Chapter 7
The Change
Anna couldn’t control the hard bark of pleasure as Conor filled her, not just with his cock but also with his essence. He forced life into her dying body with his love—with his devotion. The bite had been painful, almost excruciating, but only for a second. The moment he began licking and sucking at the punctures, the pain turned to a form of pleasure that burned in her blood. The thumping of her heart sounded loud in her ears making her want to scream to pierce the thick, muffling noise.
His deep, penetrating thrusts drove her wild, satisfying the agonizing ache pulsating just under her skin. She watched him through slitted lids, amazed at how his shift had not changed her desire. The widening of his eyes, the thickening of his brow, the sharp teeth and claws—they should have frightened Anna. But all doubt and fear had washed away the minute she’d said, “I. Am. Yours.” No three words had ever freed her more.
Now, his blood and saliva coursed through her like a new awareness. She felt every long inch of his thick shaft stroking her—bringing a rush of blood to her stomach, her thighs, her groin—to the edge of untamed rapture.
Everything looked different now. The room and Conor equally looked bleach-washed with high levels of contrast. The vibrant colors of the blankets around them had dulled, and Conor’s natural golden skin took on a pale, almost white color. Even though her ability to see color had dulled, the rest of her senses made everything around seem vivacious and alive.
She could see every hair and bead of sweat on Conor, and every hard cut of muscle as if someone had turned on a magical light. She could hear his heart thrumming in his chest, the pace impossibly fast. But even beyond that she could hear other heartbeats and strangers’ voices in the distance, laughing, cries of pleasure, and cries of pain.
Anna concentrated on Conor’s breathing, on his pulse, driving the other distractions away. She didn’t want anything or anyone taking her out of this one moment of pure perfection. The feel of Conor inside her, the heat of him running through her blood and under her skin. Her jaws snapped to taste the air between them, his scent, earth and musk, coating the roof of her mouth. She pierced her tongue as her teeth shifted, grew, and sharpened.
Outside the den, a sound drifted through the euphoria. Rebecca, the woman who had tried to take Conor from Anna, scoffed in contempt. The sound triggered a shock of determination. A force inside her, one that hadn’t been there before the bite, compelled Anna to claim Conor as he had claimed her—to mark him so that no bitch would ever wonder if there was even the tiniest bit of space to come between them. She would kill anyone who tried. Her violent thoughts shook her to the core.
“Fuck, Anna, fuck,” Conor moaned as he grabbed her hips with both hands and pulled her to him as he quickened his pace. The sweat on their bodies mingled where they collided in the ugly-beautiful act of their savage union. When he cried out her name, “Anna!” She opened her wide jaws and bit into his shoulder, piercing muscle and flesh until her newly formed canines hit bone.
Conor howled while his blood rushed into Anna’s mouth. The sound and the taste drove her beyond the brink. She let go—screaming as the orgasm ripped through her. It tore away all sense of self, of individual, until she was no longer an “I” but a “we.” She shook—her back arching as another wave of pleasure forced tears from her eyes and her skin stretched and tugged over her bones—the tightening sensation rode the sharp edge oftoo much.
Conor roared—his thighs quaked between her legs as she ground her clit against him. He pumped his climax hard and fierce until he thrust one final time. He held her so firmly in his embrace that she had to fight for breath. The orgasm had waned, but the burning in her flesh and blood remained. While it had felt good, better than good moments before, now it hurt. The closest she’d ever come to this kind of pain had been during a bone marrow biopsy when she’d first been diagnosed with cancer. This pain was similar—bone deep—but not just isolated to her hip. No. This pain stretched her entire body.
“Oh,” she groaned.
“Anna?” Conor held her away from him, his inhuman face with glowing eyes, beautiful and wolfish, but still human-like in this half-form. “Take a deep breath.”
“I don’t understand.” The searing fire in her bones moved from her chest to her hip and shoulders, her arms and legs, and finally, the mind-numbing assault flared hot white in her brain. She screamed and screamed, the merciless pain stealing her ability to think.
Conor withdrew from her as gently as he could. “It’s okay, Anna. It’s okay. This will pass.”
If Anna knew anything at all, it wasnotokay. This felt like death. At least it made her wish for death. She didn’t resist when Conor picked her up in his arms. The bright shock of moonlight calmed her frying brain when they passed through the doors of the den. He lay her down on the dirt and started barking orders to the gathering crowd.So many people. She’d heard them after he’d bitten her, but now actually seeing them, it made everything more or less real.
The roar in her ears deafened her, and she couldn’t understand what Conor was yelling as he cradled her limp figure. Soon, the onlookers began shifting into wolves of various sizes and colors from light to dark. They huddled around, the close contact of their fur quieted Anna’s mind and took the edge off her misery.
“What’s happening?” she asked weakly when she regained her voice.
“It’s so fast, baby.” He stroked her hair, her neck, and her back, holding her tight to his body, also covered in fur now, but still in half-form. “But you’re shedding your human shell and becoming one of us. Don’t fight it. The first time can be so hard, but it’s easier if you don’t fight it.”
Any questions she had cut off when the bones in her body began to snap and crack. Her spine pressed up and outward as it grew hunched. She wasn’t prepared for the high, the rush of joy, when fur sprouted and fell like dominoes falling down her skin. The adrenaline surge and power brought the entire world around her into clarity. Where she’d heard everything before, now she heard the steady thrum of heartbeats, all in unison with her own, slowing as her pulse slowed.
Her lips didn’t feel right when she tilted her face to Conor and smiled. Her brow narrowed when her tongue lolled out the side of mouth.
In her head, she heard his words so plain it was as if he’d spoke directly in her ear.You okay, baby?
Am I a wolf?she answered back in the same way.
He grinned. His green eyes glowed with heat and energy.Yes, and you are magnificent.
A million things went through her head in that moment of realization, but the only response she gave him was the one response that mattered.I love you, Conor. I always have.She licked his face and strange noise wheezed from her throat as she tried to laugh.Let’s run. I want to run. Can we run?
As long as you want to run with me or to me, we can run all night.
She took a second to appreciate hisSlow Ridereference before twisting her new body until she freed herself from his grip. Her tail awkwardly smacked his thigh. Anna still had things to figure out. Her son Sam deserved an explanation. She couldn’t just disappear from his life. But those problems could wait until morning. Tonight, she was Conor’s—completely and irrevocably. She growled and snapped at Rebecca as she trotted past the little bitch.Conor is mine.Rebecca dropped her gaze and turned away.
Anna looked back in time to see Conor shifting into full wolf, a large beast—his fur a mixture of white, brown, and black. She sang a note through her throat, instinctually knowing the call as a summons.
Conor’s wolf raised his brow.
She swished her tail.If you catch me, you can have me.
Conor huffed, a strong snort of air lifted the dust from the ground between his huge paws. He leveled a gaze at Anna and took a giant leap in the air, stopping just inches from her.
Anna’s laughter filled both of their minds as she turned and raced into the woods.
She could hear his voice, even with some distance between them, as he took off after her. His last words were:Challenge accepted.
