Page 94 of Desired for Her Blood

Ember raises her gaze toward me. “Maybe she’s working with the keepers of darkness you told me about? Maybe they’d rather get rid of me, than have my existence exposed?”

My eyes widen. “That too is possible. Either way, we must begin your transition as soon as possible.” I turn to find Axe still pacing, his body heaving as if he’s in pain.

“And I firmly believe that the final stage of transition must be completed by Axel.”

His gaze snaps toward me. “No fucking way.” His voice, a near roar, echoes in the cave, shaking its sides almost as much as the earlier explosions.

“I won’t do it.” His face twists in anguish. “I won’t be the one to kill her.”

“I’ll take another shot at it,” Ryker says.

I shake my head. “I have been considering this carefully. I do not think it is a coincidence that there are three of us.” I tip my head to the side. “To be more accurate, I think it is veryfortuitousthat we are three. The ancient poem speaks of the Illuminant being thrice burned and thrice reborn. I believe Ember’s transformation will require the participation of all three of us.”

A huge roar fills the space, and I turn toward it.

Axel’s body is contorting, growing, his face shifting. Although his body is always hairy in human form, compared to mine in any case, he is now entirely covered in glistening brown hair.

As I watch, he transforms into a bear, and then rises onto his hind legs and roars again.

“Holy shit!” Ryker leaps up and carries Ember with him to the other side of the cave.

I follow, but Axe comes after us, moving more slowly than Ryker and I, but he catches up to the three of us in seconds as we run out of places to go.

The exhaled breath from his long snout is hot as he snorts, wagging his head from side to side, pacing in front of us, keeping us pinned against the boulders that are blocking us into the cave.

“Is he going to eat us?” Ryker asks me.

“I know very little of shifters,” I respond. “Perhaps I said something to anger him?”

Axe snarls, baring his massive sharp teeth and he paws at the floor, his claws etching sharp lines into the stone.

“What do we do?” I ask Ryker. “We have no weapons.”

“You thinkIknow?” Ryker shakes his head as he holds Ember close.

“As a pirate, you are far more experienced in combat.”

The bear rises up, but then drops back to four limbs. Turning, he charges to the other side of the cave. He circles a few times, and then charges back, coming at us like a wall of muscle, fur and anger.

Ember steps forward.

Ryker and I reach to pull her back, but she shakes us off. With terror in my heart, I watch her advance toward the charging beast, trying to remember that it is Axel inside this bear’s form, that he loves her.

Is Axel even sentient in that form?

The beast stops within feet of her.

He rises up on his hind legs and then drops down.

“It’s okay, Axe,” Ember says softly. “It’s my choice. Not like when you were turned. You won’t kill me. We’ve got to try.”

The beast paces by her, rubbing his massive shoulder against her body, nearly knocking her over.

I brace to run, but Ryker grabs my forearm to hold me back, giving me a quick look of reassurance before I turn back toward Ember and the beast.

The bear circles Ember, snorting and making strangled sounds like he is in pain. His body bumps hers as he circles and she reaches out to touch him, trailing her hand through his fur as he moves around her.

“Hey.” She grabs onto the fur between his shoulder blades and tugs. “Axe. Listen.”