When we reached kickboxing Dom joined me without even asking since we had been partnering up since that first time, but some of the moves he taught me involved us being very close together and it had been very hard for me to remember that I was keeping my distance from him.
“Hey, is it ok if I fight with Andrew today?” I asked.
Matt chuckled. “We can’t let you two fight, you’d kill each other. It’s hard enough to keep you apart when you argue.”
I bit my lip and frowned, he was probably right, but I really had to get the point through to myself that I couldn’t be interested in Dom.
“Ok, you want to fight Matt?” I asked with a smile.
He shrugged glancing at Dom before saying. “Sure, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Andrew and Dom walked off to another part of the hall while we made our way to a closer crash mat.
Matt turned out to be just as good as Dom at fighting and I wouldn’t have minded seeing which one of them would win a fight between them.
“So, you want to tell me why you have been avoiding Dom?” He asked suddenly as he got me in a headlock.
“I’m not.” I insisted as I struggled in his grip.
He let me go and raised his eyebrows. “Really? Because everyone thinks you are.”
“Well, everyone thinks wrong.”
He swung a punch, which I dodged easily before saying.
“So, it’s just a coincidence that you always try to avoid being alone with him and when you are alone together you don’t get too close as if you think you can’t even touch him?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, it’s just a coincidence.”
I swung my fist at him, but he grabbed my hand, flipped me over and pinned me to the ground.
“It isn’t Cayla and you know it, what we don’t know is why you’re doing it. Dom likes you, hell he doesn’t talk about anything else anymore, but you’re just trying to push him away.”
I struggled in his grip trying to get him off, but it was a futile effort against his strength.
“Get off me.” I growled.
“Not until you tell me.” He insisted.
The anger came to the surface then and before I could stop myself I burst out in a hiss. “You really want to know what my problem is? Fine, I’m avoiding him because we can never be together and the more time I spend with him the more it kills me that
we can’t. Every time he so much as touches me I want to just say to hell with it and kiss him, but if I do I know in the end that I’ll never recover from it. I can’t let my feelings get any stronger for him Matt, I think I’m already falling for him.”
By the end of it tears were leaking down my face and Matt slowly released me before I quickly wiped them away and stood up.
“What are you talking about Cayla, why can’t you ever be with him?” He asked with a frown.
“Because, he’s a panther and he needs to carry on his parents lines, I can’t do that for him. I’m just a risk of diluting it until the panthers become extinct and I can’t do that.”
“What’s going on here, was Matthew too violent with you?” the teacher asked suddenly.
“No sir, I just got something in my eye.” I said wiping the tears away quickly, but I saw Dom and Andrew looking over at us with frowns on their faces. “Is it ok if I go to the toilet?”
“Of course Cayla, you might as well go to the changing rooms afterwards, we are packing up soon.”
I nodded and quickly retreated to the toilet before clearing the tears from my face.
No matter what I did I couldn’t get rid of my swollen eyes, there was no way to get rid of proof that you had been crying and not for the first time I wished that they had invented some product that would get rid of it. After rinsing my face with cold water again I headed for the changing rooms. I pulled on my denim shorts and vest top similar to the ones I had been wearing since my hot flushes so that it would be at least a little easier to deal with the heat before leaving and finding the guys waiting outside the front of the school.
“Sorry about poking you in the eye Cayla, was a total accident.” Matt said as soon as I arrived.
I smiled at him gratefully. ” No problem.”
Andrew and Dom didn’t question it although Dom did look a little suspicious. We were all silent as we headed back to Dom’s. I think that Andrew was a little nervous about tonight, I was still upset about my conversation with Matt so the other two kept quiet too.
It was nearing half eleven when everyone was preparing to leave. James, Matt, Owen, Dom, Andrew and Mark were all going to the lake. I had wanted to see Andrew’s first change, but Mark had explained to me that sometimes during a first change they had a little trouble gaining control over their animal and could attack a human without meaning to so I had agreed to stay behind with Denise. She had said she would change later so that I wouldn’t have to wait here alone, which I thanked her for remembering how Dom had told me that it would get more painful not to change the longer they waited after midnight.
I gave Andrew a hug and a kiss on the cheek before they left. “You’ll do fine.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him or myself.
He gave me a small nervous smile before nodding and they all made their way out of the front door. The moment they had left I began pacing the lounge while Denise sat in a chair and waited patiently.
“They will be fine, they’ve done this before.” She assured me.
I nodded, but continued to pace knowing I wouldn’t be convinced until they came back. It wasn’t until almost twelve that I really began to think something was going to go wrong. My temperature increased to sky high as I kept pacing.
“Something doesn’t feel right.” I said to Denise. “It feels like someone’s in danger.”
“Who’s in danger?” She asked with a frown.
I shook my head unsure of who was, but I tried to concentrate and sense where the feeling was coming from. It wasn’t until two minutes to twelve that I finally realised the feeling was coming from Dom. It was similar to when he spoke to me telepathically, but it was like he was broadcasting a feeling towards me rather than his voice.
