Finally Free

Chapter 1

As she got to know more and more about all that had changed, a feeling of unease entered Sapphire's heart. She hadn't thought twice about coming back, and hadn't realized that so much could be different. Now that she was beginning to learn about all that had changed, she began to get nervous.

People she had grown up with now had mates and some of them even had children. Some elders she was close to had passed away, while others had lost their mates in recent years. Some people had left the pack and some had arrived. It was so much to catch up on that Sapphire felt overwhelmed.

Noticing her unease, Al and Mandy changed the topic. They began to talk about ordinary, everyday stuff. While Sapphire could tell they were itching to ask her questions about where she had gone and what she had done the past 3 years, they avoided the topic completely and stuck to simpler topics.

Before long, the breakfast was gone, and Mandy and Al were laughing at a memory they had brought up of Sapphire from when she had first changed.

It was a long time ago, the first time she had changed. In fact, she had changed earlier than most because of her father's blood in her. While most wolves usually changed for the first time when they turned 18, Sapphire had changed when she turned 16.

This was a cause of pride among the older members of the pack, and a cause of jealousy among the younger ones because she had changed before them. She had gotten bullied in various ways her teen years before everyone began changing, but it wasn't too hard to ignore it since she had the support of her loved ones by her side.

Her first time changing had come as a shock to pretty much everyone, and it had sadly been at the worst time possible-during school in front of her crush. Eric, the male wolf she had crushed on throughout elementary school had finally decided to talk to her. When he spoke to her for the first time, she had barely heard his "Hey," because she had gotten lost in his cerulean blue eyes and his adorable smile.

When she finally found her tongue again, she started to try and form words back, when she noticed how hard her heart was beating. It was then she had suddenly realized how hot she seemed to feel, along with the throbbing pain in her spine and her head. Eric's face had changed, noticing her panic, from an easygoing smile to a concerned look. "You okay there?" he began to ask, when she swooned and fell directly into his arms.

While a lot worse could have happened (she could have shifted then and there and ended up naked in his arms) she didn't remember anything except waking up in the nurse's office alone.

She had immediately sat up only to feel her head throbbing intensely and suddenly remembered how she had fallen directly into Eric's arms. She groaned aloud, hoping that the incident would remain between her and Eric, but even then she knew that any pack member who had witnessed the scene would help spread the latest piece of gossip.

It was right then that the door flew open, and Sapphire's parents rushed in. With their heightened senses they had heard the groan, and assumed it was because of the pain she was in, rather than the embarrassment she felt. Her mom rushed to her, gave her a long hug, pulled out and began straightening out her hair, most of which was stuck to the nape of her neck because of sweat. "My poor baby," she had muttered sympathetically, her emerald green eyes shining with pain.

Her father came closer too, and she still remembered seeing the mixture of emotions in his eyes. The pride that his daughter's blood was so strong that she was going to shift early, the worry that he would have to fend off tons of male wolves now, and the strongest emotion, love.

He had held her hand, and not said a word, his unique hazel eyes shining with the unsaid emotion. It was then Sapphire had realized the significance of what was happening. Yet even in her wildest dreams, she had never imagined how significant her life would become, and how drastically it would change.