by Aimee Hunter
"It's part of the plan. We make them think they are under attack, then cut them off from any outside help. Then I somehow miraculously save the city, but tragically not all of the citizens or royal family. The good people of Culville feel indebted to me. Eventually, I take the Kingdom from them, bit by bit. Before they know it, I control it all." He smiled that wicked smile. Sylvan nodded.
"It will be done."
Damian flung off the white rob and transformed, the black wolf locked gazes with the tall mutant before bounding away.
Sylvan turned to his twin sister, Sylvia.
"I am not sure I want to do as he requests. It seems, distasteful." Sylvia inclined her head in agreement.
"He did save your life, brother. You owe him a debt. Just as the good people of Culville will." She reminded him needlessly.
"That is true. That does not mean that things will turn out as he plans though." He said to her with a strange light in his eyes. Only those who knew him would recognize the mischievous glint.
"Sylvan. What are you scheming?" his identical sister asked warily.
"I am not yet certain, Sister." he replied, looking in the direction the wolf had gone.
Chapter Seven
Mason was standing in the shadows of the Palace gazing at the night sky when Damian finally stepped back through the gate. She frowned, what is that sly son of a bitch up to now? she wondered. Her eyes stayed with him until he was inside then turned back to look at the moon feeling it's pull on her soul. She felt a presence at her back and turned slowly, surprised to see Rena standing there.
"Rena." She greeted her simply. A smile quirked full pink lips,
"Mason." The Princess mimicked, earning a lopsided grin. "Shouldn't you be resting?" Mason turned back to look at the moon.
"I couldn't sleep."
"I take it you saw Mr. Augustus creeping about just now." Rena stated, seeing Mason's affirmative nod. "I wonder what he was doing outside the city walls so late." She mused.
Mason only shrugged, "I learned a long time ago that whatever schemes he masterminds eventually reveal themselves." She answered the unspoken question.
Rena turned to get a better look at the tall woman's profile. She smiled softly when Mason started fidgeting under the close perusal.
"What?" She finally burst out. Rena shook her head, chuckling.
"Nothing, just trying to figure something out." Mason turned her head so she could see her better.
"You could just ask." She teased. Rena rolled her eyes and moved in front of Mason, leaning back against the tree that offered some shade for the Palace during the hot summer months.
"Why do you hate Devon so much?" she asks, watching the other woman tense at the question. The silence that followed stretched on so long that Rena finally sighed, "You're going to have to tell me eventually, Mason, if we're going to be working together. I need to know what I'm getting myself into." Mason's eyes snapped up and bore into Rena's, then a slow smile worked its way across her face.
"I guess so, huh?" she laughed softly before falling silent again, returning her gaze to the pale moon glowing above them. Her mind raced, trying to decide how much to divulge without revealing too much. "I hate him for what he did." She spoke quietly, just as Rena had decided she wasn't going to get anything more out of the stoic woman.
"What did he do?" she asked gently, something telling her to tread carefully. Mason inwardly sighed, for a moment toying with the idea of making up some story that was relatively believable when she made the mistake of looking into the Princess' eyes and found herself completely unable to lie to her.
"The wolf pack that Prince Devon slaughtered, they were my friends." She admitted quietly. Rena nodded slowly.
"I thought as much." She took a step closer to the taller woman. "Can you become like them, Mason?" she asked with hesitation, slightly afraid of her reaction. The Kahlian heir's entire body froze in shock.
"How did you...?" the question was cut off as Rena took several steps away from the stunned woman and gingerly began disrobing. Mason swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat. A brilliant flare of black light followed by the appearance of a beautiful, slim star-lit silver wolf with Rena's turbulent brown eyes stood in the woman’s place.
