To Our Luna

To Our Luna - Part 6

Five Years Later

July - Red Gulf Pack

Rocky Mountain Center

*Marcus POV*

We walked into the center that our pack owned. A three floor building with six conference rooms on the third floor, the kitchen and cafeteria on the second, and a huge gym with a combat training room one the first. It was used for indoor parties, meetings and Defender training mostly. I never went with my dad to these meetings but he said that there was no time like the present when you needed to learn how to run a pack. I didn't even know if I wanted to be an Alpha, I mean I'm only ten. Besides from looking at my dad it didn't look like fun to me. The only problem was if the Alpha said go, well...you just go.

"Good morning Alpha, Prince and Beta." greeted Elder Thomas.

"Good morning Elder." I replied along with my dad and Anthony. After that I kind of tuned everyone out. What did I care what they were doing. Man, I should have brought my PS2. I can already tell this was gonna be boring. We followed everyone to the conference room. I hoped they had some food in here?

I had to sit next to my dad...too bad it was up front. Looks like I'm not taking a nap in here. They all talked for a few hours. I was suprised that my dad was awesome, telling everyone what to do, who could speak, what he liked and didn't like. I started to change my mind about being Alpha, being the boss was cool.

Then they started talking about surfacing in the human society. Since I go to publice school with humans I figured I could pay attention and participate. I raised my hand so I could ask a question? Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I started to change my mind and put my hand down.

"Yes Marcus, you have something to say?" Alpha Corbin asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Um, yeah. I h-had a question?" I studdered, they were starting to make me nervious. My dad nodded his head for me to continue. "If we do decided to surface, what happens to the lupines in human schools. I mean since they'll know about us can we have our own school or have a choice?" Wow, that was hard.

"That is a great question Marcus." Alpha Corbin said smiling at me. "If we do decide to surface in the human society, we will have to consider what will happen to our children. There will be a number of pack members that will want their children protected until we are accepted." He spoke to the rest of the room. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

They talked for another hour and I paid a lot more attention after they let me speak. The Green Fields Pack was in agreement with the surfacing plan. They were planning a conference with all the pack Alpha's but it was still a few years off. My dad was waiting to see if the other packs outside of the United States were willing to go along with the plan.

While they were deciding which countries to talk to first I started to feel weird. I asked Beta Anthony if I could get something to drink and he nodded his permission. Drinking the soda didn't help much so I went to the bathroom. Whatever was wrong with me didn't seem to be getting better. It felt like a volcano was in my stomach and my bones started to hurt.

"Marcus are you ok?" Anthony asked knocking on the door. I couldn't make myself answer. The pain was so intense I was moaning.

"Marcus open the door!" My dad and Anthony yelled at me from the other side. I couldn't answer, my body was shaking so hard my teeth hurt. There was a loud boom when they burst through the door and into the stall I was sitting in.

"Dad help me, something's wrong!" I screamed withering in pain. "My stomach is killing me and my body hurts." I watched them exchange knowing glances before they helped me out of the stall.

"It's alright Marcus, take deep breaths. Remember the talk we had last year, you're starting your first shift. You have to calm down and it will be easier." Corbin explained.

"Most lupines don't shift this early." Anthony said to Corbin.

"Ahhh, dad help me!" I couldn't breath, my throat, teeth and face ached. What was wrong with my voice.

"Marcus! Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth!" My dad boomed in his Alpha voice. His voice helped me focus and I started to breath. "That's it son, deep breaths. Now, I want you to try to relax and just let your wolf take over. Release your mind and body, when your shift is complete you'll be dizzy for a few minutes." The pain was dulling to a slow throb.

"Great job Marcus, very good." Anthony said as I started to shift.

It was the most amazing and horrible feeling I ever felt. My vision blurred for a while then when I could see I was way too close to the floor. When I tried to talk to my dad I yelped. What the hell, I just yelped!

"It's ok, you did great son, you've shifted!" My dad shouted. Everyone from the meeting that watched me shift started clapping and howling when I was done. "Since this is your first time it will take a while for you to shift back. While your in your wolf, use your senses."

I sniffed the air, I could smell everyone within 30 feet. I couldn't tell who was who but I knew wolves were here. My paws were dark brown tinted with blond just like my hair. This was so awesome! This strange feeling came over me, it was so strong I started to wine.

"Ok, I understand. He wants to go outside, he wants to run." Dad said to everyone. They all laughed shaking their heads yes. We all walked to the back door, it was kinda weird walking on four legs. When we walked outside the scents smacked me in the face. I never knew there were so many smells and sounds in the woods.

"I'm going to shift so we can take a run." Dad said looking at me. I yapped in reply.

"Alpha, can I join you and Marcus on this joyous occasion?" Elder Thomas asked. My dad looked at me and I yapped in agreement.

"Marcus says ok. Anyone else that would like to join us are welcomed." My father said to everyone. They all started to remove their clothes.

I couldn't believe it, I was ten years old and I shifted! Not only had I shifted but I was gonna to run with every major member of our pack. None of my friends was going believe this! We ran for about an hour, dad taught me how to howl, Anthony showed me how to track rabbits and I played wolf games with everyone else. I think they had more fun than I did. Shifting back was a lot easier than I thought, they were all surprised that I did it so soon.

Once we were done Seniors, Elders and even Supremes wanted to shake my hand. They told me I did a great job with shifting and in the meeting. Most of them were surprised I actually paid attention. I smiled and said thanks. They knew I wasn't paying attention during the whole meeting but didn't seem to care once I opened my mouth and when I shifted it was a major bonus.

"I wanted to tell you how proud I am. It took a lot of guts to say something in front of everyone. Not only did my son speak up at a pack meeting with valuable information, he shifted!" Dad shouted. "There hasn't been a lupine to shift at ten in a very long time. Even I didn't shift until I was eleven. Marcus, you made me a very happy Alpha today." Dad spoke as we got into the car.

"Thanks dad, I was really scared. I don't know how you do it." I confessed.

"It takes confidence in yourself and pratice." Corbin replied chucking. "You'll get the hang of it."

When we got home I spent the rest of the day sitting in my dad's office. I never really paid attention to what he does for the pack. He was really a big shot, I was surprised how much his phone rang. It seemed like he solved everyone's problems. He got phone calls from almost everyone in the pack. When my mom called us for dinner he explained why he was so good at his job. Dad said that it was in our blood to be a leader and with the experience in combat he learned from being a Defender. He said he read every book he could get his hands on and that school was important. But there was so much more to being a leader and for the first time ever...I thought about my future.