I looked at Lucian. At Solomon. At Percy.
“Guide me.”
The first shift hurt. Less than the transformation. More than I’d expected.
Bones breaking and reforming, muscles stretching and contracting, my body folding into a shape that I hadn’t known I was capable of. But beneath the pain was a second sensation. The sensation of a lock finding its key, a puzzle piece clicking into place.
Of becoming what you were always meant to be.
When it finished, I stood on four legs.
The chamber was massive from this vantage point. Every scent amplified, every sound crystallized. My paws pressed into the fur-covered stone and I could feel the volcanic warmth through the pads.
Three wolves faced me.
Lucian’s black wolf, enormous, gold-eyed, radiating authority. Solomon’s gray wolf, controlled, precise, silver eyes tracking my every movement. Percy’s brown wolf, lean and fast, tail actually wagging.
Percy’s wolf was wagging his tail. At me.
I took a step, wobbled. Took another, steadier.
The wolf body moved with an instinct my human brain hadn’t learned yet, as though the knowledge had been waiting in the bond all along.
Lucian’s wolf moved first. Crossed the chamber and pressed his muzzle to mine. The bond exploded, the rumble in his chest vibrating through my skull, his recognition of me in this form pouring through the connection with a possessiveness that made my wolf’s ears flatten.
Then his voice. Inside my head, carried through the bond with a clarity that made spoken language feel clumsy by comparison.
‘There you are.’
I startled. My wolf ears pinned back and my legs scrambled on the stone.
‘We can talk?! In here?’
‘Wolf to wolf.’His gold eyes held mine. ‘The bond has always carried emotion. With your wolf awake, it carries words too.’
‘You’re telling me I could’ve been yelling at you telepathically this entire time and I missed that?!’
‘It doesn’t work that way with humans. The bond needs years to develop speech, sometimes never does. Between wolves, it’s instant.’
‘So turning was the cheat code.’
‘If you want to call a sacred goddess-blessed transformation a cheat code, yes.’
Solomon’s wolf circled. Assessed. Then pressed his flank against mine, a gesture that I understood instinctively meant protection, pack, mine. The contact sent a cascade of warmth through the bond that settled into my bones.
‘Your vitals are stable. The shift completed cleanly.’Solomon’s voice in my head was exactly the way he sounded out loud: measured, completely himself. ‘How does it feel?’
‘Ask me something harder. I can’t describe this.’
Percy’s wolf tackled me.
Full body, no ceremony. He knocked me sideways and I went down in a tangle of legs and fur, and his tongue was on my face before I could process what had happened.
‘Hi!’Percy’s mental voice was exactly as loud as his physical one. ‘You’re a wolf. A hot beautiful wolf and I’m going to lick your entire face!’
‘Percival, get OFF.’
‘Never. This is the best day of my life.’
