Chapter 20: : Chapter 20

Everything began moving at high speed as Jaxson hounded his contacts for information and we grabbed supplies.

It turned out that Alessandro il Mago was a wealthy art collector and mage of middling skill. While he reputedly kept a large staff, no one answered the phone. An ominous sign that meant we were headed to la città che muore for a house call and going in blind.

Forty minutes later, I got the chance to travel by teleportation portal for the first time.

It was absolutely horrendous.

I clutched Jaxson tightly and screamed as the portal sucked us in and sent us spinning through a gray abyss.

My stomach lurched as I stumbled out of the portal and staggered halfway down a set of stone steps. Gasping for breath, I bent double and braced my hands on my knees as the world—and my stomach—continued to spin.

“That was horrible,” I muttered. “Like riding the teacups at a carnival.”

“Far better than a nine-hour flight to Rome,” Jaxson said coolly.

I’d only been on a plane once, and an international flight with movies and cocktails seemed exciting and far less nauseating than being tumble-dried in some sort of magical netherworld.

When I was finally sure I wasn’t going to puke, I righted myself.

Dark, bestial shapes loomed out of the moonlit forest around us. My pulse quickened, and I spun about. The screaming face of a hideous giant stared back at me.

I yelped and caught my foot on the stairs as I staggered away. Arms flailing, I landed on my ass on the stone steps. Pain shot through my tailbone, and I cursed as I slapped a hand to my butt.

Jaxson softly chuckled, and blood flushed my cheeks as I got a better view of the screaming stone face. It was a grotesque sculpture of an ogre’s head. Stairs led up to its cavernous open mouth—apparently, the exit of the portal. It had two stubby teeth and hollow eyes, and its expression was contorted by rage.

I surveyed my surroundings.

A low mist covered the ground, and statues loomed up out from the trees around us—dragons, lions, elephants, and even gods. I recognized them and what they were now, and yet I still had to fight down my instinct to run. It was possibly the creepiest place I had ever been.

“What’s all this?” I whispered.

The moon glinted in Jaxson’s eyes. “Welcome to the sacred wood, garden of monsters. Don’t worry, it’s safe at the moment.”

The “at the moment” clause rekindled my nerves, and I wrapped my arms around myself as a light mist chilled my exposed skin. At least I’d brought a jacket. “What are we doing here?”

“This is the closest portal to the mage’s tower. Amal will meet us soon, but I wanted to get here early so you had a chance to shift and get accustomed to your wolf form.”

My stomach dropped. Shifting hadn’t been part of the plan. “I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“I’m sure your wolf is.”

, the wolf voice in my mind said.

I swallowed hard. “Is it necessary?”

“According to Amal, the mage’s tower is in a tiny village without car access. We’ll need to head overland through the woods, and we’ll be faster and stealthier if we travel as wolves. You also need to know what it feels like to shift and how to change back. The transformation can be triggered by anger and fear, and the worst possible outcome would be for you to shift in the midst of danger.”

I was definitely ready for this.

I shook my head and lightly rested my fingertips on his muscled arm, pleading with my touch. “Jaxson, no. The first time I shifted, I passed out from the , and I’ve been exhausted all day. How can I face the sorcerer after going through that again?”

He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Because I’m here. I’ll guide and help you through the pain. Most wolves wouldn’t go through their first shift without their alpha near.”

Jaxson was so close that the scent of his body overwhelmed my senses, and each breath I took sent liquid heat pooling in my core.

I licked my parched lips as a queasy sensation overtook my body. “So you’re my alpha now?”

“Yes.”

No, I didn’t like that one bit.

, said the wolf voice in my mind.

didn’t help. I didn’t trust it, whatever the monster inside of me was. My heartbeat kept accelerating.

“It’ll be okay,” Jaxson said as he placed his hands on my shoulders. “You can’t be afraid of your wolf. You need to work together.”

I shivered under his touch. “Work together? Aren’t we the same?”

