Chapter 1

Fallon shoved the giant fern frond out of her face, the rough edge scratching her cheek. "This is so not what I signed up for," she muttered, swatting at a bug buzzing near her ear.

She looked down at her feet, a groan escaping her lips. Her limited-edition Balenciaga sneakers, the ones she waited three months on the waitlist for, were caked in thick, oozing mud. The pristine white leather was ruined, swallowed by the brown sludge that seemed to cover every inch of the forest floor.

"Great. Just great." She pulled her phone from her pocket, the sleek black surface reflecting the dim green light filtering through the canopy. She held it up high, waving it around like a beacon. No signal. Not even a single bar. The little antenna icon just stared back at her, mocking her existence.

"This is all your fault, Chad," she seethed, her voice echoing through the dense trees before being swallowed by the silence. "If I ever get back, I'm keying your Porsche."

Only the rustle of leaves answered her. The tour group was gone. She was alone.

Fallon's mind raced back to just hours ago-or was it days? She had been in her sleek Manhattan penthouse, editing her latest YouTube video about fall fashion trends. As a top luxury lifestyle influencer with two million followers, her world revolved around designer labels, champagne brunches, and exclusive launch parties. Then Chad, her ex-boyfriend of three years-the one who had dumped her for his "white moonlight" assistant without even a proper goodbye-had texted her about a "spiritual detox" in the woods. She'd reluctantly agreed, mostly to spite him after their messy breakup. But on the drive to the retreat, the sky had turned an unnatural purple, her GPS had glitched, and a blinding flash of light had swallowed her car whole. When she woke up, she was here-face-down in mud, wearing her favorite outfit, with no car, no road, and no cell service. This wasn't Earth anymore. The trees were too tall, the air too thick, and the silence too... alive. She had somehow fallen into a nightmare realm, a world of monsters and-what else?-beastmen.

She kicked a rotting log, ignoring the squelch of the mud. "'Reconnect with nature with a guided group,' he said. 'It'll be good for your soul,' he said. I hope you step on a Lego every day for the rest of your life."

A sudden gust of wind hit her from behind, carrying a stench so foul it made her eyes water. It smelled like rotting meat left out in the sun, mixed with something metallic and sharp. The hair on the back of her neck stood up instantly, a primal warning screaming in her brain.

Fallon froze. The forest went quiet. No bugs. No birds. Just the sound of her own ragged breathing.

She turned around slowly, her muscles tight with dread. The bushes directly behind her shook violently, the leaves whipping back and forth as if something massive was pushing through them.

She stumbled backward, her spine hitting the rough bark of a tree. "Who's there?" Her voice came out as a shaky whisper, completely unlike her.

From the shadows, a monster stepped into the dim light. It was huge-over two meters tall, covered in black fur that stood up like swords. Its body resembled a giant porcupine the size of a delivery truck, but its claws were sharp and glowed with a cold, metallic sheen. Its head looked like a cross between a boar and a nightmare. Drool hung from its yellowed fangs, sizzling slightly where it hit the ground.

Fallon's brain short-circuited. Her pupils dilated, her lungs refusing to pull in air. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. She had just watched those claws tear apart a medium-sized antelope-like creature in seconds, the blood still steaming on the forest floor.

"Oh god, oh god," she whimpered internally. Her legs turned to jelly. She couldn't run-even if she could, that antelope had been faster than her, and it died in two bounds. Two legs would never beat four.

The beast threw its head back and roared. The sound was a physical force, slamming into her chest and shaking the leaves above her head. Her phone slipped from her numb fingers, landing with a soft splash in the mud below.

The creature's muscles bunched under its hide. It leaped, a terrifying blur of fur and teeth hurtling toward her.

Fallon threw her arms up over her face, a scream trapped in her throat. This was it. She was going to die in the middle of nowhere, eaten by a monster. She mentally cursed Chad one last time-imagining the smug look on his face if he ever heard she'd "gone hiking and never came back." He'd probably turn it into a sob story for his new girlfriend.

Then, a sound cut through the roar. A loud, rasping hiss, like sandpaper scraping against stone, echoed from the canopy above. It was a sound that made the beast's roar sound like a whimper.

A pressure heavier than gravity slammed down on the clearing. It was cold, suffocating, and utterly terrifying. The beast froze in mid-air, its body locking up as if an invisible hand had caught it by the throat.

A blur of silver and black dropped from the trees like a lightning strike. It collided with the beast mid-leap, the impact creating a sickening crack that echoed through the forest. Bones shattering.

A spray of hot liquid hit Fallon's cheek. She gasped, the coppery smell of blood flooding her nose.

She opened her eyes a crack, her heart hammering against her ribs. Through the haze of dust and blood, she saw it. A tail-thicker than a car tire, covered in scales-was wrapped tightly around the beast's neck, crushing the life out of it.

The beast hung limp, its head twisted at an impossible angle.

The tail moved, uncoiling slowly. It was attached to something massive, something that slid through the shadows with a terrifying grace.

A fear beyond logic, beyond comprehension, sliced through Fallon's mind. This wasn't a bear. This wasn't anything she had ever seen on the Discovery Channel. This was something else entirely.

The creature fully emerged. A giant serpent-at least ten meters long, its scales a chilling mix of silver and jet-black. Its belly shimmered like liquid metal, and its cold, golden vertical slit eyes locked onto Fallon. The snake's head alone was the size of a motorcycle. A forked tongue, crimson and wet, flickered in and out, tasting the air.

"No, no, no..." Fallon's brain flatlined. Gigantophobia? Ophidiophobia? Both? This thing made the previous beast look like a house cat.

The giant serpent slithered closer. The sound of hard scales scraping against dirt-shhh, shhh-filled her ears. Thirty meters. Twenty. Ten.

She could see every detail now: the metallic luster of each scale, the terrifying ripple of muscle beneath, the way its golden eyes never blinked.

Her legs gave out completely. She crumpled to the ground, her back against the tree, trembling so violently she couldn't feel the mud soaking through her designer jeans.

The serpent stopped in front of her. Its massive head lowered, sniffing her with that flickering tongue. Then, to her utter shock, it spoke-not in words, but a deep, resonating thought that pressed directly into her mind.

*"A lone female. In the hunting grounds. How?" *

For a moment, the golden eyes seemed almost... confused. And then Fallon understood with horrifying clarity: this wasn't just a snake. This was a beastman. In this world, females were the most precious resource, guarded by males at all times. No female ever walked alone.

The serpent extended its tail-thick as a tree branch-and gently poked her side, as if checking if she was still alive. Finding her warm and breathing, it casually flicked its tail toward the bushes behind them. There, the first beast-the porcupine-monster-had tried to get up for a sneak attack. The serpent didn't even look. One lazy swipe of that armored tail snapped the thing's spine and sent it flying into a tree, dead before it hit the ground.

"Holy sh-" Fallon couldn't finish. The sight of casual, effortless violence broke the last thread of her consciousness.

Her vision swam. The edges of the world turned black. Her legs gave out, and she slid down the rough bark of the tree, her eyes rolling back in her head as she crumpled into the mud.

The last thing she heard-or imagined she heard-was that deep, rumbling thought again:

*"The meat of that one is tender. Even a female's teeth can tear it. When she wakes, I will offer it to her. But... will she accept me?" *