I nod, but he steps closer before we begin.
“Actually, I wanted to say…” He hesitates, then meets my eyes. “I heard you speaking to the wolves earlier. You addressed them like you’d been doing it your whole life.” His voice dips. “I was really proud of you.”
Something blooms in my chest, sudden andoverwhelming. I laugh softly, blinking fast. “I was terrified.”
“That’s how you know it mattered,” he says with a faint smile. “Ready?”
I love how he doesn’t push the heavy. He’s good with awkward, which also makes me realize I’m more like him than I probably ever imagined.
Marius steps away first. Bones shift, fur ripples, and in a blink, the man is gone, replaced by a dark gray wolf who lifts his head, scenting the air, before setting his brown eyes on me.
Calling my wolf forward is easy now. It’s the anticipation of pain that makes me tense, but something is different. As her essence rises, heat blooms from my chest, radiating outward from the tattoo like a soothing balm.
I know my bones are breaking and reforming. I know my skin is tearing itself apart before knitting back together in seconds, but the agony feels distant, contained. Like I’ve learned how to tuck it neatly into a box and set it aside.
Maybe Mildred wasn’t so terrible after all.
And then we’re there, standing on all four paws, my silver-white coat catching the daylight, every sense sharpened and alive.
Marius’s wolf dips his head once before trotting toward the trees.
I hesitate just long enough to take it in—the bite of cold air, the strength humming through me, the impossible warmth in my chest.
My father is waiting for me to join him.
A moment I intend to remember.
Then I follow him into the woods.
It’shours before we return, but I’m not the least bit tired. In fact, I feel more alive than I have in weeks. Maybe ever.
My lungs are full, my muscles loose and buzzing, my wolf content in a way that settles deep in my bones. Running beside Marius—matching his pace, reading his movements without effort—did something to me I don’t quite have words for yet.
But that tranquility only lasts until NightShade comes back into view.
And then Wolf slows.
Oh no. I’m going to have to shift back.
With an audience.
Liz and Archie are waiting near the terrace, and Marius is already there too—back in human form already, fully clothed, hands relaxed at his sides like this is the most normal thing in the world.
What if the tattoo doesn’t work?I ask Wolf in a panic.What if Mildred tricked us?
Then you’re about to be naked.
She doesn’t seem the least bit fazed by that, and it grates on my nerves.If my father sees me naked, I’m shifting back and letting Liz putyouin the pink muumuu.
The vampire couldn’t catch me if she tried.
Whatever, I grumble.Let’s get this over with.
I squeeze my eyes shut and focus—reallyfocus—on my clothes. The weight of denim. The stretch of cotton. The exact scrape of fabric against skin. Every single piece had better be there.
Power moves through me, swift and sure, the transformation rolling over my body like a tide. Bones shift, heat blooms, and when my feet hit the ground on two legs, I still don’t look.
Especially when Liz starts laughing.
