him going into that room full of God knew how much radiation—by himself—made her heart beat so hard she thought it might jump out of her chest. The more she imagined the pain he might be in, the worse it got, until she swore she could feel his emotions washing over her. She didn’t understand how it could be possible, but she could feel him getting weaker, feel everything starting to close in around him.
Harley yanked on the handle, but the door was so heavy it barely trembled. She attacked the steel door, pounding on it as snarls of rage echoed in the hallway. When the handle broke away, she tried to wedge her fingertips into the gap between the edge of the door and the frame, tearing her nails in the futile attempt. The frustration and fear continued to build, making her whole world spiral out of control as she pictured Sawyer dying in the reactor room all alone.
She didn’t realize she was shifting until her claws sprang out. By then, the muscles of her arms and shoulders were already twisting and tearing, reshaping themselves in ways they hadn’t since her last true change in what felt like a lifetime ago.
The metallic taste of blood was jarring as fangs filled her mouth, but the urgency to reach Sawyer only continued to grow, forcing her to keep pushing, smashing, and slashing at the door over and over. Her claws gouged deep grooves in the metal and the concrete around the edge of the jamb. She kept going, the muscles of her shoulders and arms singing in exhilaration at the strain. She refused to believe she might not make it in time.
She would save Sawyer.
He was the only thing that mattered.
He was her world.
Harley was so caught up in the repetitive motion of digging and tearing, she almost missed it when her claws exposed the edge of the doorframe where it was buried in the concrete wall. She focused her efforts on that area, ripping away concrete in fist-sized chunks. When she’d made a big enough gap, she shoved her hands in and got a firm grip on the doorframe.
Not letting herself dwell on how impossible it was, she tugged at the frame, snarling and growling, wondering if this was how Caleb felt when he lost control and became more animal than human. If so, there was a part of her that could see the attraction. It was freeing to give up control like this.
With a shriek of metal and a crack of concrete, one whole piece of the wall came out. That only drove her to pull harder, and a few heartbeats later, she was through the door. Ignoring the red and blue lights flashing overhead, she pushed even harder, running faster than she ever had in her life.
When bones cracked under her skin, Harley realized she might have pushed too far. She glanced down to see her arms elongating, her fingers merging as fur erupted through the skin. The sensation was painful, but surprisingly, not as terrifying as she thought it probably should be.
The popping and cracking as her head and back reshaped itself was unnerving for sure, but it didn’t hurt any more than anywhere else. She shook her upper body violently, fighting to get out of her uniform top and tactical vest before she could become trapped. Amazingly, the worst part of the whole ordeal was trying to grow a tail while still wearing her pants. She swore the long, bushy appendage was being twisted into a knot in its efforts to break free.
Following her instincts, she lowered her head and tore at the web belt and pants hanging loosely around her middle, noting in the exhilaration of the moment that her teeth were incredibly sharp as they ripped right through the material. It was only after the fact that she wondered what the hell she was going to wear now that she’d destroyed her clothes.
She pushed that thought aside. Save Sawyer first—worry about clothes later.
Having only a general sense of her wolf form, the first few running strides she attempted once the change was finished were incredibly awkward. But within a few feet, she was running at full speed, all four legs moving in concert, the wind created by her passage ruffling her fur. Damn, she was fast!
From her lower perspective, it took a second to find Sawyer once she entered the reactor room. In that short time frame, she was nearly overwhelmed with grief and