Chapter 2: The Transformation

A rogue took a heavy step toward me, mocking me, saying, “You won't be alive much longer to hide anyway.”

With a scream of defiance, I smashed the bottle against the stone hearth.

The suffocating smell of silver and raw herbs instantly filled the small cabin. Every drop of the suppression medicine spilled into the dirt, sinking into the floorboards.

The wolves froze, their smiles instantly vanishing as the aura in the room altered. Sarlen closed his eyes, whispering my name in utter despair.

I stood up straight; I could feel the poison fizzle out of my bloodstream.

Suddenly, a massive vibration moved inside my chest. A secondary, thunderous heartbeat that wasn't my human one.

Once.

Twice.

Then it slammed against my ribs like a battering ram.

A blood-curdling scream tore from my throat as my knees buckled. I hit the floor hard. An agonizing, blinding heat exploded through every nerve ending.

My fingers curled, my nails split open as sharp, dark claws forced their way out.

“Adele!” Sarlen wept.

My spine cracked, elongating violently. My jaw unhinged as my teeth sharpened into lethal fangs.

My bones shifted, breaking and rebuilding themselves beneath my skin in a matter of seconds. I couldn't breathe. The sheer power was suffocating.

My human scream warped, deepening until it became an earth-shaking, majestic howl that rattled the very foundations of the cabin.

The four rogue wolves backed away, their faces turning completely white.

“What the hell is happening?” One of them shouted, his voice cracking with sudden panic.

“She’s shifting! I thought she was a human!”

“No. Look at the light. She can't be!”

My vision blurred, clearing into a hyper-focused, predatory clarity. A blinding, golden light erupted from my skin, completely illuminating the dark cabin.

My aura was pure, radiant, and spun like living gold as it tore through my skin.

When the light faded, the silence in the room was absolute.

I opened my eyes. The world looked different; I could hear the rapid, thumping beats of the four hearts in front of me. I looked down at my front limbs. Massive paws covered in golden fur gripped the floorboards.

I felt immeasurable, ancient, and limitless power surge through every single muscle.

The lead rogue stared at me, his knees visibly shaking as my sovereign alpha pressure crashed over him, forcing him to his knees.

“Erias,” he whispered in horror.

I lunged.

The first rogue barely raised his arm before my golden form slammed into him. The sheer kinetic force threw him entirely across the room, shattering the wooden wall as he flew outside into the snow.

The second one charged at me, his claws striking my chest. A loud scrape rang out, but nothing happened. He stared at my fur in absolute shock. There wasn't even a single scratch on my skin. My Erias heritage invulnerability was real.

I bared my fangs, clamped my jaws around his throat, and threw him through the open doorway like a ragdoll.

The remaining two rogues turned and fled into the dark woods. I didn't even stop to think as my instincts took over. I chased them into the freezing night, my massive paws eating up the snow drifts.

One tried to shift into his wolf form to gain speed, but he was too slow. I hit him from the side, slamming his body into a massive pine tree until the wood cracked.

He fell into the drifts, unconscious.

The last rogue ran frantically, looking back over his shoulder. His face was entirely consumed by terror.

Good. He should be terrified. He had come hunting for a helpless, hidden girl, but he had found a predator.

I leaped, tackling him to the ground before he could reach the dense treeline. He rolled onto his back, gasping, looking up at my massive golden head.

“Please!” he begged, tears freezing on his cheeks.

I stood over him, placing a heavy, clawed paw onto his chest, crushing his ribs just enough to make him choke. “Who sent you?” The words formed as a deep, telepathic growl in his mind.

He shook his head wildly. “I don't know! We were just hired!”

“Liar.” I pressed down harder, my fangs inches from his face.

“Elder Eric!” the rogue shrieked, coughing. “Eric Queen! He paid us! He said the Erias girl was worth millions alive!”

A cold, vicious rage flooded through my veins. Eric. The name burned into my memory.

The rogue tried to crawl backward out from under my paw. “Why?” I demanded.

“Your blood!” His yellow eyes widened in fear. “The elders said your blood can transform standard wolves. It makes them unstoppable. Please, let me go!”

From behind, toward the cabin, I heard a low, weak groan echo through the trees. Sarlen.

My anger vanished, replaced by sheer panic. I lifted my paw, releasing the rogue. He didn't waste a second, scrambling into the shadows of the forest. I didn't care about him anymore.

I ran back to the clearing and collapsed into the snow beside our broken home.

The shift back was agonizing, as I returned to my human form. Cold air hit my bare skin, making me shiver violently as I gasped for breath.

“Father,” I choked out, crawling through the debris of the doorway.

Sarlen was still breathing, but his pulse was a faint, fluttering thing beneath his blood-soaked skin. I pulled his upper body against my chest, wrapping my arms around him to keep him warm. “Stay with me. Please, Sarlen, stay with me.”

His eyes fluttered open, widening in awe and sorrow when he saw my face. “You shifted… your hair. Your eyes.”

“I had to. They were going to kill you.”

“You're exposed now, Adele,” he whispered, a tear escaping his eye. “The spiritual network… every Alpha in the territory just felt a pure Erias shift. They will know.”

“I don't care about the territory. I am not leaving you.”

“Adele, listen to me…” His voice cracked, his hand falling limp against the dirt. “You have to run. Someone is coming.”

“Who?”

He didn't answer as his eyes closed completely, and his chest stopped.

Before a scream of grief could leave my throat, a deep, resonant sound rolled through the frozen forest. I heard a heavy, booming howl.

My blood turned entirely to ice. I looked out through the shattered wall of the cabin toward the dark tree line. I saw massive, dark shapes moving between the pines, surrounding the clearing with terrifying speed.

They looked like an elite pack, and right at the center of the formation stood a wolf larger than any I had ever seen. His fur was midnight-black, his build aggressive and towering.

He didn't attack or growl. He stood in the snow; his piercing eyes locked directly onto mine.

A strange, powerful heat flared up from the core of my bones, reacting to his presence. It was a magnetic, primal pull that made my soul shudder. It was terrifying.

The black wolf took one slow, deliberate step forward into the moonlight. I took an instinctive step back, pulling Sarlen’s body closer to me.

Then, the beast shifted.

I saw a tall, powerfully built man emerge from the shadows. His messy raven hair fell over a sharp, predatory face, and his midnight-black eyes locked onto me with an intensity that burned.

For one breathless second, neither of us moved.

Then, his gaze dropped to the blood coating my hands, my arms, and Sarlen’s chest. His jaw tightened into iron, a dangerous aura exploding from his frame.

“Who did this to you?” his voice vibrated through the clearing.

I should have run or been paralyzed with fear, but instead, that strange, electric pull inside my chest grew tenfold, screaming at me to move toward him.

The man stepped closer, and the dozens of massive wolves flanking him instantly lowered their heads to the snow in absolute submission.

Deep within my soul, my awakened inner wolf whispered a single, terrifying word.

Mate.