The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter novel Chapter 996

Chapter 996: BONUS Chapter: THE FIRST SHIFT

"Mama, why Zan and Zen are in pain?" Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes. She clung to her mother’s neck tightly.

They were having a great time, listening to Iris’s story under the tree in a calm afternoon in the backyard garden when suddenly Zander and Zenith writhed in pain.

Iris immediately knew that they were going through their first shift and based on what she learned, it could be quite painful and confusing for the little shifter to go through this milestone, thus they would need an adult shifter to guide them throughout the process.

"Go with Joel, okay?" Iris coaxed Zaya, because she didn’t want her daughter to be traumatized with the sight. It was normal for the shifter to see this, but Zaya didn’t understand and she was too small for the explanation about why her brothers were in so much pain.

Zaya was two years old when Zander and Zenith went through their first shift.

"No. No. No..." She hugged Iris’s neck tightly, she didn’t want to let go, while crying, calling her brother and asked her mother to do something because they were in pain.

"Finn has called the king. The king must be in the study room right now." Joel couldn’t get Zaya from her mother and she looked so scared.

Meanwhile, Iris couldn’t leave her sons on their own.

Thankfully, Cane came immediately once he learned about the situation and Zaya pointed her finger at her brothers.

"Daddy... help! Help!" She cried, her little face turned very red and Cane came to her to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Don’t worry, they will be fine," Cane said and then came to his sons.

With his mate was there, Iris went slightly away from them, so not to let Zaya watched it, but she refused to leave and make a fuss not to leave her brothers.

"It’s okay baby, they will be fine, Daddy is there with them." Iris coaxed her, she wiped her tears, which seemed not ceasing down anytime soon.

In the end, Iris settled to stand ten steps away from Cane, Zander and Zenith, while comforting Zaya, whose extremely worried about her brothers.

From where they were standing, they couldn’t hear what Cane said to Zander and Zenith, but it seemed, the king was trying to help them to relax, so it would make the process easier.

After that, Cane shifted into his black beast and nudged them, encouraging them throughout this painful process. It was Zenith, who shifted first into his beast, because Zander still couldn’t help, but resisted his beast.

And from Iris’s point of view, she could see how their beast spirit matured and tried to blend with their human’s form.

While Zenith already accepted it, Zander still struggled, but he followed through not long after. The two of them shifted into their beasts in less than an hour, which could be said as a quick process but because of how tensed the situation was, they felt hours had passed until they could breathe in relief.

Joel and Finn congratulated the little beasts, so did Zephyr and Dean. They informed the other pack member about this news through mindlink. A year ago, Iris managed to restore this ability of them.

"Wulf!" Zaya said excitedly, she twisted her body toward the three black beasts before them. She wanted to touch them, especially the two little beasts, who currently tried to get used with their new form.

Even in their beast form, you could tell which one of the twins, despite they had the same black fur like their father.

Zander’s beast bounced back and forth, rolling on the ground and chasing his own tail, Cane had to stop his little one from circling him and was being too excited.

On the other hand, Zenith still felt weird with this shifting thing and Cane had to nudge him to move and try to walk, so he would get used to it.

"Daddy!" Zaya rushed toward Cane once Iris put her down and their daughter hugged Cane’s beast. She liked it when she was able to see her father in this form.

When Zaya was only one and a half, Cane had to stay in his beast form for almost a day, because she didn’t want to let him go and not let him to shift back into his human form.

The poor king had to attend a tea party with Lil Thing hosted by Zaya, wearing wreath flowers. If it was someone else, Cane wouldn’t even entertain the idea and Lou teased him for this, which resulted for the merchant to be sent to the north to handle the business there for two months.

Lou actually cried to Iris about this, but the queen only said; he brought it upon himself.

In fact, Cane did the tea party thing with Lil Thing and Zaya until she was bored and interested in other things.

"Daddy!" Zaya hugged the bigger beast and then walked toward Zander, she hugged her brother too. "Zan!" And after that she went to Zenith. "Zen!" She knew who was who and it was pretty impressive.

In the end, they spent the rest of the afternoon together. Cane stayed with his sons and taught them how to hunt and not let their instinct distracted them.

He did what his father did to him years ago and this brought back the past memories.

"Now, I can have you for myself." Iris giggled, as she clung onto Cane’s neck.

"I can say the same thing to you." Cane kissed Iris’s lips and took her to their bed.

The night was very peaceful and their love making left them wondered of how grateful they could be in this point of life.

Later that night, Cane heard a little bit noise from the bathroom that connected to this room. He glanced at Iris, who was sleeping peacefully and then went to see what was that only to find his sweet daughter was clutching onto Lil Thing’s fur, her little face turned red, as she was about to cry.

"What happened, little one?" Cane immediately picked her up and brought her back to her bedroom with Lil Thing followed behind.

"I have a nightmare..." Zaya started crying now she was in her father’s arms.

"Nightmare?" Cane comforted his daughter, telling her that it was only a dream. She didn’t need to be worried about because no one would harm her here.

"No..." Zaya hugged Cane’s tightly and he didn’t know what to do. It hurt to see his daughter was crying so hard like this, she even had a hard time to breath.

Seeing her like this, Cane was thinking to wake Iris up and probably she could calm their daughter better than him.

But thankfully, Zaya finally calmed down enough after Cane promised he wouldn’t go and stayed by her side.

"Don’t go..." Zaya said, her voice hoarse and tears still streamed down her cheeks.

"I will not go anywhere little one." Cane reassured her. "I will always be by your side."

"Promise?" Zaya hiccuped and snuggled against Cane’s chest.

"Promise." Cane then asked what she was dreaming about.

"You left."