Mason stumbled back against the building, shock and amazement vibrating through her. How could she not have known? She took a closer look at the beautiful silver wolf. She's young. She thought, she doesn't know what she truly is. The wolf transformed back into Rena and hurriedly scrambled back into her clothes. Thinking maybe she had been wrong, if so she was now in massive danger. Mason sensed this, reaching out to cup her cheek drawing the smaller woman’s gaze to her own
"Wait." she murmured before stepping back and taking a deep breath. After a quick glance around to ensure their continued privacy, Mason shed her own clothing. Rena suffered a similar reaction to watching to other woman strip as Mason had to her own disrobing. Shielding her eyes from the blinding flash of light, Rena gazed in awe at the beautiful white wolf that sat before her. The wolf stepped forward, nudging her massive head under her hand and looked up at her with impossibly blue eyes. With a burst of understanding, Rena knew this was the same wolf that had hunted Devon and his friends. She had seen the Prince slaughter her friends and now she wanted his blood. The Princess crouched before the stunning wolf and placed a tender hand on either cheek, whispering.
"I know." Rena closed her eyes against bright light and endured the teeth rattling vibrations that swept up her arms. A naked Mason knelt before her, a wary look creeping into her eyes.
"What?" She asked cautiously. Rena smiled and stroked her thumbs over Mason's high cheekbones.
"I know that you were the one who hunted Devon last month. That you're here to finish what you started." Mason's pupils contracted and she tried to move away but found herself held firmly in place. "I know, Mason. I understand and," she hesitated, "I want to help you. Not just with finding the person who tried to poison you but with Devon as well. I won't help you kill him though; we'll find another way to make him pay." Mason stared at her, stunned. Reaching up, she grasped the Princess' hands, gently pulling them from her cheeks, holding them between her own.
"Why? Do you realize what you're asking?" Rena nodded.
"Yes, I do. As for why? I don't know. I just have this feeling, like I'm supposed to help you. It just feels like the right thing to do." She tried to explain. Mason pulled her into a tight hug, holding her for a long moment.
After a while, Rena became aware that Mason was still very much naked and it was playing havoc on her blood pressure. She stepped back and cleared her throat.
"Um. Maybe you should get dressed before you catch cold, or someone sees you." Besides me, she added silently to herself. Mason smiled as she began dressing.
"You don't know exactly what you are, do you?" she inquired softly.
"I'm a mutant. A shape-shifter." Rena informed her. Mason frowned and shook her head.
"A shape-shifter, yes. But a mutant? No. Who told you that?" she wanted to know.
"My governess."
"She was wrong." Mason scowled, "Our kind has been around for thousands of years." Rena reeled at that revelation, shaking her head in confusion. It was painfully obvious that Rena needed an education about who and what she was. "Come to my room in two hours. I'll tell you everything, but be sure you aren't followed." She told her before slipping away. Rena watched her go, unable to stop the memories of her first change from sweeping through her consciousness.
Rena had been raised by a veritable army of governess', maids, cooks, butlers, and private teachers. After her mother had died bringing her into the world, her father had thrown himself into running the kingdom. Affairs of State took precedence over everything else, including his only child and heir. For all of that, she had a happy childhood. She never wanted for anything, because even though her father could hardly bear to be in the same room with her, he made sure she was well taken care of and surrounde
d by good, kind people who truly cared for her. Rena was very much aware of how lucky she was, many children in similar situations had been left to virtually raise themselves.
Once she reached puberty, Rena began changing. While she went through the normal physical changes a developing girl goes through at that age, she also became stronger, and faster. Her eyesight became sharper, her sense of smell became overwhelmingly keener, and she was able to hear the flap of a birds wing from a mile away. Though these changes frightened her at first, she eventually saw them as a gift.
Then one night, with the moon hanging bright and full in the night sky. She lay in her bed drifting in that quiet place between wakefulness and sleep, when white hot pain wracked her young body. Her room filled with the deep purple glow that accompanied the change, as her bones began to break and reform. Silver fur burst from every pore on her body and she sprouted two ears and a tail. The young Princess' muscles rippled and repositioned, accommodating the new form her body was being forced into.
