Chapter 16 - Miley

The pain was everywhere, right from the top of her head to the very tips of her toes. Even her finger and toenails hurt. If it were possible, Miley could have sworn that her hair was hurting.

She writhed in agony beneath the full moon. Its light was like pinpricks upon her skin, burning with icy cold fire over every inch of her naked flesh.

Naked. She was utterly naked. Save for her red curls that fell like waves over her shoulders, she was entirely exposed.

Dropping to her knees, her legs too weak to hold her, she buried her hands in the leaf mulch. How she had gotten into the clearing in the orchard, she did not know, but in that moment all that mattered was getting out of the moonlight. She would have clawed her way into the earth just to escape if she could.

And yet, all she could do was crouch there, feeling as if her skin were being torn from her bones.

That"s when the next phase came. One even more painful than the first. Her bones start to shift and creak and break, snapping so loudly she could hear the blood-curdling sound in her ears.

Her surroundings disappeared all around her as she was overwhelmed by darkness and pain. And soon she lay on the ground, utterly exhausted. Time seemed to have passed and entirely stood still all at once, and all she could do was listen, try to hear the beating of her heart that told her she was still alive.

And that"s when she heard the footsteps.

"Miley," the voice was soft and gentle at first. "Miley…"

The growling kicked in. The sound of bones breaking erupted again, and she prepared herself for pain, but it never came.

Panicking, she managed to sit up.

"Miley!" the voice was little more than a growl now, and Miley screamed when she saw Kane in the shadow of one of the apple trees.

His face was twisted and gruesome, half-man and half-wolf. When he reached out for her, his fingers were no longer fingers but long, black claws that threatened to slash her throat.

He bared his teeth at her, but they were no longer teeth. They were long, shining white fangs, dripping blood that soaked into the fur growing thick upon his tattooed chest.

Miley scrambled to her feet and ran. She ran faster than she ever had before, but it was not enough.

The wolf that Kane had become was much faster. It was gruesome, grotesque, giant. It pounced and knocked her to the ground, pinning her face down so that the leaf mulch muffled her screams.

"Miley! Miley! Wake up!"

The hands shaking her by the shoulders were not sharp like the wolf's claws had been. They were warm and inviting, their grip tight as if panicked.

And when she blinked open her eyes, she realized she was laid on her back in her bed, not on her front in the orchard.

Above her head was the oddly familiar ceiling of her grandmother"s guestroom. The only light was that of the hallway, shining through the open door, and it illuminated Kane as he leaned over her, clutching hold of her shoulders as if he were trying to pin her to the bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Miley bit at him, trying to fight him off, but he refused to let her go. Hell, he was strong, stronger than anticipated. "Get off me!"

"Not until you calm down and quit screaming," Kane protested, his grip squeezing her as if he meant to reassure her. "You might lose control."

"Lose control?" Miley demanded. "How could I lose control when I"ve never had any to begin with?"

She spat the words at him, and as if they had struck him physically, he recoiled, releasing her shoulders.

"You were having a nightmare," he grumbled, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. "A side effect of the bite."

"Oh, great, just what I need!" Miley growled, throwing her arms up in exasperation. She cringed at the sound of her own voice. It sounded far more animalistic than she had intended.

"Miley," Kane said gently. He removed one hand from his pocket and laid it on her leg. "I know you don"t want to hear this, but we have to go back to Nightstar."

"Feel free," Miley hissed. Like a child, she rolled over onto her side, turning her back to him. "I"m not going anywhere."

"Miley, the nightmares have begun. They"ll only get worse," Kane said. "You need to be amongst your own people."

Miley"s entire body shivered with horror. She gripped a decorative pillow and clutched it tight to her chest.

"I am with my own people," she pointed out. "My grandma is asleep just down the hall."

"That isn"t what I meant, and you know it," Kane replied. He stroked his hand up her back as if he were attempting to comfort her, but she shrugged him off.

"Don"t touch me."

She bit her lip when he removed his hand, feeling disappointed and guilty. She had liked his touch more than she cared to admit.

"Miley, I am only here to help you," Kane said.

"You can help me by leaving me alone. If you miss Nightstar so much, you go home and leave me be."

"We both know I can"t do that, especially not now," Kane said, and he touched her again, this time squeezing her shoulder.

Damn. It felt about as good as it was infuriating.

