---Christina’s POV---
Rain tickled softly on the canopy, dropping down to the floor below and churning the sand to mud that clung to my paws. I yowled in annoyance but it couldn’t be helped; I was close to another pride’s borders and shifting now meant presenting myself in a more vulnerable position.
A rather big drop splat on the middle of my muzzle, making me shake my head before I hissed sharply at the sky and decided to take cover until the worst of the storm had passed. When I spotted a small cave, I slithered inside with little problem before starting to lick at the wet fur.
The heady smell of fresh rain and moist plants brushed my nose with each gust of wind as I continued to groom myself. Occasionally I caught the scent of deer enduring the storm or the odd bird that decided to brave the winds.
“What I wouldn’t give for a warm bed and some shelter right now…” I mused, feeling Eva’s agreement almost instantly. Both of us didn’t like this weather at all, at least not when we were in the middle of it.
A small noise in the forest stood out, halting me as I was just leaning back to stretch before I slowly turned to the entrance of the cave. Four pair of paws were standing outside, waiting as a pair of feet were walking closer and stopped just outside the cave.
My whiskers twitched, a low yowl rumbling through my throat as a warning to whoever was starting to crouch outside. If they were thinking to pull me out of my dry hidey-hole, they had another thing coming.
I caught a whiff of nerves on the male standing just outside, obviously wary to poke his hand inside while I heard a deep growl coming higher of the ground than I expected. The feet shuffled a bit before the man spoke up.
“Just come out, I promise we don’t mean any harm. We just want to know why a Nomad stumbled on our pride lands without presenting itself.” I shuffled my weight a bit but didn’t move another muscle. I was in my right to stay where I was and they knew it.
The paws moved restlessly while I heard another pair scrape over the rock that formed the cave. Letting out another yowl, I slowly curled my lips up to hiss, letting them know that I didn’t quite appreciate being harassed like this.
“Just…please just follow us to our pride. We don’t harm Nomads but several Nomadic cats have reported the opposite from neighboring prides.” Now that caught my attention.
“He’s telling the truth…but I don’t think it’s the complete truth.” I relayed to Eva, who grumbled as a reply. Suddenly, the light disappeared out of the cave, startling me before I looked up, staring straight into a lion’s eye as it peered inside.
With my breath stuck in my throat, I watched avidly, waiting to see what it would do. Surprisingly, it seemed as shocked as I was before it growled lowly, and retreated.
“They know. Of our race I mean. He recognized what we are and is most likely informing his companions.”Eva hushed while I crawled a bit backwards, keeping my eyes on the bare feet of the only shifted lion.
I was just making the decision to freeze time, rush out and hide away from them when a cool tingle rushed over my spine. Seconds later, my eyes clouded over as I witnessed several prides coming together, the King of the African Lion’s pride and more importantly, they were gathering because of me.
I shook my head to clear it, knowing instinctively that I needed to follow these lions. Even without my marks softly burning underneath my skin, I knew this would be live changing. Somehow, prides of different werecat species would gather on Lion territory to meet me. And if I had seen things correctly, Collin was already on their lands.
The strong scent of the lions wafted in my nose as I slowly crept forwards, whiskers twitching and mouth opened to taste the air waving towards me.
Three male lions were standing outside, their scent strong, nearly overpowering as it managed to hide the scent of the two females standing a bit further away from the cave. Due to the rain, their scents were hovering low above the ground along with the scent of rain, wet soil and something more familiar, though I haven’t smelled it in years.
“Our mentor…Why do they smell like him?”
Stopping just outside the cave entrance, I paused for a second to reply Eva. “I don’t know. But we’ll find out soon.”
Stepping out of the covers of the rocky den, I came eye to eye with the five lions, whom were all watching me closely, waiting to see how I would react to them. I simply twitched with my tail before sitting on my haunches, my tail curling up around my paws.
Leveling my gaze on the man who had spoken, I eyed him as if to ask, “Now what?” The man seemed to hesitate now that I sat in front of him before he glanced at his friends.
The three males were lined up side by side with different sized manes. From what I’ve learned and heard during my journey, the bigger the mane, the higher up the lion was on the ranking.
One of the males barely had any mane at all, more like a fuzzy line of fur around his throat and belly. The other two lions were like night and day; The big lion on my right had dark manes, the nearly black fur fanning out in a rather big mane before tracing down to its belly.