Once the pain receded, and the oddly brilliant light faded, Rena opened her eyes to discover an entirely new world. Her room had become an almost foreign environment as her wolf-eyes seemed to be able to see trails of scents. As for the smell of her room, it nearly gagged her. The perfumes, soaps and shampoos, not to mention chemicals used to clean her room and bedding, all formed a kaleidoscope of color and scent that was oppressive.
Rena became aware of the pounding and shouting coming from outside her door, unaware that she had been screaming and growling as she shifted for the first time, waking up nearly the entire estate. She moved to stand up from her bed and toppled over the edge, her four newly acquired legs getting tangled in themselves and her nightgown. She looked down at herself for the first time and panicked, seeing her forelegs and paws she turned her head, her eyes tracing down her long slopping back to her hindquarters and bushy tail, which she gave an experimental wave. A whimper startled her until she realized it had come from her own throat.
Facing forward again, she took an experimental step, stumbling before it dawned on her to move a front leg and a rear leg at the same time. It wasn't until she had walked the length of her room twice, that the pounding on the door became too loud to ignore. It was rattling in its frame as the people on the other side were actively trying to break it down. Rena whined softly in distress, for she had no idea how to change back. She didn't know if she even could. She searched frantically for someplace to hide but couldn't find anything big enough to shield her from view. Finally, she spied the open window across from her bed and hopped up on the windowsill to see if she could make the jump. It was high, but something inside told her she could handle it easily. She whipped her head around to stare at the door when she heard it finally crack. Realizing she was still wearing her nightgown, she used her new sharper canines and ripped the gown off, then turned back to the open window. Praying that she survived the drop, she took a few halting steps back, then launched herself forward and out of the window.
Her front then back paws touched dirt for the first time with a soft thump as the door to her childhood room splintered and broke, letting in a flood of light and sound. Looking back up at her window, Rena was astonished by how far she had fallen. A man's upper body leaned out of that same window and shone a light at the ground, he began screaming when he spotted her. She heard a loud rapid popping sound as the dirt around her exploded when the man in the window began shooting at her. She ducked, her ears pinned to her head then bolted across the lawn to the forest on the edge of the property line.
A sense of true freedom flooded her senses as she ran. Her powerful legs reaching out for and propelling her across the ground at unbelievable speeds. The air whipped through her fur, sending a shiver down her spine, her senses bombarded with new, exciting sights, smells and sounds. She could even hear the bullets ripping through the air before impacting the earth behind her as she out ran them.
Search lights flooded the area, sirens sounding all across the city as the alarm went out that the Princess had gone missing from her bed. Search parties were quickly assembled and sent out after the beloved heir, while hunting parties were tasked with capturing or killing the lone wolf spotted under her window. King Duncan MacKinnon, having been awoken from a dead sleep to learn that his precious daughter was missing, was in an aggravated state of panic. He decided to lead the search for Princess Rena himself, not knowing that she was already miles away from him, racing across moon swept open fields and shadowy woodlands.
The sound of footsteps shook the Eastland Princess from her memories, bringing her gaze down from the nearly full moon that so reminded her of that night over ten years ago, when she had discovered just how different she really was. Rena wasn't sure how she felt about what Mason had said, she’d lived so long thinking her ability to shift was a mutation, that anything else just seemed absurd. But here was Mason, able to do the very same thing as she was, the only other shifter she had ever encountered. Telling her otherwise.
Noticing activity at the gates again, Rena realized the guards were changing shifts, which meant she had been lost in the past for quite some time. Glancing back up at the moon, she decided that perhaps it was time for her to learn what she truly was, who she was. Maybe Mason had the answers, maybe she just had a story to tell. I won't know unless I go listen to what she has to say, Rena thought, turning and heading back inside the Palace. A multitude of thoughts swam through her head as she made the trek to Mason's rooms, questions upon questions bombarded her tired mind. She was afraid to hope that she was more than just a mutant but also afraid of what being more would mean. Huffing an exasperated breath at herself, she shook her head firmly to clear it, finding herself standing outside of the Stone woman's door. Taking a fortifying breath and slowly letting it out, she knocked. Rena was surprised when Lana, the youngest Stone sister, opened the door. Her shock growing when she saw Diana was present as well.
