---Christina’s POV---
I woke up fairly early the next morning. My eyes blinked sleepily as they searched the room before the dull pain of the healing wounds remembered me what happened the night before and the warning Luke gave me.
My eyes didn’t focus on the empty room, the bare walls or the small window that was barred from the outside. I stared at the door, noticing that the paint was slowly peeling off while I thought of a way to survive.
Not only did I needed to survive the next two months without food or support from the pack, I knew that I had to train myself for the Proving; All the other whelps of the pride would receive basic training in combat, stealth and such while I, as the runt wouldn’t be allowed to do as much as watch the training. Especially under Alex’ commands.
A knock on the door brought my attention back to the present. The chieftain walked in, closely followed by Alex and Luke, who gave me a pointed look. I moved to sit up, winching slightly when my still healing ribs protested against the motion.
Alex smirked at that, his eyes shining with some sick amusement before he pulled his face in a blank expression as his father looked towards them. “Morning Christina. How are you feeling?” The chief asked softly, making me frown as I looked at him. Since when was he so worried about my well-being?
The chief smiled reassuringly at me, although it didn’t work as I could sense his unease and the waves of satisfaction that came of Alex as he kept a close eye on me. Something was off, I could sense it. Luke was glancing from me to his brother, his father and gave a small shake of his head. “He doesn’t know.” He mouthed.
Oh, he didn’t know what Alex was planning. Great, just great. I cleared my throat softly, “Still sore but getting better sir.” I replied with slight hesitation. The chief smiled at me before he waved at Alex, “I gave my eldest control over the pride so he can grow accustomed of taking charge. He’s your chief for now and I expect you to treat him with respect.”
Luke scoffed at that but managed to cover the sound with a loud cough before his father and brother took notice. I nodded slowly, turning towards Alex as I lowered my head begrudgingly, knowing that I had to honor him as chief although he wasn’t worthy of the title.
Alex grinned widely at this and stepped forwards. “You’re supposed to do your chores again, starting from tonight. And, “ he added as his eyes gained that wicked gleam while he smirked, “You can’t ask nor take any food from the pride. As I stated before Christina, you don’t deserve it.”
This statement was followed by the loud growl of his outraged father as Luke shot me another pointed look but Alex simply cut him off with a gesture of his hand. “I’m in charge now old man and what I say goes. You only said that I couldn’t beat her nor command others to do so. You’ve never said that I can’t starve her.”
With that, Alex shot me a self-satisfied, evil grin, shoved his shoulder against Luke’s before he stepped out of the room with long, proud strides. Luke slowly looked up at his father and let out a warning snarl before he sighed deeply and turned towards me with a defeated expression.
I leaned back against the cool wall behind me and sighed, “It’s okay Luke. I’ll manage so stop worrying. I’ve lived in this pride for twelve years, “I shrugged slightly, “I’ve grown accustomed to what Alex can or can’t do.”
Luke nodded slightly, not able to look me in the eye as I saw his cheek glistening with something wet before he brushed past his dad. The old chief didn’t move, shell-shocked at the behavior of his eldest while I started to think.
How was I going to survive in the next two months? No food from the pride, meaning that I had to get my own; fresh. I ignored the presence of the Chief as I stood up, momentarily clutching my side in pain before I bit through it and made my way to the small bathroom attached to my room.
“We’ll need to hunt, in this or my form.” My cat spoke softly, thinking of all the hunting possibilities in and around the pride lands. I agreed with her while I replaced my bandages as my cat continued, “Best on the outskirts of the pride lands. If Alex finds out, he’ll command us not to.” I nodded again and quickly dressed myself before starting towards the door to get out of here.
“What are you doing?” I looked over my shoulder, halting in the doorway as the voice of the Chief waved towards me. Looking back at him, I only saw the man that slowly had lost my respect over the years until he was a man I no longer recognized.
“Surviving.” I replied coldly before I hurried out of the house, gaining a few sad looks from the pride; they were informed of my faith. Luke noticed me on the way out and sadly looked at my meager, ripped clothes. He quickly shrugged his fitting hoodie off and tossed it to me. “Here, you need it more than I do.” He said while attempting a smile.
I smiled at him as I pulled it on, happy to have something that could be classified as clothing in my hands. Rushing forwards, I set my sights on the rocky outcrops in the distance, eager to shift but still cautious to do so around the pride.
Nobody had ever seen me shift, hence the idea that I couldn’t do it. Although their believes were wrong, I was going to keep them in the dark. If they wanted to hate me just because I was different, let them.
