Blow after blow, Adrianne didn’t relent. Her fists hammered into Sophia’s ribs, her boots pressing against Sophia's skin until she could feel bruises bloom under her flesh. The pain was blinding, yet each hit seemed to fuel Sophia’s resolve. With every punch and kick, Sophia found herself gritting her teeth and throwing back biting words, knowing it would only drive Adrianne further to lose control.
“Oh, that all you’ve got?” she sneered, tasting blood on her lips. “Pathetic. I thought you were stronger, Adrianne. No wonder Ethan didn’t choose you.”
Adrianne’s face twisted with fury. Her next slap was harder, but Sophia let a small smirk slip through her cracked lips, knowing she’d struck a nerve.
The blood that pooled around her was slick and warm, making her feel dizzy. But something was different—Sophia could feel it. Adrianne’s eyes caught a strange glint as she noticed it too. She leaned in, sniffing the air around Sophia. A dark, twisted smile spread across her face.
“You’re… pregnant?” Adrianne’s voice dripped with venom. “Well, well. It seems your little heat did the trick after all.”
Sophia’s heart stopped. Pregnant. The word echoed through her mind, intermingling with memories of Ethan's cautious warning. He’d said this could happen; he knew it was possible. But now that it was real, a wave of protectiveness surged within her. She couldn’t let Adrianne lay a single hand on her child.
Adrianne’s hand tightened into a fist as she drew back, preparing to strike again. “We can fix this. Can’t have a little half-breed tainting Alpha Ethan’s legacy, can we?”
The threat, aimed at her unborn child, hit Sophia like a shockwave. Something deep and primal awoke inside her. A heat coursed through her veins, igniting a strength she hadn’t known she possessed. With a fierce growl that seemed to come from the very core of her being, Sophia felt a surge of power explode outward.
A pulse of energy erupted from her, sending Adrianne flying across the room. The rogues near her were knocked to the ground, hitting the floor with bone-rattling thuds. Adrianne’s head hit the edge of a table, and she slumped down, momentarily stunned.
Sophia fell back, gasping for air, when pain seized her—a pain unlike anything she’d ever known. Her bones felt as if they were being torn apart, breaking, and shifting under her skin. She gritted her teeth, a scream clawing its way up her throat as her body contorted, twisted, and reshaped. She couldn’t move; the pain was all-consuming, an inferno blazing through her limbs, warping every fiber of her being.
Minutes felt like hours as the transformation took hold. And then, all at once, it was over. She blinked, her vision sharpened to an intensity that caught every movement, every sound. The ropes binding her wrists were gone, shredded to pieces. When she looked down, she saw white fur where her hands had been. Paws, powerful and unyielding. She was no longer human. She was a wolf.
Stunned but instinctually aware, Sophia's senses were heightened, and anger roared back into focus. Adrianne. The woman who dared threaten her child. A deep growl reverberated in her throat, and she narrowed her piercing gaze toward the crumpled form across the room.
She lunged forward, her paws silent against the floorboards as she stalked closer. Adrianne stirred, regaining consciousness. Her eyes flickered open, and terror washed over her face as she took in the massive white wolf towering above her. Sophia felt a savage satisfaction as she watched Adrianne's expression twist from shock to horror.
“Sophia…” Adrianne breathed, her voice trembling, scrambling to shift herself in desperation. But Sophia’s instincts were fierce and unrelenting. Before Adrianne could even begin her shift, Sophia seized her by the leg, dragging her to the center of the room. Adrianne screamed, a horrified, guttural sound, as blood spurted from her leg, coating Sophia’s pristine white fur in streaks of crimson.
The metallic tang filled the air, and Sophia snarled, the sound echoing through the hollow barn. Adrianne squirmed beneath her, her eyes wide with terror, but Sophia didn’t relent. Her rage was a wildfire, all-consuming and absolute. She leaned in closer, her sharp teeth grazing Adrianne’s neck.
With one final growl, Sophia tore through Adrianne’s throat, ending her life in a flash of blood and fury. The barn was silent, save for the slowing heartbeat beneath her paws. Adrianne’s twisted existence, her relentless cruelty, was over. The threat she posed to Sophia, to her unborn child, was no more.
Just as the last echoes of the struggle faded, the barn doors burst open, flooding the room with fresh air and light. Ethan, Luke, and Jacie rushed inside, their eyes wide as they took in the scene before them.