His legs were running as fast as they could, his breathing was irregular as he tried to breathe in as much air as possible, the burning in his lungs and legs was constant. Footsteps and breathing on the forest floor were the only sounds he could hear. Branches and leaves lashed hard in his face as he ran through them, leaving cuts on his face and arms as he went, but he didn't care; someone was chasing him. No. Something was chasing him, and he had no idea what his next course of action was. The sound of a wolf howling in the background motivated him to run faster, and when he looked up he realized that there was a full moon in the sky. Looking back, he realized that at the last moment, a root emerged from the ground and his foot tripped on this root and fell onto the wet ground. With a groan, he began to lift himself up, but his back suddenly became heavy as a foot pressed against him. "Not so fast, little wolf." Suddenly, he felt a cold object being pushed behind his head and he squinted his eyes; She already knew it was a gun. Little wolf? He had no idea who this man was and why he wanted to kill him, he was just running for his life after a creature chased him! And now this! "You caught the wrong person!" He shouted, but his voice was hoarse; her face was still slightly pushed to the floor to the point where she could almost taste the wet dirt on her plump lips. "Do not scream!" He heard the gun's safety catch click. This was the vote; Her 23 beautiful years were nearing the end and she couldn't even make it to graduation; His life was about to begin. In the pull of his trigger finger, his dreams, his life will be over. But no bullet came to his head; The heaviness on his back suddenly disappeared as he heard a muffled scream and the sound of clothes and flesh being ripped apart. When he turned around, the man was gone, but his eyes were still wide with fear at what he could see before him. Scattered in the dark forest, all he can see are the animal-like eyes staring at him. The closest was a pair of sapphire-blue eyes; As he got closer, his features became clearer, ears, nose, sharp teeth, a huge white wolf emerged from the shadows, growling fiercely at him, the forest seemed to tremble at that sound. His own teal eyes were locked with hers and he couldn't avert his eyes as he slowly walked towards her cautiously with each step, the muzzle still showing its sharp teeth. He reminded himself that this was the episode in any horror story where he would scream at the distressed little lady on the TV after she had stupidly fallen to the ground and looked at what was about to eat her. Now, she was that stupid damsel in distress. She rolled her eyes inwardly, oh how the tables had turned! But he could not look away; His heart was beating out of his chest, his chest heaving as adrenaline flooded his body and tensed his muscles. Yet he could not help himself from his bewilderment; The power emanating from this wolf was so obvious. Every time he made a small movement to pull his body out of the uncomfortable position he was in, the wolf's head would draw attention to him. He stood at his feet, his teeth still showing when another wolf appeared behind him. The white wolf barked before snarling at him, but the white wolf snapped its teeth back at him, causing the other to back off, squealing his ears, as if this alpha was claiming to be his food and his food. ,alone. Well, that was just rude; if he was going to be killed and eaten, he could at least share it with the others. He knew how wolves in this area struggled with their natural prey and destroyed people's habitats; both predator and prey were rapidly declining. What was he thinking!? He didn't want to be anyone's food! Three silver arrows slammed into the ground at his feet, the wolf's ears trembled and he leaped toward him, extended his paw, his eyes were tightly closed, but soon after he felt a wind whip hit his face, he opened them again. He was gone, and so were the others. Another howl rose through the forest, and it freed him from his stupor. It had to get out of this place! He stood up and started running in the direction he thought the wolves were going. When she realized that she was definitely not a wolf beside her, she started running again; The sooner he got out of the forest, the better. He scolded himself inwardly; In the first place, it was his idea to go for a 'nice' run in the forest at 23:00. But after vet and back, his mind was overdrive and he needed stress relief, he loved running, it was a great form of exercise but he never thought he would ever go again! Or more importantly, he went jogging in his favorite place, the woods. Suddenly, he stopped. A hooded silhouette appeared out of nowhere in front of him. And he had a bow in his hands and a knapsack full of arrows. He aimed the arrow directly at her! Instead of standing there like a fool to be shot by this madman, he ran behind the nearest tree. As he hid, he pulled on his black hoodie, hoping to hide his silver hair. It was quite difficult to escape. His friends thought he had painted it unchanged for years; they realized it was her natural hair color. He stuck his head out from behind the tree, and after an arrow shot his face,

