Every time Aura closed her eyes she was haunted by the glowing, pink orbs that compelled her to so many things. She was thankful she was still in the cage, but she knew time was running out. Guild Master Shadow kept laughing and saying his revenge would soon be at hand as the date of the royal visit approached. Aura felt the void expanding in her chest where the connection to her clan once was. Despite her circumstances, she wouldn’t change how she left or her status as an exile. The void was painful, but at least she couldn’t be used as bait to attract her fellow wolf hunters or clan members. It would be torturous to watch these hunters gain more shifters under the power because the shifters tried to help her. She had managed to piece together the guild master’s plan through his ramblings and talks with Princess Crisela who visited often trying to rush the guild master’s plan.

Guild Master Shadow wanted to compel a group of shifters to attack the villages around the Burnt Bark Woods to create a national incident. Support for the elf queen’s proposed protection laws would diminish, ending trade negotiations with Harenae, the continent just across the Melodian Ocean. Without the protections, hunters, villagers, knights, and just about anyone could hunt Aura’s kind to extinction. It was a well-thought-out plan because rumors have been circulating about the plagued villages being attacked and looted by shifters. Aura wondered just how many of her kind were trapped like her...

As far as Aura could tell the princess was impatient and spoiled, and being in the Grim Guild made the princess anxious to get home. Princess Crisela appeared to be an ogre princess from the blurry form that Aura could see. Aura could make out a muscular, feminine, teal-skinned ogre body. There was hardly any ogre royalty because of constant in-fighting among their people in the Merrow Hills. After the last war, the ogre settled the swampy lands known as the Merrow Hills. Ogres are temperamental at best, so maintaining an ogre kingdom is like pinching an angry and starved bear. It would add fuel to a burning wildfire.

“Good morning, pet!” Guild Master Shadow chimed. “It’s only four days until the royal visit, so I need to advance the exercises to be sure you will follow through with your compulsion.” He smiled a toothy grin that churned Aura’s stomach.

The cuts across her body burned from the lingering wolfsbane in her system. Guild Master Shadow had been forcing Aura to shift back and forth from wolf to her beast folk form, cut herself with a wolfsbane laced knife, throw herself about the room while still being in the cage in both forms, and even worse touch herself for his enjoyment. Her muscles and bones ached from the constant changes and injuries. The commands had left her body tired and energy drained. Thankfully, her major wounds and injuries had healed despite the constant form transformations and self-injury, but pain still overwhelmed her bruised and battered body. Guild Master Shadow opened the cage door, forcing Aura to scoot back as far back as she could in her wolf form to avoid his cold, creepy hands. The guild master reached into the cage to grab her as she snapped at him. Before Aura could put up much of a fight, his pink eyes glow compelling her into obedience. She inwardly growled at him. The guild master pulled her out by the scruff of her neck, dropping her onto the bare floor.

“Bad mood, pet?” Guild Master Shadow taunted. “Too bad we don’t have more time to play. Tabusco! Bring it in!”

The giant door slammed open. Tabusco walks in dragging a rope with a squealing hog on the end. The hog forcefully pulls and tugs knock over the old man, Tabusco. Running rampant around the room, the hog squealed and tossed the furniture about. Tabusco tried to grab the rope, but he failed miserably. Aura snickered at the scene. The room was in shambles.

“All right, pet.” Guild Master Shadow grinned wildly as his eyes glowed. “Kill.”

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Aura felt her body begin to move. Her hunting instincts engaged, and she began tracking the hog's movements. She tried to will herself to stop, but her body refused. Her eyes narrowed on her target. Within seconds, she pounced on the beast, rolling it onto its belly. Her canines sank into the neck of the beast, ripping the skin apart. Blood splattered across her face as she ate into the hog. Gulping down the tough skin and squishy trachea, Aura grimaced at herself.

“Good, pet, very good.” His giddy tone made Aura sick. “Tabusco, go get the other one.”

