The Alpha's Reluctant Mate by Morganna Williams Page B

my body had been tossed into a lake of fire, leaving me screaming and writhing with pain.
    Tera and Connor took turns staying with me, but I felt the most peace when Connor was near. I felt weak for leaning so heavily on him when I wasn’t ready to commit to him in any way, shape, or form, but at the moment his presence was necessary to retain my sanity.
    The closer the full moon drew, the less he was able to help assuage the raging beast growing inside of me. They fed me several times a day—always with fresh, raw meat. I’d lost all vestige of human feeding, and I fell on the meat like an animal, consuming it almost in an instant.
    Initially, Sebrina had come to visit me but the last few nights even she stayed away. I was too consumed, too crazed by the changes going on inside my body. I understood now why Epenie and Dizzy were being kept away.
    I’d bitten Tera at least once and even Connor was beginning to have difficulty holding me off him when I went into a frenzy to get the meat he’d brought me.
    On some level I registered and was appalled by my sudden lack of humanity, but before I could react to those feelings, the instincts of the wolf would spring once more to the fore, taking away even that small moment of reason.
    The days passed relatively peacefully, as that was when my ravaged body finally allowed me some measure of rest, but the minute the moon rose high in the sky, the beast was back trying to claw its way out of me.
    By the day of the full moon, I just lay in a corner of the living room whimpering as pain wracked my body. Curled into a small ball away from both Connor and Tera, unable to tolerate even a soothing touch or the softest whisper, my senses were overloaded by all the stimuli surrounding me.
    My hearing was acute to the point of pain; my sight so good that my brain couldn’t process images fast enough; and my body was changing to accommodate my nature, man and beast sharing one body. Food no longer interested me; all I knew was a churning nausea that would not abate.
    The night before, I’d screamed myself hoarse, as it seemed the fires of hell consumed me. Connor tried to comfort me and I raked him with newly formed claws, but still he held me close as if trying to absorb some of my pain.
    The instant the full moon rose, I sat up from my position on the floor and turning my head toward the window where its bright light seemed to fill the room. All of the pain began to fade as I moved toward that light, and the change started before I made it to the window. My bones began popping, my muscles stretching and lengthening as my body shifted into the form of a wolf.
    Bracing my large paws on the floor, I arched my back in a luxurious stretch. All of the fear and confusion fell away as I saw things clearly for perhaps the first time in my life. As a wolf I’d shed all of the stresses and worries of humanity; life was very simple. I just needed to live it.
    The night beckoned me with the rich scents of the wooded glen; the grass and earth both calling to me to come and play.
    The front door swung open and then Connor was there beside me, his shaggy body bumping against mine playfully and then springing away. As we ran together, I could hear the cries of the other wolves of my pack in the distance.
    I raced through the valleys and up the hills of the compound, pausing only a moment when I reached the walls of Connor’s estate before leaping them easily to land on the other side.
    Joy filled me as I ran, enjoying the freedom of spirit and mind as my wolf soared across the grounds of Wolf Creek.
    Connor kept pace with me, content to let me lead until I prepared to jump the walls that surrounded the entire community. He growled and knocked me to the ground in mid-leap.
    I sprang into a crouch, snarling back at him, angry to have my freedom curtailed in any way. He nudged me in the other direction with his nose, nipping sharply at my flank when I would have