"He's definitely hard to figure out," I commented. There was still a lot I needed to tell them.

"But I think I'm starting to warm up to him."

And that was all I could give them for now. I would tell them, and Kendra, the whole story once we had the time to talk it through. They deserved as much.

"I'd like to get to know him, sooner or later," Reece said, folding his arms over his chest.

I chuckled. "You will."

Another short moment of silence passed and then Reece turned to our pack. "You all heard Tyrion. Change. And then we'll join them. Even without the traitors we should still manage a Rukhs'. Give it your best!" Reece yelled. I turned around and watched the pack. Surprise touched their features as if taken aback by suddenly needing to move again.They'd all been fixated, like in a trance, probably from having seen the Thrakos men shift.

As the sun reached its peak, the rays burned down on us relentlessly. Though it was still autumn, standing on a hill with no shade warmed us to the point I expected it to burn our skin. Only last evening had it been incredibly cold, rain pouring down in buckets—it was strange weather, to say the least.

"He said west. I can barely see a single tree, save an entire tree-line. We better get going before nightfall rolls in," Emmet suggested and soon, all of us began to let the shift take over.

Once we fell into the Rukhs' and I felt something warm buzzing through my entire being, I tried to keep my mind free of any thoughts. Hard as it was, I managed for at least an hour. After that, my gut feeling started to spread it's weary feeling until it reached my head.

We must stop, I said through the link, my concentration wavering as dark thoughts began to circle around in my mind. It made me think of the voic-

Basilears, rustikus em prodithor—the king, the peasant and the traitor

We stopped the Rukhs' just in time. The voices blared in my mind like angry sirens, along with a piercing pain that felt as if someone were shoving needles into my skull. They were so loud. So intense.

Something's wrong, I said, feeling an icy sense of fear grip my heart. With my blood running cold, I turned to examine my surroundings more closely. We were still in the middle of countless hills and grassland as far as the horizon could reach. Though I could not physically see anything, every cell in my body warned me that nothing was as it seemed.

Something was gravely wrong. Pain erupted in my stomach then, throwing me onto the ground with the force that came with it.

Writhing in agony, I couldn't suppress a howl.

Catherine, what's wrong? Kendra asked worriedly, coming into view as she stepped closer. Reece, Emmet and Jarred also closed in on me, though my vision blurred in and out of focus quicker and quicker.

My head was pounding.

I don't know, I managed to form my thoughts without screaming in between. Instead, I curled up into a pitiful ball of fur, biting down on my teeth.

Could this be some kind of magae interference? Like last time, at Thrakos Manor? Kendra wondered, worry still evident in her voice.

What the hell are you talking about? Reece barked.

A blurry Kendra moved her head towards the dark brown wolf that was Reece. Then she looked at me.

Catherine will explain. I need to get Dante here, I heard her say, her voice growing fuzzy in the chaos rising within my mind.

It was full of fear, panic and pain. So much pain.

Writhing, I felt the shift involuntarily take over control. My mind was too preoccupied dealing with the agonizing cramps that raked my body to care or fight the instinct. As I shifted, more pain electrocuted through my body and I felt the transformation take longer than usual.

Once it was over, I barely registered someone throwing me a shirt to cover myself with. Quickly slipping it on, I crumpled up to a pathetic ball, pressing my jaws tightly against each other. I feared I would pulverize my teeth if I bit down any harder, though it seemed to help even if only a little.

Panting, I tried to orient myself and put myself back into the present. I couldn't allow myself to get lost in this pain. Whatever—or whoever—was causing it would only get their way if I did.

Though not going crazy with such agony was easier said than done.

Kendra came back into focus, though she wasn't the furry face of before anymore and instead was in her human skin too. She'd probably given me her shirt, then. As she sat down next to me, I wondered if anyone could help me. She wrapped one arm around my body, trying to soothe me. Through clenched teeth I moaned, "Ryker."

