"The first shift always hurts." Gabriel's hands gripped my shoulders, anchoring me to the present. "Your bones will break and reform. Your muscles will tear. But I'm here. I won't leave you."
The moon blazed overhead, pulling at something primal in my chest. Elsie prowled beneath my skin, desperate for release.
"What if I can't—"
"You can." His certainty cut through my fear. "Your wolf wants this. Trust her."
The change ripped through me without warning. My spine cracked, vertebrae separating and extending. I screamed—or tried to—but the sound morphed into something inhuman.
Gabriel's hands never left me, even as my skin sprouted fur, even as my face elongated into a muzzle.
"That's it," he breathed. "Let it happen."
Agony became transformation. Human fell away like shattered glass, revealing the creature beneath. Four legs. Heightened senses. The world exploded into impossible detail—Gabriel's scent alone contained layers I'd never imagined.
‘Finally,’ Elsie sang through our shared consciousness. ‘Finally free.’
"Katherine." Gabriel's voice came out reverent. "You're... God, look at you."
I tried to see myself but caught only glimpses—silver-gray fur that caught moonlight like water, lean muscle built for speed.
"Your markings." He circled me slowly, his artist's eye cataloging every detail. "Black points on your ears and paws, like you've been dipped in shadow. And your eyes… they're still yours, but wilder. Fierce."
He shifted beside me, his massive black form dwarfing mine. When he moved closer, Elsie didn't cower. She rose to meet him.
‘Can you hear me?’ His voice echoed in my mind, clear as spoken words.
‘Yes!’ The telepathic connection sent joy cascading through me. ‘Gabriel, I can hear you!’
‘Want to run?’
I threw my head back and howled—pure, unrestrained freedom. Gabriel's deeper howl joined mine, harmonizing into something that made the forest itself seem to listen.
We burst out of the cabin and into the lakeside woods. We ran.
My paws found rhythm on the forest floor, muscles learning their purpose with each stride. Gabriel stayed beside me, sometimes ahead to show the path, sometimes behind to guard my back. We leaped fallen logs, splashed through streams, chased the moon across the sky.
‘Faster,’ Elsie demanded, and I gave her control.
The world blurred. Wind whipped through my fur. My lungs burned with glorious effort. This body—this form—moved like poetry, like violence, like everything I'd been denied for twelve years.
‘You're magnificent,’ Gabriel's mind-voice wrapped around me. ‘The way you move—you're built for this.’
We hunted shadows and moonbeams until dawn painted the horizon pink. Elsie sang the entire time—of Gabriel, of freedom, of the mate who'd given her back her voice.
‘Thank you,’ I told him as we finally slowed. ‘For being patient. For waiting. For this.’
‘Never thank me for being your mate.’ His wolf pressed against mine. ‘This is what we're meant to be.’
The shift back came easier, though my human form felt strange after hours on four legs. Gabriel caught me as I stumbled, both of us naked and exhausted and complete.
"Every full moon," he promised, kissing my forehead. "We run together."
By dawn we dressed, sleepy-laughing as we locked the cabin behind us. The lake lay like glass when we slipped into the car, a steady quiet settling between us.
The drive home passed in comfortable silence, Gabriel's hand never leaving mine. His thumb traced circles on my palm—small, constant reminders that last night had been real.
I'd shifted. I'd run. I'd been whole.
"The council will want immediate updates," he said as pack territory came into view. "But tonight, we celebrate. Your first shift deserves recognition."
"No grand gestures," I warned. "Please."
"Nothing grand. Just us." He squeezed my hand. "Maybe Nate, if he can stop scowling for five minutes."
The pack house loomed before us, reality crashing back. War preparations. Barrett's threat. The plan with Evelyn that Gabriel knew nothing about.
Nate waited on the front steps, his expression unreadable. The moment Gabriel parked, he approached with Beta efficiency.
"You're needed in the council room," he said without preamble.
Gabriel's jaw tightened. "Good news or bad?"
"Complicated news. Colin is waiting."
Gabriel turned to me, pressing a quick kiss to my temple. "This shouldn't take long."
"Go," I said. "The pack needs you."
He disappeared inside, leaving Nate and me alone for the first time since that night on the terrace. The morning sun cast sharp shadows across his face, highlighting the exhaustion he wore like armor.
"You look different," he said, those gray eyes dissecting me with surgical precision.
"Do I?"
"Something's changed." He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell coffee on his breath. "You look..."
My heart hammered against my ribs. The word hung between us, unspoken but heavy with possibility.
Happier? Real? Like you belong to someone else?
"Stronger," he finished, and something in his voice suggested that wasn't the word he'd started with. "You look stronger."
He disappeared inside before I could respond, leaving me alone with the truth of his observation.
He was right. Something had changed.