"The kingdom is under attack!"
The shout echoed through the stone corridors, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of splintering wood and the terrifying howl of a hundred different throats. I stood frozen in the center of the grand hallway as the world I knew turned into a nightmare of fur and steel.
I was fifteen. By this age, the wolf inside me should have been a constant companion, a source of strength and instinct. But as I watched the palace guards shift and leap into the fray, I felt nothing but the frantic, shallow beat of a human heart. I was a defect. A princess with no teeth, no claws, and nowhere to hide.
"Mom!" I screamed, my voice cracking.
I began to run, my boots skidding on the polished marble. The air was thick with the scent of wet fur and the metallic tang of blood. I dodged a massive grey wolf that crashed through a tapestry, its jaws snapping inches from my shoulder. I saw people I'd known since childhood—tutors, servants, friends—being mauled as they tried to reach the exits.
I pushed through the chaos, my eyes burning from the smoke rising from the lower levels. Then, at the far end of the gallery, I spotted her. My mother was a blur of silver fury, her claws tearing through the attackers as she tried to hold the line.
"Mother!" I cried out, a desperate surge of hope giving my legs strength. I lunged toward her, thinking if I could just reach her, I'd be safe.
I never made it.
A heavy, dark shape slammed into my ribs, knocking the air from my lungs. I hit the floor hard, the world spinning as I tumbled across the cold stone. I scrambled to sit up, gasping for breath, only to find a massive black wolf standing between me and my mother. It was huge, its eyes glowing with a predatory hunger that made my skin crawl.
My mother saw me. Her eyes widened with a terror I'd never seen on her face. She tried to break away, to roar my name, but the wolves surrounding her seized the opening, sinking their teeth into her flanks to keep her back.
The black wolf turned its attention back to me. It stalked forward, its paws heavy and rhythmic on the floor. I backed away on my elbows, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I reached deep inside myself, begging for a shift, for a growl, for anything to awaken. But there was only a hollow silence. I was fifteen, a princess of a dying kingdom, and I was completely, utterly helpless.
The black wolf's shadow swallowed me whole. I was backed against the rough stone of the corridor, my heels catching on the petals of the crushed white lotus flowers that usually lined our halls. They were stained dark now, soaked in the blood of my people.
"Please," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Please don't."
I was fifteen, a princess of the blood, but I felt like a ghost. There was no wolf inside me to roar back, no claws to unsheathe. I was just a girl of flesh and bone staring into the foaming, jagged maw of a killer. The wolf stepped closer, its low growl vibrating through the floorboards and into my very marrow. I could see the stringy saliva dripping from its jowls, catching the flickering light of the fires outside. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the feeling of teeth meeting my throat.
Then, a sound like a thunderclap ripped through the air.
A pained whimper replaced the growl. I snapped my eyes open to see a mountain of silver-grey fur standing over me. The majestic wolf moved with a lethal grace I had seen a thousand times in training, but never like this.
"Father," I breathed.
He didn't look back; he was too busy tearing the throat out of the beast that had threatened me. Before I could even process the rescue, a hand gripped mine with bruising force.
"Elena, my child!"
My mother pulled me into a frantic embrace, her scent of lavender and steel momentarily grounding me amidst the carnage.
"Mother, what is happening?" I looked past her to where my father was now battling three wolves at once. He was the Lycan King, a titan of the Lotus Pack, but the sheer number of invaders was overwhelming.
"The kingdom is under attack," she said, her voice tight and urgent. "Strange breeds have breached the gates. We have to move."
She shifted in a blur of silver light, her wolf form large and powerful. She gestured for me to climb on, and then we were flying through the palace. The wind whipped my hair, carrying the stench of smoke and death. I watched from her back as our beautiful home crumbled, the fires casting long, dancing shadows of our people falling in battle.
"Mother, we have to go back for Dad!" I screamed into the wind, my stomach churning with a mix of motion sickness and pure terror.
We never reached the tree line. A dark shape exploded from the shadows, colliding with my mother mid-stride. The impact sent me spiraling through the air. I hit a tree trunk with a sickening thud, the world turning into a kaleidoscope of pain before I slumped to the ground.
Gasping for air, I watched through blurred vision as my mother was swarmed. "Elena..." Her voice echoed in my mind—a final, soft touch of her soul—before she was silenced. Moments later, I saw my father fall, his eyes locked on her even as the light left them.
I tried to stand, to scream, to do anything, but a heavy blow landed on the back of my head. The burning kingdom vanished into a cold, silent black.
—
I woke up to the sound of soft sobbing. My head felt like it had been split open with an axe. As my vision cleared, I realized I was in a stone room filled with girls—some weeping, some staring blankly at the walls.
"She's awake," a girl whispered.
"Where am I?" I demanded, my heart racing. This wasn't the palace. This wasn't home.
The door creaked open, and the room went dead silent. A woman walked in, her heels clicking like a metronome against the floor. She wore a sharp black dress, her red hair pulled back so tight it looked painful. She looked at us like we were nothing more than cattle.
She stopped in front of me, a chillingly sweet smile pulling at her lips. "Welcome to your new home, dear."