Chapter one. Bad feeling.
I sat in my class, I felt extremely weird today, and I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, it was like I knew something was going to happen today, but I didn’t know what. I sat in the front desk, not my favorite choice of seating, everyone was staring at me, and I didn’t like it. Everyone told me I was unbelievably beautiful, and I couldn’t figure out why, I looked nothing like my mother or my father. I have blonde hair down to my shoulder blades, bright green eyes, and a slim figure. My mother has bright red hair, brown eyes and is slightly overweight. I never questioned it, mother taught me to be grateful for the things I have, and she is my mother, how can I not be grateful?
“Jenna, can you answer the question?” the teacher asked me. I nodded “a riverbed can be a never ending cycle” I replied. She nodded smiling “correct” she said. We were in the “going green” class to teach us about stuff like recycling and pollution. I felt a poke in my back; I turned around to look at Jake, someone who annoys me greatly. I sighed and turned back around, not wanting to deal with him right now. “Hey! Jenna, feel like that date?” he asked me in a whisper. I snorted, I always had an attitude, and a temper, but I’m not mean. “Yeah, sure Jake, more than anything, I feel like a date” I muttered sarcastically. He sighed “okay, no more sarcasm” he said. I ignored him and paid attention to the teacher. The bell rang and I grabbed my bag, walking quickly out of the class room. I walked down the hall quickly so Josh couldn’t keep up with me, I was pretty, but that didn’t mean I fit in. everyone didn’t like me for some reason, they all sort of… feared me I guess, I have no I idea why they would. I was not very tall. The only ones that seemed less intimidated by me were guys.
I walked outside, sitting on the ground to wait for my mom to pick me up. I reached into my pocket for my IPod, putting my headphones on, I blared my music, ignoring those around me.
Mom pulled up a few minutes later, calling my name. “Jenna! Get in the car! I have to talk to you!” she called. I rolled my eyes, getting up from the ground. I walked to the car, getting in and looking at mom expectantly as she drove away from the school “well, there are guests coming over to the house today, and they would like to meet you personally, their names are Maria, Laurence, and their son, William Lamer” she said. I nodded
“Okay” I said slowly. She looked away from me “umm-“ she stopped to clear her throat, her voice was shaking. “They’re going to take you away for a while” she said, tears ran down her face as she said this. Shock hit me like a wrecking ball, if it were a physical person; it would have thrown me out of the car. “wha….what are you talking about?” I asked her when I could speak. She took in a shaky breath “Jenna, there is something I need to tell you, and I want you to know that I love you so much, and that I think of you as my own daughter” she told me.
“Think of me as your own daughter? I am your own daughter!” I told her, panic rising up in my voice. She shook her head, more tears running down her cheeks “you are not my biological daughter. You were given to me by your parents for protection, they will explain when they get here why, and they will be taking you home” she told me. I shook my head “no, I won’t go, I won’t leave!” I told her. Mom shook her head “you have to, it’s for your safety, and your friends safety” she told me. Tears were running down my face as well “why?” I asked her brokenly. She looked at me, her eyes red from crying “I can’t tell you, they told me to let them explain” she said. I sighed and nodded, knowing not to argue. We got home, and a car was already in the driveway “their already here?” I asked, panic rising back up. She nodded “yes, they got here an hour after you left for school” she said. I took a deep breath to calm myself, “give me a few minutes to get myself ready to meet them, just stall them while I’m up stairs” I told her as we walked to the door. She nodded, smiling sadly at me “I’m so very sorry to do this to you Jenna” she said to me. I didn’t answer, I just took another deep breath and opened the door, I walked up the stairs as quickly but quietly as I could as mom announced her arrival. I walked into my room and stopped short, my room was empty, my clothes, my bedspread, even the things that were hanging on the walls, all gone. That’s when it really hit me, I am leaving, with my real parents and apparently a brother of whom I do not know, to live god knows where, because I am in danger, I felt tears form, but I blinked them back. I wanted to be strong, that’s what mother always taught me, “be strong, and be happy with the blessings life gives you, there is no point in being anything else” she would always tell me when I was upset or sad. I changed shirts and brushed my hair, making sure I looked presentable for my real parents. I sighed and walked down stairs and into the living room. The first thing I registered was the bright and happy smile that came to her face as she looked at me. I sat down beside mom, taking her hand tightly in mine “Jenna, oh, how you’ve grown” Maria said, as if she couldn’t help but let it slip out. Laurence pat Maria’s hand “I’m sure you know at least partly about the situation at hand” he said. I nodded once “yes, I know” I replied in a small voice. He nodded once too, I noticed that I have his eyes, but Maria’s hair, skin, and figure. “Right, now we have to explain this quickly, we don’t have time for allot of questions right now” he told me. I nodded, and noticed William was studying me with curious eyes. “you are not in danger of anyone, but you are in danger of yourself, you are a shape shifter, and they only change into that of the fiercest animals, such as Tigers, lions, panthers and-“ I cut him off.
