Expecting the worst.
If only the witches had been successful in searching for a potion to counteract the moon madness, if that’s what will do it. If only they’d found the cure. Months of work and research and no one was any closer.
It’s too late to help Grayson.
The boy who came out of nowhere to rescue me slips away. In his place is the wolf. This form is much larger than a natural one, bulky in the shoulders and pure black with only a small slip of tawny near his chest.
I can’t look away.
I don’t want to.
Something snaps in my chest and releases a small bit of pressure. There’s no loose fur or flaying skin. There are no red eyes or foaming mouth. Only the wolf and Grayson tucked somewhere inside of it, getting his bearings in this new form.
“Wow.” The word slips out of me.
The moment stretches, stitched together with tension and awe. This is the closest I’ve ever been to a bitten wolf, and to be there to watch his first time shifting…
It’s impossible to put it into words. I swallow compulsively as a tight grin stretches my lips for real.
“Hi, Grayson,” I whisper.
It takes a moment longer to realize I’ve still got my arm outstretched toward him, spanning the distance between us. His nostrils flare and he cautiously steps up to my hand. The tip of his nose brushes my fingers.
The intensity swells. My eyes slip shut and another long breath pushes its way out of my lungs. He bends to push the top of his head against my waiting palm.
It’s fine. Everything is going to be fine now.
The statement forms in my head as a growl lifts like punctuation. Then the pressure against my hand disappears and Grayson takes a step in the opposite direction, his lips peeling back over his teeth.
My eyes pop open in time to watch him snarl and snap in the air where we’d touched.
“Grayson? Are you okay?”
Self preservation kicks in. I skitter backward, kicking my legs for speed, clenching the cleaver but I can’t bring myself to swing for him. A single bound closes the distance and he lunges, biting. His teeth clamp down on my forearm, lifted in time to block my face, to protect me.
Agony blots out everything else. His teeth shred through my skin and a scream tears loose. He clenches his jaw to hold on, shaking his head. I’m the prey.
I’m the one stupid enough to bank on a connection between us that has never existed.
Chapter
Five
Blood drips around his teeth, dark rivulets soaking my thighs.
A scream stretches without an end until my throat goes ragged and my voice cuts off without warning. There’s no pulling myself free. Not unless I want him to clamp harder.
I drop the cleaver.
His fangs slide through skin and muscle and send a wave of darkness across my vision.
Instinct driving me, I kick up against his belly, driving my knee into the soft parts. “Let go!”
My foot makes contact with his leg. Eyes narrowed, Grayson finally releases me with another snarl.
I clutch my shredded arm to my chest and scoot backward until I hit the wall.
He rounds on me the second I make contact. Another beat stretches out. My breath snags behind my teeth.