Chapter 22 - Miley

This couldn't be happening, not here, not now. She wasn"t going to have her first shift and risk dying in a damn laundry closet.

She tried to hold it back, sitting down with her arms wrapped around her legs, knees pulled tightly to her chest. But there was very little she could do.

It seemed, no matter how she tried to remind herself of all Kane had said, this shift wasn"t going to be held off.

This was it. She could feel it. The beast within her was desperate to be born, and there would be no stopping it. It was strong, fully formed, powerful. And she was terrified and weak, shaking so badly that she could hear her teeth chattering.

The way the men on the other side of the closet door laughed made her wonder if they could hear it, too. They did seem like the kind to take pleasure and amusement in someone else"s terror and pain.

Whether they were laughing at her or just laughing, it didn"t really matter; it seemed her wolf wanted to tear them apart. Not that Miley could blame her. She was having a hard time being cooped up in such a small closet with no light and barely any air, too.

She would have liked to tear Christopher a new one as well, but how was she supposed to just let her wolf out?

Kane had only ever told her how to keep her in. What was she supposed to do if she actually decided to let her out? Of course, it was probably the total opposite. Something about letting all your rage and fear build up and just explode. But Miley was frightened at the thought of what might happen if she did that.

What if she turned too fast? Was that even a thing? What if it was so painful her heart gave out? What if she survived the transformation and they dragged her to this damn barn they had been talking about?

"What"s the betting this one dies?" one of the men outside the closet said.

Miley"s hearing had settled down. She simply heard everything now. It was as if she had just had to get used to it—she had no choice, and so she did.

She only hoped the full transition would be the same.

"Yeah, she did look a little weak and weedy," another said, and Miley's blood started to boil.

She was many things, and once she might have been weak, but now she most definitely wasn"t. The things she had been through, especially in the last couple of weeks, most people couldn"t even endure nightmares about.

"Shame, really," she heard a third voice say. "She's quite a looker. I bet she"d pup well."

Bile rose in the back of Miley's throat. They were talking about her as if she were no better than some breeding bitch they kept in their kennel.

In fact, she"d known guys with race dogs over the years, and they"d talked better about them!

"I"d definitely give her a pup or two," one of them said, and that was enough.

Miley couldn't hold back any longer. She had hoped and prayed that Kane would come, that someone would come to rescue her and her first shift might at least be with somebody she cared about, but it seemed that wasn"t meant to be.

With her new eyesight, she lifted her hands close to her face in the near-darkness and looked at the thick black claws protruding from her nailbeds.

Sucking in a deep breath, she thought, you"ve tried beating it, now time to just go with it.

And as if her sudden acceptance was like the flipping of a switch, pain lanced through her entire body.

It was so excruciating that she doubled over, screeching through gritted teeth.

"Sounds like the fun has finally started, boys," one of the men declared, and Miley growled low in her throat, battling the pain that surged through her in thick, heavy waves. "How long do we think she"ll last?"

"I"ll give her an hour, maybe two," one said.

An hour? In this pain! It"s no wonder they die! Miley thought. The pain was so agonizing that she was already clawing at the hardwood floor of the closet. Her claws fell into the gouges left by previous claws, and sickness threatened as she imagined all those who had suffered through this before her.

How many of them had lived? Perhaps the more valid question was how many had died?

No, she wouldn"t think about that right now. She couldn"t. She had to live, even if it was only to get home one day and beat Kane"s ass for not coming for her. He had promised her that so long as she was with him, she would be safe.

Well, she didn"t feel very safe right now.

The rational part of her mind reminded her, you are the one who ran away.

But the irrational part of her, the part of her that was turning and just wanted to sink her claws and fangs into something, anything, was out for blood, and ready to tear Kane"s ass up for forcing her to go through all this alone.

She should have been prepared for that. She had been alone her whole life. Sure, she had her parents, but she had always been alone even with them.

And yet, the brief time she had been with Kane, it had changed her. And as her shift came, she threw back her head and howled for him, unable to stop the sorrowful sound that burst from her lips.

The pain overwhelmed her then, and everything seemed to start happening all at once.

The dull ache in her muscles turned to a tearing, ripping sensation, but that wasn"t half as bad as the bones breaking. With every creak and crack, she felt the nausea in her throat growing higher and higher.

She would throw up. It was just a matter of time. She was certain of it.

And yet, somehow, she didn"t.

What she did do, however, was throw herself at the closet door.

Even as she shifted and the wolf took full effect, even as she felt disoriented and aching and not at all herself, she slammed her shoulder into the door. It creaked, but didn"t budge. She tried again and again, whacking first her shoulder and then simply her large wolf skull against the door, over and over, until she was almost certain she felt it beginning to cave.

