Rikki cried out in agony as fire raced through her veins. Her back arched off the bed, and she dug her fingers into the stark white sheets she lay on. A thin layer of sweat coated her skin and tears streamed down her face as she felt an inferno of heat ravage her from within. She struggled to figure out what was happening while the pain slammed through her.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” Rikki heard a soft voice question urgently right before she let out another loud, piercing scream. Fear consumed her as it felt as if her body was being turned inside out.
“She’s trying to shift,” another voice said harshly. “Dammit, Angel is gone on a mission. Hurry! You need to get Chase. We need an alpha here, now!”
Distantly, Rikki realized she recognized one of the voices. Doc Josie was the doctor for the White River Wolves, which meant she must be in their hospital. That would make sense with the amount of pain she was in. It seemed like her body had a mind of its own as she once again arched up, her body twisting and turning in agony, almost throwing her off the bed. She cried out when a sharp jab of pain sliced up her spine, her chest heaving as she fought to bring air into her lungs. Groaning loudly, she turned on her side and curled into a ball, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs. Her breath came out in short spurts as she tried to pant through the pain. It was a struggle to open her eyes, but she finally managed.
The bright lights in the room blinded her and she looked around wildly. What was going on? What was wrong with her? She had never felt this kind of intense agony before in her life.
“Stop this, Rikki,” the doctor ordered, taking a step closer to the bed. “Get control of yourself.”
Rikki gasped, closing her eyes to block out the light. “Hurts,” she managed to snarl, followed by what sounded like a low growl. What the hell? Shaking her head, she spat, “The light, it hurts. Shut it off.”
“I’ll get it.” There was that soft voice again. Rikki’s brows furrowed in confusion when a deep, acrid scent hit her. What was that smell? As the scent grew stronger, she opened her eyes and her gaze connected with a frightened nurse standing in the doorway. The woman stood immobile, clutching a clipboard tightly to her chest.
“Thank you,” Rikki rasped quietly, not wanting to scare her any more than she obviously already had. Slowly turning her head to look at Doc Josie, she took a deep breath, trying to understand what was going on. Suddenly, her eyes widened and met the doctor’s in terror when a sharp pain slammed up the back of her neck and into her skull. Her gums ached, and she swore when she accidentally bit into her tongue.
“You need to calm down,” Doc Josie ordered as she placed a gentle but firm hand on Rikki’s arm. “The change will come so much easier if you just let your wolf take over. Stop fighting her, Rikki. All she wants to do is protect you.”
Wolf? Rikki thought as she fought the urge to throw up. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut against the pain in her head, she moaned when she felt something digging into the palms of her hands. Glancing down, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the claws that had sprouted from her glove-covered fingertips.
“Rikki, look at me,” Doc Josie ordered, grasping one of Rikki’s hands. “You need to calm down. You are going to hurt yourself.”
A growl erupted from deep within Rikki’s chest, and she turned to glare defiantly in the doctor’s direction. “You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she spat angrily. Ripping her hand from the doctor’s, Rikki snarled lowly, refusing to bow down to the other woman.
“No,” a deep voice interrupted, “but I do.” Swinging her head around, Rikki curled her top lip up, baring her teeth at the male. Chase Montgomery, the alpha of the White River Wolves, stood just inside the doorway, watching her calmly.
Rikki froze when she felt his energy begin to build throughout the room as he pushed his power in her direction. She knew he was trying to help, but it just pissed her off. “Stop it!” she demanded loudly, growling lowly at him. She would not allow him to control her. She would cower down to no one, dammit.
“Enough,” Chase commanded roughly, taking a step closer to her. Against her will, Rikki whimpered in pain and confusion when Chase pushed more of his power her way. She had never felt anything like it before. “You will not fight me, Rikki. I am your alpha and you will stand down,” he demanded. “Do you understand?”
Shivering in fear at the sheer power radiating off the formidable male, Rikki collapsed back onto the bed, sobs tearing from her throat. “What’s going on?” she whispered raggedly. “What are you doing to me?”
Rikki stiffened when she felt a hand stroke down her long, dark hair gently, soothingly. “It’s going to be okay,” Chase promised her in a quiet, comforting voice. “I’m here now. You are going to be just fine.”
