---Paige’s POV---
The haze in my mind was slowly fading as muttered sentences and whispering voices were echoing in my head. All I could feel were my arms chained to the wall, my legs folded underneath me and a warmth coming from my lower abdomen before the whispers hushed after saying one clearly spoken sentence.
“They are coming…coming…..” it was a mixture of two boyish, young voices and I felt a small pang in my heart, as if I should recognize them but yet, I didn’t. Footsteps pounded through the hallway before the door in front of me opened and several Drained appeared, leading an anxious Lucius in the room.
He stared at my stomach and I blinked several times, growling at each Drained when they ventured too close for my comfort. It was strange though that they didn’t say anything. Instead all of them were silently staring at me before Lucius curled his lips in a sneer.
“What exactly did you see? What happened?” He snapped while turning to the Drained beside him. The creature swallowed compulsively and let his eyes roam between Lucius’ face and my stomach.
“Her stomach…the heartbeats there accelerated and there was a hue around it before disappearing.” He stated in short, jerky sentences while Lucius stared at him with a calculative look in his eyes. His silver eyes suddenly snapped towards me, their gaze enveloped in anger and suspicion.
“What did you do, huh? Use on of your gifts to warn somebody my pet?” I curled my lips up in distaste and pushed myself closer to the wall, my legs feeling oddly functional. Deciding not to pull their focus towards my movability, I replied, “My gift is healing. You might’ve remembered the time where you nearly drained me to death? And I’m not your pet!”
Lucius acted as if he was deep in thought before giving me a sick smile, his eyes darkening slightly. “Ah yes. Good times. Don’t worry, I won’t be draining you like that again. I’ll make sure that neither you nor your offspring will get close to dying. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be getting my regular feeding.”
He flashed his teeth at me before all the Drained moved away slowly, as if they were reluctant to get out of the room. My hands were slowly turning to fists as I noticed Lucius’ eyes gaining a red rim, meaning that his intentions were to feed from me.
My instincts flared as my legs pulled up, hiding my stomach from view. Him feeding from me was bad for my children and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to them. I felt energy flow through my veins, energy that clearly wasn’t my own while my stomach felt overheated.
Just when Lucius smirked and took the menacing first step towards me, I felt that all the sedatives in my bloodstream had burned up and I snarled, pulling at the chains holding me to the wall.
They shattered instantly and my anger flooded through me as my eyes fixed on Lucius. He had captured my parents, captured my friends and captured my mate! Above all, he wanted to use my family and my kids for his sick dreams.
My body started shifting on its own accord as my canines elongated rapidly, fur started sprouting and my limbs were shifting, growing longer and heavier by the second. Lucius’s shocked expression made way for anger as he lunged for me.
The roar I let loose shocked me momentarily but not enough to stop me from lunging at him, raking a big, catlike paw over his face. He hissed and zipped out of my reach while I raced after him, letting my instincts of this form take over. I didn’t know what I’ve become but I was sure that neither Lucius nor his Drained were going to touch me.
I was right because the Drained were all waiting for me, closing the door when Lucius fled out of the room. Snarling and roaring, I smashed against the walls, cooling my anger on the thick metal doors before I backed away.
Lucius has obviously thought this through; he had taken in the possibility of us shifting since the walls and doors were massive. But then again, his ego had meddled as well, because he didn’t place me in a specialized confinement.
My eyes searched for a way out, my ears flicking at each distant sound while my tail swished through the air, signaling my irritation. For the first time since my anger got the best of me, I was able to think clearly.
“What am I? This isn’t a form I’ve ever changed into…and what was that sudden rush of energy?” My form was larger than anything I’ve been before, even my grizzly form but I knew I was something feline.
“No time to ponder what I am right now. Focus. The others are in separated rooms; I know that much from the Drained talking like I was out of it. My parents are somewhere different…so…should I go for my parents first or get the boys out to help me?”
A nudge in my abdomen stopped me momentarily before I felt my lips curl up around my canines in a weird smile. I had made my choice and it seemed that the kids stood behind it.
I could hear the Drained conversing with Lucius, or more likely, Lucius was barking orders at them, telling them to reinforce my doors and to get another dose of sedative. A smirk slipped on my face before I turned around, focusing on the pull of my family.
“Let’s see if that wall can stop me without being reinforced.”
---Sean’s POV---
“Where are the twins?”
“Where are we? What happened- Lucius!”