When I was a fair distance away from the pride, where few cats ever ventured, I gave control to my cat and shifted in one smooth jump. I jumped up as a human and landed nicely on my paws before I darted of into the wild. My cat knew where we were going and had her eyes focused on the rocky slopes, where we had a small stash, high above the ground.
Our eyes landed on the collapsed tree, a purr rolling through our chest as we darted past it, keeping it on our left before we stopped. It had been a long time since we came here and back then; I wasn’t sure why I hid away the gift of Elder Murdock but I was glad I did.
My tail flicked from side to side while I created a path with my eyes along the rocks before I leapt on the first boulder. With a few jumps and confidence in my stride, I was standing on a small edge, close to a hidden cave halfway on the cliff. The rest of the pack couldn’t reach it because they were heavier then my cat, bigger and larger.
Another thing that’s strange about us. I thought to myself before I shifted back as I squeezed through the hole. There, in the back of the small cave was a crate, a few bundles of leather and hanging of the crate, a quiver.
I smiled as I walked forwards, memories flashing through my mind as I tossed the hide of the crate, revealing the brand-new bow along with bundle of arrows, specially made for me by Elder Murdock.
At my 15th birthday, he had been pacing around as he carried the bow and arrows under his arm. Alex had requested the weapon but as he fitted it, it turned out that the bow was to small and according to Alex, to weak and fragile for him. Murdock had nodded his head, walked past me and sighed loudly that it was a shame that such a fine, handmade weapon had gone to waste.
He left the weapon, arrows and a small dagger behind at the pool, on the exact same spot where I would sit every night when my chores were complete. I smiled as I filled the quiver with arrows, brushing over the owl feathers that marked the ends of the arrows before I looped it over my neck and shoulder.
Placing the dagger in a leather hip pouch I made myself a few days ago, I stood up and made my way back to the entrance of the cave before I sat down and looked out over the pride’s territory. I had to hunt, hide my skills as I did so and I’d have to make sure that it wasn’t obvious that I wasn’t malnourished anymore.
On top of that, I had to train for the Proving while I had to do my daily shores. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out of my pursed lips as I thought about it. How was I going to pull this off?
“Easy, we’ll take it one step at a time. We’ll start with the chores as soon as we get up, finish the most of them before noon so we can hunt for ourselves and then get back to the tribe to cook for them.” My cat assured me after a few seconds. I thought about it as I stared at the moving trees below me, the birds flying up from the canopy and the sun that started to appear in the east.
I felt my cat stir inside me as I looked over the forest below me, no longer with sadness and anger but with pride; we survived this pride for twelve years, crawled our way out of every beating that they threw at us and we were still here, alive and kicking.
She purred loud and proudly at my thoughts. “My little human, all growing up and fending her own. I’m proud of you little one, and I’m sure that our parents would be proud too.” I blushed at that but was glad that my cat was proud of me. She was the only one that really mattered now. She, Luke, his mate and everyone that truly loved me. A sudden thought jumped in my mind and I shook my head at myself.
“You know, all this time and I never really asked your name…Do you have one?” I asked her, feeling slightly ashamed of myself. I could feel her amusement radiate through me as she chuckled lowly in my head, her inner voice followed by a whispered echo with every word she spoke.
“I do, as a fact, our father named me. It’s accustomed that the mother names the child while the father names the spirit.” I smiled at that; I didn’t know. Father named her and mother named me…at least I had something of both of them.
She purred slowly as I sniffed, feeling her love and warmth cover me as a blanket. “Yes, they are both represented in us. Your father’s family was Irish, so I have a double meaning to my name.” She chuckled, as if laughing at my father for the name he came up with. Would it represent who she was?
“I’d love too but we’ll know that when we learn our place in the world. But I have a feeling that we are more than we believe of ourselves. Anyway, you wanted to know my name… It’s Aibhlinn Neila.”
“Aib- how do you even say it?” My cat snorted and laughed lightheartedly and I got an mental image of her shaking her head. “Aibhlinn can be translated to the English Evelyn or Eve for short. It means ‘longed-for child’ and Neila stands for ‘female champion’. The names represent both of us.”
Wow. I was amazed that we got those names and felt a tug in my heart, a longing to see my real family but I knew it was never going to happen; mother was dead and as far as I knew, so was my dad. I shook my head before making my way down the cliffs, thanking the shifter-world for the fact that our cloths and belongings didn’t rip off us when we shifted.
