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The word 'mate' felt foreign on Maya's tongue yet somehow perfect. The bond between her and Kieran wasn't something she could graph or document in her research journals, but it existed with more clarity than any fact she'd ever known.

Thirty minutes later, Maya's strength was returning, but something else was happening—something alarming. Her muscles twitched and contracted without her permission. Heat flashed through her body in violent waves.

"What's happening to me?" She clutched at her abdomen as another spasm ripped through her. It felt as if her body was attempting to shift into something else without her conscious decision. The partial wolf aspects she'd managed to control during her escape were surfacing again, unbidden and chaotic.

It's like I'm short-circuiting,she thought frantically.What did those drugs do to my genes?

Her analytical mind raced through the possibilities. The compounds they'd injected into her had clearly activated her dormant shifter genes, but her human cellular structure couldn't handle the rapid transformation. It was like forcing softwareto run on incompatible hardware—eventually, the system would crash.

Eli looked over, his eyes widening as he watched claws extend from her fingertips, then retract, then extend again.

"You're shifting," he observed, backing away slightly.

Maya shook her head, panic rising. "I'm not trying to! It's just happening." Her voice distorted as her teeth elongated then shortened in her mouth. "I can't control it."

"Fight it. Push the wolf back down." Eli's voice was calm, but his posture had changed—more alert and ready to move.

"How?" Maya snarled, the sound more animal than human. "I don't know how to talk to it. It's not listening to me."

A low growl escaped her throat as another wave of painful transformation rippled through her. She could feel something wild and primal pushing against the edges of her consciousness—her inner wolf demanding control.

Alarm flashed across Eli's face. "We can't stay here. This room's too confined—it's making your wolf feel trapped. That's why she's fighting harder."

She.The pronoun struck Maya oddly. Her wolf was female, a separate entity yet part of her.Why won't you listen to me?she silently pleaded with this new aspect of herself.

"We need to move," Eli decided, helping her to her feet. "There's a maintenance shaft two corridors over. Less confined, might help you stabilize until your mate arrives."

Maya nodded, struggling to keep her increasingly feral instincts in check. "Kieran," she whispered, drawing strength from the name itself. The tether between them pulsed stronger, as if in response.

They slipped into the hallway, Maya's bare feet silent against the cold floor. Her senses had sharpened exponentially—she could smell the chemical antiseptic, hear the heartbeats ofguards stationed at distant checkpoints, and feel the vibration of the facility's generators through the soles of her feet.

"Left here," Eli whispered, guiding her with a light touch on her elbow.

They had almost reached the junction when boots echoed against tile—guards approaching fast. The sound triggered something primal in Maya. Threat. Danger. Enemy.

"No, no, no," she whispered, feeling her body respond to the perceived threat. The shift came harder and faster this time.

Eli's eyes widened in alarm. "Maya, hold on?—"

But it was too late. The added stress and panic shattered what little control she had left. Maya's inner wolf surged forward, fur sprouting along her spine, her face elongating partially into a muzzle. Not a full shift, but three-quarters of the way there—caught between woman and wolf in a feral hybrid state that terrified her.

Oh god, what am I becoming?Her mind remained her own, trapped inside a body that followed more primitive instincts.

The guards rounded the corner, their weapons raised. "There they are! The specimen is loose!"

Maya's wolf responded before she could think, a warning snarl ripping from her throat that echoed through the sterile hallway. Her body crouched, ready to spring.

Kieran,she called through the bond, desperately hoping he could somehow hear her.I need you now. Please hurry.

The guards inched closer to Maya's three-quarters shifted wolf form, making her inner wolf angrier. The rational side of her brain tried to assert control, but the primal instinct roared louder, drowning out human reason.

"Maya, don't—" Eli tried to calm her, but it was useless. Her body wasn't hers to command anymore.

"Tranq her!" one of the guards barked, raising a dart gun.

The threat registered in Maya's mind as her muscles bunched and released in one fluid motion. She lunged for the three guards down the hallway before she even knew what she was doing consciously. A strange electric thrill coursed through her veins—half terror, half exhilaration.

"Shift!" another guard yelled.