The next sound he made gave her chills. It was a deep growl that vibrated up from his chest and didn’t even sound human, more like a beast. She leaned closer and started when his eyes suddenly opened. They glowed yellow up at her and his large hand grasped her arm.

“Leave me.” They were barely words, sounding like they’d been forced out between the growls. “Go.” He released her arm and placed his hand on her chest and shoved her gently back. She staggered backward but her feet rooted to the floor when he yelled out in agony. The bones of his large face shifted, sounds of popping and cracking filling the room. Long black nails grew out from his fingers and hair began pushing up from his skin along his arms.

She held her breath as she watched the transformation continue over the span of several minutes. Right before her eyes, the wounded soldier became a beast, like the results of a wolf and human mating. In one swipe those nails tore away the bandage around his side and her eyes widened as the tender flesh around his wound reddened.
He rose up and arched in pain as the wound closed itself, the flesh coming together until it became only a thin line of scar tissue. Then he fell back onto the blankets. His eyes closed and for a moment his body only shook. She started to step forward, and then halted when once again, his body changed before her very eyes. In minutes, he was again the man she’d helped from the battlefield, only scars now where his wounds were.

She moved backwards and sat down in the chair, staring at the man. Her husband had told her of men he’d known that carried the beast inside of them but she had never before, as far as she knew, met one. Now, she didn’t know what to think. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she might not have believed it.