Three months later

Marina's scream tore through the Shadow Keep, raw and primal.

"Breathe," Obsidian commanded from where he stood at the chamber door, his pale eyes gleaming with clinical interest. "Your hybrid nature is fighting the shift. You need to let your body decide human or wolf. You can't birth in between."

"Get out!" Marina gasped between contractions, sweat soaking her hair. Three months of living in this fortress, three months of learning shadow magic and playing the willing student, and now this,going into labor two weeks early with no one she trusted to help.

"I'm not leaving." Obsidian moved closer, and Marina's attendant a rogue female named Ash...