Chapter 176

The next morning, I was up and out of the house just as the dawn broke through the sky.

I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, the same nightmare burned through my mind. I had waited for my wolf for so long, only to realize I would never transform like the others because I was wolfless.

But now, I had a beast. Not a regular wolf, but an animal nonetheless. And I wanted to transform. I needed to know it had actually happened, that I wasn’t imagining it. Focusing on that need kept me distracted from my grief, kept me from falling apart over the loss of my father.

"Dahlia," I called out, dropping to my knees. I willed my bones to shift, for my skin to be covered in thin gray fur, for my canines to elongate and sharpen. But nothing happened.

Dahlia tried to help me, pushing her strength into me, but it was useless. No matter how hard we tried, my body refused to transform.

“UGH!” I screamed in frustration.

I could talk to her. That was proof enough that I wasn’t wolfless anymore. Bu