I can’t fathom what happens next. It’s like a part of me is shattered, broken into a thousand tiny pieces, and can never be put back together. And yet, crashing over me is a wave of emotion—of completeness—and fear.

I don’t understand it.

I can't breathe. This can't be. If the eyes aren’t a perfect match, the scabbed pockmarks beneath the stubble on his right upper lip reveal just as much, if not more.

It isn't a coincidence. The two are a match.

The hardest part is pulling my gaze away. I can't explain the stirring in my soul, like something inside me is waking up from a long slumber.

The blond guy next to him laughs, snapping me out of my reverie. It's like a slap in the face and I quickly back up. I look away from him to my hands.

What was that? Why did I feel so different all of a sudden? I feel torn in two places at once. In one way, I feel incredibly drawn to this man in front of me, but on the other hand, I feel betrayed.

What is he? If this man is Cody, why couldn't he have just come out and said so? Why lead me on for so long?

I shake my head. No, no, this can’t be right. It’s all a misunderstanding.

He must have read my face because his coy smile turns into a frown of worry. Without thinking, he drops his end of the stick and steps towards me.

“It’s okay,” he says, his hands reaching up in a gesture to calm me.

But I’m not calm. So many mixed emotions are bubbling up inside of me. I stumble backwards as my words tumble out of my mouth. “Who are you? What are you?”

“She still doesn’t know?” the blond guy asks, carefully putting the deer down on the ground.

“No,” the stranger before me says, his golden eyes glance at the blond guy before looking back at me.

I evade his gaze, too upset to confront those eyes I had come to know so well. I refuse to accept that his eyes are the same as Cody’s. It’s not possible!

Hands touch my shoulders, causing me to jump and whirl around to face Alicia’s hazel-green eyes. As if looking into her eyes for the first time, I realize that I have seen those eyes before too—in the woods.

“Y-You too?”

Her eyes soften as she grips my shoulders gently. “It’s okay, Zara.”

Pulling away, I glare at the woman who had shown me nothing but kindness since she helped me out of the lake. Even she knew. They were all in on something that they were keeping from me.

Heat radiates from my body as panic tightly grips my heart. There’s something wrong with these people. All of them. Even him.

“Just stay away from me!” I hear the fear in my voice, almost like an echo.

The grip on my heart expands to my lungs, and I’m gasping for air. Smoke from the fire burns my eyes, nasal cavity, and throat. Coughing, I shield my face from the smoke as I squeeze my eyes shut.

“She’s going to shift,” says a loud male voice.

“Evan, is she ready?” The panic in Alicia’s voice is thick behind me, and I feel her closing in on me, but I push her away with a swipe of my arm.

“No, she’s not!”

“Grab her!”

A growl escapes my burning throat. I open my eyes, blurry from smoke-filled tears, as I turn to push away my next attacker. As my eyes come into focus, I see his golden pair before mine as he reaches for me.

“Don’t touch me!” I try to push him away as my voice, twisted in a snarl through my exposed teeth, echoes dangerously in my ears—but I can’t.

Captured by his gaze, I stare back at him, my chest heaving in short quick gasps as I struggle to fill my constricted lungs with air. His hands grasp my arms and pull me towards him until I’m merely an inch from touching him. I don’t feel the heat of his palms against my bare skin though—only the pressure of his tight grip.

Alarm flashes in his eyes, but as soon as he pulls me against him, they flutter closed and he inhales deeply. I find myself mirroring his actions as my senses are suddenly flooded in his scent. It’s deep and earthy with woody undertones that makes my head spin.

A low rumble escapes his throat as he nuzzles the curve of my neck, his lips grazing across my skin. My knees buckle as the hairs on my nape prickle. A soft moan erupts from my lips as my body begins to shudder with unexplainable desire.

I can’t control it. A fire within me roars to life, devouring all manner of thought, reason, and restraint like it’s oxygen. It burns, but instead of screaming in pain, my body is screaming in lustful ecstasy.

