She was screaming. It was the sound that nightmares are made out of. It was something I wanted to chase away but all I could do was hold her.

I kept trying to tell her that it was ok. I kept trying to tell her that she would make it–I was trying to tell myself more because the thought of losing that little shit was more than I wanted to think about.

How did she even work her way into me like this?

It didn't matter now, now all I wanted was for her to just make it. She just had to make it...

I had her biting down on a cold cloth to help her fangs. Teething at its worst. Derek wanted to give her morphine but I wasn't about to let him dull her down. Right now she still had her mind, and she needed that. She lost focus and this would all be done.

Another crack.

Her damn leg broke. It was like watching my own daughter shift for the first time. Her leg broke early too and Claire had to keep Eve in the house because she was about to lose it. Lucas just kept telling her not to look at it; it looked bad enough, looking at it would have only scared her more.

Charlotte sucked in a breath to look and I snatched her chin and shook my head at her. "You don't want to see. Believe me."

Her eyes went wide, almost protesting–challenging. She was always doing that now–little shit.

She opened her mouth to say something but there was another crack; it was more like a series of cracks along her vertebrae.

She was hunched over now, barely able to breath. I tried to move her but she just screamed so badly that it hurt me about as bad as this shift was hurting her. "Hey, you're doing great Charlie girl."

She just cried and I hated it. I wanted to help her, I had no idea how to help her besides just sitting next to her, hoping she didn't die on me. "How long?" she cracked out.

Too damn long. Derek looked up at me–what were we even supposed to say? For normal weres it could be hours. For her, it could be so much longer. It probably was going to be. It was going to be hell for all of us.

"Don't know, but you're doing great. The closer it gets to midnight, the faster it will come. You just have to push through girl."

"Char, do you want some water?"

She nodded at Derek who held a cup with a straw in it to her lips. She looked a little better after she drank–less like a time bomb and for a moment I thought we would get a small break–until she was screaming again.

Her fingers had broke and they looked bad. I mean real bad. Fingers and toes were the worst; internally I cringed remembering my own shift. My beast agreed. He was pacing now, watching her like we watched our own. Pain in the ass right now is what he was.

I tried to tell her not to look but she did. Curious little shit. She looked and vomited on the grass next to her face.

Derek tried to wipe her mouth while I moved her as carefully as I could. It was like moving shattered glass–one wrong move and it would break.

She was crying more and I felt like my beast was going to claw my skin off. He wanted out so bad, but it's not like he could help. There was really nothing that we could do. We just had to wait.

The moon was so full tonight you would have thought that it was on purpose like she was shining extra bright because of what was happening. I looked back at her–a mess of broken bones, stretched skin, and tears, and started praying to the moon that she would make it. I can't remember the last time I actually prayed to her. I can't remember the last time I actually felt her pull–but tonight we all felt it.

"It's about ten thirty Char, you can do this," Derek said to her. I got up and let Derek take my place so I could run back into the house. She needed something but morphine was too strong–she needed her mind.

So I found the whiskey. It was the good shit too, saved it for years. I was waiting to drink it on a special occasion–I guess it's special as hell right now.

I could smell her more than I could before. She smelled so much like a natural born that I would have thought she was if you asked me; without really thinking about it, she smelled stronger–she had been over the last few weeks but now, there was a strange hum coming from her now.

What had the moon brought me?

Those thoughts were distracted when she screamed into Derek's arm. Quickly, I opened the bottle and poured some into a glass for her. She was huffing and Derek was eying the bottle. "You sure?"

"Yap," I said as I held the glass up to her lips so she could drink from it. She swallowed it down fast, so I poured her another that was more full. She started to chug it down until she choked slight, brown beads of liquid spilling over her ivory skin. I pulled the glass away and she caught my hand with her good one and brought it back to her mouth so she could finish it off.

"Better?"

She nodded as she laid back and nodded to me, eyes seeing right through me like they always did. I was scared and it was hard as hell to hide right now.

