Page 63 of Broken Moon

But things would happen thatnight that a mother shouldn’t witness, and we both understood that. Thiswouldn’t be the usual experience where a fifteen-year-old came into her shift.This was a tortured, horribly abused and twisted wolf about to be free afteryears of torment. It was going to be…hard. My wolf was as broken as the moontattoo on my hand, and part of me was afraid that not even the alpha couldcontrol her.

Finally, my mother pulled away.There had been enough delays and she knew what was waiting for me. There wouldbe some difficulty, yes—but it wouldn’t compare to the absolutely blissfulperfection achieving my shift would bring.

I unbuckled the belt that heldmy demon blade and handed it to my mother. “Don’t let it out of your sight,” Isaid, my voice as shaky as my hands.

“I’ll guard it with my life.”She looked at Jared. “As you will guard her.”

He narrowed his eyes, and shedropped her gaze before turning and walking away, the silent Eli at her side. Thewarriors went with them, and any warriors remaining in the woods would patrolthe area, keeping us safe while the alpha put all his concentration on me.

Finally, we were alone.

“Take off your clothes,” hetold me. “You’ll want something to wear when this is over.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I’d beenaway from the life for so long that getting naked in front of the alpha was abig fucking deal, at least to me. But I wouldn’t show it. I couldn’t. Hoping hedidn’t notice the way I wouldn’t meet his stare or the way my hands trembled orthe way I moved so slowly it was more like a striptease than a matter-of-fact necessity,I started with my boots and removed every piece of clothing I wore until Istood naked and cold before him. I wished I’d taken my hair from its customarylong braid. It could have done much to preserve my foolish modesty. I’d bedamned if I’d hide behind my hands. Wolves ended up naked—alot. Ineeded to get used to it.

Still, I couldn’t look at him.

“Are you ready?” he asked, andhis voice held only gentleness.

Carefully, I slid my stare tohis, and the gentleness in his voice did not extend to his eyes. They blazedhot and hungry and savage, and even if I might resist him, my feral wolf wouldnot. Not in a million years. She would give him anything he wanted—because shewanted it too. Dammit,Iwanted it.

Suddenly, I was more afraidthan excited. I did not want to lose control. I held up my hand. “Wait. Alpha,wait.”

But he would not wait. Hegrabbed my shoulders and yanked me to him, and with a somewhat brutal and primalgrowl, he bit me. Not hard, not painfully, but he marked me as his wolf, andthe very second he did, my wolf began to struggle in her chains. She began tofight like she’d always fought, but this time, it was different. This time, heralpha was there to help her.

He stepped back, reached insideme, and began to rip the chains from her body. It was…agonizing. It was theworst thing I’d ever felt.

It was the best thing, as well.

I wasn’t sure I could surviveit, honestly. I wasn’t. But we had to try. Oh God, it hurt. My bones broke andthen reknit, blood vessels burst, my heart exploded. My shoulders dislocated,my organs shifted, and the pressure behind my eyes was so extreme that Ithought they would pop from their sockets. My face twisted and elongated, myteeth lengthened and grew sharp. I was dying. Surely, I was dying.

I opened my mouth to scream, tobeg him to stop, to ask for death, but I did not scream.

Ihowled.

Suddenly, I was not the girl. Iwas the wolf. And everything I’d ever gone through, including the last fewminutes of sheer incomprehensible hell, was worth it. It had gotten me to thismoment.

I survived, and I shifted.

For the first time in my life,I was the wolf.

At last.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

The alpha’s claiming bite sankthrough my flesh and into my bloodstream, working its way through my body, mybrain, and my soul before bursting outward to thread through and join with theaura that surrounded me.

Any remnant of remaining StoneMoon alpha glow or scent swirling around me was decimated. I had not beenbitten by Adam Thorne, but I had been born into his pack. My mother had beenborn into his pack. We did not need to be bitten to be claimed.

But Jared was essentially“stealing” me from my old life, pack, and alpha, and he had to assert his claimthrough the magic of his bite, even though Adam had rejected me, causing hisessence to fade so much it was nearly undetectable.

I’d forgotten what it was liketo have a place, to have a pack, to belong. I’d forgotten what it had felt liketo be claimed. And I’d never really known what it was like to be my wolf.

My wolf.

She could not walk, not atfirst. She was primal and feral, her body and mind twisted by the unnaturalhobbling that had held her for so long. It was as though she were newly born,though she’d lived inside me for years. She was unsure and helpless, but sovery, very eager. She lay on her side panting, almost paralyzed by terror andby the new and overwhelming sights and scents of…ofeverything.

But none of the scents was sharperor more intense than the scent of the alpha. She focused on him, able to smellhis dominance, his calmness, his identity.