Kaira wasn't expecting to find herself in heaven.
But she certainly didn't expect this!
The moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she registered was heat... warm skin under her palms, hard muscles shifting beneath her, and something very, very male breathing sharply right below her.
Her eyes flew wide, and she found herself straddling someone.
A man.
Not just any man... but a masterpiece of a man.
Long, black, glossy hair spilled beneath him like silk ink. His bare, solid chest was sculpted better than anything she had ever seen in her life... and it rose and fell with restrained rage.
Thick ropes... no, vines actually... were binding his muscular arms above his head. His eyes were covered with a strip of animal hide, and his jaw was clenched tight enough to snap bones.
He looked like he was going to murder someone.
Most likely… the person sitting on top of him.
Kaira's mind blanked. Utterly blanked.
What the hell?!
She jerked upright, her palms pressing against his unbelievably hard abs... abs that flexed beautifully in response... and she nearly choked on her own breath.
"Oh God," she whispered. "I'm on a bound supermodel. A bound, angry, half-naked ancient jungle supermodel. What?!"
The man let out a deep, furious growl from beneath the blindfold.
A growl.
"Get. Off." His voice was hoarse, sharp, and dripping with lethal promise.
Kaira scrambled backward... but froze when she could hardly move. And the moment she looked down at her body... or rather, the body she was currently in... her soul fled. Her lungs gave up. Her dignity packed its bags and left.
"...What the f-"
Gone was her toned, muscled, battlefield-honed physique.
Gone were her fair, smooth skin, and long blonde hair she had grown out for several painful years.
Instead...
She was huge.
Not thick. Not curvy.
Huge.
A body so big it could cast a shadow on an elephant.
Her skin was blotched with dirt so thick she could scrape it off in layers. Her arms jiggled. Her legs jiggled. Even her chin jiggled, and she had three of them.
Her hair-
Dear God.
Her hair looked like it hadn't seen water since the ice age. They were knotted into a greasy, monstrous nest that birds would be ashamed to live in.
And she was wearing…
"Is this… a dead cow on me? Why does it smell like armpits and despair?"
The hide she wore was shredded, stained, and smelled like something had died wearing it. Then died again.
Kaira gagged.
The man beneath her stiffened at the sound, growling deeper.
She jerked her head up, and panic took over her.
"Wait wait wait, why am I here? Why am I like this? Why are you tied up?! Why am I on top of-"
She trailed off as a spear of agony stabbed her skull.
Her scream died in her throat as memories crashed into her like a tsunami.
Memories that didn't belong to her... but to the original owner of the body she was in.
The original owner of the body seemed to share the same name with her, but their similarities ended here.
The original owner was an orphan living in Lion Tribe. She was a young woman - ugly, greasy, enormous - who went around tribe stealing, cursing, and bullying.
Kaira saw memories of original owner stomping through the Lion Tribe like a tyrant no one respected.
Her being constantly scolded, avoided, insulted.
Everyone in the tribe seemed to hate and despise her. The only reason she hadn't already been thrown out of the tribe was because her father used to be the tribe leader's right-hand man and died protecting him in a battle.
The memories overwhelmed her... and then she saw it-
The original owner spotting this injured, ridiculously handsome man in the forest.
Drooling.
Dragging him into a cave.
Drugging him.
And attempting to forcefully mate with him.
Kaira froze.
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no. You did NOT-"
Her head pulsed.
But the memories were clear.
The body's previous owner had drugged this man.
This outrageously hot, deadly, definitely-preferring-to-kill-you man.
To forcefully mate with him.
Kaira slapped both hands over her mouth.
"Oh my god, I get transmigrated and immediately inherit the role of a sex offender!"
The man below her strained against the vines, his muscles bulging, teeth bared.
"If I break free," he snarled, "I will tear you apart, you disgusting-"
"WAIT!" Kaira yelped, hands shooting up instinctively. "It wasn't me! It was the… the original me! I mean-not me-me! Just-NOT ME!"
He growled louder, as if offended by her explanation.
Which... okay... fair.
She wouldn't believe herself either.
Kaira scrambled off him so fast she rolled like a shocked potato, hitting the ground with an embarrassing thud. Dirt puffed around her like a dramatic smoke bomb.
"Ouch… my fat has fat," she muttered, struggling to sit upright.
The man jerked at the vines again, his chest heaving with fury.
She forced a deep breath.
Focus.
She's not one to panic.
…Okay, she was panicking a little.
But she still forced herself up and staggered toward him.
"Look," she said with her hands raised in surrender and her voice trembling, "I don't know how to explain this but... if I don't untie you, you'll probably kill me. But if I don't untie you… you'll definitely kill me. So, um-let me just-"
She reached toward the vines binding him.
The moment her fingers brushed the knot, the man went still.
Very still.
Then his lips curved into something dark.
Too dark.
"You dare untie me?"
Kaira froze.
"T-that's not the reaction I want from someone I'm trying to rescue."
The vines loosened with a soft creak. And his hands were free even before she could blink.
Kaira's heart dropped into her stomach.
Why did I do that? Why am I freeing the murder machine? WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!
The man ripped the blindfold off.
His eyes were golden.
And furious.
And locked directly on her.
Kaira squeaked.
"Oh no."
He sat up slowly, like a predator enjoying the moment before the kill. His hair fell around him like a dark waterfall, muscles tense, jaw clenched.
"You are dead."
Kaira bolted upright.
"No-NO I'M NOT-!"
He lunged.