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

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

but not as

four legs,

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Chapter 253

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

cheered and clapped, End

the real me, finally let loose after years of being trapped in

I tipped my head back, let

barely touched the ground as I tore into

would have done forest beyond the altar, past 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

want

But I had to.

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

a soft white robe, draping it around my now

tight around my

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

I staggered.

had punched me in the

there was nothing

It was him.

scent was burning through the crowd like

sharp and rich, like cedar and smoke-drenched earth after rain. Powerful. Dark. Thick. It

Jake's subtle warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon and

This scent?

bring empires

bitch that she was- immediately rolled over inside me like she'd found home My

a Beta, maybe. But definitely

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Chapter 253

And that meant

My throat went dry.

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

was it

Who?

They were still cheering and celebrating.

saw him, eyes locking onto him with the kind of fear a prey recognizing its predator