he pulled it back. Slowly he moved away from the tree and closer to the shadows, disappeared. His ears yearned to listen to other voices of the attacker, but so far his heart had only been beating so loudly. He took a deep breath, slowing his breathing against his tense muscles. He couldn't tell where this madman was, but he continued to crawl and hide among the trees. His foot suddenly stepped on a falling branch, causing a loud cracking sound; He was startled before looking around. Seeing no one, he sighed and continued. "I've never seen a dog hide from a fight before," a voice boomed behind her. She jumped at his voice and turned around to face a man of the same age as her. Looking at the crossbow, he raised his hands in surrender, "Hey, I just wanted to go for a run. I don't know what kind of hunting shit is out here... But I can assure you... I'm not a mole. As you can see, I'm pretty human." "Nice try." He pulled the arm only to be knocked down by the white wolf earlier. Her eyes widened at the scene where the wolf smashed her to pieces, but she didn't wait for it to be her next meal and sped away from the wolf and the man. After a while he returned to the muddy path that split the forest in two. His eyes gleamed as he began to see the streetlights twinkling in the distance, dimly shining over the blackened trees. In the end, he just had to go home; He knew the animals would not follow him there. Civilization was a threat to them. His feet hit the pavement and he slowed to walk as he began to regulate his breathing. He looked behind him to see if there were any wolves or men following him, but everything was clear. Although she had feared for her life a few moments ago, she was now more worried about coming home so late and that her family had found out that she had gone for a midnight jog. His steps increased the speed on the pavement as his mind was now deep in thought. First chased by wolves; then he was nearly killed with a gun by a madman, and then he was shot with arrows! Could the night get any crazier? Who shot people with arrows anyway? Shaking his head, he sighed; his friends would never believe him. With that in mind, he absentmindedly began pulling his phone out of his pocket to check messages from his friends. After returning from a hot date, she smiled to herself, looking at a video her friend had sent. He preferred to work, unlike his friends who seemed to have a social life. If it wasn't for the lessons that took his time, then it was work; He wanted to become a veterinarian and didn't hesitate to work extra shifts to learn more about the job. She finished her finals a few weeks ago and now she was waiting to graduate. All this was on his mind, as he was unaware of his surroundings. Another man in a hoodie suddenly appeared, sprinting to catch up with her, and began to follow her from behind. He stopped, stunned, after his eyes heard another howl from the forest, turning his head, he saw the man behind him holding a silver baseball bat as his eyes gazed at the forest next to him. 'Shilap' The bat tapped his temple loudly. He grabbed the sides of his head, the pain hit him and spread to his neck from the blow. His mind was struck by a sudden headache; She couldn't think straight because her legs stumbled. He looked again at his attacker, who had lowered the stick on his head. This time he immediately collapsed to the ground; His mind became unconscious as the darkness consumed him. The last thing he remembered hearing was not one but many howls echoing around him, calling out to him as he drifted.

❤

His eyes flickered behind his eyelids as awareness began to seep through his cloudy mind. When he flapped his wings open, his surroundings were nothing but a blur, the light sending dull pain into his strained eyes, causing them to close again. He went to put his hands on his head, groaning, but they resisted. Strange tried to move them again, but in vain. He frowned, forcing his eyes to blink open; His mind slowly caught up with him, causing him to persistently withdraw his hands. Looking down, she noticed that her hands and legs were held together by thin silver chains pulled tightly against her skin, causing the areas to turn red and itchy; the chains were wrapped tightly around the wooden chair he was sitting in, making it impossible for him to free his limbs. All of a sudden, panic broke out, images of the previous night flashed in her eyes, how she was going for a run, being chased not only by wolves but also by men, and then hit in the head with a baseball not on

ce, but twice. By the beloved wings of his wound, of course. Kidnapped. Rozelin destroyed herself in a noble manner this time. He started pulling on his hands and legs constantly, causing the chair to make creaking noises as he swayed as his shoulders and chest moved. She slumped back in her chair, screaming nervously. Think rozelin, think! His body suddenly felt exhausted and weak, his strength waning. this time

