Five years after loosing her mother and being blamed for her death Amber can't live in Blue Moon Pack anymore. After discovering she's a runt, her family turns their backs on her and her mate decides that he doesn't want her. Running seems to be her...
I was a little confused when Tab had told me that they would be helping a rogue accumulate to pack life, but wasn't completely against it. I was once in a situation similar to the rogues. I was in a bad spot in my life and needed something to bring me out of my depression, and thankfully Blood River pack was able to do just that. And even better than getting my life back on track they promoted me to pack trainer. I was currently in the gym, working with some younger teenagers on their form when Myles came running in, panting.
"Kole, Tab wants you in the infirmary!" Myles practically yelled.
"Is he alright?" I asked as I ran out of the gym behind the frantic wolf.
"Tab is fine; it's the rogue we're worried about."
I didn't comment on that last statement but was utterly confused by the situation. Tab is worried about a rogue? But Tab hates them almost as much as his father does. Myles and I were about a quarter of the way to the infirmary when my sensitive ears picked up on a woman's screams. My feet hit the ground harder and my legs pumped faster, whatever was causing the woman to scream had to be what Tab had called me for. We both ran through the halls quickly until we got to the door that held the screaming woman and Tab. I opened the door and stared wide eyed at the sight in front of me.
"Well?" Tab looked at me expectantly.
"She's not a wolf..." I kept my voice low, hoping my calm demeanor would rub off on everyone in the room. I took a few steps closer and took another sniff. I hadn't encountered too many others with this scent, and the few that I had run into weren't too social.
"She smells kind of like you did before you joined our pack." Tab chimed in, "That's why I called you..." I nodded, following Tab's logic.
"You think she's a Cat?" Myles asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"It would explain the smell." Tab said.
"And the fever, how do you explain that?" The Alpha chimed in... Fever?
"How old is she?" I asked quickly.
"We don't know... Doc said she probably isn't much older than Myles and me, but we didn't get a chance to ask her." Tab answered, "Why?"
"Cats shift for the first time around eighteen years of age, our animal side is more wild and harder to control. A more mature human tends to keep the animal in check. If she's a Cat and she's got a fever it's probably due to her Cat coming to the surface..." I looked from Tab to the woman, who was now curled up on her left side in the fetal position whimpering and crying hysterically. I knew shifting was not this painful and that at the most a Cat shifter would give one or two screams within the three minutes it took to shift for the first time.
"So if her Cat's coming to the surface for the first time, why hasn't she grown fur and a tail yet?" The Alpha's temper was rising again.
"I'm not sure. Cats don't normally take longer than a few minutes to shift for the first time. And it's not this painful. Something's not right." I told them all, I thought about what could possibly prevent or delay her shift when she let out another pain filled cry.
"We need to calm her down so she doesn't hurt herself." Myles shouted over the girl's shrikes.
"And without touching her, the last thing we need right now is to add a panic attack on top of this craziness." Tab yelled back. That gave me an idea; reaching into my left pants pocket and found what I was after. I pulled the little plant out and put it under the woman's nose.
"What's that?" Tab asked, noticing the small green plant I had in my hand.
"Nepeta cataria." I answered without taking my eyes off the woman who's shrieks had come down to loud sobs.
"English please..." Myles quipped.
"Catnip." When I noticed none of the wolves understood what I was doing I explained a little more. "Sometimes Cat shifters can be calmed down by sniffing or chewing on catnip." I shrugged. When I got nods from the wolves I turned my attention back to the woman, her sobs had slowed and she was not whimpering and crying in the fetal position.
"So catnip works on shifters too..." Myles said lightheartedly. After Myles spoke everyone was silent until I saw her hands twitch and her skin started to crawl. Her ears started to shift and come up to a point as she started her first shift.
"Alright, everyone out." I almost demanded. The only response was the Alpha clearing his throat and crossing his arms. Damn Alphas, they always have to display their dominance. I thought. "Alpha, Cats are solitary shifters and animals. When a Cat shifts for the first time they can become aggressive and sometimes deadly towards anything that threatens them. Her cat might see all of you as a threat and could lash out at you. Naturally a cat shifts for the first time with their mother so they don't feel threatened by a more dominant male or someone they don't know." The Alpha's arms unfolded and went to his side, his face was still scowling but he nodded and left the room followed by Tab and Myles.
After the door closed, I studied the woman lying in front of me, her ears were now twitching. She had started mumbling incoherent things that didn't make any sense, and her voice was becoming louder and clearer.
"... Mn ... no..." I gently placed the back of my hand against her forehead, she was still burning up, but she hadn't shifted yet and it had been fifteen minutes; nearly three times as long as the longest shifting I had heard of. "... Mn ... no ... mine ... mine ..." tears were running down her cheeks like a waterfall, "... Mine ... Farris ..."
"Oh no..." she was calling for her mate, some guy named Farris, and from the amount of pain she was in, I doubted that he was going to come to her aid. Normally shifting for the first time was a little painful, but she's going through more than what was expected. Her screams and shrieks echoed the ones I let out when I lost my mate just short of a year ago. She screamed for about three more minutes when she finally stopped and went to whimpering. I noticed her left shoulder had become red and irritated in the crook of her neck along a jagged scar, but no one here had done anything to her.
"Alright..." I said more to myself than to her, "let's see what kind of Cat you are." The skin on her arms twitched then began sprouting hair, her back arched and her legs took on a new shape. Every bone in her body started reforming and taking its new shape, the whole transformation took about two minutes, but the cracking and popping of bones and joints made those two minutes last forever. When she had finished shifting I was looking at a beautiful female leopard asleep on her side.
I took this time to shift into my lion and wait for her to open her eyes. I figured if she saw another Cat shifter it might be a little less unusual, and hopefully her Cat wouldn't see mine as a threat. Making sure I was not in a threatening position, I sat on the floor next to her bed and pinned my ears to my head then nudged her front paw with my nose. My efforts to get her attention were rewarded when I heard her give a slightly annoyed grunt. I watched as her eyes fluttered open slowly.
She lowered her head and sniffed around me, imprinting my scent into her memories and then let me do the same. I noted that she smelled like moist soil and cut grass, not your normal female scent, but I liked it. I nudged her front leg, trying to get her to stand and maybe walk around a bit. She gave a quiet huff as she stretched, she let out a grunted roar that seemed to carry out into the hallway because Tab, Myles, the Twins and the Alpha came through the door like their tails were on fire.
I think they can handle it from here.
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