by Mia Darien
“I don’t care about any of that. I just can’t stand the thought of you going through all that pain. I’m not just a nurse. I’m your mama, and mamas can’t stand to see their babies in pain.”
“I’m not a baby though.”
“You will always be my baby,” she said with a smile. “Always.”
I grinned and hugged her tight. “I’ll be fine. I’m a Wesley, remember? We’re as tough as they come.”
My mother pinched my cheek. “Speaking of, the entire pack is here. Even Granny Marcella and Papa Mike refused to miss it. They and the other elders think this is the last ascension they’ll ever be a witness to.”
“I hope not,” I replied, though I knew it was probably true. My grandparents were already pretty old and shifters weren’t immortal. We aged just like humans. The only difference was we had superhuman abilities and we healed fast. Other than that, we lived and died as humans did.
“Has the king arrived yet?”
“Yes,” Mom replied. “And it’s probably not a good idea to keep him waiting, even if he is your best friend.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s never a good idea to piss off a guy you’re forbidden to punch in the face.”
My mother laughed and pushed me out of my room and toward the front door of my cabin. Remy and Darien were outside waiting for me.
“Hey, Ms. Cecelia,” they greeted my mom.
“Hey, boys,” she replied. “Why do ya’ll look so sad? Like Xavier just told me, he’s only been sentenced to metamorphosis, not death.”
“Sorry, Ms. Cecelia,” they said.
“Don’t apologize,” she laughed. “Just smile. Xavier needs all the support he can get today.” She kissed my cheek and then headed toward the main campus where the ceremony would take place.
I looked at my cousins. “Are you two about to cry?”
Remy gave me the finger. “Are you? You look scared as hell, boy.”
“I’m good. Just gotta get ready to take this pain is all.”
“I’m kind of hyped,” Darien said. “Not to see you in pain, but for you to be alpha. You’re the best of us, X. The king made the right decision.”
“Thanks, D,” I said. “Even though you sound soft as shit right now, that means a lot.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you’re welcome, bitch.”
I laughed. “Now I’ve stalled long enough. Let’s go and get this ascension over with, yeah?”
We walked to campus in silence. It was cold out but I didn’t care, even without a shirt on. I hadn’t seen the point in wearing one since I was sure I would just end up ripping it off when the metamorphosis started.
The commons, which had been filled with voices and laughter, became dead silent the second I appeared. Roman stood in the center with the nobles, who all wore long, black leather jackets and leather gloves. Like me, Roman was shirtless, exposing his seventeen tribal tattoos representing all of the wolf packs in his kingdom. This was the largest the lycan kingdom had been in over two hundred years, and that was a good thing for Roman. If he could keep the packs strong and thriving, then he could possibly be named the greatest lycan king ever.
Remy and Darien joined Kane, Eli, Foster, and the other younger members, and I entered the fire circle that Roman and the nobles stood in. I saw my mom with Nathaniel and their two little pups, Asa and Kennedy. My little brother and sister waved enthusiastically at me, and I wanted to wave back but I had to stay focused and keep control of my emotions. I saw my grandparents sitting with the other elders, as well as the rest of my extended family that lived in Mirage. Not everyone in my pack was a Wesley, so there were several other families there as well.
The sun had pretty much set so the fire circle was our main source of light. I walked to the center of the circle and knelt in front of the king while drummers from the king’s court played batá and dundun drums. I’d never attended an ascension ceremony but I’d been schooled on it by my Uncle Bart’s beta, Junior, over the last two weeks since receiving the letter from the king. The most important thing he’d told me to do was front tough and not speak unless the king spoke to me first.
Roman circled me and I kept my eyes facing forward, focused on nothing in particular. “Xavier Wesley,” he said in his booming voice. “You have been called upon to serve this kingdom as one of its treasured leaders and strongest warriors. Many eyes are upon you this day, not only of those who are present, but of those who have come before you.” He lowered his voice. “I know your father would be very proud of you right now.” I nodded because I didn’t want to speak. I was feeling a little emotional and if I cried in front of my pack, then I was going to have to insist that they skipped the metamorphosis and killed me right there.
