everything about you.”
“Listen here, pup, my mind is private. I can’t poke around in yours, so leave mine alone.”
He stopped walking, and the jostling halted, letting her breathe in deep. Her body hurt, bones ached, and nausea rolled over her once again. She’d never been late on getting one of her shots and never would again. This just sucked.
“All you have to do is focus. Think about what you want and you should be able to feel, see, and hear my thoughts.” He kissed her mark, but instead of feeling the burning of lust or the raw need of his love, she only felt her stomach start to pitch.
She kicked out of his grasp. This time he didn’t fight it. Bile inched its way up from her stomach to her throat. Acid churned, and before she could fight the bile back, she was leaned over, eyes already watering, and heaving. The acid that had previously churned in her stomach scorched her throat. The chunks of rabbit she’d eaten earlier hit against the back of her throat on their way out to splash all over her shoes. A piece of the meat stuck against her tonsils, making her dry heave. The milk she’d drunk had curdled in her stomach and now lay in chunks of white all over her feet. Her ribs hurt, her eyes burned, and her throat was on fire.
* * * *
Jasper’s pissed voice rang in her ears. “No, I won’t hold. Tell the doctor that Siddalee Brighton is sick, and I’m taking her to the local hospital. If he wants to live another day, his ass will be there in an hour.” Jasper growled from her left. “I don’t give a damn what he has going on, she’s my mate, and if he can’t get here to help her, he won’t be alive tomorrow.”
Sidda wiped the vomit from her face with the back of her hand. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She cringed from the aching in her bones. Her hand throbbed. It stung, and the bones within creaked when she flexed it. Panic rose as the hair on her knuckles lengthened and turned deep red. Her nails extended, curving under. She shook her hand, hoping to shake whatever was happening away.
A voice inside screamed to let it happen, to relax. She laughed bitterly. There was no way in hell she could relax. Pain exploded in her head. She dropped to her knees, clutching her head. A distant scream rang in her ears, but from who or where it came from she couldn’t tell. Her mind hazed over in red. Distantly she saw Jasper in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, but there was no sound except the screaming.
She looked down at her hands, both covered in long, deep red hair, with the nails curved under. The bones snapped, pain shot up from her hands, and before she could recover, her mind went blank. She had paws.
She could vaguely make out voices around her. Instead she mainly heard a tiny whisper inside her head. The whisper grew louder, begging her to come to it. Sidda closed her eyes, trying to block out the sight of her hands, the sound of the whisper, and most of all the panic swelling in her.
Someone or something moved her, lifted her from the ground. She kept her eyes shut tight. The nausea returned, churning in her stomach. The voice whispered to will her body to keep changing. She shook her head. Human, all human, that’s what she was, not Luna. The voice pitched in a pissed scream, “Luna. Alpha Luna.”
Her brain filled with red haze, the color settling like a fog in her, spreading through, blocking all thoughts except to ease her pain. There was only one way to ease it—let go. She cringed in pain, but when she dropped her restraint, stopped fighting the shift she didn’t understand, the pain eased. The fog cleared, and her eyes snapped open.
Sounds, loud and clear, met her ears. Birds sang, bugs zoomed by, and trees swayed in the wind. The wind! She could hear the calling of the wind. It carried a musical, earthy tone, carrying the scents of earth, humans, and Jasper. Oh lord, Jasper. He smelled of oak, earth, and pure, strong Alpha Wolf. His scent filled her nose, urging