CHOSEN BY THE CURSED ALPHA KING
“Come back to me.”
Something cracked.
It was in his eyes—a fracture of light behind the black, a flicker of blue like a star breaking through endless night.
My breath hitched.
“Maximus,” I said, barely breathing his name. “Please…”
The beast shuddered. His massive chest rose and fell with a violent tremor. His claws dug deep into the wet soil as if he were fighting an invisible war.
And then—
He began to change.
It started at his shoulders, a ripple beneath the fur like shadows pulling back to reveal light. Bones shifted, snapping and reforming with wet, brutal cracks. Black fur receded in waves. The monstrous snout shortened, reshaping into a jaw, a mouth, a man.