Page 106 of What a Wolf Demands

Sweat beaded Lizette’s brow. Pressure built in the room, the air growing thick. Energy licked against his skin.

By the desk, Max watched his wife, a look of worry and desperation on his face.

Same, Dom thought. Damn if he didn’t feel the same.

Lily moaned, and his heart started to pound.

She opened her eyes and her mouth, her jaw hanging open as if it pained her. Which it most certainly did. The face was one of the first parts of the body to Turn.

Lizette jumped up and spread her arms, motioning everyone back. Then she looked at Max and snapped, “Scissors.”

He knew what she meant. She needed to cut away Lily’s clothes before her changing body ripped through them. Most wolves stripped before a Turn, if only to save their wardrobe. Even so, it was possible to Turn fully clothed. For a first Turn, however, even the brush of air on the skin could be painful, the pressure of tearing fabric excruciating.

Max rounded his desk, a pair of scissors in his hand.

“I’ll do it,” Dom said, grabbing them and going to Lily. If anyone was going to help her through this, it was him.

She didn’t seem to notice his presence. She was too caught up in her private agony for that. His heart skipped beats as she doubled over, her arms wrapped around her middle like she had a stomachache. A low whine rose in her throat. The skin on her arms continued to bubble and ripple.

“Hold on, baby,” he murmured as he lifted the bottom of her shirt and snipped a neat line up the fabric. He worked fast, cutting away her shirt and bra.

She moaned loudly and started to pitch forward.

He caught her and lowered her to the ground, then rolled her to the side so he could unbutton her jeans and cut those, too. He was careful to keep the blades away from her skin, snipping quickly as she started to writhe.

She turned her head, revealing a mouth full of sharp, elongated teeth. Fur sprouted across her face, and her eyes flickered between green and otherworldly blue.

He started to touch her, then withdrew his hand. She wouldn’t want that now.

She went to all fours, her pale body trembling. Her nudity was an afterthought—barely an issue among a roomful of shapeshifters. Most of the pack had seen each other naked hundreds of times. Modesty was impractical when you spent half your life on four paws.

Lily’s back arched, and her spine bulged, stretching the skin so tightly it went translucent.

Pop!

A bone burst through the skin, bright red blood streaming in thick lines down her flanks. A series of pops rang out as individual vertebrae punched through her skin, shredding flesh and spraying blood.

He stumbled back, his head spinning.

A firm arm went around his shoulders, steadying him, then Remy said, “I got ya, buddy. Deep breaths. She’s okay.”

Dom let his friend hold him up, another wave of gratitude washing over him.

On the carpet, Lily’s fingers swelled like sausages, the skin turning purple before fur raced across them like a gruesome movie played in fast forward. More fur sprouted on her back as her arms and legs reshaped themselves, joints popping and cracking.

Nausea rose in Dom’s stomach. It wasn’t the sight that bothered him. He’d seen more transitions than he could count.

No, it was witnessing his love in pain and being completely helpless to stop it.

Lily’s rib cage expanded. She screamed long and loud. The sound climbed—higher and higher until it transformed into a wolf’s howl.

Dom’s heart picked up speed.

Fur covered Lily’s body, which was no longer stuck in the gut-turning stage between human and wolf.

Oh no, she was all wolf now—a magnificent, deadly creature twice the size of her wild cousins, the gray wolves.

Like a newborn colt, she struggled to her feet, her powerful body covered in rust-colored fur.

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