We had left Valente's house much earlier than the time of the shift, given that Valente was the one shifting, but to our surprise, many people had already made their way to the gathering area before us.

Tonight Valente would shift and become Alpha of Fathilagt, and the people of the pack were ready to have a leader again.

Valente held my hand as we walked amongst the people, although it made me quite uncomfortable. As respectful as their gaze was for Valente, the people looked with just as much hatred for me.

"Your title will earn you respect," Valente said to me quietly, perhaps to make me feel better, but it didn't. In all honesty, I felt worse.

I didn't want people to respect me because I was a Luna, or the partner of someone important. I wanted people to respect me as a person, a problem I've faced all my life.

Getting their respect out forcefully wasn't something that sat well with me.

Valente's white tunic fit the cool setting perfectly, almost translucent in the matching moonlight. He looked as if he was glowing, and nobody could take their eyes off of him.

Every step he took, increased his power, he seemed to glow a little brighter, and I tried my best to commit this sight to memory.

He was beautiful.

Valente stopped when we reached towards the center of the gathering. People started to approach with their gifts, giving them to him and stepping back either having kissed his hand or hugged him in congratulations.

It was a treatment I could now never have, but something I never really expected for myself from these people that are supposed to be my family too.

I saw Gramma waiting behind a few people to give her gift, and instantly my mood lifted.

As her turn came to stand in front of us, she took out a simple chain with a pendant on it that looked like a ring. She put the chain around his neck, putting the pendant in his hand.

As he examined it, I got a good look too. It wasn't just like a ring, it was a ring.

Just like the one I wore around my neck as well. The one Gramma gifted to me on my birthday, with the etchings of the phases of the moon.

"This one is Bryn's," she said to him with tears in her eyes, before turning to me. "I never told you but, they were a pair. I thought there was still some time till you found your mate so I saved it. But now that you have, this is the perfect opportunity for it," she said holding our hands.

"My children, I consider you both my own, because you consider me your own. I hope you find peace and happiness together. I love you both," she said.

I smiled a wide smile, all thoughts about the other pack members now gone. I didn't need any of them, I had my family right here.

"Thank you Rosa. This means so much to me," Valente said, he seemed moved by her gift and words, and so was I.

She hugged him, kissing his forehead, and then doing the same to me, holding on a little longer.

She stepped back into the crowd to be replaced by the other pack members, as they continued with their gifts that Valente kept handing over to some children to keep in a pile a little further away.

Valente's classmates and friends came to him together, hugging him and showing their support for him.

"Where's Kristján?" I asked Valente.

"He said he's on his way with his search party to attend the shift," he replied.

"Okay," I said through the mindlink.

Soon enough, the time had come as the moon had risen higher, and I could feel Valente had started to get slightly restless.

Everyone started backing away, the gifts were all given, their role was now of encouragement.

I went to stand at the edge of the circle in front of him, joining Gramma who stood beside me.

"Tonight," Valente started to address Fathilagt, his voice dripping with Alpha power. "Tonight I shall take on the responsibility of this pack, a responsibility that I was born with, one that lies in my blood. I will be your Alpha, and I promise to fulfill my duties till I die, and ask of you support, as you did my father before me.

"Our pack has suffered tremendously, and the suffering has bled poison into our hearts. It is my duty to expel that poison, and avenge those that we have lost.

"Surely a lot is happening that we do not know, but a lot that we can still understand. We cannot be ignorant in these trying times, nor can we be narrow-minded.

"I trust, that you shall trust me, and trust my decisions with me. Fathilagt! Our pack's destiny is to conquer! We uphold our values and our laws to the highest level, so never break them, for I shall not be lenient! We shall conquer those that try to destroy us, break our laws, from outside us, or amongst us. In the boundaries of our home, our law is final. And I trust, that you shall fulfill your duties in this pack, and never turn on one another.

He paused before turning his attention to me.

"I have chosen for us all a Luna," he said.

"Raynhildur Ylva," he said, his tone louder than before, as if daring anyone to speak a word against his decision.

"When the time comes, I shall mark her to make her my Luna. Regardless, starting now, you shall all treat her as one," he continued.

I could see the people around us had their heads slightly bowed in obedience, and it didn't make me happy at all.

However, I was not ungrateful. If this is my chance to prove to them I'm no harm and that I truly deserve respect, then I shall take it.

One day they'll respect me for me, and not because it was their Alpha's orders.

"My people, lend to me your support, lend to me your wisdom, lend to me your numbers for I shall thrive on them as your Alpha," he said, falling to the ground on his hands and knees in front of all his people, his final show of vulnerability.

Gramma started the words of encouragement beside me, along with the other elders in our pack. I joined them as we heard the song get louder.

An ache started in my chest because I could tell, he was already in pain, but he stayed like that on the ground, unmoving, waiting for nature to take its course.

It took the first crack of his bones to hear a cry of pain leave his lips. I saw eyes that weren't his, looking at me with a screaming intensity.

Sterkur.

Soon, Valente's cries of pain were drowned out by the words of encouragement that came from the hearts of his people. It was as if his pain reflected in all of us, and everyone wanted him to overcome it with ease and haste.

In their eyes, I saw love for their leader, their Alpha. It didn't matter if they were young or old, they looked at him as if he was their son, their own brother.

Valente's skin sprouted jet black fur, the first sign of a powerful wolf, followed by his claws extending, digging into the soil underneath him, his snout extending painfully to support sharp, long teeth.

He was bigger than all wolves I'd ever seen, and I could sense the completion of his shift when his screams turned into his first howl.

His eyes turned to me hungrily, but he didn't advance any further. Instead he continued to howl, the words of encouragement around us turning into howls as those that could shift, shifted to howl with him.

Gramma held my hand tight, a small gesture of encouragement so I could shift too, before she shifted into her beautiful wolf and howled to celebrate Valente.

I needed her encouragement to shift, and right now, thinking about what anyone else thought was the last thing on my mind. Besides, they'd all find out eventually that I'd shifted anyway.

So I took a step away from the crowd behind me, and towards Sterkur who looked at me intensely, before shifting into my wolf.

It was a little painful, but I managed to shift, my eyes only for the beast of a wolf in front of me.

I howled for him, and showed to him that I was there for him, and he howled louder, as if in happiness, and content.

That's when I heard him stop, and I looked to see his stance was alert.

I could hear the howls, but there were more now, others, coming from a distance.

Fear overtook my heart as I heard their howls coming closer, and as the other pack members realized this, their howls instantly switched to nasty growls.

"Valente what's happening?" I asked him.

He growled loudly, reaching me quickly, standing in front of me and facing where the noise was coming from.

He sniffed the air before reaching his conclusion.

"Intruders."