Page 99 of Destined Mate

Bodey dropped beside me. “Callie! What’s happening?”

More and more warm spots flared in my chest, feeling like pockets of air but not gas. Was this how bubble wrap felt before you popped it? I tried to speak, but the words died in my throat as another loud howl echoed in my head.

I whimpered, clutching my ears, but that didn’t help. The sound was inside.I don’t know,I linked, unable to communicate any other way. Or I thought I communicated with him. With our link being so new and these strange sensations flaring through me, I could’ve been answering myself.

He rubbed a circle on my back. “Where does it hurt?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. My skin tingled, and I tried to scratch my arms, but they wouldn’t move. I was frozen in this position.My skin.

“Your skin hurts?” He sat upright, examining my body.

Not hurts.I breathed through clenched teeth.Tingles.

“Uh, Callie,” he said, his surprise filtering into me, adding more discomfort to an already strange situation. “Fur is sprouting over your body. That’s why your skin is tingling.”

Fur?

What the hell?

I couldn’t shift, so that shouldn’t be possible.

Then my bones cracked, and my spine felt as if it had broken in half. Pain swirled through my body, and I groaned as my stomach roiled. This was worse than when my ribs were broken, and my head was now resting against my forearms from the way my body had moved.

Something’s wrong.My vision blurred with unshed tears, and I tried blinking, but it didn’t help. The hurt eased, but I couldn’t move anything.

Bodey’s own fear added to mine. He said, “You’re shifting. The first time is always slow.”

Shifting. The word rang in my ears as another howl soared inside my mind, my wolf confirming it.

“Baby, I’m righthere,” he said, the last word breaking. Through our link, I sensed his own battle over watching me go through this. “Just know it.”

Despite our link, he was speaking out loud to me. I didn’t know why I noticed it, but it calmed me. Hearing his voice was familiar, unlike speaking telepathically, sprouting fur, and having my bones break.

I thought shifting didn’t hurt.I groaned, and another crack in my body echoed off the walls as a new wave of misery washed over me.

“It’s uncomfortable the first time, but it usually happens while we’re young before puberty sets in. You’re the only person I’ve heard of doing it first as an adult.”

He kept petting me, but his emotions swirled with mine. We were both helpless…clueless…powerless…and our emotions fed off each other’s.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway as my spine broke again. I yelped. What if I could never walk again?

The door swung open, and Samuel rushed in. He paused, then cleared his throat and asked, “What’s going on?”

Bodey snarled and moved around me, blocking my bare ass from Samuel.

For a moment, I relished the torture, focusing on that instead of thinking of the view Samuel had of Bodey and me naked and on the floor.

“What are you doing here?” Bodey snarled.

“I felt a new pack member, and then I heard a cry.”

Suddenly, the misery eased, and I could stand and lift my head. My body shook, and the swishing of fur shaking sounded all animal. I glanced at my arms—no,legsand found light-blonde fur the same color as my hair covering my body.

Bodey, I linked, my vision sharper.Am I…I trailed off, not believing what I was seeing.

He laughed as the tension from his emotions eased. “You’re a wolf!”

I glanced around, taking in the room in more detail. My vision had always been better than a human’s, but a dark room had always looked dimmer. Not now. This room looked as bright as if all the lights were on and the sun was shining in.

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