by A. C. Arthur
When the door opened again, he ran down the hall toward his room and slammed his palm into the control panel for it to open. The second he stepped inside, her cat pounced, dropping to its paws in front of him. Her amber eyes were now gold with flecks of that unique brown. Her fur was thick and appeared soft. She wasn’t a big cat, just as she wasn’t a tall woman, but there was strength in her flanks and the line of her back. Her paws were big, teeth sharp as she growled at him.
“It’s okay,” he said and stepped toward her. “You’re not alone.”
The scent of her fear filled the room, the sound of her cat’s heartbeat echoing in his mind. But it was Keller’s cat that was reaching out to hers at this moment. When he came closer to her he lifted a hand to see that his claws had already extended. With them he attempted to pet her on the head, the way a human would pet a dog. She opened her mouth and nipped the back of his hand drawing blood.
He pulled his arm back. “Okay, I won’t touch you right now. I know this is a scary moment for you, Shya. You’re not used to shifting, are you?”
Another growl and she turned away, walking back toward the bed and then turning to come closer to him once more.
“You can learn to control it and the feelings it brings forth. It just takes a little time and training.”
The cat’s head turned from him again, its gorgeous majestic body all but prancing away from him.
“There’s an area a few miles to the back of the property. It’s one of the reasons I bought this building and the land surrounding it. There are lots of trees and vegetation so running there will be private for any shifters that stay here. But it’s daylight now. You’d have to walk there in human form and then shift when you were among the trees.”
Saying the words had him clenching his teeth. This was exactly why he was doing what he was tomorrow, claiming the rights of the shifters to be in this place with the humans. Once that was done, running in animal form wouldn’t have to be done in secret. Sure, it was still best that it be done in forested areas, safer for everyone involved, but they shouldn’t have to hide in the dark.
He dragged a hand down the back of his head. “Look, I can help you. I can teach you how to be a shifter.”
The cat’s back had been facing him and it turned so that he could see its eyes again. Its head tilted to the side, mouth opening slightly so that a chuffing sound escaped.
She wanted to see him, or rather, to see his cat.
Keller didn’t hesitate but relaxed his mind and body and let the cat have its way. He dropped to his knees and heard the familiar crack and melding of his bones, felt the warm spread of hair poking through his pores and welcomed the full strength of the cougar that lived within.
Chapter 10
The cougar moved alongside the jaguar, rubbing its flanks against hers. The touch of their fur was electric, the feel of same but different blossoming inside it. A chuff sounded and then the jaguar moved, walking to the windows where chairs lay tumbled on the floor. It went up on its hind legs, two paws pressing against the window and just as fast sliding down until the cat was on all fours again.
The cougar took measured steps, easing across the room in the same manner it would in the wild. The jaguar did not move until the cougar rubbed against it once more, opening its mouth to graze its teeth over an ear and then rub its face against the jaguar’s. The skittish spotted cat moved away again.
Keller shifted back. He walked to where Shya’s cat now stood and sat down on the floor beside it. Seconds passed but they seemed like hours with him remaining silent and her cat standing perfectly still. It was a beautiful creature, its fur looking as smooth and soft as velvet. He reached up a hand and touched it, watching his fingers easing over the spots that even though were darker still blended seamlessly with the golden-brown hue.
The jaguar’s breaths were coming slower now, its large head still held high when it went into a sitting position. She was calming down and he was going to stay with her until it was done.
“You shifted because you were afraid. I’m sorry. I should have thought of that. I should have said something to you before I left the room.” But he hadn’t because he wasn’t in the habit of reporting his whereabouts to anyone. Besides, they were still in the same building together, he just hadn’t considered that waking up in this room alone would frighten her so much that she’d allow her cat to take over.
“I don’t know how to do this,” he admitted. “Hell, I don’t even know what this is. I told you to come along because I didn’t know what else to say and now that you’re here I don’t know what to do about it. It just…you weren’t…I mean, it’s not in the plan. It never was meant to be part of any of my plans.”
And he was babbling, making absolutely no sense to himself and most likely not to her either. He was going to run his hand through his hair, something he’d done often as a kid when he was confused or flustered. His mother would always be there to brush his hand away and comfort him, make him feel less of a loner and more of the strong Shadow Shifter he was born to be. But instead of touching his own hair, this time Keller put his other hand on her cat as well. Now both his hands were rubbing over the jaguar as it sat on its hind legs.
He rubbed from the top of her head all the way down to her tail and she sat still while he did it. For more endless moments he simply sat with his hands on her, until the jaguar turned and looked at him before stretching out on the floor beside where he sat.
“I don’t know what you want, little cat, but whatever it is, whatever you need, you can tell me and I’ll do it.” It wasn’t meant to be, but it was, a promise that he’d spoken with more honesty and compassion than he’d ever felt before.
