Their Pride

Their Pride Part 9

Chapter 8

“No.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes. I brought you out here, and I want to see you shift.”

“How do you know that you won’t get hurt? Did your grandfather explain it to you?” I demanded.

“Not really, but it can’t be that bad. I’ve seen him as a leopard before and it was fine,” he said while running his foot into the dirt.

I crossed my arms over my chest and contemplated the stupidity of his new idea. On one hand, it would be nice to know that he really wasn’t scared of me; on the other hand, I didn’t know how my cat would react to him. She appeared to like him now, but what would happen when she was in control? How would he be able to take it when he realized that it wasn’t me that was dominant when we are a leopard but her?

“Not going to happen,” I repeated. There was no way that I was going to scare him off now that I knew I liked him.

He widened his eyes and pushed his lower lip out. I tried to turn my head before the sight registered in my head, but it was no use. He was using the puppy dog look. ‘Just ignore it Alex.’ I told myself. It didn’t work.

“Please, Alex. I want to see you. You’ll be beautiful I know it,” he pleaded.

My heart constricted at his words. “You have to promise me you won’t freak out. Also, please don’t come very close until you know she doesn’t want to eat you.”

He nodded his head with a slight frown etched on his face. I took a deep breath and stared into his eyes. Shifting wasn’t as hard as it used to be, not like the first time I shifted. All the pain would lessen now that I accepted the fact that my cat wanted out every once in a while. The pain didn’t scare me; it was the fear. The only other time I had shifted in front of someone, they feared me. I didn’t think I could take Sebastian’s fear; it would devastate me knowing that he feared the animal part of me.

The popping noises reverberated in the open area in which we stood. The noises seemed to intensify, but I knew it was just because of the nervousness I was experiencing. Not taking as long as the first time, the black fur sprouted from my skin. I kept my eyes locked with his the entire time I turned into a leopard. Not once did I see the fear or disgust I was used to.

Relief settled into me as I realized that he might accept me. Falling to the ground, my back arches as it shifts. The familiar feeling of being pushed back into my own mind started to happen. This was it. The time to see if he could accept her, accept us. She was about to be in control, and I could only hope that nothing bad happened as I felt her take over.

I always thought it was odd. That feeling that you couldn’t control your body, that no matter what you did struggling didn’t help, and trying to take back over just left you with a headache. All I could do was sit back and watch the show. I loved the run though, the feeling of that freedom was almost too much to handle. I’ve never felt so exhilarated doing anything else. This time though, I was guessing she didn’t just want to run.

Our large leopard head turned in Seb’s direction, and she sauntered towards him keeping her tail in a soft swaying motion that would look seductive if it wasn’t for the fact that she was just a giant cat. Getting closer to him, I noticed that the glow was in his brown eyes. He shifted between his two feet and his hands jerked.

She found this funny and let out a deep chuckle sound that vibrated throughout our diaphragm. Stopping in front of him, she sat back on her flanks, but kept her tail moving. She seemed to think that he would like this for some reason and I couldn’t do anything about it. She cocked her head to the side contemplating the situation. I knew what she wanted to do seeing as I could hear everything her cat-mind was saying. From the short sentences that were going through our head, I knew she wanted him to pet her.