Chapter 74
Vanya
At first, it was a tingle.
A soft vibration humming through the soles of my feet, rising into my legs, twisting around my spine like smoke.
Then the pain came.
Crushing. Splintering. Raw.
I gasped as my knees buckled, falling to the cold earth. My palms slammed into the frosted ground. The moon above me pulsed—huge, silver, alive—and my body responded as if it had been waiting for this moment all along.
My back arched violently. A scream tore from my throat as my bones cracked.
Not broke. Shifted.
Muscle stretched, warped, reshaped. My hands curled inward, fingers shattering and reforming into something paw-like. My clothes tore. My jaw extended, my ribs widened, my vision blurred with white-hot stars until—
Everything snapped into place.
And suddenly…
I wasn’t