The other male had a honey-colored mane of the same size, his dark gold eyes keeping an eye on me before he rumbled softly. I guess this was the lion that had peeked into my shelter.
As I observed them closely, the cats started to circle around me, making me twitch and curl my lips up the slightest bit whilst uttering a low yowl. I felt dwarfed by these big felines but didn’t let that deter me from following the man when he lead us away.
---
The Lion’s pride was different than that of the Leopards. The houses were more modern and centered around a rather large building in the middle of the town. A few humans were living here as well, I discovered with shocked curiosity. Normally we avoided the rare human because they didn’t quite understand us, often even hunted us for what we are.
I felt fur brush against my own and blinked as I looked down, smiling when I looked down at the curious lion cub. It was sniffing at my fur before nudging me before letting out a playful growl when my tail flicked through the air.
“Mavis, don’t…leave her alone.” My guide sighed tiredly as the cub didn’t listen and instead lunged for my tail. I chuckled, flicking it out of her reach before twisting it temptingly just above her head. She crouched down on her haunches and wriggled her rump slightly, aiming to pounce.
A small crowd formed as the cub pounced with a playful “Rerrrr!”, grabbing a mouthful of tail before giving it a yank. Making sure I didn’t came over as threatening, I swatted softly at its side, pushing her away before letting out a yowl of my own. The cub blinked and stared up at me before pouncing at my neck, trying to get a bite out of my ears.
“Okay Mavis, that’s enough.” She was caught mid-pounce, making her mew in annoyance before she looked up, probably giving him a very good puppy-eye expression. He shook his head, making his long brown hair fling from side to side before saying, “Nope, that’s not gonna work on me little one. Off you go.”
The cub was placed to the floor and after a wistful look my way, she huffed and trotted back to a woman, probably her mother and nuzzled her legs. The man smiled apologetically and shook his hair out, reaching back to tie it up and out of his face.
“Sorry about that, Mavis tends to become rather playful when she sees someone in their cat-form. I’m Erin, Second in command of this town and loyal to our King Leo.” His hazel eyes glazed into mine with a curious yet calculated look. I stared right back at him, knowing I was challenging him or rather his lion but I felt that I couldn’t just back down.
He snarled lowly in his throat then blinked, as if the reaction wasn’t coming from him. Without thinking twice, I shifted in front of them and crossed my arms, tilting an eyebrow. “So you guys wanted me to visit this town because you’ve had encounters with Nomads like me that didn’t want anything to do with the pride. I wonder why.”
Erin flinched at the sarcastic jab and rubbed a hand over his neck. “I’m sorry about that, I lost control over my lion for a moment.” I nodded but didn’t relax, instead I glanced around at the village, observing the body language of the other lions.
“You know, with the way all of you are staring like me with that focused look in your eyes and not a single smile, you’re making it come across as if I am prey?” I stated, making the people come out of their daze before blinking and looking around.
Erin followed my look, paling slightly as he nodded. “ I see what you mean…” I chuckled slightly, gaining a few weird looks before I grew serious and glanced at the lions that brought me here, then back at Erin.
“You didn’t want me to come here just because I crossed the borders. You need help with the pride.” Erin nodded again and motioned to follow him as he explained, “Yes, a few months ago, a nomad crossed our lands. One of our pride members couldn’t control his inner animal and attacked the cat. He’s still recovering but we don’t have any healers.”
My gut twitched and felt heavy as he opened the door to a medium sized house. I couldn’t help but shift and run up to the bed, startling the woman that was taking care of the heavily mangled man on the bed but when she tried to push me off, I hissed sharply, showing of my teeth before looking back down.
A small whimpered yowl came out of my muzzle before I laid beside Collin, whom was barely conscious. He smiled weakly, though you could tell the simple motion needed him a lot of effort.
The lions in the room watched me closely and I could hear Erin gasp as my markings flashed brightly, but right now, I didn’t care that I announced what I was nor did I give them a sideways glance as I focused all my attention on healing Collin’s wounds.
My life was already changing as Collin’s skin knitted together but I didn’t regret my choice and I would deal with the consequences of my choice.
After all, it was my Destiny.
Yes, it's shorter than usual but I'm gonna place a small twist in the book, where the story can go two ways. Hope you enjoyed the chapter ^-^