6 hours, 49 minutes and counting.

That's how long the transition process is taking, as each bone in my body breaks and rejoins into a different position. This is tenfold more painful than my first shift. My first shift took me two hours, and my wolf made it easy on me, with little breaks in between the pain. But the past six hours, have been total and complete agony. The pain hasn't stopped for a minute, and every time I feel that I'm going to pass out, she awakens me back up. As if she wants me to feel the pain of each and every moment.

I'm on the floor now covered in sweat. I know Zyon's in the room. He crouches by my side, telling me to breathe through the pain. I hear him, but I'm not able to pay attention to what he says. The only thing my mind is focused on is completing the transition.

I know it won't be long now. At least I'm hoping it won't be long now. Almost every bone feels broken at this point.

I wonder if my wolf is doing this on purpose, making me feel the pain of each and every moment. It's meant to be balanced. Your wolf takes on some of the pain for your first shift, in attempt to join two souls, but the agony I'm experiencing is indictive of her coming back to life but distancing herself from me.

With a last ear-shattering scream, the last few bones in my body break and I feel myself transition. My eyes half open, I see the fur begin to sprout on my arms, that are shifting into paws.

I don't stay awake, long enough to see the transition. I fade into the background, passing out as my wolf comes to life.

When I wake, I'm unsure of what has happened, the time has passed, the sun now sets. I'm still in wolf form, standing in a different place as to where I passed out. In front of me, is a stream. It's clear to me that while I faded into almost nothingness, my wolf was conscious, alive. She was present, I was not. An unnerving feeling settles in my conscious mind. Is this how my wolf felt? Fading in and out of darkness? Waking up in a different place than where she faded away in?

I call out to my wolf multiple times. She refuses to answer, to give up control. I can tell she's highly displeased with me. She doesn't want to be one with me.

So I remain dormant. Letting her have control. She runs along the banks of the stream, through the forest that surrounds it- at a speed so fast, that no human could catch it. I feel the softness of the earth beneath her paws, I catch the greenness of the forest, the minute details of the trunks, intricate patterns of the leaves with her eyes, and the smell of every flower that surrounds me.

In the past several years, I have never felt more at peace. The thought brings me peace, but also makes me miserable. I gave up so many years of this and I missed it more than I realized.

My wolf feels my silence, senses my sadness and I think it prompts her to give me control. I'm grateful to her. It's more than I did for her in the past many years. With my bones cracking again, the pain is still agonizing but disappears faster within a few minutes, I transition back into my self.

I'm naked, on all fours. On the forest floor. My eyes narrow in on a plain white shirt, hanging of a tree branch. Someone must have left it behind. I grab it, throwing it over me, as fast as possible.

I begin to make my way back to the packhouse. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going. But I follow a clear path, that I think has been inserted into my mind by my wolf. This would honestly be so much easier if she just spoke to me.

An hour's trek later, I reach a clearing that I begin to recognize. My feet are muddy, my arms full of scratches from the trunks of the trees. And I know my hair is completely disheveled. But more than my appearance, I'm bothered by the soreness of my limbs. My body aches with every step I take. And I yearn for a long, hot bath.

As I reach the packhouse, I make out Zyon's silhouette pacing at the front of the packhouse. Behind him, stands Zarah, the gamma, the beta, and Violet. Their heads snap up the minute they see me approaching, and I feel a sense of relief hit me. I'm still not used to being able to sense Zyon's emotions.

He takes fast, rapid steps towards me, placing his arms on my waist to steady me.

Before he can say anything, I say,

His eyes widen. Never did he think in a million years, I would ask him for help. He nods, scooping me up into his arms.

I barely hear what happens next. We are ushered in the door, as Zyon climbs the stairs barking a variety of orders at people, as I lean my head against his chest. Zarah climbs up behind us, helping Zyon with the door of his wing and then the door to his room.

Zyon heads towards the bed to put me down, but I call out,

Zyon puts me down onto the bathroom floor, while he switches on the taps to the particularly large bath tub. The tub begins to fill. I look his way and wonder if he plans to stay here, while I bathe. I'm tired, not stupid.

A smirk pops up on his face and I know he's felt what I'm thinking. With that, he walks out the door and Zarah walks in. I pull of my shirt and get into the tub as she sits beside me on the floor.

We say nothing for the first few minutes, as I soak in the water. The heat takes away a bit of the soreness from my body. When I finally look up at her, she raises an eyebrow questioningly.

I say.

She says.

I say

She prompts.

My eyes fill with tears as I say,

Zarah sighs.

I nod.

Zarah says.

I say.

She says.

I take that in. Zarah laughs.

