CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The look on Gabby’s face when she saw him was something that would stay in his mind forever, along with other images of her that had been embedded there already—Gabby vulnerable, Gabby naked in the barn, Gabby transforming into someone that was no longer her. He added this, noting in his mind that the fear in her eyes was something he never, ever wanted to see again.
The door was locked behind him, and he faced her squarely. Gabby started walking over in his direction before stopping mid-stride, then taking a few steps back.
“I thought you were gone,” she croaked out, her voice slightly hoarse from being unused. Her moans of pleasure drifted to mind, but he ruthlessly banked it down.
“I was here,” he said. “I just needed to take care of some matters with Dylan.”
She nodded her head, but he could tell she didn’t agree. He could also tell she wasn’t fully in the present anymore as her eyes glazed from time to time, the aquamarine dimming even while she tried to focus on him.
You’re beautiful, he said in his mind.
“You have to get out of here,” she said, her voice steady but nearly on the verge of breaking. “You can’t be here. Did they force your hand?”
Jake shook his head. “I volunteered.”
Her eyes widened. Then anger flared, mixing with the fear, and she took a step forward again and began to rail at him.
“How could you be so…so…why? You could have perfectly gone away and been away from this mess.”
He shrugged. “I prefer to be here.”
It didn’t have the calming effect that he expected. Instead, Gabby grew more agitated, and she was walking back and forth on the spot without realizing it. He watched her hand go to her stomach as if she was trying to hold something in. He braced himself but appeared relaxed outwardly so as not to further scare her.
“That’s idiotic,” she said, her tone prim.
Jake stifled a tense smile. “Maybe.”
She began to curse. It was so surprising that he could only stare at her, growing worried when she began to rub her belly more aggressively. He took a step forward, and her curses trailed off to make way for pleading not to come any closer.
When he didn’t listen, Gabby launched herself on the other end of the room, crouching. It was then that she removed her hand from her stomach area, and he realized that she wasn’t holding her stomach because it hurt.
She was placing her hand there so it wouldn’t rake on the ground and put a dent in it.
Her claws grew. She started shifting into her animal form, that beautiful brown color before she shifted into something else. Her head was turned down, and her whole body shook. Jake didn’t make any move towards her.
But he did whisper her name.
Her head snapped up in an instant, and he watched red eyes look around wildly before focusing on him.
Nothing happened in the span of that moment. And then Jake saw it—her animal shoulders tensing. An eerie roar came out of her throat as she spat dark saliva.
Then she sprang in his direction without warning.
Jake threw his body to the side, rolling around to a crouch. She followed him, and they ran in circles until she almost caught him the third time. He gritted his teeth as he felt claws sink in on his arm. It was small, and she didn’t get any saliva in, but it hurt like hell, anyway.
He didn’t want to shift because it would be a call to taunt. But staying in his human form would also mean suicide. So Jake settled for half-shifting, changing only his limbs to claws as he evaded her every attack. She grew stronger and faster as the minutes flew, and he knew that the more he delayed it, the more she was going to lose herself.
So he called out to her.
“Gabby! Fight it! Come on. You’re better than this.”
It wasn’t Gabby who responded but the monster, its face snarling at him. Gabby leaped over and over until her claws caught on to his legs, and he cursed and shook her off, never letting on to the pain to the cameras recording them. He shouted at her to get a grip, but the monster kept saying the same thing over and over.
“I’ll kill you…”
She kept launching, and he kept running. He made the usual turn.
Gabby didn’t.
She jumped in the opposite direction, meeting his evasion head on. They both rolled to the ground, and he felt his spine hit the tiles hard before he rolled away. Pain radiated everywhere, but he ignored it as she leaped to her feet and faced him. More saliva dripped, and her fur kept shedding.
She attacked him again, and they rolled once more. He gripped her neck and pushed her away, but she strained against his hold and snapped her sharp teeth over and over near his face.
“Gabby! Come out of there!” he shouted at her. He kicked, and she kicked back. Then she dug her claws into his arms, rendering him immobile.
Jake cursed. He cursed over and over, then looked into her red eyes. He turned his cursing to calling out her name, doing so repeatedly until it drowned out her growls.
He kicked her away again and crawled to his knees. He watched as her shoulders bunched, intending to jump on him again. Jake could only crouch, not sure if he could defend himself this time without hurting her. He locked his jaw in case this last hit would knock him out.
But something happened before she could attack.
Her body shook again, and she moved back instead of forward. Gurgling sounds came out of her throat, followed by a hiss that she would kill him—then Gabby’s real voice, telling him to run. His eyes widened when she curled in on herself and clawed at her own skin, almost as if she was trying to shed her monster to make a place for the real her. He could see her struggling, and Jake did the only thing that his heart urged him to do, even while instinct told him to go away.
He crawled towards her.
Her red eyes zoned in on him, and she looked like she was about to attack again. Then she rolled over and over on the ground, and he stubbornly crawled after her and took her wrist. Her claws sank into him again, drawing blood, but he ignored the pain and kept meeting her gaze.
“Gabby? Come out now…come back to me…”
The claws slowly started withdrawing.
Her body shuddered, and her red eyes dimmed. Then they turned into black, and her body shook violently as she screamed and screamed. He wrapped his hands around her animal form, ignoring her body’s jerking at the touch and tightening his arms all the more. She fought it, but he held on, placing his mouth near her ear and whispering soft, soothing words that everything was going to be alright.
That he was here.
The shift happened gradually, and he felt her fur slowly disappear, to be replaced by human skin and warmth. Her breathing grew more stable, and her head buried in his chest as she tried to fight off any remaining shudders. Finally, she slumped against him, and he gathered her closer and covered her from the cameras. Then he glared at the watchful eyes.
“Happy now? She didn’t kill me. Let her go.”
A whimper came from her throat, and he soothed her again. Then he carried her tired form outside the now-unlocked room, telling her that they were leaving.
Her head lifted up for a second, even when she was obviously losing energy by the second.
“Where?”
“Home,” he whispered.