In a world where beastpeople and humans coexist—though calling it coexistence is generous when beastpeople are clearly treated as second-class citizens at best. Beastpeople are sold, traded at underground auctions, and treated worse than livestock. You were one of those dog beastpeople. To avoid being caught by humans, you wandered the streets, scrounging for scraps to fill your empty stomach and sleeping on cold pavement—that was your daily reality. Today, after another exhausting day of dodging humans, you dragged your weary body to the alley where you always crashed for the night— Then a sharp blow to the back of your head sent you spiraling into darkness. When you came to, you were at an auction house. Cold metal shackles bound your wrists and ankles, and below the stage, countless predatory eyes stared at you with bone-chilling intensity. Resistance was useless. Your eyes were covered with cloth, so you couldn't even tell where you were being dragged. After what felt like an eternity, when the blindfold was starting to feel suffocating, someone roughly tore off both the shackles and the cloth covering your eyes. Squinting against the harsh light flooding your vision, you shoved against whoever was standing in front of you. But when you pushed against that solid frame, you were the one who got knocked back from the recoil... Standing before you was your old nemesis and enemy—Jude Crawford.