My back is the first thing to bend into an unnatural angle; the cracking sound echoing inside my ears.
I cry out in pain, my vision fuzzy. I scream as loud as I can, praying for someone to help me, but the sound of the wind and the forest smothers all my cries.
“Calm down Angel…you need to survive this,” a female voice whispers. ^I can almost feel her running her hands down my hair soothingly.
I must be going crazy because even with my blurred vision I can’t see anyone around, but the woman sounds as if she’s speaking right into my ear. I don’t know what’s happening or where she came from.
“You’re shifting my love and I’m going to help you get through this…” the woman gently says.
“Who are you?” I cry out, as I feel the bones in my body breaking. The sound alone is enough to make me scream, picturing how horrible my body must look as I snap into different angles.
“My name is Faith, I’m your wolf,” she says, keeping her tone calm and gentle.
I scream and continue to cry out. “Please help me, make it stop….please,” I sob.
My vision pulses and when it clears I see the trees thrashing from side to side, some of the thinner ones on the verge of snapping.
“You were a strong human. You will be an even stronger wolf. Fate sent me to you because she believed you were special just like me. My spirit is very old my love. I’ve been around for many years jumping from one great master to the next. Fate was saving me, she has been keeping me for you… I know it! You my dear…you are very rare. You don’t realise how powerful you truly are…the power that resides within you is pure…white…like magic. I’ve never seen such a thing,” Faith says, and I feel her happiness and awe.
“Faith, can we please do this whole introduction thing another time? Maybe when my bones aren’t snapping? I promise if I live through this I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but right now I need you to focus and walk me through this whole fucking thing,” I say through gritted teeth, the pain making it hard for me to even breathe.
“Don’t cuss my dear, it isn’t very lady like,” she scolds.
“Faith!” I yell.
“All righty then.” She lets out a deep sigh. “Try getting yourself onto your hands and knees first.”
I roll over. My first two attempts at lifting myself up fail and I fall face first with a mouthful of sand. Faith giggles.
“I would totally slap you right now if I could,” I tell her through my cries, making her giggles louder in my head. I manage to get onto my hands and knees and try to catch my breath, calming my breathing.
“Just like that,” she encourages.
The pain is still unbearable and I’m just so exhausted I want to fall down, rest my head and go to sleep for a little while.
“No my dear, you better not do that. You may not wake up if you fall asleep now. You can do this, stay strong,” she says softly, as if reading my mind.
I look down at my hands, crying out as another crack echoes into the woods, only to be swept away by the wind as I watch the tears fall into the sand below me.
My vision starts pulsing again.
Clear. Unclear. Clear.
I see glimpses of my forearms and the little hairs that rise from beneath my skin. I squeeze my eyes shut as the bones in my hands and arms crack and bend.
For the next twenty minutes I scream and cry out in pain; my throat raw and dry from my screams. The sound of material ripping and bones cracking finally come to a halt and all that can be heard is my deep panting.
Panting?
I open my eyes and jump back as I see pitch black paws.
I hear Faith’s light laughter in my ears. “You did it my dear. You’re beautiful!” I can feel the affection radiating in her voice.
My senses are clearer. I can see every single little detail, every little grain of sand beneath my paws and my hearing is magnified too. Suddenly I hear shouting and yelling in the distance, but I’m too focused on what I look like and feel like to even think about any of that. Faith’s voice tells me to go look at my refection in the lake.
I finally find my rhythm as I walk on all four paws. I quicken my steps and then full out run and head to the little docking platform. I lean over the side and look into the water.
The first thing I see are my eyes. Long gone are my bluey-green ones, in their place are the silver flame like ones that I have when my magic needs to be freed.
My coat is pitch black and shiny.
My father and Jax have black coats, but theirs are not nearly as dark as mine. I’ve never seen anything as black as the colour of my fur.
I hear rustling and immediately a few people walk out of the bushes on my right near the forest. All eyes are on me. Amongst the group are Talon, Tyler, their girlfriends and my parents.