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“Okay, okay.” I rush out of the shower and pluck a towel off the rack, then find our bags. I sling them over my shoulder and hurry back to the bathroom. I’m thinking I just need to transport us out. It’ll be fine.

But Kian is already mid-shift. And fighting it.

His fingers are more like claws, and he’s flat out in the shower. His spine is humped, and fur is sprouting from his skin. His shoulders are distended. His nails scrape across the tile, leaving jagged lines. It’s grotesque, but my heart bleeds for him all the same. That’s got to be fucking painful.

“Okay, okay, shit.” I grab his wrist and yank with all my weight.

He slides a bit across the tile. He growls, and the sound vibrates through me.

“I know, I know.” I swear and pull him more, until he’s out of the water.

He weighs a lot. I draw up my magic, but it’s not working. My panic is making things worse, not easier.

“Help me out here, wolf,” I mutter.

Kian’s head shifts, and the wolf’s blue eyes stare up at me.

Angry.

Great.

“I don’t know why you’re…” I shake my head and keep hauling, until his arm literally ripples in my hand. I fall backward and scooch away from him as he completes the shift.

To echo Kian’s previous statement: Uh-oh.

The white wolf appears a hundred times bigger in this bathroom. He steps forward, a growl pouring out of his mouth. His lips are curled back, exposing his bared teeth.

I scramble as far as I can go, but he leaps at me all the same. His paws hit my chest and knock me down, and he snaps in my face. Tears flood my eyes. Not voluntarily—I sure as hell wouldn’t want to show the wolf any weakness—but damn it. Fear has me in a chokehold. I can barely swallow, let alone talk.

He moves too fast, opening his mouth and closing his teeth around my skin, the space between my neck and shoulder. The same place he bit as the shadow-version.

Except now his teeth dig in, and the prick of pain loosens my tongue.

This is where he’s going to kill me?

Naked in a bathroom, with the water still fucking running.

Chapter 38

Kian’s Wolf

I’m dragged out of the depths of hell and set back into my mind.

But it isn’t enough.

Though the magic in the drink that imprisoned me has burned through, the remnants of shackles are hot against my mind-skin. I’m not in control. I don’t know what control is anymore. All I feel is the lingering agony of being kept in a pit of fire, burning without death.

I register Kian and Astra.

Astra.

Astra.

There’s blood on her skin, between her legs.

My human body feels different, too. Cold and hot. He took her while I was trapped.

The rage burns bright—and only one thing will make it right.