Chapter Six
Nyah’s heart sank as she watched her mate die before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do about it. The full moon rose high in the sky, and it pulled at her, yanking something inside of her outward. Fear sliced at her as the crunch of bones snapping, realigning, changing, and shifting filled her ears, knowing they were her own. She dropped to her hands and knees, tucking her chin to her chest as she heaved heavy, labored breaths through the pain.
Jordan told her to let it happen. Not fight it. But how the fuck did she not fight something this unnatural … this preternatural thing happening to her? It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
The slice on her wrist sealed, as if it had never happened. Just as hair sprouted along her arms, and her nails grew into long claws.
Nyah released a guttural scream that changed to a growl as the rest of her body followed, elongating, raising up, filling out, forming the body of a wolf. Dark blonde fur covered her face along her snout where her nose used to be.
Suddenly everything in the room became sharper, clearer, more defined. The sound of a cricket miles away stood out among the crunching and cracking and snapping of body parts from the parking lot. A mosquito buzzed in the moonlight outside the bar, only to be swallowed by a bat that swooped down from the dark of night.
Blood, coppery and acrid, filled her nostrils and immediately she knew it belonged to Jordan. His scent filled her, slicing her heart in two.
She padded over to him, bleeding out next to Angela on the floor, covered in even more blood. A cough rocked her body as she choked on blood dripping along her lips.
“Abom … ination,” she choked out. “Die.”
“You first, bitch.” Nyah lunged at her and ripped her throat straight from her neck.
Another wolf padded into the room with a scent she recognized from the other night, when Jordan saved her from the rival pack attack, the one he called Roark.
Roark shifted to human form and leaned against the door. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little she-wolf. A baby freshly turned.”
A slow, intermittent thump hit her ears and she whipped around. Jordan was still alive. She had to change back and heal him. She couldn’t do it from her wolf form. It had to be from her witch side.
Norah, please help me…
Nyah closed her eyes and concentrated on her human form, her witch form. Like channeling her power during an incantation, she let her spirit take over, guide her, fill her.
She dropped to the floor, and a shiver claimed her naked body. But she was human. Pain radiated through every inch of her, but the drive to save her mate was stronger. Her long fingernails dug into the floor and she dragged herself to his side.
“Don’t you leave me now. You got me into this shit. Hell if I’m living through it alone.” A hazy white light shone through her fingertips as she laid her hands along his blood-soaked chest. His fur thinned beneath her hands as it turned back into skin. The warmth that once radiated off his flesh was now cold and lifeless, graying as it died before her eyes.
“No,” Nyah shouted. “I won’t let you slip away.”
Nyah fought, channeling everything she had left inside her. A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up into the smiling face of her dead sister, Norah. Her spirit form merged with Nyah, thrusting her head back as the force took over her body. A flash of light burst from her fingertips and struck Jordan’s chest.
He bolted up like he’d just been shocked back to life, coughing as he rolled over.
Nyah swallowed hard and clutched a hand to her chest, feeling her sister’s life force coursing inside her. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Jordan scrambled up from the floor and lunged at Nyah, wrapping his arms around her as he crashed against her lips. But it wasn’t a thank you for healing him. Each sweep of his tongue told her how thankful he was she was still alive. The concern and tenderness in his movements were for her, not for him.
He gave his life for her. And she gave it back to him.
****
Jordan pulled back from the kiss and stared into the eyes of his mate, his love, his future. “You did it darlin’. You did it.”
Nyah slid a warm hand along his bare chest. Her simple touch lit a fire along his skin. “My sister helped me. She gave me her strength and her power to help save you.”
A smile lit his lips. “No, baby, not me. I’m talking about you. You survived your first shift. And you changed back at will. That is an incredible feat for a hybrid, let alone a newly turned. You are simply amazing, and I’m so damn proud of you.”
He needed to taste her lips once more, soak himself in her essence, her strength and beauty. She embodied what it meant to be a wolf, strong and wild, yet somehow she’d managed to retain her witch half and control it. Now he knew why the powers that be mated him to her.
“Never thought I’d live to see this day.” Roark laughed from across the room. “An ancient sucking face with a witch. And then you went and made her a wolf. Maybe there’s hope for the Eden’s Bayou pack yet.”
Jordan brushed a hair from Nyah’s face as he pulled back from the kiss. He stared at Roark, unsure of what to say to him. For so long he considered him an enemy, a power-hungry leader of the rival pack. But it was his pack that took care of the witches in the parking lot. Not Jordan’s, as he spied Zeke and the pack walking in unscathed, while Roark’s pack was covered in blood and worse for wear. Bayou Vista made it there first.
“She’s my mate.” Jordan finally spoke up. “And I’m damn proud of it.”
Roark tossed him a wink. “You remember that.”
Jordan stood and offered a hand. “Sometimes we ancients have to learn shit the hard way.”
Roark smirked and shook his head. “Oh, don’t think I’m going to forget the ass-whooping I owe you from the other night. Don’t mistake my respect for your newly acquired mate for respect for you. But maybe we can work out some kind of deal for our packs’ future well-being.”
Jordan nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll talk.”
“We may even come help repair the bar if we get allowed entrance to it. What do you say?” Roark asked, tossing a wink to Nyah.
“Baby steps, Roark. We’ll talk. But not tonight. Tonight I’m taking my mate home and having my way with her.” Jordan gripped her by the waist and tugged her close to his body.
“What he means is, I’ll be having my way with my wolf,” Nyah said, clasping her hand to his as she dragged him out of the bar in a run and shifted.