Roman started chanting in Yoruba while the drums played. I didn’t have a clue what he was saying, but then again, there weren’t many of us who did. Some of the elders spoke a little Yoruba and Igbo, but for the most part we were an English-speaking pack. I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was time to change that.
Stefan handed Roman a wooden dagger because silver was indeed poisonous to us and we avoided all other metal alloys just to be safe. Stretching his arm out over the bowl Marcus held, Roman slit his wrist and continued to chant as blood poured from the gash. When he was satisfied with the amount in the bowl, he licked the wound, instantly sealing it. Jackson held up a glass chalice and Marcus poured a generous amount of Roman’s blood into it. The king accepted the chalice from Jackson and then turned back to face me.
This right here was why dozens of bodyguards flooded the campus every time the king came to visit. He had to be protected at all costs because the blood of a Diallo male was like a rare diamond to wolf shifters. It was laced with pure adrenaline and regenerative properties unlike any other shifter bloodline in history. Drinking it would launch my metamorphosis and change me in ways I could never imagine. I’d seen the results of Uncle Bart’s transformation, but Diallo blood didn’t affect every wolf the same. There was just no way to predict what Roman’s blood was going to do to me.
The king approached and gestured for me to stand. “Are you ready?” he asked. The drums were still playing and he spoke so low, I was sure I was the only one who could hear him.
“Hell no. But I’m your servant, right? This is what you wanted.”
“This is not what I wanted, X. But I needed you to be the alpha. I need someone I can trust.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
His expression became dead serious. “Lycans everywhere,” he whispered, “here and in the Motherland, are in great dang–“
“Sire,” Stefan interrupted. “Please. Another time.”
I couldn’t believe how acute Stefan’s hearing was to be able to hear whispering over the drums, but somehow he had. Roman and I stared at each other for another few seconds before he looked to the ground.
When he looked back up, he smiled as if everything was okay. “When I was only a pup, my father often recited a certain proverb to me. He said, if we stand tall, it is because we stand on the backs of those that came before us.”
“I know that proverb,” I said, having heard Uncle Bart recite it before. “I won’t let our ancestors down, sire.”
The king smiled and offered me the cup. “Drink now, Xavier, so that your life may begin.”
“Don’t you mean my new life?”
“No,” he said. “That’s not what I meant at all.” He forced the chalice into my hand then slowly backed away from me.
The drums played louder as a signal that the time had come. But all of a sudden, I felt very uneasy about this entire ceremony. I couldn’t put what the king had said out of my mind. The kingdom was in danger? What did that even mean, and why did Stefan insist Roman wait to tell me?
I looked around at all the wolves gathered in the commons. They all stared at me, waiting on me. It was time to ascend. As much as I hated it, the danger to our kingdom would have to wait.
I lifted the glass in thanks to the
king for his sacred offering. Then I drank it.
It went down as easy as a cup full of blood could, but it wasn’t long before I was on fire.
Roman’s blood burned through my body like acid. It torched my veins and turned every thought in my head to mush. All of my senses were wiped out and I couldn’t see or hear anything. The pain was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I felt my body hit the ground and if anybody tried to help me, I didn’t know it. It didn’t matter anyway. The metamorphosis had begun and there was no way to stop it. I was going to suffer for days. My body was being torn apart so that it could be rebuilt again. Bones were breaking, muscle was tearing, organs were dissolving and my brain was being reprogrammed to think that it wasn’t as traumatic as my body was telling my brain it was.
My vision returned, blurry but there. I reached out for someone, anyone who could help me find relief. No one came because they couldn’t. The pain of an alpha’s metamorphosis wasn’t meant to be alleviated. Metamorphosis was a test of a wolf’s strength to survive the worst pain they would ever know.
