Awakening The Silver Wolf

RAVENNA POV 

The burning consumed me and filled my whole body. It was all I could feel. A searing, all-consuming burn. It wasn't just pain anymore. It was fire.

My chest flared with a heat so intense, I thought my skin would melt away. The scar pulsed, a dark energy seeping through it, crawling under my skin, making it feel like my body was being torn apart, shredded by invisible claws. 

Every muscle, every nerve, every fiber screamed in agony as the burn spread outward, clawing its way across my body.

I screamed.

It wasn't human. The sound that ripped from my throat was raw, guttural, something primal—like an animal caught in a trap.

I reached for my chest, my fingers trembling, but the pain was too much. It was too much. My hands trembled. My body trembled. My whole soul goddamned trembled. 

And through it, through the chaos in my mind, I heard Darius' voice.

"Ravenna! Ravenna, stay with me!"

His voice was distant, muffled like I was underwater. I wanted to reach for him, wanted to hold onto him, but the storm of pain inside me was too overwhelming. The world spun. My vision swam in a haze of colors.

And then—I felt it.

A presence.

Soft. Soothing. Alien.

It wasn't Darius, but it was a touch, even if only in my mind. The touch was like cool water on a burn, gentle, steady, grounding. The touch felt like I had finally found a piece of myself. 

For one, fleeting moment, I let myself breathe. The agony subsided just long enough for me to believe I was safe, that I could escape this hell. That the fire wouldn't consume me. But it was a lie.

The pain came back.

With a vengeance.

My body twisted as my bones snapped. I heard the cracks. I felt them. Felt the jagged, brutal snaps in every joint, every limb. 

The scream that left me this time was nothing short of inhuman—a raw, savage sound that no human should ever make. I felt my bones splinter, shift, and reform as if they were being torn apart and glued back together again.

I could hear it. 

The tearing of flesh, the popping of joints. My muscles rippled under my skin, expanding, stretching. 

I felt my back arch violently, the vertebrae in my spine stretching as if they were pulling apart, reforming into something different. Something larger. More primal.

God, and the pain. I wanted it to end. I wanted to crawl out of my skin and leave the pain behind. It was too much. And my head—my head felt like a hammer was slamming into it. 

My lungs burned as the transformation clawed through me, ripping away the last remnants of the person I used to be. I could feel my flesh tearing open, something inside me breaking loose.

And then... my claws.

I felt the pressure building in my fingers, my nails lengthening, sharpening, like deadly daggers forming from the tips of my bones. The transformation was tearing through me at a pace I couldn't control, couldn't even begin to comprehend. 

My body was no longer mine. It was twisting into something alien, something feral. My hand shot forward, the claws raking through the air with terrifying precision.

Then came my mouth.

A sharp, agonizing pressure in my jaw. 

Teeth. No, fangs. 

My teeth cracked and shifted, stretching, and elongating as the pressure in my skull intensified. My gums bled as fangs tore through, gleaming, sharp—too sharp. 

Too large for my mouth. They pressed against my lips, making it feel like my entire head was about to explode, making blood pool in my mouth and causing me to swallow. 

I could feel the muscles in my face stretching as my jaw pushed outward, elongating into something... something monstrous. My mouth opened in a guttural snarl, my throat choking on the growls that escaped me.

It felt like my entire body was breaking in half.

I'm not human anymore, I realized, too late.

I couldn't even scream anymore. The pain was too intense, too overwhelming. My entire body shook, and trembled, as the beast inside me fought to break free. 

My skin burned with fur sprouting, spreading over my arms, my shoulders, and my chest. It itched, burned, it tingled, as it shifted under the pressure of the transformation.

I'm dying. I'm dying, I thought, in the darkest corner of my mind. I didn't want to die. God, I didn't want to die like this, going through a transformation I have no idea of. 

Why does the universe hate me like this? Why did I really do wrong? 

The presence that had been soothing me was gone now, drowned beneath the deafening roar of the change.

And still, I could hear Darius.

He was close.

I felt his hands on my shoulders, gripping me tightly, holding me down, but I could barely make out his voice.

"Ravenna… you're shifting. You're—"

His voice cracked, full of fear. Fear for me. He was so close. But I couldn't reach him. I couldn't control this. 

This monster inside me. I was a beast, nothing but a primal, savage thing, nothing more than instincts and hunger.

Wait… I was shifting? How… how was that possible? 

My eyes shot open. I could see better now, everything was clearer, sharper. The world was… alive. The air, the rain, the smell of the earth—it was all amplified, all vibrating.

And then I looked at Darius.

I couldn't stop myself. My body moved, faster than I thought possible, as the beast inside me took over. A snarl tore from my throat. He was still reaching for me, but I was no longer me.

I was a creature.

A monster.

I lunged forward, a blur of fangs and claws, and the pain that had been eating me alive for so long was suddenly drowned by an overwhelming rush of pure, primal instinct.

But it wasn't enough.

The pain wasn't gone. It would never be gone. But now I understood.

I was the beast.

And nothing would ever hold me back again.

I opened my mouth, ready to strike, to tear. To break him. But then—his voice, his hand, warm and steady, pulling me back from the brink.

"Ravenna."

The name in his voice—desperate, full of love—cut through the fog in my mind. Ravenna. Ravenna. Ravenna. I was Ravenna. Me. 

For a moment, the transformation slowed and paused.

But it wasn't enough. Not yet.

I could feel it deep inside me. The change was complete, but I wasn't sure I could hold onto the me inside.

And that… that terrified me.

"Ravenna. Baby, I'm here. Find yourself, and hold on to it. Don't let the wolf take over. You're stronger than this. You're the master of the wolf, not the other way around. Claim your dominance. Claim your leadership over the wolf and come back to me."

I was the master, not the other way around.

I tried to fight it. I tried to pull my humanity back, but god, it wasn't working. 

A primal instinct to hunt, to kill, to run filled my entire being. 

That once soothing presence was back but this time it was fighting for control with me and I was losing. I lunged again at Darius but he stepped easily. 

"Do you want to know my first impression of you?" That voice, it pulled me in. "I was fascinated by you. By this small woman who could hold her own against me. Since that day you stuck a sword in my guts you've held my heart. I was just too fucking blind to see it." 

The more he spoke, the more I wanted to reach for him. But I couldn't reach for him with claws and fangs. I could wound him deeply. And I didn't want to see him hurt.

And so I pulled. I pulled back control from the wolf and after a battle, it gave it up. 

The shift ripped from me but it was less painful and fast. 

I lay on the ground, coiled in on myself.

"There you are, my sweet." Darius knelt before me and lifted me gently.

I whimpered at the pain in my bones.

"Shush," Darius cooed as he walked towards the car, kissing my hair despite the mud in it. "You'll heal soon."

He opened the car and laid me on the passenger seat gently, covering my nude body with his jacket. 

He lingered, his hand tracing my face, his eyes filled with love, shining with tears. "You're so perfect. You're not only my mate but you're a Lupinari."