Maya Cross slowly woke up to the sound of a whip cracking.

The first thing she saw was silver hair hanging down to someone's shoulders.

A man was kneeling on the metal floor. His bronze back was arched tight like a bow ready to snap. Every muscle on his body was tense with suppressed strength, yet whip marks cut across his skin like a road map of pain.

Fresh wounds were still bleeding. Red streams ran down his chest and stomach, gathering at his waist before dripping onto his pants.

When those dark red eyes lifted and locked onto hers, Maya felt as if her heart had been seized by ice-cold claws.

Those eyes were frozen with hate. Pure, undisguised hatred.

He tilted his head and looked at the energy whip in her hand. A cold smile touched his lips.

His voice was rough and low. Each word cut like a knife. "Stopping already? What, did your arm finally get tired?"

Holy shit! What the hell is happening? One second she had been working a double shift at Detroit General Hospital. The next second...

Strange memories crashed into her brain like a freight train.

Starships; Beastmen; Energy whips.

And the man kneeling in front of her.

Caleb Storm.

The youngest commander the Fifth Imperial Legion had ever produced. Snake beastman. Once, he had been one of the most promising A-rank beastman warriors in the Federation.

Then everything collapsed.

During a military operation on the border colonies, Caleb had refused an order to slaughter civilians suspected of hiding rebel forces. That refusal should have made him a hero.

Instead, it ruined him.

His superior framed him for treason, stripped him of command, and watched his mental rank fall from A to C after a brutal interrogation nearly destroyed his neural core.

By the time Marcus Cross found him, Caleb was no longer the shining commander of the Fifth Imperial Legion.

He was damaged property.

A fallen warrior with a broken future.

And Marcus had bought him anyway.

Maya's breath caught as more memories surged through her.

The five beastmen bound to her were all rare high-level warriors in the galaxy. Every one of them had once stood far above ordinary males. Every one of them possessed terrifying potential.

But because of different disasters, betrayals, and injuries, they had all been forced to fall from high rank to low rank.

In this world, beastman warrior ranks went from F to S.

Her father, Marcus Cross, was one of only two S-rank beastman warriors in the entire galaxy.

To make sure his precious daughter would one day possess the most powerful beast-husband legion, Marcus had gathered these five wounded but formidable beastmen—men with limitless potential, men who might rise again if given the chance.

And he had presented them to his daughter as her coming-of-age gift.

This was that trashy sci-fi reverse-harem novel she had stayed up reading last night.

Fuck. She cursed silently.

Oh my God. This face, the silver hair, the red eyes. Every detail matched the book perfectly.

She had actually transmigrated into the story.

And worse, she had transmigrated into the psycho villain everyone wanted dead.

In this world, humans had been forced to genetically modify themselves after the environment collapsed. They mixed human DNA with animal DNA and became beastmen. But the process killed most people.

Female survival rates were terrifyingly low. Less than five percent of the population were Females. To preserve their reproductive ability, Females could not fully transform.

This left them defenseless.

Just when beastman civilization finally stabilized, space bugs called Zerg invaded the galaxy.

They specifically attacked beastman settlements.

This made the already rare Females even more precious.

To keep the species alive, Federal law gave Females the highest status. Each Female could have multiple Male partners for protection, reproduction, and mental stability.

And the previous Maya had treated these former heroes like torture toys.

Maya dropped the energy whip without thinking. Blood drops from the tip splattered across her ankle.

Wait. She remembered this scene!

In the novel, this torture session completely destroyed Caleb's last faith in the law. From this moment on, he stopped believing justice would ever protect him.

And later, when he finally broke free, he would take brutal revenge.

According to the plot, she was totally screwed.

"Just because Zara talked to you, I've been torturing you for three days?" Maya stared at the wounds covering his body. Her voice shook despite her effort to sound steady.

Caleb's eyebrow twitched as he studied Maya's panicked eyes.

What game was she playing now? Three days of torture with that energy whip, then suddenly she dropped it and put on this innocent act like butter would not melt in her mouth.

Did she really think this little performance would make him trust her? Not a chance in hell.

Maya Cross was just waiting for them to let their guard down so she could come back with something even worse.

Caleb figured he had her number. His jaw clenched as he stared at that deceptively sweet face, every muscle in his body coiled tight with suspicion.

"What new trick are you planning..."

Maya froze and stepped back.

"Stop talking." Her voice trembled, but she forced herself to stay calm. "Your wounds need treatment."

Her doctor instincts kicked in immediately.

Maya quickly examined Caleb's injuries. Multiple deep cuts. Clothing stuck to torn flesh. Severe blood loss. Possible infection risk. He needed the bleeding stopped right away.

As an ER doctor, Maya had seen all kinds of injuries. Gunshots. Car crashes. Burn victims. Men and women brought in half-dead under bright hospital lights.

But those wounds had come from accidents, violence, or sickness.

The wounds in front of her were made whip by whip by her.

No. By the previous Maya.

The guilt almost choked her.

Caleb looked at Maya mockingly. When he raised his head, the scorpion mark on his chest became more obvious. "What, want to try pouring acid on the wounds this time?"

Maya's breath caught.

The previous Maya had actually done that before.

She fought down her panic and stiffly walked to the medical kit. She grabbed healing gel with fingers that would not quite stop shaking.

The previous Maya never used medical supplies to heal people.

Only to torture them.

"I didn't mean to..." Maya stammered. Her Detroit accent slipped out.

Her brain was still stuck in the hospital, but her body was on a starship. The confusion made her dizzy as hell.

"Cut the act." Caleb interrupted her. He slowly stood up. His tall shadow loomed over her with crushing pressure.

Maya's hand froze mid-air, holding the healing gel.

She had forgotten.

The previous Maya's cruelty had been burned into these men's bones. Any strange behavior from her would only be seen as a new torture method.

Even though Caleb clearly didn't trust her, Maya still forced herself to treat his wounds.

When she finished with the last roll of bandages, footsteps echoed from the cabin entrance.

Three figures appeared in the doorway. They were all injured.

All of them stared at her with the same ice-cold hatred.

"Let go of Caleb," they said in unison. "If you're pissed, take it out on us."