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But I’m not going to let my man suffer alone.
I won’t, even if it makes me an idiot.
My whole body aches, my core is screaming at me to keep him safe, the same way he keepsmesafe.
“I’m right here,” I cradle him, even when I hear thescreeof his shirt ripping, his muscles changing shape.
But it’s getting slower.
Maybe this is working in some way.
“I’m right here,” I whisper, laying my cheek against his silver-haired chest, the hair sprouting against my face, tickling, but then he rumbles, and it slows down.
His whole body does.
“I’m right here,” I say again, coughing back another sob, wishing I could stop but knowing I can’t. The tears keep coming.
“You’d never hurt me, Ramsey. I know you wouldn’t. You’re not like that other wolf. You’re not like the wolf who killed your parents. You’re different. You’re better.”
I love you.
“Ruby.”
It’s Liam, calling from the other side of the field.
“He’s changing.”
Liam jogs over with a note of something like wonderment in his voice. Mom trails after him.
Liam stands off to the side, looking at us closely.
“I know he is,” I say, as I keep holding my Ramsey, squeezing him closer, his body starting to shift around me.
But slower, slower, and those awful noises have stopped. Ramsey’s half-human face is shaped into a smile, the form changing even slower than I realized.
He looks so happy.
“Ramsey, can you hear me?” Liam calls.
Ramsey says nothing, but I feel him tense against me.
A low rumble sounds from his throat.
“I don’t think he wants you to talk to him,” I whisper.
“I think you’re right.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” Mom says.
He’s not going to freaking hurt me, I almost yell.
Instead, I focus on Ramsey, pushing my cheek against his chest, and listening to his heartbeat. It gets louder, stronger, but with the same steady pace as the rest of him.
“This type of change is very rare,” Liam mutters. “There’s sudden change, brought on by powerful emotion. And there’s some joy in that. A release. That’s what most wolves think of as true change joy. Butthisis rarer, less well-known. I’ve met wolf monks who can attaintruechange joy. I think that’s what’s happening here.”
My heart flutters, and I laugh, but it’s also a sob.
“Is that good?” I say, still holding onto my man, my wolf.
