The Hybrid Luna

Black

*Will's POV*
It is 10 o'clock and the entire pack is standing in a large circle at the corner of Black Crescent Territory. We all stand here in wait for one thing, to watch as Ari goes through her first shift and then to cast her away forever. She has committed no crime, only been born and served the pack her entire life. There is giddy conversation among the pack. Everyone is ready to cast away the memory she brings, but there is no one more ready than the Alpha. He loathes Ari with everything he has. Luna does nothing to protect her own daughter, she simply avoids her so she doesn't have to face her. Now she stands next to Alpha with her eyes watching nothing in particular. I hate this. I don't want to take part in something so cruel as to cast away a newly shifted girl to live her life as a rouge. I'm hoping that the Silver Star pack will welcome her in, if she makes it that far. She has no idea what to expect, no one has told her anything. Her first shift will be excruciating, but she has no idea. She will need help to make it through the shift, but no one here plans to help her. I have to step up and help her through it. I don't care what ridicule I'll have to face, no one deserves to endure their first shift alone. I check my phone to see that it's 10:17 just as a hush settles over the crowd. I look towards the pack house to see Ari being "escorted", more like pushed, towards the center of the circle by a couple of pack warriors. Once she reaches the center of the circle she looks up at me, her beautiful violet eyes filled with uncertainty. She is beautiful, she always had been. She is tall and slender, but the malnutrition is to blame for that. She has long dark hair that moves slowly in the breeze. She had light colored freckles littering her cheeks. She stood before us barefoot, but she was wearing a lilac sundress that hit just above her knee caps. It was much different than the usual faded blue jeans and t-shirt that I was used to seeing. Looking down at the phone I saw it was 10:24. She would be shifting in two minutes. She never looked anywhere other that her feet and my eyes. I had filled her with hope, which is exactly what I wanted. She deserved a life after what she had been forced to endure here, and I was going to do all I could to help her get it. Suddenly Ari began to shake. She looked up at me, her eyes filled with panic. The pack began shouting and hollering. They knew what was happening, but she didn't. I walked towards the center of the circle, towards her. I heard Jack in the background, "Will! What are you doing?!", but I continued towards her.
"I'm going to help you through", I said as I helped her kneel on the ground.
Her face was already twisting in pain as her bones began to shake.
"Ari, look at me."
She squinted her eyes at me and began to cry.
"Don't take your eyes off of me. It's going to hurt a lot, but if you focus on me you can make it, I promise."
She nodded her head and I heard her bones begin to crack. It was time for her to make the shift.
"Okay Ari, let's do this. Your bones are beginning to break, that means it's time to shift. You need to imagine your wolf, what size and color she is. What would she look like from my point of view?"
Her face softened a bit and I knew she was imagining her wolf.
"Good job. Now imagine your bones moving to form your wolf. This will finish the shift. I promise it won't hurt like this every time, it's just the first time. You'll be sore for the next few shifts but the pain will disappear eventually. Now keep imagining, Ari."
I took a step back and watched as Ari's bones began to move and her fur started to form. Suddenly, there stood a small, beautiful black wolf in the place of Ari. The pack gasped and began whispering. A black wolf is only heard of in legends, yet here stood a black wolf before me. It was Ari. She whimpered and looked up at me with her piercing violet eyes. The most beautiful wolf I had ever seen, and she needed to go before they took her because of the legends behind her. I mouthed the words, "Go now", and she ran through the crowd into the woods. She was gone, and she was safe. Or was she? A black wolf in the old lycan legends is said to be the ruler of the supernaturals. I've heard of it in vampire and celestial legends as well. If she was indeed ruler of the supernaturals, there's no way she could know it. She doesn't know the power that could be surging through her veins, and that makes her vulnerable.