Chapter 119: Shifting

When Sofia arrived at her desk, she met Alaric, who was standing there.

​He had put his suit jacket back on, but he looked smaller somehow, the sharp lines of his shoulders sagging under a weight he could no longer carry. He didn’t look like an Alpha king anymore; he looked like a man who had been stripped of his armor.

​”The lease is signed,” Alaric said, his voice low and hollow. He didn’t look at her eyes, focusing instead on a point just past her shoulder. “It’s yours. For as long as you want it.”

​He reached out, his hand trembling almost imperceptibly as he placed a single, silver key on her desk.

​”Elias has packed your things from the estate,” he continued, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. “They are already at the apartment. You don’t even have to go back to the house. You can leave straight from here.”

​Sofia looked at the key, then up at him. The victory she had expected to feel was absent. Instead, there was a hollow ache in her chest. “Just like that? You’re letting me go?”

​Alaric finally met her gaze, and the raw, unshielded pain in his emerald eyes made her breath hitch.

​”It’s for the best.”

​Sofia reached out to take the key, and for a fleeting second, her fingers brushed against his palm.

​The reaction was instantaneous.

​A jolt of pure, electric heat snapped between them, more powerful than any spark they had felt before. Sofia gasped, her heart slamming against her ribs. But it wasn’t just a shock—it was a scent.

​Suddenly, the air around her began to change. The smell of the factory—the grease, the paper, the dust—vanished. In its place was something intoxicating. It smelled of white sage, crushed pearls, and blooming roses.

​Alaric’s pupils dilated until his eyes were almost entirely black. He let out a low, pained groan, his knees buckling slightly as he inhaled the air around her.

​”Sofia…” he choked out, his voice thick with a sudden, primal hunger. “Your scent… it’s changing.”

​Alaric’s wolf let out a howl of possession that Alaric couldn’t understand. He felt the need to touch her, to claim her, but he held himself back and with a fast movement, he turned around and walked away, his wolf screaming in his head to go back.

​Sofia sank back in her chair, her brow furrowed.

​”What is going on?” she asked her wolf.

​”It’s time for you to shift and we are about to go into heat… we have to leave.”

​Sofia’s breath hitched, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

​”Heat?” she whispered, her voice trembling in panic.

​She knew the stories. For a she-wolf who hadn’t shifted yet, the first heat wasn’t just a biological cycle; it was a violent, soul-shattering awakening. It was a beacon. Her scent would no longer just be a hint of roses and sage; it would become so alluring, pulling every unmated male in the territory toward her.

​”Yes,” her wolf purred, the sound vibrating through Sofia’s very marrow. “We must leave. Now.”

​Sofia stood up so abruptly her chair skidded back, hitting the partition with a loud thwack. She fumbled for her bag, her fingers feeling clumsy, her skin beginning to prickle with a feverish, localized heat that started at the base of her spine and surged upward.

​She practically ran toward the exit, ignoring the curious glances from the other office staff. When she pushed through the heavy glass doors of the factory, the evening air hit her, but it offered no relief. It only seemed to fan the flames.

​Elias was waiting by the SUV. As she approached, he straightened up, but as soon as the wind carried her scent to him, his entire posture changed. His eyes flared a bright, startled amber, and a low, involuntary growl rumbled in his chest.

​He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. He looked like a man trying to hold back a flood with his bare hands. He yanked the rear door open for her, his knuckles white, his gaze fixed firmly on the pavement to avoid looking at her.

​The drive was agonizing. The interior of the car became a pressure cooker of pheromones. Every time Elias inhaled, Sofia could hear the hitch in his breath. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window, watching the city lights blur.

​When the car finally screeched to a halt in front of a high-rise building, Sofia didn’t wait for Elias to help her. She scrambled out, her legs feeling heavy and leaden, her vision beginning to swim.

​She made it to the elevator, her thumb shaking as she pressed the button for the penthouse. The moment the doors slid shut, she slumped against the mirrored wall. Her reflection terrified her—her blue eyes were glowing with a faint, silvery light, and her skin looked almost translucent.

​The elevator chimed. The doors opened to a space of pure luxury—marble floors, velvet furniture, and floor-to-ceiling glass—but Sofia didn’t care about the view. She slammed the door shut and engaged the heavy deadbolt, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

​”Moon Goddess, please,” she whimpered, collapsing onto the thick rug in the center of the living room.

​The pain hit her then—a deep, rhythmic throb in her bones that made her want to claw at her own skin.

​”Let go,” her wolf commanded, her voice now a roar in Sofia’s mind. “It’s time to shift.”

​Sofia fell to the ground, her body shaking with a pain she had never felt before. Her bones felt like they were snapping and rearranging themselves. She let out a choked scream as her clothes tore apart, unable to hold the growing strength beneath her skin.

​Then, the pain stopped.

​She stood up on four powerful legs. Her breath was heavy, and her heart was racing. She walked toward the large mirror in the living room and gasped. Looking back at her wasn’t a normal wolf. She was a giant, beautiful wolf with fur as white as the moon. Her eyes glowed with a bright, silvery light.

​”Is this… me?” Sofia whispered in her mind.

​”Yes, Sofia,” her wolf replied calmly. “I am the White Wolf. I am not like other wolves. I have been passed down through generations of special females. When one vessel dies, I find a new one to carry my power.”

​Sofia’s heart stopped. “A new vessel?”

​”The last person who carried me died exactly three months ago,” the wolf explained. “That is why you didn’t get your wolf when you were younger. You were waiting for me to be reborn inside you. You were chosen.”

​Sofia was stunned. She had heard stories about the legendary White Wolves. They were said to have special abilities—power that could change the fate of the entire werewolf world. She wasn’t just Sofia; she was something much more dangerous and powerful.

​”There is so much you don’t know,” the wolf continued. “But I will tell you everything.”

​Suddenly, a wave of intense heat washed over Sofia. It felt like her blood was boiling. She moaned in pain, her legs giving out. The heat was too strong to handle in her wolf form. With a flash of light, she shifted back into her human form, falling naked onto the soft rug.

​She curled into a ball, her skin flushed red and her breath coming in short gasps. The scent of roses and sage in the room became even stronger, filling the entire penthouse.

​”We are in heat,” her wolf whispered, her voice filled with hunger. “The fire is too hot, Sofia. We need a mate. We need someone to stop the pain.”

​”No…” Sofia gasped, clutching the rug. “I can’t… I won’t.”

​But as she spoke, the elevator in the hallway chimed. She heard heavy footsteps rushing toward her door.

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