My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I scrunched my eyebrows together hearing the sound of many different voices chanting around me. My head felt light and foggy, I heard loud ringing in my ears that muffled the chanting voices, and my vision took a few moments to come into focus. When I could finally see clearly I saw the night sky glimmering above me.

What? Where the hell am I? The last thing I remembered was walking home from class with Miranda...

I tried to sit up, but when I did, fear spiked through my body as I realized I could not move. My body was restrained to what felt like cold metal. Adrenaline mixed in with my fear and my senses went into panicked focus. I looked around seeing many robed people wearing silver metallic wolf masks, holding torches and chanting something in a foreign language. I looked over to my right and nearly let out a whimper.

Miranda was restrained next to me naked and crying. She was gagged but she was able to look at me, and I could see the silent question in her eyes. The same question I had as well.

What was happening?

I realized I too was naked. And gagged and no matter how much I struggled the restraints didn't budge. I lifted my head and saw my naked body, I had goosebumps and there was strange Black markings drawn on my stomach and breasts. At Miranda and mines feet stood another robed person, they sounded like a man. He wore a mask similar to everyone else but it had more details etched into it and it was gold. He held his arms out towards the sky and chanted with his group.

I was already terrified. Seeing a large curved blade in the man's hand didn't help. Oh god. I'm going to die.

Suddenly the chanting stopped.

"Everyone! The time has come! We will bring him back finally after hundreds of years he will walk upon earth again and lead us to a life of power and strenght! These two young, pure, and beautiful women will be a great sacrifice to feed him for his return!" The knife weilding man called out to his group.

The sick feeling in my stomach grew at his words. I felt like I'd throw up.

The man began to speak in the foreign language again as he moved over to Mirandas side. She was hyperventilating and started to struggle as the man moved closer to her.

I watched helplessly as he dug the edge of his knife into the flesh between her breasts and sliced downward to her belly button. Her muffled screams were deafening and I barely noticed when I started screaming to. Fighting against my restraints wanting so badly to save her. I watched her blood flow out of the large cut, it pooled around her on the slab of rock we were laying on. Her breathing went heavy and she stopped moving.

I felt bile in my throat as the man dug his hands into her stomach and began pulling out her entrails putting them in a bowl that one of the others held for him. What sickened me the most was that he kept her alive as he did this.

Eventually I heard a snapping noise and he pulled out her heart. It was still beating. But she now lays motionless. She was dead.

I felt numb as I stared into her dead eyes. Her last expression was that of immense fear and pain. So many feelings flooded through me. She was my best friend, since we started 1st grade together weve been life long friends and we were just beginning our lives on our own. We had a few months of college left. We were looking at apartments. We had a plan. I even had a date set up with a cute and sweet guy. And a job interview that would of been so beneficial for me. Miranda was being promoted at her job, she and her boyfriend were about to celebrate there one year anniversary... And we had so much ahead of us...

But all of it. My entire future. Mirandas entire future has been ripped away from these horrible people. I was about to die. And for what? What am I dying for?

What did I do to deserve this. I was a good person! And so was Miranda...

Anger is all I felt.

I glared hatefully at the man who had murdered Miranda in front of me. He set her heart on and alter before walking over to me. I could see his blue gray eyes behind his mask. I saw excitement in them. Joy from what he was doing. Disgusting.

He continued to chant, and like he had with Miranda he put the cold metal edge of the blade between my breasts and pressed down hard as he cut down my abdomen. It burned. I wanted to scream in pain but I bit my gag tightly and refused to give this man any satisfaction from my suffering. I felt the warmth of my blood as it gushed out of my body and pooled around me mixing with Mirandas blood on the slab. Intense dizziness filled my head and I found it hard to breathe. My fingers and toes felt tingly.

I was scared. I was angry. I didn't want to die and apart of me hoped this was all a dream. But I know better than that. This was real. I was dying...

The man leaned down and I felt his lips against my ear. I wanted to move but my body felt heavy.

"Don't worry love... Your death is something you should be proud of. Lycaon will rise because of you... And he will be forever grateful for your sacrifice."

I didn't know what he was talking about. Who was lycaon. The name sounded familiar... But I couldn't focus my thoughts anymore.

Just as the man began to dig his hands into the opening of my stomach, a loud piercing howl filled the silent night.

That sounds close...

It confused me when everyone seemed to freeze in fear. Why were they scared? It just sounded like a wolf. Wolves don't approach people.

The last thing I heard before blacking out was a shrill female scream.

I came in and out of consciousness multiple times. I heard the sounds of mufflled growling and grunting. But before I could look I always passed out again.

I came to again, this time seeing a blurry face above me staring at my naked dying body with an empty expression.

Though his face showed no expression when he spoke his voice was soft and filled with sorrow. I wonder why... Its not like he knew who I was...

"Kid listen to me. You dont have a lot of time left..." Obviously... I thought but tried my best to listen to him.

"If you want to live I can try to save you. But the only possible way for you to live at this point is if I curse you with the blood of a beast."

His words didn't make sense... I opened my mouth to respond only now realizing I was no longer gagged.

"Wh...wha.." My voice was barely above a whisper and I had to take a moment to swallow back my own blood. "What... What do you mean?" Speaking felt like I was lifting heavy weights...

"I wish i could explain in detail... But all I have time to say is that, I can turn you into what humans have come to call a werewolf or lycan. Theres a chance you might reject the change... But if your body accepts it you will have another chance at life. If you survive the change I will guide and teach how to live with this curse. But you need to decide if you're willing to live with a monster within you. You can never take it back."

Werewolves. They're a myth... A story. At least that's what I've always believed. But something told me this man was not lying. He was serious. And he was offering to make me into one. To save my life. Why?

I turned my head and looked at Mirandas lifeless body once more... Staring into her eyes I realized that if I took this man's offer... I could avenge her and myself. If I became a monster obviously I could never go back to normal. Even if I could I wouldn't. What would I tell everyone? How could I face them...

But at the very least I could get revenge. I turned my head back to the man and nodded my head. "I...want to live..."

He nodded his head and I watched unfazed as his body morphed, his bones changing and snapping into different places, dark hair growing rapidly out of his skin and he seemed to grow a few feet taller. It looked painful.

Eventually before me stood a black humanoid wolf. His golden eyes were memorizing and I felt zero fear when his muzzle full of sharp, deadly, teeth came closer to my vulnerable body. I barely felt it when his teeth sank into the soft flesh between my shoulder and neck though. Like I was being pinched...

The sides of my vision began to have black fuzzies appear in them, and the last thing I felt was a weird, stretching pressure in my stomach, before the fuzzies took over and everything went dark.

A/N: the cover is not my artwork. I found it online and all credit goes to the creator. I hope you liked the first chapter of BEAST WITHIN and I look forward to writing this.

Updates will be slow. Doesn't mean I've stopped writing though. I just got a lot going on and can't always find time to write. This is different from usual werewolf books btw. That stuff, while I like it, its also very... Eh. I wanted to do something I dont see a lot of for this book.

Sorry if my writing sounds like I'm fucking stupid or something. I'm still improving and my writing may not be all that advanced. But I still hope you give this book a chance :)

Have a lovely day/afternoon/evening and or night~