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

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

but

four legs, not

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Chapter 253

form. My paws dug into

and clapped, End

was the real me, finally let loose after years of

my head back, let out a

barely touched the ground as

would have done forest beyond

around me, but somehow, I could still see everything-every leaf, every root every drop of dew

didn't want

But I had to.

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

robe, draping it around my now naked

my

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

I staggered.

had punched me in

but there

It was him.

was-his scent was burning through the

earth after rain. Powerful. Dark. Thick. It was sex and danger and dominance- everything

warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon

This scent?

scent could bring

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

a Beta, maybe. But

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Chapter 253

And that meant

My throat went dry.

heart didn't have the time to fall because I turned slowly, my heart hammering so hard I thought the whole world could hear it. My 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 felt hot and dizzy like I was going to fall apart

it coming

Who?

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

him with the kind of fear a prey recognizing