I groaned and shook the last of the sedative off of me, trying to focus my mind as I heard Cary and Cian shout out, desperately calling after Lizzie and Beth while their chains protested loudly when they struggled to get out.
They both hissed, snarls turning animalistic with each tug, letting me know that their vampire natures were taking over. My eyes scanned the surroundings before realizing that we were in Lucius’ mansion and on top of that, the other males from out company were shouting out for their mates as well.
“Both of you calm down! We can’t help anyone if you don’t think with your heads. I know you need your mates right now but they need you guys to think clearly.” I snapped, unable to control my own temper as I thought about Lucius, undoubtedly feeding from Paige’s blood as we spoke.
The thought of him draining her made me sick to the core, since she was carrying my own Beloved in her womb. What was bad for Paige was bad for her kids as well and I couldn’t imagine the fact that I could lose my one and only before I’ve laid eyes on her.
It would completely destroy me.
Shouting in the distance enabled me to pinpoint the general direction of Tyler and Jacob but I was a bit worried when I didn’t hear Nick’s voice, nor any of the women. Did they kill Nick for being Fawna’s mate? And what did they do to the females?
Cian interrupted my inner brooding by hissing loudly and cursing while the scent of burning flesh attacked my senses. The sunlight behind the curtains wasn’t strong but there were some small, strategically placed holes that allowed flecks of sunlight into the room, slowly tracing an arch over our exposed skin.
“That bastard isn’t even here yet and he’s already torturing us!” Cary snarled between clenched teeth before he started yanking on his chains with renewed vigor. His eyelids shivered slightly when a metallic sound resounded through the room before he hung in his chains.
“Cary! Stay awake! Come on bro’, listen to me!” Cian shouted out while my eyes searched for the reason of Cary’s drowsiness. They quickly found it; a pressurized drip was attached to the bonds around our wrists and was obviously reacting on our struggles. As soon as we were able enough to trash and possibly break the hold of the chains, the small needles tickling our wrists would jab in and give us another dose.
“Don’t move Cary. Stay calm and let it work out. Use your powers and burn it out of your system.” Cian suggested softly, keeping his voice calm though I could detect the strain on it while his eyes found mine. “What’s the plan?”
My eyes traced the room before my feet slowly shuffled, testing the edges of my ankle restraints. I smiled softly when I didn’t find any needles there but cursed when a slight push against them made the needles pinch my wrists threateningly.
“We need to get out of these things but Lucius has made it nearly impossible; the needles react on the ankle bonds as well. Your powers….can they break the bonds?” Cian thought about it before creating a blade of water and tried cutting through his brother’s bonds. The blade’s sharp edge created little to none damage but it was a start.
“W-what is t-that sound?” Cary mumbled with a thick tongue, trying to raise his head before letting it droop again as it proved too much an effort. At his mentioning of sounds, both Cian and I raised our head and held our breaths, listening closely.
Paws were scratching in the distance, along with snarls and hissed voices following its path. Just when I was about to respond, a shiver ran through the building before we heard several Drained scream, their shouts muffled by the roar of a wall collapsing.
“What the hell-“ Cian started, staring wide-eyed in the direction of where the noises were coming from. Metal was shrieking harshly in protest and the high, thick walls groaned as something collided against them.
The sounds were growing rapidly and before we even knew it, dust was dancing in the air from cracks in the ceiling, the walls against my back shivering slightly. An animalistic roar resounded from the outside, which pulled my attention before I heard Lucius scream in dismay.
“Don’t just stand there you useless idiots! Dig us out and sedate that bitch!” I let out a laugh at his shrill shrieking, enjoying the fact that he obviously could hear me and started throwing insults my way while the Drained started hissing and spewing under their breaths, probably trying to pry themselves from under the collapsed wall.
“Man, I would pay to see the looks on their faces.” Cian chuckled before we both tensed as the wall swayed slightly before crumbling on the spot. Dust filled the room and concealed whatever stood behind the gaping wall, though we could hear its breathing rumble through its chest. The sound did come high off the floor though, which crossed the werewolves out.
Slowly, the dust started growing thinner, allowing us a view of the animal jumping in the room, its shoulders scraping the ceiling mid-jump. A low-pitched shocked sound escaped me before large sky-blue, feline eyes focused on me.
I could only recognize the creature due to its extremely large canines, glinting sharply in the dull lighting, passing beyond the Saber-toothed Tiger’s chin with ease. The blue eyes pierced through me as it let out a deadly hiss, edging closer to us.
