Their Pride

Their Pride Part 22

Concern flashed on his face. “You shifted to fast.  You forced your body to do something that it wasn’t ready for.”

I shrugged my aching shoulders. “It doesn’t matter.  Let’s go help Seb.  I didn’t have anyone when I first shifted, and look how I turned out.”

“Hey, your great and you know it,” he said while walking towards Seb. “Now, I think you should talk to him.  He’s not letting it go.  He’s fighting it.”

I let out a sigh and walked so I could see Sebastian’s face.  I almost flinched at the sight before me.  The leopard nose was already forming on his face, but you could still see the features of a human.  His brown eyes looked more golden as tears flowed out them.  I knew the excruciating pain that he was going through.  The only difference was that his was tenfold.  I had never heard of someone like him being able to shift, but right before my eyes, he was changing.

“Seb, just let go.  Stop fighting it.  The more you fight, the more it’s going to hurt,” I said soothingly.  His eyes closed and his body slowly relaxed.  A sat down cross-legged in front of him and just watched.  The bones in his back cracked and popped as they shifted shape.  A noise sounded beside me.  Looking over, I saw Zeke staring at me.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked.

I shook my head at him. “Not really.”

“Ally-Cat, you can’t keep everything bottled up.  If I’m going to be your enforcer, I’m going to have to do some things that you won’t like.  My job is to protect you and our species.”

“I thought that was my job,” I whispered while turning my eyes back to Seb.

“That’s true.  It will be your job, but you can’t do it by yourself.”

I shrugged. “Why is it taking so long?”

“He’s only one-fourth.  I wasn’t even sure that this would work.”

“You shouldn’t have done it,” I told him with absolute conviction in my voice.

I heard him let out a sigh as he began talking again. “It was the only way.”

“What do you mean the only way?”

“For him to be king.”

My head whipped around so I could stare at him in shock.  What did that mean?

“What do you mean?” I asked voicing my question.

He gave me a tiny smile. “Don’t pretend that you don’t already know.  No one would allow Sebastian to be king if he couldn’t shift.  They will fight the fact that you are going to be queen.  So, you know they would riot if you even pretended to let someone who couldn’t shift on the throne.”

“I know your right, but I haven’t made my decision.”

His eyes stared into mine.  I knew that he could see all the secrets in my mind.  He knew things that I wouldn’t even admit to myself.  It was going to stay that way for a while.  I didn’t want to admit anything yet.  Right now, I wanted to focus on becoming queen.  Later, I would worry about who would rule with me.

Zeke let out a laugh. “You can ignore it, but it will never go away.”

“I know,” I said and looked back at Seb.  He was lying there in his leopard form.  His body rose and fell as he panted in exhaustion.  The first shift was never invigorating.  It hurt like hell, and the pain didn’t go away quickly.  Getting down on my stomach, I scooted towards him.  As soon as I got close enough, I reached my hand out and stroked his face.  A tiny purr sounded as he rubbed his head harder into my palm.

A relieved smile crossed my face.  The entire time, I was afraid he wouldn't survive the shift, but he did.  Somehow, he had shifted.  Looking over my shoulder, I gave Zeke a questioning look.

“How did he shift?  I thought he was only one-fourth?”

Zeke just stared at me for a minute, before answering, “People in love will do a lot of things to protect the person they care for.”

For some reason, I had a feeling that those words weren’t only meant towards Seb.  Was Zeke trying to tell me that I wouldn’t have attacked him if I didn’t love Seb?  I would have done what I did no matter who it was.

“No, you wouldn’t have.  If I was fighting your sister, you would have sat back and watched the show, but this boy,” he said with a motion of his hand, “you fought for him.  You threw yourself at me for this boy.  Keep denying your feelings if you want to, but your just wasting time.”

With those words, he stood and walked towards the path that led to our car.  He didn’t tell me what he was doing, but I knew he was just giving Seb and me some privacy.  Looking down, I smiled at the large black leopard.  He was beautiful that was for sure.  His coat wasn’t as dark as mine, and his eyes were gold.  He was larger than I was, but that was normal for males.  They were always larger than the females.

I scratched behind his ear and he leaned into the touch.  His chest vibrated as his purring got louder.  His tail whipped around and rubbed down my cheek.  I let out a laugh as I realized he was paying me back.

“That was her, not me, so keep your tail to yourself.”

His eyes blinked at me slowly as his tail dropped to my side.  Picking it up, I twirled it around in a circle.

“Are you ready to shift back?” I asked him.

His large head nodded at me, but I knew he needed some directions.

“Just close your eyes and picture yourself.  Form your features in your mind slowly.  Bit by bit,” I told him as I watched the change flow over him.  Looking at his face, I knew that it wasn’t hurting him as bad as it did before.

Finally, he lay in the grass back in his human body.  His hand reached out and snagged my hand.  Tugging on me, he pulled me to his side.  I sighed and snuggled closer into his body.

“That hurt,” he said in a harsh whisper.

I let out a laugh. “If you weren’t so stubborn, then it wouldn’t have hurt that bad.”

“How was I supposed to know I would even shift?  It felt like he was pulling it out of me, and then when he had you pinned, I just snapped.”

“It’s okay.  I’m just glad you’re not dead,” I told him.

“Blunt as always,” he said in a happy voice.

“Yep, do you think I’ll need that once I become queen?”

His hand rubbed up and down my arm as he answered, “I don’t know what you’ll need, but will you promise me something?”

“What is it?”

“No matter what, even if you pick Blake to be your king, let me help you.”

I shoved my head into his side to keep him from seeing the expression on my face.  Would he really do that?  Would he really stay around if I didn’t pick him?   I didn’t have any answers to those questions, so I did the only thing I could.

“Yes,” I whispered into his side, “no matter what, I will let you help.”