Protector | Sequel to Protected

Transformation

I slept deeply for a while. But then, I regained consciousness as if someone had kicked me awake. Immediately, I knew something was very, very wrong.

My chest was vibrating. Like, vibrating. My whole chest was shaking, and the burning feeling was now a thousand times worse.

"JOSH!" I screamed, "ZAY!"

As I yelled, my voice cracked, and my throat was suddenly raw and burning like the rest of my body. It felt like I was laying on a bed of white hot coals, except the feeling covered my whole body. Except for my chest. My vibrating chest, which was going faster and faster, was normal temperature. 

Seconds later, which felt like centuries, Zay and Josh dashed into the room, looking panicked. They ran to me and started feeling my heart, checking my temperature, running around and doing things so fast they were almost a blur.

"What's wrong?" I gasped, a whisper. My throat burned with the words, but I knew Zay and Josh would hear me.

"Your heart!" Josh cried, "The wolf genes took to everything but your heart! You have a human heart trying to support a wolf body! The stress is too much!"

He was pumping my heart, Zay was feeling my temperature, taking it again and again.

Then, the vibrating stopped. The force of it made Josh stumble backwards. My heart gave one tremendous beat. Seconds passed. 

One.

Two. 

Three.

Each one felt like an eternity.

Another beat. More seconds.

One. 

Two. 

Three.

The burning was fading quickly, replaced by an icy frost. The frost spread through my body, to my arms and legs. Then to my heart. It squeezed my heart, constricted it. It was growing harder to beat, even the strained, spaced out heartbeats it was now doing.

Another beat.

More seconds. 

One. 

Two.

Three. 

Four. 

Five.

My heart gave another beat, a tiny thump, almost nothing.

Then everything went black.

I was still aware. I could think and feel. But I couldn't see. I could only hear. I clung onto the sounds that happened around me. Zay cursing, Josh trying to pump my heart. But even those sounds were fading, blurring into a low buzzing that was happening in my head, not my ears.

Some say the world will end in fire, 

Some say in ice. 

From what I've tasted of desire, 

I hold with those who favor fire. 

But if it had to perish twice, 

I think I know enough of hate 

To say that for destruction ice 

Is also great

 And would suffice.

I wanted Lucas. I wanted his voice, his warmth, his smell, his emerald eyes. I wanted him here, now, as the sounds faded into oblivion. But he wasn't here. He wasn't here, and I was going to die. I was going to die alone, without Lucas, without Riley. I wouldn't even have Josh and Zay. Without their voices to fill my head, I was alone. Painfully alone.

Alone.

Then, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. And the cold was gone, like a snap, like a gunshot, like a slap. The warmth, the hot, the burning replaced it. My heart was beating again. Steadily, healthily. The hot spread to my chest, and the burning fire subsided to a warmth. Lucas's warmth. Zay's warmth. Josh's warmth.

Wolf warmth.

And I was conscious again. I could hear Josh fumbling around with something, and Zay praying.

And then there was another feeling. The pain in my arm was growing, burning. I opened my eyes and looked down. Josh was fumbling with bandages, which I now knew were to wrap the long, bloody cut on my arm.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"I stabbed you," Josh answered promptly.

"You what?" I said.

"He stabbed you. The pain shocked your system, and the wolf blood spread to your heart and took to it in your body's haste to repair the wound," Zay explained quietly.

"Great," I said sarcastically, "Never call Josh in an emergency. His solution is to stab you."

Josh rolled his eyes and tightened the bandages around my arm. 

"Don't bother," I said. The wolf speed healing was taking effect. I could already feel the skin knitting back together.

Josh nodded and pulled the bandages off. He wiped away the last of the blood from what was now just a thin pink line and threw the bandages away.

I sat up slowly, wincing at the tightness in my muscles.

My muscles.

I wasn't as muscular as the guys, but something told me I was going to be just as strong. I could see the define muscles in my biceps, and I could feel the hardness in my stomach.

"Thanks for saving me," I said. Josh nodded.

"So, wolfy crash course? Thirty second werewolf guide? Pamphlet?" I asked. Josh and Zay chuckled.

"If you want to turn, clench your muscles and visualize yourself becoming a wolf. Always works. When you turn back, your instinct is to get dressed as fast as possible. With our speed, no one ever sees anything, so don't worry about that. You'll learn the rest in due time," Zay said, smiling mischievously.

I stood up and felt the power rushing through my bones, my muscles, my blood, my body.

I was a werewolf.