Chapter 260: Ok. CIAN The training ground sat far enough from the main house that the quiet felt absolute. This particular clearing had become the unofficial shifting space over the years. Far enough away that broken bones and torn muscle wouldn’t disturb anyone trying to sleep. I’d given up on sleep hours ago. The grass was still wet with morning dew when I reached the clearing. My shoes squelched softly against the ground as I walked to the center of the space. The sky was just starting to lighten at the edges, that murky pre-dawn gray that made everything look washed out and unreal. I needed this. I needed to let my wolf out before the day fully began and everything went to shit. My fingers went to the buttons of my shirt. I worked them open one by one, then shrugged the fabric off my shoulders. The morning air was cold against my bare chest. Goosebumps rose across my skin immediately. The sound of an engine cut through the silence. I turned toward the noise. Even from this distance I could make out the shape of a red car moving down the long driveway. The color was distinctive enough. It was Madeline’s brother’s ride leaving. Which meant Madeline had officially been severed from her coven. Years of fucking connection, gone. All because she’d chosen to help me instead of following their rules. The weight of that settled heavy in my gut. One more person who’d sacrificed something important for my sake. One more debt I didn’t know how to repay. I turned back to the task at hand. My fingers found the button of my pants. I undid it, then the zipper. The pants fell to my ankles and I stepped out of them, kicking them aside with my shoes. My briefs followed a second later. The cold bit at my exposed skin but I barely felt it. My focus had already shifted inward, reaching for the part of me that existed beneath mortal skin and mortal thoughts. My wolf answered immediately. It surged forward with a hunger that bordered on desperate. We’d been cooped up too long. Too many days of playing human, of walking on two legs and pretending everything was fine when nothing was fine at all. The transformation started in my chest. My ribcage exploded outward with a series of wet cracks that echoed across the clearing. Bones snapped and reformed, expanding beyond the limitations of human anatomy. My spine arched backward at an impossible angle. Each vertebra popped loose from its neighbor before realigning into something longer and stronger. Pain lanced through every nerve ending. White-hot and overwhelming. My jaw unhinged with a sound like tearing fabric. The bones of my face pushed forward, elongating into a snout. My teeth fell out one by one, clattering against the lengthening bone before new ones erupted through my gums. Sharper. Longer. Made for tearing meat. My shoulders dislocated. Both at once. The joints separated completely before the bones grew larger, the sockets deepening to accommodate them. Muscle mass built up in layers, each one wrapping around the expanding frame underneath. My hands hit the ground. Fingers stretched and twisted. The knuckles cracked as they reformed. Claws pushed through the tips where fingernails used to be, erupting from the flesh in spurts of blood that quickly clotted. The same happened to my feet, with my bones lengthening and my joints reversing, the entire structure rebuilding itself into something designed for running. Fur burst through my skin like a thousand needles piercing through flesh all at once. The sensation was both agonizing and satisfying in equal measure. My internal organs shifted. Heart expanding, lungs growing larger, stomach restructuring itself to process raw meat instead of cooked food. Everything rearranging to fit the new form. The last thing to change was my mind. Human thoughts scattered and reformed into something simpler. More direct. My wolf’s consciousness merged with my own until we became one unified thing. The transformation was complete. I stood on four legs, shaking out my new form. My senses immediately sharpened. The world became clearer, more vivid. I could smell everything. The wet grass. The distant scent of coffee from the main house. The lingering exhaust from the red car that had driven away. I ran. My legs ate up the distance in powerful strides. The wind rushed past my ears, cool and clean. Every muscle in my body worked in perfect synchronization. This was what we were made for. Not sitting in offices or navigating pack politics alone. This too. The pure movement. The fucking freedom. The ground blurred beneath my paws. I could hear my own breathing, steady and rhythmic. My heart pumped strong and fast, feeding oxygen to muscles that burned in the best possible way. I leaped over a fallen log without breaking stride. The jump carried me higher than it should have, my wolf form stronger and more agile than my human body could ever be. I landed smoothly on the other side and kept running. The world narrowed to just this. The feel of earth beneath my paws. The stretch and pull of muscle. The way my lungs expanded with each breath. Everything else fell away. Ronan. Gabriel. The