Tomorrow Never Dies (Moonlight 3)

Chapter 37-Golden Pack

"Golden packs are there to counteract the darkest of forces in our world." Calum quoted as if he were reading out of his Grandfathers notebooks. He looked up at Mei; with narrowed eyebrows, "We don't concede to anyone, especially not the likes of you."

There was a look of genuine fear in Mei's eyes as Calum spoke those words. She appeared to take a step back, her eyes carefully considering the two of us.

Calum was the first to stand, the first thing I noticed was how the colour had returned to his face. Amazingly smoke no longer rose from the surface of his skin and the claw and teeth marks had vanished as if nothing had ever happened. As I looked to Michael and Ashton, I realised that they were both looking better as well.

I knew in that moment we had changed our fates. I was feeling a lot better, and my entire body still tingled from the force of re-joining the pack again. I could sense the three of them once more. Maybe we weren't any stronger than we once were, but I felt more confident this time that we might just pull this off.

Better than that was the usually unwelcome taste of the acid on my tongue. The prickle of my skin. I didn't even need to look at Calum to know what I needed to do. I closed my eyes, allowing my body to focus on the shift rather than my surroundings. I could feel my back arch as the almost triumphant howl left my lips. Echoed by three others.

I opened my eyes as I landed onto the ground and onto my paws. As I looked down at my furred form, I couldn't help but grin. I'd never been so glad to have shifted in my entire life. I didn't realise how scary it would be to think I'd lost the ability to do so.

I looked around to my friends. My eyes caught on Calum first, the pendant still resting around his neck. Then my eyes went to both Ashton and Michael. All of them had managed to shift as well. Nothing much had changed except for the slightly golden tinge around all our coats. For a moment I thought that was all, then I gasped in realisation.

Calum had always been at least an inch taller than the rest of us in wolf form. Yet the four of us were equal. As I looked across at Mei who had shifted as well, we were also matched in height.

Was it possible we were somehow Alpha's too? I thought of Michael's words, maybe he had been right. Mei was an Alpha too after all. What about Ashton though he wasn't a natural born or an experiment. Yet we were a Golden Pack, so I'd realised by this point that anything was possible.

Michael stood taller letting out a low growl as he moved beside Calum. There was genuine fear in Mei's eyes as she looked between the four of us. The Shadow Wolves were watching us with a kind of stunned waiting expression. Every single one of their eyes was directly on us.

Calum marched forwards towards Mei, the two wolves meeting eye to eye. The rest of us flanking him. He nodded to the three of us in acknowledgment. I could sense that we were going to challenge her. The same way she had once sent Finn to challenge us in that parking lot that one time. Normally I knew Calum would never do something like this. He'd never wanted to take on Finn's challenge in that parking lot. Yet I could sense he was confident that we'd win this time. I silently wondered if he'd go through with it.

'This ends now Mei.' Calum growled, the golden in his irises flaring brighter. 'We're challenging you for your pack.'

I was a little stunned. I had thought this might be where we were going, challenging Mei so that she would simply leave us alone. Yet challenging Mei for her pack seemed a rather big step, I gulped. Michael nodded quickly; Ashton and I shot him an alarmed glance. Were we really going to do this? Ashton stood up taller and even let out a small growl.

I realised it was on me now, and I wasn't going to be the one who disagreed. I nodded as well.

Mei looked genuinely afraid, I even thought that she might flee again. It was clear to me that her plan wasn't working out how she anticipated, and she was grasping at straws for a new one.