Thankfully, my Maecena understood my meaning without me needing to form a full sentence. It had cost enough energy to merely gasp his name in between the brutal waves of cramps.

My stomach felt as if it were in a literal knot, my intestines tearing open as if someone slid a knife into my gut. Adrenaline rushed through me, trying hard to keep my body functioning, though I wanted nothing more than to die.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could bear this.

"I can't reach Ryker, but Dante is coming. Just hold on for a little longer," Kendra whispered into my ear, leaning into me. Her whole body pressed against mine—and once I noticed the tremors raking through me, I realized why.

"What the hell is wrong with her? You explain this right now, Kendra," a voice growled and by the sound of the slight scratch it held, though deep as it was, Reece was angry. Worried.

"Has this happened before?" Reece demanded, stripped of every ounce of patience he had.

"Kind of. We were at Tharkos house back in Everett Valley. It's over the border to the south," she started, but Reece interrupted her before she could continue.

"You went south?" he screeched.

"Yes, well, coming back from there was a little bit of a problem. It's good we left when we did. Protector Thorne caught us on our way home."

Completely baffled, Reece stared between her and me, back and forth. The cramps lessened for a moment. "There hasn't been a good time to tell you all about this. I would have, eventually," I explained, taking the moment to intervene before he'd completely lose his mind.

Unfortunately, my explanation did nothing to soothe his nerves. It was foolish of me to think that it might have, even if the chance had been slim. He was beyond furious. I could feel his anger pound against my walls, wanting to reach me like a magnet being drawn to its pole.

"And you think this," he waved a circle, meaning the situation at hand, "is a good time to tell me, do you?" he snarled, his irises turning from their usual dark brown, to a wine-red. His eyes, other than my flecks of red, changed their color completely.

Shaking my head, another wave of contractions passed through my muscles, tying the knot in my stomach tighter.

"N-no. I suppose..." I took a deep breath, biting out my next words. "I suppose not."

His eyes softened at my display of weakness, barely able to manage an entire sentence. I curled up into an even smaller ball, clutching at my stomach, praying that it would stop. Kendra stood up and turned to scan the area.

"Where the hell is this Dante?" Reece growled and faced Kendra, fury back in his flaming eyes. Though I could feel the fear in her bones, she tried hard to stand her ground by holding his stare and not cowering beneath him. Still, her body-language betrayed her. Her shoulders were strained and pulled up, as if she were trying to hide her face without using her hands. The rest of her was stiff.

"He's on his way," she muttered, her voice small.

"He better be."

And as if on queue, flapping sounded in the distance and carried towards us.

I yelped once my stomach unknotted for a split-second, only to knot itself back again. Suddenly, small tingles vibrated within my fingertips and quickly spread along the fingers towards my hands. "Some-something," I breathed, "something is happ-" Pausing shortly, I took a deep breath and tensed all the muscles I could to regain a small fraction of control. "Something is happening to me."

"Yeah, no shit!" Reece barked instantly.

"What do you mean, C?" Kendra asked softly, her voice a stark contrast to the anger Reece poured into his.

Turning my gaze to look at her, I noticed how pale she'd become. "Something is tingling through my hands. And it's spreading," I managed to say and finished just before my body loosened on its own accord and a cramp raked through my stomach.

She furrowed her brows. "Maybe that's the confirmation that it's really magic?"

It was silent for a few moments, the only sound that I detected was the flapping in the distance and the beat of my own heart. It pounded against my chest, slamming against it, furious that it was being forced to pump blood through my body at this rate. I was sure it would give up and stop any second.

But then Emmet said something that made the blood in my veins run cold with a fear I'd never experienced before. Not when we'd been attacked. Not even in the cave.

"I think it's a distraction," he said gravely. "Reece. That man with the shadows. The one that attacked us." Emmet paused, leaving us to wonder where this assumption even came from.

"He's headed right towards us."