Casey's Wolf

Chapter 9

               “We all need to leave the house together,” Isaiah was telling everybody in the kitchen as Casey and her mother came down the stairs. He stopped talking when he caught sight of her. “Oh, wow Casey you look absolutely beautiful,” he said, causing her to blush.

                “Thank you, Mr. Isaiah,” Casey said as she stepped off the last stair. “Is there something wrong? I heard you telling everyone that we needed to leave together and you sounded worried.”

                “Shane called and said that he felt like there were other wolves in the forest that aren’t supposed to be here. It may just be a small rogue pack, but we don’t want to take any chances. So we are gonna leave together,” Isaiah said. Turning his attention back to the rest of the pack that was gathered in the living room he asked, “Is everyone ready to go?”

                When everybody had agreed that they were indeed ready to go they all headed for the back door of the house. They walked down the path through the trees in silence until they reached the clearing.

After they had greeted all of the wolves that had already assembled in the clearing, Mr. Isaiah walked to a tall stump in the center of the clearing. He cleared his throat as he stepped up on it using the stairs that had been set behind the stump.

“Welcome brothers and sisters of the moon. Welcome to our newest brothers and sisters. As I look out among you, I see that we have so much to celebrate this beautiful night. I see many new faces, which is truly a blessing from the Moon Goddess herself. Thank you for being here tonight to celebrate and help our newest wolves with their transition into this life. I love seeing the unity amongst our kind. It brings joy to my heart as I know it does to our Goddess,” he paused as everyone in the pack broke out into applause at his words. “But, as most of you have probably noticed by now, there is one pack that is missing from our celebration tonight. Sebastian and his Beta, Christian, have often bullied some of our new wolves on the night of the Shift Moon Celebration. A lot of you have come to me with complaints in the past.”

Some of the Alphas of the other packs nodded their heads in agreement to this statement. 

“Well, today he took it too far when his Beta took it upon himself to attack and injure my son, as well as attacking one of our new wolves, Miss. Casey. When we were made aware of this attack by a message that I received from Miss. Casey, we came back up to the house as myself, Lexi, and Sebastian had been down at the lake enjoying the warm day. When we arrived, it was brought to my attention that Christian had injured and was continuing to attack my son, Shane. Christian let it slip that he was acting on orders from Sebastian himself. So they are henceforth banished from this Shift Moon Ceremony as well as any ceremonies in the future. I will not tolerate that kind of behavior any longer. This is supposed to be a night of community and celebration. Not unnecessary drama.” Isaiah's words were met with the loudest applause yet.

“But, now that that is out of the way. Let’s begin celebrating. We have one hour before the moon rises. Let's eat and catch up. Again, thank you for coming,” Isaiah finished. Then he stepped down from the stump and everybody seemed to break off into small groups. Casey stayed with her mom and dad, searching the crowd for Shane.

“Why don't you walk around, honey? Meet some new people. Maybe some members of our pack that you haven't met yet. Or maybe find Shane. You don’t have to hang out with us the whole time. Just come find us when Isaiah says it’s time,” Alyza said.

“I don't know where Shane is. I haven’t seen him since we got here. But I know he has some responsibilities to handle here as part of the start of his Alpha training. He was telling me about it last night,” Casey said, craning her neck to look around. Then she sees Lexi talking to a tall woman with long red hair. “I will catch up with you in an hour, mom. Meet back right here?” she asked.

“Yes, meet back here. Now go and have fun,” Alyza said smiling.

Casey heads over to where Lexi is standing with the tall lady. “Oh, Casey, I was hoping you would come over. Let me introduce you to the Luna of the Ari Pack, Celeste. They are our neighbors to the northwest. She is an amazing woman. Celeste, this is one our newest wolves, Casey,” Lexi said as she introduced them. “Casey is the one I was telling you about that protected Shane when Christian attacked them.”

“That was very brave for a new wolf. It is an honor to meet someone so brave,” Celeste said as she nodded her head in greeting.

Casey nodded in a return greeting. “The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Celeste,” she said. “I am sorry if I am interrupting your conversation, Lexi.”

“Oh, you are not, Casey. There are quite a few people that I would like to introduce you to,” Lexi said. Then she leaned in close and whispered, “And a few to point out to avoid.” Lexi then turned back to Celeste, “If you will excuse us, Ms. Celeste. I am sure that our paths shall cross again tonight.”

Celeste inclined her head, “Of course, Lexi. It was a pleasure meeting you, Casey. See you guys later.”

Lexi then headed towards a small group of girls, but didn't approach them. Instead she stopped about 10ft away. She leaned her head close to Casey’s, “The girl in the center, that is the next Luna of Celeste’s pack. She is not nearly as nice as Celeste. She has been extremely stuck up ever since I met her a couple of years ago, on her first shift moon. As soon as her wolf woke and recognized Celeste’s son was her mate, she made sure that everyone present knew about it. At the end of the night when we were saying our goodbyes, I thought that she was going to rip my throat out just for telling Celeste’s son, Bjorn, good night and that I hoped that they had a safe trip back. The girls surrounding her are her entourage. They are just as snooty as she is, maybe even worse,” Lexi stopped there as Isaiah approached. “Hey, dad. Beautiful night isn’t it?”

“Lexi, what are you telling Casey?” he asked teasingly. “You’re not telling her about Celeste’s future daughter-in-law, are you? I thought you had moved past the gossiping stage.”

“Oh, I have, father. But I thought Casey should know how she can be snooty sometimes. That’s all. Oh, have you seen Shane? After your speech he kind of disappeared,” Lexi said. The last part had caught Casey off guard. She hadn’t seen Shane since she had gotten there.

