55. Impartial (Luke POV)

The tension in the office was still a vivid sensation on my skin as we stepped outside into the front yard. "How about we run all the way down to the treehouse?" I asked Lexi, trying to shift the mood.

A genuine smile broke through her concerned expression. "Sounds perfect," she replied.

I started to peel off my clothes, folding them neatly on the porch. My skin tingled in anticipation. Since being marked, this would be my first shift, and I had no idea what to expect.

When my body finally gave way to the transformation, the intensity of it was beyond anything I had ever experienced.

The sensation surged from the mark on my neck, a blazing cascade of pure emotion and raw physicality that rapidly expanded outward like wildfire. My bones cracked and reconfigured, muscles swelling and contracting in a frenzied dance. It was excruciating and euphoric in equal measure, a paradox of pain and pleasure that left me momentarily disoriented.

But through it all, there was an undercurrent of some