“If it had been like that, we would have been naked a long time ago.” Eve retorted with a snort of disgust at our pride. Knowing that she was right, I didn’t comment and headed to the eastern boundaries. There we could find deer, elk and other wildlife. I gave it a moment’s thought before I sent to Eve, ”Let’s start small, a rabbit or something. We need to feed but we can’t gorge ourselves.”
Although the thought of stuffing ourselves until we’re full sounded appealing to both of us, she agreed reluctantly, since it was the best; if we gained lots of weight, Alex would get suspicious. “True,” My cat responded slowly, “But if we can work the gained weight off and replace it with muscles…Two birds with one stone. That baggy hoodie will hide most of the muscles.”
Baggy hoodie? It had fitted Luke’s body nicely, so there’s no way that- oh, right. I realized quickly that although it had been a fitting hoodie for Luke, he was taller and more muscular than me, so the cloths were too big for me.
“Good point. Now let’s try to get some food.” I searched the forest for any sign of life and noticed a few deer in the distance but hesitated. Our first prey shouldn’t be that large; we need to feed ourselves without getting wounded. Maybe after a few more hunts…
I sighed and averted my eyes, looking down at the forest floor for tracks while I kept my ears pitched for any signs of prey or intruders. “Let me help you…” Eve muttered as we looked down. As soon as she said that, I felt a slightly warm, tingling sensation in my eyes and I knew that my cat’s eyes were showing.
“There…some broken twigs…a nibble on the grass…. Its headed north.” She replied after a moment while she showed me the signs to look for. Murmuring my thanks, I learned each sign she showed me before continuing towards the north, stopping in my tracks after a while as I saw a small, brown figure hop towards the long grass.
Quietly pulling an arrow from the quiver, I aligned it with the rabbit in the distance just like I remembered Murdock demonstrate it for the younger whelps and then let it fly away with a rushed breath. A squeak sounded, much to my surprise before I laughed and ran forwards, quickly ending the rabbit’s life with a swift slice of my dagger.
“We did it. We can survive this. And after the Proving, we can leave the pride and become Nomads.” Eve said with barely contained happiness in her voice. I smiled before picking the rabbit up and ran closer to the woods. If the pride patrolled here, I could jump in the trees and hide and I wouldn’t be out in the open.
I skinned and cleaned the rabbit as best as I could before preparing a small fire to roast it. Looking around, I thought of a way to roast it before I shrugged and walked to the little stream a few feet ahead, searching from some large, flat stones. I could roast the rabbit on that if I laid them in the fire and let them heat up.
Crack.
The soft but distinctive crack of wood giving away under a paw reached my ears as I kept my eyes on the stream. Shaking my head at the rock in my hand, I dropped it and looked for another while trying to keep my breathing and heartbeat as normal as possible.
“It isn’t one of the pride…so it’s either a Nomad or a Rogue.” Eve hissed as all of my senses were on full alert. Day one and I’m already screwing things up. Great, just flipping great.
“He’s somewhere around the fire…I’m thinking he’s going for my food or he’s taunting me.” I replied as I placed one of the larger stones on the shore, continuing with my task while I moved my feet to dig out the nice, fist-sized lump out of the dirt in the water. Eve hissed again before she growled in annoyance.
“He’s probably thinking we haven’t heard him yet. And you’re right, he’s going for our food. But I don’t think he’s a rogue, otherwise we’d be dead.” With that reassurance of Eve, I turned my back to the fire as if seeing a good rock before leaning down to pick the lump at my feet up. Soft paws treaded over the ground towards the fire as I focused…
Before spinning around and throwing the rock against the male leopard’s head. He yowled surprised, shaking his head slightly while I crossed my arms and glared at him.
“Didn’t your mother teach you that it isn’t nice to steal other people’s food?” I scowled while stepping out of the water. The male was still stunned, his golden eyes gleaming with a mixture of surprise, amusement and a hint of anger before he turned towards me, his spotted coat shining in the sun.
He looked at me appreciatively, as if judging me from head to toe before he yowled again, stepping closer. Without thinking about it, I let out a slow, threatening hiss when he took another step. The leopard stopped, tilting his head before shaking it from side to side.
Soon, the leopard was replaced by a man, who was looking at me with his silver eyes filled with humor. He shook his head again with a chuckle and I couldn’t help but internally curse at myself.
Why did I had to pick a fight with a Nomad that was not only bigger but a lot stronger than me?
Yeah, i know, took a while but hey, got many books to work on ;)
So, what do you guys think?
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