Chapter Ten: The Shift Within
The dawn broke soft and pale, filtering through the trees like a promise.
Rina woke to a strange sensation — lightness, power humming beneath her skin. She stretched her fingers and noticed the faintest outline of claw marks etched onto her palms, glowing with a silver shimmer.
Her breath caught.
Had she… shifted? Not fully, but something inside was awakening.
Kael was already awake when she slipped from the bed, watching her with a quiet, knowing smile.
"You feel it," he said.
Rina nodded, her voice barely a whisper. "It's like… I'm on the edge of something."
Kael reached out, fingers tracing the faint marks. "That's the bond. It's pulling you closer to your true nature."
Fear and excitement warred inside her.
"What if I can't control it?" she asked.
Kael's eyes darkened with tenderness and steel. "You won't be alone. I'll be with you every step."
The pack was already whispering—rumors of the healer's girl becoming something more.
But Rina didn't care what they said.
She had survived the night.
She had fought.
And now, she was becoming.
The Alpha's mate.