Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Worst Route Herione.

The last thing I remembered is the clang of a sauté pan hitting the floor and an 80-hour work week finally killing me.

So why, why, did I wake up smelling pine needles and... wet dog?

My eyes snapped open. This was not my studio apartment. This was a forest. A very real, very cold, very where-are-the-park-rangers forest.

A low growl rumbled through the air, vibrating in my chest.

I froze.

Ten feet away, standing over the carcass of a half-eaten deer, was a wolf. No, wait. A wolf was an understatement. This thing was a dire wolf. It was the size of a smart car, with fur the color of a winter storm and cold, icy-blue eyes that looked... unnervingly intelligent.

Okay. Okay. This is a dream. Or maybe I got so stressed I’m hallucinating. Or maybe this is one of those insane corporate ’team-building’ exercises from hell?

The wolf lifted its massive head. It sniffed the air. Its gaze locked right onto me.

And then, it curled its lip.

I’m not kidding. It looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust. Like I was a badly plated appetizer that had been sent back to the kitchen.

Nope! Not a dream!

The wolf took one heavy, deliberate step, then another.

I didn’t wait for a third. I spun on my heel...in what felt like a truly impractical dress and ran.

"NOT TODAY, SATAN’S LAPDOG!" I shrieked, vaulting over a log I had no business clearing. My stamina was built for 16-hour kitchen shifts, not... this! "I AM NOT ON THE MENU!"

I could hear it crashing through the underbrush behind me, and it was fast. Why was it so mad?! It had a perfectly good, non-panic-screaming deer right back there!

I saw a gap in a thorny thicket up ahead. It was a terrible idea, but it was the only one I had. I dove.

Rips and tears. Thorns snagged my dress, but the giant wolf skidded to a halt just outside. It growled, a sound of pure, huffy frustration, and glared at me through the branches. It seemed... reluctant to follow.

Ha! Too precious for a little scratch, are we, pretty boy?

After a tense minute, it huffed...a sound of utter annoyance, and finally stalked off.

I waited until my heart stopped trying to beat its way out of my ribcage. My hands were shaking, and I was covered in... muck. I stumbled out of the thicket, desperate for a drink of water, and nearly fell face-first into a small, clear pond.

I knelt, cupping my hands to drink, and froze.

The reflection staring back at me was not mine.

Where my mousy-brown hair and tired 30-year-old face should have been, there was... a young woman. Maybe 20 at most. She had the fluffiest, most untamable silver hair I’d ever seen, so bright it almost looked white in the dappled sunlight. Her eyes were wide with shock...and they were a stunning, clear amber.

And then I saw them. Peeking from the messy silver hair were two... fox ears.

Wait...what? I am a fox?

I frantically scrambled to check my backside, patting the torn dress. Nothing. No tail. Not even a small one.

Why don’t I have a tail? A fox-kin with no tail..? I am so screwed.

That’s when I heard it. A panicked, reedy voice from the edge of the forest.

"Primrose! Oh, Primrose, are you in there? You’re late for your scolding!"

Primrose?

It all clicked. The fox ears. The missing tail. The name. This was the Hard Mode route I always avoided playing in Beastly B.A.D.s. The route of the failed Fox-kin, Lady Primrose Thistle , who gets sold off to a monster.

And who announces a scolding like it’s a dinner reservation?

"I... I’m over here!" I called out, my voice cracking.

Two figures came rushing toward me, and I stopped dead. They were definitely fox-kin.

The woman, who had sharp features and auburn fox ears, grabbed my shoulders. The man, a portly fellow with a kind face and a huge, bushy orange tail, wrung his hands.

"Oh, Primrose!" the woman wailed, "Look at you! You smell like wolf! It’s disgraceful! Did those awful cousins of yours lure you into the forest again?"

I just stared, my brain buffering. Lure me?

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