Page 52 of My Pucking Family

We probably have about ten minutes before the sunset is complete, so we take our seats to eat around the bonfire. Everyone is smiling. Well, except Slate. But even he's happy; hejust doesn't show it on the outside. It doesn't make sense, but it's like I can feel it. The happiness.

It's like when you're driving down the road in the desert, and it's so hot that the air in the distance looks wiggly and distorted. Like some kind of visible gas or something. It's so weird, but that's how it feels. I know that doesn't really make sense, but it's all I've got. It must have to do with the ceremonies and the bonfire.

When we've finished eating, I grab as many plates around me as I can. A few people didn't want me to take it for them, but I insisted. I want to be just like everyone else, even if I'm Roman's mate. I don't want special treatment. The trash is taken almost all the way back to the clubhouse where the food was pulled from. When I turn to walk back, the beauty of it all stops me in my tracks.

The lake in the distance, surrounded by trees older than even these wolves. The bonfire roaring to life, surrounded by people of all ages sitting, standing, and even dancing. Crickets chirping and the last lightning bugs of the year taking flight.

I forget that I was walking back to the group when Roman joins me, wrapping a shawl around my shoulders, even though I hadn't really gotten cold yet, even if it's already October.

It's already been two months into my new life, but somehow it feels like a lifetime.

“With the sun fully set, you could shift any time. Would you like to be out here with the pack, or would you like to have some privacy?” he asks with a tinge of worry in his eyes.

“I'm okay, Roman. I want to be out here with the pack, like everyone else,” I tell him as strongly as I can, even though my legs kind of feel like Jello.

As we make our way back to the bonfire, one of the children hollers, and at first, I worry something is wrong, but then I realize he's shifting. Everyone grants him space. No one's staring at him. His parents are nearby, offering quiet words of encouragement. The sounds are the worst part. Hearing bones crunch and realign like that is terrifying, but I'm sure I'll get used to it someday.

After about four or five minutes, his shift is complete, and a dark chocolate little wolf is bounding around where the little boy once was. Everyone either claps or howls their encouragement. Both his and his parents' eyes are shining with pride, his mother patting away her happy tears. They shift and join him, prancing and running around, and I can't help the swell in my chest.

I could have that someday.

We find a spot to settle in and wait. Roman and I start talking about his life in Zabella. He doesn't have many fond memories, but hearing stories about another world is fascinating.

Benny is about to tell us a story of little Roman when I start to feel...something.

“R-roman I...s-something's...ahhhh!”

He scrambles from where he’s sitting and kneels beside me where I've fallen to the ground. I'm getting the burning flesh feeling I got when my wolf tried to force her way out.

I vaguely notice Miss Tilly, Jeanine, and the men around me, but my eyes can't seem to focus. Another small scream rips from my lungs.

“Is she okay?” I barely hear Roman worry over the pain.

“She's fine, Alpha. Due to her age, her first shift is going to be even more uncomfortable than most.”

I roll over onto all fours to try and just move through the pain coming over me in waves.

For a moment, I genuinely feel as though someone has thrown me into the bonfire; just before my body goes cold and is covered in goosebumps, I hear the first pop, causing me to cry out again.

“You've got this, Sweetheart.”

Bones crunching.

“Everything's going to be okay; keep breathing.”

Tendons stretching.

“You're almost there.”

Fur sprouting.

“Holy shit.”

For a single second, I can't hear or see anything as I feel my wolf's presence consume me, and my scream morphs into a howl of triumph.

Just as all four of my feet,er, paws,hit the earth, what can only be described as a shockwave courses through my body. Not only does it travel through my entire body, but it passes through my legs, into the earth, and out into the world. It blows out the entire bonfire. It brings the pack to their knees.Why are they bowing?This did not happen when the little boy shifted.

Everything I see through the eyes of my wolf is so much sharper. Every breath I take, I can smell everything, but...oh my god...the smell of cherries and leather is what I turn to, my eyes nearly rolling back in my head.

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