There was another crack and her arm broke along with some ribs. I tried to wipe her brow down while she struggled to breathe. I thought she would die right there–all we heard was the death wheeze. When I heard that I eyed the adrenaline Derek had ready to go. She was going to need that, I wasn't about to let her die.

"It's around eleven Charlie girl, it's going to get worse. But you've gotta push through."

She nodded and Derek gave her some more water. She was a mix of pants, wheezes, and tears now. I was a mess of inner anxiety and a beast that was pacing back and forth and back and forth.

Her's wanted to come out. Anyone could see that. But if she came out too fast she would kill her and if she took her time she would kill her too. I felt mine walk forward, watching her, almost warning the beast in her to be careful.

All we could do was wait and that was the worst part. It was always the worst part with pups. Lucas laid with his head on my thigh for almost an hour with a broken jaw, busted ribs, and a broken leg before his shift picked up again. I thought I was going to have to yank his beast out myself until he started to push–really push. It was like nothing I ever saw, he just started crawling around the yard until the next thing we knew he was on four legs with fur. He was so tough, so much tougher than me.

But so was she. Charlie girl was tough as hell, anyone could see that.

Her toes were breaking and she as doing all she could to keep it together–we all were. "Was it this bad for you?"

It was hell but I guess telling her that right now wasn't useful. "It wasn't pretty girly, but you can do it. Just breathe through it and rely on her."

Derek was cradling her now while I sat back on a cooler. I didn't want her to see how afraid I was that I felt like I was doing a poor job at it–I knew I was.

Another crack.

It was one more scream and I was holding her. Derek was putting bags of ice around her while I tried to calm her down. She was hot as hell–too hot. I kept trying to wipe her face down but she was just a human puddle right now. "She's too hot Levi."

A growl rumbled through me. "Well then get more ice, it's all we can do." It was all we could do–what else were we supposed to do?

Derek tried to test me before he nodded in agreement. He zipped away while I held onto her. She was starting to drift–starting to fade.

I panicked.

I was trying to talk to her, keep her awake but I was failing. The cracking was coming faster–the shifts more aggressive and she was slipping away from me. Sheer panic. I couldn't lose another pup.

"Charlie! Charlotte!" I was slapping her face now but she as just moaning in response–unconscious. "Charlotte! Goddammit! Derek!"

"She–Jesus Christ," I heard him say.

She wasn't there–she wasn't with me and I was trying so hard to function and not break out of my skin. I could feel my own claws coming close, but I shoved him back because that's not what she needed.

"Ok–let's go, Derek!"

"Working on it!" he said while he filled up a big ass syringe while I moved her so she was slightly on her back.

"Now!" I growled out.

He zipped to her and pressed his fingers to her ribs right as the wheezing started. There were cracks to her ribs again; Derek sat back and watched because the last thing we wanted was to stick the needle in her as a shift was happening. We didn't need a needle broken in her–Jesus I couldn't lose her. If the moon takes her from me then the day I meet the moon, I'm going to tear her damn throat out myself. Has she not taken enough?

The cracks stopped just enough for Derek to find the place on her chest for the needle. "Ya?"

"Yes–shit just do it!"

He shoved that thick ass needle in her then carefully pumped her heart full of adrenaline. I felt like I was holding my breath. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

He pulled the needle out and we both watched like she was a time bomb. She was so still for a few moments–a few moments that almost killed me because I thought she was gone. I thought that bitch in the sky took one more thing from me.

I thought she was gone until she was gasping for air like she just come up from the water. Her eyes shot open; they were wild as they looked around. She looks and looked until she found us. She found me and both my beast and I inwardly sighed a breath of relief.

"Damn girly I thought we lost ya," I said before I took a long ass sip of whiskey. I was going to need more of it.

Derek was beside himself. "Hey Char," he sniffled out. "How ya doing?"

She tried to smile but I shook my head at her. It not only looked bad as hell but it looked painful. Her eyes just watered up. "Okay," she croaked out.

Derek smiled a watery eyed smile at her and held the straw to her so she could have some water. "Drink up girly, you need it."