Shivering again, Rikki cried softly as the pain continued to ravage her body. “It hurts. It hurts so fucking much. Please, make it go away. Please.” She had never felt so weak and vulnerable before, and she hated it. She’d been on her own since she was a child. She’d gone through hell and back and survived, but she had never been in the kind of agony she was now, not even when she took a bullet meant for Nico.
As Rikki lay there fighting the need to lash out at someone or something, she suddenly felt the pain slowly start to ebb away, her body once again becoming her own. After several minutes, she opened her eyes and whispered softly, “I don’t know what you did, but…thank you.”
Chase continued to gently stroke her hair as he told her, “Your wolf just wants to protect you, Rikki. One of these days, you are going to have to let her. For now, I have pushed her back down and told her to wait. There is nothing to be afraid of. Your wolf would never harm you. She’s a part of you. To harm you, would mean she would harm herself.”
“My wolf?”
Chase’s eyes narrowed, his hand coming to rest lightly on her shoulder. “Do you remember what happened?”
Did she? Rubbing a hand over her face, she tried to recall how she had ended up in the hospital this time. It seemed as if it were becoming a recurring habit. One she needed to break. “It’s all so foggy,” she admitted finally.
Chase sighed deeply as he ran a hand roughly through his dark hair. “How much do you recall?”
Frowning, Rikki’s hand drifted down to cover her neck and she stiffened, her eyes widening in horror. “I was shot. Again. This time in the neck.”
Chase nodded. “Yes.”
“I was dying.”
“Yes, you were,” he agreed quietly. “Jinx and Angel saved you.”
“Saved me how?” Rikki asked in confusion. Even though she could remember being shot, everything after that was a blur.
“The only way they could.” There was silence, and then, “They cheated death by turning you, Rikki. You are now one of us.”
One of them? That could only mean one thing. Letting her eyes close in exhaustion, Rikki whispered, “I’m not ready to hear anymore, Chase.”
“You don’t really have a choice, Rikki. Your wolf won’t wait much longer.”
“Please, not yet. I’m not strong enough. The pain, it’s excruciating.” She started to shake as waves of coldness began to rack her body. She felt so weak, so sick.
“The first shift will hurt,” Chase agreed quietly as he pulled the blankets up around her shoulders, tucking them tightly around her. “Once you get through that first shift, though, it will be so much easier. You and your wolf will work together. You won’t be fighting each other. You are very blessed to have her with you, Rikki. To share a soul with her.” Running his hand gently down her hair one last time, Chase said softly, “Sleep now, little one. Sleep.”
Burrowing deep into the covers, Rikki sighed as the last of the pain finally receded. Utterly exhausted, she let herself drift off to sleep, a pair of dark brown eyes flashing through her mind. Right before she went under, she murmured, “Jeremiah.”
Chase watched as Rikki slipped back into a deep sleep before walking over to sit in the chair by the window. The young woman had been through so much since she and her team came to help his pack the year before. First, shot and taken prisoner by the General’s men. Then, shot again a few months later. A fatal shot that required she be turned into one of them or she would have died. After that, they almost lost her to one of the General’s assassins who was able to slip into people’s minds and manipulate them into doing whatever they wanted. That bitch Ashley had Rikki close to giving up on life. Luckily, they’d been able to track her down and eliminate the problem before Rikki actually left this world for the next. Since then, she’d been in a deep, healing sleep. No matter what they did, they were unable to wake her. Until now.
“What do we do?” he asked Doc Josie quietly.
“We wait,” she said, her eyes on Rikki in concern.
“You think she will go back to wherever she was before? Refusing to wake again?”
The doctor shook her head thoughtfully. “No. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before, but if I had to guess, I would say Rikki’s wolf won’t allow her to drift away from us again.”
“I agree.”
“I think it’s important to have her team near her right now. The people she considers family. She’s going to be frightened and will need all of the love and support she can get for a while to help her through the transition from her human world to our shifter one.”
Chase nodded, taking out his phone and sending a quick text. “RARE is on a mission, but should be back in the next couple of days. Phoenix stayed behind because Serenity is close to giving birth. I’ll get them both in here.”
“Sounds good. I want someone with her at all times, just in case…”
“You don’t have to worry about her being alone,” Chase interjected. “I’m not going anywhere.” He knew what the doctor was thinking. Rikki’s wolf was strong, and Rikki had no idea how to control her. They didn’t need anyone getting hurt on accident. He had a pack to protect, and that pack included Rikki. She was one of his wolves now, and he would keep her safe, even if it was from herself.