When Tables Turn

LUCY

“Wake up,” a voice startled me.

My eyes fluttered open; there was a bright light coming from the doorway. It was like seeing the gates of heaven opening.

Was I dying?

I squinted my eyes at the sudden brightness. A large silhouette of a man came marching toward my cell, and I backed away to the farthest corner of the tiny place—as if that would save me.

I looked around; this was definitely a dungeon. Dark, cold, humid, and dirty, with nasty rats crawling around trying to look for something to feed on.

I had gotten used to surviving without food for a couple of days, living on the streets and then in the forest does that to a person—especially when the wolves hunt down all the meat humans survive on.

You grow accustomed to a certain way of life, a way I never thought I would have to get used to.

I heard the large man unlock my cell, so this was finally it for me. He slowly walked toward me and grabbed me harshly by my left arm. I screamed, “Please don’t hurt me!”

He dragged me out of the dungeon while I clawed the hard ground with my fingernails until they bled. Then suddenly I was met by pure sunlight and damp grass. I looked around frantically. I was outside!

I looked around frantically, trying to find an exit route.

“Don’t even think about running away,” the man interrupted my thoughts, “this will all be easier if you cooperate.

He had dark brown, short curly hair; he was extremely tall, maybe six-five, and he was huge with muscles sticking out on every part of his body.

He was the very definition of a giant. I knew I couldn’t fight him off, never mind outrun him.

I followed him silently, taking in my surroundings and where we were going.

After about a fifteen-minute walk of silence in the forest, we finally arrived at a tall building, a huge white castle, and I spotted a few other smaller buildings in the area.

There were people everywhere, acting normal, walking around, talking, and laughing as if everything in the world was fine. I could tell they were all werewolves by their unearthly beauty.

Nobody paid attention to me as I was marched into the large building—it was as if they knew of my untold fate.

As we walked by, they glanced in my direction.

I suddenly felt self-conscious about what I was wearing.

It had been a long time since I’d been somewhere this nice. I forgot people even lived like this before everything happened. The world was now a shell of what it used to be, yet here these werewolves were, like everything was fine. Better than fine…

We entered what looked like a huge living room. Whoever lived here must be filthy rich. Every piece of furniture and item in this room looked damn expensive.

The walls were painted a nice peach color, and the paintings on the walls were of beautiful artistic roses, and some were of wolves. Everything in this room was distracting and screamed royalty.

Now that we were no longer surrounded by people, I stopped in my tracks.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked sternly.

“I don’t need to tell you that information, human,” he sneered at me.

“Unless you want to carry me the rest of the way,” I insisted, “then yes, you do.”

“Listen, human,” he started, “I don’t know what’s going to happen to you, and frankly, I’m not the one who makes these sorts of decisions around here. I’ve just been given instructions to bring you to the servant quarters.”

“Who makes the decisions around here then?”

He paused and sighed.

“The King,” he finally said, “our Alpha...”

The room started to spin.

Panic coursed through my body.

My fate was in the hands of a nameless stranger.

What was going to happen to me?