After the police, paramedics and feds left, Donika and Grayson went to the kitchen to make tea. She sat with her hands cupped around the mug, looking blankly out the window onto the cold night. Grayson reached across the breakfast table and took her hand.

“I want you to change me,” she whispered. “I’m tired of being weak.”

“You aren’t weak.”

“I need to heal. I need to remember. Shifters heal faster than humans, right?”

“Yes. Much faster.”

“Then being a shifter will heal me. It will heal my mind. I’ll remember.”

“It could help. Our mate bond will be stronger. I’ll do it if you’re one hundred percent sure.”

“I am.”

“Come then,” Grayson said, standing and offering her his hand.

They went into the living room and sat together on the couch. He pulled her into his arms and she rested against his chest. Sliding her hair back, he gently kissed her neck along her pulse point. His teeth grazed her skin and goosebumps rose under the trail he left in his wake.

His teeth pressed harder against her flesh and she called out before they sank deep into her neck. She felt the changing venom slide into her blood. All at once, there was something new inside her. She couldn’t breathe, gripped in the changing bite. Finally, when she didn’t think she could take it a second longer, he let her go. She collapsed in his arms, shivering and shaking.

“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her close.

“I…I will be,” she coughed, her voice dry.

She heard the bear growling at the edge of her consciousness. Immature and childlike, right at the fringes of her mind.

“How long until I can shift?” she asked, gasping for air.

“Usually, it takes time. But the full moon helps.”

“Let’s go,” she said, struggling to her feet. “I want to change now.”

He held her up as she tripped at the door and almost fell.

“Even if you can’t shift tonight, I can feel your bear growing strong already. She’s like you. Independent and powerful.”

They walked out into the cold night air. The moon shone bright and full overhead.

He climbed out of his clothes and dropped them on the porch. “I'll go first and then you can follow me.”

She gritted her teeth as they left his front lawn and walked into the forest beyond. The moon was full and bright overhead, casting a blue glow over the bare tree limbs. As she watched Grayson shift, her mouth dropped open. It was over in an instant, and before her stood a massive grizzly, growling and panting in the cold winter air. She felt him urging her on through their bond.

She had to be stronger. She had buried her fears so deep that she couldn't even feel them anymore. Grayson nudged her hand, encouraging her to focus on her bear through their bond. She took a deep breath and exhaled, the heat puffing out in front of her.

“Okay. Here goes nothing.”

She focused on the fledgling grizzly. She was beautiful and brilliant, with light brown fur and bright amber eyes. She stepped toward it in her mind, reached out her hand, and invited the beast to come forward. The animal charged, and Donika gasped as it jumped inside her.

Her body began to shift, growing larger, contorting and breaking apart. The pain was excruciating. She screamed, but what came out was a garbled growl. The pain stopped as quickly as it started, and she was standing on four massive paws on the forest floor.

Grayson's grizzly was beside her, nudging her with his nose. She looked up at him in shock. She was really a bear! The sounds of the forests were louder, the smells more intense, and her heart beat in her heavy chest with wild abandon. She surrendered to the feeling, her impulses leading her on.

All she wanted was to feel the forest night on her skin, to run wild and free. Grayson felt her feelings and started off before her, taunting and teasing her as he ran ahead. She charged after him, barreling through the underbrush. She caught him and nipped at his back leg. He turned and growled, increasing his speed. They raced into the night, their breaths panting out in front of them. The stars speckled the heavens and the moon glowed onto the forest, casting it in its silvery light. She could smell prey. She wanted to hunt. She wanted to sink her teeth into her first kill. Grayson felt her impulse and agreed. They would hunt the deer. They would bring it down, and she would feel strong.

They prowled through the night, seeking out the scent of the buck. It was hidden in a thicket. Sleeping. Grayson told her to circle around one side while he circled around the other. She sniffed the air, knowing the buck was in there.

Carefully, she padded through the forest as Grayson came around the other side. They would overtake the animal, not giving it a chance to escape.

The buck broke from the thicket. Grayson growled, swiping at it. He missed, and the buck bounded through the brush. Donika charged with her full force, knocking the buck off its feet. She pounced on it and bit its back. It struggled, trying to get away. Her teeth punctured an artery. Blood poured out into her mouth, lapping over her tongue. The buck spasmed and went still. She felt its life force bleeding into her. She thanked the fates and the animal for its life and blood, somehow knowing it was the right thing to do.

Grayson walked up beside her. They quietly feasted on her first kill, until there was nothing left but bones. Thrilled, her eyes flashed in the darkness as the blood dripped from her mouth. Grayson growled at her and nipped at her cheek. She nipped back, feeling the wild heat of her animal and her first kill sinking inside her. She knew she had changed. She was now a predator, a grizzly, a beast. Capable of killing and eating raw flesh under the full moon.

She reared up on her hind legs, roaring at the moon. Grayson mimicked her movements, standing up on his back legs. She felt the incredible thrill inside her. She growled and charged through the forest, gaining in elevation until she and Grayson came to the top of the hill.

She looked up at the moon, roaring at the glow as Grayson roared beside her. The woman who'd been obsessed with proving herself was gone. She knew exactly who she was now, strong and brave and capable of anything. With her mate beside her, she was free. Free of the expectations of society, free of the expectations of her family. The girl who had been teased by her classmates for being smart was no longer afraid. She was no longer above or below anything. She simply was. And she always would be herself.

The moon shone bright over her and bathed her in its glow. She tasted blood on her lips and would forever remember this moment as one of the most defining transitions of her life. More than her graduation from Harvard. More than moving to New York. More than getting her job at Shyster and Shyster. It was the first time that Donika felt fully herself, and she would never forget who had given it to her.