“They just...” He swallowed. “They just flashed. Gold.”
My heart stopped.
“We need to go,” Caelan said, his voice shifting into full command mode. “Now.”
He handed me back the watch, grabbed the box from the ground with one hand, his other pressing firmly against my lower back, propelling me forward. His pace was fast, almost too fast, and I had to half-jog to keep up.
“Caelan, what’s happening to me?”
“I don’t know. But we need to get you somewhere safe.”
“Safe from what?”
He didn’t answer. Just kept walking, steering me through the streets toward my apartment with single-minded focus.
The tightness in my chest was getting worse, and not just from fear. A pressure was building inside me, a force trying to claw its way out, and we were halfway up the stairs to my apartment when the agony hit.
It wasn’t gradual. Not a warning cramp or a slow build. It was sudden and absolute, a white-hot agony that ripped through my entire body and dropped me to my knees.
I screamed.
“Riley...” Caelan abandoned the box, dropping to the stairs beside me, hands on my shoulders. “Riley, look at me. What’s happening?”
“I don’t... I can’t...” I couldn’t form words. It was everywhere, in every cell. My body was being rearranged from the inside out. My bones ached. My skin burned. A piece of me was cracking, breaking, reforming.
“Fuck.” The word came out rough with alarm. “You’re shifting.”
“WHAT?!”
“You’re shifting. Right now. Your body is trying to change.”
“I CAN’T SHIFT. I’M HUMAN. I’M...”
“You’re not.” He grabbed me in his arms and ran all the way to my apartment, kicking the door closed and settling me in the middle of the living room, his hands cupping my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. They were glowing amber, intense andcommanding. “Riley, listen to me. We’re alone now. You need to let it happen.”
“I don’t know how...”
“Breathe. In and out. Slow. Clear your mind.” He held my gaze, steady and grounding, cutting through the panic. “There’s another presence inside you. A wolf. She’s been sleeping, but she’s waking up now. You need to let her through.”
“I can’t... it hurts...”
“I know. I know it hurts. But fighting it makes it worse.” His thumbs stroked my cheekbones. “Let go, Riley. Trust me. Trust yourself. Let her take over.”
I didn’t know how to do that. Didn’t know how to let go of what I hadn’t even known was there.
But the pain was too much. I couldn’t fight it anymore.
I closed my eyes and breathed, reaching for the presence I could suddenly feel in the back of my mind, a being ancient and wild and utterly, completely mine.
The shift took me.
Agony and ecstasy all at once. Bones cracked and reformed, muscles tore and rebuilt, fur erupted across my skin. My perspective changed, lower, wider, more acute. The agony was immense, but beneath it was a strange rightness. A puzzle piece clicking into place. Coming home to a house I’d never known I’d left.
And then it was over.
I stood on four legs in my living room, panting, disoriented. My body was different, longer, stronger, covered in fur. There was another consciousness in my mind, a presence that was a mirror reflection of myself. The wolf.
She was curious, alert, pleased to finally be awake.
