Junior year of High School

Chapter 12

The last 2 months of my sophomore year, I felt like they flew by, in what seemed like a daze. I barely remember the last few weeks of school. I vaguely remember Mary Jo asking me if I even knew what a social life was, and if I even had good friends, or just preferred to hang out with the trash. As usual, I just ignored her as I went on with my day.

 I had much to think about this summer. The 1st thing was getting things ready in the pack house for the council of witches that were coming. Also, the council of elders, of the wolven council, has heard about us, so we are expecting them to send someone to investigate our pack soon. As more and more people are hearing of our pack, that it is one of acceptance, and we allow all mates no matter the species. Shifters have started to come, to ask for refuge from their old packs, that don’t accept mates of different species. 

The 2nd Thing is making sure we have all the rest of the stores, in our small town, ready to go when people want to open up restaurants or other businesses. We just finished cleaning out all the rest of the stores in our small town, and got them ready for new tenants to rent. 

2 of the stores were finished during the spring with tenants already renting them for clothing and a bakery. 3 out of the 15 stores needed to be gutted and redone, but for the most part, it was just a coat of paint here and there, along with new furniture, cabinets or displays. I'm really hoping someone will reopen the diner, as I love good food, and it will help the pack make money, and it would be a good hang out place outside the pack house. 

In the spring, a few more families moved in, and we now have 7 more wolf shifter families in our pack. Dad and I have discussed how to set up patrol rotations, and have implemented it with all the shifters that have joined our pack. 

In Mid-July, a small witch coven heard about our pack and asked if they could join, of course we said yes, mom was there for when we accepted them. Mom found out that they were a healing coven, and that they liked helping the land and people with small medical ailments. They decided to rent one of the shops as an Apothecary, and have a small walk-in clinic attached, to help the pack and townsfolk with non-emergency needs. For example colds, sprains, flus, vaccines, etcetera.

My birthday came around again and I turned 17. My parents got me a new truck to drive to school with, they told me that we were still going to go to the ‘Human’ High school for Junior year, that the new high school we built doesn’t have enough teachers or staff yet to officially open it, hopefully senior year we can transfer there.

The truck my parents got me was a 2024 Ford F-250 King Ranch 4 by 4. It has a  black to purple hypershift color, with neon purple accents, it has a 12 inch lift kit with all terrain tires and is bulletproof but you can’t tell. The truck is also a 6.7 liter V8 Powerstroke turbo diesel, with LED lights. It has a light bar on the roof and one on the ‘bully bar’, along with a winch attached to the grill. The purple accents are all over the truck, including on the 22 inch rims. The interior is black and purple with a purple under glow. Now I understand why they wouldn’t let me and Alice go into the Ford dealership with them when we 1st moved here.

The other pack vehicles that we ordered back when we 1st moved here were also delivered a week before my birthday. I happened to be home to help accept the vehicles and move them over to our pack garage. The vehicles that came in are the bulletproof vip and other cars, along with the 2 vans that fit 12 people in it. We also ordered a small school bus-like vehicle, as our pack grew to take the kids to the human high school, that were in 9th through 12th grade, that didn't have their own car. It doesn’t look really like a school bus but kinda like a party bus or airport transportation bus.

The next week Junior Year starts and us kids, Matt, Alice, Kim, Crystal, Jackie, Bella and I, all go to school in my brand new truck. When I pull into the parking lot, lots of people stare with shocked and awed faces, except for Mary Jo and her 2 minions Angie and Sasha.

Junior year we didn’t need to take another language class, so we had 1 class less everyday. We still had AP classes and signed up for computer coding again, because the homework was literally playing computer games, and creating a game as well. During PE, all the shifter kids had to try to move slower and act weaker than they actually were, so that the unknowing humans didn’t find out what we were.

The 1st semester passed pretty quickly and it was winter break again. Bella caught her mom and I shifting into our wolves before a patrol, and questioned me about it the next day. I told her that both of us were considered shifters and that she has the gene as well. She asked about when people shift, if it hurts, when it happens, what other things can happen.

I told Bella about my 1st time shifting, about how I was shocked, because it’s not normal for wolves to shift before their 18th birthday, unless they are of Alpha descent, which then they can shift as early as their 16th birthday. I however, was an unusual case, as to where the 1st time I shifted was on my 9th birthday. The Alpha of the last pack I was in knew about it, and said it might have been because I was a Hybrid that I was able to shift before my 18th birthday.

Bella then asked what a Hybrid was and I told her, “A hybrid is a shifter of 2 or more different species of shifter, there are many kinds of shifters in this world. Shifters can be Wolf, Dragon, Pixie, Fae, Fairy, Bear, Lion, Tiger, Jaguar, Swan, Eagle, Hawk, Leopard, Gryffin, Unicorn, Centar, Goose, Lycan, Fox, Coyote, etcetera. For example my mom is a Witch but she is also a Wolf shifter, and my dad is a Dragon shifter. So for myself, I have both the genes of Dragon and Wolf shifter in my DNA and I might get the dragon side, but I might not. I am also a witch, like my mom, and can use magic.”

Bella then says, “My mom told me both my brother and I have the gene even though we are both half human. Does that mean that we both are hybrids as well? Also does it hurt to shift? My mom says I should be shifting on the 1st full moon after I turn 18, I’m scared and I don’t want to go through it alone.”

I tell Bella, “No, you are considered a regular shifter, human and shifter are not considered hybrids, because humans are not considered shifters at all. Your mom actually asked me when your family moved into our pack if I could be with you during your 1st shift, to help you with it and explain everything. I guess she had a feeling that it would be easier, if the explanation came from a friend instead of her.” 

