The Bite (Book 1)

Original Edition - BONUS CHAPTER-LEVI-THE SHIFT

She was screaming. It was the sound that nightmares are made out of. It was something I wanted to chase away but all I could do was hold her.

I kept trying to tell her that it was ok. I kept trying to tell her that she would make it–I was trying to tell myself more because the thought of losing that little shit was more than I wanted to think about.

How did she even work her way into me like this?

It didn't matter now, now all I wanted was for her to just make it. She just had to make it...

I had her biting down on a cold cloth to help her fangs. Teething at its worst. Derek wanted to give her morphine but I wasn't about to let him dull her down. Right now she still had her mind, and she needed that. She lost focus and this would all be done.

Another crack.

Her damn leg broke. It was like watching my own daughter shift for the first time. Her leg broke early too and Claire had to keep Eve in the house because she was about to lose it. Lucas just kept telling her not to look at it; it looked bad enough, looking at it would have only scared her more.

Charlotte sucked in a breath to look and I snatched her chin and shook my head at her. "You don't want to see. Believe me."

Her eyes went wide, almost protesting–challenging. She was always doing that now–little shit.

She opened her mouth to say something but there was another crack; it was more like a series of cracks along her vertebrae.

She was hunched over now, barely able to breath. I tried to move her but she just screamed so badly that it hurt me about as bad as this shift was hurting her. "Hey, you're doing great Charlie girl."

She just cried and I hated it. I wanted to help her, I had no idea how to help her besides just sitting next to her, hoping she didn't die on me. "How long?" she cracked out.

Too damn long. Derek looked up at me–what were we even supposed to say? For normal weres it could be hours. For her, it could be so much longer. It probably was going to be. It was going to be hell for all of us.

"Don't know, but you're doing great. The closer it gets to midnight, the faster it will come. You just have to push through girl."

"Char, do you want some water?"

She nodded at Derek who held a cup with a straw in it to her lips. She looked a little better after she drank–less like a time bomb and for a moment I thought we would get a small break–until she was screaming again.

Her fingers had broke and they looked bad. I mean real bad. Fingers and toes were the worst; internally I cringed remembering my own shift. My beast agreed. He was pacing now, watching her like we watched our own. Pain in the ass right now is what he was.

I tried to tell her not to look but she did. Curious little shit. She looked and vomited on the grass next to her face.

Derek tried to wipe her mouth while I moved her as carefully as I could. It was like moving shattered glass–one wrong move and it would break.

She was crying more and I felt like my beast was going to claw my skin off. He wanted out so bad, but it's not like he could help. There was really nothing that we could do. We just had to wait.

The moon was so full tonight you would have thought that it was on purpose like she was shining extra bright because of what was happening. I looked back at her–a mess of broken bones, stretched skin, and tears, and started praying to the moon that she would make it. I can't remember the last time I actually prayed to her. I can't remember the last time I actually felt her pull–but tonight we all felt it.