Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 253

Chapter 253

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 granymore. I didn't feel the tremble in my limbs or the ache where

knees had slammed into the ground. All I felt was light bursting, surging, and rippling through me like a river that had finally broken

but

was on four

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Chapter 253

glistening, golden brown fur wrapped around my new form. My paws dug into the dirt with an Instinct

cheered and clapped,

finally let loose after years

my head back, let out a howl, and

My paws barely touched the ground

if it hadn't been, I would have done forest beyond the altar, past the ring of trees that bordered the

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 like my soul had never truly opened its eyes

didn't want to

But I had to.

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

forward with a soft white robe, draping it around my

around my shoulders, fingers still buzzing with

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

I staggered.

me in the lungs. My knees buckled slightly,

myself, but there was nothing nearby

It was him.

scent was burning through the crowd like

like cedar and smoke-drenched earth after rain. Powerful. Dark. Thick. It was sex and danger and dominance- everything

like Jake's subtle warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon and

This scent?

scent could bring empires to

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

Beta, maybe. But definitely not

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And that meant

My throat went dry.

eyes scanned the sea of faces-one by one. I could barely focus and barely breathe. The scent was so strong it made my head swim. I

it

Who?

They were still cheering

locking onto him with the kind of fear a prey