In an instant, Miley rolled off the bed and stormed across the room. "Fine. If you won"t leave, I will!"

Feet bare, wearing nothing but her oversized t-shirt that she slept in, she raced from the farmhouse. Practically pouncing over Moses on the porch, the poor dog barely had time to register what had happened before she hit the dusty ground of the yard and set off at a run.

Her legs carried her faster than they ever had before. They felt strong, powerful, more than human. The energy pulsing through her entire body was no longer just her own. She felt something else inside her, something growing larger and stronger still. And with every footfall, she felt it getting bigger.

It wasn"t until she reached the end of the orchard and the open field beyond that she finally stopped dead in her tracks.

The memory of her dream returned to her as she instinctively turned her face up towards the sky.

Shit! It was still dark. Riding high in the sky was a huge, silver sphere that called to her. The night was silent save for the bugs chirping in the long grass, but still, the moon called to her, tugging at her soul to step into its silver light.

Though her head told her not to, though she remembered all too well the pain of her dream, though she was absolutely freaking terrified, she could not stop her feet from carrying her into the field.

More than that, she could not stop her fingers from gripping the hem of her oversized t-shirt to yank it up over her head and toss it aside.

The moonlight felt amazing on her skin. It wasn"t at all like her dream. Yes, there were pinpricks, but they were warm and tingly and relaxing. The moon was welcoming her, calling her, healing her.

She closed her eyes, opened her arms with her chest toward the sky, and breathed in the warm night air.

That"s when the pain began. It was almost unnoticeable at first. But when she did notice it, her panic began.

No! No!She screamed in her mind at first, then aloud, she screamed, "No! Please! No!"

It began in her fingertips and her toes. Searing, ripping pain as if something sharp was trying to protrude through her skin. Then every bone started to ache, and she knew the sound of bone cracking would begin.

The taste of blood, metallic in her mouth, made her open her lips only to realize her gums were hurting just as badly as her fingers. Her tongue stroked her lips, and she winced as she caught sharp, pointed fangs.

"Fuck! No!" she cried, her fingertips rushing to her mouth.

There were indeed fangs where there should have been short, normal human teeth.

And when she brushed her lip, her fingertips came away red with blood. Somehow, she had bitten herself.

That wasn"t the most worrying part. The worrying part was the huge black claws that protruded from her nailbeds and the thick red fur that had begun to sprout up around her shortening fingers.

"No, no! This can"t be happening!" she screamed at the moon.

Her stomach twisted then, and her ribcage buckled painfully. She screamed so loudly that a flock of startled birds fluttered up from the long grass and the nearby trees.

And just as she thought her legs would no longer hold her, she felt the warm body that pressed against her back, the arms that wrapped around her from behind and pinned her arms to her chest.

"Hush," the voice was terribly soft and tender in her ear. "Hush now. Relax. I"ve got you."

Miley trembled uncontrollably. She couldn"t have fought Kane off even if she had wanted to.

All she could do was lean back against him and feel the tears that ran down her cheeks.

"I"m here," he continued to whisper, holding her close to him, his fingers gripping her wrists like a warm and tender vice. "Nothing can harm you. No harm will come to you while I"m here. Just be still. Breathe. Relax."

If she"d had full use of her faculties, Miley might have screamed at him that it was next to impossible to relax with everything going on inside her body. But she couldn"t even open her mouth any further than it already was, and she had no idea how to speak with a mouth full of hideous, grotesquely shaped fangs.

So instead, she closed her eyes.

"Listen to my voice," Kane continued gently. "I"m here. Just relax. Feel my body. Feel the earth beneath your bare feet. Feel the breeze on your skin. Feel my touch on your flesh. Listen to the sound of your heart beating."

Miley listened intently to his voice, allowing it to lull her into a sense of safety and security that she had never experienced before.

And, somehow, she turned in Kane"s arms. Her palms rested on his chest, and she gazed up at him, blinking her eyes open slowly. Her head was foggy, her eyelids heavy, but when she smiled softly up at him, she realized her fangs were gone.

Maybe she had imagined them entirely. One glance at her hands told her the claws were gone too, as was the pain.

All she felt throughout her entire body now was a dull ache and a sense of desire at Kane"s closeness.

"H…how?" she breathed out, barely able to speak.

