Saffron's transformation into her newly acquired wolf form took a full four hours. While that would have been a dangerous amount of time for a normal werewolf to have to endure their first shift, the peculiar circumstances meant that Saffron came through her first shift unscathed. Although she still felt all the usual pain a first shifter would for the entirety four hours.
When Saffron finally finished shifting and everyone had calmed down because she was no longer in immediate danger, I managed to stand back and actually take a good look at her in wolf form.
Saffron was almost pure white, however her muzzle was the same silver color as my fur and all her long guard hairs were pure silver to offset the white coat below them. I had no doubt that when her fur moved in a breeze, it would look like silver waves on an ocean of white.
Derrick was sitting beside his mate and was gently stroking her soft fur while looking at her with complete adoration. While Saffron was slowly looking around the room and breathing deeply as she tried to adjust to her new, heightened sense of smell.
"So how do I look?" Saffron asked through the mind link as she turned her focus back to her loving mate.
"You're absolutely beautiful." Derrick replied immediately as Saffron rolled her wolf eyes.
"Well you've obviously got rose colored glasses on." She joked back.
"He's being serious." Detsy cut in. "You're not only almost pure white, which is actually quite rare in itself, but you have also inherited some silver coloring from Eva as well. No one except you two have that."
"Now I have to see myself. Is there a mirror around here somewhere?" Saffron asked as she tried to get up and move, only to find that she had no idea how to walk on four legs and promptly crashed into the ground, face first.
"Urrg." Came her moan through the mind link as she attempted to get up off the ground. "Can someone please tell how in the name of the Moon Goddess you're meant to walk on for legs?"
To prove her point Saffron attempted to walk forward again without any help or instructions. Needless to say she was face down on the ground again after three seconds.
Grace, Detsy and I all had to smother a laugh at Saffron's expense, Although I failed to hide my amusement very well, which earned me a glare from Saffron.
"Are you happy to teach Saffron the basics if we take Eva up to rest?" Grace asked Derrick. "I know it's been a traumatic 24 hours for Saffron but Eva's also exhausted."
Derrick nodded to Grace in reply before Grace grabbed my hand and left quickly with me being dragged behind her. I was a little confused as to why Grace had suddenly dragged me away until I heard Saffron cracking the shits behind us. I actually had to block her from being able to mind link me so she'd stop demanding I come back.
Detsy was behind me and gave me a knowing look when I turned my head around to make sure Saffron hadn't broken free of Alpha Leyton and Derrick.
"Sire bonds really are stupidly strong." Detsy said as she managed to voice my inner thoughts. "I can promise you that the bond will settle down pretty quickly, so Saffron won't go mad when you so much as leave the room. Until then we're just going to have to be patient with her."
"She's alive." I replied. "I can put up with any amount of clinginess as long as my best friend lives."
Detsy smiled at me as I yawned. I had been distracted all though Saffron's shift, but now that everything was calming down the exhaustion that had been lingering around me came crashing down upon me. I was so tired that even Aurora hadn't said a word since we turned Saffron into a werewolf.
...
The next thing I realized is that I was waking up in the bed I shared with my mates, except they weren't here.
It only took me a few moments to realise that I must have passed out on the way back to our room. It had been roughly six pm when my mates and I left the shifting shed, but the sun was now high in the sky. A clear indication that I had slept through the night and into the next day.
"Do you know how long we've been asleep?" I asked Aurora, only to find that she didn't answer for the first time since I shifted.
"Aurora?" I shouted into the recesses of my mind only to be met with silence.
With worry starting to form in my thoughts I started to search my mind for Aurora's presence, only to find that it had completely vanished. It was almost like my wolf had never existed in the first place.
In a state of near panic I tried to shift, hoping that my mind was just adjusting back to normal after the amount of energy I had used to turn Saffron. Unfortunately I couldn't let Aurora's presence in my head expand to overtake mine and allow the shift.
With a sense of dread I realised that I couldn't shift. I had spent most of my life as a wolf and I was now a princess of werewolves, who now couldn't shift.
I was lucky at Grace and Detsy chose this moment to enter our room. If I had been left by myself for another minute or two I would have succumbed to a full blown panic attack.
"There's our sleepy princess." Detsy said with a loving smile on her face when she saw me awake and sitting up. Although the smile faded quickly as she saw my distressed face.
"What's wrong Eva?" Grace asked as both of my mates rushed over to me and say down on either side of me and placing their hands on my back and shoulders for comfort.
"Aurora's gone." I managed to say while trying to fight back the sobs that threatened to spill.