Mason's tall form filled the doorway, blocking Rena's view of the room. She looked up into the tall woman’s face, a deep-rooted fear shining in the depths of her eyes.
"I'll come back later, Mason." She turned to go, only to stop when Mason's hand landed on her shoulder.
"It's ok, Rena. They're like us," she reassured her. "It tends to run in families." Mason continued, steering her into the room gently then closing the door. She turned around and smiled when she saw her sisters surround a suddenly shy Rena. Lana had led her to a couch by a roaring fireplace and sat with her on it while Diana pulled a chair over to sit in front of the two women, settling into her chair before speaking.
"When did you first realize you could change?" She asked. Out of all of their kind, Diana was the most knowledgeable about their race, owing to the fact that she was among the oldest Kahlian’s still living. Rena hesitated, sneaking a look at Mason who nodded encouragingly. Still, she was reluctant, she didn't really know these women. True, she felt an incredible pull towards them, especially Mason, but she didn't know them. Diana seemed to understand her hesitancy. "I know you're nervous and not exactly comfortable. Mason told us everything, Rena. You are not a mutant. You are like us, a shape-shifter. Our people are called Kahlian, we are an ancient race, with the genetic ability to change from human to wolf. Along with this ability, we are also able to communicate telepathically with each other, in either form." She told her as plainly as she could.
"That's impossible!" Rena cried out with wide eyes. Telepathy? That was ludicrous!
Not as impossible as you would think, little one. A voice whispered in her mind causing her to leap to her feet and back away quickly.
What!? How? Rena's thoughts scattered as her eyes darted from sister to sister. "How is that possible?" she finally asked, trying to remain calm. Diana slowly stood up and approached the frightened young woman, her hands held up in front of her in a calming gesture.
"There are many things you must learn about what you are and what you can do. Changing your shape is just the beginning, there is so mu
ch more." She told her gently. Rena shook her head in confusion.
"More? Wait, wait. Give me a moment, please. This is...this is a lot to take in." She said, holding her own hands out in a braking motion. Her thoughts flew as she tried to make sense of what Diana had told her. First and foremost, her ability to shift being a hereditary gift was something she was struggling greatly with. As far as she knew, no one in her family could shift. She had taken great pains throughout her life to hide it from her father, only her most trusted governess had known and she had only discovered it by accident one day when Rena had come home later than normal from her run and Mrs. Peterson had walked into her room when she shifted from a wolf to a seventeen-year-old girl.
The kind though cunning older woman had barely managed to keep her composure, though it did slip a bit before she was able to get a hold of herself. She immediately told Rena that her father must never know about what she could do, neither could anyone else. She would be hunted and destroyed as a mutant abomination. To stay safe, she must keep it hidden and she had done so, only coming close to getting caught twice more in the following years.
Now she was being told that she had inherited this ability and that there were others and they could all speak with their minds. Rena reached up and squeezed the bridge of her nose as she tried to bring order to her thoughts, deciding first and foremost, how was it genetic?
"It's past down from parent to child, from which ever parent is of Kahlian descent. If both parents are Kahlian, then obviously, so are their children." Diana explained softly, causing Rena to start violently as she hadn't actually put voice to her question.
"Did you just read my mind?" Rena demanded.
"I'm sorry. No, I wasn't reading your mind. That one thought just came through loud and clear, the way thoughts do when we're communicating. I didn't mean to startle you. We're so used to this manner of speaking that I didn't even think before answering." Diana hurried to explain, not wanting to frighten the poor woman any more than she already was. Rena nodded her understanding.