Page 120 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

The words send ice crackling across my skin—actual ice this time, not just the usual frost. Something is very wrong with my magic, but all I can focus on is the threat in those voices.

They’re hunting Lara.MyLara. The possessive thought triggers another surge of that strange power, and this time it brings pain with it—sharp, transformative.

New.

A sound builds in my throat, rumbling up from deep inside—not quite a growl, not quite a roar, but ancient and terrible, resonating through my chest like the crack of breaking ice, vibrating in my bones with a frequency that sets my teeth on edge.

Pain lances through me, sharp and bright, starting at my sternum and radiating outward.

My skin feels too tight, stretched thin as new ice over deep water, ready to shatter at the slightest pressure. Every breath burns in my lungs, the air itself seeming to turn to steam with each inhale, then freeze and crystallize with each exhale.

The magic builds to an impossible crescendo, ice and fire warring in my blood until I think it might tear me apart. Perhaps it already is.

“Ivrael?” Lara’s voice is barely a whisper, but it cuts through the roaring in my ears like a blade.

She reaches for me, her hand extended, warmth radiating from her palm—warmth I suddenly crave and fear in equal measure.

I stumble backward, away from her touch. Something’s happening to me, something wild, something I can’t control. The magic pulses beneath my skin like a living thing, no longer content to be contained in this too-small form.

I try to warn her away, but the words twist into an uncanny groan as my body rebels against itself.

My spine writhes and cracks, vertebrae grinding against each other. My bones begin to shift and crack as I’m torn apart and reformed simultaneously.

The sound that tears from my throat echoes off the maze walls—part scream, part storm wind howling through mountain peaks. It carries all the fury of a midwinter blizzard, all the loneliness of ancient ice fields.

My vision blurs and fragments, the world seeming to splinter before me. Through the haze of pain, I see Lara’s face—the mixture of concern and fear in her eyes sends another wave of that protective rage surging through me.

Must protect her. Must keep her safe.

The thoughts pound through my mind with each thundering heartbeat, driving the transformation faster, harder. The sensation is excruciating—yet underneath lies an odd sense of rightness, as if my body is finally becoming what it was always meant to be.

I welcome the pain now, embrace the change. Anything to become strong enough to keep her safe.

Mine to protect. Mine to save. Mine.

The thoughts spiral through my mind as my body continues its brutal metamorphosis, each crack and shift bringing me closer to what I truly am.

“What’s going on?” Lara moves toward me again, her face lined with concern that makes my heart clench even through the waves of pain wracking my body.

I hold up a hand to ward her off, but the gesture fails as I stare in horrified fascination at my own fingers. Ice-blue scales erupt through my skin like frozen flowers blooming, spreading up my arms in crystalline patterns that echo the frost fractals I’ve created my entire life—but these patterns are becoming my skin, transforming flesh into living ice.

Scales spread like a winter storm across my back, my legs, each new patch burning with cold fire, each new scale bringing fresh agony.

I watch helplessly as my fingers elongate, nails hardening and sharpening into translucent claws.

“Run,” I manage to grind out past teeth that are already sharpening, lengthening. “Get out of here.”

Before you see what I’m becoming. Before you witness the monster emerging from beneath my carefully constructed facade.

She should run. Anyone sane would flee from what I’m becoming. Instead, she takes another step closer, plants her feet, and lifts her chin in that defiant gesture I’ve come to know so well. The one that makes me want to shake her and kiss her in equal measure. “I’m not leaving you.”

My shoulders split apart with a sound like ripping paper as wings, massive and powerful, force their way through muscle and skin. Every nerve ending screams as new bones form and extend, as gossamer lattices of membrane stretch between them. They unfurl with a sound like silk over ice, catching the light in patterns that make my eyes ache.

Through the haze of pain and power, I see Lara pressed against the wall. Her face—Goddess, her face holds a mixture of horror and fascination that pierces straight through my changing heart. I try to tell her again to run, to save herself from what I’m becoming, but my face...

My jaw extends with a series of sharp cracks, teeth lengthening into daggers of pure ice. Each new tooth crystallizes with a sensation like lightning strikes of cold fire. My tongue shifts and changes, becoming something forked and alien in my reforming mouth.

The world seems to shrink around me as I grow taller, larger, my perspective tilting and changing until I tower over where Lara stands. She looks so small now, so fragile.

---