Page 8 of The Lycan King's Captive

His silver gaze was unwavering.

I didn’t feel crazy.

“Quickly, Doctor.”

Hardly aware of what I was doing, I sat up and pulled my T-shirt over my head. Dizziness assailed me, and I had to brace my weight on a flat palm for a second before I could work on my jeans. My fingers were clumsy on the button, and it took me a few tries before I managed to work it through the fabric. When I did, I collapsed on my back with floaters swimming in my vision.

“The clock is ticking, Doctor.”

I jerked my head toward him, a sharp retort on my lips, but he shook his head.

“Don’t speak. They don’t know I’m strong enough to use telepathy. I’d like to keep it that way.”

Questions buzzed in my head. Why was he in the cell? What had he done to make Roman beat him so savagely? Was I taking directions from another bad guy? Could he read my thoughts?

As I caught my breath, I waited for a sign he could hear me. But he remained still, his expression unreadable in his blood-streaked face.

That was all the reminder I needed to finish undressing. Fatigue dragged at my limbs, and my heart pounded in my ears, but I managed to toe off my shoes and wriggle my jeans down my hips. Despite his assertion that shifters took nudity in stride, my cheeks heated as I removed my bra and panties. Damp basement air touched my sweaty skin, reminding me how grimy and unkempt I was, and it somehow made everything worse. A dollop of humiliation on top of the uncertainty and fear.

“Look at me.”

He didn’t give me time to dwell on my nudity or descend into doubt. In the space of a heartbeat, his eyes went from silver to yellow, and his voice in my head throbbed with power. “Forgive me.”

I frowned. What did he—?

“CHANGE.”

My back bowed off the mattress.

And then my body caught fire.

4

CYRUS

The shift took the female fast. Her slender body contorted, her hips lifting as her back arched and the tendons in her neck pulled taut. A short, mangled screamed ripped from her throat.

I tensed, but there was no way for me to reach her now. Nothing I could do to help her, either. I’d given her wolf a direct command. She didn’t know it yet, but her inner beast had no choice but to obey.

She slammed onto the mattress, her pink nipples stabbing the air as her chest heaved. Her head tipped toward me, her eyes unseeing. There was a brief, shivering second, and then her skin bubbled. Ripples flowed down her arms and legs and across her face, the flesh appearing to boil like water on a stove. Her body swelled, her limbs puffing like someone was inflating her from the inside.

Bones cracked—pop, pop, pop—the sound like firecrackers on the Fourth of July. For a split second, her eyes focused, and utter terror showed in her expression.

She wouldn’t hear, but I spoke to her anyway. “Stay with me, Doctor. I know it hurts, but stay with me.”

There was a long, thick moment. Then the transformation began in earnest. More bones cracked. Her joints bent at the wrong angles. Skin slid and reformed. Her jaw bulged. More pops echoed around the basement. A wet gurgle emerged from her throat.

Guilt twisted my gut. I wasn’t responsible for this, but it didn’t matter. Worse, I was locked in a cage and helpless to do anything but watch.

She heaved onto her side as her face elongated, her nose growing black and then forming into a snout. Chocolate-colored fur sprouted across her body and quickly covered her skin. Her dark hair shrank into her skull as her human ears slid and reshaped themselves. For one sickening heartbeat, her ribs were exposed, the meat between them red and raw. Then the flesh shifted, bone and muscle sliding into place.

More pops. More fur. Her fingers withdrew, forming into furry paws with black pads and curving claws. Her jaw opened, showing a long, pink tongue and sharp canines.

Her eyes were the last to change. The green lingered…and then brightened to a glowing gold.

The agony clouding the air dissipated, leaving a deep, solemn quiet.

And where a woman once lay there was now a panting werewolf with glossy dark fur.

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