Chapter 6
At sixteen, I learned that a smile could be armor, but some wounds still found a way to pierce it.
The proof came at Scarlett’s birthday party, a lavish affair held just a month before my own.
The Alpha house was filled with music and laughter, but for me, it felt like a battlefield.
I moved through the crowd in a simple green dress Luna Etta had insisted I wear, my only goal to remain as invisible as possible.
My invisibility cloak failed when Veronica, holding two glasses of red wine, intercepted me near the grand fireplace where Marshall was surrounded by his usual admirers.
“Annalise, you look so… sweet tonight,” she said, her eyes sweeping over my dress. “It’s a lovely color. So innocent.”
“Thank you, Veronica,” I replied, trying to move past her.
“Oh, but look, you’ve got a loose thread,” she said, her voice laced with false concern. As I glanced down, she feigned a dramatic stumble. A full glass of dark red wine arced through the air and splashed directly down the front of my dress.
The dark stain bloomed across the pale green fabric like a gaping wound. A collective gasp went through the room, followed by a ripple of snickers.
“Oh, my goodness!” Veronica cried, her hand flying to her mouth in a perfect picture of theatrical dismay. “I am so clumsy! I’m so sorry, your dress is ruined!”
I looked desperately toward Marshall. He was looking right at us, but there was no anger in his expression, only a mild annoyance. He raised his glass in a mock toast.
“Girls being girls,” he called out, his voice casual and dismissive. “Try to keep the drama down, ladies.”
He turned back to his conversation, laughing at something the birthday girl, Scarlett, had whispered in his ear. He didn’t see the malice in Veronica’s eyes or the triumphant smirk she shot me. He just saw a trivial accident. He saw me as a child, causing drama.
The humiliation was a physical burn. But just as I felt tears threatening, I felt a new sensation deep within me—not sadness, but a slow-burning ember of rage.
It was a foreign feeling, but it was mine.
I met Veronica’s gaze, lifted my chin, and walked away without a word, leaving her standing there with her empty victory.
That small act of defiance, of not letting them see me cry, was a tiny seed of power planting itself in the barren ground of my heart.
That night, something had shifted. The broken-hearted girl was still there, but she was no longer alone. A part of me was getting ready to fight back.
It was a month later, on my sixteenth birthday, that I finally met her.
The sacred grove hummed with anticipation as the pack gathered for my first shift ceremony.
Ancient oaks formed a natural circle around the clearing, their branches heavy with summer leaves that filtered the late afternoon sunlight into dancing patterns on the forest floor.
Pack members lined the edges of the grove, their voices a low murmur of excitement and encouragement.
I stood in the center wearing a simple white dress that Luna Etta had sewn specially for tonight.
Tradition demanded that those undergoing their first shift wear something easily torn away when their wolf emerged.
My bare feet gripped the soft earth, grounding me to the pack territory that had been my home for three years.
Three years since Marshall had claimed me as his mate. Three years of Luna training and she-wolf harassment and learning to smile while my heart broke a little more each day. But tonight was different. Tonight, I would meet my wolf. Tonight, I would become a full member of the pack.
"Are you ready, Annalise?" Luna Etta asked softly. She stood beside me in the circle, her hand warm on my shoulder. Over the years, she'd become the mother I'd lost, patient and kind even when I struggled with the more difficult aspects of Luna training.
I nodded, though my stomach churned with nervous energy. "I think so."
"Your wolf has been waiting for this moment as long as you have," she said. "Trust her. Trust yourself."
Marshall stepped forward, his ceremonial robes marking him as pack leader and officiant.
At twenty-two, he commanded the grove with natural authority, every inch the Alpha his father had been.
"Pack members of the Cascade," he began, his voice carrying easily through the grove, "we gather tonight to witness Annalise Sloane take her rightful place among us as both wolf and future Luna to your Alpha. "
Future Luna to your Alpha. Even after three years, hearing him claim me publicly as his mate sent a flutter through my chest. He may have been ignoring me, but I told myself that was only because of my age.
Things would be different when I was eighteen.
Marshall would be different when I was eighteen.