Cian cursed softly, while Cary seemed to sober up a bit. Even I had to fight with my body’s instincts to run and hide from this big feline, but I knew that this must be one of the soulshifters.
A paw swung through the air and crushed the device around my wrists, enabling to free myself as the cat did the same to the twins before growling lowly. I took a moment to take this rare animal in, overlooking the tiger-like body though it had the sandy brown fur of a lion. There were barely there stripes on the hind legs and lower back, as well as a faded mask on the face.
“Paige?” Cary rasped softly, halting the Saber cat in its pacing before its ears flickered. My eyes widened for a moment before I said, “It’s her but her instincts are very strong now. So I would suggest stepping back Cian.” I added, noticing that Paige was watching his every move.
He nearly tripped over his own feet as Paige suddenly turned, her head at eyelevel while she looked down on him. Cian swallowed harshly and offered her a weak smile before shivering slightly as she leaned closer to his body.
“Paige…” I stated lowly, snapping her out of the low warning rumble but unintentionally drawing the attention to myself. Her head shot up before she curled her lips up and growled threateningly, flicking her tail through the air before she huffed and turned to the hole in the wall.
‘The others…” I heard her voice very faintly before she darted off. I cursed loudly and dashed after her while thinking to the twins. “You guys try to find and save all the women, we’ll go after the guys. As soon as they are safe we’ll go after the soulshifters as well.”
“Roger. Be safe you two.” Cian and Cary said united before their thoughts were flooded with thought of finding their mates. I rushed after Paige as she effortlessly plowed through a wall, forcing me to dodge the debris, as she seemed to follow her instincts right now.
There was no doubt in my mind that she would kill anyone who would get in her way, Drained or not. It was safer now to give her some space until she could control her instincts better, and that would be when we found her mate because I could feel her freak out in her mind. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess of protecting her pups and finding her mate.
I prayed for Lucius that Jacob was unharmed…if not, he was going to face a wrath I wouldn’t wish to my worst enemy.
---Daniel’s POV---
My heart was thumping wildly in my chest as the elders were mumbling, glancing from the display on the wall to the paperwork in their hands. Some of them had hope glinting in their eyes, others were desperately trying to swipe their faces clean from emotion.
I could feel that they were all for my idea…Paige’s idea. When I had told them that a Soulshifter had suggested the change in our organization, they had all been stunned beyond believe.
Looking around the room, I could barely see the lights of Rio behind the tall ceiling to floor windows or the other Hunters gathering at the edge of the room. I could feel all eyes on me though, some hopeful and joyous, others filled with hate and disgust.
One of the elders looked up in my direction. “What makes you think this,” he gestured to the plan, written out in detail on the papers he held, “Is the best course of action for us?” This is it…
I let out a small huff of expiration before filling my lungs to the brim. “It gives us a way out of our curse while those that haven’t gone through the change can still do what we’re forced to do. Paige’s suggestion is ideal because we can redeem ourselves and win our wolves back while those of us who struggle with the redemption don’t need to feel depressed.
It’s far better than what we have now. How many of you hate the bloodstains on your hands, knowing that you’ve taken the lives of countless of innocent people against your own will? We can’t undo the curse but we can mold it to what we want.”
The wrinkled face of Arthur smiled down on me, obviously proud of my words. It sent a wave of hushed whispers through the rest of the hunters present while the other elders debated softly. Finally they stopped talking while their leader, Marvin, stood up.
“We will need to contact all the others before we can give an answer and start the changes. But the hope you and that soulshifter have given us will undoubtedly push this idea a long way ahead. This is a shift in our Era, and it is based on the choice we are going to make. We can not take this lightly.”
I bowed in respect before slowly leaving the room, the hunters trailing behind me as Marvin told them all to leave and come back in four hours.
“So, we can only wait and see now, right?” James asked me while he came up to walk beside me. I nodded and stared at the statue of Christ like I had been a long time ago. I nodded and sighed softly.
“Now we wait and see. And pray that they make the right decision so we can save the soulshifters before it’s too late.”
Tumtumtuuuuum..... xD So, what's going on? And what did you think of Paige's new form?
The trailer to the side is how my Sabertoothed tiger looks like ^-^ I liked how they portrayed it in 10.000 BC :)
Comment, Vote ^-^ I'll give lots of love back :)