Glowing blue eyes

A true alpha. I nearly laugh at the thought, but I do outwardly scoff. That doesn't sound like me at all.

"While our physical abilities are important, one of the more significant changes of becoming a werewolf is the connection we now have to the wild. Because of our wolves, we are linked to nature, the elements and to the moon. Now, we are going to do an exercise. Close your eyes and reach out to the world around you." She instructs us, and I close my eyes in answer.

"Start with yourself, with what you are feeling. You can feel the wind as it caresses your skin and triggers your senses. Focus on that feeling for a few moments. Listen by not focusing on only one sound, but opening your ears to hear the nature around us. You should hear your heartbeat, the breath of your fellow students...there's a breeze passing through the forest and you can hear the leaves shake."

I do hear that, I think to myself while following her direction. I stay focused on the task at hand and do what she says. "You can hear a hawk calling in the sky, and you can hear a cricket in the grass at the bottom of a tree. What else do you hear?"

By listening to the sounds, a picture is painted in my mind of what surrounds me. I can see in my mind which direction the crickets sounds are coming from and because of the wind, I can hear that it is at the bottom of a tree.

"I hear something moving through the grass to our right," a student says, but with my eyes closed I can't tell who it is. When they speak, their location is highlighted and I can see in my head that they are in front of me.

"Good! A snake is slithering on the ground about 100 meters away."

I search the sounds around me and a nervous flutter seizes my stomach as I realize I can't hear it.

"Now inhale deeply through your nose. You can smell the dirt, the leaves and detritus around us. On the wind, the smells of the forest are carried. You can smell the wet moss, wet tree trunks and flowers." My eyes pop open and I stare at her when the sinking feeling deepens and I realize I can't decipher those smells either.

Genevieve's eyes meet mine. "Focus," she snaps with authority, and the pressure from the command causes me to close my eyes and start again. I would grumble in irritation from yet another alpha command if I was able to.

I continue with the exercise, trying to see, hear and smell what they do, but it doesn't take me long for glaring truth to sink in. My senses are better than a typical human, but it is not nearly as good as the range that the students around me have. They can see further, have superior hearing and can smell things that are farther away.

Something is wrong with me. It doesn't seem to be an issue that anyone else here is dealing with, and it's clear that my abilities are not what they should be. I need to talk to someone about this, I think, and Morwenna comes to mind. She seems trustworthy and would be willing to help me figure this out.

Genevieve has us line up so that we are all facing her while we move on to the next step.

"Those of us who have shifted before, go ahead and do so now." About three students out of the class of more than twenty start to twitch and groan in various degrees. I watch as a student's knees buckle and he hits the ground with his fists. His back starts to bow and his face comes into view with a grimace etched in his features. He seems to be in pain but is determined to bear through the transformation. An audible pop rings out as his knees realign to accommodate his wolf shape taking form. Fur travels up his spine and his face elongates when a snout starts to protrude from his nose.

It takes a minute, but after he completes his shift the remaining two students complete their transition. Soon we have three wolves standing where three students used to be. With a shake of their bodies, their uniform clothes easily slide off their new shapes and when I see that the clothes are undamaged I have a new appreciation for the flexible material.

The wolves are different in color, and with the one that I watched throughout his transformation, I realize that his fur coat is a light tan in color that matches the blonde hair of his human form. His eyes have changed, though. His brown eyes have turned an ice blue that glows in his wolf form. I look at the other two wolves and see that their eyes are a molten gold color. I learned about this from Morwenna, I think to myself. The Vosak line of werewolves will have glowing blue eyes in their wolf form, while Nestati wolves will have golden ones.

"Very good. With time and practice throughout this course, this shift will become easier and quicker." Genevieve says with a nod of her head. "Who can tell me why the Vosak wolf was able to shift first?"

"The moon is in its waxing crescent phase," Calvin answers.

"Correct," Genevieve answers with a bright smile. "Not only are werewolves influenced by the moon, but lunar phases have further implications on us depending on our factions. Vosak, the Waxing Moon faction will be stronger during the phases of the moon when the light is growing and we are heading towards the next full moon. The next day, however, when the light starts to recede and the visible portion of the moon starts to shrink, the lunar phase enters its waning stage and Nestati, or the Waning Moon faction will be stronger than Vosaks. Both factions are equally weak during the new moon phase, or when the moon is not visible in the sky."