9 8

I woke with everything in my being telling me to go back to sleep. It was the middle of the night and I felt the creature under my skin slithering around. I looked out the window to see a bright full moon shining through my window.

Part of me wanted to run outside and enjoy the bright light the moon was producing, the other part wanted to hide and hope that it would end soon. The part who wanted to hide and I curled back up in my bed, packing myself into a small ball.

A howl called just outside my window. It made me jump and rush to the window.

A bunch of boys were walking towards the edge of the forest, all of them had on nothing but a pair of underwear. Part of me longed to go with them, but I shook it away.

Females couldn't shift even if born a full-blood until they were mated.

I hated that rule, and I always had the need to go to the woods, but I fought it and conformed to the norms of my society in hopes that it would go away, but it never did.

The howl sounded again. I looked down towards the grass and saw a massive black wolf there. I was up on his hind-legs with his front paws resting against the building. He was looking directly into my window at me.

'Amelia' a voice called into my head. I flinched at it, but quickly turned into my room and threw on clothes.

'Amelia, come faster' the voice called again, lulling me to truly leave my room after curfew to go hand out with the shifters.

Who would tear me to shreds once they were all transformed.

I reached the door and took a deep breath before going against everything my parents had ever taught me.

Never go out on a full moon. The shifters will come for you.

And they will make sure your screams are heard. Forever.

As soon as I stepped out, the massive wolf jumped into me. We tumbled for a bit before he landed on top of me and licked my face. His blue eyes staring at me in joy.

'Amelia, you came to see me!' the wolf said into my head. Instantly, I recognized the voice when I stared at the eyes.

"Onyx, is that you?" I asked, only for the wolf to back off of me and lay at my feet, his tongue lolling out. I sat up and stared at him.

'My Amelia, you actually came down to see me this time!'

I ran through everything I had read about shifters in my head and something immediately popped out.

In many cases, the human and the animal were separate entities, each with their own identities. The most likely case was that Onyx and his wolf seemed to be separate.

'Onyx said you wouldn't come, but I knew you would! Because you're my Amelia!'

"Onyx was probably right, I shouldn't be out here," I said, patting his head.

'But you need to come play!" he said, standing up and stepping towards me, his head bowed as if he was sad.

"Okay, maybe for a little bit," I said, standing up. If I truly was already here and no one was coming yet, what was the harm?

'Yay!' the wolf projected his excitement into my head as he tugged on my sleeve. He pulled me to the edge of the forest where he released me and sat down. 'Only shifters can enter once they've shifted.'

"Oh, then I can't go then," I said, genuine sadness in my voice. "I'm sorry, buddy."

He whined a bit and tuned his body towards me and sat. I bent down to him and sighed. "It's time for you to go be with the other shifters, okay?"

'But I want my Amelia to go with me.'

"I know, but I can't shift. I'm an unmated female." I placed my forehead to his and shut my eyes.

'I wish you could come with me.'

"I do too." I said. A strange sensation invaded my body then and I could feel my clothes get smaller until they were overly huge on me.

'Amelia!' the wolf projected. I could feel him tug away from me.

Once I opened my eyes, I was shocked. My clothes had slipped off and my body was covered in white fur. I stepped out of the fabric and noticed tiny paws that were black to about half way up my leg and a fluffy white tail. I was way smaller than Onyx's wolf now.

'What am I?' I called into my own head, only to receive nothing.

'Amelia... you're a fox shifter. How are you even possible?' a new voice asked. It was definitely Onyx this time, there was none of the excitement as his wolf has in his voice.

'I don't know.'

'Yay! Now I can play with my Amelia!' the wolf came back out. He picked me up by my scruff and began running with me in his mouth.

'Hey, put me down!' I tried projecting, a slight yip to me as I did.

'There you are, Shade. We've been waiting for you. Who do you have there?' A new voice echoed. I saw Shade flinch as he dropped me in front of the other animals. They all ranged from wild cats, to wild dogs, even to reptiles.

'This is my Amelia. She shifted and I brought her to play!' the wolf said, his cheer bleeding heavily into his words.

'Hold on, a female? But she smells unmated. She shouldn't be possible' another voice rang out, and I noticed the panther next to the large wolf step forward with those words.

'Quiet, Kalan. No, she should not be possible, but she is. For that, we celebrate the new addition to the family.'

Another fox came bounding towards me, its body red and white.

'Welcome to the family, new sister!' it cried, snuggling its body into my side.

'What's your name little fox?' another voice rang in.

'She's my Amelia!' the wolf version of Onyx (I think they called him Shade) growled at the others. He was warding them off from my side, the other fox yipped and ran to hide behind the panther, Kalan.

'I see why now, Alpha, she's a dimatrae.'

'A dimatrae? That's even less of a possibility of a shift. Leave her alone, we will work on specifics of her later. For now, let's enjoy the moon while it lasts.'

The howls and sounds were deafening. They began to break off into groups and Shade picked me up again.

'What's a dimatrae?' I asked, receiving only silence. I noticed then that the slight glitter of gold was gone, leaving behind Onyx as himself.

And he was pissed.