Page 59 of Brutal Mate

An hour? In this pain! It's no wonder they die! Miley thought. The pain was so agonizing that she was already clawing at the hardwood floor of the closet. Her claws fell into the gouges left by previous claws, and sickness threatened as she imagined all those who had suffered through this before her.

How many of them had lived? Perhaps the more valid question was how many had died?

No, she wouldn't think about that right now. She couldn't. She had to live, even if it was only to get home one day and beat Kane's ass for not coming for her. He had promised her that so long as she was with him, she would be safe.

Well, she didn't feel very safe right now.

The rational part of her mind reminded her, you are the one who ran away.

But the irrational part of her, the part of her that was turning and just wanted to sink her claws and fangs into something, anything, was out for blood, and ready to tear Kane's ass up for forcing her to go through all this alone.

She should have been prepared for that. She had been alone her whole life. Sure, she had her parents, but she had always been alone even with them.

And yet, the brief time she had been with Kane, it had changed her. And as her shift came, she threw back her head and howled for him, unable to stop the sorrowful sound that burst from her lips.

The pain overwhelmed her then, and everything seemed to start happening all at once.

The dull ache in her muscles turned to a tearing, ripping sensation, but that wasn't half as bad as the bones breaking. With every creak and crack, she felt the nausea in her throat growing higher and higher.

She would throw up. It was just a matter of time. She was certain of it.

And yet, somehow, she didn't.

What she did do, however, was throw herself at the closet door.

Even as she shifted and the wolf took full effect, even as she felt disoriented and aching and not at all herself, she slammed her shoulder into the door. It creaked, but didn't budge. She tried again and again, whacking first her shoulder and then simply her large wolf skull against the door, over and over, until she was almost certain she felt it beginning to cave.

Luckily for her, though it did make her a little dizzy, her wolf head appeared much stronger and harder than her human one. And though her ears rang with the effort and pain ached down her neck, soon she managed to break right through the closet door where others had failed before her.

“Shit!”

“Fuck!”

“Grab her!”

The three men in the bedroom were clearly entirely unprepared for her escape. She recognized two of them as the guards who had dragged her from the closet, but the third was new, and it was slightly disappointing that it wasn't Christopher. After all his smirking and sickening comments, she'd have liked to sink her teeth into him.

Still, these guys would do. Her wolf was hungry.

The men threw themselves at her in human form, trying to pin her to the floor, but she simply shrugged them off.

It seemed she wasn't so weak and weedy after all.

In fact, now that the pain had subsided, she felt stronger than she ever had before. And she wasted no time in snapping at the nearest guard. She snarled with laughter when he instinctively threw up his arm to block her attack only to find her chomping down on his forearm.

The taste of blood should have disgusted her, but oddly, Miley liked it. It tasted like success. And so she bit down harder until it welled from the man's arm and dripped from her newly formed furry jaw.

“Ahh, you fucking bitch!” the man screamed, punching her in the side of the head with his free hand.

It loosened her grip just enough for him to tear his arm free, and when he scrambled away, Miley turned on him only to find herself face to face with two snarling, angry-looking wolves, two piles of clothes behind them.

Fuck! What remained of her rational mind screamed at her to turn and run, but her wolf was no coward. She squared her stance, bared her fangs and snarled a challenge.

That's when all hell really broke loose.

The wolves pounced on her, and though she fought them off, clawing and biting for several minutes, they were much stronger. Teeth met in the scruff of her neck as her paws were swept out from under her.

The next thing she knew, she was pinned to the ground. The growling in her ear warned her not to try anything, yet she struggled, trying to free herself until she felt the fangs in the back of her neck tighten.

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