“Dominic!” I gasped before running towards the front door.
Denise was right behind me as I ran outside, I had barely made it to the edge of the forest before I felt a searing pain vibrate throughout my body. An ear-splitting scream tore from my throat as I fell to my knees in agony. It felt like parts of my body were being reshaped against my will. My head felt like it was being torn in half and I clutched it in my hands as if to hold it together. I think I vaguely heard the sound of Denise speaking to me, but even through the pain my main desire was to get to Dom as fast as I could.
As suddenly as the pain had started it stopped and I realised I was on four legs, looking around in the trees I realised I had night vision and it was awesome, I could see everything. I could hear even the small movement of bugs crawling around me and my nose immediately picked up the scent of an animal that would become my prey had my hunger been greater than my need to help Dom.
It turned out that Mark had been wrong and I was a shifter, curious as to what I was I glanced down at my hand, which was now a paw to see orange and black stripes. Shit, I was a tiger, that wasn’t a good thing considering I was meant to be their enemy, but that wasn’t important right now.
Without thinking about anything else I took off through the trees faster than I had ever travelled in my life, my paws made next to no sound on the forest floor as I ran with a grace and speed that I had never thought I could achieve. My ears continued to pick up sounds of movement around me and I had trouble containing the tigers need to take chase.
I had to reach Dom and despite my tigers desire to hunt and kill I fought through it and never paused on my journey to the lake. It didn’t take even half as long to reach the lake as it had taken me in human form and I was surprised when I saw the clearing stretched out before me so soon. I paused behind a tree and stared out at it with my new and improved eyesi
ght that was no match for the darkness. A low growl erupted from within me, but it wasn’t heard over the growls and roars that were being exchanged between panthers and tigers in the clearing. It began as just threats, but slowly they became more aggressive until one panther and one tiger slowly walked towards each other in the centre.
It seemed the tigers were apparently my real family, but the panthers were the family I had come to know and love and there was no way I was going to let them get hurt. Before I could blink the tiger and panther were on each other and they seemed to be fighting to the death.
I had never seen something so purely savage and for a moment it scared me until the tiger somehow got the upper hand and pinned the panther down. That was all I had time to see before losing all of my sense and I burst out of the trees before I pounced on the tiger letting instinct take over completely. His moment of shock was to my advantage and I used it to roll us over and hinder his movements enough to open my jaws and descend them towards his thick neck and………I paused when someone yelled.
“Stop, or they die.”
I let out a low growl making sure my hold on him was secure before looking towards the voice. To my horror the tigers and panthers were now human including Denise who must have arrived without my noticing. The tigers had knives pressed against every one of my friends’ necks and I almost exploded with anger.
They all heard the menacing growl in my voice and actually stuttered before saying.
“Let him go, return to human form and we will let them go.”
I hissed at him before I reluctantly climbed off of the tiger, now the problem was that I had no idea how to return to human form. Having no other choice I closed my eyes and just guessed by simply willing myself to become human. I knew it had worked when my senses decreased and I was glad it wasn’t as painful as turning had been, but then maybe it had just been because it was my first time.
Opening my eyes again I glared at the human tigers.
“Ok, I’m human, now let them go.”
“Who are you? You’re one of us, but we’ve never seen you before.” The same guy who had spoken before asked.
“I’m going to be your worst damn nightmare if you don’t let them go.” I hissed at him.
“Cayla!” Dom yelled.
That was the only warning I had before I turned to see the tiger I had let go lunging for me. Without thinking I dropped to the floor so he went flying over me and jumped to my feet before running towards the lake where my friends were and then changing direction to the forest realising I wouldn’t be able to do anything to get them out of that. I came to a sudden halt when wolves appeared from within the trees and walked towards me. Quickly I changed direction only to come face to face with the tiger before two more walked up either side of him.
Ok, so I could either take on a pack of wolves or three tigers, or maybe I could run to the lake I thought glancing in that direction.
I squinted in the moonlight when I saw movement in the lake until the light reflected off of the creature.
“Who the hell put a crocodile in the lake?” I yelled in shock.
“It’s a shifter.” Matt sighed.
Ok, so it was three tigers, wolves or a crocodile. I looked in the other direction, I would never make it there without wolves and tigers reaching me even if I shifted. Looking back towards the lake I tried to find the closest tree, I would never reach the trunk of it to climb, but if I jumped from the edge of the lake and grabbed that branch I could climb up. The only problem was that if I missed, I would be crocodile food and I was sure that I had read somewhere that crocodiles have lots of teeth and a really powerful bite. I know I had been healing almost immediately, but that was only with small cuts, I wasn’t sure it would cover getting parts of my body bitten off.
“So, are you going to come with us quietly?”
I stared at the guy who had been talking who had his knife held to Mark’s neck and glared at him. What I was about to do was crazy, but what choice did I have?
I shrugged. “Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice does it?”
“Not really.” He agreed.
I held my hands up in surrender and as I had hoped the tigers turned away from me hoping to lead me towards the others. Taking a deep breath I turned towards the lake and bolted towards the edge.
