Purple Crescent Moon

Chapter 9. Shifting

Rey POV

"Jax, What the f**k was that? You could have killed her," I snarled in my mind at my wolf.

Jax scoffs and circles around until he finds a good spot to plop down in my mind.

"Hello?" I snapped at him.

"What do you want me to say? I'm sorry? I'm not; she isn't my mate!" Jax growls.

"She is our Mate; she is our chosen Mate. You loved her and Sola just two days ago!"

Jax growls and spits back, "No, I accepted my situation; none of that matters now that we found our mate; you need to fix things with her!"

I shake my head and hiss, "There is nothing to fix! She rejected us!"

"BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU SHOULD HAVE CLAIMED HER IMMEDIATELY!" Jax bellows angrily, shaking my brain against my skull.

I grab my head in pain and surprise. Jax has never been this angry with me. Harmony with your wolf is vital, and this friction can affect us in more ways than one. I huff out a breath and don't respond to him. Is he right? Should I have rejected Sasha and just taken my Mate? I pushed the idea out of my mind as soon as it came. I'm a man of honor; it's not right to reject my chosen after so much time; I couldn't do something like that to Sasha. I walk down the hallway to my office, which has been put back together by some omegas. I walk over to my cherry oak wood desk and sit in the chair, facing the vast windows to gaze at the pack grounds. The last few days have been heavy and confusing. How am I to be a great Alpha if my entire life can fall apart from one she-wolf.

"Alpha, can I come in?" Galen's voice appears in my mind through the mind link.

"Yes,"

The door opens, and Galen walks in cautiously. He strolls to the chair on the opposite side of the desk and starts to play with the set of pens displayed, not saying a word.

I turn my chair to face him.

Galen nods his head to a tune only he can hear, looking around the room like he's never seen it.

"Spit it out, Galen,"

"Well, since you're twisting my arm, uhmmmm…..Are you okay?" Galen asks.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I survey him up and down.

"The whole pack heard Jax threaten to rip Sasha's heart out, make it soup and serve it to the prisoners in our dungeon," Galen says with a shrug.

"He said no such thing," I say, shaking my head at Galens' dramatics.

Galen rolls his eyes. "Okay, well, something like that… What's going on, Alpha?"

"She tried to make me mark her…in the heat of the moment, Jax responded a bit… Aggressively."

Galen cackles loudly. "A bit? That's what you're calling it?"

Galen stands up, walking to the bar to pour us a glass of scotch. He strolls back to me, handing me the glass—we both down it in one gulp. The burning liquid goes down my throat and spreads over my chest. It feels good.

"Another," I demanded.

Galen nods and goes back to the bar to pour another shot. He turns to me before handing me my glass.

"I know I've said some..things about Sasha in the past, but you know Jax killing her would be sort of like a crime, right?"

"Not sort of Galen, a complete crime. She's done nothing wrong; it's not her fault our True Mate just popped up like this." I hold my hand out for the glass, Galen gives it to me, and we knock it back together again. Galens gasps out and hits his chest in distress.

"s**t, this is some heavy stuff! Did you buy this from a 500-year-old vampire or something?"

"I laced it with wolfs-bane," I say coolly like it's not toxic to wolves in hefty quantities.

Galen peers at the glass in his hand with the lethal substance in it…." Damn…So what's next?"

I turn to my computer and read my missed emails from the past two days. One hundred twenty-six emails were ignored, mostly from pack members with grievances and questions. I started forwarding the emails to Galen and my Gamma Liam; they can deal with this s**t.

"Take care of the emails I sent you and Liam, and also get me a list of people who have spent more than 45 minutes of uninterrupted time around me in the last three weeks. I need it by tonight." I stare at the screen while issuing the orders.

"Weird request; what is it for?" Galen sits back down on the chair and leans back lazily.

I glance at Galen and wonder if I should tell him about the parasite. I decide I'm too tired to repeat the entire story. "Just get it."

"Okay, King Rey… Isn't that a silly name? King Rey? Your name already means King.." Galen gasps loudly and dramatically and claps his hand to his mouth.

"What?"

"So that means you've always been..." King!" He taunts and starts to giggle uncontrollably.

I stare at Galen with an annoyed face. It's not even a funny revelation.

"Ha, ha, ha... Real hilarious joke, dufus...Get the f**k out." I say dismissively, pointing towards the door.

Galen grabs his heart in feign offensive "Sheesh, Rey; you could do with some bedside manner. Is that any way to talk to your bestest friend!?"

"OUT," I growl.

Galen jumps up, bows low, and giggles, "Yes, your highness, anything for you, your highness."

I grab the jar of pens and throw it at his head. He dodges it easily while laughing and runs out of the room.

