Chapter 45
45–My Beautiful Gray Mate
Graham:
I started to go down, and when I was halfway through, the old man reached for me. I felt a sharp prick on my skin. It was harsh and painful.
It was so hot down there, and with everything happening around me, I couldn’t tell what had just happened until I was fully landing underground.
Once my body was fully lowered, I began to feel uneasy and weak, even.
“Are you okay?” the old man asked, reaching toward me as I got on my knees and shifted back into my human form.
That wasn’t part of the plan. I was supposed to help the man up, let him stand on my wolf’s back, then get out and transition later.
Why would I shift back, go inside again, and shift once more? It would have been too much trouble, so I avoided it until I was sure I was in the basement.
“It’s just—“I muttered, placing a hand on my chest. Before I could say anything else, my body started to collapse.
That’s when I realized what had happened. I’d been injected with wolfsbane and not just a small amount, but a heavy dose.
My head snapped up to look at the old man. It didn’t make sense unless he was involved. When he smiled, terror ran through me.
I was right.
He was behind the poisoning.
As my body slumped to the side, I couldn’t speak, defend myself, or call out to Madeline to warn her about what was happening.
But even as everything faded, the only person in my mind was her. She had no idea what danger she was in.
Unknowingly, she began calling out for the old man, trying to help him up. By then, my body had gone limp, and I couldn’t shift or speak to stop her.
In the next few minutes, I was disoriented, still dazed until I heard Madeline’s screams. As soon as her voice reached my ears, I jolted awake.
“Just a little more. Madeline is in danger, we need to get out,” I told my wolf, trying to make him feel the urgency running through me.
The thought of that man touching her, of him hurting her, drove me insane.
No, I wouldn’t let that happen. I told myself that as I pressed my hands to the ground and started to rise. I knew what that meant, using immense power.
“If you give it your all and force me to come out right now, it’ll be much harder for me to return next time,” my wolf warned, reminding me of the consequences of pushing him too far while he was under the wolfsbane.
“It’s okay. Let’s just keep moving,” I muttered, feeling sorry for him. But the moment he began to fight, I realized he was just as worried for her. He was ready to give everything for her.
1/3
45–My Beautiful Gray Mate
+25 Bonus
I screamed a few times as the transition dragged on. I knew my wolf wouldn’t be at full strength, but at least I could escape and give Madeline a head start by putting myself in the old man’s way.
When I pushed a little too hard, my wolf finally screamed. As his cry echoed through the air, I felt my body start to
shift.
Everything went silent for a moment, and all I could hear was my heartbeat.
Then chaos took over. Every inch of my body ached, fighting to return to its human form because of the wolfsbane running through me. I kept forcing it until the transition was complete.
My wolf was weak, but it was enough for me to crawl through the narrow space and leap out of the tunnel. Once I was out and back on the ground, I began to shift again.
This time, I didn’t hear my wolf’s whimpering for nearly two minutes. But I didn’t have time to think about it.
I crawled toward my clothes, pulled on my pants and shirt, then stood up and left the cave to find Madeline.
I could hear her screaming, and I followed her voice through the dark.
As I left the cave and stepped into the trees, I saw the old man standing in front of something.
I moved through the trunks and saw Madeline. He had tied her up, and then he went to fetch alcohol.
We must have been so panicked that we missed what was around us.
While we were searching the cave, I had only been looking for entrances, and that was why I didn’t notice anything else.
If there were alcohol bottles outside the cave, someone else had left them there. When the old man walked away and I tried to get closer, I saw a sight so terrible that I froze.
Madeline screamed as she began to transition.
I rushed over, falling and crawling across the ground, my body ready to give up at any moment. I reached for Madeline, and she saw me.
“Ugh!” she cried out, a small sound cut off by the transition. She was still halfway through.
I grabbed the nail and started to dig it out, using what strength I had left.
“It hurts so much,” she complained.
“Shhh. It’s okay. It’s your first transition. Your wolf is coming out. We’ll be fine,” I soothed.
Watching her lie there with so many bruises made me furious. It made me want to attack the old man and kill him.
Then I saw her. As her transition began, I was shocked by her color. She was a gray wolf.
I gasped and fell back, watching her grow into a large, beautiful, yet fierce and deadly wolf.
And then, as if things couldn’t get any more frightening, her wolf looked straight into my eyes.
Her purple eyes glowed as she howled loudly, stepping over me and staring down.
Her howl blended with my wolf’s from within me, and I heard the most powerful word of all.
“Mate!” (1
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45–My Beutiful Gray Mote
Before I could cherish the moment, the old man returned with two bottles of alcohol in his hands.
But he looked just as shocked as I was to see Madeline in her prime. His loud gasp caught her attention.
She turned and stepped aside, and I finally saw the look of pure fear on the old man’s face.
Ruby Walker
Ruby Walker is a rising voice in the world of romance and spicy fiction. With a gift for weaving deep emotions, sizzling chemistry, and unexpected twists, her stories are a blend of passion and drama that captivate readers from start to finish. Ruby’s writing style is bold and irresistible—perfect for those who crave intense, addictive love stories.