In the next seconds, the cat’s body shifted. The fur disappeared, its back curving and then straightening until a human spine arched at the center of tawny-hued skin. Her legs curled up to her chest, the head of curly black hair tucked low before a soft whimper escaped. He reached for her then, scooping her up into his arms and settling his back against the wall while cradling her to his chest. His lips pressed into her forehead when she looked up and his heart clenched when he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“You locked the doors,” she said in a soft voice. “I felt like I was trapped in a cage. When I was a little girl complaining about not being able to shift and go above ground to run wild in the forest like my parents used to do when they were little, a boy whose father was a Lead Guard told me that jaguars caught running above ground would be captured and put into cages at the SIC where they were starved to death and tortured. For weeks after that I had nightmares and when my parents asked what the dreams were about, I was too afraid to tell them. Because I didn’t want them to think I was weak and afraid especially when I’d never seen anything to be afraid of.”
And yet she still knew fear. The girl held that deep inside of her until it manifested into the adult. He wanted to curse the young boy for telling her a story that was unfortunately true, and he still detested the parents who had not prepared her for this world.
“Why didn’t they teach you, Shya? Did you ever ask them why you were treated differently than the other Shadows?”
She lay her head on his chest but did not look up at him again. They were both naked, their bodies sharing an intense and comforting heat that cocooned them into a space that seemed safe and separate from anything around them.
“I was different. From the moment I was born I was destined to be different. The poison that my mother ingested during her pregnancy had seen to that. And even after the procedure that was said to have removed all the poison, I was still different. Special. That’s what my mother used to call me, her special jaguar. And for a while that was good. I liked being special and loved by my parents. Except all the other shifter children were special and loved by their parents as well, but they were growing and learning in ways that I wasn’t.
“My father didn’t want me physically hurt, so training was out. My mother didn’t want my health compr
omised so going above ground or too far away from Headquarters where I could be immediately rushed into the medical center under her watchful eye, was out. I lived vicariously through Nisa and my books.”
She shrugged and he rubbed his hand down her arm.
“They wanted to protect you, but it hindered you.” The realization took the edge off his dislike of Nick and Ary Delgado, but that was about it. They were her parents and they were experienced in the world above and below ground, they should have known that keeping her with them could not be safe forever.
“I wanted more and eventually I started to get it so when you asked me to come with you, I jumped at the opportunity. You don’t look at me like I’m about to shatter into pieces if you roar or yell. And you don’t treat me like I’m an idiot. You listen to what I have to say, even if you don’t answer all of my questions.”
“You have a lot of questions,” he said with a grin.
She had lots of questions and he liked hearing her voice, not providing answers almost always assured she’d speak to him again.
She pulled away slightly and looked at him. “Because there’s so much I still don’t know or understand. So much I want to learn before—”
He watched her blink and clap her lips shut as if she’d said something wrong but instead of asking her to say what she was feeling, Keller brushed a hand over her hair and let that hand move down to her cheek.
“I’ll teach you. Whatever you want to learn, I’ll teach you, little cat.”
When her lips lifted in a smile Keller lost his breath. The sensation was vaguely similar to when he’d heard her roar and thought for an instant that it was because she was in danger, but different. Bigger, more encompassing and warmer than any other emotion he’d ever felt.
“I’d like that,” she replied.
Shya had never felt better in her life. After spending the day in the room Keller was going to designate as the gym, going through what he called simulations and feeling super good about how well she did without having any previous training, she was now ready to do something nice for him and his friends.
While they’d been in the gym, some furniture had been delivered so that in a room just off the large kitchen on the first floor, there was now a big screen television, three couches, a rug and end tables. It looked oddly homey and she hummed as she moved into the kitchen pulling things out of the refrigerator to prepare the stuffed peppers she’d promised Keller last night.
Fredo had taught her how to cook many things and she knew how to prepare them all in bulk since there were three thousand shifters that lived and ate at Headquarters. These were the ones who were designated as part of the Assembly’s administrative staff, the rest of their population were spread out living in their own bunkers. She had no idea what tune she was humming, but she’d heard it on the television once Gold had gotten it hooked up and she hadn’t been able to get it out of her head.
She mixed ingredients in a big bowl, moving her hips to the rhythm in her head. For a few seconds she just kept going, humming, moving, mixing, and then it occurred to her that she wasn’t in any pain. Not her shoulders or her hips, nothing. She’d shifted earlier, something she hadn’t done in years and had never done unsupervised and she felt just fine. Keller was a very physical fighter teaching her some of the martial art moves he knew and showing her a plethora of defensive maneuvers. She’d learned them, making some mistakes but also catching on quickly. She felt empowered and ready to conquer the world.
Until she heard Gold cursing loud and strong enough to blister even Cam’s ears and he was known to have a potty mouth. Keller had been in another room, but he came into the kitchen seconds later.
“I don’t know,” she said when he looked questioningly at her.
“Kel, man, you gotta come see this,” Gold called from the other room.
