Page 35 of Promise & Artem

What fresh hell was this?

Promise made a curious sound and moved down his body, her warm nose running along his skin and over every section of his body that had been injured. She snuffled at his leg and then moved up the other side of his body, stopping near his head where a headache had been blooming but had since healed.

Probably had had a concussion or brain damage, or both.

Thankfully, her healing venom was magic.

Painful magic.

She let out a soft bark which sounded like yes he can shift.

“You’ve got twenty more minutes,” his mom said.

Damn it.

Promise leaned over him again and licked his cheek, touching her nose to his, and then she padded off.

“She’s going to shift,” his mom said. “You’re doing great honey. Just a little bit longer.”

Easy for her to say. She wasn’t being eaten alive by fire and brimstone.

He clenched his hands as a wave of heat and pain mixed together rolled through him. He wanted so much to shift.

Cool hands touched his fevered cheeks and he opened his eyes to see his beautiful mate leaning over him once more, but this time she was human.

Her eyes were luminous and filled with concern.

“Just a little while longer. You’re almost fully healed. Honestly, I thought I was going to have to bite you again because your injuries were so…” her eyes filled with tears and she sniffled. She pressed her forehead to his and he felt the splash of her tears on his skin. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

He heard his parents leave the room.

Everything in him ached, but mostly he just wanted to hold her.

He couldn’t wait until he could.

Promise ran her hands over Artem’s heated skin once more to ensure he was fully healed before she let him shift. The final healing would occur as his body shifted into his minotaur, the venom disappearing with the shift so he wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

When she was sure he was healed, she patted his cheek and waited for him to open his eyes. When he did, she said, “You can shift now.”

He snarled for a moment and then he shifted.

She scooted back as he changed, his legs turning to those of a bull with thick hooves, dark fur, and a long tail. His upper body widened and bulked with muscle, dark fur flowing everywhere. His arms were heavy with muscles and even his hands changed into larger ones with fewer fingers. As his head changed into that of a bull, with scarlet eyes and huge horns, he rolled to his kneesand exhaled loudly through his nostrils, and then he rose to his feet with a bellow.

She stared up at him in shock.

The only time she’d ever seen a minotaur was in drawings since they were mythical creatures. But the male before her was no myth.

And he was at least seven feet tall.

He swung his head down to look at her, his eyes practically glowing.

Then he offered her his hand and she took it, letting him pull her gently to her feet.

“He can’t talk in that form,” his dad said.

Promise leaned around Artem to see him in the doorway.

Axtyn smiled. “He’ll be in his form for a couple of hours. I take it everything is all healed now?”

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