Nolan nods, getting to his knees so we can attempt to prevent the flying debris from touching Felix. It’s all we can do to help him, other than making sure Felix doesn’t have to go through this alone.
“Oh God!” Nolan exclaims in horror as Felix’s nails and teeth start falling out to make room for their sharper replacements. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. This isn’t how you shift.”
“Not shifting.” My eyes close briefly as I try to keep from falling apart as my heart breaks with each one of Felix’s shattered bones. “Transitioning. Human to wolf.”
Felix’s cries of pain turn to throaty groans when the bones of his face break apart to allow for his snout to grow in. He thrashes from side to side as his spine concaves, and his skin rapidly splits and heals to accommodate the new muscle mass in his shoulders and back.
Nolan appears physically ill, his already pale skin becoming nearly translucent as the full truth of what it means to turn a human into a wolf shifter unfolds before him. “You didn’t say it would be like this.”
“Won’t always be like this,” I promise, finding it just as hard to watch. “Only this bad the first time.”
Felix curls into a ball on his side and sobs while his hands and feet break and bend into paws. Next, his arms and legs crack into several pieces, the ends pushing underneath his skin as they reform into a wolf. His pants rip apart to provide room for his new hips, stomach, and tail, while ash-blond fur begins breaking out over his whole body.
“Don’t throw up,” I warn when Nolan starts making gagging noises. “It will only make things worse.”
He presses his lips together, giving a weak nod, as he rapidly breathes through his nose. We act as shields from the storm, battered physically, mentally, and emotionally, while Felix the human gives way to Felix the wolf. It’s a traumatic and violent journey, but Felix will live.
The final stage is when Felix’s green human eyes transform to the vibrant blue of his wolf. Shivering and exhausted, he lets out a pitiful whine. Nolan attempts to reachout to comfort him, but Felix snaps at him in warning, his teeth barely missing Nolan’s outstretched fingers.
“What the fuck?” he yells, his gaze fearful and angry as he looks up at me. “Why did he do that?”
“His wolf is in control right now, and he’s in a lot of pain. He’s lashing out because he’s confused and scared.” Lifting Felix into my arms, I sit down and settle so he can curl comfortably against me while sitting in my lap. His snout bumps under my chin, and he whines again. Running a comforting hand over his furry back, I murmur, “It’s over. I have you. You’re safe now.”
“He’s scared of me but not you,” Nolan comments, an array of emotions washing over his face—relief Felix is alive, worry of what it all means, and hurt that his best friend doesn’t recognize him as someone safe.
“I’m his alpha,” I reply, hoping I can convey that Felix’s reaction isn’t personal or forever. “His wolf knows I’m pack. It’s my responsibility to protect him and keep him safe.”
Holding Felix close, I turn my focus to Callie, sending whatever love I can through the bond and into the abyss she’s lost in. The bastard is on his hands and knees, gasping for air as the smoke from the burning floor beneath him fills his lungs. His skin is burnt and blistered from his clothes catching fire, and every weak attempt to use magic to attack is immediately turned on him to feed the flames.Mi reinaneatly trapped the man who thought he was immune to her attacks, burning everything around him and making sure the smoke couldn’t escape.
Callie looks at him with her head cocked to one side, her face filled with cold rage. “You deserve to heal and burn over and over again like I did. You deserve to suffer everything I did—all the pain with none of the relief of death. Be grateful that theLyncas arcane focus gives you the mercy of a single death so the pain may end so quickly.”
When the bastard finally hits the ground and gasps his last breath, the storm stops, and all the debris that was flying through the air drops to the ground. Ravaged by her internal storm, Callie walks with bloody shoes over to the blackened, blistered body. Carefully, she bends her knees, her skirts stained with ash, and rips the necklace from the corpse. She stands, her gaze focused on something I can’t see.
Her expression shifts into an ugly sneer as angry tears drip down her face. “You will never know peace or freedom ever again! Hell is too good for you. You are a stain, a blight on this world, and I won’t let you ever come back!”
“No,” I mutter, realizing what she’s about to do and whom she’s talking to, but I’m in no position to stop her.
Her hand reaches out like she’s ripping someone’s heart from their chest. Unlike the last soul she wiped from existence, there’s no beam of magic that shoots out and makes a miles long path of destruction. Instead, the magic is contained to a blinding flash of white light around her fist, and then she drops to her knees.
She weeps, the sound a heartbreaking cry of all the pain and anguish that still lives inside her. Her fists slam against the floor, the wood creaking and splintering under her fury. “Fuck you, you bastard! I hate you! I hate you!I hate you!” Callie collapses forward, the fist holding the necklace clutched against her chest. “Why couldn’t you have loved me?”
Weighed down by a wolf that’s the size of a small pony, I’m unable to move, and Nolan beats me to her. He drops to his knees and wraps himself around her, holding her as best as he can in their awkward position.
“He can’t hurt anyone else,” she whispers, her voice hoarse from screaming. “It’s over, but it doesn’t feel over. Why am I not free?”
“It’s going to take time, my love.” Nolan brushes back some of the hair stuck to her face. “He’s gone, but the wounds will take time to heal.”
She shakes her head. “Gone, but not gone. He’s still a part of me.”
Nolan misinterprets what she means, telling her that even though he may have donated some DNA, there’s no part of him that lives within her. Only I understand that she means it literally. The price of destroying a soul is that all they were and could have been remains as a part of her, like a grizzly dark stain that will forever haunt her.
Feeling all of Callie’s anguish, I shift back to my human form and put Felix down so I can go to her as well. As I get to my feet, though, I realize this is a mistake when Felix starts sniffing the air, reminding me that he’ll need to eat soon. A new wolf needs a lot of meat after being turned. As much as it would be satisfying for Felix to eat the bastard and then shit him out, I know Felix would not be okay knowing his first meal was a person.
I scoop him back up, earning a huff in reply, and then stand rooted to the ground with indecision. I need to get Felix out of here, but I can’t leave my mate when she’s in so much pain. The mere idea has my wolf whining and pushing to the surface.
Sensing me hovering, Nolan looks up from his position by Callie. The anger and fear in his eyes are replaced with a sense of knowing and compassion that comes from feeling exactly like I do. “He needs you right now. I’ve got her.”
He stands up, wincing with the pain marked by a long, bloody night, and then he scoops an exhausted Callie into his arms. Holding her close, he murmurs, “It’s going to be okay. We’re all safe. I’m going to take you home now.”
