Was he breathing? Was his heart beating?
She was sweating as she tried to check. Pulse? Breath?
Come on, Kennedy!
She cupped his face again, tilting his face. One breath. Two. Then back to chest compressions. The goo couldn’t help if his heart didn’t pump it to every part of his body. She would have cursed him if she had the breath. Curse, threaten, plead, anything to keep him alive.
Fight for your life!
Back to his mouth. One breath. Two—
His gasp was dramatic as his whole body arched with the inhalation. He banged his head against her, and she reeled backward, her eyes watering from the pain.
She saw his body ripple as the blanket fell to the side. His naked body pulsed, and she watched it glow with a shift, even sprout fur, but the bones and structure of a man were visible beneath. That didn’t happen normally as he seemed to be everything at once: bear, man, and some in between state of energy. Fluid. Changeable. Beautiful.
His eyes found hers. She met his gaze, thinking to look for intelligence there. She had to know if he retained his mind. Was there sanity inside?
Instead, she found herself sinking into the golden depths. Swirls of blue and gold, patterns of energy coiling into infinity and bursting back out. She saw it, but she couldn’t believe it. She remained transfixed by the sight.
What had she done to him?
Then came the roar. Agony made sound. His mouth stretched wide as his body convulsed. Grizzly furor, human aggression, an energy that jangled and beat at her skin. That was new, too, and it pervaded the entire room, but it was centered on her.
She scrambled backward in terror. She wanted to help him, but she didn’t know whathewas. Man? Animal? Something else entirely?
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
The glow faded, and he looked fully human, but she saw his nostrils flare, and his expression tightened into something predatory. She’d lived with animals, and she knew the look. Hunger, desire, need—it all compressed into a single expression of body and mind. He stalked around the room.
When had he found his feet? When had he stood up while she cowered against a wall like a child?
“Kennedy,” she bellowed, “get it together!”
She wanted to sound forceful. She wanted to declare her birthright as the daughter of an alpha. But no matter how strong her voice was, the power was an illusion. She was nothing when compared to him. He was prowling toward her. She could barely find the strength to stand. Her knees were shaking, and her heartbeat was spiking with adrenaline.
She would fight him. She had to.
He lunged for her, and she dodged.
“Ryan!” she cried. “Ryan!”
She had to reach the intelligence inside the beast, but he didn’t seem to be listening. And while she took breath to say something else, he leapt again.
She scrambled, but he was faster. And he’d been expecting it.
He caught her around the waist and caged her against the wall.
Trapped.
No holding back. Not with his body pulsing with a new energy that seared her. Not with his mouth open and teeth that seemed to elongate with fangs. She let loose. Every part of her that she kept carefully hidden, every secret she held under strict control, every restraint she had for her safety and everyone else’s—she let them all go.
Her body seemed to explode with power. Her face changed, her arms furred, and her hands became claws. The room filled with her scent—a defensive smell that would make him ill—and she roared in his face like the monster she was.
Full hybrid. Full fight.
He grinned—the joy of a man with normal teeth—as he inhaled the scent deep into his lungs.
WTF?
