The Minx

And I thought I was sore before.

I felt Aspen's chest rumble as he chuckled. I looked to see that I was on top of him. I sighed and rested my chin against his chest.

"Good morning," I mumbled trying to keep my mouth closed, very conscious of the fact that I probably had morning breath.

"Good morning, love," he greeted huskily. "You have training with Marco after breakfast. I told him not too push you too hard today because I won't be there to cut in this time. I have to attend to pack business." I found myself pouting. He chuckled and kissed me gently.

"Please don't leave me alone with Marco. He hates me," I begged. Aspen only chuckled and sat up, making me straddle his lap.

"Marco doesn't hate you. He's just tough on everyone. That's how he trains people to be better. It's brutal but effective," he corrected me. I blushed at the position we were in. I wanted to stay in bed with Aspen all day, but I could see now that that wasn't going to happen. He growled lowly and kissed up my neck.

"Trust me, Cami. I would love nothing more than to keep you in this bed, but life goes on," he muttered against my neck. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Fine," I pouted before pecking his lips. I moved off of him and changed before going down to breakfast. I tried to stay in the kitchen as long as I could, but Aspen dragged me into the gym with a kiss before waving goodbye. Marco only smirked at me.

"Are you avoiding me?" he asked, amused. I crossed my arms and stood my ground.

"No. I'm simply not trying to get in the ring with you again. I'm still really sore from yesterday," I corrected. He chuckled before ordering me to start running again. By the time we got to the ring, I wasn't as tired as I was last time. My limbs weren't as sore and I had a little more energy. Maybe it was because I was starting to warm up. We sparred for a good hour. I didn't get get the upper hand against him at all, but he swore I was improving.

"Nice work today," he said amused at my huffing figure. I glared at him and took another drink of water.

"You're just saying that so I don't give up," I said. He shrugged, not even bothering to deny it.

"It was a lot better than yesterday, for sure. Tomorrow, we'll focus on conditioning. Your muscles are a little weak. It'll be easier once we get some strength in you," he said as he moved towards the door. I followed after him but stopped when I felt a pain in my back. He looked at me curiously.

"Something's wrong," I panted, touching my back gently. I felt my back snap and screamed bloody murder. I collapsed and tried to get air back in my lungs. Marco came rushing to my side as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Cami, what is it? Did you get a muscle spasm, cramp? What?" he asked frantically. I felt my back snap again in a different place, silencing me. I could only gasp with my eyes wide open as tears leaked out.

"That didn't sound too good," Marco said, looking over my body.

"As... Aspen," I choked out. Marco's eyes glazed over for a moment before he laid me down on a mat. The pain was almost unbearable. It was moving through my hips to my toes. I cried and tried to curl up in a ball to stop the pain. When my hips snapped out of place, I screamed out again followed by sobs. I felt a hand on my cheek and shoulder. It was calming and exactly what I needed.

"Cami, you're going to be okay. You're shifting," Aspen's voice reached my ears. It suddenly made a lot of sense. The pain was going to get a lot worse if I remembered the stories correctly.

"Shifting? I thought she was human?" Marco asked. Aspen shook his head and rubbed my head in a soothing manner.

"Not human, just a late bloomer. I told everyone that so they wouldn't criticize her," Aspen explained. The pain moved through my shoulders, snapping them out of place next. I sobbed louder and tried to move away from the pain. "Stay still, little one. You're only going to make it worse," Aspen said to me.

"Late? She's 17 years old! That's about 5-7 years too late. What the hell happened to her?" Marco asked in frustration.

"Leave, now. You will not speak a word more or ask any more questions. Got it?" Aspen snapped at Marco, using his Alpha voice. Hell, even I flinched and whimpered. Marco took a breath and stood.

"Yes Alpha," Marco said in monotone. Aspen turned his attention back to me and shushed me.

"It's going to be okay. Just think, you only have to go through this pain once," he tried to assure me. It was the longest hour of my life. It wasn't supposed to take that long. It was painful and brutal and I wanted to give up so many times. Aspen was the only thing that got me through it.

I looked in the wall of mirrors in the gym to see that I was huge. I was bigger than the average sized large wolf. My black fur mirrored the color of my natural hair color. My normally chocolate brown eyes were piercing silver. It was odd because most wolves had the same eye color as their human. I sat down and tilted my head slightly in the mirror as I examined myself. I finally shifted. I shifted back and saw my torn clothes on the ground. I blushed when I looked down and realized I was naked.

"I knew it was only a matter of time," Aspen smiled at me. He handed me a change of clothes. Granted, they were probably his oversized sweatpants and t-shirt, I was grateful for them. I put them on and was instantly overwhelmed with the smell of Aspen.

"Thanks," I said softly. I felt a little taller and sure enough, I reached about 5'6" now instead of my former 5'1" height. I chuckled. "I guess you can't call me little anything anymore, eh?" I joked. Aspen chuckled and kissed me deeply.

"You'll always be my little minx, princess," he smiled at me. I sighed and leaned against him. I was exhausted. He scooped me up bridal style and took me up to our room.

Our room. I like the sound of that, my wolf purred. I smiled lightly to myself. This was my first time hearing her. She was all to happy to be in our mate's arms. When we reached our room, Avery and Yelang were pacing in front of it.

"What the hell happened?" Avery asked, getting straight to the point. I smiled lazily and kept my head against Aspen's chest.

"She shifted," Aspen said dismissively.

"SHE WHAT?!" Avery and Yelang yelled together.

"Turns out she's just a late bloomer. Now both of you back off and let her rest, you can ask her questions, one at a time, in the morning. Give her some quiet. She's exhausted," Aspen explained. He was using his Alpha voice again, giving no room for argument.

"Yes Alpha," Yelang said, bowing her head submissively and leaving. Avery, however, stood her ground.

"Don't you use that tone with me mister! She's my friend and I want to talk to her," Avery insisted. I thought it was kind of sweet until she tried to pry me out of Aspen's arms. We both growled at her. I didn't mean to, but it came out anyway. I blushed and looked at her.

"Sorry," I muttered. She smiled and kissed my cheek, making Aspen growl louder at her.

"It's okay, buttercup. You don't want to leave your mate. We can talk tomorrow," she said before skipping down the hallway. Aspen sighed and shook his head at his crazy sister.

"I swear, sometimes, I worry about her mental health," Aspen said as he pushed the door closed and laid me down on the bed. I laughed as he got in next to me and held me gently. "Sleep, little minx," he said gently. He didn't have to tell me twice.