A Summer To Never Forget {Complete}

30. Archon

        [It’s okay hun, she has nothing on you.] Riles gently extracted himself from Carlos and Alice’s petting before slowly getting off the bed. As he rose back on two feet he shifted back, wobbled dangerously once again before grabbing the bed rail for support. “Are you okay Riley?” Alice looked a little worried as Riles clenched his teeth against the nausea. “Yeah I am, it’s just that my head swims since I had the concussion and get up too quickly.” I handed him his underwear and Pack sweats. We left soon after that, we had to report to the King about our latest meeting with the human council.

        “So when are you going to tell the team that you’re no longer a member?” I questioned Keelan later that week, he still had to tell the team that he shifted. He worriedly bit his lip “If I do they would demand and demonstration, and I don’t think I can do that here with all the sounds and smells.” Not that he could hide the fact that he had shifted, he had gained a few more pounds in solid muscle. I understand his worry, the first time he shifted at the Pack house he went nuts, ran around like a lunatic, roaring like mad. “Well if you want to I could be there, you know, as a familiar scent.” He looked at me wide eyed, “You’d do that for me?” I shrugged “Well, you’re Pack now and we help each other out.” Keelan nodded his head in agreement “I will let you know when. Will you ask Riles and Dillan to come too? I would feel a lot saver with them around too.

        Riles readily agreed to be there, I mean he was my ride there and back again anyway. And he was my mate, meaning he would do almost anything to please or help me in anyway. It would be a little harder to convince Dillan to agree. “So are you going to tell me what’s on your mind?” I must have been so deep in thought that I never brought my spoon full of rice to my mouth. “I am trying to come up with a fool proof plan for Dillan to agree with coming to watch Keelan shift.” Riles chuckled “Why don’t you just ask him instead? I am pretty sure he would rather have you tell him the truth than lie to him. We can go over after dinner, he should be home. On doctors’ orders.”

        That’s how Riles and I found ourselves on the outskirts of the Pack business centre (where the Pack house is and our house) after dinner. “Does Dillan really live this far away from others?” I asked curious as to why he would rather be out here on his own. “No not really, he moved to the centre after becoming the Pack executioner. His family lived out here, and the doctor ordered for him to have peace and quiet so the King ordered him to go out here and rest as the doctor said.” We both ducked under a low hanging branch as we follow a well walked on path. “So you’re saying if the King didn’t order him he mightn’t have rested like the doctor said?” I knew Dillan was stubborn but surely he wasn’t this stubborn. Riles shrugged, silently saying it was probably so.

        “If this is his family house, why does it look like the way it does? Aren’t there more of his family in that house?” I had a sinking feeling in my gut as I looked at the dilapidated two story building. Riles just looked just as sad as I felt. He carefully walked up the rotten porch and knocked on the door. We heard some shuffling sounds of feet behind the flimsy door that separated us from the house. A groggily looking Dillan opened the door; it looked like he hadn’t slept peacefully in days. “Hey Dillan, can we come in?” It was not as he had much choice as Riles shoulders his way in. Grunting slightly, Dillan took a few steps back, motioning for me to come in as well. 

        Looking around the poor state of the hall and the living room, I found Riles leaning against the wall near the bay window. Dillan flopped down on a run-down couch “So what can I do for you two today?” I gingerly sat down on the edge of the only decent armchair in the room, wringing my hands together. “Well, we are here with a question for you.” Dillan looked bored as I said so “Don’t go thinking that just because we went to get Keelan together that you can ask me any favours!” He defensively snapped. I glared back at him. “The question came from Keelan, he wanted you present when he is going to shift in front of school.” Dillan jumped up in the couch, no longer slouching.

        “What do you mean he’s going to shift in front of school?” Dillan looked angry, enraged even. “I mean to say is he is going to quit the football team because he promised to stop once it was clear he could shift. Since his first shift was a few weeks ago, he doesn’t trust himself around people at school when he shifts. He said he would feel saver with you and Riles present.” Dillan relaxed a little, must have hit a nerve with the whole school thing. “Yeah….yeah I’ll be there just let me know when and where.” He waved his hand dismissively “You can go now you know.” I bit my lip not too sure that he would be alright. “Are you sure we can’t do anything for you? I mean like bring you groceries and such?” Dillan rolled his eyes as he got up and shuffled to the front door, opening it. “No, I don’t need anything. I don’t need your help!”

       ~~~~

        Keelan was nervously wringing his hands as he paced up and down the football field in front of me. “Relax Keelan, you’ll be fine. Riles and Dillan are here, nothing will happen to you. I promise.” The coach and the team agreed to meet with Dillan about his ‘condition’ as they called it. “Well Hamilton” The pot-bellied coach said as he and the team walked on the field, stopping a good few feet away. “What’s this I hear about you turning into one of those freaks?” Keelan flinched slightly, making us step forward protectively, but Dillan held out a hand to stop us. “I told you I would quit if could shift right? Well…. I can. I can shift, so I quit the team.” The coach and several team mates laughed until they saw that Keelan was serious. “Well than show us.” The coach jeered. He looked back nervously at us before face his team again. His skin rippled, cloth tore, bones snapped and reformed, muscles shrinking and pulling taut. It wasn’t long before the seven feet tall, tan coloured lioness stood where Keelan stood.

        Their mouths dropped as they took in Keelan’s new form. "The actual fuck?! You freaking monster!” One teammate shouted, making Keelan snarl in anger, shutting him up. “It’s not smart to anger or annoy him right now. So for your own good wait for that kind of shit when he shifts back.” Dillan snapped. Keelan shifted back, hastily pulled on the extra clothes we brought in his gym bag. “Well I guess this is it then.” I could hear the repressed anguish and pain in his voice. He had been friends with most of these guys for years, and now they look at him with disgust and hate. The coach nodded, not knowing what to say, turned to the group of boys “Malone! You’re the new quarterback!” He bellowed before he walked off with the whole team behind him. No body looked back to look at Keelan one more time. “Let’s go Keelan, let’s leave this place.” Keelan glared at me through tear-filled eyes before he ran off.

        Damn it!