My eyes went wide with surprise. It wasn’t a part of me. It was like a completely different being. “I don’t think I can deal with this right now.”

“This is important. You need to be ready.”

My palms felt as clammy as a dead fish, and my gut knotted even as I nodded consent. “All right, fine. What do I do?”

He unslung a small bag from his shoulder and laid it at my feet. “For your clothes.”

My stomach plunged, and I gave him an apprehensive look.

“I’ll turn away, but you’ll need to take my hand when you’re ready so that I can help guide you through the transition.” He turned his back to me to give me privacy.

My mouth was as parched as the Arizona desert, and my heartbeat pounded in my chest. Unable to speak, I nodded, then tentatively began unbuttoning my shirt and listened for any sound of movement.

All was still.

Jacket, boots, jeans, bra, and panties—I dropped them one by one into a pile until I was clothed only in shadow and soft moonlight.

I crouched down and unzipped the bag. There was a pistol with a silencer packed in there, plus three clips of ammunition. Water. A few snacks. The oddity of the situation made me almost laugh. I was completely naked, crouching in a garden of stone monsters, prepping to turn into a wolf, and then, if I got lucky, find and murder a blood sorcerer. My life had gotten so strange, so quickly.

I stuffed the whole lot of clothes into the bag, and then, after a deep breath, I stood and wove a dress of shadows around me. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

“Take my hand,” Jaxson said, his voice strained.

I turned around and stepped up behind him. My stomach spun. I was cloaked in shadow, but I was still naked and only inches away from Jaxson Laurent.

He held out his hand, and I clasped it. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not,” I snapped.

“Is your wolf ready?” he asked.

“She says yes,” I snarled.

“Good. Your wolf will know what to do. This time, let her come all the way forward and take over. I’ll slow things down and push them along where I need to. It’ll be easier every time.”

“Oka—”

The monster inside slammed against my chest. The breath burst from my lungs as my ribs erupted in agony. Doubt strangled my thoughts. I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t a werewolf. I was just a girl from Wisconsin way out of her depth.

I fought back.

the wolf voice snarled.

I gritted my teeth.

Jaxson’s voice brushed over my skin. “It’s okay, Savy. Let her out. You’ll still be you. It’s time.”

I screamed in protest and arched my back as the wolf inside took control. Hair ripped across my bare arms and legs, and I dropped to my knees. My skin stretched and my tendons strained as my muscles writhed. I cried out in agony as I dug one clawed hand into the earth and the other into Jaxson’s palm.

The alpha turned and dropped to a knee beside me. He pressed his free hand into the small of my back, and his power sent wave after wave of relief through my body. His touch was warm and cold at the same time and felt like the ocean rolling across my skin.

I shivered in delight as much as I shook in pain.

The scent of the forest around us mingled with his signature, and in my daze, I couldn’t tell one from the other. My skin was more sensitive than it had ever been, yet somehow, I couldn’t feel where his hand stopped and my own skin began.

For a moment, we were one together beneath the stars—Jaxson, the wolf, and me.

His hands held me steady as I pitched and bucked, and his power drove through me, pushing me forward to the end. I gasped as my spine cracked and fur erupted around my back. And finally, sore and spent, I staggered forward on four clumsy paws and howled—a long, mournful cry that echoed with relief and release, agony and ecstasy.

The world was new.

My human senses paled in comparison to my out-of-this-world wolf perception. Hundreds of strange and exciting aromas hung in the air. Some I could pinpoint. Mushrooms. Moss. Different types of trees. Others I only had a vague idea of.

Suddenly, I had my nose against the ground and was sniffing. Shock rolled through me. I didn’t have control.

I was supposed to think differently, but wasn’t I supposed to be in control?

Apparently not. I was out of the driver’s seat, and someone else was steering.

Fury and resentment boiled up inside of me, and I forced the head of my body up—but it went right back down as the wolf mind took over again.

, the lupine voice snapped.

