I bent over, placing my hands on my knees as I fought for breath. One more obstacle to go: the tires. A woman raced past me without a second glance and got started, her feet darting in and out of the rings faster than I'd seen any of the others. Kota, my ever-constant personal cheerleader from the sidelines encouraged me to keep going.

Letting my eyes roll to the top of my head, I sighed as a blush heated up my chilled cheeks. Did he really have to do that right now? It wasn't like I hadn't done this before! Wiping my hands on my joggers, I straightened up and started again before anyone else could lap me, picking up my feet and bouncing in and out of each tire laying flat on the ground. It was almost like grown-up hopscotch, just less fun and colorful.

My breath was heavy with each step that landed in the circles. I knew I didn't have to finish, Kota would understand; they all probably would. I was just too stubborn to let myself quit on the final lap. I was doing this for myself — to make myself stronger and to burn some of my newfound wolf-laden energy — not for any of the others running with me. (Kota had been running too, but naturally he finished double the amount of laps before the rest of us.)

When I hopped out of the last row of tires, I sucked in an enormous breath of relief, feeling like I could collapse on the hard ground right there. I didn't though, because that would be humiliating. Instead, I turned away from the path and found Kota on the edge of the clearing.

"Look at that!" He exclaimed, pride evident in his voice as he held his phone up for me to see. "Best time you've gotten so far! How do you feel?"

I shrugged and reached for my water, which he happily handed over. I took a big gulp, shivering as it went down. The November wind was biting and now that my body wasn't moving, I was cooling down at a rapid pace. When I was satisfied, I gave him a thumbs up to properly answer his question.

The last five days had been a lot of hard work, and a lot of new faces which always gave me extra anxiety. The day after Jack came to school, k

Kota suggested we start training me. And by training it was really just ways to get my body stronger and more ready for whatever came after us. And by us, I really meant me.

He took me to the training grounds he had mentioned before — a clearing in the forest behind the house — and we started doing the obstacle course. Saturday it was one time through and then long breaks. Sunday it was twice, and if I could handle it: three times. Monday was four or five, Tuesday was five, and today I made it through seven times, hence why I was so slow to get through that final obstacle.

While these were accomplishments for me, everyone else on the training grounds — Kota had introduced most of them as enforcers — had lapped me at least once. But overall, after doing this for five days straight, I was a hell of a lot stronger.

I studied myself in the mirror before I got in the shower yesterday, the way I used to the morning after a particularly rough beating, and basically blindsided myself in shock. I seemed taller — Jaycee confirmed this later with a measuring tape, turned out the shift shot me up four inches — and the days of training added some tone in places I'd never had before. My upper arms had small defining lines, as did my thighs and calves. My ribs were no longer visible, and I definitely had a six-pack coming on. My face wasn't as gaunt, my eyes not as hollow. Any bruises and red marks were completely gone, but a few minuscule scars remained, barely noticeable. With my hair healthy and shiny again, for the first time I actually felt. . . pretty.

It was enough that it brought unannounced tears to my eyes and Kota freaked out on me, thinking the workouts were too much too soon. Thinking back now, his reaction had been kind of funny.

"Nice job, Luna!" An unfamiliar voice brought me back to the Kota and the course. An arm was outstretched in front of me, belonging to a Tracker whose name I could not conjure. I stared at it for a moment, surprising myself at my lack of a wince, before I tentatively touched my own fist to hers. She beamed, nodded her head to Kota and then disappeared into the trees around us.

Kota smiled and offered his hand, which I took, appreciating the warmth that spread through my veins. We started walking around the course towards the path that led to the house and he was quiet for a few moments, letting me catch my breath and take some more sips of water.

"I think that was a good buildup before some time off. Thanksgiving is tomorrow so no need to push yourself on a holiday." I grinned, knowing I could take it, but also knowing he was right. My body should have time off, time to adjust to everything. "But maybe," he continued, "if you want we could go for a run in the morning? In wolf form."

I lifted my eyebrows as I could feel my wolf stir with the anticipation of shifting again. I wasn't so sure though, after last time, the thought of turning again doesn't sound so pleasant.

