Today's the day of the celebration, the alpha ordered a ceremony to celebrate the return of the white wolf. The whole town was busy preparing. For the past few days, people have been tripping in and out of our house in order to see the ‘white wolf’. Gifts and congratulatory messages were given, my parents were proud, and they didn't hold back from saying it. They treated me like an egg and I hated it.
I hated the attention and the soft treatment. But what I didn't hate was my wolf. I have come to fall in love with it over the past few days.
A few days ago, June, Isla and I went into the woods, and we all shifted. Shifting again wasn't as painful as the first time and, according to the adults, with constant shifting and time, I'd barely feel it.
Shifting in front of my friends made their wolf look so small. I love that I'm unique, but I didn't like the attention it brought.
I am going to be shifting in front of everyone today. It made me nervous. That sounds like a big deal. I wasn't going to get naked in front of everyone but my parents assured me that I could destroy the clothes I chose to wear. Usually, to shift, it is necessary to take off your clothes so as not to destroy them. But I wasn't going to do that in front of everyone.
I wore a casual easy-flowing knee-length gown and tied my hair up in a ponytail. I walked downstairs to see my family waiting for me.
“Mom…. Please don't even say it". I shunned her from expressing how proud she was of me. I've heard that way too many times. I grabbed Irene's hand as we all left the house. We walked towards the town hall in silence.
On getting there, it was filled to the brim. Everyone was around, and they stared at me as we made our way to our seat, but my mom told me to go to the alpha as there was already a seat there reserved for me close to his family.
Everyone was observing my every move as I walked. I stumbled but quickly regained my balance. The alpha's eyes were on me. This was the first time I had sat close to them, especially the Luna. She looked reserved, with her back straight and an aura that commanded respect. I got really nervous when she smiled at me.
The alpha commanded silence and gave a lengthy speech regarding the white wolf. I was called to stand close to him. At that moment, my heart was racing. I tried to feign composure but inside me was chaos. I spotted my friends, and they gave me a thumbs up and smiled at me; so did my family.
“....... And has blessed Aries here to be the next white wolf. Aries would now show us the might of the moon goddess’s white wolf” the voice of the alpha boomed across the hall. At once, they all turned to me, waiting for me to do the big reveal.
I stared back, my heart racing and my palms wet, cold sweat trickled down my forehead. I couldn't turn, I panicked.
" Hey, I know you're quite nervous, but I want you to calm down, look at me and…..”
"Look at you?, you're quite intimidating” I spat out and quickly closed my mouth. I was shocked at my sudden outburst.
The alpha smiled and turned to his Luna. I could see he was a bit nervous as well. He had to call her for help. She walked over and held my hand.
At that moment, I just wanted to disappear.
“Aries, you’ve got this. I'm not the one in this spot, but I'm nervous as well. I mean shifting in front of everyone?? But do you know why you got this? It's because you're the white wolf, the moon goddess's warrior, not just any other regular wolf, you're the white wolf”, she soothed and smiled.
Something inside me clicked. She's right, I'm the white wolf and that means I can handle anything.
With that ringing in my head, my bones began to break and unbreak, my body restructured and rearranged into the form of a wolf and, within seconds, my wolf emerged. Everyone stared with their jaws dropped and amazement in their eyes. And almost immediately, they burst out in celebration and praise. I just stood there and stared at them.
The alpha gave a few more speeches before I was led outside and made to walk round the village with everyone walking with me. It felt good, and so I just went with it.
The celebrations continued until midnight before everyone was made to return home.
While I returned home with my parents.