Chapter 12

Kyp

A string of words my mom would have washed my mouth out with soap for saying cycled through my brain. It worked. I had enough toxins to not only change Rachel, but to change her instantly.

As soon as I had my skin back on, my gaze flew to her face, and I watched her eyes cross and nearly roll back into her head. This was it. I had seconds to get her free of the cuffs.

Her shoulders heaved and her body shook. Tiny hairs poked through her skin and coated her in light auburn and silver fur. Her bones snapped and I knew that was my cue. The handcuffs were already in my hands, ready if the shift happened. I watched as first her elbows twisted, then her forearms, then finally, her wrists and hands changed shape. The second her hands started to thin I yanked the cuffs. They stuck farther up her hands, caught on her thumbs. I pulled harder, afraid I’d somehow pop a bone out of place that wouldn’t go back properly as she continued deeper into her first shift.

Her whimpers filled the space and as her thumbs shrunk back into what was becoming her foreleg, I whipped the cuffs off, taking part of her fingernail on her right hand with it. She was free! We did it!

Quicker than I thought my trembling, fumbling fingers could go, I tried to get her sweatshirt off her, so she’d have something warmer than skin to venture outside in, but she collapsed.

This was not good.

Passing out during first shift should not happen. I grappled the sweatshirt off, the seams of the cuffs ripping as I forced it over her hands that were now large paws. Her body was limp and burning up. She had her wolf’s legs and paws and her body was covered in beautiful silky fur, but her face was still more human than wolf, and her features weren’t changing, only staying in a horrifying arrested state between wolf and girl.

“Rachel? Rachel, can you hear me?” My heart was racing, and fear caked the back of my mouth.

What had I done?

Were my toxins somehow corrupted with my human DNA? Was I killing her? Wolf jarred himself inside me, whining, furious, and scared at his inability to help Rachel, the one girl who had always been kind to me—the girl I suddenly realized meant much more to me than I’d thought.

Her body just laid there, feverish and limp in my arms as I cradled her against my chest. She felt too hot, even through her wolf’s fur.

“Rachel! Rachel, you need to finish your shift,” I said helplessly. Her breathing was labored and painfully raspy. My heart shriveled. I’d killed her. She wasn’t going to survive this. Wolf rammed my chest from the inside. He snapped at me, and for a second, I kept my skin, but gave him my head. The grief over what I’d done was overpowering, and I surrendered to the wolf’s instinct.

The second I relinquished my human side, Wolf rose within me, asserting his dominance. Without a conscious thought to do so, I spoke the first command I’d ever given.

“Rachel, you will finish shifting now.” Icy waves of power crashed over my naked body, chilling me more than the frigid breeze that blew through the cracks in the shed. Wolf shook himself out, chest puffing in an uncharacteristic display of power that charged through my whole body, expanding and growing it, then settling. A surge of protectiveness for Rachel filled my chest, and I knew something dynamic had changed inside me.

Rachel whimpered in my arms, her head lolling back. Her eyes opened, unfocused, and then stared straight into mine. Her face contorted in pain as her mouth opened. With her jaw lengthening and her snout coming fully out from her face, her eyes rolled back into her head once more as her shriek pierced my ears. I grunted as her paws tried to wrap around my neck like arms might have, but her claws ripped three lines over my chest instead.

A violent tremor rocked her whole body as her shift finally finished.

We were both sweating and panting when she was through, but I was the only one still conscious. My brain refused to process what I had done, what had happened before my eyes. Not only had I bitten Rachel and changed her, I had commanded her. And it worked.

And I’d just screwed any chance I’d had at being accepted into the Wolfe pack.

With no time to dwell on these things, I gently laid the beautiful auburn and silver wolf on the ground and got dressed as quickly as humanly possible. I gathered every spare shred of underclothes from the ground and wrapped the scraps up in Rachel’s sweatshirt and jeans along with her boots and socks. I tied the sleeves together and made a pouch that I could sling over my shoulder. Taking one more glance around and satisfied that there was nothing left that I could do—Rachel’s blood on the wall would have to stay, I ever so carefully scooped Rachel back into my arms.

I grunted again. Rachel was an attractively proportioned girl, shorter than I was and with just enough meat on her to make her deliciously curvy as I’d witnessed up close ten minutes ago. But her wolf couldn’t have weighed less than two-hundred and fifty pounds. And right now, she was dead weight. I grimaced at the thought.