I felt my ribs snap and I bellowed in agony. Claws ripped through the tips of my fingers, sharp as the blades of knives. My fangs shredded my gums as they burst from my mouth. Then all of my teeth started to fall out, one by one. I heard my mother scream and memories of my father flooded my mind.
Dad, I’m going to make you so proud.
That was my last coherent thought. Then everything went black.
* * *
Eight days later...
I couldn’t believe I was alive.
For days, I’d suffered pain like nothing else in this world. I was so glad it was over, shocked as hell that I’d survived it.
My eyes burned as they adjusted to the light shining in my window. I could tell it was late afternoon by the position of the sun, but if I hadn’t been near a window, I wouldn’t have known what time it was. I felt like I’d been out of it for months, a year even. My body was that thrown off.
With a wooden arm, I reached up and felt my face. My jaw ached like crazy. I was aware of its new shape–more broad, more pronounced. I reached into my mouth and ran my fingertips over my teeth. Normal wolves only had four fangs. I now had eight. No wonder the fools who challenged alphas rarely survived. Wolves already had crushing bites that injured and maimed. Two more sets of fangs ended lives, no question.
I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position, swinging my long, stiff legs to the floor. I held my hands up in front of my face and willed my claws to come out.
Damn, I thought. I’d only seen claws like these in movies. They were so sharp, they could slice through flesh and bone like it was nothing. I retracted them, thinking that if I made one wrong move, I would be the one sliced up.
With some effort, I stood up for the first time on my new legs. I could tell I had grown but I couldn’t be sure how much. As I stretched out, I groaned with relief because my body felt like it was tied up in knots. The bones in my shoulders and back ground together as they shifted around. It wasn’t painful but it was a feeling neither me nor my bones was used to.
“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Xavier?” I looked up to see Remy standing in the doorway.
“Hey,” I said. I froze because my voice was deep as hell. It had been kind of deep already, but I’d dropped at least another octave during my metamorphosis. Smiling, I accepted that as a good thing.
“It’s about to be a panty parade around here,” Remy said. “The ladies are gonna be killing themselves to get at you. Please make me your wingman.”
I made a face. “You sound real suspect right now.”
“Man, shut the hell up. You know what I mean.”
I grinned. “I’m just messing with you. I’ve known you swung that way since we were pups.”
“Yo, if you weren’t big as shit right now, I’d rip your spine out your asshole.”
“Point proven,” I laughed. Remy just gave me the finger.
“So I’m thinking I need to talk to the king about loaning me some of his blood,” he said. “Metamorphosis would change my life, boy.”
“Damn, do I really look that different?”
“Hell yeah. I’m actually kind of scared of you now.”
“You should have been scared before, punk.”
“But I wasn’t though.”
I laughed and moved to go stand in front of the mirror. What I saw surprised me. I still felt like me...but I didn’t look like me. At least, not the me I remembered.
I’d been right. I was at least two inches taller than I had been before, putting me at a solid six foot five inches. My skin was darker, at least a couple of shades, but I still wasn’t nearly as dark as Roman.
“Damn, X,” I muttered. I really was big as hell. I wasn’t one of those oversized fools shooting steroids six times a day, but I was packing some serious girth now. And it was all solid muscle.
“You kind of look like Roman,” a voice said from the doorway. It was Darien. He entered the room and stood by Remy.
I couldn’t deny it. I did kind of look like the king. “Hey, D,” I said, turning away from the mirror.
“What up? Welcome back to reality.” He sounded chill, but his expression said he was anything but. My appearance was as shocking to him as it was to Remy.
I turned back to my reflection. I studied it for a moment. “This didn’t happen to Uncle Bart. I saw the pictures of him before his metamorphosis. He changed but he didn’t look like Roman’s father.”
“Diallo blood does different things to different alphas,” Darien said.
“I know, but still.”