He didn't realize that moving around would make him feel so vulnerable. Wait, he was given drugs? There was no other explanation for how he felt right now, even a blow to the head wouldn't make it feel like melting and being one with the chair. Rozel's eyes frantically searched the room. Next to it were some bland, brown cabinets with syringes and glass vials on top of them. Looking up above the surface, she saw torn posters of the human body affixed to the walls, and opposite a moth-eaten single bed with leather straps. His nose wrinkled at the faint smell of antibacterial and cleaning products. Awareness was born to him; He was in some kind of hospital. When he looked back at the bed, he thought it was a mental institution since no hospital could restrain its patients, right? As he chuckled to himself, a thought crossed his mind; maybe he was in the right place, after all, what happened to him couldn't be real. A gun, wolves, crossbowman, then baseball bat man, why would they want to kill him and kidnap him? Maybe he was overworked and tired, he dreamed of everything and lost sight of reality, and there he was. If he gets out of here, he can take some time to himself. Before his thoughts could go any further into that rabbit hole, the door opened. A brave man stormed into the room, slammed the door behind him, and grabbed another chair and spun it, so he sat with his back turned. They sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity in Rozelin's mind, but Rozelin didn't back away from her burning, intimidating stare. After a while, his jaw started to twitch. Nervousness began to rise inside him as the oppressive silence in the bland hospital room became overwhelming. Rozelin gave up and spoke, "I am a poor student. I have no money." The man smiled at her menacingly, "We don't want money." She frowned at Rozel's response, then panicked as her heart started beating loudly again. If they didn't want money, did they want his body? Her teal eyes widened before tears began to form inside them, blurring her vision of the man in front of her. "Please-" "Stop pretending. It won't work here." He swallowed involuntarily, blinking so that his vision cleared once more; He searched for any kind of humanity in his eyes but there was none, only blank eyes staring at him, devoid of any emotion. Silence filled the room once more and he grew tense, wanting answers and now wanting them. Feeling brave, she lifted her chin and looked at her kidnapper. "What do you want?" His lips curled in displeasure. "To get rid of you. Emir cuts the iron." "Get rid of me? So that's an exaggerated way to fill your murderous tendencies, kidnap an innocent girl, and then kill her. I've watched crime shows. I know how that works. Psycho!" spat back at him, "Innocent! HA! You are not innocent. You are an abomination to humanity." "I want you to know that I'm a veterinarian student. I help animals and people alike. You're the nasty one here-" 'Dengue' His head suddenly turned to one side; The force of his fist was so hard that he nearly fell, bringing the chair with him. But he kept his balance and gave a frightened glance at the man now standing erect in front of him, his own chair toppling to one side with a loud crash. He grabbed her by the front of his hoodie and brought her face close to his as he pointed at her face with one finger. "I am a hunter. There is no greater honor than to kill hybrids like you. You must be very lucky right now that I didn't put a silver bullet in your pretty head." He took a deep breath, his eyes wide as he stared into the bottomless pits that were his eyes. "I may have been ordered not to kill you, but they didn't say anything about torture." As Rozelin began to tremble visibly at the thought of being tortured, she began walking towards the side cabinets. When he read books about these situations and watched shows, he always thought that if he were in their shoes, he could endure the pain, but he wasn't trying to get answers from her; she would torture him for pleasure. His eyes widened as he held the syringe towards her. "What... what's in it?" he stammered. His eyes gleamed with joy as he held the syringe up to his face; Staring at the clear contents, he pulled the handle to squirt some liquid. "Wormthroat." He said with an evil grin on his lips. He held up another syringe with the silver liquid in it, "And this is liquefied silver. With a few other ingredients to keep it liquid," he said contemptuously. He looked at her as if waiting for a reaction, and seeing nothing, his smile faded and he rushed towards her, thrusting the syringe hard into his neck. "Ahh!" Rozelin clenched her teeth after the initial shock of the syringe sharply piercing her skin in such a sensitive area. But the pain was nothing compared to the next; He pushed the clear liquid into her. A hot, burning sensation radiating from his neck and riveting his body; face with pain

