DARLENE
I woke up slowly, my entire body aching as if I had been thrown off a cliff and left to crawl back up. Pain throbbed in my limbs, but something else felt… different. Stronger.
I blinked, adjusting to the dim surroundings, and then I realized—I wasn’t human anymore.
I had shifted.
I looked down at my paws—white with streaks of silver running through them. My fur shimmered faintly, reflecting the little light in the storage room. My breathing quickened. This wasn’t a dream. I had shifted into my wolf.
“Lala?” I called out in my mind, unsure if I was going crazy.
“I’m here, Darlene,” my wolf, Lala, answered, her voice gentle yet firm.
I swallowed hard. “We actually shifted…?”
“Yes,” she confirmed. “And now, we can be saved. We will be able to leave this place.”
A wave of r
