Amber

One moment I was looking into Devon's eyes, adjusting to the rush of connections in my mind but still feeling peaceful and well in spite of them, and the next my body was flooded with agonizing nerve pain, like the feeling of getting shocked by electricity or hitting a funny bone, but so many, many times worse.

I—who had become so accustomed to silently enduring pain—could not hold in my shriek, and then there was a snap as something broke, or maybe disconnected in my leg.

"What's wrong?" Devon, entirely naked, asked as he dropped to his knees beside me. "What's wrong baby?"

His voice was full of desperation, and I wanted to give him answers, but I had none to give. I didn't know what was happening.

Something else popped, and snapped, and I cried out again. "I don't know, Devon!"

Sarah, already in her snowy wolf form, was beside me. "Devon, is she shifting?"

"She can't be, she's human."

Somewhere beyond the pain, as my body continued to crack and stretch and dislocate, I heard them talking to each other inside my mind. Could everyone hear them or—

My entire hip wrenched in the wrong direction and I wailed something incoherent. This hurt, more than anything.

Doctor Mansard was with me as well, in his human form and as naked as my mate, although I couldn't even care in that moment. Devon supported my weight against him as my body shuddered and cracked.

"What's happening to her?" Devon asked, his anger bordering on desperation, although I could feel it was rage at his own helplessness, not at anyone in particular.

The doctor looked at me carefully. "It looks like a late shift," he said slowly, "but it shouldn't normally hurt this much."

"She's a human," Devon snapped.

"Is she though? The heat meds worked on her, and her body is clearly trying to shift."

Between agonizing pains, I met Devon's eyes. "See? I told you your bite mark turned me into a werewolf."

"Baby, please..."

I tried to give him an apologetic half shrug, but I was stopped by a pain ripping through my spine—my spine!—as it felt like it readjusted itself.

"It's all up to the luna I'm afraid, Alpha. Like everyone, she needs to master and control her wolf."

"I don't have a wolf!" I snapped.

"You must, or you wouldn't be shifting. No one can shift without an animal or high-level magic training," Doctor Mansard insisted.

I growled at him, but was cut short by another pain.

"You're her mate, Alpha. No one can do more for her right now than you. Stay beside her and help her. I'll be nearby just in case."

Devon swept his gaze over the gathered onlookers. "All of you, leave." Everyone who had been watching dashed away, leaving the two of us alone in the clearing, although a few wolves moved through the dark shadows of the nearby trees.

My body continued to crack and writhe, and Devon continued to help me. His eyes flashed gold in the moonlight with his wolf's desperate helplessness. He muttered words and tried to soothe me with his touch, but unlike with the heat situation it offered comfort but no relief.

It felt like I was suspended in agony forever.

"I can feel your wolf, Amber," Devon said, his voice full of shock.

"My wolf? I don't have a wolf."

"You do, and I can feel her. If you can find her, she'll help you. Please, try."

All I could focus on was my body disjointing itself and I couldn't feel anyone or anything else inside me.

"Please, shift, I know you can do it," he begged, but it didn't even really feel like he was talking directly to me. As if waking up, something was there, a part that desperately adored and wanted to please him above all else.

And his voice in my mind and the sound of his heart frantically pumping and his breaths were the only thing I knew. The sound of my own agonized cries and my shifting bones and the sounds of the night forest faded into the background.

"Just focus on your animal, love, and let her pull you through this. Please, baby, I love you and I can't live without you again."

"I love you, too," I said even while I groaned in pain and tried to do what he said.

Fleeting memories of dreams of running through the forest with Devon filled my mind. I tried to focus on how it had felt to be a wolf. It still hurt, but finally my body began to shift in an orderly way. After long minutes of the torture, I lay on the ground, shaking in exhaustion and shivering with remembered pain.

And somehow covered in fur.

Devon ripped off the shreds of clothing that were still hanging off of me, the beautiful dress I'd found utterly destroyed, but I couldn't bring myself to care. He shifted and lay beside me protectively, his body keeping me warm through the shock of what I had experienced.

It made no sense, but at the same time it made perfect sense, but I was too weary to sort it out. I could not bring my body to move, lying there on the hard ground.

Eventually, I drifted off to sleep.