He felt it start to tremble. He felt like he was on fire. The veins on her neck were ready to burst, she could feel it. Tears fell down her cheeks as a scream finally escaped her lips. His kidnapper grinned at the sight before him, "Stupid bastard." As he leaned forward from the impact, he aimed the right hook at his face and then at his stomach, making his breath rush noisily out of his lungs. Her kidnapper cast a distasteful glance at the closeness of their faces and grabbed her by the ponytail; He pulled her to sit on the chair. Even though his fists were painful, the inside of his body was still on fire. It took all her energy to stay awake and see beyond the cloud of pain. "Why?" He exhaled; she could not understand such a terrible man. Instead of answering, he struck another blow to the face; As he blinked slowly, the stars danced before his dark vision. Just as she was about to hit him again, the door opened and prevented him from attacking. Rozelin took a deep breath and tried to bring the oxygen back into her body as much as she was panting from the attack. Ignoring the newcomer in the room, his thoughts were swirling around in his head. "Why does this bitch get special treatment?" Rozelin slowly lifted her head to see what the interruption was. Damn, he wasn't complaining; anything was better than that psychopath throwing the living sunlight off him. But her comment caught your attention, she. There was a reason he was here and why he was kept alive. However, she couldn't make out what the newcomer said. She evaluated his gaze instead as she plugged her ears to listen. The new kidnapper was wearing a white lab coat, his brown hair messy and scruffy beard falling to his chin, and his round glasses were sliding down the bridge of his nose, which he kept pushing back as he continued a heated argument. Their voices were so loud that she could hear what they were saying now. "I thought he was a bandit!" "No way. I can't even see the wolf inside him. The only way to show he was one of those dogs was by how the wolfsbane affected him." "If she wasn't a werewolf, do you really think the boss would stop you from killing her? We'll be rewarded generously for that." Brave man Carter shut his mouth with the final interpretation of the lab coat. Rozelinin completely saw their arguments, which increased even more after hearing his words. "Hey," Her voice came out slow, not getting their attention from being interrupted, she cleared her throat, "Hey, I hate to interrupt a lovers fight, but if you're talking about me, I'd rather it be to my face." They both turned to look at him. The man in the lab coat lifted his glasses; as surprise shines on his face. However, Carter came towards him and held out his hand to him. Undisturbed by his movements, he returned to his lab coat. "He's still alive. I don't understand what the big deal is" "We need the results to be as accurate as possible. You're causing delays by weakening the sample before I start. You got the order, now take it to a cell, if the boss is still in this state when he comes in he won't be pleased." The voice of the lab coat, before glancing at his clipboard, muttering to himself about the numbers, before turning around. It was direct before. and leave the room. He sighed with relief when he realized that he wasn't staying in the same room as Carter, but was going to be taken to a cell. It still wasn't his ideal state, but there has to be something better than being a Carter punching bag all the time. He looked behind him and sneered at his reaction before spitting on the ground next to his feet. "After experimenting on you, you'll wish you had never been born."

❤

Rozelin dragged her shackled feet down a dirty hallway, her hands tied before her. He was poked and pushed by Carter every few minutes to quicken his pace. But how could he do it when he felt so weak? He didn't know what that wolfsbane was, but a constant burning was burning in his veins, the sensation had lessened than before, but it had never gone away. Though her mind was clouded by the beating and drugs, she still looked around, looking for an escape route. But all he saw was a dark corridor with numbered doors on one side, and the only windows on the opposite side were near the ceiling. Carter noticed that his head was turning to look at the windows and immediately slapped him on the back of his head, and he fell to the ground. Rozelin really didn't want to take another blow to the head; He felt worse after New Year's Eve than when he had a terrible hangover, and that was saying something. He was a light guy who always tried to keep up with his college friends partying, it wasn't his best idea. They were now at the end of the corridor. Carter walked ahead and pressed the adjacent number pad to open the locked metal door; Rozelin tried to look deftly over her shoulder, but in vain. He blocked his vision and entered the code too quickly. Grabbing him by the arm, he dragged him through the open door to a concrete staircase. A dim view of the stairs from the only side light stuck to the wall.

illuminated, making it difficult for the rosé to set foot.