"Don't worry," it was as if he could read my mind, "it's not painful from here on out. The first is so awful because it's new, and you're not just morphing your body into a different species, but you grow too, in case you haven't noticed."

I puffed. Of course I'd noticed! Before my birthday, I was little and thin, standing at only five feet flat. Now, I was five feet, four inches and had more on me than just skin and bone. Although compared to the few wolves I'd met the last few days, I was still little and thin. I was content with that though, because I was much healthier than I had been in September, and that's what mattered.

I ended up not agreeing to a run, which I could tell made both Kota and the wolf inside of me disappointed. I just wasn't ready for it yet, and with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I knew it was going to be an already exhausting day for me — mostly mentally, but physically too I was sure.

The next day I was awoken to a loud knock on the door. I sat up, internally groaning at the sore feeling that hit my core, arms, and legs. This was a good pain though, one I was happy with, actually. While it was slightly different, I had been used to dealing with pain more than half my life. This was nothing!

I climbed out of bed and swung open my door, expecting Kota. Ever since I came out of the coma, he had found it increasingly difficult to stay away for long periods of time. Some nights I still woke to find him on my floor. Instead, I was crushed by two boundless balls of energy as they flung themself at me. I awkwardly caught them halfway, wrapping an arm around Amber's waist as she wrapped her legs around me and holding onto Autumn as she collapsed against my legs. They giggled as I carefully peeled them off of me, noticing they weren't alone.

Jaycee, Sydney, and Eva stood in the doorway, each with two dresses. Oh no, here we go! They invited themselves in and laid the clothes out on my unmade bed. Eva, the sweet soul she was, did her best to tidy it a little to get rid of the overload of wrinkles.

"We brought some options for tonight's feast!" Jaycee explained excitedly. "We only got you one dress when we were shopping, and that wasn't for this occasion necessarily."

Ah yes, the white one hanging in my closet I was told was for my Luna ceremony. It had sort of freaked me out, so it was stashed in the back, hiding behind a bunch of shirts. I stared at the heaps of material on the bed in question. They were nice, dressier than something I could wear to school. I didn't understand what the fuss was, this was Thanksgiving, I thought it was more of a casual holiday.

Although the last Thanksgiving I had I was in kindergarten, so maybe I'd gotten it all wrong.

Seeing the question in my eyes, Sydney piped up. "Traditionally, we as a pack like to dress up for holiday dinners, and because a dinner is the main point of Thanksgiving, the dress code is. . . fancier than say Christmas, New Year's, or Easter."

I guess that made sense. Sort of.

"We see holidays as a way to celebrate and gather family, and wolves are very big on family." Jaycee adds, winking, "that's why we live together as a pack, and why many have pups so early!" Heat rushed to my face at what she was implying. Slow down Jaycee May, I chided in my head, pretty sure it's more probable that you will have kids before Kota and I!

The girls snorted at my expression, which only spread the blush farther. I rolled my eyes to fight it off and gestured to the dresses. Fine, you're big on family and you dress nice for holidays, now let's move on and pick a dress!

Laughing again, Jaycee picked up the first dress. "We're figuring most of these will fit you now, but if they don't, no worries we can get someone to fix it to your size."

I smiled as I felt the material between my fingers. It was silky and smooth, probably satin, and it didn't seem heavy or over the top in any way. The color was a muted pink, and when Jaycee held it up against me, it was floor-length. Until I put tried it on, then I realized it wasn't actually floor-length, but was fashioned in a high-low style. So the front stopped at my knees and fell in waves towards the back, where it kissed my ankles. The top was a halter neckline and a few rhinestones sparkled across the waist seam. Looking in the mirror, I loved how it fit and how the satin felt on my skin. But the color was all wrong for me, it was too close to my skin tone. It would look amazing on Jaycee's or Eva's naturally tanned skin, or on someone who's skin tone matched Dexter's. Though the thought of Dexter in a dress made me giggle.

I decided no and the twins awed at my decision. They had sat on my bed watching, and I briefly wondered why they were even here with us.