“Whoa, wait a minute, you expect me to believe that I am something out of a comic book? I mean come on! Mom, you seriously can’t be taking this seriously!” I asked mom, looking at her questioningly. Mom nodded, looking very grave, I snorted “this is nuts” I muttered. Maria looked at Laurence, they nodded to each other, and they both looked at William. William nodded, stood up, and walked to the middle of the room, he looked me straight in the eye, and something happened, too fast to comprehend, he wasn’t there anymore. In his place was a huge Panther, the panther started toward me, but I stumbled out of my seat, backing away from the huge animal standing before me. I hit the wall, and the panther came closer to me, and then, in front of me again, was William. My breathing was heavy, and I stood there, motionless as he walked back over to the couch, sitting down with a satisfied grin. Maria looked at me gravely as I stood there too shocked to move “as you can see, we are not nuts, and you will be one of us, at midnight, on your birthday” Laurence said. My only thought before I slid to the ground was, ‘my birthday is tomorrow’ tears welled in my eyes “why am I a danger to myself?” I asked, barely above a whisper. Maria made a move, but Laurence stopped her “when you change, you will go into a rampage, and you will want to kill, we have to lock you away until you gain control of your human side again” he said. The tears streamed down my cheeks “so I’m just going to be a blood thirsty monster all my life?” I asked, still whispering. They all three shook their heads “no, it’s only for the first transformation, you will have complete control of your animal form after the transformation” he explained. I nodded slightly “how will I gain control?” I asked. Laurence looked at Maria gravely “you’ll know, don’t worry” he said to me. I nodded “when are we leaving then?” I asked him.
“In very soon, in fact, we need to leave now, we only have until tomorrow night, and it’s going to be a long flight” he said. I nodded, not moving from my spot on the floor. William got up, and walked over to me “hey, sorry if I scared you, but it’s my job to convince others like us that we do exist, it’s a shock for everyone” he said. He held his hand out to me, and I looked at it hesitantly “it’s alright, I don’t bite, besides, you’re my sister, I have to protect you, not hurt you!” he scoffed. I nodded, hesitantly grabbing his hand. He smiled and helped me up. I wiped my eyes “I guess everything is already packed?” I asked them. Maria nodded, speaking for the first time since we met “yes, everything is packed and ready to go” she replied, looking as if she were in pain. I nodded and turned to mom. She had tears in her eyes “let’s go get things ready to leave” Maria said, obviously giving us alone time. When they left, I grabbed mom into a fierce hug “I love you mom, thank you for taking care of me all these years” I said, trying not to say goodbye.
“I love you too, but we both know that this is the last time we’ll see each other” she said. I nodded
“yeah, I know, goodbye mom” I said to her. She just held me in her arms for probably five minutes, someone cleared their throat “uh, we need to go, mom and dad are waiting, and it’s a twelve hour flight” William said to me. I took in a deep breath and let go of mom, “bye mom, see you in a lifetime” I said, smiling. We would always say that to each other when we were going somewhere for a long time without each other. She laughed wetly “see you in a lifetime” she smiled, her eyes bloodshot from crying, and tears were still running down her cheeks. I kissed her cheek and turned to William “I’m ready” I said. He nodded sadly and gestured for me to go out the door first. I walked out of the door and down the sidewalk to the car. I wiped the last of my tears from my face while I got into the car. “Wait! Jenna! I need to give you something!” mom called, hurrying to the car. I stepped out of the car as she held out a small heart-shaped necklace; it had #1 mom engraved on the back. “This is my mother’s day present to you when I was eight, mom this is yours” I told her. She wiped more tears from her eyes as she clipped it around my neck “I wore it for a long time sweetie, I want you to remember me when you see it” she said. I held back tears and grabbed her into another hug “I love you mom, bye” I said, trying to bring myself to let her go. I finally let her go, and she smiled sadly “goodbye” she said. I got in the car, and as they drove away, I waved to mom and she blew kisses to me. I stared out the window as we drove to the airport, not wanting to speak to anyone. It’s not that I resented them for what they were doing, I knew that they loved me, and were just trying to protect me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to just let them into my life and pretend that all was well and that we all knew each other.
