Page 76 of Knot Broken

“No…”

I was the one whispering that as her eyes flicked open. Silver, staring at the ceiling, as her mouth stretched wide, unable to make another sound. Just rapid, panting breaths, a faint whine that told me just how bad this was.

“Riley,” I said. “We need to find Riley.” Suddenly I wasn’t an adult anymore, but a scared kid looking for a grown-up to make the hard decisions. “Nadia⁠—”

Another curdling scream.

“Fuck… Nadia, c’mon, take a breath with me.”

I did just that, huffing theatrically, which was ridiculous in the face of what was happening.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

Ethan’s growl had me looking up, just in time to see Grey make for the door.

“I need…” His wolf was too close to the surface. “Gotta get out. Find Riley. Wolf too close. He wants⁠—”

“No!” The heartbreak in Nadia’s voice had my eyes snapping down. “No, no!”

Her hands raked at her chest, shredding her clothes and leaving red lines in their wake. I wrapped mine around them, forced to use every bit of my strength to stop my mate from hurting herself.

“Hey…” My voice was shaking badly. “Come back to me, Nadia. If you do, I promise we’ll do whatever it takes to stop this from happening again. Just push the wolf down for now and⁠—”

“That’s not what she wants.” Ethan stared at me, moving closer and then inspecting Nadia closely. “This is what she chose.”

“Not this.” My face crumpled then. “Not fucking this. Ethan, she’s in agony.”

“And I told you that would happen.” He shook his head, glaring at me for a second, then plucked her from my grip, setting her down on her hands and knees. Doing the same just in front of her, his hands were placed either side of hers. “You can do this, Nadia. You hear me? You were born to do this.”

“Stop!” I shouted, wanting all of it, everything, to just fucking slow down for a second. “You’re hurting her.”

We were hurting her.

Forced to just stand there, mouth hanging open, as her back curved upwards, every muscle twitching as the sick sound of muscles snapping and bones breaking filled the air.

“No,” I said. “No, no, no, no.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The first time I shifted, it was like a big exhale outwards and with that breath came the wolf. I was reborn in fur, seeing the world from a completely different perspective. Off running over the hills, the moon caressing my fur, as my haunches bunched, then propelled me forward. Whatever pain there was, it was gone in seconds.

But not for Nadia.

“Get it off her!” I growled, as the sound of the pump ticking caught my attention. “Take it off!”

Ethan didn’t move fast enough, so my hand shot out, closing around the metal box seconds later.

Just in time for Riley and Candy to arrive.

“Don’t touch that!” Riley snapped, then dropped a bag down onto the ground to check Nadia over. “The only way is back to skin or through to fur, and the hormones will help with the latter.”

“She’s stuck!” Ethan snapped, his expression hard. “She’s fucking stuck.”

“We know.” Candy was much needed comedic relief most of the time, but right now the medical professional was in charge. “Let’s get everyone out of here.” No one moved. “If you want your mate to come out of this in one piece, you need to let us do our job, so fucking move!”

Feeling a rush of relief wasn’t the worst thing I’d experienced today, but it was damn close. I felt hot, too hot, once we stumbled out into the lounge room.

“That has to stop,” I said, knowing I was clutching at straws, but when they were all you had, that’s what you reached for. “It needs to stop now. Nadia can’t—” A guttural scream cut me off and that was the moment my eyes filmed over. Unshed tears were blinked back. “I’m not putting her through this. I’m not.”

“Too fucking late.” Ethan had gotten pissed with me many times but never like this. There was outright disgust there. “This was always going to happen. It’s what Nadia signed up for, and I’m pretty sure us taking off the minute things get tough isn’t the way forward. I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but I’m going back in there because if there’s any chance I can help…”