VEUX

Prologue

November 15

"Shift, baby, c'mon." His plea of desperate words fell on numb ears. "You'll die if you don't shift."

Unfortunately for the man, death while still human was exactly what Saoirse desired. For as long as she bore flesh and 206 bones rather than the beasts 321 or so, she had her dignity. The blood that came rushing from wounds of aromatic punctures had long since stopped, a sign the venom was spreading.

"Shift, baby. Please."

Saoirse's eyes were wide open, unblinking as she gazed at the man above her. It had been a while since she felt herself breathe, in fact it was becoming less of a habit and more of a chore to do so. She pushed her chest up once more through the pain, holding onto her human thoughts.

A beast, I am not.

A bite would turn her, only if Saoirse gave into the venom. If she could hold on just long enough to die while human, before the venom over took and began to heal her internal bleeding, she would be happy. Her parents died human. So had her sister and three brothers. She was the last one left, and she wouldn't dare break tradition.

Her dusting, cedar brown eyes watched as the crouched man was hauled away. Tears had been drawn down his face, yet Saoirse felt no remorse towards him. And as he said, she wouldn't while in flesh. He wanted her in fur.

I am no beast.

Upon her glazing eyes, a second man appeared. This was the face of a man she hated twice more than the previous. His skin was as dark as her own, eyes the same shade, but his hair was shaved closely to his scalp and he had skin much smoother than hers.

He let his hand fall upon her shoulder, to which she was too immobile to respond. If she'd had a choice, she would have fled long before he could lay eyes on her.

If she'd had a choice.

She hadn't had one of those in a very long time. The idea made her repel the shift with a strict harshness.

"New wolf," The man spoke in low octaves, throat practically vibrating with hymns. "I am your Alpha now. I am commanding you to shift."

Her chest lurched unwillingly, and all she had left were her dying brain cells to fight harder and harder against the infection. It had been some time since her mouth dried out, since her eyelids stopped blinking. She had to puff out her chest again, very gradually, to get one last fill of oxygen in her longs.

If she had known it would be her last breath human, she would have savoured it more.

The evil man reached behind his back for a water bottle. Saoirse watched him with immobile pupils as he unscrewed the cap, and tilted it very slightly over her lips. She could not swallow, could not breathe, but she could taste the water slowly choking her as the metallic hint of blood cascaded over her tongue.

The man pulled the bottle back into view, very slowly twisting the cap back on again. He stroked a hand through Saoirse's tough spirals, pushing them away from the matted blood on her forehead.

"Disobeying an Alpha's direct order leads to severe punishments."

She wondered if he knew she was still there, inside her motionless body, slowly fading from the back of her mind. She wondered, but she knew he didn't care. He only wanted to bring out the devil in her bloodstream.

"Shift, pup."

When nothing happened, his fingers lightly fisted a patch of her hair.

"Now!"

Her chest lurched, a single tear falling from the corner of her eye, turning red as it mixed the blood smeared across her cheek.