Luckily for her, though it did make her a little dizzy, her wolf head appeared much stronger and harder than her human one. And though her ears rang with the effort and pain ached down her neck, soon she managed to break right through the closet door where others had failed before her.

"Shit!"

"Fuck!"

"Grab her!"

The three men in the bedroom were clearly entirely unprepared for her escape. She recognized two of them as the guards who had dragged her from the closet, but the third was new, and it was slightly disappointing that it wasn"t Christopher. After all his smirking and sickening comments, she"d have liked to sink her teeth into him.

Still, these guys would do. Her wolf was hungry.

The men threw themselves at her in human form, trying to pin her to the floor, but she simply shrugged them off.

It seemed she wasn"t so weak and weedy after all.

In fact, now that the pain had subsided, she felt stronger than she ever had before. And she wasted no time in snapping at the nearest guard. She snarled with laughter when he instinctively threw up his arm to block her attack only to find her chomping down on his forearm.

The taste of blood should have disgusted her, but oddly, Miley liked it. It tasted like success. And so she bit down harder until it welled from the man"s arm and dripped from her newly formed furry jaw.

"Ahh, you fucking bitch!" the man screamed, punching her in the side of the head with his free hand.

It loosened her grip just enough for him to tear his arm free, and when he scrambled away, Miley turned on him only to find herself face to face with two snarling, angry-looking wolves, two piles of clothes behind them.

Fuck! What remained of her rational mind screamed at her to turn and run, but her wolf was no coward. She squared her stance, bared her fangs and snarled a challenge.

That"s when all hell really broke loose.

The wolves pounced on her, and though she fought them off, clawing and biting for several minutes, they were much stronger. Teeth met in the scruff of her neck as her paws were swept out from under her.

The next thing she knew, she was pinned to the ground. The growling in her ear warned her not to try anything, yet she struggled, trying to free herself until she felt the fangs in the back of her neck tighten.

Whimpering, she submitted, aware that the third man had shifted to join his friends.

And just when Miley thought things couldn"t get any worse, she heard a commotion coming from outside the bedroom door.

The sounds of snarling and growling told her there were even more wolves outside. She didn"t stand a cat in hell's chance of escaping.

Whoever these guys were, they clearly had friends coming up the stairs to help them.

At least, that was what she thought, until the growling and snarls turned to whimpers of pain, agonized yowling and something else. Was that gurgling?

Miley gulped. Whatever it was, it sounded horrendous, and it made her feel sick.

She was only distracted from the sound by the pounding of thunderous paws and the following crash and bang of the bedroom door as it was thrown open.

For only a second, panic reigned in Miley"s chest.

Then, she sensed the reaction of the other wolves in the room as a fourth stepped in, and she knew without a doubt, whoever he was, he was no friend of theirs.

Two of them stepped forward, blocking her view of the newcomer before she could get a proper look at him. The third pinned her down hard, his fangs clamping hard in her scruff once more.

His growl warned her not to try anything, but Miley couldn't have even if she thought to. She was far too distracted by the fact she could feel her bones beginning to ache again.

No! Not now! How was she supposed to go back to being a human when she was surrounded by wolves? Why would her wolf choose to abandon her right now? It felt like a horrendous betrayal, but there was nothing she could do about it as agony enveloped her.

It might have taken only a few seconds, or maybe a minute, but it felt like a lifetime as her body was thrown into agonized writhing.

Still, the werewolf tried to keep a grip on her neck, making it excruciatingly painful, and Miley thought that he might tear her skin right off if he didn"t let go soon.

In the time it took her to shift, the newcomer fought off the two wolves that tried to hold him back. And though Miley was almost entirely overwhelmed by her own pain and suffering, she was distinctly aware of the newcomer"s speed, agility and swiftness.

He dispatched his opponents so quickly that by the time she lay cowering, naked and human once more, he had yanked the third wolf right off her, leaving her with her skin intact.

She just barely managed to scramble out of the way as the two battling werewolves came rolling back toward her.

Pinning herself up against the edge of the bed, she watched in astonishment as the gray-black wolf pinned his opponent to the ground and lunged at the back of his neck.

The strength that surged through his jaws snapped the other wolf"s neck like a twig. It was quick and clean and left Miley breathless.

When the wolf then turned on her, his jaws dripping with blood, Miley"s human self had the distinct sense that she should be terrified. Yet, she wasn"t.

From the second she looked into those charcoal eyes, she knew exactly who this wolf was.

He stalked toward her slowly, the sneer on his jaws softening. And when he placed his snout against her cheek, she closed her eyes, relieved to feel the warmth and tenderness of his touch even through his wet nose.