ChangingPaths Read Online Free PDF Page A

Alpha be
angry?”
    “Your uncle went to convey our respects last night. It wasn’t
necessary for both of us to be there. Besides, Micah Keeps Vigil already knows
about your return, he knew I was waiting for you to arrive. You should go to
the lodge soon with the other Moon-Denied to pay your respects and introduce
yourself to our Alpha.”
    She drew in a deep breath at the casual way Willow tossed
that hated description into the room. She should have been one of the lucky
ones. Her genetic makeup was strong and true but for some reason she’d
been…denied. She felt the call of the moon, felt the Moonlust rise in her body,
but she wasn’t able to shift, had never been able to run as a wolf. Even now,
she felt as though her skin was stretched too tight over her bones. She ached
and yearned to go outside and just be in the woods. Even if she couldn’t run
with the Moon-Called, she just wanted to be…something.
    Every full moon brought her pain and dreams of running and
howling that she knew would never be reality. She no longer woke in tears—well,
not every month, since she’d learned to knock herself out with over-the-counter
sleep aids. Now she needed to find out if her daughter was also one of the
Denied or if she would be one of the Moon-Called. Her belly clenched. Rain should be chosen. If she could give up her life for her child to have that ability,
she knew she would.
    Since Tom couldn’t shift and neither could she, odds were
good that Rain wouldn’t either, but she couldn’t take that chance. Rain needed
Pack. She needed to be with others who knew what she was going through and who
could help her where her mother couldn’t.
    Her aunt watched her silently. “Harmony, I said should.
Micah knows you’ve only just arrived. He’s different than the last Alpha—not as
idiotic about Moon-Denied. He’s given you a week before you must come to see
him.”
    She hugged her aunt in gratitude. One week to gather up her
courage to meet this Alpha. She knew her aunt wouldn’t lie about something this
important but it was hard to believe in an Alpha who didn’t relegate the Denied
to the back of the shifter bus.
     
    Rain turned the volume back up on her MP3 player, stomping
through the grass as she thought about what she’d heard. Her mom and her
great-aunt didn’t know for sure that she’d been listening. The earbuds fooled
people a lot of the time. Being here was totally lame. And the explanation that
her mother gave her about some stupid freaking genetic thing in their family
was just as stupid.
    There was no way she was sick. She felt fine. She was fine .
    So what if her appetite had increased. She wasn’t gaining
weight. It wasn’t as if she had some stupid eating disorder. She didn’t want to
think about the dreams that had been waking her up and keeping her awake. Teeth
and claws. Things that belonged in some horror movie, not her bed.
    Looking around, she realized she’d reached the end of the
mown lawn. A lumpy-looking structure caught her eye and she veered toward it.
This must be the sweat lodge Aunt Willow had mentioned. She’d read about them
but had never seen one in real life.
    Walking around the outside, she trailed her hand over the
structure. A pleasant herbal smell wafted around the lodge, mixing with the
sweet scent of the grass and even the muskier odor of the dirt around her. She
had never really noticed stuff like that before. Rain sighed. Before all the
weird in her life, her eyes had been her main source of learning about a new
place. Now it was her nose. Everything had a signature scent—like some crazy
perfume store. And no way could she go into one of those places—it was like
stuffing a thousand different things up her nose. Gross.
    She tilted her head back, looking up at the trees, and
pulled her earbuds out. The trees were taller and thicker than she’d ever seen
but she’d never lived in the middle of a forest before. That guy who had picked
them up was all pine like