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It only took a few minutes, but when he opened his eyes, he felt his solid mass wobble a bit as he stood on the bed and noticed everything in the room was sharper.Noah could detect movement downstairs and the rustling of the wind brushing against the trees outside.But most importantly, he could also detect the faint scent of Jade, his mate.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Ara stood glaring at him from the doorway and he moved to shake his head, but found it wasn’t that easy to move side to side.Noah glanced down at his paw and found a huge orange, black, and white paw gripping the bed after Ara’s outburst.

What…animal am I?

You’re a fucking tiger.How did you shift so fast?

Huh, a tiger.He tried to shrug at Ara’s question, but realized he couldn’t.

I felt a ball of energy in my body and concentrated on it, and when I opened my eyes…tiger.Now, I have to go and find Jade.

Noah paused after his first step.Wait.How the fuck am I a tiger?Jade is a red fox.

“The man who bit you first, he’s a tiger.I can only suspect because I haven’t tested your blood or his, but since his venom hit your system before Jade’s, your shifter form is a tiger,” Liv said.

Okay.

Noah realized how big he was when he hopped down off the bed and the floor shook with the impact of his weight hitting the ground.He winced and made sure that he didn’t damage anything as he maneuvered out the door, down the stairs, and past the furniture.It turned out to be a pain in the ass.Liv followed him downstairs, moving things before he could accidentally swish his tail into it.

Holy fuck.

Noah glanced around, looking for Axel.

Dude, a fucking tiger?You’re even bigger than I am.

Good.Now keep your hands off my mate or I’ll rip your throat out.

There were chuckles around the room, but Noah made it past the front door and nothing was standing in his way of finding Jade.He was about to take off running, but had no idea where Jade headed.

Kai, which direction did she go?

Southwest.

Thank you.I’ll bring Jade back, I promise.

***

Jade

Jade had woken up that morning, determined to run until she was far enough away from Noah and the assassins before she could find some place to rest.But everything hurt, from her head pounding to the bottom of her feet.

And as she ran, the constant pain made her movements slow.

This was the first time in her existence that she’d truly experienced a constant pain that wouldn’t disappear by her regenerative healing.Even being shot hurt less than walking through the pines in the mountains.

Her body temperature had dropped and although she hadn’t shifted back from her red fox to human, she shivered as the cold wind blew in from the west.

Maybe I should’ve gone to the east.Not as cold.

Somehow, Jade knew her pain and listlessness wasn’t due to anything other than Noah rejecting her.The pure disgust in his beautiful dark-blue eyes had told her everything she needed and only because she told him the truth behind his transition.

Sam.I forgot about Sam.How the fuck could I have forgotten about Sam?

No wonder Noah hated her.She’d done the one thing that she’d sworn over and over again to never do.She took his choice away from him.And on the nights they were alone in the cave or the tent, she’d heard his futile desperation at wanting to save his friend from his fate whenever he spoke of him.Noah had tortured himself with what-ifs and wondering what more he could’ve done.The same guilt that plagued her since she followed Liv’s instruction and injected her venom into his system.

You had no other choice.