Silver Moon Secret

Chapter 1

"IT'S FLOWER TIME!!"
My sister's loud voice carried throughout the house. I looked up from my textbook as Amanda came barreling into my bedroom.
"Studying again?" she chastised. "You can only read so much before you fully memorize how to shift without actually having done it." She laughed and smiled down at me.
"I just want to be ready!" I exclaimed. "I don't want to embarrass myself in front of the entire pack."
Amanda sighed and sat on the corner of my bed beside me. Her arms were full of flower samples.
"I promise you, it comes to you naturally. Just trust in the Moon Goddess and trust your body. It knows what it's supposed to do."
I sighed back. I turned eighteen tomorrow. Then it was only one week until the full moon, meaning only one week until the pack's First Shift Ceremony. One week until I was standing barefoot on the ground, dressed in my special new outfit bought only for the occasion, under the moonlight as I awaited one of the biggest moments of my life. My first shift.
Amongst finding one's mate, marriage, and ascension to Alpha, a werewolf's first shift was a momentous occasion. The Alpha and Luna of the pack would host a large gathering in the clearing by the woods. Bonfires would light up the area and a huge table would hold a feast.   After the meal and a blessing from the Alpha, all newly-eighteen-year-old wolves dressed to the nines would join together in the center of the clearing, surrounded by the rest of the pack who'd come to celebrate. When the full moon was at its peak, the moonlight would shine down upon the stars of the show, and their bodies would twist and contort and rip through their clothes as they change shape from person to animal. Everyone gets a look at the packs newest wolves. Sporting different fur colors and markings, but sharing the same yellow eyes, the wolves get their footing and then they'd lead the pack into the woods for a pack run, before heading home to shift back into their person-form and redress. Then, the party really starts.
Some wolves find their mate on the night of the ceremony. This happens a few times a year, while the First Shift Ceremony occurs every month on the full moon. This happened to my older sister, Amanda, over three years ago. As soon as she returned to the pack after redressing, she was immediately drawn to the Alpha's son, Max. The mate bond was impossible to ignore, as the wolves desperately move toward each other, eyes glazed over, murmuring, "mate...mate...mate," under their breath. When they finally touch, electricity would run between them. Everyone within a ten-foot radius could feel it, and promptly moved out of the way. The fated pair embraced each other and share the first kiss, sealing their bond for life.
I shivered, remembering the sight of Amanda and Max holding each other. She'd literally pushed me out of the way in her frantic attempts to get closer to him.
"Shay?"
I shook myself from the memories and refocused on my sister. "Huh?"
"I said, it's time to pick some flowers for the wedding!" She excitedly shook the flower samples in her arms. "Max said he'd love any of these, so I have to finalize my pick tonight!"
I followed her out to the living room, where we spent an hour comparing samples and talking about the wedding.
"You're the best maid-of-honor a wolf could ask for!" Amanda sighed, leaning back into the corduroy couch. "Just six more months until we say, 'I do!'"
I grinned. "I can't wait. What time is dress shopping next week?"
"I'll pick you up from school, how's that?"
"Perfect!"
I watched my sister check her phone and smile wide when she saw the screen. Must be a text from her mate. I'd never seen such giddiness, even in my happy-go-lucky sister, until she found her mate. There was something I didn't understand about it, something so pure and lovely. The way her eyes lit up when she saw Max. The blushes and squeals of joy when they were together. The need to get back to him when they were apart. I'd never experienced that before, but, then again, I didn't have my mate. It wasn't possible until after my first shift. And signs wouldn't begin to show until after I turned eighteen.
Tomorrow being my eighteenth birthday marked the ability to feel signs of my wolf emerging. I would feel these subtle signs within me growing more and more apparent until my first shift. To say I was nervous would be to understate the matter dramatically. I was petrified. I'd lived in this body for almost eighteen years without so much as a whimper of my wolf. What would it be like when she begins to show herself? Would I hear the stirring growls in my head? Would I feel the inklings of a mate pull?
According to my studies, the textbooks, and everything the teachers have taught over the last few years, it was different for every werewolf. But anything was possible.
"Kids?" My father's gentle voice called into the living room. "You in there?"
"I'm not a kid anymore, Dad!" Amanda exclaimed with a giggle.
Our father grinned as he joined us in the living room. "You're always MY kid," he argued. "Even though you've shifted and found your mate. And even after you're married and Luna of this pack."
Amanda stood to hug him as he spoke. A quick hug, nothing more, as mated wolves tended to avoid much physical contact with others. But my father was never offended. He knew better.
I recalled watching my sister and father share longer hugs as a child. A lot had changed since Amanda found her mate in Max, Alpha Marcus's son. She moved into the Alpha's mansion and began her Luna training, and therefore wasn't around as much. But she did always find time to have weekly dinners with Dad and me.
"Hello?"
