Clank, clank. Larissa’s eyes fluttered open, blinking away the haze of sleep as she peered around her cold, dark cell. The clanking noise had interrupted her restless slumber on the frigid floor. Before she could fully grasp what was happening, rough hands seized her bicep, dragging her up and snapping cold metal cuffs around her wrists.

“Wha—where are you taking me?” she stammered, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and indignation.

A burly guard, clad in a metal plate and a shielded mask, grunted in response and dragged her across the floor. Larissa winced as they guided her into something slick and wet, letting out an exasperated growl when something jabbed her thigh.

Before she could protest, the guard hurled her into a darker, cramped space, slamming the metal door shut. High-pitched whines escaped her as she furiously kicked at the door. Suddenly, the room shifted, and a creaking crank echoed within the gloom. She thrashed violently like a rabid dog but stilled when the shaft jerked into ascent.

Seconds flew by, and she let out a bitter chuckle. Trapped within a cage again, she cursed. Is she forever to remain the damsel? How can she help Sylva when all she does is get cowed and captured?

A flicker of the vampire’s cheeky grin flashed in her mind, and she thrashed furiously. “This is all her fault!” she spat, but the shaft jolted to a halt, abruptly stopping her ravings. The shackles binding her flashed a blue light, evaporating to dust.

Fae shackles? Do they have a fae in their pocket as well? Like that mattered, Larissa groaned, wincing as a blinding bright light shone onto her face, obscuring her vision in white.

She clenched her jaw in rage and howled a furious cry. Her mouth stretched open, fangs extending against her will as she fell to her knees. Her muscles twitched uncontrollably, and she clawed at the floor, scraping it as silver fur burst from her skin, morphing into wolven paws.

Agony burned through her veins as her bones snapped and shifted. She howled again, an infuriated cry, as the wolf took shape.

She lowered her snout, then lowered her gaze and let out a deep growl. She suspected the flashing light had forced her to shift, only fueling her rage as she realized she was trapped in a caged arena.

Outside the metal bars within the darkness, she perceived gleaming red eyes and flashing pearly white fangs. Lowering onto her haunches, she pounced on the bars, snapping her jaws between them. She landed on her paws and scowled as they snickered.

Vampires, she huffed, realizing she must be in a vampire den, though it held a different scent than the one she had visited earlier with Raven. She examined her cage, noting the lack of an entryway, and pawed at the stone floor.

It was futile to dig her way through, and she couldn’t find any markings from where she had emerged.

A clank caused her ears to perk, and another flash hindered her vision. She barked angrily at the light, rapidly shaking her head to clear her sight. When she opened her eyes, her ears flattened in alarm as she spotted a large parrot.

Her nostrils flared twice, and she tilted her head.

The parrot was a submissive shifter like her, emanating a strong scent of the salty sea. She raised her ears and barked at the parrot, admiring its emerald-like feathers and golden beak.

The parrot looked at her and cawed, flapping its wings to make itself appear bigger. Larissa rolled onto her back, signaling no threat, and the parrot’s flaps eased.

Another flash prompted Larissa to roll back onto her feet, shaking off its effects. She was about to greet the newcomer like a parrot, but instead, she rumbled a deep growl, raising alarm.

From the blinding light emerged a massive crocodile, hissing a challenge towards Larissa and the parrot. Its scales glistened in the stage light, and its powerful jaws snapped shut with a bone-chilling clack. The crocodile’s eyes were cold and calculating, promising a brutal death.

It was an animal, not a shifter, but fear overtook Larissa as she whined, her tail tucked between her legs. She was submissive, not a fighter, and instinctively barked for her Alpha to save her.

But all she heard was a controlled round of applause from the vampires, not Sylva’s kind bark in return, and Larissa let loose a meek cry.

Sylva couldn’t save her, and Larissa instincts demanded that she did, but rationally she didn’t want her to. If Sylva appeared here, these vampires would suck her dry and rip her apart.

No, Larissa thought, lowering herself into a defensive stance, and growling as she remembered Raven’s fiery eyes. She glared, determined, into the croc’s cold gaze, and pounced.

The croc lunged, aiming his jaws to snap onto her belly. With a sharp flex of her muscles, she narrowly evaded being chomped in two. She landed violently on her back, the air escaping from her lungs with a gasp, and immediately sprang onto her paws. Her vision blurred, but she quickly dodged his teeth, her paws skirting backward as she watched the croc clamp onto the bars.

A loud thud reverberated through the arena, prompting the vampires to clap slowly. She huffed in disgust and turned her attention back to the recovering crocodile.

The crocodile exuded annoyance but made no move to charge. He glared at them coldly, his muscles taut and controlled.

The parrot flew into her line of sight, squawking to get her attention, and she barked in acknowledgment. With the wolf’s crystal eyes on her, the parrot hastily flew a brave distance above the crocodile. The crocodile lunged at the parrot, but it flew out of his reach, sparking an idea in Larissa’s mind.

Lowering her haunches, she waited for him to strike, watching as his hind leg twitched. She pounced, catching him by the throat in midair as he let out an infuriated hiss. She clenched her jaw tightly around his artery, ignoring the gush of blood from the wound as she sank her fangs deeper.

Normally, a regular wolf would have trouble penetrating the crocodile’s scales. But she was a werewolf, and her kind possessed an amplified power advantage compared to their natural counterparts.

