“I wondered that, too. He said he was looking for a pack for her to join.”
“But she doesn’t know any of this?” Bryan queried. “Hard to believe if she’s about seventeen, like you said.”
“I only got a glimpse of her, but I’d say she was around that age and from the look on her face, I’d say she was in shock. I think she must have been eavesdropping. You know, I thought I scented another werewolf, but I was too caught up in what was going down to have time to check it out.”
“But how could she not know she’s a shifter? She should have gone through her first change.”
“Greyson must have hid it from her somehow; maybe he drugged her each month.” Ryne shrugged. “Now that she’s out there on her own, who knows what might happen. We need to find her and bring her in before an outsider figures out what she is.”
Bryan had been staring out the window, but turned as Ryne stopped speaking. “Ryne, I’d like to go. I’ve always been a pretty good tracker.”
Ryne gave him a crooked grin. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask. You can go. Tomorrow. Mel’s going to have her first transformation tonight and it would be nice if her whole pack was here to support her.”
“Tonight? But it’s not a full moon.”
“Nadia said, given Mel’s recent genetic changes and several partial transformations, it would be best to try her first full one without the added stress of a full moon.”
“So... Have you told her everything?” Bryan had an evil glint in his eye.
“Well, not the clothing bit. I think she might be a bit pissed off when she realizes she’s the only one in the pack that won’t be able to magick her clothes on and off.”
“Oh, I’d love to hear that conversation.”
Ryne stood and headed towards his room, where Mel was rearranging the closets to hold her things. “Who knows? If she’s mad enough, you just might. Be listening for a loud scream of fury in about ten minutes.”
*****
Mel awoke slowly from one of the best sleeps she could ever recall having. Smiling contentedly, she stretched, pleased to realize that her muscles weren’t protesting. Last night she’d had her first real transformation into a wolf. It had been strange, but exhilarating at the same time.
She’d shifted with Ryne in the woods—just the two of them, even though it was tradition for the whole pack to be present. However, given her half-human background she’d been told she would probably lack some of the abilities the others possessed, specifically, she probably wouldn’t be able to magick her clothes back on. The news hadn’t sat well with her, and Ryne—with a little persuasion on her part—had made some readjustments to the usual ceremonies to accommodate her.
As they gathered in the woods that night, Bryan had teased her no end over the fact that she’d be naked.
“Aw, come on, Mel. Don’t be standoffish.” He pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Bryan. I’m not being standoffish, but darn if I’ll waltz around in the woods buck naked in front of you and Daniel and the whole Lobero family.”
“We won’t mind.” Bryan had laughed before dodging the punch she aimed at him.
“It’s not just me. Our Alpha made the final decision.” She tried not to sound too smug about the fact. At first, Ryne hadn’t had a problem with the idea of her being naked in the woods with the rest of the pack. He’d even gleefully teased her about the fact for a while, but she’d skilfully turned the tables on him. Mentioning that Bryan and Daniel were both good looking, unattached males had been her starting point. After that, it had only a taken a few more carefully chosen words to have Ryne seething with jealousy.
“That’s right. It’s my decision as Alpha.” Ryne slid into place behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while nuzzling her neck. “No one sees her naked except me.” He looked up and growled at Bryan who paled and backed away.
“Uh, sure, Ryne. Whatever you say. We’ll just...uh...wait over there.” He gestured vaguely to the north.
“Make sure it’s really far ‘over there’ where you can’t ‘accidentally’ peek.” Mel warned.
Bryan winked, shot a nervous glance at Ryne, who was still growling lightly, and then walked away calling for the others to follow him.
The change had come amazingly easy to her, however the coordination needed to walk on all fours had been a bit difficult to master, let alone running and dealing with the amplified sensations coming at her from all sides. She did more than a few face plants before managing to walk far enough to greet her pack mates who had already transformed and were patiently waiting for her on the far side of the woods.