The she-wolf across from me did not hesitate. Her bones cracked and shifted with the practiced ease of someone who had been shifting since adolescence and the deep brown fur that emerged caught the rising moon, black streaks running down her back like watermarks. The crowd had gone very still around the circle, holding the kind of collective breath that comes when something significant is about to begin.
Once she was steady on all four paws we both lowered our heads at the same moment and waited for the command. I kept my breathing deliberate and even, pulling my focus inward. I could feel the threads of the pack bond and Phoenix and both my brothers at the edges of my awareness but I pushed all of it gently out and breathed into the quiet of myself.
Are you ready, Cel? I asked.
"Ready," she said.
"Commence!" the King called.
