Pack and Pride

Chapter 2 Emylena

As my eagle form flies over the dense forest where my allies, the wearlions, reside I let out an ear piercing screech to alert Ira of my flock and my presence so they refrain from shooting is down. The air in the clouds has always held my joys, the feeling of soaring wild and free is liberating. My flock is at my back in a V formation. There are a few different types of eagles among us, I am a bald eagle--larger than a normal eagle of course. Weareagles are naturally larger than other eagles seeing as we are part human. Everything is sharper and clearer in this form, on the trees I can make out each leaf and the branches, I see the mossy ground and forms of lions laying in trees.

I fold my wings in and I dive. My flock follows without question and they fall into line as we bullet down as nothing but a blur of feathers. My voice echoes in my head as a laugh as we plunge toward the mess of trees. The trees are close together and they leave very few holes for predators to get through. A tangle of branches get closer and closer and I aim for the first opening. One opening at a time. We swoop in then over, down, left, a sharp right, over again, under twice, and we're through. I fling my wings out to catch air and slow my descent. Once I am slowed, I make my way to the ground. I get close to the ground and shift into my human form, feathers retracting into flesh, my beak turns to lips, my wings snap and break into arms again. I am now human again and I am falling. I tuck into a roll before impact and spring to my feet as I am circled by panthers. They don't get too close as my flock lands in perfect formation around me.

The panthers growl a little and my flock hisses in return. I laugh at the little display, my flock is made of the finest warriors ever trained, but it does my heart good to know Ira has put some security in place.

"Move along, get out of the way," I hear a muffled voice call through the crowd.

"My queen, these people could be dangerous," a voice returns.

"These people are warriors, if they wanted me dead we would all be dead by now," she snaps back. I grin as an exasperated Ira pushes through the crowd and shoes them away. They go, but not before giving us a few wary glances. I send my flock away so I can speak with Ira in private. She rushes forward and throws her arms around me as soon as they are gone. "Goodness knows I've missed you," she mutters into my ear. I smile at her and hug back.

"I know," I say with a wink at her. Ira is my closest friend, from the day I met her I knew we would be close. We met when we were both young, barely 16.

As a child I always knew that I would be the leader of the flock. My parents raised me, trained me, taught me starting when I could walk. I had built a team that would be my inner circle once it was my time to take over.

It was raining, I had gone to battle with my flock... and parents. My parents were the leaders before me. They were loved by everyone, respected, cherished. It was a muddy battle going on. We were at war with the bears and their allies: wolves. The lions came only because of the hatred between them and wolves. They provoked it. They killed my little brother. Snapped his wings and then his neck. They cut his little 8 year old wings off and displayed them in a glass case. He had just had his first shift that day. His eagle took over and he was startled into enemy lands.

Claw, screeches, blood, rain, mud. Death all around. We battled for days to avenge him. I spent days in my eagle form. That's when I met Ira. An older wolf had near pounced on back and latched his jaws onto my neck. I heard a growl that reverberated in my bones as a silver streak lunged toward me. I thought she was going to kill me. But instead she saved my life.

We battled back to back for hours until a flag of surrender was raised. We both shifted back to our human forms. At first it was hard to remember human speech and actions.

My second, upon finding me, bolted over and planted herself between the werecat and I. I'm assuming her second decided to do the same.

"Emylena," she said. I heard Ira's second address her as well. The words they spoke next were in unison and eerily the same. "Your parents are dead. The position of leader falls to you." Ira and I looked at each other, both 16, orphaned, and now leading the largest faction of shifters in both our races.

Ira threw me a shirt and tight fitting pants to put on. I change quickly and give her a smile before we get down to business.

"So why did you call me?" I ask.

"I met the alpha today," Ira murmurs, distracted.

I snort. I know the hate between the wolves and lions. "And?"

"Weak. I have nothing to fear from him as far as I can tell. I killed one alpha, I can do it again," she says. She looks almost sad at that thought. I nod and we sit in silence for a while. Just happy to be around each other. "How long will you stay?"

"A few days at the least. Something... something is wrong. I can feel it." She nods at me. I know she feels it too. The winds have been changing lately. Flying makes me uneasy. Flying never makes me uneasy, if anything, it's always been my escape.

Ira looks to the sky, the sun is dipping low, "it's getting late. You should get settled with your flock," she says. We walk to the main fires of the lion camp. Dinner is being cooked by some of the males and females. My flock mingles with their friends in the pride, there is an easy air here. I've always loved Ira's land, the savage yet civilized cluster of living. Tents and under the stars, nothing permanent. They are free to move about the territory and stay where they please.

We eat a meal of stewed meat and vegetables, courtesy of a hunt and some small gardens in the area. It's nothing amazing, but it's hardy and warm. After we eat, my flock begins to settle in for the night. I see Ira talking to her second. My own second comes over to me.

"Emylena, I secured a border. Strange, though, I could have sworn I smelled wolf on the outskirts. Fresh too. The night patrols of the Pride have been alerted and are monitoring it," she briefs me.

"Good work. Go ahead and get some sleep. I have a feeling we are going to have a busy day tomorrow," I dismiss her. She's a good second. Loyal to the end, a good fighter, and a strategist. The person who helped me manage coping and leading when I was so young. 6 years later she's never let me go into any situation that could be harmful.

I do a once over sweep of the encampment before finding an empty branch. I take off the clothing Ira gave me so it wouldn't tear, then I shifted and put my head under my wing and fall fast asleep.

Short? Good? Idk sorry! The italics is a flash back in case you couldn't tell. Umm I'm trying werewolf/shifters writing which is something I've never done before so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I hope it's ok. Comment and let me know!