The ride to the airport was quiet, and awkward. Maria would try and speak to me, and I would just answer her with one word, soon she gave up. When we got to the airport, I expected us to have to go through allot of security, but we drove straight onto the tarmac, and to a plane. It was a privet plane. I gaped at it as we got out of the car. Three people came up to us, two took my bags and put them on the plane, and one took the car. We walked up these stairs to the entrance of the plane. When I walked in, I had to stop for a second and take in the hugeness of the plane. The plane was vast, with eight chairs, seated in rows of two by the windows; each row was facing each other. There was a small fridge, with a couple counters next to it, and a small pantry that snaps closed for safety. All this just made me miss home, I missed my little redheaded mother, I just wanted to go home and see her again. I walked over to the first row of seats that were nearest to me, sitting in the window seat. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was someone already seated in the fourth, in the seat facing me. I guess I just wasn’t noticing him there. “Hello Drake, I hope we didn’t make you wait too long, this is Jenna, Jenna this is Drake” Maria introduced. I waved at him, not really looking at him; my backpack was put in the seat in front of me, so I was rummaging through it, trying to find something that my mom gave me. I pulled out a collector’s coin that mom gave me, it was dads, and when he died, mom thought she should give me something to remember him by. The coin was gold, with silver in the middle, and a five scent sign in the middle, it was a collector that dad treasured greatly. And he never left it home, he called it his lucky coin, and so I never left it home either. I kissed it and asked dad to wish me luck, and then put it back in the bag. It was then that I noticed Drake was staring at me, a quizzical look on his face as he searched my eyes, we stared at each other for what seemed like hours. I looked away out the window, Maria, Laurence and William sat in last of the rows. I guess they got the message that I wanted at least a small bit of alone time.

Chapter two. Jenna. (Drakes P.O.V.)
I sat in the privet plane wondering what was so important about coming here, they still haven’t told me what they have dragged me here for, all they have told me is that I’m to be a bodyguard, a bodyguard of whom? I have no idea. I ran my hand through my blonde hair, it’s blonde, I found, from me being a lion. My eyes are bright green like a cats, night vision is an awesome tool. With my hearing, I could hear a car come onto the tarmac, and the men outside the plain start to prepare for takeoff. The first person to enter the plane was one I didn’t recognize, but she was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was honey blonde, and her eyes were bright green, she was a lion, I knew it. She seemed to be taking in the plane, her eyes past over me, but she didn’t seem to notice me. She walked over to the last row of seats and sat down, that’s when she noticed me, and we stared at each other for a second, she looked away when Maria and the rest came in. “Hello Drake, I hope we didn’t make you wait too long, this is Jenna, Jenna this is Drake” Maria introduced us. She waved at me, rummaging through her backpack. She pulled out what looked like a coin; she smiled in relief and kissed it, putting it back into her bag. She looked up and met my eyes, we stared at each other for probably five minutes, and it clicked, she’s my mate, I was drawn to her for the same reason my friend Jill was drawn to Lauren. She looked away out the window, seeming depressed in a way. I got up and walked over to the seat across from me “mind if I sit?” I asked. She looked up at me, and then nodded, gesturing for me to take a seat. When I was seated she stared at me expectantly like I was going to say something to her. “So you’re the new shape shifter” I said, more a statement then a question. She nodded “yeah, apparently I’m to shift tomorrow” she replied. Her voice was as beautiful as her face “I nodded, yeah, the eighteenth birthday is always the day you shift” I said. She nodded, looking down at her hands “so, why didn’t you come to the house?” she asked me, looking at me questioningly. I shrugged “I honestly have no idea” I chuckled. She smiled a small but bright smile. “Apparently I’m your bodyguard, and I’m to protect you from yourself when you shift” I told her. She nodded “so I don’t hurt myself trying to get out” she amended. I nodded “yeah, see, when you shift, you go into a-“
“Rampage, and the instinct to kill is overpowering, yeah, they explained it” she said softly. I nodded and looked out the window of the plane “so…who protected you from hurting yourself?” she asked. I smiled “Laurence, he helped me through it, and taught me my ways” I said. She stared at me in shock “my father?” she asked. I nodded “I guess” I said. She nodded “my biological father, and mother are sitting over there, but the mother I have known for years is at home” she said sadly. I nodded “where is your father?” I asked. She looked away “he passed away when I was ten years old” she said, playing with something around her neck. I rubbed the back of my neck guiltily “oh, I’m sorry” I told her. She waved me off “you didn’t know” she said. I nodded “yeah, but I shouldn’t have said anything” I muttered. She shrugged “It’s fine” she dismissed me. I nodded, looking out the window.