“Shifting does hurt the very 1st time as your bones are snapping and rearranging to their new form, but it gets easier over time, and it can feel weird. The day you turn 18, you can officially join our pack, and you’ll be able to mind-link with others in the pack, along with your family. I see the confused look on your face when I say ‘Mind-link’. Mind-linking someone is like talking on a phone, but instead of using a phone to communicate, it's like using your mind instead. As for doing it alone, you won’t be. I’ll be there with you along with Matt, Alice, Kim, Crystal and Jackie. The 6 of us all shifted early, but I was the youngest to shift. The rest of them shifted at the age of 15, before we moved here to Colorado.”

Bella then said, “You said that when I turn 18 I can join your pack, but I wonder what about Jacob and the other kids living here? Do they have to wait until they turn 18 to shift to be able to join the pack too?” I tell her, “Some yes. If a shifter family joins and has children with them, the children can join the pack as well, but if a human family joins or a shifter that doesn’t know that they’re a shifter joins the pack, then they have to wait until they turn 18 to join the pack. The people over 18 in the family can join the pack, but the children would have to wait until they turn 18. However, if a family joins a pack and gives birth to a child, that child would already be considered a part of the pack and would only have to do the acceptance ceremony when they turn 18. The reason why children have to wait until they turn 18 to do the acceptance ceremony is because of the blood letting, which is cutting your finger and touching it with the Alpha’s cut palm.”

Bella’s 18th birthday was on January 23rd, and she officially joined the pack, the following weekend, was the 1st full moon after she turned 18. Matt, Alice, Kim, Crystal, Jackie and I were with her that night. We were all in the training colosseum, waiting until the moon reached its peak.

“When you shift into your wolf, she will come to you in your mind as well, she will tell you her name, and show you what she looks like. The rest of us outside of your mind, will see what color wolf you have. Your wolf will be with you for the rest of your life to heal you, and talk to you. She will even let you know when she has found your true mate.

Bella asked, “True mate, what is that?” I told Bella, “We’ll go over true mates after your 1st shift, and 1st run with your wolf. For now just relax your body. and do what the Moon Goddess tells you to do.” “Okay.” Bella says.

When the moon reaches its Peak, Bella turns into a beautiful Golden Sandy Brown colored wolf, she tells us through mind-link that her wolf’s name is Sandy. As Bella's 1st shift began, I told her, “take off your clothing, as you don't want to shift through your clothing, it becomes a tourniquet, and get down on the blanket that I had placed on the ground.” She gave me a weird look, but did it. As she started to shift, she began screaming in pain, and we all told her, “as painful as it is, you need to try to relax, you need to not fight it, just listen to your wolf and do as she says.” After she fully shifts into her wolf, she tells us that Sandy wants to go on a run to seal the wolf bond and the rest of us shift to join her so she’s not alone. 

A few hours later, we all shifted back to our human form and Bella asked, “Well that was fun and freeing, but you said you’d tell me about what true mates are. So what are true mates? Also, I can’t wait to tell our other friends about the shifting world.”

I tell Bella, “1st of all, you can’t tell anyone outside our pack that you, or any of us are shifters, most humans don’t know of the shifter world, and would lock you up for insanity if you told them. No one can even know, outside our little group of friends here right now, that I 1st shifted when I was 9, or that the others also shifted early when they were 15. There would be people that would hunt us down, and try to kill us, or experiment on us, if they ever found out. Only Alpha descendants can shift before they turn 18, and all of us shifted way before that.”

“You asked about what true mates are. True mates are considered to be the soul mate of your shifter counterpart. Each shifter has one destined to be that person, it could be male or female, my parents say it's like a tethered cord that draws you to them, and their scent is the most amazing smell in the world to you. There are some cases where a true mate can die, and the other mate can get a 2nd chance mate. There are some cases where the 1st true mate can reject their mate, because they’ve chosen a different mate. They say that the pain from the breaking of the bond can hurt, which can drive some people insane.” 

“The rejection of a mate has to be done by a mate, and has to be accepted by the other to fully break. If it is only rejected by 1 mate, but not accepted by the other, they can still feel everytime either of the mates is have sexual relations with someone other than their mate.”

 “The only time a mate bond can forcefully be broken is if the Royal Alpha King forces a mate to break the bond with their Alpha command. Whether it was because one mate is abusive or unfaithful. The mate that wants to break the bond, but the other mate refuses, has to go to see the Royal Alpha King and plead their case, about why they want the bond broken. If the Alpha King approves the reasoning, they will summon the mate that refused and force them to accept the rejection.”

The rest of the school year passes uneventfully, besides the elder counsels representative coming and checking things out, and the witch elders and their historian coming and looking over things in the hidden archive. They all left with good things to say, especially the Wolves Elder Counsel Representative, who can’t wait to see what we have proposed for the pack recognition hearing next year during the summer. He said we won’t be able to do it just yet, as we’re still shy of the minimum amount of people required to be considered a pack. He hopes to see us reach that number by the time I turn 18 as I will be the next Alpha of this pack.

As the school year ends and summer begins a few more shifter families join the pack, including a few Vampire families. The vampires say that they do not feed from humans, but only drink out of blood bags that were donated to them. The donated blood bags are done during a Blood donation event, and three quarters of the blood bags go to the nearby hospital, and they only take a quarter of the donated blood, because that's all their fridges will hold. Which is why they hold the event 2 times a year.

A few other shifter families that heard about our pack have joined. The shifter families that joined our pack were Tiger, Hawk, and Eagle shifters. Each time a new shifter family joins our pack, a house dwelling that they like, automatically changes into what they require for that family in space. I asked EP about it before, and they say for the most part it is them helping them out.