Adam's Pulse

Part 14

Chapter 14

Adam kept his eyes on the newcomers, not liking the time of their arrival.  It was odd.  No, it was more than odd.  It felt planned.  How could it be though when the intruders looked just as put out as the rest of them?  The tension in the air ran high, snarls escaping all their mouths involuntarily.  It wasn’t any of their faults; it was just a natural reaction, one that only intensified with having Barron in his leopard form nearby.

Adam’s eyes darted towards the leopard, whose tail jerked about in agitation.  If Ally didn’t get a hold on the situation quick, Adam knew that Barron was going to pry information from the two people now standing on their property.  The only difference was that Barron wouldn’t stop until they were dead.  Ally at least had slightly more control.

“I don’t like the way it smells,” Sebastian mumbled, his nose curling up in disgust.

Brown eyes flashed at him as the younger of the two took a step forward.  “Do you think we like the way you smell?”

Ally held up a hand, but her eyes were deadly as they took in the male who had spoken.  “He’s never been around your kind,” Ally snarled.  “Insult him again, and it’ll be the last thing you do.  It’s already taking all of my control not to rip you head from your shoulders.  The only thing stopping me is your age and your mother.”

A large grin spread across Adam’s mouth as the young man growled.  To be honest, he couldn’t be any younger than sixteen, only a couple of years shy of Ally herself.  He wouldn’t point that out to any of them, not with the low snarls filling the forest.

The young man opened his mouth, and Adam knew that the next words that left him would start a war, but just as he started to speak, the woman grabbed him by the back of his neck.  A yelp flew through the night as the woman pulled him back.  “Forgive my son,” she said in a low tone.  “He’s new to his power.”

The woman had picked the right words, Adam thought as Ally’s hair went from sticking in all directions to lying undisturbed on her shoulders.  “Tell me what your business is and leave before something that I cannot control happens.”

“Something you cannot control?” the woman repeated with a small laugh.  “Don’t insult me.  We both know that nothing happens here without your complete control.”

Ally’s eyes flashed.  “Did you smell a lie?”  She waited for the woman’s reluctant shake of her head.  “There are things that even I cannot control.  Things that are not controlled by magic, but man.  Things you should know much about.”

Taking a step forward, the woman kept her son at her side, but as she attempted to come closer, the deep hiss from Barron kept her from moving another inch.  “So you know what is to come.”

“They want me dead.”

“Because they know you will sympathize.  No matter how hard you are towards those who try to harm your loved ones, you do not condone genocide.”

Chin rising in a challenging manner, Ally stepped forward.  “And you do?”

“Would I be here if I did?  Would I walk into the den of a shifter race who naturally hates our kind if I were against what they believed?”

“No dens,” Adam threw out, wishing he wouldn’t have said a word as both women stared at him.  It was a lot of power.  Not only in Ally’s eyes, but in the unknown woman’s too.  He knew what she was, but he had not known who she was until her eyes had connected with his.  “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath.  

The son chuckled.  “That’s right; be afraid.”

“Keep your mutt on a leash before I silence him.”