Samantha laid in her bed, in the dark, praying for anyone who was listening to remove the pain coursing through her body. Her illness took an ever-greater toll on her body each time it flared up, and she had been sick for so many years now. Between her aching back and joints, the extreme nausea in the pit of her chest, and the faith she had lost that any part of her situation would get better, she gave up on her life once again. For as long as she could remember, she had wondered if she would ever feel truly happy, or if she would be cursed with pain and isolation up until the moment of her death. After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, she lost consciousness without knowing why.

She eventually opened her eyes because the sun was shining so brightly that she could no longer ignore it. The warmth of the sunbeams on her face was now slightly uncomfortable, and she was beginning to sweat. All she could see above her was the cheerful blue sky, with just the right amount of clouds to make it absolutely picturesque. The smell of fresh air, sweet grass, and wildflowers filled her lungs as she let out a huge yawn. Samantha sighed loudly as she exhaled, her mind blissfully fuzzy for just a few more moments. It was then that she realized she had not been outside, much less in such an idyllic setting, for weeks, and that she had no idea how she had gotten from her lonely apartment to wherever the hell she was now.

As she stood up to take in her surroundings, Samantha bent over, clasped her knees, and vomited an amazing amount of stomach bile and mystery foam straight into the grass from which she had just arisen. Unable to stop, she felt her stomach contract and expel the rest of its contents until she was able to stagger over to a large and leafy tree a short distance away. She put her hand on its trunk as gingerly as she could, intending to sit down and take a rest. Her pajama pants and top rolled up slightly as her body slid against the impromptu seat.

"Female?" asked a deep voice behind her. Samantha lost her balance and luckily fell next to a tree root and onto her substantial rear end. "Say what?" Samantha responded, with no time to engage a filter of any kind. She saw a pair of large, hairy feet come into her range of vision and she followed the attached legs upward with her eyes. Before long, those eyes ran into a completely uncovered, sizeable male crotch, and Samantha was just barely able to turn her head to the side before she vomited once again.

"What the HELL, dude?!" she hoarsely shrieked as a stranger's face entered her field of vision. His long, shaggy, dark gray ponytail fell behind his head, which was tilted sideways, his face full of innocent-looking confusion. "My name is Roger," he explained to her, seeing that she continued to stare at him in astonishment. "You called me 'Dude', but my name is Roger, not Dude'. Is your mate called Dude? Do I look like him?" Roger, though clueless, was inexplicably handsome. The eyes staring into Sam's were grayish gold and sat under thick, defined eyebrows. His thick nose looked like it was sniffing her, and his beautifully-formed lips curled up in a smile, revealing brilliant white teeth and very pronounced canines.

Samantha couldn't help but think, 'Surely I died last night, this is definitely not the planet I was born on! But if that's the case, where is this place? And why am I still sick?!" Roger, having given Samantha a closer once-over while she was lost in thought, piped up once again. "If you'll let me be your mate, you can come to my tribe with me and we can have lots of cubs together!" Samantha was still trying to understand what Roger was trying to get across when they both heard a rustle in some bushes not far from their tree. "Just a moment, female! I will make sure that nothing endangers you," Roger said with bravado before running toward the source of the noise. Samantha's glasses were filthy, making it look like Roger's long ponytail was horizontally divided into two as he sped off.

After a few minutes, Roger returned with an embarrassed expression. "It just occurred to me that you must be thirsty. Please, have some water and rest before we talk some more." Samantha had no idea why Roger felt so entitled to her time and attention, but he was correct in that she was extremely dehydrated. She accepted the leather waterskin that Roger offered her, gave the nervous man an appraising look out of the corner of her eye, and took a small sip of what had to be the most refreshing water she'd ever tasted. This time, she looked at Roger as she drank from the skin, and she saw a touching display of relief on his face. He slowly extended his hand toward her forehead and combed a few annoying strands of hair away from her face as she emptied the skin. The last thing Samantha sensed before losing conscionsness for the second time that day was the gentleness of Roger's claws holding her head upright and leaning it back against the trunk of the tree just as he'd found her.

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Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading the first chapter draft! This was something I'd been planning to keep for myself only, but then I read some of the amazing fics on here and thought I could share mine as well!