*Pryce Winsley's POV*
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"Yeeehaaa!!! Go on, show off, Pumpkin!! That's my mate!!! Yeah!"
I took a deep breath to keep my cool as the voice of my overly supportive girlfriend echoed throughout the whole forest, and it earned some giggles from my classmates. Could you remind me to pluck three hairs on each of her forearms later?
I'm getting more than enough cheers from her, the instructors, and the queen of the werewolves, yet I can't seem to figure out how I am going to show what they have been expecting. Though most of the ones learning with me in shifting into the simple wolf form have already achieved their beast form when they have stepped out to let the full moon in the sky shine on them, I am still stuck here in the dark, confused and clueless as hell. Yes, we have been having these lessons and bits of training for the whole two weeks since we started school, but I can't seem to find the spirit of the werewolf in me. Like... Where the heck is that soul? Three of us here have just turned eighteen the other week and now have awakened the werewolves within them- both forms. While me? I am just like having a review and trying to perform it again like how I did the last time.
"Come on out. You can do it, Pryce." Alison called me as she was under the light of the moon and holding out a hand for me to hold.
I let out a deep sigh and looked at my mate, who seems to be so sure that I can finally transform into any of those forms I should have. And I genuinely wish that I really could.
"Yeah, I'll try my best," I replied and took her hand, and I closed my eyes as I walked out of the dark shade under the big tree to see if I can be what I should be.
I opened my eyes one after the other, looked up to the great ball of light in the sky, and wondered why I couldn't seem to feel anything strange. I looked at my hands, nails and tried to check my teeth, yet there really are no changes.
"What do you feel?" Mr. Lincoln, our instructor for this matter of field, curiously asked me, and I looked at Ali, who seemed to be waiting to hear my answer, too.
"I feel... I feel... Just the usual." I truthfully answered, and I saw Blair jump down from sitting on the branch of the tree to go to where I am.
"Where is the wolf?" She asked with an inquisitive face and tried to look me in the eyes.
I shrugged my shoulders in response since I don't know either. I mean, I am under the moonlight, and I feel nothing. Well, the others earlier had already been feeling weird even before the moon had shone from the east. And when the moon exactly came out, they quickly got into their phase. Though I panicked when I witnessed how your skin will break and shred off, then be replaced with fur, Alison assured me that it wouldn't hurt.
Who the f*ck is she kidding?
I almost lost all my shit when I first almost shifted into the beast form, thirty years ago, that time before I was killed. And no, it is not hurting; it was excruciatingly painful. You would feel all your bones cracking and breaking, your intestines swirling, your vision getting very blurry, and it is so damn noisy, yet all you could hear is your scream in extreme agony. That was indeed... hell. And that is what I have been so nervous about right now— to feel that kind of pain again.
"Try to think about it, Pryce. Think as if you are trying to get something that you can't reach, but you need to reach it no matter what." Mr. Lincoln instructed and demonstrated that caused him to be in his wolf form. Alison gave me a slight nod and smiled at me.
"Think of something like you are afraid to lose it, and you need to do everything just to keep it. Be angry." My mate suggested, and all I could think of... Is her.
I get what they want me to do. They want me to be triggered by factors that could get the beast out of me, and I don't know if I could go that way. I mean, I have lost almost everything that I have, but thinking about losing Blair, I can't think of it. I don't know what to think at all, and I'm afraid of the thought of it. That is going to be the end of me for sure.
I inhaled as I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, with nothing else in my mind but the picture of my love. Well, all I see is a grinning, happy girl. I can't get angry with it.
I suddenly opened my eyes when I felt something strange. It's anger. But it is not from me. I am not angry at anything.
I tried to look around for my mate and found that she was trying to lift a rock by the riverside, and then she threw it on the water while she's in her human form. What in the world is she doing?
"Spark up the feeling, Pryce! That's a head start!" She yelled, and I got what she meant. She wanted me to feel what she feels and for me to cultivate it more.
"Alright, I'm on it," I muttered and closed my eyes again. I focused on the sensation that caused me to think of the thing I dreaded to come—to see her lifeless.
I am sorry, my love, but I need to think of you being dead for me to achieve something... unsurely, but hopefully.
But then again, I lost it as the thought of her annoyingly charming cheeky smile forms on her face while she's inside the coffin back in our room. This is bullshit. We shouldn't have brought one home. I get easily distracted whenever she is the one I think of, even from my other werewolf courses. She has been invading my head while she is in a silly manner. And no, it is not me who has been thinking something naughty about her; it is just she is the one who is always that way.
"I can't. I can't do it. There is nothing." I surrendered when I felt no progress at all.
Then I felt a hand resting on my right shoulder, and I turned to look at the queen when she spoke, "It's okay, Pryce. Maybe it is still asleep. Don't worry. Its time will come again, and---"
Ali wasn't able to finish when Blair's voice boomed, calling us, "Try to move this fudging boulder, Babe! It's inciting me to get desperate into changing to my vampire form. This might help!"
I looked at Ali, and she gave me the consent to try it.
"Yeah, I hope so, Blair," I replied and jogged to where she is to try it myself. Who knows, maybe a huge cold hard rock is all I need?
I looked back to the queen when she announced to everyone around us to head to the venue where the monthly Hunt is held, and she went near us. "Go on, Pryce. Fewer people, less pressure. Plus, you could join the Hunt if you can finally get to your wolf form."
"Alright, no more audience, so I guess there is no need to hold back, Baby-blue. You can do it." Blair cheered with a grin on her face, and she has always been optimistic about everything. Oh, I just love this freak so much.
"Great! I'll try again, but this time, with the help of a boulder." I let out and placed both palms on the enormous thing before me, and I closed my eyes while trying to push it with all the strength I have in my human body.
"Arrrrghhhh! Move! You stubborn rock!!!" I grumbled and gritted my teeth while pushing with all my might, and I screamed to get the werewolf out of me.
I hastily opened my eyes when I noticed that something strange occurred. The boulder that is way bigger than I am cracked where my hands on, and I stopped to look at my palms.
No way.