Skin Walker: The Shadow Assassin

My New Pet Kitten

A/N
Possible new story cover above^^ Tell me what you think and if I should change it. Can't decide. Comments on your thoughts would be greatly appreciated;)

I stood, surrounded. Angry arrows trained on yours truly. My eyes searched, looking for the perfect opponent. My eyes landed on the unlucky soul that would be forced to fight me. Of course he didn't realize he was unlucky. Not yet.

My eyes stopped on a medium build and pinched face hunter. Bucket Man, I had called him. I didn't know his real name and couldn't care less. It was time to make him suffer.

I nodded my head to signal that I had chosen him. The scowl he had been wearing transformed into glee at his "good fortune."

"Here are the rules," Thane shouted. "This will be hand to hand combat. No weapons. First to pin down the other for five seconds wins. Are we clear?"

We both nodded.

"On my count. Three--two--one,--GO!"

We circled eachother, each feeling up the other. Well-he circled. I stumbled pitifully.
I knew he wouldn't expect me to make the first move so I lunged, whipping my leg out to trip him. Bucket Man faltered in surprise, barely stumbling out of the way. I aimed a kick to his chest, moving to get him while he was still off balance. My foot hit air as he jumped out of the way, missing by inches.

This time he took the offensive and threw a punch, aiming for my injured side. So he wanted to play dirty, huh? I'd show him dirty.

I dodged out of the way, adrenaline and tiger speed keeping me quick despite my exhaustion. Throwing a series of punches, one of then hitting it's mark, I started to get confident. Maybe I wouldn't need to do my party trick after all. This thought barely registered before Bucket Man landed a blow to my face, sending me reeling back. Struggling to recover, I screamed as my side shrieked in agony at the fist that had just connected with it. I fell to my knees, straining to breathe. It came in gasps, my heart thumping wildly against my chest. A foot came flying towards me. I instinctively blocked it, raising my arm. He wrestled me till I was flat on the ground, pinning my arms down with one hand while punching me with the other. I counted the seconds as I squirmed, trying to break free from his hold. One-Two-Three, I counted.

Now or never, Fang whispered. Closing my eyes, I inhaled.

And then all hell broke loose. I roared, my new muscles as I transformed rippling with power. Easily standing up, I threw the hunter onto the ground, my large paw resting heavily on his chest. I looked around, baring my teeth. Expressions of shock and utter disbelief stared back at me. I smirked to myself. Idiots.

Time stood still, the hunters seemingly paralyzed. Like clockwork, they one by one wound themselves back to life.

A spike of panic rolled through me as one of the hunters cocked his crossbow, ready to shoot. I realized how much that I had really out into this plan. Which was pretty much squat.

Well shit.

To top off the cake of awesomeness (note sarcasm) I was beginning to feel sick. Like puking out your insides before passing out kind of sick. My vision swam, the hunter ready to shoot me suddenly morphing into three, blurring as my head spun. I squeezed my eyes shut but that only made it ten times worse. With my concentration wavering, I didn't know how much longer I could hold my tiger form.

Oh god, oh god.

"What the-?" A familiar voice questioned. I want to cry with happiness. Did he frickin plan his entrances or what? He sure as heck had impeccable timing. Either way I was going to kill him for not being here in the first place. Yeah, killing him was a nice thought.

"Draven, it seems our pet is a feisty kitten, who would have thought?" Thane said with a chuckle, his voice dripping with madness. Normally I would have been pissed at his words but my brain was too muddled to process what he said.

I swung my large head in Draven's direction to see his face morph into an expression of shock as it hit him. The 300 pound Bengal tiger in front of him was me. If the situation hadn't been so dire I probably would have found it hilarious. Probably.

Draven opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to find the words as he closed it again.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Thane said laughing like a maniac.

Yep, he was crazy.

I felt my legs begin to buckle and forced myself to stay upright, not allowing myself to show weakness. Because where I came from, weakness meant death. I tried to focus on what Draven was saying next but my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Before I even knew what was happening my face hit the dirt. Curling in on myself my body began to painfully shift back into my human form. Loud pops and cracks roared in my ears as my bones realigned themselves, I held my breath so I wouldn't scream. Contrary to popular belief, being a Skin Walker meant pain. Not only from the government, but also physically. Shifting was a bitch.

My mind wandered as my vision went in and out of focus. I started thinking back to all of the stupid reasons that had me in this situation in the first place. Ever since the royals deemed my kind dangerous barbarians we were sentenced to life as slaves. The strongest soldiers were chosen to become Skin Hunters who trained not only their bodies but also their minds to well, hunt us. We would be brought before the king who would sentence us to death or sell us as a slave to the few rich who could afford to buy us. It all depended on whether our animal was deemed fit to control. Mine was not. Which meant I was pretty much dead. Add onto the fact that I could read minds and I might as well have tied my own noose. It was my greatest secret, and also my biggest mistake. I had talked to that idiotic Skin Hunter what seemed like forever ago and if he recognized me later and told the King, I was doomed. It was extremely rare for Skin Walkers to be able to read people's thoughts, though only in animal form of course, and I just happened to be one of those few.

Yay me.

My thoughts shifted back to the present as I felt hands on my arms and immediately flinched back. My cheeks flamed as Draven stood over my naked body. A blanket was thankfully thrown over me and I clutched it like a lifeline. His brow creased in worry as he started talking to me, grabbing my lolling head so I looked him in the eyes. I could faintly recall words being shouted in my ear but couldn't decipher their meaning, nor did I really care. The darkness threatened to carry me away. I wanted to go. Yearned to leave this hellish place of agony. Whispers echoed in my muddled brain to stay, but were drowned by silky voices of the deep.

Letting my consciousness fade away, one last whisper made it's way into my mind. "I can't lose you," it breathed.

A/N oooooo so who do you think said that!? Was it her imagination? A memory from her past? Or one of the hunters? :O Annyywayyy so sorry for the late update. Life has been hectic to say the least. Excuses aside, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I am SUPER pumped for the next one. Let's just say it's gonna be epic. ;) Sadly the last goal for comments was not reached:( I've decided that those probably aren't really helping people give their input and are most likely just annoying people so I won't be doing those anymore... On a brighter note I'm pretty sure I will have the time to update within the next week or two so hurray! But no promises;) So, because I am taking French and am in the mood, Bonne Journee!
P.S. Don't forget to tell me what you think of the possible new story cover!!!:)))))