Free Beautiful Salvation by Jennifer Blackstream

it, not wanting to, she parted her lips, baring the teeth she could feel lengthening in her mouth. The stranger studied her, then his eyes widened. Something about the expression on his face prompted her to look down at herself.  
     
    Her arms were covered in light tan fur with black rosettes. Curved claws extended from her fingers. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed the fur continued up her chest.
     
    “What—” She winced as she cut her tongue on one of her own canines, the taste of copper filling her mouth. Reaching out slowly with her tongue, she sucked in a sharp breath as she found thick, sharp canines too large to be human. She carefully probed her face, finding more silky fur.
     
    Her mother’s voice came roaring into her head with all the force of a gale wind. “Fight the darkness, Aiyana. Resist the temptation to use that power. It will consume you and everyone you love, everyone you are supposed to protect. It is evil and you must not let it destroy this kingdom.”
     
    “Aiyana?’
     
    She gaped at him, barely registering his voice. The smell of blood grew stronger and she stared down at her hands, at the sanguine fluid on her claws. Her attention was drawn up again, locking onto his neck and the wounds there. The wounds she’d inflicted.
     
    “Don’t be afraid.” The man took a step closer to her, one hand held out.
     
    I’m becoming a monster. I thought it was safe to let go, to give in, just a little, but it’s not. This is a sign from the gods, a sign of what I’ll do to my people if I stop fighting this.
     
    The thoughts rushed through her head, too fast for her to think. Ignoring the stranger still gazing at her in fascination, she pivoted on her heel and ran. Fear clutched her heart in an unforgiving vice and it reached deep into her mind and opened the floodgates to her nightmares. They rushed at her like howling demons, battering her with all the gruesome images that should have warned her never to let her guard down.
     
    Selfish, stupid, fool. She chastised herself as she ran, trying to distract herself from the nightmares with her own thoughts. Her legs burned as she ran faster and faster, suddenly desperate to get to the fairy that might have the power to help her.
     
    “Wait!”
     
    The man’s voice behind her startled her, urged her to run, to put on another burst of speed. Fool! Couldn’t he see what she was? Didn’t he have the sense to run from a creature with a predator’s face?
     
    She practically flew through the trees, leaping over fallen brush and dodging low-hanging branches as if she knew the forest far better than she possibly could. Smaller animals dove out of her way, frightened from their shelters by her frantic approach. The wind spoke with her, guiding her, telling her which way to go. She listened without conscious decision, hoping against hope that it was the fairy that led her, not the dark power inside her.
     
    A hand closed around her arm and she shrieked as she was yanked backwards against a solid, muscled chest. Thoughtless in a sudden panic, she groped behind her, slashing at her captor’s face. The scent of blood assaulted her nostrils and the hand holding her arm released her. She tensed to run again, as much from the heady scent of blood as to escape her attacker.
     
    “Aiyana, wait.”
     
    The voice had changed. Higher than earlier, a…feline cry to it. The slight muffling of the words as though spoken from a mouth not necessarily meant for speech. Familiar in a way… She could hardly breathe as she turned around, needing to see for herself.
     
    The man standing behind her was a world different than the man she had first encountered. If he hadn’t called out for her using her name, hadn’t spoken her name in that same heart-wrenching way, she would have sworn it was not the same man. He stood tall like a human, had a human-ish form, but his body was covered in the downy, spotted pelt of a jaguar. His ears were thinner,