{Merryn's pov}

My eyes felt heavy as they slowly blinked open. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what happened, but I somehow ended up in a different climate location. Instead of the summer season, it seemed like I woke up in the middle of winter. The air prickled my skin with an icy chill, sending an odd comforting sensation throughout my body. Looking down, I realized that I was back in my human shape and completely lacking clothes. Not to mention the fact I was covered in muck, mud, soggy grass, and dried blood. I felt a lot of pain in my waist and all the way up to my head. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that I had some severe bruising and nasty scratch wounds all over my body.

A groan of frustration left my lips. It seemed that this was just my luck. I woke up in an unfamiliar place without recollection of how I ended up here. I tried searching through my memories, but my brain lacked the needed information. All that I succeeded in doing was developing a worsening migraine. It grew and kept growing until I felt like the world was spinning out of control. It was good that I hadn’t moved because if I was standing up, I surely would have toppled over like a drunken fool. This thought made a giggle slip past my partly open mouth. Maybe I was still intoxicated, and why I couldn’t remember anything.

^No! Merryn, seriously? Come on now, lady, you don’t remember the magic crystal busting up and dust flying everywhere, forming a portal we fell through?^ Lumi scolded me.

Her words registered in my mind, making me furrow my eyebrows. ^Lumi, that is Alice in Wonderland you are thinking of. Alice fell through a rabbit hole in a tree, making her fall into a magical portal to Wonderland.^.

She rolled her eyes at me, shaking her furry head back and forth in my mind. ^Foolish girl. Screw that head back on your body and think!^

I frowned at her words but pushed the hurt feelings aside. Now was not the time to be a cry baby! It was the time for reflections and stuffing our feet into big girl shoes. Sure, I was still only a 17-year-old girl, but in just a few months, I would be 18. I should start acting like it instead of relying on others to do the hard, complicated stuff. It was my turn to care for myself and be who I was meant to be. A lone fox shifter. Alone in the world but just fine on my own. First and foremost, remembering everything that happened.

After inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and imagined myself opening a drawer inside my mind. In an instant, my mind was bombarded with visions. Convincing Samael to let me go to the party, dancing and kissing Dakota, and finding out everyone wasn’t human but other supernaturals. Then Josephine and her gaggle of were-jocks cornered me, harassing and attacking me. Fucking dumbasses. Hopefully, Samael punished Josephine like he did Llewellyn. She deserved to be disciplined the most. It was all her fault, to begin with. She is the one who was jealous of me. Stupid she-bitch!

^Merryn, focus! That is not what is essential here!^ Lumi barked at me, snapping me out of my sidetracked thoughts.

She was correct; I needed to focus on reconstructing the day’s activities. I needed to find out what happened and figure out where I was. Therefore, I pushed those annoying thoughts away and imagined myself pressing the fast-forward button on my flashbacks. Instead, it was a flash-forward, pulling me through the entire events of this past day. When it came to the point where Samael dragged me into the forest, I hurried up and pressed pause to get a glimpse of the guards who dragged Kota in the opposite direction. I swallowed, fearing what must be happening to him. I could only hope that Sam keeps him alive long enough for me to somehow rescue him.

Shaking the fears and worries away, I resumed the memory searching and watched myself shift for the first time. It was a painful process, making me cringe at the memory, but Lumi swished her tail in my mind. She was proud of me and reassured me that it would get less painful each time. I ran in Lumi’s form in the visions to escape from Samael and his guards. My body froze at the cliff’s edge when I almost got away. That was when I watched the guards and Samael emerge from the tree line. They surrounded me, and I remembered lunging for the weakest one. I tackled him in Lumi’s form, knocking him down and the crystal out of his pocket.

It was just like Lumi said. The crystal shattered on the ground, a cloud of dust forming in the air and summoning a vortex that sucked the young vampire and me into the portal. I remember it felt like floating and falling simultaneously. Then Lumi’s voice echoed in my ears. She had said to bring us somewhere safe. Looking around, I didn’t see how this was much safer than before. Sure, there weren’t any angry vampires trying to capture us. Well, except for the young boy vampire. But, he was still unconscious a couple feet away from where I was sprawled out on the ground.

