96. Aurelia

Chapter 96

Aurelia

T wo guards wrap gloved hands around my biceps and turn me around to face Savage and Lyle.

"Say goodbye to your little mates." Ghoul's deep voice is the sound of male arrogance. "Boys, say farewell to your regina."

Even against my powerful shield, Savage opens his mouth and roars a mighty bellow.

I stumble back a step as he fights off my hold and his body shifts, but not in the way I expect. His human body remains the same as his mouth elongates in a muzzle full of vicious teeth, and his entire face sprouts midnight black fur as his head becomes a wolf's. His arms elongate and his hands also shift into their wolf form, growing long, sharp claws.

His shift abruptly stops there.

Dear Mother Goddess. He's half-shifted.

An otherworldly snarl rips from his gaping maw and he continues to tear free of my protections, bit by bit.

As if inspired, Lyle seems to choose to let go of his own control and his pupils swallow his eyes. From his chest, a lion's roar breaks free.

The frantic serpents angle their weapons on them.

"No!" I scream. "Do not hurt them! Do not?—"

"Enough," Xander's deep, annoyed voice chops through the din like an axe.

"Move out," Ghoul commands.

As I'm hauled away from my mates and out of the dining hall into the night, I'm screaming my mate's names, a new fear and uncertainty borne inside of me.

What have I done?