I ignored it, and kept walking. Kota slowed his steps to give me a side glance, checking if I was okay. When I kept going, he stayed at my pace. Another sharp stab came right as we were entering the salon, but I made sure it wasn't noticeable on the outside. I'm probably just tired, I reasoned. I was having fun here with all of them, and I didn't want to ruin it with some weird pain I could easily handle!

Turned out this was different. I made it through the hair wash and cut, listening to the girls chatter away and giving a head bob in response to anything directed at me. The boys stayed near too, talking less but still participating. Kota was more absent though, I'd noticed he had an eye on me the entire time, but not in an adoring way he usually did. This look was pure concern and protection. He knew. He had to know something was bothering me. I didn't meet his eye most of the hour.

The pain was strange, something I had never felt before in all those years living with Jack. My

years of building a high pain tolerance kept me from announcing the discomfort on the outside, but inside I was about ready to scream by the time the cosmetologist was finishing the final cuts.

It started slowly, staying in my lower spine like it was on the walk over here. But then it grew, crawling up each vertebrae until it reached my collarbone. Then it spread down my arms, and I had to fight to keep them from twitching as they rested on the arms of the chair I sat in. The ache was dull at first as it inched to my fingertips and then down my legs. It was worse at my elbows, wrists, ankles, and knees.

When the cosmetologist announced it was done, asking me how I liked it, I was so ready to dash out of there. I needed fresh air, grass, a forest — that one was a thought that seemed to push through suddenly without my permission. I squirmed as tiny beads of sweat formed at the base of my neck. Suddenly I was very hot.

I flew out of the chair and gave the woman a thumbs up and a strained smile, hoping she couldn't see through it.

She didn't, because she answered with a laugh, "I'm glad! Thanks so much for coming in today guys, I hope to see you back sometime!"

She disappeared and Kota quickly paid at the reception counter. I held my breath and forced myself not to fall over in the process. Jaycee and Dexter were looking at me funny and Sydney nudged Cole to get his attention. They noticed. They noticed something was wrong. Oh here we go!

"Are you okay?" Cole asked, walking so he stood in front of me.

I nodded tersely, but that just made a strange sound come from my neck.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Kota, done paying, growled out. I didn't even flinch, I was so focused on the hot pain running through my limbs. "You seemed out of it that entire time, and looking at you now I know something is wrong."

I finally flicked my eyes up to meet his, which were darker than they had been earlier. Tears I could no longer hold back threatened to spill over my bottom lids. Kota's face didn't soften like it usually did when I got sad, but my heart knew his eyes were dark with concern for my well being, not lust or anger.

"Okay, we're taking you to Holly. Right now." He growled, and Jaycee reached for my arm to help me walk out. Immediately she recoiled in shock.

"Holy—," she grasped her own hand that had touched me. "Kota, her skin is like fire!"

Kota immediately grabbed ahold of me, and I saw him physically wince in contact. But while I seemed to be burning him, he was cooling me. I leaned into his chest, aching to be soothed. This was becoming more unbearable than anything I had ever gone through and while sparks on contact helped some, it wasn't a cure.

Reaching down, he looked like he was going to pick me up and I shook my head fiercely, flinching at the cracks I heard in my neck. I was not going to be carried, and make a scene through the mall. The salon receptionist was probably already dialing 911 at this point!

"We gotta go!" Eva whispered, grabbing Kota's arm and hauling him out of the store. I clung to him, using him as support to stand while Jaycee, Cole, and Sydney followed close behind, ready to catch me should I fall.

We ignored everyone in our haste to leave, not even noticing whether or not we got strange looks as we passed. The rush of the outside air hit me like a wall once we got past the doors, and I felt about ten percent better. Not great, obviously, but it was something. I stumbled and Kota scooped me up, practically sprinting to his truck.

Placing me on the backseat so I could lay down, he hurriedly started up his truck, barely waiting for Eva to hop in the passenger seat before he tore out of the parking lot, muttering some curse words under his breath. I assumed Jaycee and Dexter would catch a ride back with Sydney and Cole.

