Naked and bruised, Ariel struggled up the wooded mountain trail. The path became steeper with each step. Her breath rasped in her throat, and her legs burned.

The distant roar of the huge lions that hunted her arose in the distance.

Terror gripped her heart, and for a moment she feared she might transform again, but thankfully the change didn’t come. Her inner beast had been strangely calm ever since reaching the shoulder of the mountain. She had no idea if that was good or bad.

She had been on the run for days, chased by animals that she thought existed only in zoos—at least on this continent. She realized early on that the lions were herding her deeper into the wilderness, steering her away from civilization. Probably a good thing: she couldn’t return, not anymore. Not with the beast that lurked within her, waiting to burst out of her and kill everything in sight.

Everything.

An eager growl erupted from deep inside her throat.

What the hell am I?

Less than a week had passed since the fateful day of the bite. A nightmarish week that had passed in a blur of transformations to and from the beast form as she fled farther into the woods. She was no longer human, that much she knew. Not entirely.

The trees fell away, revealing a winding path that continued to climb the escarpment overhead. The forbidding gray rock towered over her.

She approached the base of the trail and paused at the threshold. A wooden sign had been staked between two rocks. Characters were burnt into the surface:

Here Be Dragons.

“That can’t be good,” she muttered.

Another roar behind her. Closer.

She hurried past the sign and onto the trail.

When she had climbed about fifty meters she heard a voice behind her.

“We only want to help you!” a man called.

The voice triggered the beast inside her, which tried to claw to the surface; Ariel clamped down with all of her might, clenching her fists and straining against what felt like a dam ready to burst inside of her. Somehow, she managed to contain the transformation. That was the first time.

“If you continue, you’ll be lost to us,” the male baritone insisted. “It might already be too late.”

She glanced over one shoulder. A naked man stood at the base of the trail, though his lower body was partially hidden by a shrub. He seemed unwilling to step past the threshold demarcated by the dragon sign.

“Logan will pay for what he did to you,” the man said. “Please. We won’t hurt you.”

“I don’t want your help.” Ariel turned her back on the man.

“Continue up that mountain, and you won’t return,” the man said. “They don’t like visitors.”

Perhaps it would be for the best if she didn’t return, given what she had become.

Ariel resumed her climb.

The man remained quiet. She looked over her shoulder a moment later: he was gone.

Good riddance.

The path ended in front of a wide cave seemingly cut into the mountain.

Ariel stared into the darkness. She could see surprisingly far inside, thanks to her enhanced vision, but nothing stood out to her among the rock walls.

It seemed safe to turn her back on the cave, and she did so, gazing out from the precipice to survey the valley before her. Ordinarily, she would have thought the wide, tree-filled expanse so beautiful. She loved nature and hiking. It was one of the reasons she had come out here in the first place.

But she felt nothing now, only emptiness. She wondered if she would ever be able to appreciate such beauty again, given what she had become.

She glanced at the cave once more. She couldn’t figure out why she felt strangely drawn to it.

She shook her head.

Not going inside.

Though she was incredibly upset, she didn’t have a death wish. There might be a bear or something sleeping inside. Or maybe a dragon, like that stupid sign had said. Wouldn’t surprise her anymore, not in the least: she was being hunted by lions who could become humans, after all. And she was one of those lions.

Hmm. I wonder if I could actually take on a bear now? Doubt it.

For now, all she wanted was to get away from those hunters. She decided to stay here for a few hours, just long enough to ensure the lion men had gone away. And then she would climb back down and get the hell out of here.

And what then? Well, she figured she would have to live out the rest of her days in the woods. It would be a solitary life, away from the technology that drove modern society. She would have to give up all her friends and family.

Maybe one day she’d be able to control the beast inside of her. If she could do that, perhaps then she could return. She had a reason to hope now, given that a few moments ago she had exerted her will on the lioness and prevented the beast from ripping out of her skin. That was something, at least.

She sat down on the precipice and settled in for the wait.

“Well hello.” A male voice spoke behind her.

Ariel spun in fright; when she saw the man standing at the cave mouth, she momentarily forgot all fear, forgot where she was and how she got there, and instead simply stared, spellbound.

Standing in front of the cave entrance towered the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall. He was too gorgeous to be a model. Too breathtaking to be a movie star. She got butterflies in her stomach just looking at him. Where to begin? His hair… oh yes, his hair. It was as if someone had taken several bars of gold and melted them down to form the bouncy curls that fell around his spectacular face. His eyes were a fiery gold like his hair, almost unnaturally so. They were almond-shaped and beguiling, shining with intelligence.

His broad, bold nose jutted aristocratically from his face, perfect in every way. The plump lips of his chiseled, sensuous mouth had such gorgeous curves—if any lips were created for kissing, it was those. He had a strong, noble jaw that matched his nose, and smooth bronze skin that spread silkily across his forehead and cheeks.

His thickly corded neck disappeared into the collar of a black and gold dress shirt, whose sleeves were rolled back to the elbows, revealing his muscular forearms. Black and gold tribal dragons were tattooed from wrists to elbows on each arm. The tight shirt did little to conceal the outline of his wide, powerful shoulders; the hard muscles of his pecs pressed out from beneath the fabric. She could also make out the deep grooves of a six-pack.

A designer belt cinched his lean waist, and below that he wore dark-washed, fitted jeans. Her eyes lingered on his groin, where—

Ariel blinked as she realized how blatantly she was checking him out, and she quickly lifted her eyes back to his face.

The beautiful man’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

She remembered she was stark naked and quickly blocked her breasts with one arm, twisting her torso away and covering her bum with her other hand. She kept her gaze on him, staring at him over one shoulder.

“What are you looking at?” she said.

“I’m looking at you,” he replied defiantly. She hadn’t noticed it when he spoke before, but even his voice was sexy as hell.

As she gazed at that haughty expression, the fear returned. Not of him, but for him.

“Are you one of them?” she said.

“One of who?” the man said, eyes still sparkling.

“You’re obviously not a backpacker or camper,” Ariel said. “You don’t find many people who dress like European fashionistas in the middle of the wilderness.”

“No, you don’t,” the man said hypnotically.

Then again, if he was one of the lion men who pursued her, he would have been butt-naked, like her.

“Look, it’s been a rough few days,” she said. “I’m not in the mood for games.”

“You seem in surprisingly good spirits to me,” the man said.

She smiled fleetingly. “Call it a defense mechanism. Listen, if you’re not one of them, then you’re putting yourself at risk. I’m not someone you want to know. I have to get myself as far away from civilization as I can. Those lions did… something… to me. I could change at a moment’s notice. You could die.”

“Change?” he said.

She heard the distant roar of a lion echo from the valley below.

That triggered the beast, and the lioness in her clawed to get out. Clawed clawed clawed.

“I—” she said. But the words came out a growl.

The coming change was a strong one. She fought it with all her might, but she knew she was going to lose this time.

“Run,” she hissed between clenched teeth, not wanting to maul this beautiful man. She dearly hoped he obeyed, because otherwise he was about to die.

Unfortunately, the man simply stood there, towering over her, unafraid.

I’m sorry.

Every muscle in her body clenched in agony.

She transformed.