“Cayla, what the hell are you doing?” Dom yelled.
I ignored him and concentrated on making the jump to the branch. Knowing it was going to be close I took the last step off the edge of the lake and hurled myself towards the branch. At first I thought I had missed, but I managed to catch it with one hand. I was too happy about catching it that I forgot about the crocodile for a few minutes until he headed towards my dangling body.
“Oh shit, oh shit.” I chanted as I grabbed onto the branch with my other hand and hauled myself up.
“You can’t stay up there forever!” The man yelled as I climbed higher and deeper into the shadow of the tree canopy.
Of course I couldn’t, but I did have a plan that I hoped they’d fall for. Upon reaching a point that I hoped was high enough I pulled off my trainers and held them in one hand while grabbing the branch above me and getting ready to pull.
Counting to three in my head I yanked on the branch, hard enough for the snap to echo throughout the whole clearing before I screamed starting at a low pitch and slowly increasing it as if I was really falling. I dropped my trainers momentarily before my scream reached a high pitch so that my screaming cut off in combination of the sound of a splash.
“Cayla!” Dom and Andrew yelled at the same time.
I screamed again before I made out the distinct sound of jaws snapping and then that’s it as far as they were concerned I was dead and the crocodile had eaten a pair of trainers. Hopefully it wouldn’t tell the tigers it hadn’t been a human.
“Well, she lasted long huh?” The tiger said before letting out a laugh. “Tie them up.” He ordered the others.
It wasn’t long before all of my friends were knelt next to the lake with their arms tied behind their backs.
“Should we put the croc back in the cage yet?” One of them asked.
I grinned, now that could work in my favour. Knowing I had to come up with something quickly I tried to contact the crocodile through telepathy, I knew I was in human form, but since he was in animal form it should work right?
Crocodile?
I broadcasted the thought towards the lake. It took a few minutes of continuously saying the word, but finally he replied.
Yes?
Ok, this is Cayla, the one you should have eaten.
I thought you tasted a bit weird. He admitted.
Are you a prisoner?
Unfortunately, yes, five of them came up on me unawares.
That sucks, how about helping me overthrow them, no more cages? I asked him.
Sounds good, what did you have in mind?
I grinned glad that I finally had a way to get out of this and told him my plan.
Knowing that I couldn’t climb out of the tree without making a sound to draw their attention I knew I would have to jump into the lake, but I could only do that if the crocodile made a lot of sound and disguised the splash.
The tigers by now were calling for their trucks so that they could lock the panthers in cages. Like hell I thought as the crocodile gave the order for me to jump. Without pausing I dove into the lake and upon landing the crocodile had already been splashing around like crazy. It was very hard trying to stop myself from screaming with a crocodile so close to me, but I had to do it to save my friends.
Ok, any ideas on how to cut ropes without a knife? I asked him when his splashing ceased.
He was quiet for a moment and I thought I was going to have to go searching for a really sharp rock or something until he finally said something that made me wish he had kept quiet.
My teeth are really sharp, if you pull hard enough you can rip one out and take it with you.
You’ll bite my hand
off! I almost shouted out loud before remembering at the last minute that we needed to be quiet.
He swam over to me, big creepy crocodile eyes, huge teeth and everything.
I won’t, but we are running out of ideas here and I really don’t want to get back in that cage.
I groaned inwardly. Fine.
When he reached me I very slowly reached out and grabbed a tooth. It cut me almost immediately, but I ignored it, that was the least of my problems at the moment.
Careful, they are sharp.
I nodded not telling him that I had kind of noticed that, it took all of my strength to yank one of his teeth out, they were stubborn little bitches and just wanted to stay attached to his gums. When I had one I almost dropped it, my hand was slick with my own blood and it stung like hell. I quickly dipped it in the water to remove the blood before returning my hand above water to find it injury free.
How did you do that?
I shrugged. No Idea
Without needing to be asked the crocodile began swimming loudly again moving over to the other side of the like while I swam as quietly as I could towards the side where my friends were kneeling facing away. Luckily the there weren’t any tigers near them, they seemed to think that since they were tied up they weren’t really much of a threat, which was just fine with me.
When I reached the edge of the lake I climbed out as quietly as I could and I saw one of them begin to turn around so I projected thoughts to all of the panthers.
It’s me, don’t turn around or do anything until I say go. Then turn into panthers and take these bitches down.
They didn’t answer and I didn’t need them to for me to know that they got it. Without waiting for anything else I set to work on their bonds. The crocodile had been right, his teeth were sharp and they cut through the ropes without much resistance at all. It must have taken me about fifteen minutes to crawl behind them and cut each of their hands loose. I was thankful for how small I was knowing it would have been difficult to move unnoticed if I hadn’t been.
Ok, is shifting going to hurt as much as it did the first time?
No, just will yourself to be your animal and you will shift pain free. Mark answered.
One Of The Enemy (Hidden Descendant Series, Book 1) Page 17