He looked impossibly handsome in the ceremonial robes, commanding the grove with natural authority.
At twenty-two, he'd grown into his Alpha inheritance, broad-shouldered and powerful in a way that made every she-wolf in the pack take notice. Not that they weren’t already.
I forced myself to focus on Marshall's words as he continued the ceremony.
"The first shift is both an ending and a beginning," he continued. "Tonight, Annalise will shed her human-only existence and embrace the dual nature that marks our kind. She will find her wolf, and her wolf will find her."
The pack murmured their agreement. I caught sight of some of the young adults in the crowd, those who'd undergone their first shifts in recent years. They watched with understanding and encouragement, remembering their transformations.
"Annalise," Marshall turned to me, "step forward and call to your wolf."
I moved to the exact center of the grove, where generations of pack members had experienced this same ritual. The earth beneath my feet felt warm and alive, as if the forest itself was welcoming me home.
Closing my eyes, I reached inward the way Luna Etta had taught me. For months, I'd been feeling something stirring in the depths of my consciousness. A presence that felt both foreign and familiar, like a friend I'd known forever but never met.
Are you there? I asked silently.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Power surged through my veins like liquid fire, and I felt my consciousness split and expand. Suddenly, I wasn't alone in my mind.
I am here, came a voice that was fierce and wild and entirely mine. I am Sapphire, and I have been waiting for you, sister.
The transformation began as a burning sensation under my skin, like my bones were trying to rearrange themselves from the inside out. I gasped and fell to my knees as the first wave of change washed over me. The white dress tore as my body began to shift and stretch.
Let go, Sapphire urged. Stop fighting the change. This is what we are meant to be.
I released my death grip on my human form and surrendered to the transformation. It felt less like giving up and more like finally breaking chains I never knew I was wearing. Pain shot through every nerve ending as bones lengthened and muscles reformed.
And then, between one breath and the next, I was a wolf.
I thought my senses were enhanced before, but now my vision sharpened until I could see individual leaves on the oak trees overhead. My hearing exploded with new sensitivity, picking up heartbeats and whispered conversations from across the grove.
I could smell the pack members around the circle, each with their own unique signature. Luna Etta's warm vanilla and cinnamon. Jackson's leather and loyalty.
And Marshall. Oh, Marshall.
I could sense him more clearly now, feel the pull of our mate bond in a way I never had as a human-only.
My wolf recognized her mate even without being able to scent him properly - that wouldn't come until I turned eighteen.
But the knowledge was there, written into our very souls by the Moon Goddess herself.
He is ours, Sapphire said, her voice in my head warm with satisfaction. But he does not allow it yet.
I knew what she meant. Even with this new connection, I could sense his emotional distance, the way he kept himself separate from our bond. Marshall was twenty-two years old and unmated, living his life without consideration for the teenage girl waiting for him to notice her.
This will change, Sapphire growled, determination bleeding through our shared consciousness. We are no longer a child to be ignored.
But even as she spoke, I wondered if anything would really change. Having a wolf didn't make me eighteen. It didn't make me the woman Marshall seemed to want.
"Beautiful," Luna Etta breathed from somewhere above me.
I looked down at myself and saw deep auburn fur that gleamed like copper in the fading sunlight. My wolf form was smaller than I'd expected, built for speed and agility rather than raw power. But I felt strong in a way I never had as a human, like I could run for miles without tiring.
We are beautiful, Sapphire agreed with satisfaction. We are strong. Stronger than they know.
The pack began to cheer, celebrating my successful transformation. I lifted my muzzle to the sky and let out a howl that came from the deepest part of my soul. It was answered immediately by dozens of voices as the pack welcomed their newest adult member.
When the howling died down, Marshall approached me slowly. "Shift back now, Annalise. Let your wolf rest."
The return to human form was easier, like slipping into comfortable clothes. Within moments, I was kneeling naked in the grove, my human body whole and unchanged. Luna Etta immediately wrapped a soft robe around my shoulders, protecting my modesty from the crowd.
"How do you feel?" she asked quietly.
"Different," I said honestly. "Stronger. Like I'm complete."