I took the next one into the bathroom to change, then the next one, and so on. I tried them all on, listening to feedback from the girls before I decided to go with the third option:

It was another high-low halter top style dress, but it had sleeves and was a deep blue color, reminding me of the ocean. A variety of teal and silver gems danced across the skirt and the sleeves in swirling patterns almost like waves. That settles it, I thought, I will now be calling this the Caribbean Dress.

I twirled back and forth in front of the mirror, loving the way it flared behind me. The twins clapped and squealed and I beamed. This was definitely it.

Sydney smiled and dragged me back into the bathroom, the others following suite — even Amber and Autumn. "The dress really brings out the blue in your eyes, but some makeup will help too." I nodded, and because they seemed so happy to dress me up today, I let her do all of it.

It took the better part of a few hours to get me ready, but I noticed the other girls already had their hair done. The twins were still in pajamas — little matching pink sets with unicorns on them — but they would be easy to get ready quickly.

We decided to leave my hair down, but Jaycee curled it until it bounced, and that was definitely a different feeling. I had been slightly afraid of the iron at first, never having seen one before, but after a lot of reassurance from Jaycee and Eva (and Amber playfully grabbing it and using it like a sword), I felt at ease and let her do it. It was extremely satisfying watching Jaycee wrap sections of my hair around the wand, just for it to come off in a perfect coil. Honestly, it blew my mind.

When she finished, she clipped the pieces that framed my face back with a silver-jeweled, glittering comb. It matched the dress's gems and pulled the look together beautifully. I smiled my gratitude and that smile grew when Autumn immediately asked in amazement: "can we curl my hair too?"

Jaycee chuckled, "if we have time, okay?" I wasn't even sure what time it was, but her answer told me we probably didn't.

My friends left to go get their dresses on, taking the ones I didn't choose back, while twins wanted me to help them get ready. They each took a hand and pulled me to the other end of the hallway where I had stumbled upon their room when looking for the library all those weeks ago. Surprisingly, the room was neat and organized, and their beds were made. Though, I assumed that was more Mrs. Anderson's doing and less the girls'.

We headed for their shared closet and I helped them pick out matching blue dresses (they wanted to match me, adorably). The dresses were sparkly in a more little-kid-ish way and the skirts puffed out in what I used to call "cupcakes" as a child. I slipped them on white flats to match before it was my turn to pull them around.

In the bathroom, I had them stand on a little stool one at a time while I did their hair. I didn't know how to use a curler like Jaycee, but thankfully, they seemed to have forgotten about that; too excited about the dresses to remember, I suppose.

I sprayed their hair down with water and used a brush to undo all the gnarly tangles that seemed to appear from thin air as I went. Then I pinned pieces back with barrettes so that it "matched mine" the best I could. They seemed satisfied with it, so I was pleased and we headed back out to find the other girls. I was still shocked Kota hadn't appeared today yet.

As if I'd summoned him, as we rounded the corner into the hall, he was walking on the other end just outside my door. He lit up when he saw us. "I was just look-" he paused as he took me in. "Wow, you look. . . you look amazing." Hopefully my makeup covered how fiercely I was blushing as I walked over to meet him halfway down the corridor. Surprising him, I let go of the twins' hands and wrapped my arms around his middle. I rested my chin on his chest to look up at him.

"Thank you." I wanted to add you look great, yourself because it was surreal seeing him in slacks and a button down, but thank you would have to be enough. He cracked a smile and his eyes held so much emotion I almost thought he was going to lean down and kiss me. He must have thought better of it because he planted a sweet one on my forehead before letting go of me.

I was shocked at how much I had been aching for a real kiss, not knowing until it was so close in reach but couldn't be grasped. Taking a breath, I knew he was being respectful, and that was chivalrous of him, but I was starting to fear I was going to be the one to make the move. And maybe I would have, if not for the twins standing their at our side with owl-eyes and their knowing five-year-old smiles.

Ducking my head out of Kota's view, I stuck my tongue out at them, causing both to erupt into a fit of giggles and leaving Kota completely perplexed as to why.

Shaking his head, he took my hand. "Ready to meet the pack?" My heart skipped a beat at is words, but I smacked a brave face on and cracked a small smile. Ready as I'll ever be.