Chapter 29 - out of control

Jude

MATE.

GO BACK. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

CLAIM MATE.

MATE MATE MATE.

My wolf was screaming inside me, louder than it had ever been, clawing and snarling and demanding I turn around and go back inside. The animal wanted to finish what we’d started, wanted to pin her down and bite and claim and make her ours in every primal way. Rut her and breed her with our pup.

MINE. SHE’S MINE. GO BACK.

I stumbled away from her door, my hands clutching my head like to hold it together because I was feeling my head wanted to split from my wolf roaring. My whole body was shaking violently and I could feel my control splintering into pieces.

I’d almost shifted on top of her. My fangs had dropped when I’d kissed her neck to claim and complete the bond, my claws had started to extend while I’d gripped her hips, my eyes had changed and I was sure she’d seen them, seen the gold of my wolf, seen the monster I was desperately trying to hide from her.

And I’d run like a coward without explaining anything.

But I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t risk it. Because my wolf was not reasoning right now, too high in our mate scent, willing. I knew if I went back inside that cottage I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from claiming her completely without her understanding what that meant.

She was new to the paranormal world.

Her scent was everywhere, thick in the cold air around me. I could smell her arousal—sweet and intoxicating and making my wolf howl with need and I could smell her confusion too, and underneath that the sharp tang of sadness that made my chest ache even through the haze of lust.

Rosie had wanted me and she’d been ready but she was yet to know what she was in for and I’d left her alone, confused and hurt.

GO BACK. MATE NEEDS US. GO BACK NOW.

“I can’t,” I growled out loud, my voice already changing, becoming rougher and deeper. “She doesn’t know, she doesn’t understand, I can’t—”

My wolf was getting out of hand, I could beat my chest that I was able to control the animal in me but now, I had been deceiving myself. Maybe the animal side of me was also me.

But my body wasn’t listening, my bones were already shifting, my skin burning as my wolf forced its way to the surface. I couldn’t stop it, not this time, not when every instinct was screaming at me to go back and claim my mate.

I stumbled forward, away from her cottage, toward the trees that bordered the small neighborhood. I needed space, needed to get away before someone saw me transform.

The first crack of bone made me gasp, my spine bent backward and I fell to my knees on the cold ground, my hands digging into the dirt as my fingers began to elongate and curve into claws.

My clothes were constricting me, strangling me, and I heard fabric tear as my body expanded and changed. My shirt ripped across my back and shoulders while my muscles shifted and grew. My jeans split at the seams as my legs reformed.

Another crack and my jaw began to extend, my face pushing forward into a muzzle while fangs filled my mouth. My ears moved and changed shape, becoming pointed and covered in fur. My vision sharpened and colors shifted as my eyes completed their transformation to gold.

The pain stung as usual but familiar, a burning ache that radiated through every cell in my body as human gave way to wolf. My spine curved and reformed, my ribcage expanded, my internal organs shifted to accommodate my new shape.

Fur erupted across my skin—dark and thick—covering me from head to tail. My hands became paws with deadly claws. My clothes hung in tatters around me before falling away completely.

One final crack and the transformation was complete.

Where I had been kneeling moments before, a massive dark wolf now stood on all fours, easily the size of a small bear. Its golden eyes glowed in the darkness and its lip curled back showing dangerous fangs.

The wolf’s head turned back toward the cottage where our mate was, a low whine escaping its throat.

Mate. Want mate. Need mate.

But the human part—the part that was still me underneath the fur and fangs—pushed back with everything I had.

Not like this. She has to know first. She has to choose.

The wolf snarled, frustrated and angry and aching with unfulfilled need. It wanted to go back, wanted to scratch at her door until she let us in, and wanted to show her exactly what she was to us.

But I forced it to turn away, forced its powerful legs to move forward into the trees instead of back toward her cottage.

The wolf fought me every step, making my movements jerky and unwilling, but I was stronger tonight. Barely. Just barely strong enough to make it run away instead of back to her.

And then we were running—crashing through the underbrush, weaving between trees, paws pounding against frozen ground.

The wolf ran hard and fast, trying to burn off the desperate energy, trying to tire itself out so the need would fade.

But her scent stayed with me, clinging to my fur, filling my lungs with every breath.

Arousal and confusion and sadness, a mixture that made the wolf howl into the night, a long mournful sound that echoed through the empty woods.

Mate. Left mate alone. Wrong. Should go back.

I ran harder, ran until my muscles screamed and my lungs burned, ran until exhaustion finally began to dull the sharp edge of need.

But even then, even as I slowed to a walk and my wolf began to settle, I could still smell her, I could still feel the phantom weight of her body beneath mine. I could still see those wide blue eyes staring up at me in aroused confusion.

And I knew—I knew—that I couldn’t hide what I was much longer.

The truth was going to come out soon, whether I was ready or not.