Not tonight, though. Max's voice echoed through the house. He already had the tone of an alpha, even though he wasn't to take over the pack for almost four more years. "Sweetheart?"
"In here, love!" Amanda called back. A moment later, Max appeared beside her, pulling her into a loving embrace and kissing her temple.
"Mmm, missed you," he murmured.
Amanda sighed happily. "I missed you, too."
Max straightened up and turned toward Dad. "Paul, how are you, sir?" He shook my father's hand kindly, a welcomed gesture from an Alpha-to-be. "Shay, good to see you." He smiled. "Did we get our flowers chosen?"
"Of course," I responded, holding up the final decision. White roses, a common choice for Alpha marriages.
"Wonderful," Max agreed.
I've always liked Max. At least in the short three and a half years that we've known each other. Although Max is the Alpha's son, my family did not hold any prestigious status, so we'd never officially met Alpha Marcus's family. Not until Amanda and Max found each other. But in these last few years, Max and his family have been warm and kind to my father and me, even having us over for dinner once a month in the mansion.
"Excited for tomorrow?" Max asked me.
I grinned. "Absolutely. Finally eighteen, finally ready for my wolf."
"If you're anything like Amanda, you'll be a natural," he assured me.
"Trust me, she's studied plenty," Amanda scoffed playfully. "Shay might as well teach others how to shift at this point!"
I ducked my head, slightly embarrassed of my studious nature.
"Hey, it never hurts to be prepared," Max replied. "Dinner is almost ready at home, darling," he told Amanda. "You ready?"
"Of course," she answered.
I helped Max and Amanda gather the flower samples and her bag, all of which Max carried while still having a free arm to link with my sister's. Such gentlemen, mated men were.
"See you all at the ceremony," Max told us. "If not, before."
My sister and future brother-in-law exited the house, leaving my father and me. He headed for the kitchen to start dinner. I followed him.
"Is mom joining us tonight?" I asked him.
He frowned. "No, honey, I'm sorry. She's not feeling up to it tonight. She needs rest."
Then he busied himself in the refrigerator.
I tried to fight a sigh of disappointment. My mother, Sandra, had been sick for as long as I can remember. She spent most days in bed, rarely coming out to join a meal or special occasion. But when she did, it was uncomfortable, at best.
Mom's illness and medication regimen made her prone to bouts of confusion, sometimes speaking utter nonsense to us. When that happened, my father's touch and whispers quieted her down as he led her back to bed.
I never really understood my mother's illness. In wolf culture, it was rude to question one's parents, or any adult. I never wanted to offend my father, so my questions went unasked and unanswered. No one else really asked, either. When friends came over for dinner or sleepovers, they sometimes asked where my mother was. My father and I would simply reply, "She is ill, and she's resting." And that was that.
Dad and I made a quick and easy dinner of a frozen pizza and watched some tv before I headed to my room to get more studying in before bed. My family may tease me sometimes, but I swore I hadn't learned all there is to know about shifting. There had to be more.
I read over my notes and my highlighted textbooks, and even did some extraneous research on the internet. I had all but memorized everything I was seeing. I eventually came across a forum called She Shifters, a blog made by she-wolves with tips and tricks to wolf life. It had everything: Q&As from wolves in the pack, interviews with high-ranking women, even a photo of the blog owner and the Luna together. I squinted into my laptop light. I recognized that blog owner. Mia Reynolds. She was Amanda's age, twenty-one, and would have graduated with Amanda, had Amanda not left school to begin Luna training.
When a she-wolf mates with an Alpha-to-be, she is immediately pulled from traditional high school and immersed in training to assist her mate in leading the pack. This may seem counter-productive, but Luna training is some of the hardest and most informative education one can receive.
I glanced at the current Luna, Jill, in the photo. Beautiful dark brown curls, deep brown eyes, a perfect smile. She was everything you'd expect a Luna to look like. But being a Luna was about more than good looks. An Alpha may lead the pack, but he was nothing without a well-trained Luna by his side. A Luna provided an emotional balance to an Alpha's strength. She was in charge of the school system within the pack. She even ran the clinic that aided mateless and orphaned wolves. It was a hefty responsibility.
I looked back at Mia. She'd been friends with Max and his sister Rena all their lives because Mia was the daughter of our pack's Beta, the second-in-command. The grownups used to gossip about Max and Mia being fated mates. Everyone believed it, even me, and were shocked when Max mated to Amanda instead. The shock didn't last long, however, because one of the tenants of wolf life was a faith in the Moon Goddess. She destined Max and Amanda to be together. And we didn't question the mating for that reason.
My eyes began to feel heavy. I glanced at the clock in the corner of my laptop screen. Shit! It was almost midnight. On a school night! I closed my laptop and plugged it in before crawling into bed. Just a few more minutes and it would be my eighteenth birthday.
Just a few more minutes.
But I was out before the clock struck midnight.