night of transformation

The full moon shined down so brilliantly in Kiera's eyes. Looking around, she felt the night air cool on her skin as darkness enveloped her. Her heart felt unburdened, free of some enormous weight now that she had accepted the prince's feelings and her own.

Perhaps she was being overly optimistic, but when they parted ways the day of their outing, she was reassured by his words.

"There's no need to worry," he had planted kisses on the back of her hand. "I won't go out searching for you on the night of the full moon."

"That isn't at all what I am worrying over." But now that he had said it, she remembered there could be another thing she had to worry about.

He laughed at her facial expression, smiling happily as if he held no worries within his mind.

"Don't tell me you are having second thoughts about us courting already." He teased her, planting another kiss on her hand but this time over her knuckles. "You talked a big talk but you are still worrying over the future of our relationship."

She raised one dark eyebrow, "Oh and you aren't worrying?"

"No, because I am confident we will find a way forward." He shrugged his shoulders, "And if we find there is no way, we can always pave one for us." She didn't know how he could speak with such confidence, but she thought he must have had a plan already formulated in his mind for him to speak with such assurance.

His optimism had certainly rubbed off on her, she thought as she and Helios prepared for the full moon the rest of the week. Before Gaspar and their King had left back to their homeland, King William had requested his remaining people have time for their ceremony on the night of the full moon. He had told the Solomon King they prayed to their animal deities and therefore needed a place to hold their ceremony which would be on the royal Hunting Grounds.

At first, the Solomon King and the other human Kings protested. They cited their refusal on the basis the ceremony would disrupt the atmosphere of the capital. To her ears, it seemed as if they did not want their strange Beast customs appearing anywhere near them.

King William insisted, and by luck, the Solomon King finally gave his approval.

Helios and Kiera prepared for the night of transformation, gathering all the necessary materials needed for a fake ceremony. Any Beast that wasn't already busy with other things in preparation for the full moon was to make carvings of animals from tree bark, adding to the illusion they revered animals. The amount of beaded jewelry and feathered hair accessories that passed her hands was enough to fill an entire lifetime. Cody had complained on more than one occasion that he was developing a sickness from the feathers, sneezing every time he saw one.

On the day of the full moon, Helios approached her carrying what looked to be a gown inside of a box.

"What is that?" She asked as she suspiciously eyed the box in his arms.

"This gown is reserved for you." He did not hesitate to remove the gown from the box, letting the box fall to the ground by his feet. Kiera looked on, aghast by all the pink ruffles and all the puffs on the dress.

"Where on earth did you get that hideous thing?"

"I was given this by one of the Solomon princesses. Don't ask who, I do not remember. She snickered as she had one of her maids give it to me, saying it was for you to wear for the ceremony if you didn't have a dress." In a way that was uniquely his, Helios's blue eyes flickered dangerously. "I told her there was no need since we do the ceremony in the nude, with only the feathered accessories in our hair. Then I told her she should come and watch as I prayed to my Horse deity."

Kiera held back the laugh that wanted to escape through her lips. Instead, she shook her head.

"I don't understand why the princess went to you in the first place."

Helios shrugged and remarked flippantly. "Who knows the minds of humans? Maybe she thought you and I are Mates?"

They laughed with as much control as possible when they told their two battalions they could do whatever they wished with the dress. Between the two groups of warriors, they settled on making it a dress of shame, worn by whoever loses in a spontaneous round of sparring.

Night descended on them when they finally managed to get all the materials to the royal Hunting Grounds. Some humans watched them work, gathered in mass a safe distance away from the treeline to see the spectacle of Beasts going in and out of the forest. As soon as the sun had set they all dispersed, just as their King had predicted.

"It's time."

Helios told her, and she nodded once over to him.

"Warrior Beasts, tonight is the night of the full moon, in which we hold our most sacred ceremony!" She started, raising her arms into the cool night air. Kiera heard the sounds of a couple of Beasts laughing, but one look from Helios and Kiera, and the laughter died down.

"Tonight," Helios joined in, his voice booming loudly over the gathered Beasts, "we pray to our animal deities, offering our bodies for the night so they might walk amongst us!"

As if on cue, several Beasts let out howls, and Kiera shivered as she felt the energy radiate from them. They were restless to transform, and it seemed like they were holding onto the last bit of rope before they shed their human appearance.

"Dance and make merry! Behave as the Beasts we are!" Kiera yelled out, finishing their fake ceremony. She followed it with a howl of her own, piercing the forest with a truly terrifying and savage sound.

It was as if she had released the reins of the Beasts. Every one of them howled out with different animal noises before they each took off, running into the trees while still in their human forms.

Kiera shook her head at the scene. The two warrior battalions were having their fun with the night, but she couldn't blame them. The fake ceremony was meant to be as frightening and chaotic so that it repelled as many of the humans away from the Royal Hunting Grounds.

"Well then, I'll be off." Helios waved his hand at her, picking a random direction before he walked away.

"I'm leaving as well General." Kiera looked at Jade, who was one of the few Beasts that did not take off as soon as Kiera released them. Standing beside her, Bryan said the same and they both left in different directions to find a secluded place to transform.

The forest was filling up with animalistic sounds, marking the beginning of the first set of transformations for the night.

Kiera looked around, surveying the area to make sure all the other Beasts had left the vicinity before she began peeling off her clothes. She shook the feathered accessories from her hair and dropped the beaded jewelry onto the ground as if burned.

As per her tradition, she stood under a stream of moonlight and basked for a while under its light. She closed her blue eyes for a moment to take in all the sounds emanating from all around her. Kiera enjoyed the feeling of the cold air as it touched her naked body.

When she was eventually satisfied, she began her transformation.

Pain washed over her as her bones snapped. She arched her back while she fell to her knees.

Kiera let out a howl, and with that, her transformation from human to a wolf was complete.

Her blue eyes took in the familiar sight of her fur paws. She flicked her black tail and it appeared within eyesight. Another howl erupted from her chest and this time, it was met with at least ten other Beasts' howls, welcoming the Blackcrested Wolf with ease.

Kiera felt the restlessness the other Beasts had surely felt before they transformed. She wanted to bound into the trees but she knew she had to wait for a while to make sure the rest of the Beasts had transformed.

She paced in her wolf form, longing to feel the soft dirt ground underneath her paws as the forest undergrowth grazed past her. Her wolf view made everything more sensory for her, from the dirt ground to the smells all around. Being in this form allowed her to become intimate with nature.

It was true that their ancestors did horrific and irredeemable things to the clan of nomads. For that, she was sure their curse was justified. But there was a feeling she had every full moon. It was a feeling she told no one, for the curse was always a curse.

Howling under the moon, with the feeling of being free as she explored the forest with her wolf eyes and ears. She thought the feeling was extraordinarily good. Instead of a curse, a little voice inside her head said it was a blessing.

After a while she heard a long haunting howl, signaling the end of the time to transform. Kiera heard the sounds of the stampeding Beasts throughout the Royal Hunting Grounds, and she did not hold herself back any longer.

She raced into the trees, going further into the darkness.