I opened my eyes and realized something unfortunate. No, there are quite a few unfortunate things... actually. But we'll stick with the easiest of them to believe.
My face is lying on the muddy ground as a soft drizzle of rain wets my back.
"Dude, I don't think she is faking it."
"Who even cares? What kind of werewolf collapses after being rejected? She never had any pride. I should have ended things sooner."
The voices I hear speaking are packmates with this... body. Which is one of the hardest things to believe. That I am not me anymore.
Not in the absolutely royally elegant body of Fox Princess Citra Lomdi. Instead… some nobody werewolf. Who… ugh.
My head is killing me, trying to reconcile the memories I gained just now with the reality I was just living. It only feels like moments ago that I was hiding in the palace gardens. I remember thinking about sneaking out of the rest of my afternoon duties…
The day there was bright and sunny, not dreary and wet. Most importantly, there were hardly going to be any stupid shifter wolves in my vicinity. Yet, here we are.
I weakly get my hands under myself and push up.
"Whoa! Looks like she gave up pretending."
The third of the three musky idiots jabs merrily... like it was a clever barb, what he just said. A smirk - well, a sneer - grows on my face. Some of the thoughts this young shifter I'm inhabiting had about them all starts to filter in.
In the order they'd spoken… were Kyle, Jace, and Chad. As for her thoughts about them?
Nice, but a doormat. Friendzoned. What an amusing term.
Hot, and her everything. Fated mate. Oh, of course they have those here, too!
Rude, but inescapable. Tried to 'convince' her to mate seven times. Secretly. Five of them after she successfully bonded with Jace. I shake my head.
"Oh, you were the real doormat, girl. Their pack's Beta didn't even lift a finger to admonish his own son. I know the type. He would only have done something after the boy succeeded."
And it would probably not have been to the original occupant of this body's benefit.
"Ooh, now she's muttering something. Haha. Think she's cursing you now?"
With only that obvious provocation, the everything who was supposed to still be bonded with the original owner of this body… kicked me in my side. I sprawled again into the wet dirt and then rolled onto my back.
The falling drops of rain strike the single open eye I wasn't already wincing from the bit of pain. The weather here is also now 'kicking me' when I was already kicked down. I think I hate this place.
"She better have been telling me she accepts it. Well?"
My first instinct is to glare imperiously, so I keep my eyes closed instead. This situation is dangerous - and making it worse by being too defiant while weakened like this could go... very badly.
For now, even the kick was 'light'. Who knows when that will change. When they will shift into their wolf or hybrid forms and torture me more like beasts in a frenzy.
It would have been nice to find myself in this body a few minutes sooner. Some time to plan better or talk them down. Coincidentally, I'm a bit stuck over what to even do or say.
From what I know of their culture, verbally accepting the rejection nullifies the formed bond. A type of contract magic. However, I'm pretty sure that the woman I've become… just died from heartbreak before she could ever even verbally accept his rejection.
I peek a little at him. Despite what he said when I got here, this young woman had a *lot* of pride, it seems. In you, her 'everything'. Shattered totally, the poor thing.
Let's see. Werewolf magic isn't exactly my expertise, but between what I do know and what this body knew...
"HELENE!"
The young man roared the name from over top of me. I opened my eyes to look into his snarling human face inches from my own. Was this really what passes for attractive males in werewolf society?
I admit, I am a little biased from having just been kicked by him.
I kind of want to claw his blue eyes out for that.
"I accept. Helene Duskpaw accepts that Jace Duskpaw has rejected her. We are no longer mates."
I speak the words calmly, knowing already there is a… problem. A pretty big one. Specifically... I think my soul crushed their cute little bond already. The moment I 'transmigrated'; another lovely term this young woman knew.
Though whether it was actually me entering - or her kind of dying in the very same instant - who can say? It also explains the sluggish healing. I broke more than one bond. Haa...
Really, if it was just a few minutes ago…
"Finally came to your senses."
His smug smile of relief becomes a frown pretty quick. He seems to have noted the same problem I did quite... quickly. Sharper than I hoped! That doesn't exactly give me a lot of time to run away.
I was hoping he would cheer and jump off to hug his 'bros' while I turned tail.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Helene? You don't get it yet? I don't want you. How many times do I need to say it? HUH?!"
The werewolf looming over me has already started to shift, showing how angry and serious he is. His claws sharpen and elongate as his arms grow blackish fur at a fantastical rate. Those monstrous limbs grip onto the collar of my jacket and tug me off the ground and into the air.
"We're done. Now accept my rejection in your weak, dumb little heart before I start hurting you more."
I'm shoved down back onto the ground and cough from the impact. I wish I could say it was acting, but it really hurt.
"Jace..."
"Shut up, Kyle! I'm done with-"
As he turns around, I tune out their three way argument. I have to consider my options carefully. Holding onto all of my pride would be preferable, but survival leaves the most room for accumulating pride-over-time.
Not dying has to be my bottom line until I can make better choices.
Besides... the wolf inside me has been 'barking' non-stop since I got here. My head aches far too much to deal with that yapping for very much longer!
After a few shifter visualization tricks from my world, I level a look at it within my mind. I guess it's majestic enough, though not like *my* soul's superlative form!
The black furred lupine with silvery blue eyes starts growling back at me. Clearly unhappy with the intrusion. Unhappy that I am not its original counterpart, Helene.
Probably as unhappy that I am... was? a Fox... as I am that it is a Wolf. Living in 'me'. Rent free!
The lords of my kingdom have evicted squatters for much less obvious territorial encroachment than this.
> You already failed the body at least once. Going to do it again? Follow her into death, rather than live on to see those who hurt her pay? Because you know that idiot didn't come up with all this on his own. <
The growling slowly quiets down, but the silly creature starts to pace in circles as it eyes me. Which isn't something I have time for. Not with-
"Just let me hit the bitch once! She'll *get* it, then! I don't want her!"
I look over to see both of his 'friends' physically holding the half-shifted Jace back. At least the nice one actually looks like he is sincerely trying. Kyle is a silly name, but maybe that just made his kindness grow?
Meanwhile Chad almost looks like he is waiting to let go on purpose. The 'rude' one seems to find all of this affair very amusing. It would not surprise me that much if he was the overall conductor behind this opera.
"Bitch... huh? It's even derogatory all on its own here. The humans here are amusing. Wait, vixen also doesn't have all that nice of a connotation. How sex crazed is this world?"
I cover my face with my hands to hide my mumbling and chuckle into them. Hoping it all sounds like a sob or something!
> So then, are you just letting him insult you? Us? <
The pacing wolf inside me slowed and sat down. It stared back for a brief moment without moving before it looked away first. That was plenty enough of a submissive response for me.
The supernatural magics here are different, but what this body - what Helene knew - provided me with plenty to speed up realigning my… mystical perceptions. I felt their Lunar Goddess - imagine a single deity and not a whole pantheon! - approve the contract reinstatement between the wolf spirit and this physical form which I now inhabit.
Apparently she doesn't really care if my soul is different. What an easy going goddess…
A sigh exhaled and a smile spread. The rapid healing from the beast inside was almost like a hot bath. Relaxing and easing the tension in my shoulders.
For a second, I could picture myself soaking in the palace. Daydreaming some crazy story about a bickering, loud trio.
Then I was punched in the gut by reality.
A reality named Jace.