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

surging, and rippling through me like a river

stood, but not

on four legs,

Chapter 141

paws dug into the dirt with an instinct I'd never known but suddenly

and clapped,

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

instinct, I tipped my head back, let

even if it hadn't been, I would have done it anyway. My paws barely touched the ground as I tore into the forest beyond the altar, past the ring of trees that

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 like

want to

But I had to,

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

white robe, draping

my

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking, Hell.

I staggered

was like someone had punched me in the lungs. My

myself, but there

to hold on to.

It was him.

was burning through

Dark. Thick. It was sex and danger and dominance-everything a wolf

Jake smelled like cinnamon and

bring

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

Or a Beta,

And that mean

My throat went dry.

my heart didn't have the time to fall because I turned slowly, my heart hammering so hard I thanake

thou

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

hot and dizzy like I was going to fall

was it

Who?

crowd. They were still cheering and celebrating. No one else seemed to