Riley’s POV

The thermos hit the ground with a loud ng, hot soup bursting from its bmouth /bin every direction. Some of it sshed straight onto Mia.

Her scream pierced the air, high and sharp.

I turned my head in time to see her stumble back, clutching her red, blistering arm. Her face twisted in pain, and angry welts had already begun to form.

“Mia!” My vision went red. Fury roared in my chest, hotter than any scalding soup ever could. I didn’t bthink/b. I just moved.

The apple on the nightstand was heavy in my hand, but not nearly as heavy as the hatred building inside me.

I hurled it with all the force 1 had.

It struck Maddox squarely in the shoulder, and he jerked backward a step.

GET OUT Isergamed, voice shaking with rage. “I never want to see your face again!”

His expression shifted–first disbelief, then something uglier

“You want me to leave?” His tone turned sharp, mocking. “You bthink /byou have the right to tell bme /banything?”

He took a step closer, face darkening. “I protected you, Riley. All your life. When you were bullied at the Ebonw, who fought for you? When you bcried/b, who wiped your tears? bYou /bwanted fruit, I brought it. I gave you everything I had! What have you ever done for me?”

Trembled–part rage, part disgust. “You think that carns you the right to hurt me?”

“I made you who you are!” he started. “Back in that pack, you were just a scared little girl until I stood up for you. You didn’t tell me to leave then.

He took another step.

My hands closed around the handle of the fruit knife in the basket.

“Don’te closerb./b”

He froze, eyes narrowing on the de. “Riley, you’ve lost your mind. You’d really use that on me?”

“I am mad. Because you made me this way!” I shouted.

bThe /bknife trembled in my hand, but I held it between us like a shield. My breathing was ragged. My pulse roared in my ears. like a storm.

bAnd /bthen it happened.

Something inside me snapped.

My vision blurred–not from tears, but from the sudden surge of something ancient and wild. It started in my chest, spreading out like wildfire.

My skin burned

My limbs lockedl

Pain wracked through my bones like they were being broken and rebuilt all at once. My scream echoed bthrough /bthe room- half–human, half–beast.

Maildos stepped back, eyes wide “What the hell-”

Then I wasn’t Riley anymore.

I shifted.

Fur exploded bacross /bmy body, white as snow and glowing under the flickering hospital lights. My bones cracked, reshaping. stretching, bsnapping /bbinto /bsomething massive.

A bsnow/b–white wolf, twice the size of a normal one, now stood in the middle of the room–my fur bristling, my eyes glowing

silver.

Maddox bstumbled/b, genuine fear now brecing /bbhis /barrogance. “R–Riley?b” /b

I snarled and lunged.

My ws raked across his chest, slicing through his shirt and skin like paper. He crashed into the IV stand with a gasp, blood blooming through the bfabric/b.

“Riley, stop!”

Another strike. Another growl. I didn’t care what he had to say. He wanted to see the monster? Fine. Let bhim /bmeet the white wolf cursed to live in bchains/b.

My jaws snapped near his throat, just enough to make him scream. He scrambled back, slipping on the spilled soup, crawling toward the door Hke the coward he bwas/bb. /b

“You’re… one of them…” he gasped. “A highblood…

I could’ve ended it. Could’ve torn him apart for every betrayal. Every lieb. /b

But something held me back.

I wasn’t him.

I wasn’t a killer.

And bthen/b–my strength wavered.

The rush of power that bhad /bsurged through me now started draining fast. My legs buckled. My vision dimmed. Maddox had already fled, his blood marking a trail on the floor.

I stumbled. The pain of the bshift /bmming into my muscles. Bones twisting back to human, fur receding

My knees hit the cold floor.

And then–arms,

Mia’s arms.

She bcaught /bme before I copsed fully, wrapping herself around my bnaked/b, shaking frame with trembling hands. “Riley!” she cried. “Stay with me!”

I tried to answer-

But darkness swallowed me whole.

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