trap we’d set. All of it disappeared into the rhythm of running. I circled the clearing once. Then twice. The third time around I caught a new scent. Someone was standing near my discarded clothes. I slowed, changing direction to get a better angle. My wolf eyes picked out the figure easily even from a distance. Ronan. My pace quickened despite the exhaustion starting to creep into my legs. I needed to get to him. The transformation back was just as brutal as the one going out. I was still moving when it started. My spine compressed violently, vertebrae slamming back together into the shorter human configuration. My ribcage collapsed inward with a series of sickening crunches. The expanded lung capacity vanished in an instant, leaving me gasping for air that suddenly felt thin and insufficient. My snout retracted. The bones of my face pulled backward, grinding against each other as they shortened. My jaw realigned with multiple pops. The wolf teeth fell out, replaced by my duller human ones pushing up through already healing gums. Fur retracted back into my skin. Each hair follicle burned as it withdrew, leaving mostly smooth human flesh behind. My organs shifted again, shrinking and restructuring to fit the smaller frame. My front legs became arms. The joints reversed with audible cracks. Paws reformed into hands, claws retracting into normal fingernails. The same happened to my back legs, the bones snapping and realigning until I was balanced on two feet instead of four. I stumbled the last few steps, catching myself before I could fall. My human body felt weak and clumsy after the wolf form. Everything was slower, duller. My senses dimmed until the world became more muted and ordinary again. Ronan walked toward me, my clothes draped over his arm. He held out my briefs first. I took them and pulled them on, grateful for something to cover myself with. The morning air felt even colder against my human skin. "You rarely shift unless you need to destress," Ronan said. His tone was casual but I could hear the question underneath it. "Is there something on your mind?" The suspicion, sharp as it was unwelcome hit me like a physical thing. I hated that it was there. I hated that I couldn’t look at my friend, my brother, without wondering if he’d betrayed me. Had Garrett given him the card yet? The question circled in my head, demanding attention I couldn’t give it. If Ronan had received it, would he mention it? Would he come to me with plenty of concerns about Gabriel? Or would he stay silent and prove something was off? He hadn’t said anything yet. Which meant either Garrett hadn’t made contact, or Ronan was choosing to hide it. I didn’t know which option was worse. "Gee, it’s not like my mate almost died," I said, reaching for my shirt. The fabric was cool against my still overheated skin. "I wonder what I could be stressed about." "She’s alive though." Ronan’s voice was gentle, understanding even though I had been catty with my response. I pulled the shirt over my head and tugged it down. "That doesn’t change the fact that someone tried to kill her." "Well, that’s why I’m here." Ronan shifted his weight slightly. "The delicate is here with their handler." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 I grabbed my pants and stepped into them. The denim felt restrictive after the freedom of fur and four legs. I buttoned them, then zipped them up. "Let’s get to figuring this bullshit out then." My slippers were where I’d kicked them off. I shoved my feet into them and started walking toward the main house. Ronan fell into step beside me, matching my pace easily. The familiarity of it made my chest ache. "Luna Fia was at the library late last night," Ronan said. I glanced at him. "Oooookay??" "I sort of followed her." He laughed, the sound light and easy. "I was worried. And I kind of lied and said you put me up to it." My steps faltered. Just for a second. Just long enough for the information to sink in. Huh... Ronan had been spying on Fia? And using me as a shield? Why? The question burned through my thoughts but I couldn’t ask it. I couldn’t show that level of suspicion without tipping my hand. If he was working with Gabriel, if he was a traitor, then letting him know I was onto him would ruin everything. "She seemed to hate it," Ronan continued, oblivious to the calculations running through my head. "So if she brings it up in conversation, please keep up the lie? I would hate to be in her bad books." I turned to face him. His expression was open, friendly. The same look he’d worn a thousand times before. Nothing about it suggested deception or malice. But that was the thing about good liars it seemed. They looked you right in the eye while they stabbed you in the back. I hated that I had to force a smile. "Sure. You’re my friend. I know you’ll do the same for me." The words felt like a test. Like if I said them with enough conviction, they might become true again and erase the doubt that had taken root in my chest and was spreading like poison through every memory we shared. "Of course," Ronan said. His smile was warm, genuine. "Always."