“Oh, okay.” Emma shrugged and raised a coppery brow at the way everyone seemed to release the breath they were holding. Like she was some sort of live grenade and the pin had been put back in. “She is still staying with me. I’m the Luna and Nella is a young child bearer. She will stay with me tonight.”
“No, she’s won’t.” Frankie growled, only to flinch and lower his head when Caleb barked at him for daring to show aggression towards his mate. “Caleb please?” The second begged his Pack Master. “I need my pup back.” Narrowed his icy blues on Frankie and appraised the state of the man. Frankie’s teeth were sharp, his blue eyes glowed and his claw-tipped fingers twitched down by his sides. “I need her back. Now.”
Caleb looked over his shoulder at how high the moon was getting. He hummed and returned his attention to the dilemma in front of him. This close to moon-up any wolf was easily triggered into going feral. None more so than Emma. His lovely mate had her arms around Nella, who was oddly quiet at the moment, and Caleb wasn’t fooled by the return of her hazel eyes. She was never as calm as she looked.
Frankie was a father being denied his pup. It didn’t matter he was a Beta. Any wolf being denied their child or their mate was dangerous. Especially on the night of a full moon.
“Nella will shift easier with Emma’s help, being she’s a potent Omega-” Frankie bitterly clenched his jaw. Being a Beta he couldn’t secrete heavily like an Alpha or an Omega. That is something he would never be able to do for her. “But as per tradition, once Nella has shifted, she will go with her family to spend her first full moon with them, if they are present. Frankie is. Therefore, she will go with him.”
“What?” Emma growled and held Nella tighter.
“Erm, do I get a say?” Nella was not comfortable having her face shoved into the endowed bosom of the clingy redhead.
“No.” Caleb and Frankie both barked at the same time.
“Can I at least breathe?” She huffed and held her hands by her sides and pointed at her head in Emma’s chest. “It’s crowded in here.” Caleb snorted and cupped his mouth.
“She’s funny.” He directed to Frankie as a compliment. Normally his second would have chuckled and agreed, but at the moment he was a hair’s width from snapping. “O-kay.” Caleb took a deep breath and marched forward. I’m going in. “Emma? Darlin’? You’re upsetting Nella and her dad. So, let her go.”
“But-”
“Em?” Caleb ignored the way Emma’s black and gold eyes lit up in warning as he approached. “At the risk of you sulking with me later, I will make it and order as your Pack Master if you don’t put the pup down right now.”
“B-but she’ll shift easier with me. Like Poppy did a few months back.” Emma did not want the Nella to suffer any more than she had to.
“I’m happy to compromise that you help her shift, but then you back off.” Frankie offered and took a cautious step towards Nella. The youngest brunette managed to turn her head to look over her shoulder at Frankie. She tensed, seeing how wild he looked. His eyes were glowing like sapphires in the moonlight. His brown hair was windswept, and his teeth were all way too sharp. The canines especially.
Even so, he was looking at her and whining at the fear in her steely eyes and the way she started to tremble and lean into the Luna’s arms. “Don’t be afraid sweetheart. It’s still me.” He tapped his chest with both hands and drew her attention to his claws.
“Nella?” Emma made Nella jump by cupping her face and making her look up into those terrifying black and gold orbs. “I was an outsider who came to this without a bloody clue what was going on. You may be a born wolf, but you’re just as scared as I was. I can smell it.” Caleb and Frankie sniffed heavily at the air and shared a confused look. They couldn’t smell her fear. “I know how all of this must seem. Like you’ve been dragged into your worst nightmare. I won’t pretend that I found it easy to get used to all of this.” Emma huffed a chuckle. “Nor will I lie to you and say I’ve fully adjusted yet either. But?” Emma stroked Nella’s cheekbones with her thumbs and smiled at her. “I promise you, as your Luna, I will ensure that your transition is far easier than mine was. I really didn’t mean to scare you. And your dad isn’t trying to either.”
“B-but he’s…and I…” Nella bit her lips and tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t want this.”
