Chapter 1: Six Years Ago

 “Caly! Caly! Caly! Wake Up! Wake Up! Hurry! --” came her brother, Eli’s, excited voice through the bedroom door-- “Mama’s got a surprise for you! Come on!” This was promptly followed by a loud banging on the bedroom door. Next, she heard her baby brother Arden yelling, “CAL! CAL! CAL!” Eli must be carrying him around again, Caly thought. She smiled and opened her eyes, today she turns twelve, and she would finally be able to allow her wolf Rae to transform. “Okay, okay, I’m getting up,” yelled Caly through the door.

 “You better hurry, you still have to eat breakfast, and some of the other packs have already begun arriving for the party. You slept in waaay too late.” 

 “Alright, alright, I get it. I shouldn’t have stayed up looking at the moon hoping to change early.”

 “That’s right, because no one ever transforms early, you’re not that special,” Eli teased.

 “Ha, ha you’re soooo funny Eli, a real comedian.”

 “Always, --” he retorted back, -- “But seriously, hurry up, you have a busy day today. Besides, Mama still has a surprise for you.”

 “I can’t wait to see what it is! Tell everyone I’ll be down in a few minutes. I still have to shower and get dressed.”

 “Will do! See ya in a bit sis, oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday!”

 “Thanks, Eli!” Caly exclaimed excitedly.

 “Come on Ardie, let’s go wait downstairs for sissy to get ready,” she heard as they walked away. 

“So, did you finally get Calypso up?” Travis asked his best friend Eli when he came back into the kitchen. Eli walked over to the breakfast nook and set Ardie down then walked to the cabinet to get him some cereal. “Yeah, she’s awake, finally,” --he laughed, -- “she just has to get ready.” He walked back over to the table and poured some Cheerios into a bowl, “Here you go little buddy, Caly will be down soon. She stayed up late last night staring at the moon hoping to change early. Can you believe that Travis?”

 “Umm, yeah I can, if I recall correctly, someone else I know did that too,” he said pointedly to Eli.

 “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever Travis, I remember no such thing….” They both laughed. 

“Right,” responded Travis.

“Shhh, don’t tell Caly that, I want her to think she is crazy for doing it. That way I can mess with her, and she’ll think she is the only one who does it.”

“That’s a little mean, don’t you think, Eli?”

“Nah, she’d do the same to me.

“No, she wouldn’t, you’re crazy to think that.”

“Dude, she totally would!” exclaimed Eli. “Anyways, why are you being so weird about her all of a sudden, Trav?”

“I’m not! I don’t know what you are talking about!” he said defensively and walked towards the fridge for a drink frustrated that his friend could tell something was up. 

Caly jumped out of bed and ran to her large walk-in closet to pick something out to wear for the day, as well the party that night. She was so excited! When the wolves turn twelve, they aren’t considered cubs anymore. There is a large party to commemorate the occasion where all the packs would come together to celebrate, this celebration was called the Twelves Celebration. The celebration just happened to land on her birthday as well, so her parent’s decided to combine both her birthday and the Twelves Celebration into one large party! Tonight, the party was only for four cubs, who were turning twelve. Calypso and her best friend Naomi were from the Everwood Pack, Cody her cousin was from the Vale Den Pack, and Ashton was from the Blackthorn Pack.

This year it was the Everwood Pack’s turn to host the party. Caly could not wait for the party, there would be music, dancing, and food, and when the moon was at its highest peak she would finally transform. She picked out a light blue flowy gown which flared out when she twirled. There were small white rosebuds embroidered on the top of the dress, and a lace coverlet over the light blue material on the skirt of the dress. She glanced in the mirror and the dress matched her baby blue eyes perfectly and she smiled at her reflection, holding the dress up to her body. It was one of her favorite dresses. For the party tonight, she chose a royal blue gown with half sleeves that flare out at the elbows. On the hem of the skirt going up towards the bodice, there were silver embroidered roses all over it. She absolutely loved roses. She picked out a pair of silver flats which matched the embroidery perfectly.

As Caly got into the shower she hoped Travis would be at the party tonight. He was so cute with his blond shaggy hair and blue eyes which were darker than her own. She had to admit to herself she did have a little bit of a crush on him.

“A little crush?" Rae, her wolf asked. 

“OK, a big crush,” Calypso smiled to herself and giggled. She could feel Rae laughing at her, “What are you laughing at Rae?” she silently asked her wolf. 

“Just you my dear, you have liked Travis for a while now.”

“I have not!”

“Suuure.” laughed Rae.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter anyways, he doesn’t feel the same for me,” Caly thought sadly. “Even though we have always gotten along so well, and he has always stood up for me against Ashton. I wish she wasn’t so mean to me, I have no idea why she is. Do you, Rae?”

“I’m as lost as you are on that subject, she is from the Blackthorn Pack, and they have always thought of themselves better than everyone else. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Anyways, I really hope Travis is there tonight. He’s sooo cute! Ooo, I wonder if he could be my mate? Maybe I could find out tonight when I change if he is there and is in his wolf form too.” 

“Caly, you know that it is extremely rare for that to happen. There will be a ton of other wolves there from other packs and not all of them change, some just watch and observe, celebrating the first transformation of the cubs. You also know that in order to find your mate both of you need to be in your wolf forms near each other and lock eyes with one another.”

“I know Rae, I just want it to happen like Mama and Papa. They knew they were each other’s mates as soon as they transformed at twelve and were inseparable from then on.”

“Yes, but they were also in the same age group, so it was a little easier to discover each other. You better hurry up in this shower, there are many things to do today.”

“Ok. the water is getting cold anyways.” Caly turned off the water and got ready.

She decided to put her auburn hair in a simple half up half down braided crown, with tiny, plaited tendrils falling down into the rest of her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt a little bit older and prettier today. She slipped on a pair of white flats then raced downstairs, past the old grandfather clock in the hallway and realized it was already 11:00 am. "Wow, I really did sleep in! Rae!? Why didn’t you wake me?" Rae just laughed at her.

As she turned the corner, she slammed right into her brother Garrett’s best friend. “Whoa, slow down lil’ cub, or someone is gonna get hurt, watch where you are going,” he said as he grabbed both her arms with his strong hands to keep her from falling down. 

“Sorry, Ryker. I didn’t see you,” --then it hit her,-- “I’m not a little cub anymore, so you can’t call me that!” she exclaimed indigently. 

“Hey! Hurry up, we gotta finish this before Caly wakes up, she’s gonna love it,” hollered her brother Garrett from upstairs.

“I’m coming! Your sister needs to watch where she is going, she almost knocked me over.” As he passed her to head up the stairs he said, “By the way, you’ll always be a lil’ cub to me, Caly.”

“Ryker, wait! What are you and Garrett up to?”

“Nothing, lil’ cub, happy birthday.”

“Ugh! I’m not a lil’ cub anymore,” she yelled at him, stomping her foot and sticking her tongue out at him. He just laughed and continued up the stairs to the landing where Garrett was standing.

“What was all that about?" Garrett asked Ryker as he reached him.

“Nothing much, your sister just doesn’t like me calling her a lil’ cub.”

“Ahh,” ---he then yelled down to Caly--- “happy birthday, cub!”

“How many times do I have to say it! I’m not a cub anymore!” she yelled angrily at them. They started laughing and then walked away. Caly could feel Rae laughing at her. “Oh, hush it Rae.” Which made Rae laugh even harder. She turned around and stomped off towards the kitchen, angrily mumbling to herself,

“Stupid teenage boys, they’re such a pain! I’m never gonna be like that when I am sixteen.”