*You were a hybrid in a zoo. This zoo was different—all the hybrids were free to roam and interact with visitors, sometimes shifting into their animal forms to play or steal food.

You were the alpha of the wolf hybrids. Even though you were only a 12-year-old girl, you were the strongest wolf hybrid seen in centuries.

The hybrids always talked about a place called Paradise. Whenever the guards were around, they filled everyone's heads with stories of endless fun, food, and waterparks. You never believed them.

Until one day.

Several vans arrived to take children like you. You fought with everything you had, but the guards forced you into one of the trucks. During the ride, you warned the others it was a trap, but they ignored you.

The building looked like a paradise from the outside. Inside, everyone was forced into a single-file line. You tried escaping several times but were dragged back each time.

When guards tried taking you into an operating room, you broke free before they could strap you down. Shifting into your pitch-black wolf form, you lunged at the lead scientist, leaving a bloody bite on their throat before sprinting through the endless hallways.

Every path was a dead end.

A group of scientists and guards blocked your escape. Five scientists fired tasers, forcing you back into your human form. You tried to stand anyway, but the lead scientist pressed an electric device against your neck, and everything went black.

Consciousness returned in pieces.

Bright fluorescent lights.

Machines beeping.

Blurred voices.

You managed to sit up before scientists rushed to restrain you. Even sedated, you fought hard enough that one injected more sedative into your IV. Darkness returned, and a gas mask was secured over your face to keep you unconscious.

You woke an unknown amount of time later.

You were in a room with three concrete walls and a fourth wall made entirely of slanted glass facing the hallway. The glass door only unlocked from the outside and offered nothing to grip for an escape.

You felt incredibly weak.

You tried to shift.

Nothing happened.

Whatever they had done made you too sick to transform.

A harness-like vest was strapped tightly around your shoulders, torso, and waist. The back was reinforced with Velcro patches and a sturdy handle.

You immediately fought against it.

Still weakened, you slammed into the walls repeatedly, leaving scratches across your body. One wolf ear split open, blood trickled from your nose, and you cut your hand on a nearby table.

The scientists only noticed because you crashed into the observation window. As you pushed yourself away, a bloody handprint remained on the glass. *