Hydration was key.

She drank water and I drank whiskey. Hydrating.

She looked better, like she had more fight in her now. She needed more fight. I needed her to have more fight.

Then there as cracking.

At first, I thought we would lose her but it looked like it helped–the adrenaline. Because she rode through it like a champ. She looked at me with a look of surprise, like she couldn't believe that it was that easy. "Adrenaline. We had to."

She nodded to me shakily. Her eyes tried to look at her body but I shook my head at her. There was nothing about that, that anyone wanted to see right now.

Another crack.

The adrenaline high wore off. She was clutching at her eyes–her head. Something was wrong. She was mumbling something, I had no idea what it was. Gibberish of some sort that made feel like we would lose her again. I was slapping her cheek again, trying to get her attention. "Charlie girl!?!"

"Christ," she hissed out through the tears as she looked at the moon.

"Levi you have to." I looked at Derek who was watching her like he was about to lose her. "It could work–what's the worst that it could do?"

She was watching me while I watched her through the cracks. My beast agreed with Derek but I wanted her to do this herself, that is until she was begging me to kill her. It was so fast, so aggressive now that she clawed at me and begged for death.

"You can't die, girl," I whispered hotly to her. I would be damned if this little shit died on me. "I won't let you and neither will she. Don't ask me to kill you, because I won't."

She just kept crying–her tears drowning me into a pool of helplessness that I knew all too well. "How?" she croaked out. "I can't."

"Yes, you can." She damn well was.

"How?!"

Derek nodded at me, more like begged. I wasn't sure if this would kill her or not but I guess he was right. I guess right now we were at the point of no return. I had to try.

My beast came so close and I felt something deep in me call to her. "Let her out."

She almost threw up She was gagging on something, her hands clawing on the ground. She shook her head quickly. "I can't."

Damn little shit–stubborn as hell on the edge of death and life. My beast growled inwardly, he wasn't a fan of a defiance like this. I was more about to just yank her beast out myself so I could beat her ass a little. "Shift."

Her eyes dilated and the cracking came quicker. She was panting, sweating–it was almost like I could hear her heart beating. Derek was pacing back and forth behind me as she opened her mouth, but a garbled growl came out.

She was getting tired but she couldn't quit. She couldn't give in. I wasn't about to let her. I wasn't losing another pup.

"Shift now."

She closed her eyes and I thought it was over until the fur came. I crawled back and gave her room–she rolled her, her bottle a series of ripples as the shift combed over her. It was too much–I felt my own come before I could stop it. Soon I was on my own four paws just pacing in from of her. There were more cracks until she was laying there–laying in fur.

Jesus, she did it she just needed to wake up. He was licking her face, pawing at her to wake up–we came this far. She worked so hard.

She was the color of my coffee in the morning, almost as black as night but it was brown. Brown like her hair. She smelled so strong–she was a strong girl. It was a scent that pulled at me–at him. He wanted her as his own–as one of his pups. He was such a damn sap when it came to her.

I was too because looking down at her I felt like I was looking at one of my kids–shit. Little shit would reel me into some shit like this. She better wake her damn ass up–who was going to chop all my wood if she didn't?

She blinked her eyes open and I felt myself step back. It hadn't hit her yet. Jesus, this was going to be great.

She was looking around, her eyes looking at her paws before her eyes found me. She opened her mouth a few times like she was trying to talk but some kind of a strange whimper, growl, whine came out. I tried not to laugh. I figured that wouldn't be appropriate.

She looked around and looked at me and in that moment I realized that I had one more kid to look after. Jesus Christ, little damn shit. "Try to stand up," Derek said to her.

She tried and fell a few times. Eventually, she got up and walking became a little easier for her, although it was like watching a newborn colt for the first time. She walked towards me and I could see the life rushing to her–Jesus she was so alive so strong. My beast smirked inwardly and turned away from her; I could hear her bark at me before she chased me–chased me down a path I led both of my pups after they first shifted. I guess it's a tradition, and I am a sucker for those.