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

bursting, surging, and rippling through me like a river that

stood, but

four legs, not

Chapter 141

golden-brown fur wrapped around my new form. My paws dug into the dirt with

cheered and clapped, and

finally let loose after years of being trapped in

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

the ground

so fast that the world blurred around me, but somehow, I could still see everything-every leaf, every

want

But I had to,

around and slowed just as I broke back through the tree line, back

rushed forward with a soft white robe, draping it around

around my shoulders,

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking, Hell.

I staggered

was like someone had punched me in the

steady myself,

to hold on to.

It was him.

was-wherever he was-his scent was burning through the crowd like

Thick. It was

subtle warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon and safety. This

could bring empires

immediately rolled over inside me like she'd found home. My chest ached. My eyes burned

Or a Beta,

And that mean

My throat went dry.

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

thou

it. My eyes scanned the sea of faces one by one. I could barely

felt hot and dizzy like I was going

was it

Who?

edge of the crowd. They were still cheering and celebrating. No