Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 7

What was there to celebrate? My failures, the fact I am pack- less and homeless, that I am raising a baby on my own because the father refused to believe he got with a

seventeen–year–old because he couldn’t recognize me as his

mate.

“Shift! Please, Everly. I can’t watch you suffer in the rain, please,” my mother begs through the window, sucking in a deep breath.

“You can do this, Everly,” I whisper to myself. It isn’t how you imagined shifting, but I need to put my big girl panties on and do what’s required. I tell myself that nobody will be celebrating for you, not anymore, before stripping my saturated shirt off. I hang it over a railing along the far wall before shredding the pajama pants. I look around; it is late at night no one will see me. Even if they did, they wouldn’t pay any attention to the disgraced Alpha’s daughter.

My mother taps on the window, and I look in at my son drinking his bottle in her arms, gazing up at her nice and warm. His eyes get heavier and heavier the longer he feeds on his bottle.

“Thank you,” I whisper to her. She smiles sadly while nodding her head.

“I’m right here. You don’t have to be alone for your first shift,”

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my mother says, and I nod. Usually, when a wolf shifts for the first time, they go running with their family, they have a big celebration. Me, I was shifting to stay warm, funny how things turned out. I was transitioning out of necessity while everyone else shifted for celebration.

I have been able to feel my need to shift for months; however, being pregnant, I couldn’t change without causing harm to my unborn baby, then it did not have anyone to watch him while I did. This was my only chance, yet I dreaded seeing myself in wolf form. Alphas were supposed to be big, but I had been stripped of my title and my pack.

I hadn’t shifted on my eighteenth birthday like I should have, and all these things affected a wolf’s strength. Swallowing, down all emotion, I kneel on the ground, stretch my fingers, and stand on my toes. My neck cracks first, my face twisting and morphing. Everything stretches and moves when I feel the first snap of bone. It is agony, I knew it would hurt, but I never imagined it like this. The first shift always hurts, apparently.

“Don’t think of it, just envision your wolf,” my mother tries coaching through the glass window. It shouldn’t be like this; it wasn’t meant to be like this; Dad always promised mom and he would be there to help me through it. “Deep breath and shove everything behind it, force the shift, don’t wait for it, force it, Everly,” she says.

I suck in a deep breath, trying to envision what I would look like. Would I be a sandy color like my mother or black like my father? A scream tears out of me that immediately morphs

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a howl as the shift takes over. I throw everything behind it

sharp as I run my tongue

holding my son, one hand covering her mouth in shock. She is clearly shocked at my size, the size of a castaway. This means I am easy pickings, and my wolf will only get smaller and weaker the longer I go without my

stormy look on his face; he is disappointed. I am not much bigger than

what’s left of me? My father tugged the curtain closed like he couldn’t look at me any longer like he is disgusted, and

I feel, I press my nose against the glass, and I hear my father walk off when my mother tugs the curtain open a bit before sitting on the couch so I can see my son. I watch him through the glass, wishing more than

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and carefully ringing them out to try and remove some of the water. I had just pulled the sopping wet clothes on when the front door opens, and my father steps out of the house. I look up at him from my spot on the ground near the window where

come back, Everly,” he says before walking toward his

–

hurt; it hurt severely, making me realize I was nothing but garbage to everyone. The door opens, my mother

out with a backpack and some dry clothes. She hands me a towel, and I dry myself off before

says, handing me a pair of her Nike shoes. I slip the socks on before placing

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Chapter 7

him go.

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rang a taxi to come to get you,” my mother

safe in there,” my sister says, and I

well. I can’t go to university now anyway. Dad is making

be Alpha. Ava wanted to go to college and study some science thing when I was still here. She is wicked smart, and I ruined her plans by getting pregnant. Ava didn’t look upset, though, just like she accepted

it, my old phone is in there too, and the charger I will make sure to recharge it every

doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” my mother

us?” I ask her; hopeful.

but you can send us photos of.

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