I wasn't sure how fast he was driving, but it was a very short amount of time before he was lifting me back out. I blinked my eyes at the outside surroundings, not recognizing it as the front of the pack house. After a second, I realized it was where I was brought last Friday, after I'd unceremoniously collapsed in the school yard.

"Holly!" His voice thundered; I'd never heard it like that, maybe it had something to do with being an Alpha. That seemed reasonable, but honestly I could barely think, I just wanted the fire and the tingling and the strange popping noises to go away. My head flipped backwards over his arm, and suddenly I was seeing the forest flipped upside down. It was a strange sight: the ground was the sky and the sky was the ground. How funny!

"Oh my Goddess," I barely registered Holly's voice. When did she get here? Or maybe we went to her. We never went inside a building, though, for I was still seeing upside down trees. And then I saw Jaycee, Cole and Sydney hurrying towards us, running on the sky, which was really the ground. Gosh I feel so strange right now.

A sickening snap came from my spine, right where the pain originally started a couple hours ago. I screamed and flopped in Kota's arms. It didn't take long before another hit, high on my back, and then my right arm broke on its own, scaring the living daylights out of me. I shrieked again, lifting my head to find Holly's eyes. The light in her brown orbs switched from concern to understanding.

"Lay her on the grass, Alpha."

What, no! His touch was soothing the fire, I need him!

Kota obeyed, obviously not being able to hear my protests. I grappled about for him, trying to maintain the contact. In the corner of my eye I saw Holy motion for him to take some steps back. He seemed to understand what was happening to me too, but his eyes still held more concern than Holly's. Why won't they tell me what's happening? My body is breaking, and I'm being burned alive!

"She's shifting?" Jaycee asked, her voice holding bewilderment. "I thought she was stunted."

I stilled where I was, laying flat on my back in the cold, dying grass, staring at the sky — as it was now back in its rightful place.

"So did I," Holly said as a few involuntary tremors ran a course from my head to my toes in waves. "But she's been bonding with you, Alpha. And her healing became more efficient in the last two days."

Kota moved so he was no longer standing behind my head and into my line of sight. It was like he knew that would comfort me. He was right, it did. "She hugged me today at lunch." His voice was softer. "She hasn't done that before. I think it set it off."

The tremors continued, and they were closer in time together. The pain was coming back soon, I could feel the heat rising. I forced it down as hard as I could, wanting this bit of relief to last longer.

"Wait, I'm confused," Jaycee said suddenly. "If she's just shifting, why did something need to set it off, and why was her skin hot to the touch? I've never seen that with a wolf merely shifting. It almost sounds like a heat."

I'd read about heats in the volume about soulmates. Apparently it's equivalent to a human female's period. A she-wolf will burn up inside and outside in anticipation to be mated and become pregnant. But, the book had a side note explaining this was actually not very common. The reason is unknown, but the majority of she-wolves won't experience a heat, and just experience a normal period.

"This is not a heat." Holly responded to answer Jaycee's questions. Thank goodness, the book made a heat sound so awful! "Because Eirenae was presumed to be stunted — due to the fact she is two years late, which is rare — her shift is more excruciating and shares some symptoms with a heat. She craves her mates touch to sooth the invisible fire that is encasing her skin. A stunted wolf also needs a bond to get through the shift, unlike the regular shift of a sixteen year old pup. Usually the bond is with a mate, but if the mate is not present, it can be set off by another male. This usually happens during some sort of affection, especially if it's a surprise. Such as an unannounced hug, or an unexpected marking. Does that make sense?"

Jaycee must have nodded because I didn't hear her respond.

"Stop fighting it, Luna." Holly said to me. "It will be over soon, just let it happen." Deep down, I knew she was right. But I didn't want it to happen because the pain was awful, and I didn't fully understand what was happening to me. Thanks to Holly's explanation, I understood why just not the details of what.

I flicked my eyes to the left and locked onto Kota's. That alone relaxed me slightly and he nodded, telling me to listen to Holly. I closed my eyes, and I let go of the restraints I'd placed on myself.

