Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 141

Chapter 141

KASMINE

The crowd grew still.

I tilted my head back and stared up at the sky. The moon was almost there- gliding slowly and painfully toward the center of the heavens. It wasn't full tonight. Just a gentle crescent. But that didn't matter. Everyone knew-on your twenty-first birthday, the second the moon touched the center of the sky, the magic awakened. The wolf either came or it didn't.

My chest rose and fell quickly.

Almost there.

Almost.

Then-

It happened.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my spine like lightning. My legs buckled. I hit the ground hard, knees slamming into the grass as my hands dug into the earth.

A scream tore from my throat before I could stop it.

It felt like fire was eating me from the inside out. Like my skin was being peeled, my bones shattered and glued back together wrong, I could hear them-cracking, shifting snapping-over and over again like a thousand sticks breaking at once,

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't even think

I was writhing and gasping, my body folding in on itself. Every nerve was burning. My hands were stretching- elongating-fingers tearing and reshaping into paws. My back arched violently. My spine curved. I clawed at the ground, screaming into the dirt, barely aware of the sobs and groans around me from the others going through the same thing.

Then-just when I thought I would pass out-

It stopped.

Silence fell.

Everything in me was still.

Everything outside me was different.

I opened my eyes. Everything looked clearer. Sharper. Brighter. I could hear everything-even the thump of Jake's heart from where he stood. I could smell the grass, the fire, the sweat, the fear, the excitement.

I didn't feel the grass anymore, I didn't feel the tremble in my limbs or the ache where my knees had slammed

I felt was light bursting, surging, and rippling through me like a river that

stood, but not

was on four

Chapter 141

around my new form. My paws dug into the dirt with

cheered and clapped,

was the real me, finally let loose after years of being trapped in a too- small

instinct, I tipped my head back, let out a howl, and then

would have done it anyway. My paws barely touched the ground

fur. My heart pounded in rhythm with the earth. I was moving so fast that the world blurred around me, but somehow, I could still see everything-every leaf, every root, every drop of dew hanging from the branches. It was

didn't want

But I had to,

I broke back through the tree line, back into the crowd, and shifted

forward with a soft white robe, draping it around my now

tight around my shoulders, fingers

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking, Hell.

I staggered

in the lungs. My knees buckled

steady myself,

to hold on to.

It was him.

was-his scent was burning through

and rich, like cedar and smoke-drenched earth after rain. Powerful. Dark. Thick. It was sex and danger and dominance-everything a wolf could

subtle warmth. Jake smelled like

scent could bring empires to their

And my wolf-traitorous bitch that she was- immediately rolled over inside me like she'd found home.

Or a Beta, maybe. But definitely not

And that mean

My throat went dry.

my heart didn't have the time to fall because I turned slowly, my heart

thou

by one. I could barely focus and barely breathe. The scent was so strong it made

dizzy like I was going to

it

Who?

were still cheering and celebrating. No one else