Page 90 of Shapeshifter

I was the one who would pay the price.

I was the one who had to bear it all.

In the darkness,drowning in pain, it would have been easy to let go of the last threads holding me to life. But the monster inside of me had a voice, too, and she refused to let me go. She circled death until it grew small and weak, until it found a space to hide deep inside me. She bullied it back and took over. She saved us both.

I gasped as the world flew back into existence, as my bones broke, one by one, shattering everything that made me me. I was on all fours, contorting as I gripped the carpet with fingers that no longer looked like fingers. Claws extended—sharp, terrifying-looking claws—as the monster I contained within continued to escape.

Shredded fabric hung from my body, leaving me exposed. Panicked, I froze, halfway between human and animal, confused and bewildered. I tried to speak, but only a guttural sound emitted from my throat.

“Keep going,” Amelia urged somewhere to my left. I tried to look, but my peripheral vision had changed, making me dizzy. “Listen to your heart beating. Reach out and see that you’re safe. You can do this.”

My heart was racing, but warm breath and a steady pulse to my side caught my attention. Familiar smell. Calm. Secure. No warnings of danger. My body relaxed, continuing its shift, a metamorphosis into something brand new. Hazel eyes at my eye level kept me focused on a singular point.

Sounds and smells exploded around me as though something had been unplugged from my ears and nostrils. I threw my head back, succumbing to the pain because of a vague memory that I wasn’t supposed to fight.

I fell back and let the other presence to the fore. The monster wanted out. I was too weak to stop it.

“No,” I tried to say, but my body moved against my will towards Dorian who was still holding my gaze when he really shouldn’t. My cry of warning came out like a snarl, but Dorian still didn’t retreat.

He waited while the monster inside of me pounced, tackled him, teeth on his throat. She, no,weshook him into submission. He let it happen, those reassuringly calm eyes reaching us both. Suddenly, the monster wasn’t a monster anymore, more like a purring kitten as she nuzzled at Dorian’s neck.

Dorian was ours, I reminded her. And she liked that. She nudged him then lay next to him, curling up against the length of his body. He pressed his chin against our head for a moment, but we were home, and everything would be okay. We made it. At last, something had gone right.

In the following silence, a sound outside the room distracted me. An appealing scent came through, and the monster was alert and hungry all at once.

My parents.

I couldn’t stop the wolf from racing at the closed door, bouncing against it, only to find a plate full of raw meat shoved in our face instead. The wolf was starved and happily fell to the meal, unable to care or differentiate between friend or foe, right or wrong.

We noticed that a man was standing too close to the plate. Nathan. We bared our teeth, warning him. He didn’t flinch, only stood there with a stern look on his face. “No,” he said firmly, and a shiver ran across our back.

No, the wolf agreed. Other scents came to us then, and we looked about the room. Evelyn chewed on her fingernails, watching me with wary eyes. Heddy and Stephen were gone, but their scents remained. Dorian lay on the floor next to Amelia who gazed at us in admiration. Her damp hair was stuck to her skin, and she looked exhausted, but she climbed onto her knees and came closer.

“She’s beautiful,” she said in wonder.

We backed up with a snarl, unsure of her scent. It wasn’t like anybody else’s. A liability, warned the wolf. When the wolf wanted to retreat, I put my foot down, forced her to stay while Amelia reached out and brushed against our ears. Immediately, a soothing sense of calm swept over us. The wolf relaxed, understanding I wouldn’t put us in danger.

“Thank you for surviving,” Amelia whispered. “You did it.”

So many scents in the room made everything overwhelming, so I focused on Dorian’s instead, the one scent that made me feel safe and happy.

“She made it,” Evelyn said in awe. “I can’t believe this worked.”

“She fought for it,” Nathan said. “She must be exhausted. Margo, if you can hear me, you need to sleep. You went through a lot, and your body needs to heal. Don’t try to shift back yet. We’ll bring you more food, but for now, stay in this form and rest here. Dorian will be with you until you’re ready. Don’t hurt him, please.”

“She won’t,” Amelia said. “She recognised him. Seriously, Nathan, we have a lot to talk about.”

“I’ll update everyone,” Evelyn said. “Then I’m going home because this was a lot to process.” She looked at me. “Just wild.” She nodded at Amelia. “You really are some kind of a witch, aren’t you?”

Amelia tensed.

“That’s so cool,” Evelyn said with a grin. She acted like she was going to touch me then thought better of it and left instead.

I headed back to Dorian, already feeling sleepy. I was warmer, but still not warm enough, and he felt cosy. He licked my ear before yawning.

Nathan looked to Amelia. “You went somewhere for a while, right?”

Amelia sat on the sofa and gazed at me. “We both met with my spirit guide. It was weird. But Nathan, she said this paid my debt. She called Margo a Guardian, said that the two of them would help the pack until the babe is old enough to lead the pack. But what baby? Jeremy’s? Yours? Theirs? She makes a habit of being just vague enough to drive me crazy. She said I won’t see her again. She talked about how a wolf spirit was waiting for a vessel, like that’s all we are. I don’t understand everything, but I know I won’t sleep tonight.”