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

but not as

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Chapter 253

paws dug

and clapped,

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

instinct, I tipped my head back, let

touched the

would have done forest beyond the altar, past the

but somehow, I could still see everything-every leaf, every root every drop of dew hanging from

want to

But I had to.

tree line, back into

a soft white robe, draping it around my now

pulled it tight around my

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

I staggered.

me in the lungs. My knees

myself, but there was nothing nearby to hold on

It was him.

was-his scent was burning through the crowd

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

not like Jake's subtle warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon

This scent?

scent could bring empires to their

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

Beta,

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Chapter 253

And that meant

My throat went dry.

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

it

Who?

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

saw him, eyes locking onto him with the kind