Chapter 19
They shifted before his eyes, different colors, but standing together. Leading them, was the golden one, its eyes the brown of its fathers, but the fur unlike the others. Beside it, they stood, similar in every way except for size. As shifters, the three of them stood proud, strong, but as they ran, one shifter went off course.
With only two, the golden one did not know what to do, where to run. As the path narrowed, the other left, leaving the golden one on its own. Needing someone to help with guidance, the golden one trusted the wrong person. Chaos erupted in the world, lives were lost, all colors no longer ran together, and soon, leopards were extinct, all but the golden one.
Zeke jerked forward in his bed. Dreams were something he didn’t normally have. He wasn’t a dreamer, didn’t have the power. Even normal dreams, the ones with no significance, did not come to Zeke. Leaning forward, he rested his face into his palms. There was someone out there; he could feel them.
Whoever the person was, they were a strong dreamer, strong enough to pass their dreams to someone who could do something about the situation. The dream did not give him more information than he already knew. What the person had shown him was something he had already seen in his mother’s mind, something that he had learned of before he met Ally.
Was it fair of him to keep the secret from Ally? Was it the right thing to do, keep her children’s future from her? Deep down, Zeke knew that it was. If Ally knew what would happen to leopards under her children’s rule, she would try to change the future. Trying to change the future did nothing but cause repercussions, ones that he wasn’t willing to let Ally face.
It was hypercritical of him, he knew, to chastise the others for thinking of Ally before the good of their people. His mother had told him of the outcomes of Ally’s life. The different ways she could live or die. So far, the woman had escaped death, but how much longer could she run from it? How much longer could she cheat death, long enough to teach her children how to lead? Would she have long enough to teach them to stay together?
Leaning back on his bed, he rubbed his temples. There were so many questions flying through his mind, but he had no answers. It bothered him, annoyed the hell out of him to be honest, that he did not have the answers, that he could not fix the problems that would come.
Knowing that he wouldn’t fall to sleep again, he jumped from his bed, not worrying over the fact that he wore no shirt. Many shifter tribes still walked around with no clothing, saying that they enjoyed the freedom. Growing up with his mother, he could never quite grasp their beliefs.
Rounding the corner, he entered the kitchen, only to see the fridge door already open. Charlie, bent at the waist, was rifling through their fridge.
“What are you looking for?” he asked, chuckling as she jumped and banged her head on one of the shelves.
Rubbing the back of her head, she turned towards him with a glare. “Do you have any yogurt?”
“To her left.”
“Out of my head, mother.”
“Why are you growling?” Charlie asked, interrupting the conversation with his mom.
He shrugged, choosing not to answer. “It’s on the left.”
“Got it,” she whispered in triumph while holding her prize in the air.
He shook his head at her, enjoying the way that she was slowly becoming comfortable in his home. “You have another spoon?”
She cradled the yogurt to her chest, a glare on her face. “Find your own snack, this one is mine.”
“Fine,” he sighed, walking towards the bar and sitting down. “I’ll just watch.”
Her face flushed as she shifted from one foot to the other. Letting out a sigh, she narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to the fridge. Throwing a yogurt cup at him, she settled across from him. “You get the spoons.”
He reached over, grabbing the spoons that were conveniently sitting right next to him. Did it bother him that his mother knew everything that was about to happen, that she had prepared the scene herself? A little, but he knew the woman was simply trying to make him happy. How could he be mad at her when all she thought about was his happiness?
“One for you,” he said, handing one over, “and one for me.”
She stared at the spoon as if it was going to sprout fangs. “Where did this come from?”
“You’ll understand one day,” he promised. Lifting the top on his yogurt, he dug in, not checking to see what flavor it was. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked between bites.
“Bad dream,” she mumbled, taking a small bite from her yogurt. “It’s the weirdest thing too, because they’re always about shifters.”
He froze. “What kind of shifters?”
“That’s the thing,” she said, shoving another spoonful in her mouth, “it’s all kinds of shifters. Wolves, bears, owls, leopards, everything. That can’t be right though, can it? We don’t mingle; we don’t intermate, and we would never run together.”
“Who’s standing at the lead?”
She sent him a confused expression. “What?”
“The front,” he said in a slightly urgent voice. “The shifter running in the front, what does it look like?”
“See,” she said with a laugh, “this is why I know that it’s fake. It’s a leopard, but instead of being a normal color, it’s gold. There aren’t any golden shifters.”
Zeke nodded, not commenting on her statement. Standing to his feet, he smiled at her. “I’m going to sleep. You should try the same. We have a long day tomorrow. My mom is going to teach you how to work with your powers, and Peyton and I will work with your fighting.”
She nodded, a slightly worried expression on her face. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he lied, “everything is fine.”
He turned his back on her, leaving the kitchen. Thoughts flew through his mind. Charlie didn’t know that there was a golden shifter, but how did she know about the dreams? Was the person who was sending him the dreams sending them to her also? There was only one way to find out, but it would have to wait until morning. Getting into his bed, he blanked his mind and let the darkness take over. For now, he would let his worries fall away, but come morning, he had work to do.