Page 42 of Daughter of Garnet

I slam the lock on the door after he leaves and throw my head back with a bellow.

"Ilota, what am I meant to do?"

Her voice comes to me, but it's thin, like she's speaking through the wind.

"I tried to hold it off as long as I could, but you have to shift, and you have to do it privately. No one⁠—"

"No one can know what I am, got it. But have you forgotten that Omegas aren't supposed to live in isolation? That I need someone?"

"You don't understand what's at stake if people realize you've been Blessed by me. I need you. Kestia needs you. This is bigger than you know."

"I'd know if you told me anything!"

I slide on my shoes and take off out of my room at a run, down the stairs, and into the evening air. Most of the campus is in the dining hall right now, so very few people see me running like a maniac toward the forests that border the athletic fields.

As I run, I yell at the Goddess, but this time only in my mind.

"And I need support. I don't know what is happening to me, you don't tell me shit, and it's getting harder and harder to hide this."

I can hear a frustrated sigh in my mind, as if she were a mother and I an errant child.

"You need to try to do this alone."

I'm by the gym when I let out a frustrated bellow, the volume of which is too loud to have come from my throat. Birds take flight, and the sole person walking through the doors stops and stares at me.

"I have been trying for weeks. I'm telling you I need help. All I'm asking is you don't smite me when I find it."

She's silent as I run through the woods, searching for a spot that feels secluded enough to turn into whatever it is trying to burst out of me.

"Fine." Her voice is resigned and sounds further away than before. "I hope you make the right choice."

CHAPTER 21

Zoe

The sickness I have been feeling for the past few weeks, which culminated in me hurling my guts out this afternoon, did not prepare me for this moment.

When my legs grow wobbly and I can no longer force myself to run, I find a place that feels safe enough for what comes next. My skin has been hot since my interaction with Warren, but now I'm surprised my clothes aren't melting off me.

I strip down, even removing my necklace and placing it on top of the pile, then fall to my knees.

As painful and scary as this is, excitement for finding out what beast I have been Blessed with bubbles up.

There is no disguising the moment it happens. A brutal scream rips from my throat. It feels like all of my bones are breaking and being reformed anew, and I see the ground grow farther and farther away as my body morphs and changes before I slam my eyes shut.

When I feel settled, the pain an echo of a memory, I ease my eyes open to see the tops of trees directly in front of me. Whatever I am, I'm huge.

Oh fuck, can someone see me?

I duck and fold my legs under me, settling on the ground in a motion that is so natural I don't have to think.

When I hold my hand up, I don't find a hand but rather a clawed foot, covered in shining copper scales. A thump behind me startles me, and I look over my shoulder only to see a tail hitting the ground. A weight on my back has me trying to stretch out, only to find wings pushing out from my sides and smacking the trees around me.

I'm trying to remember the word for the beast I have become when crashing through the trees has me curling up in a protective position around my clothes and calling a rumble through my chest.

Dominic's sabertooth form stands before me, and any lingering pain and fear are banished when our eyes lock.

He can help me. He'll know what to do, except I can't shift and ask him. My beast is stubborn, unwilling to let me lock her away so soon.