Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother novel Chapter 141

Chapter 141

KASMINE

The crowd grew still.

I tilted my head back and stared up at the sky. The moon was almost there–gliding slowly and painfully toward the center of the heavens. It wasn’t full tonight. Just a gentle crescent. But that didn’t matter. Everyone knew–on your twenty–first birthday, the second the moon touched the center of the sky, the magic awakened. The wolf either came or it didn’t.

My chest rose and fell quickly.

Almost there.

Almost.

Then-

It happened.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my spine like lightning. My legs buckled. I hit the ground hard, knees slamming into the grass as my hands dug into the earth.

A scream tore from my throat before I could stop it.

It felt like fire was eating me from the inside out. Like my skin was being peeled, my bones shattered and glued back together wrong, I could hear them–cracking, shifting snapping–over and over again like a thousand sticks breaking at once,

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t even think

I was writhing and gasping, my body folding in on itself. Every nerve was burning. My hands were stretching- elongating–fingers tearing and reshaping into paws. My back arched violently. My spine curved. I clawed at the ground, screaming into the dirt, barely aware of the sobs and groans around me from the others going through the same thing.

Then–just when I thought I would pass out-

It stopped.

Silence fell.

Everything in me was still.

Everything outside me was different.

I opened my eyes. Everything looked clearer. Sharper. Brighter. I could hear everything–even the thump of Jake’s heart from where he stood. I could smell the grass, the fire, the sweat, the fear, the excitement.

I didn’t feel the grass anymore, I didn’t feel the tremble in my limbs or the ache where my knees had slammed

into the ground. All I felt was light bursting, surging, and rippling through me like a river that had finally broken through its dani,

1 stood, but not as me.

I was on four legs, not two.

+25 BONUS

Chapter 141

Deep, glistening, golden–brown fur wrapped around my new form. My paws dug into the dirt with an instinct I’d never known but suddenly understood completely.

Everyone cheered and clapped, and I felt powerful

Like this was the real me, finally let loose after years of being trapped in a too–small body.

Following instinct, I tipped my head back, let out a howl, and then ran.

It was required, sure–but even if it hadn’t been, I would have done it anyway. My paws barely touched the ground as I tore into the forest beyond the altar, past the ring of trees that bordered the ceremonial circle.

The wind ripped through my fur. My heart pounded in rhythm with the earth. I was moving so fast that the world blurred around me, but somehow, I could still see everything–every leaf, every root, every drop of dew hanging from the branches. It was like my soul had never truly opened its eyes until now.

I didn’t want to stop.

But I had to,

I looped around and slowed just as I broke back through the tree line, back into the crowd, and shifted back to my human form.

Maids rushed forward with a soft white robe, draping it around my now naked form.

I pulled it tight around my shoulders, fingers still buzzing with aftershocks.

And then-

The scent hit me.

Holy. Fucking, Hell.

Whoever it was–wherever he was–his scent was burning through the crowd like wildfire.

But not like Jake’s subtle warmth. Jake smelled like cinnamon and safety.

An Alpha. Or a Beta, maybe. But definitely not Jake.

But my heart didn’t have the time to fall because I turned slowly, my heart hammering so hard I thanake –

thou

whole world could hear it. My eyes scanned the sea of faces one by one. I could barely focus and barely breathe. The scent was so strong it made my head swim. I felt hot and dizzy like I was going to fall apart at the seams.

My eyes stopped just before the edge of the crowd. They were still cheering and celebrating. No one else seemed to feel what I was feeling.