm copper brown hands and sighs.

“That should work, depending on how strong they are,” She says. “I

wish I could do more.”

“You’ve done more than enough,” Gray tells her. “I don’t know what

we’d do without you and your coven’s help.”

“Crash and burn,” she smiles.

She’s probably right. Every full moon, Cordelia and sometimes her

sister Claudia come out to help us and take care of the children that haven’t

turned yet. I don’t know what other packs that don’t have humans or witches

to help them do. Our alliance with Delia’s coven is the only reason we’ve

survived this long and we all know it.

“We should hurry this along,” Bo says, looking up at the sky.

Iselyn and I help Delia gather the children, while Gray, Bo and the

elders get to work setting everything and everyone into place before the

moon reaches its peak. When Delia and the children are gone and the rest of

the pack is chained to the trees, Gray and Bo take Iselyn and I a little farther

out than the rest.

“You’ll be okay,” Gray tells me, as he locks the thick metal clamp

around my neck.

I only nod in response. Much harder than I hope too.

“I can smell your fear,” he says. “It’s understandable, but don’t let it

control you. This is just like every other full moon, only more painful.”

“I know,” I nod. He and Bo have told me that a million times. But still,

I can’t help the terror that is flooding through me. More pain, more strength

but less control and stronger urges to kill everything and everyone in my path

besides other wolves. Oh yeah, this is gonna be a breeze.

I gulp and settle down against the tree, jerking against the chain to

make sure it’s in place. Gray crouches down beside me and puts a hand on

my shoulder.

“You are a wolf. That’s what you are. And whatever you do tonight is

just your animal instincts taking over for a moment,” he whispers sternly,

with a nod. “Aye?”

I nod.

He’s wrong though.

Sure, any moment of any day we can shift at will. But during the full

moon…It’s different. Pain, loss of control, blackouts. And that’s with

wolfsbane in our system. But without it. More pain, little control if any at all,

and guaranteed blackouts. He’s right. I am a wolf. Any other day of the

month, that is. But tonight, on a full moon with no wolfsbane to tame me, I’m

nothing more than a beast. A monster.

He pats my shoulder before getting up and moving over to where Iselyn

is, most likely to tell her the same thing.

I lean against the tree, trying to focus on nothing else but my breathing.

The final minutes tick by at an agonizingly slow rate, slowing more and more

with every passing second. The past three minutes have dragged on, making

it feel like hours, just waiting for the pain to consume my body and mind,

waiting for my wolf to devour me with rising animal instincts and hunger for

human flesh. I bang the back of my head against the tree truck, dreading the

moment I finally tear into a human being.

I peer out of the corner of my eye to the tree, fifteen or twenty yards

across from me to my right, where Iselyn is chained. Her head is bowed

down so I can’t get a full view of her face, but I can see her fidgeting and

rubbing her bare feet together, as if she’s playing footsies with herself.

As if sensing my eyes on her, she lifts her head. I can see the anxiety

coming off of her in low waves. Lowly humming, looking around and

chewing on the inside of her cheek.

“You know you’re gonna end up chewing a hole through your face if

you keep doing that,” I sigh, trying to get my mind off the obviously

impending nightmare awaiting us both.

“What do you suggest I do?” she asks. She stretches her neck and

shoulders uncomfortably. “This is taking hella long. I just want this night to

end.”

“I know.”

Then it begins.

An electrifying pain shoots through my brain as a blinding ringing fills

my ears. The electricity coats my head before bleeding downward, radiating

over my entire body. White hot pain rips and tears through me as every bone

in my body cracks, breaks and extends before jutting itself into place.

Screams and howls of pain fill the air, dulled only by the trees and my

own pain consuming me.

Canines lengthening and claws stretching out, and yet, still I can feel

my body is covered in something warm and wet. I sniff the air. Blood. So

much blood. Sweet, warm, red liquid copper.

Soon the pain dulls to warm rather than hot, and screams become howls

and growls in the distance. I join in, yanking and pulling at the chain until my

neck hurts so much I think my head might fall right off my shoulders. And

then, everything goes black.