"Good thing I'm not prey anymore," I said, meeting his gaze steadily. "Not after tonight."
A low growl of approval rumbled from his chest, his scarred face twisting into something that was almost a smile. "No. Not after tonight. After tonight, you're a predator. Like us." I looked down at the vial in my hand, watching the colors swirl and dance. Such a small thing to hold so much power. Such a small thing to change the entire course of my existence.
"Will you stay with me?" I asked, hating how small my voice sounded, how vulnerable. "Through all of it?"
"Every moment," Kaelan promised, his hand coming up to cup my face, his thumb stroking across my cheekbone. "We'll hold you through the worst of it. We won't let go."
"Never," Thane agreed fiercely, his arms tightening around me, his body warm and solid against my side.
"Not for a single second," Vale added, his voice soft but certain, his silver eyes shimmering with intensity.
Riven didn't speak. He simply moved from his position at the entrance, crossing the nest in two powerful strides, and pulled me against his chest. His arms wrapped around me like iron bands, his chin resting on top of my head, his growl vibrating through my entire body. "Drink," he said, the single word rough with command and something deeper—something that soundedalmost like fear. "Before I lose my nerve and refuse to let you do this."
I pulled back just enough to look up at him, surprised by the admission. "You don't want me to transform?"
"I want you to be ours," he said, his golden eyes blazing with intensity, his scarred jaw tight. "I want you to be safe and protected and impossible to take from us. But I don't want you to hurt." His voice cracked slightly, the admission seeming to cost him. "I don't want to watch you suffer and not be able to stop it."
"It's my choice," I reminded him gently, reaching up to touch his scarred cheek. "My pain to bear. And it's worth it. You're worth it." He made a sound—low and rough and desperate—and crushed his mouth to mine in a fierce, claiming kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes were bright with emotion he was trying hard to control.
"Drink," he said again, softer this time. "Before I change my mind."
I looked at the vial one last time. Took a deep breath. And drank. The liquid was cold going down—so cold it burned, like swallowing ice and fire at the same time. It tasted like the ocean, like salt and depths and ancient things that had never seen sunlight. It tasted like them, I realized. Like all four of them mixed together into something new.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the pain hit.
It started in my chest—a sharp, stabbing sensation that stole my breath and made me double over. I heard myself cry out, felt hands grabbing at me, voices calling my name from very far away.
"I've got you," someone was saying—Kaelan, I thought, his arms wrapping around me from behind, his chest solid against my back. "I've got you. We're here. We're not going anywhere."
The pain spread outward from my chest, racing through my veins like liquid fire. My lungs seized, unable to draw breath, and for a terrifying moment I thought I was dying. This was death—it had to be. Nothing else could hurt this much.
"Breathe," Vale's voice cut through the haze, his hands cupping my face, his silver eyes filling my vision. "Lily, look at me. Breathe. Your lungs are changing, but you can still breathe. You have to try."
I forced myself to inhale, and the air that filled my lungs felt wrong—too thick, too dry, like it didn't belong there anymore. But it worked. I could still breathe. I wasn't dying.
Not dying.
Changing.
The pain in my legs hit next, and this time I screamed. It felt like my bones were breaking—shattering and reforming into something new. I could feel my legs pressing together, could feel the skin fusing, could feel something fundamental shifting in the core of my being. I thrashed against the hands holding me, instinct screaming at me to fight, to escape, to make it stop.
"Hold her," Riven's voice commanded, sharp and rough with barely contained fury. "Don't let her hurt herself." More hands on me now, Thane at my side, his grip surprisingly strong despite his gentle nature, a constant stream of soothing sounds falling from his lips. Riven at my feet, his hands like iron on my fusing legs, keeping me from thrashing too hard. Vale still at my face, his voice weaving through the pain like a lifeline, singing something soft and ancient and impossibly beautiful.
"It's almost over," Kaelan said against my ear, his voice strained but steady, his arms never loosening their grip. "The worst part is almost over. Just hold on a little longer. You're doing so well. So brave. Our brave little omega."
I wanted to tell him I wasn't brave. Wanted to tell him I was terrified, that the pain was too much, that I'd made a mistake.But I couldn't speak, could only scream and sob and cling to the hands holding me as my body tore itself apart and rebuilt itself into something new.
Time lost all meaning. The pain ebbed and flowed, moments of burning agony followed by brief respites that felt like gifts from the gods. During those respites, I could feel the changes happening, could feel my legs completing their fusion into something long and powerful and completely inhuman. Could feel my lungs settling into a new configuration, one that made the air feel foreign and the thought of water feel like home.
"Look," Thane breathed at some point, wonder thick in his voice, his golden-brown eyes fixed on something below my waist. "Look at her tail. It's beautiful."
I forced my eyes open, forced myself to look down at what I was becoming. My legs were gone. In their place was a tail—long and sleek and covered in scales that shimmered with colors I'd never seen before. Deep blues and soft silvers and hints of green that shifted and changed as I watched and on the tail fin there where tips of bright red.
"Our colors," Vale said softly, his silver eyes tracing the patterns on my new tail with something like reverence. "I've read about this but never seen it. Omega sirens have different coloring than alphas, softer, more varied. But I have seen that once mated they can get their mates coloring added to their scamles…It's meant to be beautiful to alpha eyes."
"It is beautiful," Riven growled, his hands still on my tail, his touch gentler now, almost reverent. "You're beautiful."
