anything but Billy. I knew that somehow, he was responsible for all of this.
Jaxson steadied me, and warmth flowed from his hands. It mercifully
drove the haunting images of Billy from my mind and the nausea from my
gut.
“Good,” Jaxson half-growled. His praise and lingering touch sent a shiver
of delight along my spine. I hated that.
With a defiant snarl, I shook my hands out and wiped the tears from the
corners of my eyes with the back of my wrist. “Fuck. Does it hurt less after a
while?”
He shrugged. “Great transformations take pain. The first few times are
always the hardest, when every sensation is new and raw.”
I bit my lip and turned to gaze over the lake. I wasn’t sure what I was
searching for out there. A way out? Relief? Answers?
I watched the waves and cupped my throbbing hands.
Jaxson stepped up behind me, and his breath caressed my neck. Though
our bodies didn’t touch, his heat still warmed the skin beneath my clothes.
My neck flushed, but I didn’t move away.
He pressed his cheek against my hair and whispered, “Eventually, the line
between pain and pleasure blurs. It becomes a symbol of your power to
transform both your body and mind. To become something new.”
His fingers slipped from my shoulders and ran down along my arms. His
touch was so light, it felt electric, and I was certain that he sensed me
shivering beneath his fingers. My control fading, I pressed my body back
against the hard warmth of his.
His fingers continued drifting down my bare forearms until they came to
rest on the back of my hands. Then, with an agonizingly gentle motion, he
gently traced his fingertips backward from my claws, along my fingers, to the
backs of my hands.
My claws slowly retracted, slipping inside my body, and I shuddered.
“Did that hurt?” he asked, low and gravelly.