Ami

Chapter 11 Interlude

So this is what it had come to? The man thought to himself as he watched the couple leave the witches’ home. All he had done over the centuries, all the measures he had taken to ensure that something like this would never occur had all been for naught.

“Sire, perhaps the true mates test will be wrong,” said the Augustine Pride Leader. The man slowly turned towards Samil, his body tensing in agitation. With his advanced age he could see what other Pride Leaders could not and he clearly saw the life energy of the two individuals as a spectrum of colors changing simultaneously.

Even though he saw the truth in front of him, he needed proof, substantial truth to prove to the others.

“We will see Pride Leader Samil. I want the girls and the human’s assistant here, one at time for questioning. Have the witch escorted over as soon as the half-breed and the other Pride Leader leave the premises.” Turning his cold aged stare to the Augustine Pride leader, “I hope for your sake this visit was not a waste of time Samil. False alarms will be mete out with harsh consequences. Now go.”

As Samil left the room, the man turned back around towards the window seemingly watching the birds fly by and the bees buzz about busily doing whatever task nature had borne them to do. Yet his eyes kept wandering towards the witch’s house as it shimmered in and out of the corporeal plane. ‘This will not do at all.’

Time. Timing was everything when it came to the universe and all its mysteries, everything falling into line, into is specific place to keep the perpetual cause and effect chain flowing smoothly. She didn’t know how many had been ‘asked’ to attended the unplanned meeting, yet she got a sense from the sadness that permeated the rooms that there had been more on the invite list. After the true mates test had been performed, the witch had been escorted up to the office to be debriefed about the events that had occurred in her home. She had been asked to take her turn just after the other two people whom the visitor requested audience with; she was last to arrive amongst the young lioness named Gracen and the lion who was the assistant to Jackson Tussou.

The visitor, a lion of great standing throughout the Were-lion Community, one of pure dominance and tight-fisted iron will had made the special trip upon reports of events occurring that would cause too much turbulence for the visitor’s taste. The visitor was male, a leader, one of few remaining descendants from the direct line of the first were-lion, an Elder. She sat within hearing distance of the conversation that went on behind the closed door. She heard the elder’s voice first among the others.

“So it has begun… the were-lion race is on its way to dying out.”

“Sire,” said Geoffrey, “I have known the Tussous for years and they are a kind and respectable family. I am sure that with some convincing they would …”

“Silence, you insolent pup! You were not addressed, so your personal view means naught to me, I only want the facts and you have served your purpose. You may leave.”

After Geoffrey made his exit, the witch stepped into the room where the Augustine Pride Leader sat on one side of the room while the Elder sat behind the oak desk, standing out as a silhouette against the shine of the sun. Gray hair held back by twine, dressed smartly in grey three-piece pin striped suit, classic banker style. He had an air about him that spoke of strength and had a no-none-sense poise about him that could be read as, ‘I will break you’. There in the smaller conference room he omitted a sort of pheromone that commanded respect and obedience.

The witch, though hesitant to reveal her part of this eventual ploy of the nefarious sort could not hide the truth. The witch relayed everything from the meeting to the imposing figure seated in the high backed chair.

The witch knew not the details of the Elder’s plans for the couple but could read on the Elder’s face, his stance and the tone of his voice that they wouldn’t exactly be receiving congratulatory cards and presents as other true mates had. She read in the Elder’s being the promise of pain and suffering abound. There was nothing she could do at this point but wait and watch as fate and destiny had revealed but a vague glimpse of their hand in these present events. She reflected on the phoenix from the true mate’s divination and knew that much hurt would come about but there after strength, courage, and fight would emerge. She wished that there was something that she could do to warn those involved but nothing could be done to divert the coming changes, because it would happen regardless, as time deemed it so.

Grimacing, the man thought to himself ‘this cannot happen.’ For centuries the main goal of he and the other originating Pride Leaders were survival and longevity of the species, even with the enhanced healing abilities and the slowed aging the were-lion was still prone to disease and death. So through careful breeding the were-lion gene was successfully passed down from one generation to the next. Years ago those that stepped outside of that breeding spectrum were dealt with and the offspring disposed of. However, things had changed and that one single change caused a ripple effect that was still active today and the results were about to bite him in the ass.

“This will definitely not do.” The man said to the Augustine Pride leader. The phone call he had received from the Pride Leader just yesterday silently set bells in his head. The Naeri Pride’s split had caused a devastation for the Great Pride as a whole. As one of many beings of the Non-human world, their standing in the chain of revered power was weak because they lacked the immortality of wolves and the elemental magics, but for all they lacked they made up for in numbers. And great numbers, secured from superior genes, meant great strength. And what better pride of superior genetics than that of the Naeri Pride. Before the exile the pride was revered as one of the more intellectual and promising prides to ever exist but after the exile a change occurred placing the pride above all others.

For years, there had been attempts made to coerce the pride out of exile but nothing could sway the then pride leader. Rumors ran rampant of the Naeri Pride Leader planning the entire exile in hopes of becoming a were-lion above the law and rule of the elders, one pride to head the were-lion race for maximum influence over the world, but they were just rumors. Yet the conquest to have influence over the world was not, this Elder had the notion that the were-lion race could and would accomplish the feat and getting Naeri Pride back under the Elders’ rule was the key.

The Augustine Pride Leader watched the Elder carefully, trying to read the man’s stone like mask he had plastered onto his face was proving impossible. He was clearly deep in concentration; Samil could literally hear the mental wheels of the elder’s mind turning, churning out some sort of thoughtful plan.

“Samil, tell me of this half breed. What do you know about her?”

“Well she only comes on the grounds with her father or when she’s in the company of Mattea Cardenas and the Cardenas family.”

“So she has had no contact with the rest of the pride?”

“Well because of ties she has to the pride I granted her permission to walk amongst the Pride grounds whenever she chooses. But the Pride has stuck strictly to the regulations and did not formally allow her to become one with the pride.”

“Well then perhaps its time she did.”