Shaking my head, I go back to the computer and start to pull a list of any witches and Fae in the area to cross-check with the list Galen will bring me.

After a few hours, I’ve constructed a list of 62 Witches and Fae supernaturals within a 100-mile radius. Good, now we wait.

"Jax?" I question

Jax grunts in reply.

"Want to go for a run?" I ask. He lifts his head in interest in my mind. I smile, knowing this will make him feel better.

I change into some grey sweats and a white tee-shirt; no shoes are needed since I'll be taking it all off as soon as I enter the woods. I walk out of the pack-house past a group of unmated she-wolves. With my amplified hearing, I can hear them talking about my "junk" they can see through my pants. I smirk and shake my head while jogging off towards the forest.

I walk towards the clearing and stop at a massive splash pine tree. The forest is full of lush green leaves, and its deep brown bark is solid and rough, lengthening up to 100 feet. I take my clothes off behind the tree and place them in the box next to it. We place boxes near the mouth of the forest for our clothes and extras if we need them for emergencies.

I enter my mind's eye where Jax stands at attention, watching me from inside. "Let's go, Jax," I say to him.

Jax takes over and starts the transformation. When I turned 18, the shift was painful; it took a few shifts before my body got used to it. Now, it’s as normal as taking clothes on and off. Jax drops to his hands and knees and starts to push his energy out into my loins. My hands elongate into paws and claws while my mouth pushes into a muzzle. Simultaneously, my skin starts to darken and sprout midnight black fur. My body lengthens as the bones c***k to work into its other form; a hard pressure erupts from my tail bone, pushing out a long bushy black tail. My hearing amplifies, and my eyes turn emerald green. Jax shakes the fur and stretches his front paws, feeling the soil beneath him. He lifts his snout to the moon and howls long and powerfully. He repeatedly belts out the Moon Goddesses' favorite song, a howl of appreciation and joy. He scratches at the ground and inhales the scents all around him. Jax is a terrifying yet majestic beast. He stands taller than any werewolf, almost the size of a Lycan in wolf form at 6'2 ft. His long body is rippled with gigantic muscles hidden beneath the soft inky black fur. His eyes glow around him like green lanterns in the dark. Jax is a unique wolf because there are no other pure black wolves in the supernatural world. Black wolves come once every thousand years, gifted to our world as warriors sent from the Moon Goddess herself. They are dangerous yet powerful, caring yet disturbing in some way, and they are always the strongest Alphas in their lives. The black wolf can live over 200 years protecting their people; they are nearly invincible.

Jax's hearing is so acute now we can even hear the earthworms gripping the soil with their setae as they move about. The sound of the bats squeaking from the safety of their trees consumes us. A gentle wind blows through our black fur causing Jax to shiver with delight. He gives a bark and bolts deeper into the forest, flying through the trees.

Jax pushes each muscle at an insane speed, running up to trees and turning at the last second to avoid running into them; its thrill increases his excitement. He runs and runs for miles while I watch from inside his mind. Jax has a million thoughts racing through his mind, but I remain silent, also enjoying the freedom of the run. The air blows tightly against the fur as small insects meet their death against our bodies as we run through them. His paws smash into fallen wooden cones and dried leaves with quick crunches. Jax finally starts to slow down when he smells prey at a distance. He stops entirely and crouches at a tree to zero in on the creature he plans to eat. A mule deer, about 5 ft tall and 150lbs, a male: it is eating grass quietly with its sizeable ears rotating for any sound of danger.

Jax brings his ears back and keeps his eyes on the Mule deer; he steps forward snail-like, getting within 15 feet of the Mule deer, who is still unaware of its danger. Jax inches ahead, now he is 10 feet away from behind. The Mule deer enjoys the greenery it's eating, lifting its head every so often to check for danger. Jax then observes down at the ground at a large pine cone; his eyes dart at the deer; he purposely smashes his paw into the pine, causing a loud crunch. The Mule Deer jumps up and turns around to see the massive wolf; it immediately starts to run, not knowing that's exactly what Jax wants.

Jax excitedly bolts after the deer chasing it through the maze of trees and fallen branches. The mule deer is fast, but he is no match for the monster behind it. Jax has gaping jaws baring all his canines as he enjoys the hunt of the deer. He slows a bit to give the deer a chance to run further away. After a few minutes, Jax has had his thrill ride and torpedoes up to the deer and launches his body in the air onto the deer's hindquarters. The deer moans out in fear as Jax wrestles it to the ground using his insanely long claws to grip the animal. Jax swiftly jumps up and clamps his jaws around the deer's neck as it flays helplessly. Jax shakes his head viciously until the deer stops moving.

"Dinner time," Jax growls, peeling his lips back as he begins to tear the animal apart.