Jaxson crouched down beside me and held out his hand. “Hello, beautiful creature.”

I sniffed it. Or more to the point, the wolf in control made me sniff it. A part of my soul withered with embarrassment, but the rest was filled with wonder as hundreds of aromas raced up my nose.

His scent had a clarity that I’d never imagined possible—the deep, earthy aromas of his skin and the salty and intoxicating depths of his sweat. His scent told me more than I’d imagined possible. His strength. Virility. Power. Status. I could barely interpret the information flooding into my mind.

Before I could gather my thoughts, I was trotting over the grass toward a sculpture of a stone elephant. With every part of my soul rebelling, I seized control and turned to the left—or at least I tried to. Instead, I stumbled and landed snout down in the grass.

, the wolf voice growled.

Jaxson laughed. “Four legs takes a little getting used to.”

It wasn’t the four legs I was worried about. It was the in control.

I didn’t think I’d get used to that thought. How was I even supposed to think of myself now? We were sharing a body—I saw what the wolf saw and felt what she felt. But was walking or was walking, or were walking?

My mind spun in confusion, but the wolf’s voice came through.

Fat chance. I was tired of others ruling my life.

Jaxson began unbuttoning his shirt, which immediately transfixed my—well, collective attention. “I’m going shift now, too. Amal will be here soon, and we’ll need to hurry as fast as possible. Normally, I would want you to have days running in the woods to get used to your new form, but we can’t afford that luxury. Our clock is ticking.”

Dread weighed down on me. What would we find at the tower? Alessandro il Mago or a corpse? The Soul Knife or the sorcerer?

Nothing good, my instincts told me.

Jaxson pulled the shirt free from his shoulders and dropped it onto the ground next to my satchel. Then he unlatched his belt and met my gaze. We averted our eyes, and he turned his back to us.

I thought, brimming with annoyance.

Was it?

Damn. This was going to take some getting used to.

Jaxson slipped out of his trousers in the corner of my vision, and the wolf’s voice practically purred in my mind.

.

My heart froze as trepidation began to trickle through my veins. What would meeting Jaxson’s wolf even be like? When I’d met it before at the fair, it had been a thing out of nightmares.

Jaxson met my eyes as his flashed gold. “Don’t be afraid, pretty wolf. Just don’t run.”

Those were not the words I needed to hear.

With a low growl, he shifted.

His arms and legs bent and twisted, and silver-gray fur erupted across his moonlit back. His handsome face transformed into the muzzle of a beast, and sharp teeth sprang up, glinting white in the moonlight. He was enormous—two or three times my size, if not more, and rippling with muscle and power.

Then the beast that was Jaxson turned its glowing honey-gold eyes on me.

We cowered and began to back away over the grass as my wolf’s fear entwined with my own.

This was not Jaxson. It was a monster out of legend.

We backpedaled, then darted left beneath the legs of the elephant statue with no destination in mind.

Jaxson snarled and chased. He was past us in a second, and with a few deft moves, he cornered us against a giant statue of a seated goddess with an urn on her head.

The silver wolf growled, and I understood the meaning, almost as if it was speaking in my mind:

my wolf and I thought at the same time.

We jumped up onto the statue’s lap, and when Jaxson stalked forward, we leapt into the air and landed on the grass behind him. We ran blindly, pushed by fear and the desire to run.

A strange, tilted shape loomed out of the darkness—a stone tower house that was listing to the side. Then Jaxson was on us, trapping us between the house and the terrace wall.

, Jaxson commanded as he prowled forward, his unmistakable presence washing over us.

I said, but his power was a drug, compelling the wolf side of me to obey. Growling, she lowered her tail and sank down on all four paws. Then, with a noise somewhere between a snarl and whine, she bellied up.

I protested.

Jaxson lowered his massive head to sniff us, and then his bared teeth finally relaxed.

Resentment stewed in my chest.

I did like wolf Jaxson. Not one bit.