Chapter 1: Feral Energy

"Woo! Get him Jamie!"

"Tap out man! Tap out already!"

"I can—I can take her!"

"Of all the days you choose TODAY to be stubborn!? Did you forget what's happening tonight? She's gonna rip your throat out!"

"I can still–hrk!"

Jamie snarled lowly as Brandon just kept on talking big, despite the fact she had him on the ground in a choke hold.

"Tap out!" she demanded but Brandon was almost as stubborn as her in all the wrong ways.

"Never…!" he wheezed.

"Then you can pass out!"

"Alright! I'm calling it, both of you, out."

"What?!" Jamie released her hold on Brandon who rolled over and started to cough. She looked to her dad as he blew the whistle, giving her a look.

"You know the rules I gave you if you were gonna fight today. No maiming, no clawing, and no prolonged suffocation. This is sparring, not a cage fight. Now on the bench."

Jamie groaned before dragging herself over to the bench, watching some of the pack haul Brandon to the other, keeping their distance.

She didn't blame them, wincing at some of the bruises she left behind. She had been trying to hold back but the excitement just spilled over so she might have taken it a bit too far.

Sparring was supposed to help take the edge off of her restless energy but that was a no go now.

She couldn't help it though! She was finally eighteen and tonight, after all that waiting, Jamie Westbrook would have her Shifting Ceremony!

How was she supposed to wait for night to come when she'd been waiting so long already? Sure, eighteen years wasn't that long but she'd fight anyone who said they hadn't been excited for their own Shifting Ceremony. If they said they weren't, they were lying.

The waiting game was almost too much. If yelling at the sun would've sped up the flow of time she would've done it. Unfortunately, now she had to content herself with bouncing her leg as she watched her packmates spar.

She understood of course, why her father had benched her. She was hard enough to spar with on a good day and she'd already shown there was no way she'd be able to completely control herself. The last thing Jamie needed was to be on chore detail tonight of all nights.

She'd finally have her first shifting though! They could give her a little slack.

The Shifting Ceremony was the most important night for any young shifter. Jamie had been lucky, her birthday had been last week, just in time for the full moon.

Her friend Sarah's eighteenth birthday was only three days after the full moon and she had no choice but to wait for next month's full moon. She was insanely jealous about it too.

Jamie would feel guilty if she wasn't so excited. Her father and mother would take her along with them on their runs when she was smaller, carrying her on their backs.

They had always looked so graceful, so powerful in their wolf forms, running through the forest, so…free. Jamie had wanted so desperately to do the same and now, she finally would.

"You look like you're about to vibrate out of your skin," teased Sarah, joining her on the bench as Jamie's father watched over the sparring matches.

"If it would allow me to shift faster, I would be."

"Haha! Come on, I'm the one who has to wait an extra month. Surely you can wait a few more hours."

"Only because I have no choice. The moment I shift I'm gonna go on a run."

"A run or a cross country trip? Don't you try and downplay it, the alpha will have to hunt you down himself if we're ever gonna get you back."

Jamie rolled her eyes, shoving Sarah lightly.

"Oh please, have some faith in me. Besides, Dad'll be busy with the pack. No way he'll have time to hunt me down."

"I know you. No way do I have faith. You're 'Ms. Future Alpha' though. He has to have faith in his daughter, and successor."

Jamie couldn't help but give a roguish grin at that. Even if her father wasn't the pack alpha it was no surprise Jamie would be next in line. She knew everything the alpha had to do and was one of the strongest fighters in the pack. All she was missing was some experience in her wolf form.

"As if you wouldn't do the exact same. His faith is well placed. I'll only stay out for a day~."

"Sure, only a day," repeated Sarah, showing just how much she believed that statement.

"It's a good idea though, going on a run." Jamie stood up and stretched. "Tell Dad I'll be back before the ceremony."

"You would die before missing it," scoffed Sarah, waving her away. "Go, before I also vibrate out of my skin just sitting next to you."

Jamie flipped her the bird before jogging to the tree line, not wasting any time to start sprinting through the forest.

She couldn't wait to know what it would feel like for paws to be digging into the ground instead of the soles of her shoes. What it would feel like to really sprint like her parents could.

There was pressure on her, being the alpha's daughter and all, but Jamie liked to think she bore it rather well.

She'd been to the Council sessions with the other packs. She knew all the work that went in to getting supplies and food. She'd even had driving lessons to fit in with the humans if it was ever required of her to go undercover.

Any member of their pack would be hard pressed to say she wasn't suited for being the next alpha. Even Gabriel, the pack beta and her dad's right hand, didn't have anything to say against her!

Though to be honest, Jamie was unsure if that was because he approved of her or just thought everyone else would be an even worse choice–but she'd take it!

Besides, she had years before she'd ever have to inherit the title.

For now, all Jamie had to worry about was making it home in an hour after her run, and then making it home before 24 hours passed on her next one.