Last Female Sypher and Her Brother's Friends novel Chapter 37

Last Female Sypher and Her Brother’s Friends

Chapter 37

I freeze.

I can hear a squirrel.

“What the-”

Smell hits last, and it’s the worst of it. I gag, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth. It’s like being

shoved into three places at once-sweet sugar and warm bread, sharp chemicals, sawdust, and something

metallic underneath it all.

“Jesus-”

I squeeze my eyes shut and throw my arm over my face, blocking out the light.

“Easy there.”

Barric’s voice cuts through the chaos, low and steady, but even that feels too loud, too layered. I can hear

the subtle rasp in his throat, the shift of his weight, the faint thud of his heartbeat.

My head snaps toward him.

Heartbeat.

I can hear his heartbeat.

Panic spikes, sharp and immediate.

I reach blindly, and his hands are there instantly-warm, strong, grounding. He pulls me up slowly, like I

might shatter.

“What happened?” My voice comes out rough, unfamiliar to my own ears.

Something inside me stirs at the sound of him. Not fear. Not confusion.

Something warm.

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Chapter 37

Something… pleased.

Content.

And-

:.

Heat floods low in my stomach, sudden and startling.

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“What the hell?” I whisper, more to myself than him.

“It’s okay,” Barric says, his voice softer now, like he’s trying to wrap it around me. “You’re okay. Everything

is going to feel like a lot for a while.”

I swallow, my fingers tightening on his arm.

“A while?” I ask, blinking up at him and finding his piercing eyes focused on me.

He hesitates for half a second, then, “You shifted, Aria. Your wolf has emerged.”

Silence.

My brain tries to catch up, but it’s like wading through fog.

Shifted.

Wolf.

It finally got free.

Mine, a voice purrs inside me.

I jerk.

Mate.

My breath stutters.

Before I can stop myself, the words tumble out. “I want to run.”

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Chapter 37

Barric stills. “Shift. Is your wolf talking to you?”

I blink up at him, realizing I’d drifted somewhere else for a second. My thoughts feel… crowded.

“Yes,” I say slowly. “She wants to go for a run.”

I do not mention the mate thing.

Absolutely not.

If it’s in the biblical, animal, plant way I’m thinking, I’m not sure how that will help right now.

I take another look at Barric and all those hard bronze muscles, and suddenly I’m not sure how it won’t

help.

My wolf practically purrs in agreement, urging me to get a little bit closer.

Oh my God, I have a wolf.

And she’s a slut.

My heart kicks up again, but the panic doesn’t fully land. It should. This should be terrifying. In fact,

finding out you’re not human is terrifying.

But at the same time, it’s not.

Not completely.

Because there’s something else under it.

Calm.

Warmth.

Like I’m… not alone in my own head anymore.

Barric studies me for a long moment, then nods. “Okay. First things first. Bathroom. I’ll be right outside.”

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