Slowly, I sat up and tried to be as quiet as possible. I wasn’t sure if the guy was sleeping or just pretending to be asleep. I didn’t want him to suddenly jump up and grab me if it was the latter option. I was not ready to go back to Samael’s castle. This was the first ounce of freedom I have felt throughout my life. There was no way in Hell I would let it end so soon. Doing the only thing I could think to do, I carefully pulled myself up to my feet and crept past his sleeping form. The boy didn’t stir, and I wondered if he was alive. Though I certainly was not going to do the kick test just to find out. He could quickly grab my ankle and snatch me up in the blink of an eye.

Once I had managed to get far away, I ran into a sprint. Lumi provided me with her heightened senses, and I was desperate to find a stream or another source of fresh water. My throat was parched, and it felt like I had inhaled the entire Sahara Desert. However, not even before I could get a mile away from where I had woken up did I hear a synchronized choir of growls. A cold shiver ran down my back, causing a trail of goosebumps to follow in its wake. Those growls sounded threatening, and I did not want to stick around to find out what they wanted. I also did not want anyone or anything seeing me naked like this, which meant I needed to figure out how to shift into Lumi’s form and do it quickly!

^Lumi! We need to hurry. I don’t need a bunch of hungry wolves devouring my body while I am naked. I’d much rather be in your fur-covered body. How do we do it? How do I force a shift?^ I asked her.

She beamed a silly grin at me, looking a bit odd as her lips pulled back on her snout but, nevertheless, it was still adorable. ^All you have to do is think about it and let your imagination flow. Your instincts and body will do the rest.^

Following her instructions, I closed my eyes and imagined myself running and frolicking in her cute little white-furred body. In an instant, I felt the prickling sensation of her fur rising all over my skin, and then my bones breaking and mending to form her shape. This time it only took me about 45 seconds before I was fully transformed into Lumi’s body and only half the pain I felt the first time. Hopefully, a few more times, I will be pain-free. Before getting sidetracked again, I perked my ears and listened to my surroundings. The freezing air felt more comfortable in this form. Which I guess made sense considering that Lumi was an arctic fox instead of a regular red fox.

^4 o’clock, Merryn. Do you smell that? Lycans! Dozens of them! RUN!^ Lumi warned me before she pushed my legs to move. 

It was a good thing because just as I leaped out of the way, a giant brown wolf pounced out from behind a large bush. He landed over the empty spot where I had just stood and barked in confusion. 

^Haha! He looks like a lost puppy!^ Lumi laughed at the bewildered look on the giant wolf’s face.

I chuckled as well, watching him from the corner of my eyes. Two more wolves leaped out and nudged the first one around, almost as if they were taunting him. Watching these giant fluffy wolves pick fun at each other was fun. The brown wolf reminded me of Maximus, the horse from Disney’s Tangled. Not his appearance but his personality. If he hadn’t aimed his giant claws at my body, I would have wanted to be his friend. But, alas, that was not the case, and he definitely wanted to harm, capture, or maybe even kill me. And I was in no mood for either of those options.

My eyes scanned my environment, trying to find some obstacles that I could easily dodge but would be hard for them in their giant sizes. I was tiny compared to those beasts, and if there was one thing I learned growing up, it was that being smaller has its advantages. Lumi pointed her nose in the direction of a massive fallen log. There was about a four-inch gap underneath it that I could easily slide under. Taking her advice, I sprinted toward it and then rolled under it. Her plan worked as I emerged from the other side of the fallen log and heard a loud bang come from the opposite side. The sound that followed it had me pausing in my tracks just to throw my head back in laughter. One of the wolves must have smacked its head because I heard it yelping and whimpering in pain.

Lumi, however, had other plans. She barked at me and jumped around inside my mind. ^Don’t waste precious time. There are more of them!^

^Oh, right… Sorry!^ I squeaked in a sheepish voice. If I had been in my human form, I’m sure my face would be red now.

Kicking my tail in high gear, I sprinted through the trees, running as fast as possible. Lumi was right. I could hear many more paws hitting the ground behind me. There were over a dozen of them now, and they were unhappy with me. I gulped, feeling the wind shift directions as a blur whooshed past me. Something big and gray stood in my path up ahead, and Lumi shuddered in fear. The creature looked terrifying. Not like a normal wolf because it stood up on its hind legs and started sprinting at me like Bigfoot.

