Queen of Beasts: The Fallen Book One

Broken Hearts

I haven't been nosey enough to walk into his room before, but this time I decided that it was better that I just enter before he tells me to go away. The room is an unusual surprise. It's twice the height of any of the other rooms and must go up into the area that is unusually blocked off in the attic. The full height of the room accompanied by a triple bunk bed. I look around, but Hendrik isn't here. Where did he go? When I look up to the top bunk, I can see a tail flicking back and forth off of the edge. Sighing, I decide to go up the ladder on the side to reach him.

"Hendrik?" I question as I sit up on the top bed. If I didn't know any better, I would just assume he was a very sick and sad, patchy patterned cat. His eyes are looking at me, but he doesn't seem to want to move. I pat his head as I continue, "I'm sorry I didn't know. He must have been really important to you." His tail stops moving, so I'm assuming that I've hit a nerve. "I might not know the whole story, but I can tell by your outburst earlier that he was someone that you really cared about. Were you able to trust him with your secret?" I shift until my legs hanging off the edge of the bed. Hendrik eventually picks himself up, turns around and lies his head on my lap before changing back into his normal form. Regardless, I continued to run my fingers through his hair anyway. Oddly, it still feels a bit like cat fur.

"Yeah, he knew."

"So you guys are pretty close then."

"As close as you and Oliver." My body tenses even though I don't mean for it to. "Yeah, I thought so. The second you said you were afraid of vampires, I just knew that he would gain interest in you."

"Why is that?"

"He lives away from his family for more than just one reason. I mean, yeah, he is a freak in his world, but also I don't think he likes the idea of being a vampire. He absolutely hates his family. I would too, especially if they kept executing my friends."

"How many times has this happen exactly?'

"Technically, four times but three."

"What do you mean technically four?"

"The reason why I don't tell the others my secret is because of what happened with the guy that was here. He was a shifter too."

"So there were a lot of furry friends here."

"I guess you can say that, he was a wolf shifter though."

"Oh, there it is. I knew someone would bring up wolf shifters eventually."

"Yes, well... As common as it is for different races to get together, it's kind of against the laws for different shifters to get together. Not that we could have bred or anything, but because we wouldn't be available for our kind to continue if we were falling for each other. Technically, shifter packs, whether they be cat or dog, or anything else for that matter, we're supposed to be available to whoever we might be engaged to."

"So, technically you and your brothers are engaged?"

"I'm sure we will be at some stage."

"That's really not fair. You should be allowed to choose who you want to be with."

"Yeah. I don't know what we're gonna do about the situation between you, Oliver and his dad though. I'm pretty sure he's gonna try and execute you both, so I don't know how to help. If you run, he'll find you. And when he does find you, the pain that he will inflict upon both of you will be way worse than if you just..."

"Give up."

"How was it going between you guys? I know Oliver has a lot of trouble touching people."

"Oh well... I mean, he does have trouble, but, he's trying."