His Trouble Maker

Chapter 79

JESSICA

They say the first shift changes everything.

That the moment your skin rips, and your spine cracks, and your scream folds into a howl–you stop being who

you were.

That your wolf doesn’t just emerge.

She judges.

She crawls up from the dark corners of your blood and decides if you’re worthy.

If you’re pack. If you’re prey. If you belong to anyone at all.

It’s tradition, of course. That’s why every year, young wolves like me gather in front of the village square, barefoot and bare–skinned beneath the sacred tree, waiting for the moon to rise and rip us open.

“Are you nervous?” Grayson whispered beside me.

I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. I was still pissed.

Astared ahead instead, jaw clenched, spine straight, eyes locked on the flickering bonfire in the middle of the

circle. The flames were white–hot, sacred. They said the goddess breathed through that fire–that she watched every shift from the smoke and the stars.

I hated her for it.

“You don’t have to be scared,” Grayson said again, voice lower this time. “I’ll be right here.”

Easy for him to say. He already had his wolf. He already had his power. And he is the alpha’s son. I watched him shift when I was young. I can still remember how bloody the color of his eyes was.

Grayson Westwood shifting in his wolf form is a memory I cannot forget. That’s the day I told myself I’ll be like him

too.

I clenched my fists. I wasn’t just scared of the pain. I was scared of what came after. Because if I shifted and my wolf reached for him–if the mate bond snapped into place like he claimed it would-

What then? What if he lied? What if he was wrong? What if the bond didn’t go to him? What if it went to–

“Jessica Wilkinson.”

The Elder’s voice rang out across the field.

My heart dropped.

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Shit.

It was time.

My feet didn’t move at first. The bonfire crackled louder. Around me, the pack is silent.

“You can do this Jess,” Grayson said before he pushed me forward.

The branches reached out like ribs, bones of something ancient and half–alive. Something that still remembered every name, every scream, every broken body offered here.

I stopped five feet from the tree.

I didn’t remember walking that far.

My body wasn’t mine anymore.

felt

fire–it was alive. It shimmered with pale

us, the moon

The flames noticed.

a sudden bloom of light, shooting toward the sky like they were trying to kiss her. Thin orbs of glowing vapor peeled off the fire and floated into the air, spinning slowly around the ring. They shimmered- silver,

Faintly at first, then louder, vibrating through the soles of my feet. Runes glowed faint gold across their

Elder stepped forward, voice

“Kneel,”

I didn’t move.

inside me curled. A pressure behind my ribs, building slow and

said again, louder now. “Offer yourself to

My legs buckled.

I dropped hard.

I expected—damp and laced with power. I could feel it buzz beneath my knees, humming up

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Chapter 79

I looked up–and saw what the fire had

a bonfire. It was a

林家38%含金

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from the moonlight above. They streamed downward like strands of liquid starlight, feeding into the fire and warping the air around it. In the center,

The Moon Goddess.

echo of

Watching.

Waiting.

Judging.

wasn’t sure if I could breathe. My chest ached. My hands trembled. The orbs circled faster

them like they were drawing runes in the

Elder unsheathed

Long. Silver. Moonforged.

light and glowed blue as he dipped it into the flame.

stepped in front of

before bone,” he murmured. “This

I didn’t move.

I didn’t flinch.

blade pressed against the skin just beneath

it slid down in a single,

didn’t burn. It

glowing faintly as it spilled down my chest–shimmering like ink under moonlight. The fire welcomed it, twisting higher, faster. The runes

up.

Then everything stilled.

The air went

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Chapter 79

And I felt it.

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pressure at the

Now.

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“AaaAH-!”

hands slammed into

Blood streaked across the mud. I couldn’t tell if

the

No–no, no, no-

violently, lifting me off my knees. Every

was rebuilding.

skin had

“MAKE IT STOP-!”

But it wouldn’t.

The shift doesn’t stop.

It takes.