A small smirk takes over my face, as I feel my wolf rumble with amusement at Zarah's comment.

A while later, I'm dressed again, in time for dinner. I don a black sleevless full-length dress with a slit beginning from my mid-thigh. Finally feeling clean again, I walk downstairs with Zarah. The Gamma and Zyon wait for us at the bottom of the stairs.

Zarah and Nathan walk into the larger ballroom, leaving Zyon and I alone. He asks.

I shrug.

He nods and takes my hand. It sets off the sparks along my hand and arm, too intense to handle. We make our way into the ballroom, which I now realize is a celebratory dinner for us. Zyon seriously has a problem with communication.

I hear someone from the back of the room announce,

Silver Luna. What?

Then my confusion suddenly clears. I remember my silver eyes and then I think of Zyon's gold ones. I think of the golden streak of fur that runs down his wolf.

Gold and Silver. How did I never realize this before?

My heart swells. If it's with happiness or pride, I don't know. I just seem to like the sound of the gold and silver Alpha and Luna.

Zyon lets go of my hand to wander into the crowd. I know he has to go socialize amongst the neighboring Alpha's and their packs. I, as usual am pulled into the crowd. This time I pay more attention. Greeting, smiling, making small talk.

I don't know whether it's my wolf that prompts this effort or the fact that I'm beginning to accept my fate. An hour later, I'm wandering in between the crowd trying to find a familiar face. Being surrounded by a sea of strangers all eager to meet me is beginning to unnerve me a bit.

I find Zarah and we make our way outside the packhouse into the gardens. There's a bonfire going at one end, and people are gathered into small groups talking.

I sense Zyon before I see him. He's standing 15 feet away from me, talking to a girl. Her back is to me, but she feels extremely familiar. I see her place her hand on his upper arm, squeezing it. She says something and he laughs, but my eyes stay glued to her hand on his arm. I don't know why it suddenly bothers me so much. It definitely has something to do with the return of my wolf as she lets out a low growl.

A minute later, Zyon walks away from her, returning to a group of warriors. As she turns away from him, towards my direction and I finally get a glimpse of her face.

My wolf lets out another growl, as my face drops. Standing fifteen feet away from me, is Aly Ross. The girl I've always been jealous off.

Aly fucking Ross, had her hand on what was mine. Again. Had her hand on what has always been mine. Again.

I hear Zarah let out a gasp.

I barely register what she says, my anger rising to a monumental level. My wolf is letting out short growls, and I'm aware that most of my anger is coming from her. I attempt to reign it in, but she doesn't let me and I'm well-aware that my eyes are flickering silver.

Suddenly, I hear a voice in my head, that startles me a bit.

In a deep, croaky but strong voice, my wolf speaks to me for the first time in years, "Kill her."

That's all it takes. I step out of my heels and take off running, ready to launch myself at her. As I near her, I see her look up at me in confusion, then her eyes go wide, but I tackle her to the ground, landing swift and effective punches to her face.

I know people are beginning to clamber around us and I sense Zyon hurrying towards me.

My eyes are completely silver. My wolf takes complete control of my body, wrapping her hand around Aly's neck, squeezing hard.

In a voice nothing like my own, she says, "You do not touch what is mine. You will never again touch what is mine."

Aly is turning purple beneath me. I sense my wolf's intentions. She will see Aly to her end.

All of a sudden, I am yanked off her. Sparks and tingles explode around my waist, as I feel my wolf's sense of betrayal. She is angry that Zyon did not let her finish her task.

She gives control back to me, but her sense of betrayal is so strong, that I slap at his hands, and kick my legs out, trying my best to strike Aly.

He hoists me up and takes a couple of steps back from the scene. He whispers into my ear in a firm voice,

I struggle against him, but he just tightens his grip, carrying me away from the crowd. My eyes land on Zarah as he's carrying me away. She just grins and gives me a thumbs up.

Of course- she would encourage my attempt to murder my mate's ex. As much as I hate Aly, I know it isn't her fault. She didn't know I was Zyon's mate, neither did Zyon. But Zyon did want to take her as a mate even after he knew she wasn't fated for him.

And so his protection of her irks me. I struggle and hit his arms, claw at his skin, all the way up.

Nothing deters him. He carries me up wordlessly into this room. He throws me onto the bed.

He says.

Then he walks to the door.

I yell.

With that, he slams the door shut, and I hear him turn a key in the lock.

I sink back down onto the bed, seething in anger and jealousy.

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A/N- I'm so sorry this chapter is a week late guys. I'm in the middle of moving to University and currently have a lot going on so it's been difficult to take out time to write. Will try to update twice this week, but no promises!!

I hope you guys like the chapter. Don't forget to vote and comment.