“Neither did I.” Emma said bitterly, and Caleb averted his eyes. “Trust me, I’m still dealing with my own baggage. One thing I can promise you Nella? Is this pack is a big family. Life as a werewolf can be a lot of fun, and everyone looks out for each other here.” The Pack Master smiled and resited the urge to go over and hold his mate. Instead, he sent across the sire bond how much he adored her and wished she had no baggage left to carry. She certainly wasn’t carrying it alone anymore. “One thing I never had was a choice. In anything. Well, other than who I fell in love with.” Emma darted a cheeky glance at Caleb, which reassured him to no end. Frankie tried to take another step, but the Pack Master held his shoulder and shook his head. Emma nodded in thanks for the support, and she focused once more on the weepy teen. “You are already a werewolf. But I’m going to do my best to help you make some choices and find your happiness a lot quicker than I did. My instinct as the Luna is to keep you with me. But I do not want to be the source of any more of your suffering. Tell us what you want to do Nella. Do you want to stay with me all night? Do you want to shift the hard way with your father and stay with him all night? Or do you want me to help you shift first, and then stay with your father?”
“…” Nella gulped and scratched at her neck absently. The wave of itching returning made it clear she was going to shift into a massive wolf, like it or not. Denial was no longer an option. She heard Frankie whine behind her and sighed. “I’m not happy about this.” Nella sniffled and held her elbows. For some reason, she felt like Emma was the one she really had to answer to here. She didn’t know what being ‘the Luna’ meant, but it had to be like a werewolf queen or something, right? The other two seemed to take their cues from her anyway.
Why wouldn’t they? She was beautiful, fierce, and those eyes were spooky as hell. “But it’s reassuring to hear you weren’t either.” She groaned and shoved her hand up her shirt to scratch at her midriff.
“Your shift is coming.” Emma inhaled deeply and nodded. “You must decide soon. If you don’t, I will choose for you.”
“Like hell you will.” Frankie growled and Caleb had to snarl and stalk Frankie back a few steps to make him back down. “Nella? I know she smells really good and her pheromones are probably putting you at ease, but I am your father. You are my blood. Please, sweetheart? Let me take care of you.” He begged her, and she knew he was sincere.
“Is he right?” Nella whispered up at Emma. “Is that buttercup smell really affecting how I feel?”
“I am lessening your fear, yes.” She smiled with pride. “As I will lessen your pain when you shift.”
“…” I do not like the idea of her messing with my head. No wonder I’m not screaming my head off and running for the hills though. Her smell is mellowing me out against my will…but I have a low pain threshold too so… “Okay. Help me shift, b-but then I want to go back to my dad.”
“If that is what you wish.” Emma nodded over to Frankie and Caleb, seeing both men were relieved with this outcome. “Now as a warning, you’re going to need to take off your clothes.” Emma’s hands went to the fabric cord at her waist to open her wrap-around dress. It slid down her curves and landed on the stage.
“What?!” Nella squeaked and threw her arms around herself protectively. Her eyes dropped down to see the nude Luna and snapped her eyes shut. “W-what kind of warning was that?!” I am not getting naked in front of anyone. They’d see…me…no. I can’t do it.
“Nudity doesn’t have the same social taboo to werewolves, since we shift so often.” Frankie spoke right behind her. “However, I planned to take you off to one side, maybe behind some trees so you could feel comfortable.” He flashed Emma a significant look, and after a brief moment of confusion, the redhead caught on. “Can you please take her off somewhere more private?”
“Sure I-”
“Wait a minute?” Caleb joined them and Nella still had her eyes shut. For all she knew they were all naked now. “This is the primary shifting site. Our sentinels have checked this location is safe and patrols the perimeter. You can’t just take her somewhere else.”
“Just behind some trees off to one side Caleb.” Frankie pleaded, and for once, appreciated that Emma was as obedient as a wild stallion. She leaned forward and whispered into Nella’s ear so softly, only she could hear her.
