Chapter 3 My Lycan

My eighteenth birthday was a week after graduation. I wasn’t too interested in finding my mate, but I was excited about meeting my lycan.

I’d dreamed of her voice before, a whisper sliding into the corners of my mind, soft but steady, like the hum of a storm waiting to break. But this time it was different. This time, the voice carried weight, power, and the sharp certainty that I wasn’t alone anymore.

*Alora,* she breathed, and I shivered.

Heat flared through my chest, spreading down my arms, pooling low in my stomach like molten fire. My heart pounded so hard it shook my ribs. Every nerve felt alive, sharper than before—the scrape of my shoes against gravel, the distant buzz of the diner’s neon sign, the cool sting of night air. It was as if the world had been muted until now.

*I’ve been waiting for you,* she whispered again. Her voice was wild silk, both fierce and tender. *We are one now*

I staggered against the wall, pressing my palm flat against the bricks to ground myself. My skin itched, my bones hummed, and for a heartbeat, I swore I could feel claws curling beneath my fingertips. My vision shifted—edges sharpening, shadows blooming into color where none had been before.

*Hi,* I whispered, breathless as I mindlinked with her.

*I am Jag,* she said. *I am your Lycan, your strength, your fury, your shadow, your fire. Together, we will never be broken.*

Tears stung my eyes. My whole life, I’d felt like the outsider, the albino freak, the one who didn’t belong. In that moment, with her voice filling me, I didn’t feel broken. I felt complete.

*Jag as in Jaguar?* I asked. 

*The one and only!* she said, and I heard her giggle, her laughter echoing inside me like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.

*Wanta go for a run?* she teased, her voice bright with mischief. I could feel her energy building inside me, fierce and restless, like fire licking at my veins.

I couldn’t refuse her. My pulse was racing too hard, my body buzzing with her energy. I stripped down to my birthday suit—everyone always warned me to do that, unless I wanted shredded rags for clothes afterward. At least this way, I’d have something to slip back into when the shift was over.

The night air was sharp against my bare skin as I stepped out of the trees, my clothes folded neatly on a rock behind me. My body trembled—not from the cold, but from the storm gathering inside me.

*Let go, Alora,* Jag whispered. *Trust me.*

I was terrified, but the fire inside me took over. My bones ached, my muscles tore and reformed, heat crawling under my skin until I thought I would burn alive. I fell to my knees with a low guttural growl that broke the midnight silence.

And then it was over as quickly as it had begun.

I rose taller, broader. I stood on two legs, my breath steaming in the cool night. My vision was sharp, every shadow of the forest lit like day. My ears twitched at the chorus of crickets, the distant rush of water, the heartbeat of a deer three ridges away. I flexed my claws in front of me and felt power surge through my veins.

*Run,* Jag urged.

I did.

The Moonlight Mountains opened to me, the land of my ancestors. The whole mountain belonged to my pack, but tonight, it felt like it belonged to me. My back feet pounded the earth as I dropped down on all fours, carrying me higher and higher until the world blurred into wind and stone. The scent of pine filled my lungs, the song of the night wrapped around me.

I leapt over a fallen log, claws tearing into the soil as I pushed forward. My legs drove me forward, claws tearing into the soil with every stride… stars twinkled above, as the moon’s light bathed my fur in silver. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like an outsider. I didn’t feel like the freak.

I felt unstoppable.

*This is who we are now,* Jag purred. *Our strength, our fury, our shadow, our fire!*

I slowed by the stream, lowering my head for a drink, but when I caught my reflection in the water, I froze.

Staring back at me was a creature both terrifying and breathtaking. My skin shimmered light pink beneath a fine coat of pale silver-white fur, almost iridescent under the moonlight. My eyes—goddess, my eyes—were no longer human but wide, luminous orbs, pale as the moon, rimmed in silver fire. My mane of hair, streaked with those dark blue tips I’d dyed as a girl, cascaded wild around my face and shoulders, framing the beast I had become.

Claws glinted obsidian-black at the ends of long, powerful fingers, my body towering, muscled, yet graceful, every curve built for speed and strength. My features, though Lycan, were still me—still Alora. Only… transformed.

*I’m… albino,* I whispered, my voice cracked with disbelief.

*Of course we are,* Jag said softly, pride thrumming in her tone. *Did you really think the Moon Goddess would give us anything less than her own image?*

A tremor rippled through me as I realized—she wasn’t just my Lycan. She was a huge part of me. Pure white, untamed, radiant. A reflection of the very thing I’d been mocked for my entire life.

And in that reflection, I didn’t see a freak.

I saw a goddess’s bloodline staring back at me.