“Yes, sir.” Tabasco disappeared through the door while Aura’s body continued to feast on the hog.

Would Tabusco bring another hog for her to slaughter? No. It couldn’t be that easy. Nothing Guild Master Shadow had forced her to do was easy. What could the other one be? Would this man make her slaughter a person? Ha! Of course, he would, Aura thought to herself.

Tabasco returned through the door with what looked to be a smaller animal than the hog. Why would Guild Master bring a smaller animal to slaughter after having her kill the hog? Tabusco put the small animal on the ground, and Guild Master Shadow stepped in front of the animal. He must be compelling it to run or attack her. Guild Master Shadow moved, revealing a juvenile wolf that growled at Aura. No. No. No. Aura could sense this little wolf was one of her kind. The guild master turned toward her with pink orbs glowing brightly. He wanted her to kill the child in front of her. All her pain and torture had been nothing compared to this. This was pure evil, and the child didn’t even know any better.

Aura ripped herself away from the mutilated hog and turned her attention to the guild master. She would slaughter him. This ends now, she growled mentally. That little wolf would not die by her fangs. Aura growled, stalking toward him. His eyes still glowing; he tried to compel Aura into obedience. His control over her was diminishing because she refused to hurt her kind.

“Pet, kill the wolf.” He dared to command her.

Aura fought her body that had stopped moving. His control flooded over her again, but she wouldn’t allow herself to hurt the child. Aura growled and latched onto her leg, sinking her canines deep into her skin. She would kill herself before harming the small wolf that was approaching her. She bit down hard feeling her canines graze the bone. Her pain flooded her senses, blocking out whatever the guild master was saying to her. Aura accepted the pain as a welcomed friend because she decided to disable herself rather than be the guild master’s tool.

Suddenly, he was in front of her with glowing eyes, drawing her attention away from herself inflicted injury. He was holding the wolf and a knife. Aura’s heart sank. She watched him skin the little wolf alive as it cried out widely. She tried to force herself to move, but the glowing eyes forced her to stay put. Aura released her leg from her mouth. What could she do? Aura didn’t want to watch the poor child wolf suffer as memories of the boy she watched get beaten to death on her first Huntress mission flooded her mind. Simultaneously, she wanted the boy and the child wolf to scream in pain from injury. Aura whined and whimpered. Stab wounds covered the wolf’s tiny body just like the bloody boy in her memory. Guild Master Shadow threw the half-dead wolf child at her feet. The eyes of the wolf and the boy in her memory were lifeless. Still, the wolf was breathing, barely.

“Finish it,” the glowing eyes compelled her. Aura’s body began to move, and she couldn’t stop it. The little wolf was almost dead, and killing the wolf suddenly seemed like mercy compared to watching him injury the little wolf. Using her paw, Aura snapped the little wolf’s neck, giving it a quick end. Tears streamed out of her gold eyes. Guild Master Shadow was pleased with his exercise, which sickened her further.

“I think we will have no problems with you killing the elf queen.” Guild Master Shadow snickered. “It will probably be a mercy kill like this one when I am through with the queen.”

So, that’s what he wanted her for. He wanted Aura to kill the elf queen, so he could create an incident and end the protection laws before they were created. Aura knew the guild master wanted to use the beast shifters for an attack during the royal visit, but having her kill the queen would seal her kind’s fate. She began to shake, trying to resist the compulsion. A growl barreled out of her chest. Aura wouldn’t allow herself to be the end of this coexistence when peace was just beginning.

“Seems my pet has become rabid, huh, Tabusco?” The guild master chuckled. “Sleep!”

Aura’s eyes felt heavy, but she wouldn’t let him get the better of her. She knocked Tabusco to the side as the guild master tried over and over to command her. His commands were becoming harder to resist. Aura pounced on the guild master and bit into his shoulder with as much force as she could muster, but he compelled her harder to sleep. Her body went heavy as her eyes were forced shut. Aura’s world was black and miserable.