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“You’re going to be fine. I’m going to shift, and you just follow my lead, okay?”
“No, Max! Don’t—”
Max laughed, and quicker than I could blink, he was on four legs with his clothes piled at his feet. He butted his head against her legs.
“Cut it out.”
When she went to push him away, he nipped her hand. “Ouch. You son of a bitch! That hurt!” And then fur rippled along her arms. Her change was slower than his. It took maybe five seconds instead of milliseconds.
“Meredith! Show me where she is!”
I knew my wolf hid in the center of myself. The first week I’d turned, Dastien taught me how to picture her and become more at one with that side of myself. He said most Weres inherently knew how to do that, but the whole having a wolf sharing your space was a bit of a game changer for me.
I expected the bright light to blind me like last time. To see the image flare bright and then dim again, but it didn’t. Instead, the wolf in my vision turned to me, and plopped down on her bottom. She howled. It was so loud, I had to cover my ears.
And then I was plunged into darkness. The field, flowers, and daylight were gone. I held out my hand in front of my face and couldn’t see it.
A wolf whined, and I stepped toward it, waving my arms around trying to feel for it.
I hit a soft mass, and fell over her. “Sorry,” I said as the wolf whined.
Hope blossomed. I couldn’t believe I’d actually found her wolf. This might totally work.
I still couldn’t see, but I felt around her. She was covered in chains. I pulled at them, but there was no way I could break them. They didn’t even budge.
Okay. So this was it. I’d found her. Now I had to send my strength to Meredith’s wolf so she could grow stronger and break out of the cage.
That would take alpha powers.
I reached for my bond to Dastien and mentally tugged at it. Strength and power flowed into me. His focus and determination became my own.
And then it hit me so hard that I felt like I was drowning. So much power.
Before, when I’d been in Meredith’s room talking to Donovan, I hadn’t known what I was doing. I hadn’t been aware of the power rolling through me, but now I was. I could feel each wolf. The essence of everyone present.
“You’re going to be fine, Meredith. Take what’s offered.” I closed my eyes, and pictured the energy flowing directly into her wolf. I harnessed the will to change. “Shift, Meredith.” I said, using all the power that I could. “Shift now.” I pulled on the chains around her wolf with the strength of the pack.
Her hand jerked.
I opened my eyes and found myself in the real world. She hadn’t shifted. I had to go back in. I gripped her hand in mine, holding tight, and I closed my eyes again.
I was back in the darkness and felt the chains under my hands.
Grabbing all the power I could, I pulled on them. “Chains, break!” I put some of my witchy powers into the words, forcing my will into them. It didn’t matter what I said, only the intention. I pictured them breaking and yanked again, and they creaked against each other.
“Now. Meredith. Change now. Do it. Now!”
The power was building. Burning through me like a fire in the depths of my soul. I pushed it toward her.
I pulled on the chains. “Break. Now. Break.” They creaked again. “Change now! Do it now! Shift!”
I alternated pushing alpha energy at Meredith and using witchcraft to weaken the chains.
Howls echoed along the pack bonds. The wolves were all shifting, but Meredith wasn’t.
I put my will and faith behind my words. “Break!” I tugged on the chains, and felt a link break. They were loosening.
I grabbed more power from the pack. “Shift!” I was screaming now.
