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The burning concentrated in her jaw—her teeth aching as they tried to lengthen. Her spine contorted, her bones seeking new alignment. Her fingernails stretched painfully in their beds, fighting to become claws.

"Subject shows accelerated response to Compound W-47," Dr. Sonya noted, her voice detached. "Initial transformation markers appearing within forty seconds of administration."

Maya screamed as her ribs began to shift.A wolf. They were forcing her body to become a wolf with whatever drug they'd given her.

"Heart rate 185 and climbing," Dr. Sonya continued, glancing at the monitors. "Blood pressure elevated but within acceptable parameters."

Maya's vision sharpened, the white color of the room intensifying unnaturally. Her canine teeth extended, cutting into her bottom lip. A whimper escaped—not entirely human.

Dr. Sonya nodded, satisfied. "Partial shift achieved. Dormancy theorem confirmed."

She abruptly disconnected the IV line, stopping the flow of the amber liquid. Maya collapsed against the mattress, her bones reluctantly returning to human configuration and her muscles trembling with exhaustion.

"Why..." Maya whispered, her throat raw from screaming.

Dr. Sonya prepared another injection, this one containing a milky white substance. "This will help you rest."

"No more," Maya begged as the needle pierced her skin. "Please..."

Darkness gathered at the edges of her vision. Maya instinctively reached for that strange connection in her chest—that tether linking her to Kieran. She pushed everything she had through it.

Find me. Please find me. They're turning me into something.

As consciousness slipped away, she felt an answering pulse of raw fury and determination through the bond. A promise wrapped in a growl.

Hold on, I'm coming for you.

Two days later, Maya's third injection of the day burned through her veins like liquid fire. Her back arched off the bed, her restraints cutting into her wrists as pain exploded across every nerve ending. The room blurred, then sharpened to such crystal clarity she could count the microscopic pores in the paint on the walls.

"Increased dosage showing accelerated receptor response," Dr. Sonya noted, her clinical detachment maddening as Maya's body contorted. "Partial transformation progressing deeper with each treatment."

Maya bit back a scream as her fingernails thickened and curved, not quite claws but no longer human. The sensation of her teeth elongating sent her tongue probing her mouth in horror. Her jaw ached with the pressure of accommodating her extending canines.

"Please," she gasped when the wave subsided. "What's happening to me?"

Dr. Sonya adjusted a monitor. "Your genetic markers are activating. Three days of treatment, and you're already showing remarkable adaptation rates."

Three days. Maya had been here three endless days filled with needles and pain. The thin hospital gown clung to her sweat-drenched skin. Her muscles trembled with newfound strength she couldn't control.

Each forced partial shift had left her senses more acute. The scent of guards outside her door. Water pipes three floors up. The electrical hum of security systems. Her world had expanded into an overwhelming sensory panorama.

The bite mark on her neck—Kieran's mark—pulsed with heat. Each injection seemed to accelerate whatever changes his teeth had started. She felt the connection to him strengthen, a tether pulling taut across miles, carrying echoes of his raw rage and fierce determination.

Dr. Greene, the senior physician, entered with a tablet. His expensive cologne hit Maya's heightened senses like a sledgehammer, making her gag.

"Blood work finally came back and confirmed it," he said, oblivious to her discomfort. "Dormant shifter genes. Fourth generation by my estimate, though diluted through human interbreeding."

Dr. Sonya nodded. "The heritage markers match our database. Her maternal great-great-grandmother disappeared from Silvercrest territory during the Border Wars."

"A Silvercrest's mate, taken by humans," Greene mused, examining Maya like a particularly interesting specimen. "Poetic that her descendant would return as the mate of the Silvercrest heir."

Maya's heart hammered. "I'm not?—"

"The mating mark disagrees." Dr. Sonya tapped the bite on Maya's neck, sending shockwaves of sensation through her body.

Greene lowered his voice, but Maya's enhanced hearing caught every word. "The High Council wants to know if she can fully transform. Her genetic activation could prove our recessive gene theory."

"We'll need higher doses." Dr. Sonya glanced at Maya. "Careful with the next round. Shifter with human cellular structure—unpredictable combination."