As she raced down the dark stairs, she found Rozel raising her arms several times to regain her balance and avoid falling. This only angered Carter, and when they landed halfway through, he kicked her in the back of her knees, causing her to fall down the remaining steps and to the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately, he kept his head; Only the rest of his body bore the brunt of the fall.

Rozelin groaned on the dirty floor, her body not only on fire, but her insides hurt as her muscles tightened under the sudden attack on her body. She already knew she had bruises on her skin and she might have cracked her ribs.

"Get up, dummy!" Carter shouted from the stairs.

Rozelin took a deep breath as she sank to her knees. However, she felt dizzy and stopped herself from moving any further. The lights flickering above them were the only sound in the filthy basement they were now in. Carter grabbed him by the arm and pushed him forward once more; His legs stumbled but he managed to regain his balance.

Looking up, he saw three interconnected silver cells at the far end of the room. Rozelin gasped when she saw three corpses, one in each room, bent over or lying on the floor so inhuman, that she wanted to attack the man with a devilish smile on her face.

As they approached the cells, the rosé noticed a wooden pole on the side of the room, with many chains on the floor. The bar and its surroundings were splattered with bloodstains. What were they doing to these poor people? What did all this mean?

Rozelin looked ahead once more; they were now standing in front of the middle cell. His eyes gazed at the small window at the very top of the back wall before they settled on the slumped figure with their backs to the barred door. It was then that he sensed the metallic smell and taste, fresh blood floating in the air; Cartara wrinkled her nose in disgust. She turned her head back to look at him.

"Well, guys, it looks like you have a new female friend." The man spat the word, then looked at her rosé and pointed an impudent finger at her face and said sarcastically, "Stay."

Rozelin shot him a glance, but she was too distracted by opening the cell door; She watched as she slipped the keys into her back pocket, but quickly turned her head when she looked at him.

"She seems like a good girl!" Her sweet voice, as always, made her want to punch him in the throat.

Suddenly, he grabbed her by the hair and grimaced. If She kept doing this, she would have no hair left! She held her head back as she used her other hand to remove the chains from her wrists, then threw her into the cell before slamming the door. Rozelin struggled to get up, then slid back into the cold, demonic cell wall on the other side of the bars. She grinned at him before walking away; Her body was still tense when she heard footsteps echoing down the stairs, ending with the slamming of the metal door.

Sighing, she looked down at the ground and went to remove the chains from her wrists, but when she touched the metal she hissed and pulled her hands back. She felt like she was on fire from where she put her fingers on the chains. He continued to evaluate his fingertips; they were a little red now. It was then, she realized, that her wrists were red from the chains they had previously wrapped. Did they put chemicals on the chains or something?

Rozelin had to endure the pain of unchaining without much thought; She did it as quickly as she could and finally threw it into the cell. The crashing sound echoed in the basement they were in. Taking a deep breath, she gathered all the energy she had released and pulled herself up from the ground, then jumped up and leaned herself against the window sill.

The moment he looked outside, his features dropped. The only view was a grassy field, and further along a row of trees—nothing to indicate where it was. The sky was dark and ominous as the clouds cried, savagely spitting on the ground below; the weather made him even more upset by adding a new one to his feelings. Horrified, she dropped to the ground.

"Don't even think about trying to escape."

A weary voice frightened him from his dreams. She turned around and saw a man approaching the bars from the left cell. As it got closer, its features emerged. The first thing he noticed was a pair of emerald eyes; His pupils were slit like cat's eyes. They were shiny against her white skin and long, messy black hair that reached her shoulders. His small beard concealed his sharp chin, but Rozelin could tell. The clothes he wore were tatty, but they looked like gray overalls.

"Trust me, we've been here long enough, and we've tried every possible escape route. I'm just warning you to avoid extra penalties."

Rozelin approached the railings and wrapped her hands around them, but quickly hissed and backed away, clasping her hands as her fingers once again suffered; When he looked at his fingers, he saw bubbles forming on them now. What the hell?