“He is with Lane, checking the perimeter to make sure all is well before the moon rises. They should be back any minute now,” Isaiah said. Turning his attention to Casey he asked, “Are you excited?”

“A little. I mean I kind of don’t know what to expect at all, so I am more nervous than anything right now,” Casey said, honestly.

“Well, there is nothing to be nervous about. I promise. There is very little pain if any at all on the first shift. After that every shift is easy and can happen when there is extreme anger or your wolf senses that you are in severe danger. It will become second nature,” Lexi said as Isaiah nodded. Then something over their shoulders caught his attention.

“There they are now, I will be right back,” Isaiah said as he stepped around the girls and headed towards Lane and Shane. Lexi and Casey followed.

“Well?” Isaiah asked his sons as he neared them.

“Everything was clear. Nothing out there now. Whatever it was may have moved on,” Shane said. “Probably because of the group of wolves.”

“That is probably true. Especially if it was rogues like you suspected,” Isaiah said. “I am glad though. That is one less thing I have to worry about tonight.”

Shane turned to Casey, “Meet any interesting people, yet?” he asked her.

“I met Ms. Celeste from the Ari pack,” Casey answered. “But so far she is the only one that I have been introduced to.”

“Oh, have you met Jordan yet?” asked Shane.

“I was looking for him but I never saw him. Is he here this year? I know their pack only comes once every two years,” Lexi said.

“I am pretty sure I saw him and his twin sister during dad’s speech,” Shane said.

“They were here but they did not stay long. They had to get back to their pack house before the moon came up. This will be Jordan’s first shift moon as Alpha of his pack. His father and mother were killed by hunters just last night. They will come again next year. They only came because they wanted to let me know what had happened in person. The hunters that killed them have been dealt with but there is still the possibility that there are more in the area. I am about to go make the announcement about the attack, I was just waiting for your return,” Isaiah said, sadly.

“That is so sad. I wish I had known before they had left,” Lexi said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“They asked that I not say anything until after they had left. They didn’t want to be held up by condolences. I granted them that peace. I will arrange a meeting with all of the local Alphas, so that we can set up scouting groups. The faster we can get together a task force to handle this situation the better,” he glanced down at his watch. “It is time to start getting the wolves ready. Casey you are to stay with Lexi and your mother. I will explain why in my speech. So if you would please head back to your parents. Shane you are with Ryan and Lane you are to be Lewis’s partner tonight.”

With that Isaiah turned and headed back to the center of the clearing to his stump. Lexi gently pulled on Casey’s arm to direct her to where her parents are waiting. When they reach them, Casey’s father wrapped her in a big bear hug.

“I hope you have a wonderful time tonight, Case. I will see you lovely ladies in the morning,” Darren said. Then he headed to stand next to Isaiah.

“What’s going on, mom? Is dad not going to be here for my first turn?” asked Casey, disappointment in her voice.

“It is all about to be explained, just listen please,” Alyza told her daughter as Isaiah cleared his throat.

“The time draws near for the moon to rise. But before I get into what the new wolves can expect, I am afraid that I have some very tragic news from Jordan and Jolene from the Ters pack. Last night, there was an attack on their pack house. His father, the Alpha and his Luna, were killed by hunters. The twins will not be here for the rise of the moon as Jordan felt that it was his responsibility to be with his pack this shift moon as it will be his first as their Alpha. So with that news, I ask that the Alphas stay for tonight so that after the moon sets and we rest, we can put together scouting parties and get the task force together to protect our people. With that being said, I implore the new wolves to stay close to their shift partners tonight. Now, as for what to expect tonight. There will be pain but it shall be so brief you will not believe that it was even there in the first place. When you feel like your body is starting to vibrate, just relax. Don’t fight it. This will anger your wolf. You do not want your wolf to be angry when you shift, it will be more difficult for them to tell the difference between friend and foe. That is why I asked some of the older wolves to partner up with you as well as one of your parents. The only other thing that you really need to do is enjoy the experience, feel the wind blow through your wolf’s fur. I wish you all a wonderful shift moon. I will see you all in the morning. We will meet back here before heading back to the pack house for breakfast,” Isaiah said.

He then stepped down from the stump once again. Then Darren and Isaiah headed towards the trees as Alyza and Lexi lead Casey to the trees as well. They walked a about 20 yards before they came to a much smaller clearing. Lexi began watching the sky.

“What are you looking for, Lexi?” Casey asked curiously.

“She is looking for the light of the moon,” Alyza said in answer. “Once we see the light of the moon, we will begin to undress. On the night of the shift moon, it happens so fast that sometimes it destroys the clothes that you are wearing. After your first shift you will not have to undress in order to shift.”

“Oh,” Casey said.

“There it is,” Lexi said pointing over the tops of the trees to their left.

They began preparing for the upcoming shift. As Casey carefully hung her new dress on a near by low hanging branch, she heard a strange rustling in the tree line in front of her. However, before she is able to investigate the sound a wave of quick pain washes over her. Then she begins to feel the vibration in her body that Isaiah had talked about.

The next thing she remembers is opening her eyes to look around and everything being heightened. Her vision was sharper and she could hear for miles it seemed.

“Hello,” a low growl said in her head. “I am so glad to finally meet you.”

“Wolf?” Casey asked.

“Yes,” came the reply.

Just then, growls erupted around her. Her wolf joined in.

“Intruders,” her wolf told her.

Suddenly, Casey felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. She looked up just before she blacked out. Standing over her with a rock in his hand, was Sebastian.

“I am taking you home.”