Kael’s POV
In the night, Rafe injected her with the dicine Liam had asked us to. She didn’t protest when he inserted the syringe in her arm. It was as if she was used to being injected often.
Drugs. She had been given drugs this way by those traffickers.
She fell asleep afterwards, the drug taking over her. Rafe wasn’t going to be with her—she had stayed with the previous night—so I decided to let Roman be with her. And he took her to his room.
Among us five, Roman, Lucian, and I were the only ones willing to spend the night with her and stay by her side, but not Rafe and Jason.
Rafe’s reason was understandable, but Jason... I guess he was yet to co around to reality and accept her, or he was guilt-ridden. It must be eating him inside.
I will have to talk to him about this.
----
The next day ca quickly. The Day Eira will have her first Shift.
The day ti passed in silence just like the previous one.
Finally, Lucian and Jason were about to return in the evening. They had gotten what they went for. The boy’s DNA sample.
Now I was just thinking about her first shift tonight.
Liam had dropped by at noon and had already explained to her that she would experience her first shift and she should be ready for it.
She acted like his words flew over her head, as if she didn’t hear him, and most importantly, she didn’t care. He was going to co again in the evening, as it was an important process for his patient he couldn’t miss, and at the sa ti, he would help her.
As an Alpha of this pack, it was my responsibility to guide her, and I was going to do it tonight. I hoped she wouldn’t run away from —at least not tonight.
Lucian and Jason hurried ho in the evening. Both of them looked utterly travel worn.
"Everything’s alright?" Lucian asked, but the underlying aning was, Are we late?
I nodded. "She has just gone inside the room... maybe to freshen up."
Both of them let out a sigh of relief as they realised they were not late.
"The moon is out. Any signs she showed?" Jason asked.
"Not yet, but anyti soon." Just as I said it, Eira ca out of the room, looking a little restless.
"It’s ti, it seems," Lucian comnted.
All of us got alerted and stood up. She looked around the drawing room warily, her gaze disoriented. She spotted sothing and hurried to it.
Reaching the dining table, she picked up the jar directly and started chugging water from it, too impatient to even pour it into a glass. The water drenched her neck and clothes as if she wanted to drink all of it in one gulp.
"Shall we go to her?" Roman asked.
"Wait a little," I said, as I watched her. I didn’t want to scare her.
Her hands were trembling. The jar slipped from her hand and smashed on the ground.
Fluffy started barking and Vixen miaowed.
Lucian cald them while Roman went to her.
"Eira, it’s alright," he said, trying to get close to her, but she warily shrugged him away, trying to keep her distance.
"You are going to experience your first shift, nothing else. Don’t be scared," he assured her.
But she continued to move away from him, her shaking hands running along her hair and pulling at them as if she was unable to process anything.
Rafe went to her. "Everything will be alright soon..."
Not letting him finish, she ran towards the wall-size glass window and exited out to the garden, stumbling and forcing herself to keep going.
We all followed her out.
------
Eira’s POV – Leading to the Shift
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, gripping the edge of the sink so tightly my knuckles turned white. Sothing was wrong. My body, my mind—they both felt strange, restless, like sothing inside had been shaken awake all of a sudden. I splashed water on my face once, twice, again and again, but the unease wouldn’t leave. It sat in my chest like a growing storm.
Liam told this would happen today. My first shift. My wolf. The words echoed in my head, but instead of reassurance, a cold tremor of fear ran through . Why did I feel so scared? Why did I feel like I was about to be ripped apart from the inside?
I ca out of the bathroom and my throat went dry as sand. No water in the room. My legs carried out of the room, down the hall, and into the dining area before my mind caught up.
The jar on the table glinted like my salvation. My hands shook as I grabbed it and drank straight from it, gulp after gulp, water spilling over my lips, drenching my clothes. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t stop. It was like I’d been thirsty for years, and only now realized it.
When the jar was finally empty, my fingers wouldn’t hold it anymore. It slipped from my hands, crashed to the floor, and shattered. The sound exploded in my skull like a thunderclap. I winced. My heart beat so hard it hurt. My breathing turned shallow, ragged.
"Eira, it’s alright," a voice said from sowhere around. I turned my head, but my vision doubled—two n, two voices, both blurry.
"You’re going to experience your first shift. Nothing else. Don’t be scared," the voice ca again.
"Everything will be alright soon..." another voice overlapped.
Fear gripped so hard my chest ached. My skin felt too tight, my bones too heavy. I couldn’t stand still. I couldn’t breathe. The walls, the voices, the light—they pressed in on like a cage.
I backed away from them, shaking my head. "No..." My voice was a whisper, barely my own.
I needed to leave. I needed air. Trees. Wind. Space.
My legs moved before I could think. I ran. Out of the dining room, down the hall, through the doors and into the garden.
The night air struck like a wave—cool, damp, filled with scents I had never noticed before. But nothing was soothing enough.
I stumbled into the open, falling to my knees in the grass. My heart thrashed in my chest. My skin burned. The fire inside was spreading, unstoppable now.
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