The Wolf Moon (an erotic paranormal romance) (The Wolf Ring) by Meg Harris Read Free Book Online

out of hers. He looked down at her.
    “Mine,” he said,
or tried to.
    But what came
out was a growl.

 
 
 
 
 
    Chapter Six

 
    Rhea saw the
startled awareness in Graeme’s dark blue eyes begin to change to panic. His
body was undergoing a transformation, which was difficult enough for anyone.
But if the transformation wasn’t successful—
    Her animal
instincts had betrayed her, pushing her into a mating that she should never
have allowed. Faced with his desperate need, the scent of sex rich and sweet in
her nostrils, she hadn’t had the strength to say no, and now…
    She’d bitten him
in the hopes that it would allow him to transform. The transformation could
happen in one of two ways—those who wore the rings were transformed by the
ring, and those that they chose as their mates and bit were transformed without
a ring. It was natural, therefore, that in the throes of first mating, her kind
bit one another.
    But she could
see already that it hadn’t worked. Graeme couldn’t be transformed by the bite
because he was already in the process of being transformed by the pendant he
wore. But because the silver pendant had been hammered down at some point in
the past, and its magic thus partly dimmed, Graeme couldn’t transform
completely until the full moon.
    She was
confident that he would be able to transform then. His grandfather Gray had
first transformed in the light of a full moon while wearing the very same
pendant. All of the Ring had heard the story, many
times. So in a few days…
    But she couldn’t
wait a few days to deal with this. She had to help a panic-stricken man caught
between two forms, right now.
    The first
transformation was always painful. It couldn’t be otherwise, when one’s very
flesh and bones had to be rearranged. There was always a fleeting moment of
terrible agony. But after that, there would be no pain, and the transformation
would happen easily.
    The problem was
that Graeme was trapped in the midst of his transformation, unable to shift to
either human or wolf form. He was caught in the midst of the pain, unable to
move forward or backward.
    Until the full
moon, he would be in anguish.
    He reached up,
feeling frantically at his face. His dark hair had spread over much of his
body, his face had lengthened, his canine teeth had sharpened to fangs, his
ears stood out from his head, and he had sprouted a bushy tail. But he still
stood upright, and he still had human hands and feet, albeit with claws. He
looked much like a Hollywood representation of a werewolf.
    And he looked
terrified.
    “It’s all
right,” she said, reaching out to him. He shied away from her hand, and she
didn’t blame him.   He must be in dreadful
pain, so much so that even a light touch might hurt. She tried again. “It’s all
right, Graeme. In a few days…”
    He stared at
her, his blue eyes wide. Even though he could no longer speak, his horror was
clear. His expression said clearly that he couldn’t bear to live like this for
several days.
    She closed her
eyes, remembering her own first transformation, recalling the dreadful pain of
it. Hers had been a fleeting stab of pain, as it was meant to be. But for Graeme…
      No, she couldn’t let him live in that sort of pain
for days. It would be inhuman.
    “All right,” she
said. “Come with me, Graeme. Maybe they can help.”
    He cocked his
head. Who?
    She sighed.
    “The Wolf Ring,”
she said.

 
    *****

 
    Every step was
pain.
    Graeme staggered
through the woods, trailing Rhea more by scent than sight. His eyes blurred
with the agony that stabbed through him at every step, and his gait was
unsteady. His body seemed caught between standing upright, and dropping to all
fours. His legs felt too short, his arms too long, and as a result his balance
was off.
    He remembered
the feel of his own face. A snout. He had a snout. And fangs, and ears that stood out from his head, and…
    He looked down,
seeing the dark hair all over his arms, the