Run!Beep shouts. The buzzing along my skin grows deeper.
I stagger forward, leg dragging uselessly behind me.
The wolf's growl vibrates the ground beneath me. He's toying with me. He could rip my throat out in seconds, and he's having fun.
I grunt, dragging my mangled leg across the dirt, though my leg is already healing. Eventually the limping turns into a trot, and though I know they could easily catch me, I'm fueled by determination.
I bound over fallen logs, and though the other wolves on the path are herding me, I don't let them bait me. I veer off course, but then the ground pitches at a sudden slope, and I catch myself from tumbling into the ravine, swallowing a mouthful of mud as I skid to a stop.
An electric, sulfuric stench hits me. Lightning seems to dance across my skin, then something jolts me. I yelp, but the second jolt doesn't hurt—it tugs at me, beckoning. Scanning the woods, I see nothing.
But then a branch snaps, and just before I can launch myself down the hill, a wolf crashes into me like a freight train, knocking the air from my lungs, my rib cage still burning from hitting the tree. Two wolves circle me, fangs bared, teeth gleaming and wet.
That panic stretching across my chest? It's real.
Take your clothes off,Beep says.
Not a great time, I argue.
The countdown starts now. I'm shifting, Mona. And when I say so, you release. Just let go and trust that I will be there. We keep working against each other, but you need to trust that I can do this for you, for us. Inhale, feel my magic. Exhale, let your body go.
On my hands and knees, I eye the wolves as they prowl, circling tighter, closer.
Let go!Beep shouts.
The gray wolf slams his paw down with so much force the ground shakes. And then Eli lunges—his teeth still red with my blood—and clamps down on my wrist with a sickening crunch. He wrenches my arm backward as the gray wolf tears into my calf, tugging me in opposite directions. I barely register the pain through the panic.
My scream rips through the forest. The other wolves in the forest watch and wait. Listen. They do nothing.
The buzzing along my skin builds, the waves of the shift crash into me, and then it explodes through every cell.
Let go! Now!
I cling desperately to control, terror flooding my system. But that buzzing—the one that usually takes forever to spread throughout my body—it's suddenly here, consuming me from the inside out.
She did this. She prepared us without me.
It's not even a conscious decision. I release, and she takes form. Eli's fangs rake up my arm before he lets go, splitting open the skin as it reforms.
My legs shift next, and I try to help, to focus through the chaos, but Beep falters. And that's when I realize what she was trying to say earlier. The more we try to be in sync, the more we fight each other.
This is Beep shifting, not me. She's doing it without me. She just needs my permission.
The more I try to fight it or help, the longer it takes.
Because we still don't trust each other.
It's her last thought before she's fully formed. Coarse auburn fur rips through my skin, my clothes splitting at the seams, hanging in tatters off my new shape as my hands and feet turn to claw-tipped paws. We look around with polarized vision and take in our surroundings. The scents slam into us, brighter now. Pine sap and decaying leaves. The metallic tang of my blood matting the fur around my leg and arm.
I'm panting internally and let out a laugh.Holy shit, Beep. That was like two minutes!
Can a wolf smile? Beep must be smiling because the other wolves chuff and dip their heads. I think they're smiling too. Eli nudges me with his muzzle—his earlier, scary teeth and alpha dominance as he chased me through the forest are neatly tucked away. The second wolf does this hop thing with his front feet. He smells of spearmint, like a sweetened cup of tea. They'reexcited.
The lighter gray wolf, who smells of spearmint, tilts his head, nose pointing east. Then he trots off, and Eli waits, nodding for me to follow.
I glance over my shoulder, tracing our path back through the trees to where the gray wolf is headed. The cabin sits several miles in the distance. I've strayed off course.
Wow, we really run far when we're scared. Good for us.
