The Secret Pack

What's In A Name

The moon was starting to glow brighter, little wisps of silver light were dancing down the moonbeams towards us.

 Deep breath, here we go

The first little wisp made its way to the girl with the bubble-gum pink hair. It shone brighter and spin around her head before exploding above her like a tiny magical fireworks display. Little sparkles floated down and settled on top of her head, her hair started glowing and was almost floating as if by magic. Suddenly a blinding light came from her wrist, and I looked over with curiosity to see what her Wolf Mark was going to be. An intricate design appeared on her wrist, upon closer inspection it looked like several flowers with a snake wrapped around where a ribbon should be, it was stunning. "Ah ha," mother said, "it looks like we have a new healer in our midst. Congratulations young one, you may now perform your shift." The sounds of bones cracking filled my ears and I watched as the healer transformed into a stunning grey wolf with white ears.

"Welcome young wolf, you are now a fully-fledged member of The Moonflower Pack. Please shift back to your human self and grace us with your name" The healer transformed and stood proud, head held high and declared "I am your new healer, and my name is... Eir. I am Eir"

Wow, what a stunning and befitting name

And so, it went wolf after wolf appeared, mark after mark and name after name. Mya was a warrior; her Wolf Mark was two swords and a howling wolf. Sophia who would be a teacher for the pups, her Wolf Mark was a book with a wolf's tail. Iselda was my new royal advisor, her Wolf Mark was two wolf touching foreheads - a true show of trust.

Eventually it was my turn, and I was nervous. I knew as the next queen things would be different for my shift and Wolf Mark. The last moon wisp was peculiar though, it was almost luminescent and seemed to be changing colour. Whatever, I must be hallucinating from exhaustion.

I glanced at mother and saw that she too looked confused by the behaviour of this moon wisp. But before I had the chance to query this with mother the wisp flew straight at me, it didn't burst above me head like everyone else's did. My wisp flew straight into my chest, a burning sensation started spreading from the entry point. The pain I was feeling was excruciating, I felt like I was on fire. Why can't I just be a normal wolf with a normal wisp.

 My body started to glow like the sun, dim at first but slowly getting brighter. The intensity of the light was incredible, and I had to shut my eyes for fear of blinding myself. The light and head started to recede from my chest and focus itself on my wrist where my Wolf Mark should be. Slowly but surely the light dimmed, and the heat faded, I was dazed and confused. Well, that was new, what the hell just happened to me? I opened my eyes slowly and looked at my Wolf Mark, I was anxious to see what the Moon Goddess had bestowed upon me. I was suddenly vey woozy and stumbled a bit, why was I so lightheaded?

 My mother, her Beta and Gamma rushed to my sides to help steady me. They were giving each other worried looks and whispering to each other. "What's wrong mother?" I ask. She responds with "I don't know" Fantastic. I glance at my wrist and see that my Wolf mark is different to everyone else's. Whilst theirs are black as night, mine looked like it was red and... glowing? How can this be? I have never seen anything but black Wolf Marks? Great. 

The three women before my all looked at the mark with wonder and confusion. "A sun? Have you ever seen a sun?" asked Beta Verlee. "Never, how about you Queen Juno?" Gamma Leonora responded. My mother simply stood there and stared at my mark before looking at the three of us and whispering, "We will discuss this later, my daughter needs to complete her rite of passage and then we can consult the elders". We nodded in unison and stood up, mother turns to the crowd "your soon-to-be new queen shall now go through her first shift and present us with her name"

I took a step forward and started the shift, I was waiting for the cracking and popping of bones that I heard the other girls go through tonight, but there was none of that. Why isn't it working? Why is nothing happening? Suddenly my mark started glowing brighter and the heat was coming back. First it was wrist that broke, but it didn't hurt. As the heat worked its way up my arm bones were audibly snapping but I felt no pain whatsoever. Slowly the heat made its way around the entirety of my body, I could hear every bone snap and crack in a sickening way.

Just as quickly as the heat started, it vanished and I stood before my pack in my wolf form. Instead of cheers from the crowd, I was met with a deafening silence. What now? My wolf form must be quite large, as I am now staring down at my mother. How odd, even mother's form is not this tall. I looked around for something reflective to see what the fuss was about and caught a glimpse of myself in a shield's metallic surface.

What the hell? Not only was my wolf form exceptionally large, but it also had the most unique colouring I had ever seen. Instead of the usual wolf colours I seemed to shift from pink; to orange; to a flaming red. I resembled an African sunrise and I loved it. I was stunning and was bursting with pride at the gift the Moon Goddess had given me. I felt my mother's hand brush through my fur and was amazed to see that the action caused the colours in my fur to shimmer in a ripple effect, like a stone being skipped on a flat lake. She gave a look as if to say it was time to complete the ritual. I slowly returned to my human counterpart form and stood tall. Mother looked at me and whispered "it is time my little wolf, present your name to the pack"

My eyes skimmed the crowd, and I cleared my throat, "I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting this year's wolves. We have come a long way as a group and look forward to bringing this pack into the future. I am pleased to announce that from this day forth I shall be known as......" I faltered; the name I had always envisioned for myself felt alien to me now. As if was no longer a part of who I am anymore. My eyes grew wide, and I felt the panic rising, that wasn't my name anymore that name was dead to me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my mark sparkle like the stars in the night sky, and then it hit me... I knew my name. I straightened up again, took a deep breath and projected my voice as if to declare myself to the heavens above.

"AURORA! I AM QUEEN AURORA"