Page 65 of Wolf Bitten

No.This was impossible.

I jerked my head down and saw thick hair, the color ofmyhair sprouting on my arms.

Not hair.

Fur.

My breathing quickened, and the world teetered around me. What had the witch done to me?

A loudcrack,followed by intense pain, had the edges of my vision blackening. The top half of my back tilted over despite me standing straight.

I gritted my teeth, my lungs wheezing. If those wolves got out from under the branch and attacked, I wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to fend them off, and worse, I didn’t know how to stop this. I tried to walk away to gain distance from the wolves, but my lower back broke and forced me to the ground on all fours.

Vomit burned my throat, tears poured down my face, and I whimpered. I couldn’t move, and eventually, the wolves would get me.

As if they’d heard me, the darker wolf inched out from under the tree, the trunk still on its backside.

My legs and arms shook. Then suddenly, my body shifted, repositioning itself. I inhaled as I watched my arms change shape and my hands turn into paws.

Wolfpaws.

What the fuck?

How was this possible? Raffe had told me that people were born supernatural and couldn’t bechanged. Yet, here I stood—onfourlegs. I’d have thought it was a dream, but the pain from the wolf attacking me woke me from my stupor.

This was real. Learning the how and why of it would have to come later … if at all.

Maybe now I could talk to my attackers and reason with them. Buthow? I didn’t know how to link.

After one last jerk, the dark-gray wolf freed himself from the tree. His overly musky smell indicatedmaleto me.

He snarled, the sound as loud as if he’d screamed in my ears. Then he charged, though slowly, with his back leg dragging a bit.

At least the tree had done something, but he could still kick my ass, especially since my blood was barely jolting in this form.

How was I supposed to fight him? Unsure what to do, I turned and tried to move away, my legs feeling funny as I adjusted to walking on four feet instead of two. My legs were unsteady for a few steps, but they soon started moving more naturally.

The presence from my chest now brushed my mind. In this form, it seemed familiar.

Maybe the presence had been this wolf all along. Had I been fighting the shifter inside me?

I leaned into the presence and imagined our minds merging into one.

My paws dug into the mulch, and I spun back toward the dark-gray wolf. He was injured—now wasn’t the time to retreat. Going on the offensive was my best chance of getting out of this trap alive, and I had to take it. Ihadto see Raffe again … even if I was in animal form.

Dark Gray snapped, and I watched as Light Gray bounded toward us. Even from my spot fifty yards away, I could smell her lighter musk scent. It reminded me of vanilla.

It was two on one, but the scent of copper wafted from her as well, telling me she was bleeding.

Getting my blood to hum would have helped me, but instead, the energy pumping through my blood seemed to push into the ground, which wasn’t shaking.

Dark Gray lunged. The power from my blood continued to flow outward, but a tugging sensation pulled on it as if I were caught on something. Like I was fishing in the mulch underneath me.

Could this night get any weirder?

My magic had distracted me. Dark Gray landed on my back, his claws ripping into the flesh at the base of my back while his tail hit me in the face repeatedly, blocking my view of Light Gray. I could tell where she was by her scent and sounds.

I tried to ignore the sharp sting and rolled him underneath me, and though his claws dug in deeper, I heard him exhale with all my weight on him.

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