The pang of anxiety, when it hits, is so violent that it nearly puts me on my ass. It isn’t mere anxiety, though. It’s panic and fear and confusion. It’s a mess. And Ava is one of the most clear-headed people I ever met. She wouldn’t feel this way without good reason.
It’s a good fucking thing that I’ve been planning for this.
I have been in this hellhole for five years for something I haven’t done. I think I have paid enough of a price. And as retribution, I plan on taking a wrecking ball to this prison.
I have been coordinating my escape for years now. Luckily Ellis, the guard on my cell block, has become a good friend.
Every shifter on my cell block has also become a good friend – to me and to each other. They are loyal to me.
And now Ava needs me. I know this without a doubt.
I take a deep breath, hoping that it will calm the second-hand anxiety that I’m feeling. And if she can feel me, I hope she’ll feel calmer as I inhale deeply.
Then I shout. The threat, when I shout it, is harmless but will set everything in motion.
“Death to all leopard shifters!”
The prison explodes with noise and chaos as the other shifter prisoners become inflamed by my words.
Ellis appears at my cell door within seconds.
“The rest are ready. Today’s the day, huh?” He asks as he unlocks the door and pulls a device out of his pocket.
“Yes. I need to leave. Now.” I lean down in front of him, wincing as my skin burns from the device that will set me free.
My skin prickles from the palpable tension in Supermax. I have made a lot of people very angry. The other guards will be furious, because I’ve ‘spoken fightin’ words,’ as Ellis would say.
That’s the point though, so I don’t feel bad about it.
The other shifters who I have befriended, and who are loyal to me, have started a fight. The guards will be distracted, and Ellis will lead me through an emergency exit that no one knows about. Not even most of the other guards.
The din, when I leave my cell, is deafening. There have been fights before, but now everyone is practically baying at the moon, begging for blood.
I know that the different gangs in the prison have put bets on who will win the fight. I also know that, by now, the guards have their tasers and guns out. They’ll be firing indiscriminately at prisoners.
That is when I start to shift.
And for the first time in five years, I feel like myself.
Ellis steps back, looking at me with clear admiration in his eyes. My body twists, lengthens, contorts. Pitch-black fur bursts from my tanned skin. My face lengthens and hardens.
The muscles in my body grow, thickening, and strength flows through me so quickly that pure adrenaline starts flowing through me, thick and fast.
Razor-sharp claws replace my hands and feet. The shape of my face changes into that of a muzzle. I can feel my teeth sharpening, growing, and know that my canines are extending over my lower lip.
The growl, when I growl, is deafening.
And every prisoner in the jail falls silent.
“Shit! Breaker, you were supposed to keep quiet!” Ellis whispers heatedly at me.
I throw my head back and howl, and this sets off a chain reaction.
Every shifter in the prison has realized that one of their own has shifted. Every shifter in the prison has realized that one of their own has escaped.
Ellis jumps into action, leading me through the passageway to outside my cell block. The fight is still raging on beneath us.
Even the powerful howl of a shifter cannot stop a prison fight. The guards are still trying to restrain the other prisoners who started the fight in the first place.
When we run through the mess hall, three guards are unconscious on the floor, and a pool of blood has gathered beneath one prisoner’s head.
I make sure that it isn’t one of my friends sacrificing themselves to save me.
Then I follow Ellis down another winding passageway to the emergency exit.
Right then, I feel another pang of panic. It streaks through me, setting my nerve ends on fire, and I whine, pawing at the ground.
I need to get to Ava now! She needs me now; I can feel it. Whatever is happening, she’s in great danger. And I think that she doesn’t even know she needs me.
We pass a large, dirty window on our way to the exit, and I catch sight of my reflection. Two hundred pounds of pure muscle stares back at me. My pitch-black fur – the same color as my hair – still shines.
My bright, liquid green eyes glint dangerously back at me. Eyes that remain the same color whether I’m human or wolf.
The panic trembles through me again, and I give several sharp barks.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going as fast as I can,” Ellis mutters, before letting me out.
The guards who stand on the outside of the prison cannot miss an enormous black wolf. And they don’t mistake me as one who has wandered into the wrong place. They know that I’m a shifter right away.
I leap into the nearby bushes, and stick to the undergrowth, as they start shooting. Several bullets singe my fur as I leap and bound away from them.
Don’t worry Ava. I’m coming for you, baby.
In response, another pang of fear rips through me, so intense I stumble, and my heart nearly stops. I can feel hers beating alongside mine, stumbling and faltering, and I dig my claws into the ground, pushing myself farther.
But I fear as her heartbeat turns irregular–
That I won’t make it in time.
