Comes with the Territory

Chapter 7 CWT

My fist connected with his jaw, and he fell to the ground, blood leaking from his mouth. Black dots swam in my vision and my body felt fuzzy. Oh crap, am I going to shift?

Calm down, Mica. Breathe in an out, that’s a good girl. I did as I was told, and was almost in the clear before he came at me again. Man, he was strong. He got me in the stomach, and I hunched over, trying to inflate my lungs. It burned, but then again, so did everything else. I was shaking, aflame from head to foot. I tried to calm down, biting on my lip to focus on only that pain. It didn’t work.

I didn’t block the punch he sent at me, or the next one. All that mattered was lowering my heart rate. This isn’t as easy as it seems when you are being pummeled to a pulp.

“Stop it!” I heard someone cry as my legs gave out beneath me.

Don’t do it, Mica. Do not let them see you. I tried, curling up into a ball, sending my senses out to sweep the room, trying to find a distraction.

“What’s wrong with her?” Paul asked as they came rushing to my side, Ethan taking my hand.

“She hasn’t shifted it, and your nephew may of just sent her over the edge,” Mel growled, which the skater boy sent back, taking a challenging step forward.

“Don’t you dare, Marco. Go get the doctor, so we can try to ease the shift,” he ordered.

“No way, she isn’t shifting on the cold, hard ground. Especially in your territory. Either she goes in my territory, or she doesn’t shift at all.” He warned, and Paul hissed in annoyance.

“Hello, can you all get over your quarreling and help me?” I gasped, as my lungs restricted in my chest. Someone scooped me up, pulling me to their chest as they ran out the door. I could see the pale glow of the lousy lighting behind my closed eyelids, making me see pink.

“It’s ok, I got you,” a voice whispered in my ear, but I couldn’t tell who it was. It was as if my ears were stuffed with cotton. Whoever it was, they were cold, bitterly so, but it helped extinguish the fire dancing on my skin. My stomach twisted, and I gasped from the pain. The hold on me tightened, and the legs that carried us pumped faster.

“Almost there, don’t worry,” the voice said, calming my jumping nerves. Hellcat was howling inside my head, no, inside my whole body. She ran down my limbs, begging me to buckle and set her totally free. She no longer tried to get me to calm down, but egged my transformation on. I could feel her longing, her desire to taste her freedom in our other form.

The smell that had been burning the back of my nose subsided, and a new, sweeter one filled my senses. I felt better, as if the change was okay to make now. But, deep down, I knew that I shouldn’t. Crossing the border between girl and beast would be treacherous, chipping away at my humanity. But I wanted to, so badly, on the other hand. The anticipation of tapping into myself, my hidden self, made my heart beat faster.

Yes, we want this. You desire this. I need this. Hellcat cooed, stoking the fire in my blood, making it whirl through my veins. My head buzzed, and my skin itched. All five of my senses went into over-drive, until my head pounded with sensory overload. Door slammed open and closed behind us, and I felt that we were inside. I heard our breaths bouncing off the four walls around us, smelt the drywall and instillation saw the light from behind my eyelids, and tasted the dust motes that swirled around us as we walked through the room.

I was laid down, landing on soft and comfy sheets. I squeezed my eyes as a shock wave of pain slid down my back, and I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out. Another came, followed by frequent others. I muffled my screams with my mouth, drawing it into a tin line to keep from making any weak noises.