Chapter 145

We ended up back in our room, half-wet from the hot tub. Matt set me gently on the bed and leaned over me. His eyes traced my face, stopping on mine. I smiled, and he did, too. A sense of overwhelming happiness and peace came over me. There was nowhere I’d rather be. No one I’d rather be with.

His expression softened at whatever he saw on my face, and he kissed my forehead. “You’re everything,” he murmured. “Everything.”

“I love you,” I answered.

I didn’t care what I promised Jack, not anymore. I wanted to give myself to Matt, everything I had, and I knew he wanted to do the same for me. It was a tough road getting here, and sometimes I couldn’t help but believe that I didn’t deserve him, but this was everything. I didn’t want to waste a moment of it. People were dying around us. The world was a much scarier place than I first realized. I wasn’t willing to waste one more moment with him.

“I want you to know it was all worth it,” I said. “You’re worth it.”

Tears pooled in his eyes. “You make me want to believe you.”

He kissed me hard, holding his body over mine with his arms. I trailed my tongue across his lips and twined my legs around his back. “Believe me,” I breathed.

He nodded and kissed me again, his tongue in my mouth, his chest pressed against mine. I’d never been this close to another person before. The warmth of his skin across mine made a heat pool in my core, and I titled my hips slightly.

He felt the movement and smiled against my mouth.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning back slightly to look down at me.

“I’m sure.”

He watched my face for a moment before he nodded. He got up and returned a moment later with a condom.

I watched him rip the foil with his teeth, then roll it on. I knew from movies that people often had sex in the dark, but we left the lights on. We wanted to see each other, and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t embarrassed. How could I be with the way he was looking at me?

He leaned down over me again and kissed me, his leg nudging mine apart.

I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be. I trusted Matt completely. It all felt so right. I didn’t know if I believed in fate, but I couldn’t help but think everything was leading to this. Like it was preordained. Maybe it was just that everything felt so good, but I was suddenly glad I waited until now. That I waited for him.

It hurt at first, and he held still above me, but the pain slowly gave way to pleasure. Matt held me close, his mouth on mine, then against my neck as he rolled his hips. He set a slow, careful pace.

“Matt,” I groaned as a wave of pleasure moved through me. I could feel him everywhere, and it was overwhelming.

He sucked at a spot on my neck, then met my mouth again with his own. His hands clenched onto the sheets on either side of my head. I reached up to run my hands along his shoulders, then down his back. He shivered beneath my touch and adjusted his hips.

I gasped and tightened my hold on him, my fingernails digging into the skin on his back.

“You feel so good,” he said, his breath coming in quick gasps.

I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist, pulling him closer to me, deeper. He groaned but kept the same pace.

“Faster,” I said, holding onto him tighter.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

The pace he set had both of us gasping for breath. Pleasure rolled through me, gathering, and gathering until I suddenly broke, moaning his name. He followed me over the edge a minute later, his body shaking. He buried his face in my neck as he shuddered.

“That was…” I trailed off.

“Yeah,” he said.

We lay still for a moment, catching our breaths, when a sharp pain pierced my skull. I cried out and put my hands against my head. Matt pulled back immediately and sat up. I’d never felt pain like it before, and I saw stars darting across my vision.

“Celeste?” he said, reaching for me. I could hardly hear him over the noise in my head.

The pain had me curling in on myself. I could feel Matt’s frantic hands on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Everything was heightened all of a sudden. The rough scrape of his palm along my arm, the scent of rain and coffee that clung to him, the sounds of the forest outside. Not to mention the fast thumping of his heart.

What was happening to me?

“Celeste please. What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

The sound of tires on gravel. The slamming of a car door. I flinched as the front door burst open. Matt was too distracted to hear any of it, but I could hear it all.

And there was something else, another noise in my head. A soft growl that sent goosebumps rising across my skin. It took a while for me to realize the growl was coming from me. Matt let go of my arms.

“What…?” he said.

The door burst open, and I heard muffled shouts, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“It hurts,” I cried. “It hurts.”

Matt’s hands came around my wrists, and he pulled my hands away. I looked up at him, and he reared back. His eyes were wide, and I could see the gold in them, spreading out from around his iris. I could see so much more. The small freckles across his nose that I usually couldn't make out until I was right in front of his face. I could even see his pupils dilate.

“Oh my God,” a voice in the background said. “Oh my God. What have you done?”

Matt’s eyes were wide. “I don’t understand,” he said, still looking at me. “I don’t understand.”

Jack moved into my field of vision. I was too overwhelmed to care that I was naked, that Matt was naked, and my brother was here. The pain slowly subsided, but the rest of it didn’t. The growling in my head quieted, but I could hear a voice there that I couldn’t before. An animalistic voice. Something like my own instincts talking to me.

“Matt?”

He looked frightened.

Jack looked downright panicked.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between them. “What’s happening to me?”

“You’re…” Matt trailed off and shook his head. “You’re turning.”

“Turning.”

“Celeste, you’re a wolf.”

I shook my head. That didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. How could I be a wolf? Werewolves were either born or bitten, and I was neither. This couldn’t be happening.

“No. I can’t be.”

Jack took a step closer to the bed, his hair gripped in his hands. “You broke your promise. I told you not to.”

I shook my head again. “I’m not. I can’t be a wolf.”

Jack looked devastated. “You are now.”