Page 114 of Untamed Fate (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 2)

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anything but Billy. I knew that somehow, he was responsible for all of this.

Jaxson steadied me, and warmth flowed from his hands. It mercifully

drove the haunting images of Billy from my mind and the nausea from my

gut.

“Good,” Jaxson half-growled. His praise and lingering touch sent a shiver

of delight along my spine. I hated that.

With a defiant snarl, I shook my hands out and wiped the tears from the

corners of my eyes with the back of my wrist. “Fuck. Does it hurt less after a

while?”

He shrugged. “Great transformations take pain. The first few times are

always the hardest, when every sensation is new and raw.”

I bit my lip and turned to gaze over the lake. I wasn’t sure what I was

searching for out there. A way out? Relief? Answers?

I watched the waves and cupped my throbbing hands.

Jaxson stepped up behind me, and his breath caressed my neck. Though

our bodies didn’t touch, his heat still warmed the skin beneath my clothes.

My neck flushed, but I didn’t move away.

He pressed his cheek against my hair and whispered, “Eventually, the line

between pain and pleasure blurs. It becomes a symbol of your power to

transform both your body and mind. To become something new.”

His fingers slipped from my shoulders and ran down along my arms. His

touch was so light, it felt electric, and I was certain that he sensed me

shivering beneath his fingers. My control fading, I pressed my body back

against the hard warmth of his.

His fingers continued drifting down my bare forearms until they came to

rest on the back of my hands. Then, with an agonizingly gentle motion, he

gently traced his fingertips backward from my claws, along my fingers, to the

backs of my hands.

My claws slowly retracted, slipping inside my body, and I shuddered.

“Did that hurt?” he asked, low and gravelly.

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