Two Tails

Chapter Two- "A Walk in the Forest"

The room bursts into laughter, and I stare at the guy. "How can my daughter be a mate to a canine?" My mother asks, I look at my mother. The werewolf quiets down, and looks around, everyone is staring at him; my mother decides to continue the ceremony. "As I was saying, her loyalty will be concealed into her pride until the day she dies, if she wavers from this line, she will be thrown from her place." My mother says. "I swear it." I say, and take the glass, and take a gulp of the salt water. My nose and thought burns, and I try to keep myself from coughing.

The guy looks quite gloomy; I don't know what the hell his problem is. I don't feel any attraction to him in any way. But that's how it works, right? My mother nudges me out of my thoughts, and I take a breath and begin to address my pride. "I am happy to be the daughter of our pride-heart, and I know that I will achieve this role with great grace. I know that I can't ever waver, and that is good. Plus, what is a pride-member with no loyalty?" I say, and clapping breaks out, the guy, though, just stares at me with no emotion.

My mother nods at me, telling me to go back to my seat, but right when I place a foot on the tile ground, the werewolf rushes up to me. "How are you going to be my mate if your mother won't let me come with you?" He asks, and I push him away. "You're not my mate. I know that for sure. I feel no attraction to you." I say, and start to walk off, but the guy follows me. "You just don't get it do you?" He asks. I glare at him. "I get that you're an annoying asshole!" I say, voice louder, as the noise around me got larger.

"You really don't feel that pulse?" The guy asks. "No! And I probably never will" I growl, and cross my arms. "What about we go and take a walk in the forest?" The guy asks. I roll my eyes, when will this dude leave? I find myself shrugging, "Sure, but no tricks." I say, and the guy and I walk towards the door.

Once outside of the house, the guy looks at me. "Well, are we going to shift or not?" He asks, and I glare at him. "First, I want your name." I say. The guy looks at me, an eyebrow raised. "My name's Aatu, it means 'powerful wolf', what's yours?" He asks. "My name's Petra, it means 'rock or reliable'" I say, still glaring at him. "Whelp, let's shift already." Aatu says, and I shrug and I look at the pond. "Push me into the pond." I tell him.

"Well, that's a strange request." Aatu says. I glare at him. "Just do it. It's simple, you just push me into the pond, and I fall in. It's as simple as that." I say. The guy shrugs, and I walk closer to the pond of water. I look at the pond, and I glance back, about to say something, when Aatu pushes me into the pond. I fall in with a small shriek.

The pond feels like ice against my skin, as I fall below the surface. Fury rushes through my body, but it's calmer this time. I can feel my teeth become fangs, my hair become fur, my ears become cat ears. My arms and legs grow shorter, hands become paws. The dress comes off of my body when I start to swim up, gasping for air. I look back down at the water. Thankfully it's only five feet deep, so I can go back and get my dress.

Then I hear a gasp, coming from Aatu, no doubt. I begin to swim towards shore, in smooth, lythe strokes with my paws. When I haul myself out of the water, Aatu's staring at me. He, apparently, still hasn't shifted. "I thought you were a werecat, that would turn into a lion!!" He said. I shrugged my shoulders in reply, and gave a low growl. Aatu reaches out a hand to touch my fur, and I stare at it, ears pinned to my head. Then, I hiss.

Aatu's hand jerks back and he sits himself down. I still don't know what I look like as a tiger, so I pad towards the water, and look at my reflection. I'm white with black stripes. I also have blue eyes. I look back to where Aatu was, he's shifted into his wolf form already, his clothes just a heap away from him. I stare at him. He's almost the same height as me, and he's russet-and-black.

Aatu nods to the trees, and then looks at me with large eyes. He wants you to go into the woods with him. A voice says, I shake my head, earning a whine from Aatu. Who are you? I ask. I'm the great and powerful Zara, your wolf. Now I'm cocking my head in confusion. I'm not a werewolf and a werecat. I tell Zara. You're tiger's right over here, being pushed around by this new animal. Isa, my cat, tells me. Now! Let's run with mate! Zara howls. I growl, He's not my mate, Zara. I say. I can hear Isa yawn I too, feel no attraction to him.

Zara is now growling Well, I do. And I say we run!

To this, Isa bursts out laughing. I give Aatu a smirk then I dashed off. I place paw after paw, asking the two animals in my head why they are there. We're here because you've finally shifted. When a were shifts, they become an animal in their head. Like, you're me right now, basically. Isa explains, as I run.

So you make me...me? I ask, and I can feel the two animals nodding. Well, shut up so that I can focus on beating this guy to the lake! And, thankfully, they stopped talking. I raced through the trees, glancing back every few minutes. He's at least a tail-length away from me. Good. I race even harder, and I'm starting to reach sandy ground. That's when I leap into the lake. Ew! Ew! Ew! Water! Zara howls. Shut up will you? The water feels fine! Isa purrs, and growls at the same time.

I turn around, the water's at my belly, and I see Aatu skidding to a stop, then jump in after me. I don't know why, but he shifts. I stay as Idona. "Why don't you want to shift?" Aatu asks. I glare at him. He then shrugs, and shifts back into his wolf form.

I wade deeper into the lake, and Zara is continuing to run circles in my head. My body's changing again...Oh great. Wolf. I feel my fangs shrink just the slightest bit, my tail grows shorter, and I grow shorter in general...

When I swim back to Aatu, his mouth is gaping open. I smirk at him, and leap out of the lake, shaking out my thick fur. Aatu does the same, and now, we're just, walking. I took some time to look at myself in the water before we set off. I'm jet black, other than a white chest and underbelly. I have two different colored eyes- one green, one blue. Zara seems quite pleased with herself.

When we get back to the pond I feel a bit ore uneasy. Some of my pride-members are outside, staring at Aatu and I. I growl at them, they seem horrified at the sight of the two of us. We wait until they go inside to report out presence, then I dive back into the pond. I suddenly shift back into a human, grab my clothes, and change –as quickly as I can- inside the water before my air runs out. I grab my heels, and swim back out of the water. I'm putting my heels back on when the pride-members come back out. They're staring at the two of us, my mother behind them. I give my mother a small wave, and she shakes her head. "You simply have mistaken my daughter as a wolf. She probably is a black lion. It's happened before." She says, and my pride members shrugged. Aatu's still in his wolf form though, and my mother gives him a sharp glare. I stare at my mother, hiding my face. "Actually- yes. It's true. Somehow, I have both a tiger and a wolf inside me." I whisper.

My mother stares at me, eyes wide. "So it was you that they saw?" She asks, and I give a nod. My mother glares at Aatu, then looks at me. "Well, it's not the first time. I've heard of this happening before." She says.
------

A.N.

Heyyy, so here's the second chapter hope you enjoy ^.^

This chapter was one of my favorites so far to write, because, hey! Who doesn't like a run in the forest?

Anyways, up top is what Aatu looks like c:

Love you all!

-Taggs