CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
As his teeth withdrew from the flesh, her body convulsed. She screamed, not in pain but with passion. It was like she had been picked up in an orgasmic tidal wave and thrown to the ground.
But the pleasure she was feeling was sadly short-lived. Suddenly, ecstasy was replaced by terror. Losing any semblance of self-control, she thrashed wildly on the ground. Every bone and joint cracked, and her muscles stretched to their breaking point. She felt as if she was being stretched and cruelly torn apart with a medieval torture device. Her last tattered thought before passing out was that a quick death would be a blessing.
When her eyes fluttered open, she was staring into the swirling Northern Lights. It was an incredible sight to behold. Any pain that she had experienced had disappeared. She thought it must have been a bad dream or something like that. There’s no way it could have been real. Was it?
“Don’t be frightened. Just breath. And stay still,” Adam said, leaning over her.
Reaching out to embrace him, she froze. Her arms! Her hands! What the fuck happened? They’d been replaced by huge furry white polar bear limbs with massive paws.
She screamed. But her scream sounded more like a tortured roar.
“I know you’re frightened. But you have to listen to me. You just shifted.”
“Shifted? What the fuck? How? Fix this, now!” And still, the words were trapped in her mind. She had gone from a normal human to a polar bear in a matter of seconds. Her mind raced with questions. The biggest one being how the fuck did that happen?
“We’re going to get through this. You can change back, and that part won’t hurt. Just close your eyes and imagine looking into a mirror where you see your normal human self. Focus on it. You can do this,” he said, his voice perfectly calm.
Desperate to change back, she forced her eyes shut. Her fear was taking hold, and she began to shake. The harder she tried to picture herself, the more elusive the imagery became. It was as if her human form was horrified at what she’d become.
“You can do this. Call your human side out of the shadows.”
She tried again, begging silently for her humanity. “Please. I can’t lose myself to this. I swear, if we get out of this alive, we’re going right back to Florida. I was right to leave this insanity the first time.”
Slowly, her familiar face appeared in the imaginary mirror.
“When you see yourself, reach out. Both sides of yourself are joining together. Become one with your human side. Can you do this?”
Joy nodded, reaching out and embracing herself. A strange melting sensation ran through her body and soul. Physically, she felt herself go limp. When she opened her eyes, she quickly looked at her arms. She was once again human.
Relieved, she let out a sigh. Sitting up, tears streamed down her face.
“Joy, I’m sorry you had to experience shifting like that.”
Any feelings of relief were instantly replaced with raging anger. “You’re sorry? You’re sorry for biting me and poisoning me with your fucking monster bear venom or whatever that was?” She was pissed, and rightfully so. He had promised that he would rather die than hurt her. So what did he do? He fucking bit her! What the hell? He had to have known that his venom would turn her into a beast like him. Was that why he did it? So she would be like him? Motherfucker! She was fucking livid.
“You don’t understand. That isn’t what happened. That’s not why you shifted like you did.”
“Oh, I understand. I understand that your bite was responsible. I understand that you had a choice. And I understand that you knew exactly what would happen,” she yelled, unwilling to listen to any more of his lies.
“No. You are a shifter now, like me. It was always your true nature,” he said, holding his hand out to her.
She quickly smacked his hand away. The last thing she wanted was to touch him. “What the fuck? Am I stuck with this now? Uncontrollably turning into a freaking polar bear! Un-fucking-believable,” she said, quickly gathering her clothes and throwing them on. She had to get the hell out of there and away from him. She didn’t care if she had to walk her ass back to Polar Point and hitchhike back to Florida. If that’s what it took to get the hell away from him, that’s exactly what the hell she would do.
“Joy ...”
“No. This was a mistake. I was right to have left here, to begin with. My only question is, when? When did you decide to turn me into a shifter? Was it so I could be like you? To trick me into being trapped here with you? How could you do this to me and say you care about me? I would have stayed here with you for eternity if you would have just asked me. But this? This ... this manipulation and trickery?”
“Damn it. I’m trying to explain. This is you. It’s always been you.”
“This is me? Are you kidding? I have never once in my life turned into a furry animal, and you’re going to try to blame me for this? Like I seduced you under the magic of the Northern Lights, and that’s what I get? You know what? Fuck this. There must be a way out of this ... a cure, a loophole, something. I am not going through that torture again. And I sure as hell can’t ever trust you again. You just threw it all away. Now, stay the hell away from me,” she said, making it perfectly clear she didn’t want him following her as she stormed down the hill toward the settlement.
Once again, tears flooded her eyes. She thought she’d known betrayal before, but nothing like what Adam had just done to her.
“Selfish bastard,” she mumbled. Being angry seemed a better alternative than feeling hurt for what had just happened.
There was only one person she could talk to ... Aurora. And she prayed the sorceress hadn’t played a role in Adam’s scheme. “I’ll trust that bitch as far as I can throw her,” she grumbled, knowing she had no other option. She would throw herself at the woman’s feet and kiss them if that’s what she had to do in order to get Aurora to help her.