Hi, hola, guten tag and konichiwa!

You're probably like "what the heck is a reirta?" 
FEAR NOT, BELOVED READER. 

I will enlighten thee.

Nova's POV

Ughh.. what time is it?

I look to the clock on my nightstand which reads 4 AM. That means that I've been fading in and out of consciousness since 1, when the headache got worse and woke me up. I had taken ibuprofen when I got up and it refused to touch the headache which only seems to be getting worse.

The cool air that comes in the window and gently caresses my face persuades me to go outside and take a walk. Perhaps it could ease this headache.

I pull on my shoes and open and close the door behind me in a way that does not disturb the silence in the house. 

In just pajama shorts and a t shirt, the air is chilly at first, making my bare legs erupt in goosebumps. 

The wind imitates cold, soothing hands, fingering its way through my hair whilst pulling me off the porch in the direction of the descending moon.

My legs carry me, allowing the rest of me to think about the dream I had. 

Never had I ever had a dream like that. I had never seen my wolf that way. We were never apart; the most it would be was her voice in my head, like usual. I could not, for the life of me understand what it meant. 

When I decide just to focus on the walk and my breathing, how quiet it was, my mind was quiet for the first time in a long time. 

That is, until a familiar figure shows up to ruin it for me. 

As familiar as he was, I could not put a name to his shaded face. 

"Nova! It's great to see you up and about. What are you doing up so early?" He asks.

Ohhh it's the beta guy from the hospital. Sam? Sammy?

"Couldn't sleep," I say softly and examine him closer. It looked as though he was out for a run or something.

Samael's POV

"Oh, that's too bad," I look her up and down. Fuck, those hips. I start imagining all the pups she'll carry for me. Those little shorts really work for her. Work for me. "It's good though! Otherwise I wouldn't have run into you again," I laugh. 

"What are you doing up?" She asks in that sexy voice of hers, getting my attention away from her body to her face. 

"I'm on a run. Gotta stay in shape, right?" Total bullshit. I live a few houses down from where she stays and I smelled her the moment she came past my house. Couldn't resist. She's delicious.

"Uh huh," she's so cute when she's shy.

I start to get closer to her, but she only backs away. If only she realized that playing hard to get only fueled my need for her. On me, near me, close to me.

"I usually have breakfast early. You should join me," I demand, not leaving any room for her to question.

"I- uh.. I have plans with Analissa for breakfast already. But thank you," she finally backs into a tree. My arms go on either side of her, her perky chest now touches mine. 

She smells so much better up close.

"I'm sure she can wait. Besides, I'm much better company," I growl into her ear. 

Her squirming under me only gets me that much more excited.

Nova's POV

What the hell is happening? Why can't I move?

Unable to move away from him, I do the only thing that comes to mind and that is to bring my knee between his legs as hard as I can and run.

It brings him to his knees, as it should and he screams. 

"You stupid bitch! I'm not done with you yet!" I hear him getting up as I sprint as best as I can. Pain shoots through my rib cage, forcing me to the ground having to struggle for air. I could walk with my healing injuries, but apparently I was not ready to run yet.

It isn't long before I'm forced to my back with this creep straddling me. 

He laughs and leans down, his hands groping my legs and moving to my arms to keep them down. 

And then by some miracle he is torn off me and slammed to the ground.

"I told you to stay away from her, you useless prick," another deep male voice yells, scaring me a bit. "What part of 'stay off of her or I will disembowel you' did you not understand?"

He lands a hard blow to the creep's gut.

He only laughs, "you can't protect her forever, Myers. She will be mine." 

Myers? 

Colt.. he came for me.

I muster the strength to get up and pull Colt's arm to get his attention. "He isn't worth it," I plead with him. "Colt, please."

"Why are you protecting him? Do you know what he would have done to you?" His tone makes me wince.

"Yes. But leaving him quadriplegic will only get you in trouble," I say, trying to soothe him with my voice.

"She's right, Myers. Hendrix might just banish you. On second thought, have at it." He laughs until Colt gives him a death stare and he silences. 

Colt looks at me, and back at him, and then back to me and scoops me up into his arms, walking in the other direction.

When we are out of the creep's earshot, I ask, "where are you taking me?"

"To my house. It's the only place I can look after you properly," he says bluntly.

"Woah woah, wait," I hop out of his arms and stand in front of him. "I chose to live with Analissa, and I don't plan on reconsidering."

"I'll do it for you then. We'll get your things later," he goes to scoop me up again but I back away just before he can reach me. 

"I need time. I need time to get my life back together and wrap my mind around what has just happened." I continue when he looks as if he wants more reason why he shouldn't just throw me over his shoulder and take me with him.

"I'm so lost, Colt." By some miracle, I manage to keep my eyes on him, so I get to see his expression soften. "Leaving home was hard enough, and now I have to deal with the reality that everyone in my immediate circle has been killed," I start to use my fingers to list things off, "I have to adapt to living in a pack, and I can never see anyone I got close to back home because I there are a bunch of rabid outlaws who want to kill me!" Silent tears have started to fall which I don't notice until he uses his thumb to wipe them off. 