Grace and Detsy gave me a confused look. "What do you mean she's gone Eva? Grace asked carefully, trying not to upset me further while also trying to understand what was happening.
"After I turned Saffron into a werewolf yesterday my connection with Aurora was a bit weak due to the both of us stretching ourselves over the dimensional wall. I thought Aurora was just feeling drained like I was and our minds would return to normal after a good rest." I tried to explain.
"Except when I woke up Aurora's presence in my mind had completely vanished. I looked for it desperately but I couldn't find any trace of it. I even tried to shift. I can't do it anymore." I managed to admit before I broke and started to cry into Grace's shoulder.
I'm not sure how long I cried into Grace's shoulder while both of my mates held me tightly and were whispering reassuring words into my ears before a light knocking noise came from the door.
Before anyone could react the door open and Saffron came in while dragging an uncomfortable looking Beverly behind her.
One look at Saffron managed to jolt me out of my crying episode. The new werewolf now had silver highlights running through her honey blond hair that I knew were completely natural. It was undeniable proof that Saffron had been turned instead of being born a werewolf.
"Saffron, you can't just barge into the princess's bedroom." Beverly tried to tell her friend as Saffron ignored her and bounded up to me so she could greet me with a hug.
"Good morning sleepy head." She greeted me before giving my mates quick hugs of their own. Only once she'd finished greeting everyone did she notice that something was wrong.
"Why have you been crying?" Saffron asked as she knelt down on the floor in front of the three of us so she was at eye level with me.
Grace looked at me for confirmation, which I silently gave, before filling Saffron and Beverly in on the Aurora situation.
"Are you sure Aurora isn't just resting somewhere in your mind?" Saffron asked me gently.
"I'm sure." I replied. "Even if she was just hiding somewhere in my mind while she rested I would still be able to shift. The fact that I can't means that she's no longer with me."
"What about the rest of your abilities if you can't shift?" Beverly asked
"I'm not sure." I admitted. "Let's find out though."
I concentrated on the back of my throat as I felt the power build there and my vocal cords go smooth. When I spoke it was in the musical tone that signified a royal command.
"Jump." was all I said and much to my surprise everyone in the room got to their feet and jumped once.
"If you can still use the royal command with no problems then my new wolf has a question for you." Saffron said to me. I just gave her a slight nod to continue.
"They want to know why you don't just use a veil instead of relying on a presence in your head to shift." Saffron's question actually had my looking at her with my mouth open in confusion.
"First of all, what is a veil?" I asked. "Second, what does your wolf know about the presence of my wolf Aurora?"
"They're telling me that a dragon veil is an ability dragons use to take on forms they're very familiar with. Apparently it's not a very hard skill to use and if you can tie souls together then you will have no problem using a veil." Saffron explained as Beverly looked at her friend like she was crazy at the mention of souls.
"As for Aurora, my wolf is confused because dragons don't have a counterpart in their heads like us werewolves." Saffron finished explaining.
"I'm sorry to disappoint your wolf, but I'm only a small part dragon, I'm actually much closer to human and wolf than dragon." I explained, although Saffron didn't look convinced.
"So how am I meant to use this dragon veil?" I asked with hope soaring in my chest. Maybe if I could shift then it would prompt Aurora to appear in my mind again.
Saffron appeared to be listening for a minute or so before she spoke. "From what I've been told, all you have to do is to picture the form you want to take in extreme detail, then use your power as a dragon to make the image surround you, kind of like you're putting a glove around yourself as a disguise."
I raised my eyebrow at the werewolf I had just created and hoped that I didn't make a mistake somewhere during her turning and fried her mind. Although I was still going to attempt this no matter how crazy it seemed.
I pictured myself in my very familiar silver wolf form. Once I had the image of what I was meant to look like, I spent a couple of minutes going over it. Just to make sure all the little details were correct.
Once I was completely happy with the image I felt for my dragon power, which was the same power I used for royal commands. It responded to my silent commands without question and suddenly I could feel the image of the wolf in my head stretch out over me like a second skin.
Not 5 seconds after I'd started to use my dragon ability I was once again standing on all four feet, proudly back in the form of my silver wolf. I would have felt an extreme amount of relief, except there was still no sign of Aurora anywhere in my mind.
"That's awesome." Beverly said from her seat off to the side of the room.
"You have no idea how good it feels to be back in the form of a wolf." I agreed. "However there is still no sign of Aurora anywhere."
