The Last Day of June

Chapter Ten: Silent Conclusion

One month later.

"June, wake up." Something poked me in the side.

I mumbled and turned over in the warm cat bed. The insistent prodding continued until I finally sat up and yawned.

Axel looked down at me, bemused but also serious. "Come on lazy bones, breakfast is ready."

With a grin, I rolled into my back and pawed at him above. A sudden thought struck and I sobered. "We need to decide soon."

"After breakfast," he meowed, turning. He knew as well as I did that we needed to make a choice soon but put it off to the side. 

Both of us had been procrastinating on this decision for a few weeks now. Axel's excuse was that he was waiting for me to heal completely. My excuse was that I still needed to tell Bailey and Sage that we were leaving.

Over the past month, the two of us had rested up, relieved to take our first real break in what felt like forever. The first week or so Axel had been mistrustful of everything, most of all Kace and his fiancee Selene. He'd softened the slightest bit since then. His instincts were still evident when either of them stepped into the room. He'd slink off into the shadows, leaving nothing but a bright yellow and blue eye staring out, untrusting, into the world.

My cast had been taken off and I'd been given free rein of the apartment. Their eyes still followed me whenever I attempted a jump but I was mostly healed up. My leg felt fine, if better.

Two weeks ago I'd overheard Kace and Selene talking about their wedding. It'd been some time in August before the new school term. I would be sad to leave before then. I hope we wouldn't spoil their happiness.

In the end, we left at midnight, without a word to anyone, human or shapeshifter.

Axel shifted into his human form and stretched and I followed suit. I glanced back at Bailey and Sage's sleeping forms, curled up against each other, dreaming. I'd miss them. Maybe I'd see them around sometime.

Probably not. Axel had convinced me that we needed to move to a different city. Too many people knew our forms, no matter how hard we tried to keep them separate. Too many people would come looking for us. Too many of the people that we'd left behind.

Axel pressed a finger to his lips, silently telling me not to make a noise. He slowly turned the doorknob, somehow opening it without so much as a creak. I wouldn't have managed the same.

It opened into a vast corridor of uncertainty and guilt. The first step out would seal our fate.

We left our collars as a parting gift. Something to remember us by. A blue moon and a green flower pendant. That was all that would be left.

I took a deep breath. Axel waited for me expectantly at the end of the hall. The people behind were the closest beings I had to friends. The building I abandoned was the nearest I could call home.

But there would be no free life for us.

This was the last chapter of my life here, in this city.

This was the last time I would allow myself to get close to people I had no right to be with.

It was fitting that today, after all, was the last day of June.

(Side Note: Hmm who's disappointed *raises hand*...But hey, it's the most logical choice for them. No where is really safe for a shapeshifter outside of their realm, you'll see that theme in a lot of my works.)