She had been mid stride on her morning jog when pain detonated through her skull like lightning. Her earbuds clattered onto the pavement as she doubled over, a scream strangled in her throat. Fire ripped through her spine. Something forced its way from her tailbone, tearing fabric, tearing flesh, tearing her apart. Then the pain vanished.
When Felicity lifted her head, she was no longer on her familiar street. Buildings lay half collapsed around her, concrete swallowed by creeping vines and roots. The air smelled wrong, heavy and wild. Behind her, something brushed her legs. A bushy fox tail swished slowly back and forth. Her breath hitched. A broken car mirror lay nearby, its cracked surface reflecting a stranger. Felicity stared at the pale woman staring back, ocean blue eyes wide and shaking with disbelief.
She lifted trembling fingers to her face. Soft lips. Full and unfamiliar. She ran her hands through long blonde hair that spilled past her shoulders like liquid honey. Then she saw the ears. Blonde fur tipped with white perched atop her head, twitching slightly, as if reacting to sounds she could not yet hear. Her breath left her in a sharp gasp.
"Hello?" she called, voice cracking. "Anyone?" Her voice echoed through the ruins. Tears slipped down her cheeks before she could stop them. That was when she spotted movement. A woman crouched behind an overturned bus, pale face framed by a shock of white fur that blended seamlessly into platinum blonde hair. Two rounded ears poked through the crystalline strands, twitching at every distant sound.
"What's happening to us?" the woman sobbed, staring at the sharp points that had replaced her fingernails. Before Felicity could answer, guttural snarls rolled through the streets. Something large. Something hungry.
Jeers followed. Beastmen voices. Their eyes gleamed with lust and cruelty as they locked onto the two transformed women.
"Move your ass," the woman hissed, a tiger tail snapping behind her otherwise human form. "We're losing daylight." "I'm coming," Felicity said shakily. "My name's Felicity. What's yours?" "Rose," the woman replied, tearing her gaze away from her reflection in shattered glass. "My name is Rose."
Felicity followed, her tail swaying uncertainly behind her. Her body felt wrong. Gentle curves where none had been before. Soft fur where skin used to be. Beautiful and alien all at once. The late sun slanted through ruined streets, shadows stretching between piles of rubble. They pressed along broken shopfronts, the scent of rot mixing with something feral that made Felicity's senses quiver. Rose paused beneath a shattered streetlamp, holding a roughly sketched map drawn on cardboard. "No phones work," she said. "If there's water here, others will have gathered too."
The city around them was barely a city anymore. Thirty percent concrete. The rest swallowed by forest. "Which way?" Felicity whispered. Rose pointed north. "That way. We need to hurry." Distant snarls echoed again. Mutant monsters. Zombies. Something worse.
Felicity swallowed hard. "What the hell is going on?" she murmured to herself. A shape stepped from the gloom. A lizard beastman blocked their path, dull scales catching the dying light. His head tilted with predatory curiosity. "Well," he hissed. "What do we have here?" Lust filled his eyes. Felicity pressed closer to Rose. "We don't want trouble," she said softly. "We changed too. We should be kind to each other." The beastman chuckled wetly. "I don't think so." Rose's tail flicked. She raised a rusted metal bar, claws scraping against it. Felicity grabbed a battered broom handle, holding it like a shield as her knees shook. "Let us pass," Felicity said, voice trembling. "We'll defend ourselves."
Inside, panic spiraled. She could barely open pickle jars. How was she supposed to survive this world? The beastman stepped closer, licking his lips as his gaze dragged over their bodies. "You're in no position to make demands." They stood their ground anyway.
The beastman lunged. Felicity swung wildly, fear pouring into her arms. The impact rattled her bones but barely slowed him. Rose slashed with extended claws, drawing a hiss of pain. "I don't know how much longer I can do this," Rose panted. The creature recoiled, then sprang again, jaws snapping inches from Felicity's face. Saliva sprayed. Hunger radiated from him.
Then a roar split the air. Silver and gray blurred through the courtyard. A massive figure slammed into the lizard beastman, knocking him sideways with brutal force.
"Get back," a deep voice commanded.
A heavy club crashed into the lizard's knee. Bone cracked. The beastman staggered, shrieking. Felicity's terror drained in a rush as she stared at the stranger now standing between them and death. Thank the stars, she thought.
The newcomer towered in the fading light. His face was mostly human, a stripe of white fur cutting across sharp blue eyes. Muscles strained beneath a torn military jacket. Short black claws flexed as he squared his stance.
He turned just enough for them to hear him clearly.
"Name's Finch."
The newcomer turned toward Rose, his eyes filled with admiration, determination, and something warmer. "I saw you two fighting. I couldn't just stand by and watch." Rose's gaze snapped up, amber eyes brightening for the first time. "Another pair of hands might just keep us alive," she whispered, as if afraid to jinx their sudden fortune. As the polar bear beastman charged the lizard creature, desperation surged through Felicity. Her heart pounded. Without thinking, she raised her arms.Warmth bloomed around her. Light wrapped her body, soft but powerful, and energy flooded her veins like liquid fire.
"Felicity, what are you doing?" Rose shouted, narrowly dodging a swipe as Finch closed in again. "I don't know," Felicity cried, her voice shaking. But beneath the fear, something stirred. A connection. A presence. A slumbering power awakening deep inside her.
A shimmering aura flared around Rose. Rose gasped as strength flooded her limbs. Her movements sharpened. Her speed doubled.
"What am I doing?" Felicity whispered, staring at her glowing hands. The lizard beastman faltered, confusion flashing across its predatory face as it realized the balance had shifted. "Keep going," Felicity urged, confidence rising with every pulse of magic.
Rose lunged forward, claws gleaming as she tore into the creature's scaled shoulder. Felicity felt the energy surge again, feeding Rose's strikes. Finch moved in tandem, claws ripping through the beastman's defenses with brutal precision. They surrounded the lizard that had hunted them like prey. The fight ended in seconds. The beastman collapsed onto the forest floor, its massive body still, its threat extinguished.
Silence followed.
Then Felicity staggered away, her knees buckling. She barely made it to the edge of the courtyard before her body rebelled. She collapsed, vomiting onto the cracked earth as violent tremors wracked her frame. Each heave left her weaker, limbs shaking as she struggled to stay upright, the echo of magic still burning through her veins. "Felicity," Rose said sharply, rushing toward her.
"I can't," Felicity gasped, clutching the dirt. The world tilted. Heat still burned through her veins, wild and unfamiliar, like something inside her refused to settle.
Finch knelt beside her, his shadow falling over her trembling form. His sharp blue eyes narrowed as he watched her shake. "That wasn't normal," he said quietly. Felicity tried to answer, but the words wouldn't come. Her strength drained all at once, the last of it slipping through her fingers like sand. Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision.
The last thing she felt was the earth against her cheek and the terrifying certainty that whatever she had awakened inside herself had only just begun.
//: A/N this is my first book ever, id say im brainrotted on beastworld books with 3 full watpad bookmarks at 300.. anyways thought id give it a crack, iv written about 45k words so far.. so if my wording is cursed its because i am cursed, and there WILL be smut//