Page 92 of Awakening

“What the fuck is wrong with you now?” he spits out. He grabs my arm, but stops and takes a step back as ear piercing popping and cracking emanates from my bones.

I scream out as the excruciating pain consumes me.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” he says, removing his shirt. Why the hell is this man removing this clothes? “We’ll do this the old-fashioned way.”

I can’t stop screaming as I fall to the ground. It feels like my bones are literally snapping in half. I’m frozen and helpless to do anything to stop my body’s disfigurement. “What is happening to me?” I cry out. “Help me. Please, help me,” I utter through my tears and screams.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you? That’s right. You’ve never shifted before,” he says, laughing wildly. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’ll even give you a chance at a fair fight,” he says, laughing again, “but I’m still going to kill you. Just like I killed that weasel ex of yours who thought he could cross me.” With a deranged laugh, he says, “You should have seen the fucking horror on his face when I shifted right in front of him before ripping his throat out.”

God, what the hell is he talking about? Shifted? No. That’s nonsense. It was a lie. This isn’t happening. My eyes widen as I watch the clothes shred from my body, and my stomach threatens to empty its contents as my face feels like it’s being stretched into a whole new shape. It takes me a moment to realize when it’s finally over. The pain is gone and I’m able to jump to my feet, except something is different. Instead of feet, I have four paws, and they’re covered in a white fur so shiny it almost shimmers. My heart thunders in my chest as I look up at the man in front of me, who is now standing before me naked.

It all comes rushing back to me. I remember every little detail. Ethan and our relationship, my transition, my pregnancy, Colin coming to see me, being hit by the car…and Ian. I remember every despicable, sick, disgusting thing he’s ever done to me. The agony of an aching emptiness—the physical and emotional hollowness where my baby should be—screams in my chest.

He shifts, turning into a large brown and gray wolf right in front of me as if it’s nothing for him. He lowers his head, crouching in a stalking position. I know exactly who I am now, I know what I am, and I know what I have to do.

Ethan

“Damn it. Her car is here.” I hoped more than anything that I wouldn’t find that to be the case. I’ve got zero issues handling Ian one on one, but the last thing I want is Olivia being anywhere near him. “Let’s go,” I say as we all exit the car.

A high pitched yelping comes from behind the house followed by a clash of snapping and snarling. Nick’s mouth drops open as he looks at me with wide eyes and says, “What the fuck is that?” It sounds like a wild animal fight.

We all take off, bolting to the back yard. My eyes widen and I take a step or two back, freezing momentarily. It’s her. She’s fucking magnificent. From her hind legs, she takes the brown and gray wolf down to the ground. She pins him down with her body, growling and shaking him as she attacks his throat with her teeth.

“Should we do something?” Nick asks, moving toward her.

I extend my arm out in front of him, stopping him. “No. Let her do this. She needs this.”

I watch as she shakes the life from Ian, the man who has done nothing but bring her pain from the moment she encountered him. When she’s satisfied with her kill, she releases him. She hovers over him for a moment before limping a few feet away, where her bright green eyes meet mine, and she collapses.

“Olivia!” I run to her, followed by Nick and Chloe. She looks up at me as she pants hard. Ian’s blood covers her mouth and chest. “Shift back, baby,” I say stroking her. Her gorgeous green eyes look like emeralds against her beautiful white fur. “Just think about your human form, tell yourself to shift. You can do it.” I look up at Nick and Chloe. “Go to my car. There should be some blankets in the trunk. Bring me one.” I know from her limp that she’s injured, but I’ll be able to better assess the situation once she’s back in her human form. “Come on, Liv. You can do this.” She closes her eyes tight. “It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

It takes a good minute, but I’m thankful to hear the cracking of her bones shifting back into her human form, despite her yelps and cries of pain. I gather her naked body into my arms, and I can feel her heart pounding through to her limbs. Her eyes meet mine as she tries to calm her shaky breathing.

“Ethan?” she whispers.

“I’m here, baby,” I say, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

“Here’s a blanket,” Nick says, handing it to me from behind, then backing away to give us space.

“Thanks, Nick. Make sure he’s dead.”

“I’m on it,” Nick says, making his way over to Ian’s lifeless wolf form.

“I grabbed some wipes from the console of your car too,” Chloe says, handing me the package. “I thought she might need to be cleaned up.”

“Thanks, Chloe,” I say as I wrap Olivia in the blanket and gather her in my arms again. I take a couple of cleansing wipes out of the package to clean her mouth, neck, and chest. She takes hold of my wrist as I’m cleaning her chest, holding eye contact with me. “What is it, Liv?”

“I remember,” she says as her eyes fill with tears. My heart pounds in my chest as she reaches up to touch my cheek. “I remember everything. Werewolves, Pinewood, my transition…I remember it all. I’m your mate,” she says with a small smile as a tear runs down her cheek.

“You remember us?”

“Yes. Us…everything. I remember it all.”

I nod and lean down to kiss her lips, which start to quiver. I pull back and wipe tears from her cheeks with my thumbs. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

“I killed him. Right?” she says as her voice shakes and she nods vigorously. “He killed our baby,” she says, releasing a strangled sob and grabbing her stomach. “I had to kill him, Ethan.”

I look up at Nick who gives me a thumbs up and a nod of confirmation. “He’s dead.”

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