Page 24

NINETEEN

MAYA

T he 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 software to 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 of guards 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.

In a chaotic storm, Eli and the three guards shifted into their wolf forms in the maintenance tunnel. The air filled with the sound of ripping clothes and multiple snarls. Four wolves now faced her—three with hostile intent, Eli standing apart, uncertain.

Maya's wolf form fought in a state of feral rage and panic, tearing and biting and clawing at the three guards in a dance that felt foreign yet oddly familiar and natural, as if her wolf form knew exactly how to defend itself.

This isn't me , Maya thought as her jaws snapped shut inches from a gray wolf's throat. But the moves came instinctively—duck, lunge, and slash with her newly formed claws. Her body moved with a grace she'd never experienced in her human form, pivoting and striking with lethal precision.

One of the guards, a russet-colored wolf, charged at her flank. Maya spun with unexpected agility, her newly grown claws raking across his muzzle. The wolf yelped, blood spattering the sterile white floor.

I've never fought a day in my life, her human mind protested even as her body executed another perfect defensive maneuver, driving the largest black wolf backward with a ferocious snarl.

The sound that tore from her throat was primal and fierce—a declaration that despite her newness to this form, she would not be taken down easily.

"Maya!" Eli called out telepathically to her in the language of wolves that she now strangely understood. "You need to get control! They're calling for backup!"

Maya heard the words but couldn't process them through the red haze of battle rage. Her fangs found purchase in the shoulder of the smallest wolf, and the taste of blood filled her mouth, copper-sweet and horrifying. She released immediately, shocked at herself, but her wolf pushed forward again.

One of the guards circled behind her. Maya sensed the movement and pivoted, but not quickly enough. Pain exploded across her back as claws raked her flesh. She howled—a sound that started animal but ended almost human.

Kieran, please. I don't know how to do this. She sent the desperate plea through their unexplainable connection as she staggered, trying to regroup.

The largest wolf lunged at her throat, forcing Maya to dodge sideways into the wall. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. For a split second, her vision swam, her body faltering between forms—fur receding slightly and her claws shortening.

That moment of weakness was all the guards needed. They closed in, their teeth bared, ready to subdue her.

This is it, Maya thought, bracing for their attack. I've come this far only to be caged again.

The hallway echoed with the sound of snarls and snapping jaws as the three wolves coordinated their approach. Maya backed against the wall, her muscles tensing for one final desperate fight.

A thunderous crash shook the tunnel as the metal service door at the end of the corridor flew off its hinges. Through the opening burst seven massive wolves, led by one with midnight-black fur and silver-blue eyes that blazed like cold fire.

Kieran.

Maya's heart lurched with recognition. Even in wolf form, she knew him instantly—the way he moved, the commanding presence, and the electric connection that pulsed between them.

The three guard wolves swiveled, caught between Maya and the new threat. Their hesitation lasted only a fraction of a second before Kieran's tactical assault began with ruthless precision.

He signaled with a sharp bark, and his pack split into a perfect flanking formation. Three wolves circled wide to cut off retreat while Kieran and three others drove straight at the guards.

The largest guard wolf, a mottled brown beast, lunged for Kieran's throat. Kieran feinted left, then pivoted with shocking speed, his jaws clamping around the attacker's exposed flank. Bone crunched beneath his bite.

He moves like water, Maya thought, mesmerized by his lethal grace.

The guard yelped in pain, but Kieran gave no quarter. He drove the wounded wolf toward Maya, almost as if offering her the kill. Her newly awakened instincts recognized the gesture for what it was—a display of dominance, trust, and partnership.

Without thinking, Maya launched herself from the wall, her half-shifted form moving with unexpected agility. Her claws raked across the wounded wolf's throat, opening it in a spray of crimson.

I just killed someone, her human mind registered with shock. But her wolf felt only satisfaction and the primal thrill of survival.

Kieran's eyes met hers across the dying wolf, approval and something far more intimate burning in their silver-blue depths. A silent communication passed between them—hunt together, fight together, and survive together.

The two remaining guards fell back, realizing they were outmatched. One turned to flee, but Kieran's wolves had cut off escape. Panicked, he charged at Maya, perhaps thinking her the weaker target.

Maya felt Kieran's rage pulse through their bond at the threat to her. He moved with blinding speed, but Maya was already reacting.

She dropped low, letting the charging wolf sail over her, then twisted to catch its hindquarters with her teeth. The wolf howled as it crashed against the wall. Before it could recover, Kieran was there, his massive jaws closing around its neck with decisive finality.

The third wolf backed away, hackles raised, seeking any opening for escape. It found none. Cornered between Kieran's pack and the wall, it made one desperate lunge toward a ventilation grate.

Maya intercepted it mid-leap, her body moving instinctively in concert with Kieran's. As she knocked the wolf off-course, Kieran delivered the killing blow, his teeth severing the wolf's spine with surgical precision.

The fight ended as suddenly as it began, leaving three dead guards on the tiled floor. Blood pooled beneath them, steam rising from their cooling bodies in the cold tunnel air.

Maya's half-shifted form trembled with adrenaline and exertion. She turned to Kieran, feeling her features soften and shift back toward human. His magnificent black wolf padded toward her, nuzzling against her neck with a gentleness that belied his ferocity moments before.

She buried her hands in his thick fur, feeling the solid warmth of him against her. His wolf made a sound somewhere between a growl and a purr, vibrating through his chest into hers.

Each breath synchronized between them, their heartbeats finding the same rhythm. The other wolves retreated, giving them space in a show of respect that even Maya's novice shifter instincts recognized.

Then, in a fluid motion, Kieran's wolf form melted away, replaced by his human shape. Maya's body responded in kind, completing her transition back to human form.

Kieran pulled her into his powerful arms. Against her ear, his voice was rough with emotion. "I felt you calling me," he whispered, his lips brushing her temple. "I felt your fear, your pain."

Maya's fingers dug into the muscles of his bare back, anchoring herself to him. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Her voice cracked with relief and lingering terror. "I didn't know if I could hold on long enough."

Kieran pulled back enough to frame her face with his hands, his eyes almost glowing with possessive intensity. "I would have torn this building apart stone by stone to find you."

His hands tightened on her, as if assuring himself she was real. Maya felt the tremor in his fingers—not fear, but rage barely contained.

"We just killed together," she whispered, the reality of what they'd done settling over her.

"Yes." His eyes searched hers, looking for signs of regret or disgust. "My wolf and yours. Our first hunt." The possessive pride in his voice sent a thrill through her blood.

"It felt... right," Maya admitted, surprising herself with the absolute truth of it.