“Immensely.” She leaned forward, as if she were sharing a secret.“After centuries of men thinking their cocks made them kings? Oh yes, Alpha. I’m loving this.”
I groaned, tilting my head back to stare at the ceiling. The wood was old and cracked. Like me. Like this entire godforsaken pack.
Imani’s face flashed behind my eyes. Omari’s quiet coos echoed in my skull.
The ache in my chest sharpened.
Human or hyena, queen or prey—Mercy was still my mate.
And I needed to speak to her.
Chapter 8
Mercy
Rage burned through my veins as the silver truck disappeared down the road. Every instinct screamed to chase, to hunt, to tear the threat to my children apart with my bare hands. My fingers flexed, already imagining the feel of fur between them.
Then the voice came. It was rich, ancient, and utterly alien in my mind.
Finally free. It's hard to believe my human half is this slow.
I spun in a frantic circle, bare feet scraping against the wooden floor. The realisation hit like a thunderclap. She wasn't just in my head. She was in my bones, my blood, my very soul.
I am Zuri. The presence purred as my body moved without my command. Powerful limbs carried me back to the house with effortless grace.The beast in you. His bite awakened me, but the witch unchained me.
The question tumbled from my lips before I could stop it.
Am I a werewolf?
The garbled sound reminded me of my current form, but she understood. The laughter that erupted from my throat was wrong. It was a guttural sound that bounced off the walls in eerie echoes. My hand—no, Zuri's paw now, huge and covered in golden fur swung the door shut with a decisive click.
We are far older.Zuri whispered to me.Far stronger. We are werehyena.
I felt her withdraw as suddenly as she'd appeared. My knees hit the floor, but the expected pain never came. Instead, I found myself human again, naked and trembling, staring at my perfectly ordinary hands.
The twins' cries shattered the silence. I scrambled up, ignoring the tattered remains of my clothes littering the floor like strange confetti. Their nursery smelled wrong now, tainted with his scent, that musky wolf odour that had been irritating me for weeks without my realising why.
As I gathered Imani and Omari to my chest, something settled deep inside me. Zuri's presence hummed contentedly, a protective shadow curled around our children.
For the first time since the bite, I didn't feel afraid.
I felt...powerful.
???
The doorbell camera showed a face pressed absurdly close to the lens, green eyes wide with forced innocence. “I come in peace,” the idiot announced, voice muffled through the speaker. “Don't kill me.”
When he pulled back, waving a white tissue like some pathetic surrender flag, I couldn't stop the twitch of my lips. On screen, his human form looked deceptively normal. The broad shoulders and annoyingly perfect jawline. But I knew those muscles hid something far more dangerous.
Zuri stirred in my chest with unexpected interest as I watched him shift from foot to foot. Last night, she'd chased this same man off our property, yet now he dared return in daylight? The twins' soft snores from their Moses basket decided for me. It was better to handle this now while they slept.
The wooden door groaned as I yanked it open. He jumped back, hastily stuffing the tissue in his jeans pocket. Up close, he smelled like pine and nervous sweat.
“Garrick?” I kept my voice flat.
His responding grin was all white teeth and wolfish charm.
“You remember.” Hands raised in surrender, he took a careful half-step forward. “I swear on the moon, I mean no harm to you or the pups. I've only been watching to keep you safe.”
