Her Second Chance✔ (Completed under edit)

18

"Remember it all Cari." Her Nana reminded but it felt like it was coming from too far away and she was already forgetting.

Cari gasped for breath, everything hurt. She couldn't remember shifting back, the last thing she remembered was...fear. She sat up quickly then groaned as dizziness overcame her. No one had ever said a first shift was like this. Was it because she was too old?

"Here, drink this," Dani said in a soft voice as she handed her a glass.

Blinking hard, she accepted the glass and drank from it. Whatever was in there was sickly sweet and Cari gagged after she drained it. "What the heck was that?"

"Glucose." Her cousin replied. "It helps with the magical drawback."

"Drawback?" Cari asked as her sight became better and she could see Dani's outline.

"From being teleported by reapers."

Cari groaned, her mind unable to keep track of what Dani was saying.

"Why would we even want to teleport?"

"We didn't, we were kidnapped and sold to a dragon."

"What?!" The sound of her voice rang through her mind giving her a sharp headache. "Ooow."

"Yeah, it doesn't help that they forced the shift on you."

"What do you mean sold? I thought dragons had stopped taking slaves and how did reapers get onto our land?"

Dani flopped onto the bed beside her with an aggrieved sigh. "One guess who sold us out?"

A shot of pain tried to pierce her heart but Cari stilled herself to it. She was done letting Claire get to her. Done making excuses for her. More than that, she was done being used by anyone who thought they deserved what she had. "I don't remember much after shifting."

"Yeah, it'll come back after a while. Mine came back after half an hour or so."

"What does the dragon want anyway?"

"I don't know if we're slaves but he wants the hidden wolf as his mate."

Yeah, she was done being a puppet someone controlled. There was no way she was letting this dragon force her into a mating. "That's not happening." She stated in a cold voice.

"He dampened our abilities. And he said this place is warded."

"Our gifts?" She asked.

Dani smiled at that. "He wouldn't know we have them. And since he said we're not bound to this room..."

"Alright, let's do it." Cari agreed as she got off the bed and started looking around for something sturdy to wear. The sweatpants and t-shirt she thankfully still had in were hardly fit for escaping a dragon stronghold.

"Aren't you going to eat first?"

"Can we trust food provided by our kidnappers?" Dani blanched at that and Cari had to backtrack. "I'm sure there's nothing wrong with them."

"Right." Her cousin still looked worried though.

They found some dress selections that had obviously been set for them since they were in their sizes. They were all ornate, in rich shades and bejewelled. Cari had no use for dresses but Dani seemed dazed by them. Which left Cari to search through the full wardrobe for something sensible.

Finding a pair of brown leather pants and another of dark blue jeans she held them out to her cousin. Dani took the leather pants leaving her with the jeans. She had to pull Dani away from the wardrobe closet so they could change.