The crocodile flailed under her fangs as she shook her head roughly, like a dog with a chew toy. Murmurs echoed from beyond the cage, but Larissa paid them no mind. Bones snapped under the pressure of her jaws, and the crocodile stilled, dead.

She released the crocodile; ears raised and shot the parrot a doggy grin. The parrot squawked in glee, flapping her wings towards her until an abrupt flash blurred their vision.

“Now for round two!” a posh voice announced.

Larissa recoiled from the light, shaking it off, and spotted the parrot, still recovering from the flashbang.

Just as the parrot began to recover, a sleek panther shifter swiftly swiped it from the air, knocking the parrot shifter out cold and sending it tumbling to the ground.

The panther cracked its neck, gold eyes sparkling with a cruel gleam, and turned his predatory gaze onto her.

No, no, no, no, NO! Her tail tucked between her legs as dominance bombarded her snout. She couldn’t think, the urge to flee overwhelmed her. She ran towards the bars, banging herself against the cage over and over until her silver fur mixed with her blood.

The world began to spin, but she briskly shook it off, attempting to fling herself upon the bars yet again. A guttural growl froze her, and she turned with ears flat to face it.

The fleeting courage she had gained from killing the crocodile was gone, now replaced by pure terror. Her hind legs trembled, and whimpers escaped her throat. She forced herself to remain upright, resisting the urge to flop onto her back and show her belly.

She wished Sylva were here. Sylva would face this beast with her head held high and sharp fangs bared.

She recalled Sylva’s fight with the lion shifter in the arena. How she, the spectator, had huddled frantically in her seat, refusing to watch her friend’s battle, and praying to the All-Mother to save her.

Clawing at the stone beneath her, she clenched her eyes shut in anguish, refusing to open them as the panther’s purrs drew closer. He was going to toy with her first, as their kind always did, and then snap her neck in two.

But the words she pondered that fateful day struck like a lightning bolt in her mind.

Was she going to sit on the sidelines all her life? Or was she going to fight?

Her eyes snapped open wide as she charged the humongous panther, furiously sinking her fangs into his front leg. The panther let out a yowl, confused and enraged, and swatted her on the side of her head, knocking her aside like a fly.

She collided with the cage with a shrill yelp, a pang of torment reverberated from her head to her hips. She skidded down to the stone floor in a slump and tried to get back onto her paws.

But the effort was futile; her weight was too much to bear on her hips, and she slumped onto the ground.

An encore of claps rang from the crowd shrouded in darkness, and she whimpered, letting out mournful cries.

Her bout of courage was going to be a show for these bloodsuckers, mere entertainment. They were going to watch her die so they could feel the semblance of life they had given up for power.

She turned her sad eyes towards the panther, who was approaching her with his tail swaying.

Death encroached, and it reeked of roses.

She paused in her lament, surprised to find the rose scent growing bolder, and yelped as the panther’s head tumbled to the ground.

A tall feminine figure appeared from the smoky mist, standing over the panther’s corpse. She wore a white collared shirt that contoured over her lean muscles, wide hips, and full breasts, accompanied by tight black breeches and stylish black boots. Her scarlet red locks were tied in a tight bun, and Larissa paid special attention to her savior’s thick thighs.

Raven? Why is she…? Her wolf howled in glee, jubilant that her mate had come to aid her, that she hadn’t betrayed her, and this was all some part of a bigger picture.

…Mate?

Lazily, her savior cast her a sidelong glance, her flawless features nonchalant and unamused. Her red locks framed her face, and her fiery eyes flashed. “Rest now, my wolf.” The sunlight emanating from the sky window sealed shut, plunging everything into darkness. Hisses and clanks resounded within the shrouded arena, and Larissa obeyed, hearing, “I will take care of these filth.”

At that command, Larissa curled into a ball. Her wolf was at ease, though her human mind despised herself for it.

A burst of shattering shrapnel caught her attention, and she briskly perked up, noting a huge hole in the cage.

Suddenly, she found herself upheaved by the belly and lifted onto a muscular shoulder. “I got you,” a familiar voice reassured her, warming her heart.

Sylva, Larissa greeted her with a bark, you came.

Sylva shushed her. “Of course I did! And as much as I want to fight, I need to keep you safe.”

With Larissa secured in her grasp, Sylva swiftly moved through the gaping hole in the cage and deeper into the darkness. She cut through the vampire onslaught with ease, her claws sharp and fangs ready, mowing down any vampire who dared to get in her path.

But Larissa’s eyes were glued to the arena stage, slowly growing smaller. Her werewolf eyes could only make out shapes and outlines within the gloom, and glowing red eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat. She knew in her mind that the central shape, the one being swarmed by red eyes, was Raven, and she scrambled in Sylva’s grasp to go aid her.

“Ow, hey, stop!” Sylva grunted weakly as Larissa’s hind leg smacked her on the cheek. “If you’re worried about that idiot, don’t be.” Larissa paused, eyes wide in awe as the central shape known as Raven obliterated the horde of vampires in a single swipe, morphing them to ash. “She’s a lot stronger than me.”

In the corner of her eye, Larissa spotted a vampire diving furiously from the balcony at Raven’s form, her back turned to him, and within mere inches from the back of her head, she instantly caught him with her palm, squeezing until only a pile of ash remained.

Larissa exhaled a victory cry for Raven, howling a song and singing her praises as her vision blurred and she fell asleep.