“This is a letter from Lilly. It was under her bed, and it smells kind of like me, which means it smells like her. So, that can only mean…” His voice cracked.
“That it was left there recently.” Kian walked up beside me.
Lachlan nodded, and a dreadful urge for me to go back to Fate Hollow swelled up inside me.
“Maybe we should go back,” I suggested.
Lachlan’s brown eyes bulged before he hunched over, and the letter dropped to the floor. He grunted in pain.
“Lachlan, what’s wrong?” I reached out for him, but he pushed my hand away.
“Don’t!” He clutched his chest and stumbled past us, and I backed into Kian’s arms. Lachlan’s hand gripped the hallway wall as he glanced back at us with pain enveloping his face. “Don’t let her see me like this.” He groaned and rushed out of the hall.
I pulled out of Kian’s arms, and he didn’t stop me as I ran down the hall in time to see Lachlan bust open the front door before collapsing on the porch.
“Lachlan! Why are you hiding from me?” I rushed after him with Kian running behind me.
“I can’t stop her. You know she has a right to see this. Your transformation is part of who you are.”
“No!”he moaned in pain, but his voice had turned into a deep one I didn’t recognize as his.
Brown fur sprout from his skin, and the snap of his bones echoed through the empty village in a way that was truly horrifying.
I couldn’t bite back the startled scream that left my lips as I dropped to my knees on the cold planks of the porch beside him. Kian’s hands rested on my shoulders as concern flared through our bond, and I watched Lachlan go through hell.
Whenever I shifted into a fox, my magic tingled, but it wasn’t painful by any means. Not like what was happening to Lachlan. His bones twisted, broke, and enlarged in a gruesome manner. His skin bled as the fur grew out, and the painful screams that belted out of his lungs were something from a nightmare. The way his skull reshaped would haunt me, and I covered my mouth with my hands when the transformation had finally subsided.
He let out a low whine as his beast form stumbled down the deck. The large wolf-like head lifted and a bone chilling howl erupted from him. Similar howls were echoed back from the mountains surrounding us.
“Lachlan,” I choked out, forcing my legs to pick me up and walk me down the porch steps toward him.
His back faced me, and he stepped forward as if he were about to bolt.
“Don’t leave. She’s our mate,” Kian shouted from the porch behind me. The cold night air blew fiercely, with only the full moon illuminating us. “Lachlan, you know you can trust her.”
Lachlan hesitated before he turned around.
‘Oh, shit,’Shade said. I was grateful that Lachlan couldn’t understand him, because I was sure it would’ve made him run.
He faced me, and the hesitance and fear in his gaze broke me. His eyes took a different shape, but they were still honey brown. His snout poked out impossibly long, and sharp teeth glistened from the moonlight. His beast form was monstrous. There was no way of putting that lightly. Large muscles that brewed strength rippled under his stiff brown fur, and he stood on two hind legs with horrific claws I knew could rip open anything.
But… he was still Lachlan. I could never be afraid of him.
I forced my legs forward until I stood directly in front of him. I reached my hand out, but he flinched and moved back a couple of steps with a growl.
“Don’t do that,” I whispered, closing the distance again and pressing my hand to his stomach.
He towered over me. He had to be at least eight feet tall, standing on his hind legs. His beast form was massive. A rumble vibrated his chest.
“It’s okay, Lachlan. I’m not scared of you. We’ll be here when you come back.” I glanced up into his eyes as he stared down at me.
He nodded before turning away and sprinting for the forest line that went further up into the mountains.
Kian came up and wrapped his arms around me. “I don’t think you quite understand how special you are.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Alister
