Life of a Nomad

Chapter 1

 My disobedience was awarded with Alex backhanding me. The force of impact sent me reeling to the wall behind me as the sound of the smack echoed through the room. All of the present pride member, except Alex’ friends, which kept munching, stilled their movements and turned towards us when Alex started his angry rant, which was accompanied by the standard kicks and punches.

“My father found you at the side of your dead mother on our land. Instead of leaving you to die as he should have, he accepted you in this pride, he made you a part of our family!” he snarled while he kicked me in the stomach, leaving me gasping for air. I curled myself up in a feeble attempt to protect myself.

My inner cat came just below the surface, supporting and helping me through the beating while she whispered to me with her soft, mental voice. A new kick, aimed at my ribs, made me cringe and whimper when I heard the distinctive crack of breaking ribs. The pain flooded my system, making me painfully aware of all the pulsing bruises, cuts and scrapes that covered my body.

“You’re weak, pathetic, a disgrace of our kind. The pride would be better of without you.” Alex stated, his voice coated with venom while he continued his assault on my body. A few of his friends snickered, looking intently at my beating while they kept eating their breakfast. The rest of the pack had expressions shifting from boredom, shock to shame.

“Lie.” My inner cat assured me. “He keeps us weak because he feels threatened by our presence. We play a vital roll in this pride.” I held onto those words, hoping they were real while my consciousness wavered when Alex kicked me in my broken ribs, wrenching another pained yelp from my lips.

“We don’t need you in this pride, Christina! In fact, the pride wouldn’t mourn over you when you’d die.” A dark expression covered Alex’ face as several pride members retreated from the room, the others kept their eyes on Alex, now afraid to look at me.

“He’s lying.” My cat spoke softly, her voice echoing through my head, caressing my mind while I heard Alex circling around me. I was shoved on my back while Alex snarled, “You can’t even shift!” A fist smacked against my face, so hard that my head bounced back from the floor. Blood flooded my throat while I swallowed harshly.

“He’s lying yet again. You can shift. Just because we’ve never shown them doesn’t mean that we can’t.”

My vision blurred again and I blinked rapidly while my breathing became labored. Slowly, a pair of boots walked in my vision. I blinked again, staring at Alex’ combat boots before one leg started pulling back. My eyes closed on their own accord while I let out my breath in a defeated sigh while I prepared for the kick that was aimed at my face.

It never came though. Opening my heavy eyelids, I witnessed the struggle in front of me. Had the pride finally stepped up? My eyes landed on the man that held Alex in a firm grip and I took a slow breath.

No, it was just Luke, Alex younger brother. He was the only one in the pride that ever stood up for me. Confusion struck me then; It was strange that Luke was here, because he had accompanied his father to a tribe meeting…which means…