Page 72 of Anders
Asset E5.
But also Eliana Thornwood.Daughter of Alexander and Katherine.Born to the Silverleaf Pack under a full moon, marked for greatness by the alpha himself.
The two identities warred within her fevered mind—Etta the journalist, constructed through careful psychological programming, and Eliana the wolf shifter, her true self, buried but never fully erased.
I don’t know who I am anymore,she whispered, tears tracking silently down her cheeks.
You are Anders’s mate.His partner.And he will find you.
The words resonated in her soul, igniting something that felt like hope.
The bond was strong.And that meant he was close, right?
So close.
But as the day continued, Etta’s condition worsened.
The device at her neck had begun to burn, the skin around it inflamed and tender to the touch.Her shifts became more frequent and uncontrollable—claws extending and retracting, teeth lengthening into fangs only to recede minutes later, patches of white fur sprouting and disappearing across her skin.
Her body was tearing itself apart, caught between forms as the suppression chemicals finally surrendered their hold.With those barriers crumbling, her wolf was emerging chaotically.
Another memory surfaced, this one clearer than the others.
Her father in his magnificent wolf form, silver-gray and powerful, demonstrating the shift for her five-year-old self.Her mother, graceful and strong beside him.
The key,her mother’s voice explained,is to embrace it.Don’t fight the change.Your wolf is not separate from you—it is you.The two sides of one whole.
Her father shifted back to human form, kneeling beside her.The Silverleaf Pack has a saying: ‘Two natures, one heart.’Remember that, Eliana.Your human mind and your wolf instincts are, not enemies to be conquered, but partners to be balanced.
Two natures, one heart,Etta repeated aloud.
She’d been fighting the shift, terrified of losing herself, of the wolf taking over completely.But what if that fear was exactly what was causing the chaotic transformation?What if the answer wasn’t to resist but to embrace?
The device at her neck gave another vicious pulse, as if sensing her intentions.Pain exploded through her nervous system, momentarily blinding her.When her vision cleared, Etta made her decision.
No more running.No more hiding—not from Chimera, not from the pack.
Not from herself.
With trembling hands, she reached for the device, fingers tracing its outline beneath her skin.It was hot to the touch, burning as it malfunctioned.
I am Eliana Thornwood,she said aloud, her voice growing stronger with each word.Daughter of the Silverleaf Pack.Mate to Anders Hamilton.
The pain intensified, but she breathed through it, focusing on the mate bond, on the pull toward Anders.
I reclaim myself,she continued, the wolf inside her responding to the declaration.My body.My mind.My choice.
Something shifted inside her, a realignment so profound it seemed to alter her at a cellular level.
The programming that had controlled her for so long frayed and snapped like rotted thread, powerless against the force of her will.
Etta—now also Eliana—threw her head back and howled, the sound more wolf than human.The shift, when it came, was excruciating but clean—a complete transformation rather than the partial changes that had plagued her for days.
Bones cracked and re-formed.
Muscles stretched and realigned.
Fur, pure white like her mother’s, sprouted across her body.
