THE AWAKENING

Her padded feet ate up the ground, putting distance between her heartache and pain and she wasn’t surprised when she heard Tieran’s enraged howl but she didn’t care.

He could beg Serra to come back to him for all Cassandra cared. The exhilarating rush of freedom soothed her ragged heart and she ran for miles.

Her pregnant belly didn’t slow her down and she much preferred this form at the moment than her human body. When she was a beast, she reveled in the freedom to simply act naturally without overthinking.

It seemed when she was in her human form, all she did was fret and worry about everything. Being the Prophesied One was a heavy gig.

One she hadn’t asked for, by the way, but the time for crying in her beer was over. She had two pups growing inside her and they were going to need her to protect them.

If Tieran was too much of an ass to realize she was the real deal, then, screw him. She broke into a clearing and her senses picked up the scent of something gamey and delicious.

She swung around and spied a deer picking its way delicately through the dense overgrowth. Cassandra’s muscles coiled beneath her fur and she launched herself straight at the deer’s throat.

Within seconds warm arterial blood gushed in her mouth as the deer flailed in one last ditch effort to live and then went limp. In her human form she would’ve been sad at the loss of life; in her beastly form, she simply accepted the fact that she was at the top of the food chain in the forest.

She sated herself with the deer, leaving behind precious little for the scavengers and then plunged herself into the icy waters of the deep, fast-moving creek winding itself along the thick forest floor.

She emerged from the water, invigorated by the bitter cold and her full meal.

For the first time in weeks, she felt sated.

pricked at a foreign sound. Another beast emerged from the

her upper lip curling in warning. She was

her a wide berth, his gaze never leaving hers. She’d known he would follow but she wasn’t ready

basically told her that she was spinning her wheels in the love department when it came to him. Her tail quivered and she caught the subtle scent of pheromone on the air. He lifted his big, black snout and caught the

to whine and shy away

focus and snarled. She didn’t care what form she was in, he’d had

had to run away and chain herself to a wall — she was

and he faltered, shaking his head. Yeah, that’s right, I’m still pissed at

wanted to, aside from the mental

to slide into his head in this form than in her human form but the thoughts were jumbled and didn’t follow a linear line.

attempts — most of her success had been by complete accident and usually prompted by

since she’d conceived, everything seemed accelerated, including her learning curve. Perhaps the Mother Goddess had known she’d need some super skills in order to

Who knew?

with the snapping and knitting of bone and

he said sharply. “You will come back

to transform into her human skin just

you dare start giving me orders as if you have the right. I am not your wife or your girlfriend…or even your friend. I am simply your baby mama. And I know you’re stuck in the dark ages still so let me enlighten you: I’m not about to sit around at home content to be your plump and pregnant little woman who is available for whenever you’re feeling like you want to bump uglies. Understand? I deserve better and if you’re not willing to give it to me, I will

warning growl. “I would tear another man limb from limb if he dared touch a hair on your head. I would rip out his still-beating heart and hold it before

licked her lips, her heart rate speeding up as her skin