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "if that's what you want, I won't make you."

As if by some twist of fate, the rising sun hits his eyes in such a way that I can see their color clearly for the first time. Green. But the kind of green that you see when you lay in the middle of a forest and allow your eyes to stop focusing and go blurry. His eyes were the color of life.

I catch myself trusting his gaze a little too much and pull out of it as subtly as I can, turning away in the direction from whence I came. "Apparently I'm not the only one who knows how perfect you are," he groans, referring to what's-his-name from before.

Unable to say anything after his little speech, he fills in, "let's get you back to Ana's before she notices you're gone."

I nod and walk beside him for a bit until he picks me up again. 

"I'm perfectly capable of walking, you know," I roll my eyes.

"Oh I know. You just walk slow," he chuckles.

"Not all of us can be six foot- double digit and be buffer than Arnold Schwarzenegger," I mutter and cross my arms. 

"Schwarzenegger was on 'roids. I'm just hot by nature," he shrugs.

I go, "pffft," and laugh. "Well, aren't we humble?"

"You can be humble and confident," he smirks.

After a chuckle, we don't say anything else until we get back to the house and he puts me down on the porch, starting to walk away.

"Colt!" I yell after him, making him turn around. "Thank you."

"It's always a pleasure. Try not to let that happen again, though," he nods and walks away again.

When I go inside, Ana is on the couch with coffee and a book. She looks to me, "hey. I didn't know you were gone."

"I went for a walk." 

She gets up and takes a whiff of me. "With whom?"

"I ran into the beta and then Colt," I wasn't lying.. just withholding some of the truth.

"Samael? That's odd."

Samael! That's his name.

"Why?" I ask.

"He isn't very social, I'll leave it at that." I knew what she meant without having to pry any further. 

Ryan comes downstairs and sits where Ana was sitting.

"We were gonna go on a run. If you wanted to join us, we'd love to give you a tour of the terrain," she suggests and smiles at me, sitting on the arm of the couch. 

"That sounds really cool. I'm ready when you guys are," I take my shoes off and put them near the door where they were. I wonder how my laundry is doing, soaking in all that baking soda..

"We're ready!" Ryan says and gets up, shifting before even getting outside.

As I try to pull my fur forward, Ana shifts as well, following Ryan towards the door.

Why can't I do it? It was like kicking at a locked door. 

"Coming?" Ana asks.

"Yeah.. give me a second," I verbalize and kick at the door one more time before feeling the way it normally felt to shift.

But something was wrong. Something was different.

Her voice storms in my head, overwhelming everything else.

After all I've done for you.

I start to scream, my limbs twist and conform. My arms go first, cracking and snapping into elongated paws. The sounds of bones breaking, and the sound of her voice is all I can hear. I cannot hear my own screams of pain.

You toss me aside like nothing.

Individual strands of fur all force themselves out of my skin at one time. That is exactly as fun as it sounds.

It's such a shame! I liked you!

Snap.

Snap.

My kneed bend inwards to create hind legs.

I won't miss listening to you whine.

Her voice grows darker and darker until it has become that of a demon, to put it lightly.

My ears are pulled and molded into points, like that of a wolf, and my snout forms.

Goodbye, mortal.

With the ears apparently being the last touch, I feel drained.

Finally coming back to reality, both Ana and Ryan are over me in flesh form. Their voices echo in my head until they become clear enough for me to hear them.

"Nova," she says.

"Nova, can you hear me?" He asks.

When I stand up, Ana helps me get to my feet. "Easy now, that's it. Nice and easy."

"What the hell was that?" I ask as dizziness comes over me.

"It's called a reirta," the funny word has an accented R, making it sound almost Italian. "Werewolf parents have used them for centuries to help pups learn to control themselves and their impulses. They come especially handy when living around humans," Ana explains.

Still confused, Ryan adds, "the reirta is used so that children can be separated into two beings, and learn restraint. 

Ana continues, "the pain you felt was the reirta being expelled, and the inheritance of the traits you had little control over before. You're free from it."

"The thing is, the only way they can be expelled is by an Elder." Ryan mutters.

"What?"

"Yeah! It's a whole ritual. It means a pup has matured. In your case, it stayed because you had no knowledge of it," Ana makes the mystery come full circle. "I still don't know how you got it out by yourself, though."

There is a long pause.

"Shall we?" Ryan shifts back to fur and Ana nods and follows suit. I follow them both outside, trying to remember how to function in this body.

When it all clicks and I look less like a newborn giraffe, Ryan and Ana pick up their speed and start running.

Without even realizing, I outrun both of them, taking off in a sprint.

The reirta thing must have withheld some of the joy of running, because I truly have never felt this free.

"Nova! Wait up! You'll hurt yourself!" 

Nope. I'm done waiting. I've waited my entire life. 

For the first time in too long, there is no pain, no hesitation, no second guessing, and no confusion.

And damn, it feels good.

ღღღღღღღღღღღღღღ

I told you all would be revealed. 

With that being said, how did you like the reveal?