All around me, I could hear the different sounds of a first shift. I could hear people falling to the ground, their knees buckling under the heavy pain. I could hear grunts of guys who wanted to be tough and fight through their pain silently, I could hear whimpering and full on shouting and screaming, sickening cracks of bones breaking and realligning themselves to our other forms.

It took me a few minutes to realize my body wasn't reacting. Other than my skin tingling from the moon's light, there was nothing. I searched my mind for anything, to see if my wolf had awakened already, seeking its guidance, but there was nothing to be found. Panicked, I looked around, where I found several completed shifts and others more than half way through. No one else was in their human forms, except for the guards and my uncle. This was definitely not normal.

My uncle's eyes found mine, showing confusion and a hint of pity. I averted my gaze, not knowing what to do. Was this the Moon Goddess' way of punishing me for my actions of last night? But I couldn't be the only non-virgin here, could I? There were quite a lot of wolfs who didn't wait for their mates, so why was I being punished so cruelly? I didn't understand. A whimper left my mouth as I stood there, surrounded by happy wolf cries, watching, observing, but not taking part.

My uncle calling my name, drew my attention back to him and I saw him making his way over to me. My bottom lip started trembling as the gravity of the situation was beginning to sink in. I choked back another sob as he finally made it to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Cassie, it is going to be okay, I've already mind-linked the alpha, he's on his way here, we'll go see the Seers, we're going to figure this out, I promise."

I nodded, but I knew I couldn't go through that shame, I wouldn't be able to face the judgment in their eyes as I told them all about my life, for them to sift through every little detail. So instead of nestling myself deeper inside my uncle's arms, I broke free of his embrace, turned and ran, back to the house.

No one would expect me to return so soon, so I'd be able to grab all my stuff and be on a plane home in less than an hour. There was no reason for me to stay here any longer. The look on my uncle's face was hard enough, I couldn't handle everyone else looking at me like that. Besides, I lived in a big city, I wouldn't miss that part of me at all! I've lived seventeen years without a wolf and my Mom couldn't bear shifting too often either, her wolf was still mourning over the loss of her mate and was difficult to contain again.

I'd be fine.

Now i just had to tell myself this enough times so I'd start believing it.

I made it back to the house fairly quickly, so I took a few seconds to calm myself so I'd be able to enter quietly. I didn't want to risk anyone trying to stop me. But I couldn't waste too much time either because that would give the Alpha and my uncle time to catch up with me and for them to convince me to go see the Seers, or worse, to command me.

This was enough incentive for me to hurry up, so I quickly entered the house and made sure I was out in less than five minutes. Of course, I couldn't take everything with me, but I was sure they'd send them home for me and if they didn't, well, clothes were replaceable.

After that, there was only one thing left to do. With a dull pain in my heart for how I was acting because of my own mistakes, I borrowed my Will's carkeys so I could get to the airport and was on my way. I would send him a text later to tell him where I had parked in, hoping he would forgive me one day.

Half an hour later I arrived at the airport, only a few more hours and I would be able to leave this life behind forever.