“Evan, control yourself!”

He growls again, louder this time, and I note the warning tone within it.

A guttural sound of hostility seeps out of my throat. Don’t try to stop us.

I reach my arms up behind him and dig my fingers into his bare back. The heat rising off him intensifies, intoxicating me even more.

It’s just him and me. And for some reason, in this moment, that’s all that matters.

Icy cold water splashes over us and I immediately pull away, shaking the water from my dreadlocks.

“Chillax, you two,” a deep male voice says.

“Dammit, Rick! Why’d you do that?”

I wipe the water from my face, shivering as I raise my hands to clutch my head. My body responds to the freezing water, but my mind can’t pull out of the abyss it has fallen into. Searing pain tears through the back of my skull, ripping a cry from somewhere within me.

Arms encircle me from behind, and I can smell Alicia as she holds me back against her.

“Fight her, Zara,” she whispers in my ears. “Show the beast who’s boss.”

A snarl reverberates through me, drowning out Alicia’s words. She sounds far away despite her lips being merely an inch from my ear.

Crying out, I try to throw her over my shoulder, but she’s far stronger than I and maintains her firm hold around me.

“Evan,” she calls out as I twist and turn, “Are you in control now?”

He groans, but finally utters a snarled, “Yes.”

“Get over here, then,” Alicia grunts as I almost manage to slip from her grasp.

I glance down at my hands and see they are covered in fur. My fingers have shortened, while my nails have elongated.

“Wh-What’s happening?” The words are my own, but it comes out in a grizzly husk.

Another growl rumbles within my mind as I realize that there is something terribly wrong with me, far worse than I could have ever imagined. But how do you fight against something you can’t wrap your head around and already has control over your body?

“Take her head in both of your hands and get her to look into your eyes,” Alicia orders.

My head thrashes about when I feel him reach for me, but he manages to grab a hold and pull my face towards his.

“Don't get too close and lose control again,” she warns. “You just have to calm her down with your gaze and your voice, got it?”

I clench my eyes shut as he says, “Yeah,” and I squirm some more in her grasp.

I realize that there is another person holding me, when I hear him groan with effort to restrain me, but I can’t tell who it is.

“Look at me,” Evan says.

A growl rumbles up my throat, but I push it down into my stomach and force my eyes to open.

His golden gaze is ready, and captures mine immediately. “It’s me, Cody. Only my real name is Evan. I can explain everything, but right now, you need to take control and relax.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as I struggle to swallow a large lump in my throat. There’s resistance within me, and I can’t fathom what it is trying to force its way out.

I’m scared. I’m scared of what’s happening to me, and what it all means. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to face it. I just want to go home. I just want to go back to the life I had before I wound up in the mountains.

And now, it seems as though everything has changed, and there’s no going back.

Tears start to stream down my cheeks as I continue to battle the painful urge to scream and rip my hair out. “I… I don’t want this,” I choke out in a hoarse voice.

I hear him suck in air sharply. “I know. But everything will be okay. I’m here.”

I open my eyes and glare at him accusingly. “And who are you? I don’t know you at all.”

His eyes soften and a sharp pang twists my heart when I see the sadness in his golden irises. I can’t stand it. “I’m still Cody,” he says, “just in another form.”

My body begins to tremble and I reach up to hold onto his arms for support as his hands slide down to cup my chin. I shake my head slowly as I feel the warmth and smoothness of his skin on my cheeks and in my palms. I lower my gaze and see that my arms and hands have returned to their normal, smooth-skinned state.

Behind me, the hands and arms release their hold, and I nearly tumble to the ground. I would have if it hadn’t been for Evan to pull me into his arms and clutch me tightly to his bare chest.

Exhaustion overwhelms me, and I let him hold me, if only to give me time to regain my strength.

I shake my head as fresh tears sting my eyes. No, you’re not Cody. Because I don’t know who Cody is anymore.