Animal

.:21:.

Giselle led me out of the building, her arms stiffly locked at her sides and her eyes on the path ahead of her. She didn't have to look back to make sure I was following after her: she knew I would be.

We walked in complete silence, her just staring ahead as she walked, and me running my fingers against the stinging claw wounds left in my waist and hips.

After a while of walking through the forest (we had left the village minutes ago), Giselle suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the forest. This made me come to a halt as well only inches away from her, so I took a step back and looked at everything but her while running my dinners over the indents in my hips.

"Why'd you bring me out here?" I asked, tracing the small hole made by the sharp claws of that cougar. "Haven't I gotten yelled at enough today?"

"In my opinion, I think you haven't gotten yelled at nearly as much as I think you deserve," she replied, her voice not bothering to hide the contempt. Only minutes ago, she was defending me to the Council and now she sounded like she hated. "Look at me."

Her demanding tone was so irritating, but I figured if I wanted to stay here and if I wanted to stay on Silo's good side, I would have to obey even Giselle. With great difficulty, I pushed my pride to the back of my head and lifted my brown eyes to the slim woman in front of me. She stared at me, saying nothing, so while I waited for her to speak, I took in her attire. She was dressed in leather pants that hugged her waist and her hips, black boots that were exactly like mine, a black tank top, and her arms were decorated in tattoos. Her brown-black hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail and her sculpted face was flawless, but her eyes bore into me like flames destroying a forest.

"I don't like you very much," she stated, as though it were not obvious already. "But I think you know that."

I shrugged, fiddling with the end of my jacket. "I got a feeling."

Giselle walked closer to me, forcing me to take a step back. Her face never changed, and another step was taken towards me. When she got close enough, she squinted down at me with her eyes. Her breath spilled down my face and I turned my head away in discomfort, trying to keep my fear and unease from showing.

"I don't like you," she said again, not demanding for me to look at her this time, "but I have a strong urge to protect you."

I peeked open an eye and looked at her, unconvinced. Before I could stop myself, I said, "Bullshit."

She actually smiled. Amusement rippled through her features and she stepped away from me, shaking her head. "It smells like that, doesn't it?" she hummed, reaching up and adjusting her ponytail. "But I assure you, the feeling is true. Don't get me wrong, I hate to feel it. But I can't control it, and Rina refuses to ignore it."

"Rina?"

Giselle lifted her right hand and tapped her temple with her index finger. "My animal," she explained.

"Oh." I was curious, I wanted to know what animal she shifted into. But the worry of getting my head bitten off for asking held me back. "Tell Rina I said — er, tell her I said thanks?" Did that just seriously come out as a question?

Giselle tilted her head at me, eyes studying me with colored interest. "You're a strange one, McKenzie. You defy submission, outright speak against the Council, and now you're being kind to the one who kidnapped you. You're very strange indeed."

I crossed my arms and huffed. "Well I didn't know who you were at first, to my defense, and had no idea there were others like me much less an entire group of them! As for the Council, I'm sure most of them are nice," I offered, looking back to where we came from. "Gerard for example. He was really nice to me, so I don't have any reason to need to contradict him. Those other two, though — Damien and Audrey? — they were acting like self-righteous assholes. I don't respect anyone who doesn't deserve it."