Grace was looking thoughtfully at me before she spoke. "I think for the moment, knowledge that you seem to have lost Aurora should stay between the people in this room and no one else. As you can still shift, no one should suspect anything is wrong. However it may cause a panic if word gets out that the newly returned princess of the true royal line has lost her wolf."
"Also, my parents returned home last night to call an emergency meeting of the advisers and generals after what you managed to prove to them yesterday Eva." Grace continued. "I have no doubt that the werewolf kingdom will declare itself to be at war before the week is out. We need to find out what happened to Aurora, but we also need to put forward a strong front for the people."
"You're wolf is a part of you and can't just disappear." Detsy said after Grace had finished. "Grace and I promise that we'll help you find out what happened and we'll help you get Aurora back."
I smiled as I was grateful for what felt like the millionth time for my amazing mates.
I used my newfound dragon's veil ability to quickly change back into my human form and give my mates a hug. I also noticed that unlike shifting, using a dragons veil meant that my clothes came with the shift. When I shifted back to human my clothes were on me exactly as they had been before the shift to wolf form.
The tender moment Grace, Detsy and I were having was suddenly interrupted by Beverly backtracking our conversation.
"Wait." She said suddenly. "What do you mean by the werewolves are going to war? Who in the world do you have to fight?"
We all looked over at the confused and slightly scared expression the poor human girl wore before we filled her in on everything that had happened. Right down to the kidnapping of pups and the use those pups were being put to, the presence of a dragon on earth and even Eva's own unusual heritage.
"So let me get this straight." Beverly said while still trying to process the large amount of information. "Werewolves are going to war against a deranged royal wolf who happens to have an actually fire breathing dragon on his side. Not only that but they're kidnapping werewolf pups to sacrifice so they can create loyal soldiers."
Beverly took a breath as the other four of us in the room nodded in confirmation before she continued. "To top it all off Eva is not only part human and wolf, but also part dragon as well. Which gives here two mates instead of one and the royal abilities."
"That pretty much sums it up Beverly." I admitted shyly.
"Ok then." Beverly said with a smirk. "I only have one question for all of you then. How can I become part dragon and get two mates of my own?"
Beverly's question completely threw my train of thought sideways. I was worried that she was going to think I was some form of hybrid monster, but instead she wanted to be like me. Not what I was expecting at all.
"Unfortunately you can't." Grace answered for me. "You have to be born like Eva to be a dragon. It's not like being a werewolf were it's possible to be turned, sorry."
Beverly's face fell as she grumbled. "You get all the good stuff Eva." Although there was a teasing tone to her grumble that meant she didn't take it personally.
As Beverly was sitting back down I saw moment out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the window.
My eyes snapped to the window just in time to see something roughly the size of a football or small dog come flying out of the trees below us and head towards the 12th floor we were on at high speed.
While it was moving much too fast to get a good look at. Whatever the creature is, was magnificent sky blue and clearly had wings that were beating hard to maintain it's pace.
It was only two seconds after spotting it that it collided with the wall to our bedroom in one massive 'BANG' that was so loud it actually echoed.
I raced to the window to see where the creature had got to, only to spot a sky blue object free falling down the side of the pack house.
Before anyone else had even finished yelling out in shock I was running to our bedroom door and disappeared through it. Grace managed to get herself together fast enough to follow me.
I was acting without thought as I ran along the corridor of the 12th level of the pack house. Instinct was guiding me as I raced to the stairwell and went up to the roof instead of down.
What happened next didn't even register in my brain until after it happened. I burst through the door on the roof and dashed to where the blue thing had fallen. Ignoring Grace screaming behind me, I vaulted over the rail of the 12 story building.
I was rapidly approaching the ground before I realized the situation I was in. I didn't even panic as I straightened myself for the landing.
When I hit the ground I allowed my legs to absorb the impact that should have killed even a strong werewolf, but as I straightened my legs up I realised that I'd taken no damage at all from the 12 story fall.
However I didn't have time to ponder how I came out of such a fall unscathed as about 10 meters away there was a sky blue creature that was trying to get back on it's feet from how it landed upside from it's massive fall.
While it wasn't any bigger than a Jack Russel or a football, it was obvious at first glance what it was.
It's head had spikes behind it's jaw that was connected to a sturdy body by a long neck. It had spikes running down it's neck as well as some near it's knees and feet as well. Four legs that ended in feet with wickedly sharp claws were attached to it's body as well as two strong leathery wings. One appeared to be broken judging by the angle it was sitting at.
It may be small, but there was no doubt that this was a dragon.