Mercy
Rage burned through my veins as the silver truck disappeared down the road. Every instinct screamed to chase, to hunt, to tear the threat to my children apart with my bare hands. My fingers flexed, already imagining the feel of fur between them.
Then the voice came. It was rich, ancient, and utterly alien in my mind.
Finally free. It's hard to believe my human half is this slow.
I spun in a frantic circle, bare feet scraping against the wooden floor. The realisation hit like a thunderclap. She wasn't just in my head. She was in my bones, my blood, my very soul.
I am Zuri. The presence purred as my body moved without my command. Powerful limbs carried me back to the house with effortless grace. The beast in you. His bite awakened me, but the witch unchained me.
The question tumbled from my lips before I could stop it.
Am I a werewolf?
The garbled sound reminded me of my current form, but she understood. The laughter that erupted from my throat was wrong. It was a guttural sound that bounced off the walls in eerie echoes. My hand—no, Zuri's paw now, huge and covered in golden fur swung the door shut with a decisive click.
We are far older. Zuri whispered to me. Far stronger. We are werehyena.
I felt her withdraw as suddenly as she'd appeared. My knees hit the floor, but the expected pain never came. Instead, I found myself human again, naked and trembling, staring at my perfectly ordinary hands.
The twins' cries shattered the silence. I scrambled up, ignoring the tattered remains of my clothes littering the floor like strange confetti. Their nursery smelled wrong now, tainted with his scent, that musky wolf odour that had been irritating me for weeks without my realising why.
As I gathered Imani and Omari to my chest, something settled deep inside me. Zuri's presence hummed contentedly, a protective shadow curled around our children.
For the first time since the bite, I didn't feel afraid.
I felt...powerful.
◆◆◆
The doorbell camera showed a face pressed absurdly close to the lens, green eyes wide with forced innocence. “I come in peace,” the idiot announced, voice muffled through the speaker. “Don't kill me.”
When he pulled back, waving a white tissue like some pathetic surrender flag, I couldn't stop the twitch of my lips. On screen, his human form looked deceptively normal. The broad shoulders and annoyingly perfect jawline. But I knew those muscles hid something far more dangerous.
Zuri stirred in my chest with unexpected interest as I watched him shift from foot to foot. Last night, she'd chased this same man off our property, yet now he dared return in daylight? The twins' soft snores from their Moses basket decided for me. It was better to handle this now while they slept.
The wooden door groaned as I yanked it open. He jumped back, hastily stuffing the tissue in his jeans pocket. Up close, he smelled like pine and nervous sweat.
“Garrick?” I kept my voice flat.
His responding grin was all white teeth and wolfish charm.
“You remember.” Hands raised in surrender, he took a careful half-step forward. “I swear on the moon, I mean no harm to you or the pups. I've only been watching to keep you safe.”
“Right. Because stalking is so reassuring.” My crossed arms tightened, but his gaze dropped for just a second—long enough for heat to flood my cheeks as those violent, feverish nights flashed through my mind.
To my surprise, Zuri didn't bristle. Instead, she stretched beneath my skin with something disturbingly like...approval. I caught the exact moment Garrick sensed her interest. His pupils dilated, shoulders relaxing just a fraction.
With a sigh that felt like defeat, I stepped aside. “You have five minutes.”
As he crossed the threshold, I noticed his jeans filled out nicely and his eyes flickered to the staircase. He moved swiftly with poise for such a large man.
“They're sleeping in the living room. Go into the kitchen.”
His eyes lingered on the living room door, but he walked past it to go into the kitchen. Zuri approved of his concern for the babies. I was more cautious when I remembered how out of control his beast was.
Five minutes turned into an hour as he explained the effect of the moon cycle on his wolf, Valor, and their history. When the twins stirred, he followed me into the living room, and I noticed the children paused to stare at him, recognising their father.
The room was silent as I fed them, and Garrick slowly inched his way closer to touch their tiny cheeks.
Our eyes met, and for a moment, Zuri and Valor sized one another up.
It could have been my imagination, but I relaxed, sinking into the couch.
Omari grabbed his father's finger and gripped it. Imani’s dark eyes stared at him intently.
“I want to be their father, Mercy and not a part-time dad,” he murmured.
“You're tied to your pack.” I reminded him.
“I don't have to be.”
I stared at him before I nodded.
“We take one day at a time. The children come before us.”
His eyes widened in surprise before he eagerly nodded. I tensed up when he moved towards me, but he kissed my cheek. His fingers trailed down my neck, where he’d bitten me. His mangy dog scent was gone. It was replaced by a fresh, earthy scent, reminding me of the mountain I met him on.
“Any issues, and I can always rip your throat out,” I said nonchalantly, unable to resist.
I felt his lips curl against my cheek before he pulled away.
“A wise woman told me to bow to my queen,” he said with a chuckle, but the heated flames in his eyes almost made me squirm.
Shayamal was on my side, after all. She could tell me more about who I was.
The only information I had was the stories my grandmother used to tell me.
I was nothing like the terrified woman running from a predator mere months ago.
My eyes dropped to my children, who suckled hungrily.
They deserved to know both sides of their family.
Garrick’s eyes filled with adoration as he looked at our children.
As the twins nursed contentedly, an unfamiliar sound rose in my chest. It was a deep, thrumming purr that made their tiny fingers clutch instinctively at my skin. Garrick's breath hitched, his wolf recognising what mine already knew.
My life had changed drastically, but as I cradled my babies close to me, I realised that I wouldn't change a single thing.
This wasn't surrender.
This was evolution.