I wake up to someone talking.
"-need to try again. Just small shifts. Don't force it. Let your wolf come forward gradually."
Clara's voice. Patient. Encouraging. The kind of tone you'd use with a child learning to walk.
I open my eyes. I'm not in the medical bay anymore. Some kind of training room. Padded walls. Open space. Clara sits cross-legged in front of me.
"Welcome back." She smiles but it doesn't reach her eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a truck. Then the truck backed up and hit me again." I sit up slowly. Everything aches. "What are we doing here?"
"Training. You need to learn control. How to shift deliberately instead of having it forced on you." She stands. Offers me a hand. "Dr. Chen and Adrian agreed. You're stable enough to start practicing."
Adrian. The me
