Chapter 95
No wolf likes the idea of hunting she–wolves and mating them. It’s just something she–wolves have learned to accept since there is no stopping it; the men are slaves to their instincts, just as the she–wolves are. Staring at the man, I tried to tell myself it was self–defense, a necessary evil to protect Max, but the hollow justification offered little to remove my guilt.
But now I worry about when the moon is uncovered by the clouds because this body could be Max.
“Run,” I plead again, the word a broken whisper. “Please, Max, you need to run!” I clutch at the dirt, trying to cover myself. His face is ghostly pale in the dim light, his eyes wide and unseeing.
But once again he’s frozen, immobilized by fear or shock, or both. The silence is heavy, suffocating, until the moon glides free from the canopy above us. Silver light floods the clearing, and agony lances through me as another shift begins.
“Max!” I cry out, my bones contorting. “Your dad-”
“He’s on the way,” he stammers, fear battling with concern. “I mindlinked him,” he tells me.
“Go!” I manage before the beast surges forth, drowning the last vestiges of humanity. As my vision tunnels into predatory focus, I see him, still a statue of dread.
Muscles tense, fighting the inevitable, I dig my feet into the
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damp earth, using every ounce of my will to hold back the beast clawing its way out.
“Not yet,” I mutter through gritted teeth at the damn moon. It’s a losing battle; my skin ripples with suppression as my eyes look for anything to help me from shifting before my gaze goes to the racing river than Max.
“Bree?” he murmurs as I listen for the crash of the river on the rocks of the waterfall at the end of it. The chances of me surviving a fall like that are slim and if I do, I won’t survive the rocks at the bottom once the waterfall pins me down.
But what choice do I have? I won’t let my beast hurt him.
Max’s voice is a distant echo, his figure blurring as my eyes start to betray me, shifting from human to wolfish sight. He needs to be safe–I need to be away from him. Now.
“Stay…” I begin, but it’s useless. Swallowing a howl, I pivot on my heel and bolt.
The waterfall roars in the distance behind him. That’s it–my chance to evade the impending shift long enough for Max to escape me. The pounding of the water syncs with my racing heart as I near the cliff’s edge. The air is heavy with mist, the scent of pine and river mud thick in my nostrils.
“Please, just a bit further,” I beg myself, the words lost to the wind.
But there’s no stopping it now. A painful jolt surges through my spine, and I stumble, almost sprawling onto the dirt. My body betrays me, the shift erupting from within as if my flesh were merely a cocoon being shed.
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With the last shred of my humanity clinging to the precipice of the abyss, I leap at the same time Max’s scream pierces the air, loud and blood–curdling. The rush of air past my ears is a fleeting freedom. The water below surges up to meet me, a cold, unforgiving embrace.
I hit the surface–a shock of icy pressure enveloping me, dragging me deeper. Water buffets me from all sides, disorienting, smothering. In the tumultuous depths, the transformation completes, and the beast takes over, thrashing wildly against the current that seeks to claim it.
Sucked under by the relentless force, I am pulled away, away from Max, away from the threat I pose to him. The water’s roar drowns out everything else, and darkness swallows me whole.
I spiral down into the watery vortex, deeper and deeper as the pressure increases, squeezing against my shifting form. My lungs burn for air, my senses heightened as I struggle for control. My transformation is now complete; the beast is fully awakened within me, its primal instincts rising to combat the harsh currents that threaten to crush me, but it is too late.
Sudden tranquility seizes me as I feel my lungs start filling with water. Perhaps the beast has surrendered to the water, accepting its fate with a grace I never believed it possessed as I am battered against the rocks.
Beneath the water, the moon disappears, and the cold seeps into my veins, quenching the burning fire that once thrived. The beast’s fury subsides as the icy tendrils wrap around my body, slowing my thrashing and stilling my heart as I feel the shift take me back to myself. I sink deeper into the void, swallowed by its merciless silence, and then darkness
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swallows all the light.
# 288 Nouchers
Chapter 96