"Watch the bars. They're made of silver." 'Cat eyes' faded, she.

She looked at him confused,

"Why should silver impress me?"

his eyes bent down to her, a grin appeared on his handsome face, "Silver affects all werewolves and werewolf women." "Wolf women?" He burst out laughing; Even saying the word out loud felt ridiculous. But as his laughter faded, a silence filled the room. He looked into her cat eyes again and saw a genuine expression on his face. Rozelin continued to look into those eyes; They might be connected, but who was he kidding? No one could sustain this charade no matter how long they had been there. Still, he's a werewolf, why did he have cat eyes? "What are you? Aren't you a werewolf?" He swallowed, his cheeks red with embarrassment. "I'm definitely not a werewolf! I'm a shapeshifter." "You're acting like I already know what that means." "It means I can still transform, but I'm not limited to a single animal like a werewolf. Like you." Rozelin nodded, as if conversation were asking her if she would prefer french fries or curls. "Look, I don't think I'm a werewolf. I mean... I've always been allergic to silver. My ex-boyfriend actually brought me a silver necklace once, but it caused a rash... It never really affected me that much." As it became meaningful, Rozelin looked at her hands again. When she turned around, she saw cat eyes staring at her strangely. But Rozelin couldn't help herself, she just looked behind her, really she had never seen such beautiful eyes before, of course she had seen them on a cat, but was it a man or a shapeshifter? He just stood there, holding his gaze. Instead of showing uneasiness towards him and his unwavering gaze, he stood up and made a loud noise, "Well, why don't I introduce you to the Prisoners' Club," he held out his hands sarcastically in front of him. "Here's our schedule: Gabriel over there is tortured Monday through Wednesday." The man pointed in the direction behind him, "Frank is tortured on Thursdays and Saturdays." He nodded to the man on the floor who shared his cell with him, "I'm tortured on Fridays and Sundays. My name is Alex. I'd say it's a pleasure, but conditions could have been better. Speaking of which, now that you're here, we should take some vacation." "Stop scaring the poor pup." "Oh, I'm sorry, normally that's your job, Gabriel." Rozelin, Alex turned the other way. In the right cell, a man was staring at her from the shadows, his short white hair almost as bright as hers, and his eyes a deep blue that suddenly widened when they met. His already pale skin became even more discolored, as if he were staring at a ghost. "Rose?" Gabriel questioned. "No, my name is Rozelin." Pain flashed in his eyes, but he couldn't tell if he was imagining it as his face instantly hardened and diminished any emotion. He looked at her coldly from top to bottom, "Is your surname Cross?" Rozelin tensed as she stared wide-eyed at the attractive presence in front of her. "This is my birth name. I was adopted when I was 8 years old, how do you know my last name? Nobody knows that." The gray-haired man Gabriel shrugged before hiding in the shadows. "Hey, I asked-" Hearing a groan from the floor, he interrupted, Frank? She was moaning in pain, she began to take a step towards him, "Hey." His voice was gentle as he approached her, raising his hands to show he didn't want to hurt her. "I'd let him go, baby. Wolves tend to attack when they're hurt," Alex said from the side. The next thing Rozelin knew was that she was pinned to the wall, the man's hand pressed to her throat, her nails turned black and claws, and she slightly tore her skin; Her eyes glowed amber as she growled fiercely at him. A small growl came from his chest as his lips involuntarily pulled back, warning the man to back off. His eyes widened, the glare diminishing as he released her. He stepped back, stretched out his neck to her, then knelt down at his feet, "I am sad." he stammered. Rozel's eyes widen with shock, her hand placed on her lips, "What, I just growled. What, why is she kneeling?" "Looks like you just got a pack on your ass." Alex grinned; He had his arms folded across his chest as he looked amused. "The herd?" "Well.. The Prisoners' Club, of course. We tend to stick together." He winked at her. A screw must have come loose in Alex's head; He was too cheerful in a place like this. He wondered if he would lose his mind. He sat on that thought and leaned against the wall again, his eyes falling to the floor with a somber expression. His mind swirled with a single word that caused chaos in his head. Wolf Woman She was a goddamn werewolf.