“Do exactly as I say. I will shift first and bark. Jump onto my back and I take you somewhere where you can undress and shift in private.” Emma nuzzled at her cheek and started to walk away from the trio. Caleb watched her, thinking she was dropping it, and focused on chiding his second in command.
“You know better than to take anyone from the primary site and the protection of the pack.”
“Caleb, you have to understand, that my daughter isn’t comfortable with other people seeing her undressed.”
“Neither was Emma, but she got over it.” Frankie pursed his lips over his sharp teeth and resisted the urge to smack his Pack Master upside the head.
“Emma isn’t trans.”
“I promise that no one in the pack will blink an eye at her anatomy, or treat her any differently. You know that.” Caleb folded his arms and didn’t see why this was such a problem. Nella is an Omega, and plenty of the pack are Omegas. She’ll fit in regardless how she identifies herself. He has total faith that his pack will welcome her as the girl she identifies herself. Why was Frankie pushing this so badly?
Nella shuffled around to look at her father’s back and smiled. Seeing him stand his ground for her comfort meant a lot to her. If anything, it showed that even though he was a monster, he was still her Dad. He knew without being told that she wouldn’t want to expose her body, a body she wasn’t totally comfortable with herself, to an entire town of strangers in the woods. Thankfully Emma seemed to get it. I was so scared when she smelt me and said I was a ‘he’. Frankie has never said I smelt like a boy before. Caleb scented me before Emma did, and he looked shocked to find out I’m trans. She hoped that meant no one else would smell her and use male pronouns for her moving forward. The last thing she wanted was to have to correct every werewolf she spoke to that she identified as a girl.
“Of course I don’t doubt our pack, Caleb. I simply want what’s best for my daughter so she transitions without unnecessary trauma.”
“Why would shifting in the safety of a pack who accepts her be a trauma?” Caleb was getting defensive.
“This isn’t the time or place for that conversation.”
“Isn’t it?” Both men were feeling the imminent peaking of the full moon in the night sky. Tempers and patience were running thin. “If you expect me to approve you breaking safety protocols for your daughter, you will explain to me why.”
Nella nearly screamed when something big lifted up from beside the platform. A massive wolf with auburn fur and black and gold eyes silently stood proudly. Her fur was thick and glossy, her tail and ears lifted with dominance, and she was looking at Nella. The beast barked, and Caleb and Frankie finally spotted her. “Emma? Don’t you dare-”
Nella ran across the platform, her socks nearly making her slide and tumble, once, before she managed to throw herself across the werewolf’s back. She squealed and fisted at the auburn fur of the creature as Emma bolted directly into the throng of the pack. All eyes were on them, and Caleb seethed with anger. She’d done that on purpose. He couldn’t risk the pack realising the Luna and Pack Master were not on the same page. Especially about something as sacred as a werewolf’s first shift. “This conversation is not over.” He hissed over at Frankie, who was smiling even as he lowered his head submissively to the Pack Master. Caleb’s icy blue eyes tracked his rebellious mate bolting into the adjacent meadow, and then arched to the left and through the treeline. She was no longer in sight, and he did not like that one bit.
“My Luna has agreed to bring Nella back to me once she has shifted. She’ll be right ba-” Caleb tuned and snarled in Frankie’s face with wide jaws of sharp teeth. The Beta wolf lowered to one knee and braced himself.
“This-is-not-over.” Caleb shoved his cotton pants down and stormed down from the platform. He arched his back and howled towards the night sky. The Pack Master called out to his pack, and everyone returned the call. Frankie scrambled down off the platform and hurried to join the rest of the pack in disrobing and shifting. Led by the large grey wolf, they stalked into the meadow and straight ahead to begin the hunt.
Frankie hung back in the meadow and lowered to lay on his belly. His tail curved around him and he kept his ears up as he listened for the return of the Luna and his pup. Many other wolves also hung back to hand over their pups to Emma so they could also join the hunt, so he wasn’t alone.
Frankie flinched and whined, clawing at the dirt beneath him as he heard a gut-wrenching howl of pain.
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