^Shit. Fuck! Lumi, what is that?^ I screamed, trying to search for an escape. My bladder suddenly felt too full, but I refused to soil myself like a baby. I sure as Hell wasn’t going to cry either. Nope!

^That is the Lycan Beta! Get out of there, go now!^ She shouted at me, pushing some much-needed adrenaline through my veins.

The feeling was like swallowing an ice-cold soda in one gulp. It burned on the way down, made my stomach fuzzy, and felt like I had a burp lodged in my throat. Yet, it was refreshing and gave me the boost I needed. I ran straight in his direction, with him running at me. He looked determined to catch me, but my smaller size wouldn’t be easily grabbed. I had a plan in mind, and my eyes zeroed in on the massive gap between his legs. 

He was ginormous, which meant there was plenty of room for me to run between his legs. The Lycan Beta growled at me in a warning. A look of determination in his eyes made me almost second guess myself. However, before changing my mind, he jumped in the air and out of range. My body froze in shock, not understanding what just happened. That was until a loud howl broke loose, and something massive and heavy landed on top of me, knocking the wind out of my lungs.

The Lycan Beta had turned into one of the giant wolves. He had dark gray fur and steel-colored eyes that glowed menacingly. He had me pinned down on my back, his large paws holding me down by my belly. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t let up and just stared down at me. A hint of amusement gleamed in his steel eyes, making Lumi growl inside my mind. She did not appreciate the way this Lycan Beta made her feel. He held me down while I desperately tried to get out of his grasp, a wolfish smirk plastered on his face. Cocky bastard! I would show him just as soon as I got out of this unflattering position.

^Are you finished running, volpina?^ (fox) His smooth masculine voice filled my head. 

My eyes widened, my throat swallowed, and I slowly looked at the giant gray wolf. A cocky grin stretched across his snout, and his tongue flopped out his mouth. Yeah, that was definitely him, but how did he talk to me in my mind.

^He is a royal, Merryn. Either that or a Lycan of nobility. Those who work for the King can communicate via mind link to all shifters, wolves, and Lycans.^ Lumi informed me.

I swallowed, staring back at him. His tail swished around excitedly behind him, making me frown. Stupid annoying Lycan. ^Eat my shorts, bird brain! Get off of me, or I will bite your face.^ I threatened him, speaking to him through the mental connection that his voice came through.

^It seems the little vixen has quite the bark!^ He laughed at me, still pinning me down on my back. Then he nudged my head with his snout, trying to get me to turn my head for some odd reason. Honestly, I did not understand what he was doing. ^Shift back now. The King is expecting you, little rogue.^

His words carried a heavy weight that pressed down on my mind. It felt like someone was pushing my shoulders down to get me to kneel, but I fought back, barking and shaking my head at him. I wouldn’t bow to no man, especially not some rude Lycan Beta that couldn’t say please. ^That would put me in quite the predicament, Beta Lycan. I will not do what you ask simply because I don’t want to.^

He stared at me for a long, hard second, a cloudy haze covering his irises. ^He is mind linking someone. It is likely the King.^ Lumi explained. I nodded in understanding, waiting patiently for the fog to clear from his eyes.

The second the hazy fog vanished, the Beta Lycan shifted into a very naked man. I quickly placed my paws over my face, covering my eyes. There was no way in Hell that I wanted to look down at his junk. I refused to see this douche’s penis and possibly give him an ego boost. After all, he was pretty tall, even in human form. It made sense that his dick would be ample to accommodate his stature. Therefore, I refused to look down and find out for myself. I did not want to give this creep the wrong idea.

He rolled off of me, standing up on his feet. After his weight was no longer crushing me, I quickly moved onto my stomach and stood up on my paws. My eyes looked around for an opportunity to flee, only to realize that I had about thirty giant wolves surrounding me. I was trapped, and there would be no escaping this time. A huff left my lips, and I quickly sat down on my butt. There was no way that I was going to shift back. That was out of the question, but I knew I was stuck. At least until they decided to set me free.

^What will you do with me, Beta Lycan?^ I questioned him via mind link.

Now in his human form, the tall Beta Lycan crossed his arms over his chest and flashed me a sly smile. His words resonated through the air instead of my mind this time when he spoke. “The King is on his way, vulpina. He will decide your fate.”