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“Pack, family, new wolves, it is time to connect with your soul’s twin, your inner form freed.” Jenny lowered her hands. “It is time to shift.”
Whoops and cheers rose from the group and everyone started to strip. I’d been raised around shifters my whole life. I’d seen most of my classmates naked. I still wasn’t a fan of it. Probably because it tended to accompany something awful like gym class or naked tag or gods knew what else. When people started getting naked, it was my queue to leave. I didn’t need to be the only one in human form around a bunch of wolves.
“Go on, then,” Tyler said. “This is your chance to try. See if you can do it.”
“Are you serious?” I stared up at him. In the moonlight, his eyes looked silver and his handsome features were even more stunning. Of course they were. Of course the world’s worst human being would get all the attractive genes.
The sound of breaking bones, cracking and snapping sounded louder than usual in the silence of the evening. I winced, then forced myself to look Tyler in the eye. “Go shift with your family. Leave me be.”
“You don’t belong here,” he hissed.
“Yet, you’re the one delaying my departure,” I replied.
Howls exploded around me, echoing into the starry night sky. They were staggered at first, then came out unified as the pack synched up.
I turned away from Tyler to see that we were the only people in human form. The rest of the members present had shifted. With a single howl, a huge black wolf took off, bolting toward the woods. Ace’s wolf was guiding the others away, into the woods, where they’d run until dawn.
I expected to see all the wolves give chase. I even expected to see Tyler break down and join them. I didn’t expect to see two wolves linger behind, moving closer to me with careful steps.
“Julian, Kyle, nice to see you,” I said. “I suppose you’re stupid enough to follow this asshole around even when you’re in your mutt form.”
The wolves growled at me but didn’t advance. I tugged at my arm again, trying to pull away from Tyler but he held fast.Stupid shifter strength.
“Well, this has been fun, but as you see, I can’t shift. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave and never see any of you again.” I tried to pull my arm away again. Tyler’s fingers dug deeper into my arm and it started to hurt. I was going to have new bruises in the morning. “Tyler, you proved your point, now let me go.”
“I would love to let you go, but there’s a problem with that,” he said.
I was out of patience. “I’m done with your games. I get that you won’t have anyone to throw around anymore when I leave, but it’s time to move on. Buy a punching bag, join a gym, take up meditation. Do something else to get out these anger issues.”
“I wish I could. I wish I could do anything else but hold on to you right now. You’re pathetic but I thought just maybe, if you shifted, I could feel something other than disdain for you,” he said.
“Why start now?” I tugged at my arm again, just in case. Still stuck. “Look, we’ve had a good run. Let’s keep hating each other and end it.”
“When I had my first shift, I started feeling the pull but I ignored it. The more I ignored it, the worse it got. I thought for sure, it couldn’t be true. But then, every time I pushed you or hurt you, I felt the pain as if I was abusing myself. Fate is a cruel mistress.” Tyler shook his head.
“What the ever-loving fuck are you talking about?” Tyler had snapped. All these years, I thought he was just hateful. Turns out he was insane. Wonderful. I was so close to getting out of here and the crazy future alpha was going to be my undoing.
“Don’t you get it?” Tyler was screaming at me now.
For the first time since he grabbed me, fear gripped me, making my chest feel tight. I looked over at the two wolves standing next to us, awaiting orders from their leader. If they wanted to take me out, there was nothing I could do to stop them. I didn’t even have a hope of out running them.
“Tyler, please,” I whispered, trying not to rile him up. “Let me go.”
“I know you can’t shift, but I thought for sure you’d feel it. I guess this will make things easier for me to break.” He seemed to be talking to himself rather than me, but his tone was calmer now.
I waited, afraid to say or do anything that might result in my neck being snapped or a wolf’s jaw clamped down around an important artery.
Tyler grabbed hold of my chin, turning it so I was facing him. His eyes seemed to look into my very soul. “You are my mate.”