“Maybe a Wesley stepped out on their mate somewhere along the way and you’re actually a Diallo,” Remy said. “It’s possible. The Diallos got those good genes. You remember Roman’s sisters? They could make me step out on a lot of things.”
“Shut up, fool,” Darien replied. “Didn’t nobody step out on their mate. Just look at Kane. He can barely get out of bed because he misses Aspen so much, let alone summon the energy to cheat on her. Wolves mate for life.”
“Unless they don’t. I know that’s what we’ve been told, but what if that only applies to non-shifters? What if we, because we are half-human after all, don’t? I’m just saying, nothing is impossible. Look at us. Most humans think we’re impossible.”
The fool had a point, but I wasn’t ready to dig into any of that mess just yet. “My mom here?”
“Yup,” Darien said. “She never left your side the entire time.”
“Until today, she wouldn’t let anyone see you either,” Remy said. “She caught me trying to peek in your window a few days back and I swear, my entire life flashed before my eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever ran from anyone so fast before.”
I laughed. “Yeah, my mama can be scary when she wants to be. But especially when it comes to her pups.”
“I see that.”
“Are you ready to go outside?” Darien asked. “The rest of the pack is dying to see you.”
“I know,” I said. “But I need a shower first. I smell like a stray.”
Remy held up his hands. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but you really do.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gather the pack in the dell in about an hour. I’ll meet you there.” My cousins nodded and turned to leave. “Oh, and tell everyone I’ll be announcing the new beta then too.”
“You got it, boss,” Darien said on his way out of the room. Remy only grinned and pointed at himself.
“Get the hell out of here,” I laughed. He laughed too, then ran after Darien.
After my shower, I joined my mom in the kitchen. She had cooked enough to feed our entire pack even though it was just me and her. While we ate, we talked, but not about my metamorphosis. I could tell the whole thing had been hard for my mom to witness and honestly, I didn’t want to hear the gritty details. I remembered the pain just fine, no reminders were necessary. So we used the time to laugh about Remy’s many attempts to
sneak into my cabin and watch me wolf out.
A little while later, the sound of howling let me know the pack had gathered in the dell and were calling me to join them. My mom, though reluctant, finally went home to her mate and pups, and I left my cabin for the first time in over a week.
All talking and howling stopped the moment I appeared in the dell. For a minute, everyone just stared at me. I couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious, even though I understood how they must have been feeling. I looked completely different and that wasn’t something they would just get used to in an instant.
“Hey, X!”
“What up, X?”
“How you feelin’, X?”
I spoke to everyone who spoke to me, making sure to take a moment to shake hands with Kane. He didn’t seem so bitter anymore, but I knew this thing with Aspen wasn’t over by a long shot.
He gripped my hand, then pulled me into a one-armed hug. “Make our fathers proud, X,” he said to me. “Be the alpha I wasn’t able to be.”
“I’m gonna try, cuz,” I replied. I didn’t know what had changed in Kane, but I hoped it was there to stay.
“Speech! Speech! Speech!” Remy started chanting. It took less than a second for the rest of the pack to join in.
“Okay, okay,” I said, moving to stand in the center of the dell. “To be honest, I really don’t even know what to say right now. This is the first ascension for all of us. I know this...new look of mine is going to take some getting used to, but I’m still the same Xavier I was before all this. My changes are only physical. And now that the metamorphosis is over, we can move on. Uncle Bart left a great legacy behind, and it’s going to be up to us, not just me, to keep that going.” The pack sounded off their support with a chorus of howls.
“But first,” I said, “I have to name the beta.”
“Ooohhhh!” The pack goaded me. I just laughed at them.
“The person I’ve chosen is more than worthy of being beta,” I said. “He’s not only a cousin, but one of my closest friends. I trust him with my life, and I trust him with all of yours as well.” I pointed. “I have chosen my boy Darien as the beta of the Wesley pack.” The pack erupted with howls and cheers because everyone liked Darien and I knew he was the right choice.
