The Alpha's Rayne

Chapter Two: The Transformation Ceremony

* Rayne's POV *

My ceremony is tonight. I'm still so scared, and it doesn't help that all day at the training ground people were telling me how painful their first turns were. It's times like these that I wish my dad were still alive, Uncle Siris tries really hard to be a great parent, and he is, but my dad was my best friend.

The ceremony is pretty simple, and shifting doesn't happen exactly as you'd think. The first shift is meant to be on your birthday. For an Alpha that means fourteenth, yay me. For a beta or omega that means sixteenth, with some later bloomers occurring sometimes into their twenties. The moon's phase doesn't matter so much for that first shift, but until you reach unity with your wolf, it matters a great deal for the shifts following.

The moon goddess is graceful, kind. Her power is strongest during a full moon phase, as is ours. When you and your wolf are without unity, the full moon is a forced shift and your wolf is very powerful. If you never achieve unity, then your turns exist as a curse, never being able to fully realize the beauty of transformation and only experiencing the pain of it. Some wolves can overtake their humans, too, turning when they want without giving the human any control.

After unity, you can shift whenever you want- going for runs and being side by side with your wolf's soul while you are the wolf. I've heard it's wonderfully beautiful.

I want that. My dad had that with Fatum, his wolf and he were the same soul almost. He always spoke about how amazing it was to have that.

I worry I won't have that. I worry that my fear of losing people, and my habit of pushing them away, will make my wolf and I not be able to unify. I'm simply scared.

The ceremony starts with the drinking of the Moon Goddess's tears- which are mystical rains that fall the morning of your birthday. They're iridescent, switching between purple and blue hues as you swirl them in the chalice. They offer strength to your human body, the strength to break and mend every bone in your body multiple times in one night. I've heard some joke that they wish it was like morphine instead to help with the pain, but I imagine the pain is worth it to meet the other half of your soul.

After the drinking of the tears from the ceremonial chalice, you sit in a meditative pose asking for guidance and love from the Moon Goddess- I've been told if you don't glow you're not doing it right. Usually, it appears as a dim glow.

Next is the transformation, it will pull you out of your meditative state as it begins. Those who have turned already are encouraged to turn with you and run alongside you for your wolf's first run.

The final part is the return twenty-four hours later. The Moon Goddess, in your last few moments of your first turn, will lead you back to the ceremony stage where you're covered with a blanket and given a bracelet made of the trees from her realm, which allows a connection to your pack in the form of a mind link. The bracelet becomes one with your skin, appearing almost like a tattoo, and then the ceremony is complete.