At the door, I listened. I sniffed. I could smell sweat, wolf, mold, dirt, and what I knew was my own scent—something vaguely reminiscent of cedar wood and juniper. I hoped my human DNA would cover the scent enough to simply be confusing, not identifying, should any other werewolf happen by. Not hearing anything, I stepped outside the shed into the cold. The temperature was dropping as the sun started to hide in the shadows of thick grey clouds. I sniffed again and nearly sneezed as a snowflake landed on my nose. Glancing up I saw tiny flakes swirling in their perfection, coming down to stick on the blades of grass.

****

By the time I got us back to Rachel’s house, the snow was coming down in earnest. Honeydew was gone, but fortunately, the front door was still unlocked. I assumed Clary had come and gone. Nudging the door open with the toe of my shoe, I breathed a sigh of relief as the heat hit me. I was sweating, carrying Rachel the nearly three miles back from the shed, but I was sure the heat would be better for Rachel than the plummeting temperatures outside.

I flipped the lock behind me, alert for any signs of predators waiting in the house. Sensing none, a breath gusted through my lips. I ignored the trickle of sweat making its way down my chest as it burned against the fresh cuts starting to dry stiff against my shirt. Rachel still hadn’t opened her eyes, but her breathing wasn’t labored, and she was nestled up against my chest. Wolf puffed himself out, sending a heavy feeling of protectiveness through me again. Mine.

Moving quickly into the living room, I laid Rachel’s giant wolf carefully onto the couch, unable to resist letting my hand stroke softly over the silky red-brown fur of her ears. The protective surge I’d felt in the shed, and just now as I came through the door, flooded me again and nearly robbed me of breath as I stood there, gazing down at her, my hand stilled on her head.

I’d die for her, without thought. Wolf shivered, stretched, then paced within me. We had never felt this way about anyone. Not even Mom, and I knew I’d die without question to keep her safe, too. This was different. Wolf was careening around, almost frantically wiggling, like he was trying to get out of his own skin. I was jumpy and unsettled because of it. I closed my eyes and took a deep inhale through my nose and tried to calm down. It was like my wolf hit puberty all over again. Stretching, growing, maturing, gangly and uncoordinated, and feeling things that confused both of us.

The chair scraped over the wood floor as I brought it over beside the couch. I needed help. I didn’t know what to do for Rachel. She just laid there, seeming to sleep peacefully, but I didn’t know what might be going on inside her. Anxiety and guilt gnawed at my belly. Rachel made a soft snuffling sound and my heart hammered in my chest. I needed to find Rachel’s phone. Or get mine and plug it in.

Wolf nudged me. His chest puffed out. We are in charge. Command her to change. The thought rattled around inside my head. It was both thrilling and terrifying to consider. Wolf nudged me harder.

“Rachel, you need to wake up. Now.” The words were soft, escaping my mouth before I could pull them back. Tingling, cold, dominant power swept up my back and spread over my shoulders, leaving me disoriented and a little buzzed with the rush of it. A command.

Rachel’s wolf groggily raised her head and yawned. She blinked at me a few times as my mouth dried to a husk.

“Rachel?” I whispered.

Her eyes focused and she cocked her head, blinked again, and then glanced at her paws still stretched out on the couch.

She yipped and her tail beat happily against the couch. She raised up on her front paws, looking eager to explore, not at all afraid. She tried to stand but promptly fell over the edge of the couch and landed in a tangle of legs and paws. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she tried to jump up again. She slathered a wet, rough kiss across my cheek as her huge paws landed on my shoulders, knocking me back into the chair, and then sending us both careening to the floor—the chair, me, and Rachel’s giant wolf on top.

A laugh escaped despite my anxiety at the sheer puppy-like exuberance Rachel showed. Relief was hot on its heels as she danced away, awkwardly stumbling and ambling along the carpeted floor of her living room. Her head swung wildly from side to side, her nose rooting in the air as she took in all the new information that I knew had to be overloading her brain. She didn’t seem to mind. She looked…exhilarated. Like she’d found some long-lost part of herself.

She jumped and pranced and stumbled for another minute while I watched on in utter awe. I absently rubbed the back of my head where it had cracked against the floor when Rachel knocked us over. Wolf nudged me. Dread spiraled down to my belly. Now what?