Instantly, a wave of agony washed over me and my breath got knocked away. I shrieked as my leg snapped, and then my feet and my hands. Basically every joint followed and I new I had to be writhing on the grass, but I couldn't feel the texture of the ground anymore. All I was aware of right now was my bones snapping and rearranging themselves.

I wasn't sure if I blacked out, or if that part really was over that fast, but when I opened my eyes, everything was heightened. It was like I was on steroids. My nose could depict the fact that rain was coming later, my eyes could see the tiniest of spiders scurrying along the hardened dirt beneath the strands of browning grass. My ears twitched, picking up every leafless branch click as they brushed each other in the breeze flowing through the tall trees of the nearby forest. My feet — wait no, paws — could feel —

Hold on, paws?!

I glanced down and sure enough, staring back at me were two wolf paws, with four toes covered in blindingly white fur. Pale claws peeked out between the fluff, and I stretched them forward to touch the ground. The sensation was strange, much different than touching the ground with my fingertips.

Lifting my head, I looked around at everyone surrounding me. The view was completely different. Sure, I was fairly short regularly, but this was even more so. My eye level was at everyone's waist or stomach, as they also varied a little in height.

My friends gave me a smile, and my ears twitched as they picked up on every shuffle of their feet or even their breath hitting the autumn air. My senses were overloaded, I wasn't sure what to do or where to go. What now?

A sharp inhale sent me spinning on my paws, searching for the source. My eyes flicked to Holly, who was covering her mouth with a hand. "Kota," Holly said softly. "When was the last time you read through those Information Volumes the Royals provide?"

"Just the other day, I gave a few to Eirenae. She wanted to read about us." Yeah and that's when you could've told me I was one of you! I retorted in my head. Kota crossed his arms, "why?"

"When have you ever seen a white wolf?"

I moved my head around slowly, examining the parts of myself that I could see. I was completely covered in snow-white fur, and it almost seemed to shimmer all the way from my paws to the tip of my tail. Is this bad?

"She's right," Jaycee agreed. "I personally have never seen a white wolf." Her eyes shifted from Holly to me and back again. "But what does it mean?"

Holly put her hand up, thinking. A brushing sound came from behind me and I jumped, whirling around, only to find it was just my tail skimming a leaf. Wow, real nice. I scolded myself.

"I think she's a Royal." Holly's answer came out as a whisper, as if she wasn't a hundred percent sure she was correct. "Look, I haven't read up on that in a while myself, so maybe it would be best for you guys to go research a little. I've told you what I think, but now I have another appointment to get to."

Kota bobbed his head in understanding, but his brow was furrowed in concentration. "Thank you, Holly. For everything today." She smiled and reached out to touch my head, but I skittered away a few steps, nearly tripping on my own tail. When she disappeared inside the building, I tilted my head up at Kota. Anyone want to help me get back to normal, please?

Kota kneeled down so he reached my eye level. "I know," he said softly, "but unfortunately after a first shift, a wolf likes to stay in this form for a little bit, to get you used to the feeling and the change. And also so you can heal from the physical trauma of the shift. Because you were stunted, I'm not sure how long before your body naturally shifts back." He paused, letting me soak that in.

WHAT! I have to stay in this unfamiliar body for hours?! A whine seeped through my teeth and he slowly placed his hand on my neck, running his fingers in my fur. I was very glad to know I could feel the sparks in this form too, and they soothed me a little.

"Why don't we go home, and look into this whole Royal thing?" He sighed, "I really should've just given you that volume in the first place, huh?" I grunted and he laughed, stroking my head between the ears. "Come on, we'll get all the information we can about this white fur you got!" He stood up and tossed his keys to Dexter. The sudden movement made me jerk backwards a step, and he apologized.

Dexter left in the truck with Jaycee and Eva, while Sydney and Cole got into their own vehicle. I walked next to Kota, my paws matching his steps as we took the wooded path that led to the Packhouse.