Chapter 168: Mine
His chanting increased as the pain increased.
The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that she no longer knew where she was
It was like hot knives were piercing every inch of her skin, her head was surely going to burst with pain.
Meredith opened her mouth and choked out a pained cry, desperately trying to breath, to scream for him to stop.
Meredith\'s eyes scanned the crowd and she saw Atlas rushing towards her but Marcus pulled him away.
Meredith averted her gaze and looked at the ceiling. Distantly she heard herself screaming, more loudly than she had ever screamed in her life.
Meredith squeezed her eyes shut as tears rolled down her face.
The pain lashed across her lower back and she gritted her teeth against the pain. It was too much for her to handle. She wanted it to stop.
Her back arched off the table with the pain as she screamed in pure agony.
Her entire body began to convulse, her whole body was shaking hard.
Darkness consumed her but she could feel someone holding her down. Was it Atlas? Or Marcus. The person sounded angry shouting at them to stop but she was too preoccupied by the pain to make out the voices.
She screamed again as her whole body started to burn. It was like she was in the pit of hell.
Please stop….make it stop!
Meredith wanted to scream out but it felt like someone was holding her throat.
It hurts, like tiny little knives shredding through the lining of her lungs. Her eyes were watering again,
the dark spots interrupting the clear view she had of the King.
She felt like there was no oxygen now, her muscles were weakening with each passing second, her brain became fuzzy as she fought to stay conscious.
Suddenly she felt like she was floating on air. Confusion surged through her as she struggled to see what was happening.
She was blinded by a bright, luminous light. Meredith covered her eyes with her hand and shut her eyes.
Just when she thought she has been saved from the cruel torture a new burning sensation started to take over her body.
Her gums began to ache and sting. Meredith opened her mouth as she felt something strange in her mouth.
She ran her tongue along her teeth and gasped when she realized her canines had elongated sharpening into deadly points. Was it fangs?! She thought.
The pain was suddenly replaced with a warm feeling. She opened her eyes and her heart slammed in her chest when she realized she was really floating on air.
She looked at the crowd and saw the awe, fear and admiration in their eyes.
Meredith furrowed her brows at the sudden changes in her body. For some reason she felt stronger yet more light weight.
Her eyes were now ten times clearer if that even made sense. She felt like a completely different person.
Her ears were flooded with sounds and she winced at the harsh noise. She could hear things that people were whispering to each other far below.
Meredith blinked at her surroundings in confusion.
Every sight was sharper, more colorful. Every
sound louder, every smell more intense. She could hear the blood pumping in people\'s veins.
It was overwhelming and the sudden fear turned her blood cold.
She swallowed and scanned the people. A huge thirst washed over her. The sudden desire to drink something was so strong.
She licked her lips desperate for relief from the overwhelming thirst.
She felt herself lowering, the magical suspension
subsiding. She drifted back toward the floor while the the glowing light around her faded.
"I-m so….thir—sty….." she managed out.
The Fae King opened another vial and handed it to her.
"This will help quench the thirst."
Meredith greedily took it and gulped all of it down. Once she finished she realized the thirst was gone.
"Brace yourself for the next transition that is about to begin."
The Fae King said, wiping her brow. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by her screaming.
Her arm felt like it had broken in half and had morphed into the most disgusting disfigured position.
Meredith\'s eyes widened. She was shifting!
At first, her arm broke. It broke into a position that
scared her more than the pain from her arm actually breaking.
Next went her foot. It felt like someone had stabbed in the center of it with a hot iron.
Another crack.
Meredith screeched in pain as her leg broke. The pain felt like someone was nailing her against a tree.
Someone was now stroking her hair and wiping the sweat off her face as she tried to breath through the pain.
"Shssss…..don\'t fight it. Embrace it."
He said still stroking her hair when the needles
came. It felt like a million needles were piercing
through the skin of her back.
"H-how? She croaked out
She heard clicking but was immediately distracted as another shot of pain and horrid cracking coursed through her body.
The fingers on her other hand had all broke and shifted into the same repulsive position as the fingers on her other hand. Meredith started crying again. She couldn\'t help it. She wanted death to release her.
Another crack. Then another.
She was howling in pain. She was moaning and groaning as the pain seemed to be controlling every fiber of her being.
"Listen to her."
A rush of energy shot through her then she felt her at the back of her mind.
" Trust me. Let me in." A voice whispered.
Meredith opened her mouth to say something but only a garbled growl came out. She was so spent, so tired, that darkness seemed like such a sweet escape at this point.
Blackness.
She was swirling in a blackness that was cradling her entire body.
Then she saw the white wolf she had seen in her dream during her coma.
"We meet again princess."
Meredith frowned, "Who are you?"
How could she communicate with a fucking wolf! It didn\'t make sense.
"I\'m you. You\'re me." The wolf replied.
"Now let me out."
The wolf growled at the back of her mind.
It hit her. Hard. Something was clawing forward
and ripping her skin up from the inside out.
Another crack hit her.
Meredith was crying through clenched teeth and begging them to kill her as a series of small cracks crushed through her.
The wolf was howling, begging to be let out. It felt
like she was ripping her to shreds inside her brain,
trying to dig her way out of her flesh.
She screamed in agony as her knees reversed direction and the bones shifted inside her. Her face contorted as a wolf\'s muzzle extended out in front of her and she looked forward onto her hands.
Her screams turned into a long howl as a white fur sprouted from her body, and her clothing tore itself from her body as her muscles increased in size while the fur gradually spreaded over the body
Fur.
Realization hit her and she moved her head to look at the rest of her body: long, sleek, and white fur looked back at her.
She was a wolf. She wasn\'t dead and she had paws.
"Together we are stronger." Her wolf whispered.
Meredith looked at the crowd and each face that she settled her gaze upon seemed different.
They were more detailed, more clear. Her heart
should\'ve been hammering inside of her chest. The
adrenaline and anxiety should\'ve caused her to panic.
But her breathing remained steady. Her heart
remained slow and strong. Because she wasn\'t a
frail, simple little human anymore.
She was a tribid.
She stood in the middle of the room as the people looked at her in awe. They were too stunned to speak.
"Long live the future Queen."
The fae King was the first one to break the silence bowing down to her.
Cheering, shouting, and an explosion of drumming
suddenly sounded across the room and she gazed out across the sea of people as they began to bow before her.
"Long live the future Queen! Long live our savior!"
Warmth rushed through her seeing the happy faces of the people.
"Our people love us. They have accepted us." Her wolf said with pride in her voice.
"You can shift back now. Keeping long in your wolf form will make you weak as this is your first shift. Once we get hold of the Alpha we will let him initiate you to his pack or you will run rogue."
The Fae King said but Meredith was too preoccupied searching for that one person to pay attention to what he had said.
"Think about being in your human form. I will create a barrier and the cloak will cover you."
Meredith followed his instructions and found herself back in her human form.
She was too in a hurry to find out that her hair had completely changed.
She scanned the crowd again and found him in a daze staring at her. His scent filled her nostril and as her eyes met his blue ones with golden glint flashing through them she was shocked.
She loved him, yes but this new feeling, this sensation was different.
Everyone and everything faded around her until he was the only she could see, smell.
He was approaching her still in a daze. She knew he could also feel it.
The invisible force driving him to her. She could feel the happiness drifting off her wolf even though she didn\'t know why.
But she didn\'t care at the moment. Her attention was on the man approaching her.
And just as he was a mere steps away from her a familiar voice sounded breaking the moment.
"Mine."