Taken in the Night

Chapter 6- Ryder

EDITED

--Ryder--

When I woke this morning I was inside on my bed with a pounding headache. I touch the now almost healed scar on my head. I'm so glad that was a nice Panther. It could have eaten me then and there but it didn't and for that I owe my life to it. Hey, even though I'm 13 I can think powerful stuff!

"Ryder?" Mum asks, peeking into my room.

"Yeah."

"Your father wants to talk to you downstairs," I nod and climb out of bed. Dad is sitting on the sofa and he doesn't look happy.

I plop down next to him, "hey dad. What's up?"

"Why did your mother find you passed out on the doorstep this morning?" He asks, almost like he isn't in his own body.

"I don't know what your talking about," I ask confused. I only remember up to when I passed out.

"Bullshit. You know exactly what I'm talking about!" He shouts, I must have scared him real bad to have gotten him this riled up.

"I don't remember half the night," I say, he looks shocked like he was expecting another smart comment.

"What?"

"I said I only remember half of last night," I repeat. I slap a hand over my mouth. Crap, now he's going to want to know what happened.

"And what do you remember?" He asks with narrowed eyes.

"N-nothing," I stutter. He give me that look.

"Your going to be grounded anyway so why not make the punishment slightly better by telling me?" He has a point. I shrug and tell him what I remember, from sneaking out to tripping over.

"Then how did you get home?" He asks.

"Ask one of the Panthers. Maybe they'll tell you," I say and walk off, already knowing my punishment.

"Grounded for 3 months, no phone or computer!" Dad shouts after me. Huh, I guess it was better then it could have been.

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That night all I could think about was the cat. Why did it save me? Why not eat me? I swear it called the others, so why not get one of them to kill me? While I think I hear a meow, it's low and sad. Do I go downstairs and see what it is? What if it's blue eyes?

I hear dads heavy footsteps going down the stairs.

The meow sounds again so I get up and creep down the steps. I see dad staring at something.

"Honey, call the Warriors and tell them to come quick!" He shouts. Something hisses on the other side off the door, I dart over to get a look. It's blue eyes. I smile as she looks at me, the forgotten events coming back now. Peace. She meows happily when she sees me.

"Ryder, go back to your room right now," dad says in a voice that's way too calm.

"No," I fold my arms, "this is the one who saved me. Her name is Peace." I raise an eyebrow.

"Get inside now!" He shouts, his body shaking.

"Don't you dare shift! I won't let you hurt her!" I shout back. I look at her, she beckons me over with a nod of her head. I bound over to the large black cat and wrap her in a hug.

"Peace, you came back," I whisper into her fur. She nods and puts a paw on my back. All too soon she pulls away and sits down. I do the same. Her snout tickles my head, looking for something. I think it's the lump, which thanks to my wolf healing powers is almost gone. Once she finds it she moves to my bare feet. I guess she's looking for something there- what I don't know.

"Ryder! Stop it! It's going to eat you!" Dad shouts. Peace hisses at him and takes a protective stance in front of me. I instinctively put a soothing hand on her back, to which she instantly relaxes but only a little.

"Peace isn't going to eat me dad. She saved me from the other 3, I owe her. Dad! Stop, calm down! Your gonna shift. If you do, you'll have to kill me first!" Slowly he stops shaking.

"Son, this cat has a plan, when you trust it enough it's going to get you as well," he starts tearing up.

"No. Dad you don't get it, I think this is Peace, your Peace. I have a theory about it. When she ran off one of the older panthers found her and-"

"Shut it! I don't care about your fantasies child, just get inside," he shouts. I turn to Peace to find her staring at me.

She licks my face in an affectionate way and I laugh. She lightens up at my laugh, I hug her goodbye.

"See ya later Peace," I whisper. Once I let go she nudges me towards my dad and runs off.

"Inside," dad commands. I stand in the doorway. He stares.

"I'm inside aren't I?" I ask. He shrugs. There's a commotion at the end of the street and I hear a cat-like shout. The Warriors, Peace, oh no. I take off with dad shouting after me.

"Stop! No, you don't understand! Stop!" I shout at the Warriors. No one listens, instead making the ring around her tighter. I try pushing my way through, our eyes lock. She nods and I push forward again. Mark, the head warrior, grabs my shirt and throws me to the ground. My face scrapes the ground, blood dripping down my face. I groan and try to get up ending up on my face again.

I hear a growl and a yelp. I push myself up to see Peace shying away from a torch, her body shaking. No no no no no no, she cannot shift. Not now, when she's surrounded by trained Warriors. This time it only takes 5 minutes for her to change back and this time she doesn't hesitate to get up... But why all 4's? Maybe she doesn't realise she shifted? Either way I run towards her and wrap her in another hug, tears falling on her shoulder. She was so close to death.

Green eyes snarls behind us, startling Peace. The two golds are behind her, Peace trots over to join their ranks. After a quick conversation they all take a fighting stance. The Warriors are still stunned so don't move to attack. I want to go over and calm Peace so she doesn't do anything harmful to my pack. Her pack. One of the gold eyes looks confused, they must have asked each other something because they start to leave. First green, then the golds and then with a nod Peace trots after them.

"What the hell was that about boy?" Dad shouts down the street.

"That was about protecting my sister," I shout back. Everyone stares at me like I've grown 2 heads and a third eye.

"Get back into that house!" Dad screams. I drag myself to the house and drop on the couch with a thud. Dad walks in not moments after fuming.

"What is wrong with you!" He screams.

"Nothing," I mumble.

He picks up what I said with his heightened hearing, "nothing? Nothing! Something is wrong if you think you can stop the pack from getting rid of a problem! What's worse is you haven't shifted yet, meaning if they attacked you would have been killed! And that other cat-"

"Killed? Peace would never let that happen. She called the others there last night, if she wanted to she could have let them kill me but she didn't. I needed to help her tonight because she saved me last night, and her own father didn't care at all instead he was shouting kill at the top of his lungs!" I scream back. I don't care if anyone hears, he tried to kill his own daughter for Petes sake!

"How do you know it was her?" He whispers, "not just some random cat playing nice?"

"Because, she has the same eyes as the photos," I state before marching up to my room, ready for another night expedition.

Hey! At the start of this chapter is what Ryder looks like. In the next chapter or two I'm going be adding a cast list or whatever but that might take awhile...

This is a week early just cause. Actually it's to celebrate me reaching chapter 23 in my secret chapters! Woohoo! *party popper goes off* I hope you enjoyed it!

-Wolfy