Kane smiled gently and stroked her hair back behind her ear. "Contrary to common belief, werewolves can shift at will, though the full moon makes things a little trickier to hold off."

Miley blinked at him, astonished. She had to be dreaming again. None of this was possible. She pinched the skin on the back of her hand to try and wake herself.

"I thought I was dreaming the first time, too," Kane said softly, pulling her close. He kissed the tip of her nose. "I wish I could tell you that you were, but you aren"t."

It was only when he wiped a tear from her cheek with the ball of his thumb that she realized she was still crying.

"I"m sorry, Miley."

Miley blinked up at him again. Furrowing her brow, she asked, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"If I had gotten to you sooner, this wouldn"t be happening to you right now," Kane sighed. He closed his eyes as if he couldn"t bear to meet her gaze. Miley"s chest tightened. She was about to speak when he added, "If you hadn"t been bitten, you might have been able to stay here with your grandma."

Miley"s heart sank.

"Why can"t I still? Why can"t we?" she asked. It felt odd to suggest that he should stay too, but she had seen how happy her grandmother had been to have a man around the house. Already things were beginning to shape up.

Kane opened his eyes and looked at her without blinking. "You are a bitten wolf, Miley. The most dangerous kind of wolf."

Miley"s insides fluttered. She had never been described as dangerous before. She almost laughed at how her father, who had only ever called her weak and insignificant, might react to hearing such a thing.

"Then maybe it"s better I"m all the way out here?" Miley suggested. Instinctively, she pressed closer to him. "With you."

Kane stiffened against her, and she was surprised when he leaned down and kissed her. He pressed his forehead against hers as he spoke. "As much as I wish it were that simple. We have to go back to Nightstar. It"s not safe for you to transition out here alone."

"I'm not alone. I have you."

"It"s hard to explain," Kane said. He pulled back to meet her gaze again. "If you don"t have a pack around you when you transition, the likelihood is, for women especially, that it will be a death sentence."

Shocked beyond belief, Miley pulled away. "What are you saying?" she exclaimed. "Are you telling me I…I"m going to die?"

Kane"s shoulders squared and his lips pursed into a hard line. For a second, he stared at her hard. Then, finally, he admitted, "If we don"t return to Nightstar, you could die or worse."

"Worse?" Miley gulped. What the hell could possibly be worse than dying?

Kane nodded. "If you aren"t surrounded by other wolves, if you aren"t fully accepted by a pack, you might become a feral."

Whatever the hell that was, it didn"t sound fun at all. "Wha…what is a feral?"

Kane closed his eyes. A pained expression crossed his face, and Miley almost told him not to answer. If he looked that bad just thinking about it, she wasn"t sure she wanted to know.

"Ferals are humans turned and uncared for. They become more beast than human, and their humanity slips away. Eventually, they are driven mad by the intensity of their shifts, and they have little to no control over when those shifts come. Some die of natural causes, but many cause too much trouble, becoming murderous and bloodthirsty, and the ones that come onto a pack's territory are usually hunted down and executed."

With every word he spoke, Miley wished she hadn"t asked the question. She felt the heat draining from her face and guessed from Kane"s expression that she had grown unbelievably pale.

He stepped forward and gripped hold of her forearms. "Now, do you see why we must return to Nightstar?"

Miley closed her eyes, her breath caught in her throat. Once, she might never have been able to imagine anything worse than returning to Nightstar and laying eyes on her appalling excuses for parents again.

But Kane"s explanation had painted an all too vivid picture of what might happen if she didn"t.

"Miley?" Kane said gently. "Do you see now?"

When she felt his fingers under her chin, she forced her eyes open and looked at him. The concern in his gaze was painful to witness.

She nodded slowly. "I"ll go back on one condition."

Kane bared his teeth at her as if he didn"t like the sound of that. "What?"

Miley gulped, unable to believe what she was about to say. "Promise me I won"t have to go back there."

Kane"s eyes darkened, and it was abundantly clear he knew exactly what she meant.

"You"ll never have to set foot near your parents" house or the hardware store again," Kane vowed to her. "Nightstar Manor will be open to you forever. My pack will be your pack."

Was that a flash of uncertainty she saw in his eyes?

Before she could question him on it, he gripped her face in his palms and kissed her hard beneath the light of the full moon, a promise on his lips. Miley only prayed that it was one he would be able to keep.