Something about the tone of his voice had Shya putting the spoon down and wiping her hands on a dish towel. She fell into step beside Keller as he moved into the room. Gold and Zion were staring at the television screen as if they thought a shifter was going to jump out of it at any second. When Shya heard the next words her attention immediately went to the screen as well.
“The Oasis Treaty is an agreement discussed, negotiated and agreed upon by a body of thirty world leaders, politicians, military personnel and journalists—humans and shifters.”
“Uncle Rome.” The words were a whisper that she didn’t think anybody else heard. They were all looking at the television, but she read the banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen that announced this was a video replay of Roman Reynolds, Shadow Shifter Assembly Leader and someone standing to his left named Blaez Trekas.
“The Shadow Shifters will live alongside the humans across the world and will be protected by the stipulations outlined in this treaty. Anyone knowingly breaking this agreement will be punished to the full extent of the New World Law. From this moment on, all SIC camps will be dismantled and anyone being held captive will be released. If at the end of seven days this has not happened and a SIC camp is discovered by any law enforcement officer, it will be reported and forcefully dismantled and the ones in command of such facility will be punished. War was never our intention, peace was always the plan. Now is the time for humans and Shadow Shifters to prove that they can not only live in peace, but that they can co-exist and prosper.”
Lights flashed as Rome stood behind a podium with the combined tribal insignia of the Shadow Shifters on the front.
“All questions can be directed to Priya Perry, Assembly Public Relations via the email you’ll find printed on your copy of the Oasis Treaty. Thank you and may God bless the United New World.”
“Sonofabitch!” Gold cursed.
“Well, I definitely didn’t see that coming,” Zion chimed in.
Keller’s expression was unreadable but there was something about his scent. Earlier today they’d spent a brief time talking about scents and relating them to emotions, personalities and perceived actions of a human or shifter. All she had to do was find the scent and focus, it would tell her all she needed to know. With her fingers clenched at her side she stared back at him, inhaling slowly but deeply, letting the scent filter through her nostrils. Cinnamon.
It meant nothing on the scale of telling her about someone’s feelings or intent. But it was there and it was strong, so strong she felt like it might have been coming from her as well. There was a saying that you could scent yourself before smelling another person, well, with each inhale that spicy sweet scent grew stronger, until it was all she could focus on.
“Did you know?”
Those three words slapped against her jolting Shya out of the intense exploration of the cinnamon scent she’d been gripped in.
“What?”
“Did you know they were doing this? When I approached you yesterday, Cam and Haven were talking to you about a big meeting that was taking place yesterday afternoon. Did you go to that meeting?”
“No,” she replied even though she was certain she didn’t like his tone, any more than she liked the way Gold was now looking at her as well. “I didn’t even know about the meeting until Haven and Cam told me about it. I’m not usually on the guest list for such things.”
“We both know that doesn’t stop you from knowing stuff. And if you knew about this, if you knew they were planning to make a comeback like this, you need to tell me right now.”
His tone and demeanor had changed. His legs were slightly spread, his eyes almost glowing. Rage. She didn’t smell it because she could feel it emanating from him.
“What difference does it make? You were planning a comeback too, weren’t you? Isn’t that what this place is all about? Bringing the shifters back above ground. So now, he’s done it and you can get on with your work.” She didn’t understand what the problem was, but she knew without a doubt there was one.
“Twenty years,” Gold muttered. “Twenty years he kept them under ground to turn around and do this.”
; “Am I the only one who thinks “this” is a good thing?”
Keller stepped to her then, his eyes searching her for something she didn’t know she possessed. She was just about to open her mouth and ask what when Jordin ran into the room.
“We’ve got a big problem right outside the gates!”
She made the announcement and then turned around and ran out of the room. Gold followed her without sparing Shya another glance. Keller hesitated and she held her breath waiting for what he was going to say. He abandoned the effort and ran out of the room. Shya followed them.
Three dead bodies were outside the gate that surrounded the building. They were lined up next to each other, their throats ripped out, and blood gushing onto the sidewalk.
“Fuck!” Gold yelled and pushed through the gate.
Keller was right behind him. Kyss, Jordin and Zion ran through the gate as well. Only Shya remained standing on the path leading to the house. But Keller couldn’t turn back to see why, he couldn’t stop to try and figure out what she did or didn’t know or why it even mattered at this point. His plan had been shifted and now there were three humans on his property.
“Cops are coming,” Kyss said about two seconds before he heard the sirens.
They were close.
“We either need to get these bodies out of here or prepare to be interrogated or even shot on the spot.”
Keller looked at Gold, the closest thing he had to family, a two-hundred-and sixty-five-pound black man on the outside and vicious jaguar on the inside. He was right, standing here in front of three dead bodies was not good.
“Let’s move ‘em. Now!” Keller yelled. “Take them around back and put them in the basement.”
It seemed like a simple order, given in the heat of the moment because there really were no other options. But the second Gold and Zion went to the first two bodies, Kyss and Jordin to the other one, there was a sound. An unfamiliar growl that had his head jerking up and his gaze going immediately across the street.