Maisie

I heard her triumphant laughter as I slammed back into my body. My spine arched around a gasp as power flooded into me like a dam had broken.

It was raw and I felt us become something new. More. Better.

I must’ve been gone for mere seconds because when I resurfaced, Tessa was still on top of me and my face snapped sideways, blood spraying from my split lip as her fist connected with my cheekbone.

I blinked once, and my hands came up. My broken arm twitched violently. Then, with a sickening crack, the bones realigned themselves at impossible speed.

In time to wrap my fingers around her slender neck.

The triumphant light in her eyes sputtered and died, replaced with confusion. The call for my blood in the crowd fell silent. I could hear the wind, could smell the charring smoke of burning wood, the sweat, the lust, the blood. I could see Tessa’s aura, the silver halo around her body.

I stood, my gaze lowering to my body as I took note of how badly she had hurt me. My foot righted itself. My neck arched and cracked. My jaw shifted. My nose straightened.

Tessa was dangling by her neck, claws raking into my fingers as I held her above ground, barely paying any attention to her as she wheezed and sputtered. "What... is... wrong with you?"

I raised my gaze to hers. And I caught my reflection in her glassy obsidian gaze.

Where my eyes should have been pitch black like hers, like every other Lycan in this gathering, they were red.

Fascinating, I thought, tilting my head as I watched Tessa squirm uselessly in my grasp, choking and clawing as my fingers squeezed harder, crushing her neck.

Fur began to sprout of out her skin as she began to shift, the reek of fear leaking out of her.

She was scared of me. I hadn’t even touched her yet.

My Lycan purred in delight, and before she could finish her transformation, I hefted her up and slammed her into the earth.

She cried out, twisting and kicking to dislodge my grip. She lashed out and flung a handful of dust in my eyes and it stung, momentarily obscuring my vision.

And the second I let her go, a silver furred beast sprang up in place of her and pounced on me.

She was massive and easily thrice my weight, and when her powerful body slammed into mine, it was with the force of a falling boulder.

The sheer weight drove the air from my lungs as we crashed to the ground. For a heartbeat, I was pinned beneath her, her massive paws crushing my shoulders into the earth, her hot breath and dripping fangs inches from my face.

I might’ve panicked before.

But I knew the fight was still mine. I knew her shifting didn’t change the outcome or the fact that I was going to kill her.

I locked my arms around her thick, muscular neck. My fingers dug into fur and corded sinew. Then, with impossible strength, I twisted and flung Tessa off me.

She landed on her side and scrambled up swiftly.

I was already there.

Moving was strange. I merely had to think that I wanted to be in front of her and I already was.

Again, my Lycan growled behind my eyes.

I listened.

Tessa charged low and I slipped sideways, drove both hands down across the back of her neck like a hammer and she smashed face-first into the dust. The impact cracked the earth.

She roared and bayed, rising in seconds, and she charged again. I dropped lower, drove up under her center, and flipped her clean over me. She crashed onto her back. I was on her throat before she bounced.

Claws stretched out of my fingers and I slashed her throat.

Blood splayed across my face and I raised my hand to repeat it, but she curved suddenly, taking the blow with her forearm instead, protecting her neck.

Her claws raked arms. Pain was secondary to the ecstasy I felt.

Her maws opened to rip me in half, and I punched her muzzle, slamming her down into the ground.

She shook her head and tried to rise. I slammed her down.

She tried again. I slammed her harder.

The third time was slower. She was heaving, bleeding, backing away from me. I didn’t understand. It was almost too easy.

She wasn’t fighting back hard enough. No. She wasn’t strong enough to be a fitting match for me. I didn’t even need to shift to tear her down. "Pathetic," I spat, throwing her words back in her face.

She snarled and pushed back once more.

I giggled, almost drunkenly, and cracked my fist down her skull. The clearing inhaled sharply, but the sound was distant as I rode her to the ground, knee pinning her shoulder, and hammered down again and again, returning the favour of every beating she had given me.

She whined and bayed when I broke her shoulder and hind legs. Her beautiful fur was blood-soaked.

"That is enough," I heard the Queen rasp.

I ignored her. I was going to break Tessa. And then, I was going to beat the ever-loving shit out of the Queen.

The mere thought of it made me so giddy, I didn’t realize Tessa had stopped moving beneath me, until she started to shift back to her human form.

She was unconscious and naked where I straddled her, her bones broken and blood seeping from several gashes and injuries.

But the problem was, she was still breathing.

More, my Lycan demanded.

I raised my fist.

"Break!"

I brought it down.

"BREAK!"

Someone touched me from behind. I flicked him off easily. It might have been the official. I didn’t particularly care as I returned my vision tunneled back onto Tessa.

Still breathing. I had to take care of that.

Arms seized me from behind, hauling me off, and even then I fought like a beast, roaring, twisting, everything in me screaming to finish it.

They dragged me back anyway.

Tessa lay still, eyes closed, breathing shallow.

"May. It’s enough. You won," Soren said against my ear, holding me against his chest as I fought. "It’s okay. It’s okay."

My chest heaved slowly. My Lycan paused at the sound of the soothing voice. The red haze cleared from my sight enough to see that everyone was staring at me like I was something different.

Terrifying.

A woman ran into the ring, pulling Tessa off the ground, and her head lolled right into the woman’s thighs. When she raised her gaze to mine, I saw that she was an older version of Tessa.

I realized this must be Lady Graham, Tessa’s mother. Her eyes were hard and hateful, and it wasn’t hard to understand where Tessa got all of that foulness from.

"She yields," she spat at my feet.

I opened my mouth to ask if she needed me to correct her face, too, but my body suddenly doubled over.

A gasp tore out of me as I twisted in Soren’s arms, falling to my hands and knees on the ground. Violent convulsions took over my body and I twisted in the ground, body jolting uncontrollably.

Fire spooled from my gut and poured into my veins like acid. Fangs punched through my gums. My bones began to snap, realign, only to snap again.

I was shifting. And the agony was nothing like I had ever experienced. The fire was suddenly in my marrow, running along my spine, cracking my bones.

I was lifted off the ground again and pressed against a different chest. Quinlan’s.

"The duel is won," I heard Soren say somewhere above me. "And the matter of the succession is settled. I trust Lord Graham suffers no other grievances or doubts that I have made an excellent choice? If there is none, we are done here."

The Queen’s voice cracked across the gathering. "Watch your tone, boy. That silly demonstration hardly proves anything."

"A silly demonstration no one else has been forced to partake in, not once in our history." There was fury in his voice. "We will take our bride now. With your permission."

The last sentence was like a threat. He sounded like with or without her permission they were taking me.

Another wave of agony slammed into me. I cried out, my body seizing hard against Quinlan’s chest. A low, broken whimper escaped me.

The Queen’s voice came again, cool and imperious. "There are traditions to be followed with this business concluded. The consummation..."

Quinlan’s arms tightened around me as I convulsed again, a guttural sound of pain ripping from my throat.

Soren’s reply was edged with steel. "The safety of our Erasthai comes first. She is in transition. Look at her. Forcing the rest of your archaic spectacle now could kill her. We will get her through this shift and the bonding that follows in private, where we can protect her. Everything else can wait."

My claws dug into Quinlan’s shoulder without meaning to as another agonized moan came out.

"Take her."

The words barely registered before the world went black.