Chapter three. Drake. (Jenna’s P.O.V.)
The plane ride was not as bumpy or scary as I thought it would be, it was actually quite smooth. My first plane ride I ever had was was stressful; we were in the middle of a bad storm, and the plane was being shaken by how bad the wind was, I was just glad we got to the place safely. And Drake kept me distracted enough to where I wasn’t nervous. We talked about my mom, and his parents, and what it’s like back home, and what my school is like “I don’t really have any friends, I guess I know why they seemed to be intimidated by me” I said. He nodded, smiling “yeah, before I changed, everyone was afraid of me” he said. I nodded “is there school where we are going?” I asked. He shook his head “no, were going to the island of Neilia” he said. I looked at him in confusion “I’ve never heard of it” I said. He nodded “no one ever has, except the people who keep it hidden” he said. I nodded
“It’s a hidden island?” I asked. He nodded, smiling “yes, a new technology these people have discovered allows us to cloak our island, so no one can even see it” he said. Questions rose up in me, but I held them back as the pilot started speaking “ladies and gentlemen, you are free to move about the cabin, the servers will be out shortly with your meal choices” he said. I looked out the window, and all I could see was blinding light. We must be covered in clouds. I closed the window; the light was so bright that my eyes watered. The server came bye, asking us if we wanted anything, I passed on dinner, not really in the mood for eating. “You’re not hungry?” Drake asked me. I shook my head, looking away “no, I lost my appetite a while ago” I said. He nodded and told the server to bring two pillows “are you not hungry either?” I asked him. He shook his head “no, I ate a few minutes before you got here” he said. I nodded, and the server came back with two pillows, he handed one to me “you seem tired, and you need as much rest as you can before you shift” he told me, seeing my inquisitive look. He is vigilant, I was exhausted. I thanked him and laid my chair back, finding out that it reclines so I can put my feet up. Drake had a server bring a blanket so I could be warm. I listened to him speak about the island a little more, before I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
I woke up to someone carrying me, I didn’t hear the loud sounds of planes and cars, I heard the soft sounds of birds, and tree frogs in the distance, I opened my eyes and looked up, finding that we were walking from the plane, there were trees all around, kinds of trees I had only seen On TV. I looked up to find Drake staring down at me with a smile “good morning” he said quietly, his voice almost a part of the quiet of the forest. “You didn’t need to carry me, I could walk” I sighed groggily, feeling a little guilty that he had to carry me. I felt him chuckle silently “I didn’t want to wake you, and it’s alright, were almost to the car so we can get to the sanctuary” he said. I already had my head buried in his chest “m-Kay” I mumbled, already half asleep. I felt him shift me to one arm, and then I heard a car door open before I fell asleep again.
Chapter four. Revealing. (Drakes P.O.V.)
She fell asleep again shortly after she woke, so I kept her in my arms on the way to the sanctuary, she seemed so peaceful in her sleep, and it felt nice to have her in my arms. I fell in love with her more and more as we spoke of her home, and of her parents, she shared with me how she missed her mother so. It made my heart ache to comfort her as her beautiful face looked so very sad.
The drive to the sanctuary was short, just a few minutes. “Drake, will you take her to courter eight? We’ll let her rest right now, but tomorrow, were going to introduce her to the rest” Maria said to me, looking at Jenna with so much care. I nodded and took Jenna down the halls to corridor one, and down to the room that no one has been allowed to occupy, they’ve been waiting for Jenna to come home I guess. I opened the door and looked around the room; it was painted sky blue, with a full bed and a dresser sitting across from each other. Posters and pictures were strewn across the wall, and a small window was looking out over the forest, it was one O clock in the morning, so it was dark. I carried her to the bed, and gently shifted her to one arm. Pulling the covers back, I set her on the bed, pulling the covers over her. She shifted to her side, sighing in her sleep. I wanted to kiss her so bad, at least kiss her forehead, but I couldn’t, afraid she would wake and find me out, I would have to tell her that she was my mate, she would never want to speak to me again, thinking I was some weirdo. So I just stroked her cheek softly with my hand, she smiled in her sleep, making it harder to resist kissing her. I got up and left the room, closing the door softly. “hi Drake” I jumped at the sound of her voice. I turned to Ley with wide eyes “Ley! You scared the shit out of me!” I scolded. She was leaning casually on the door “that’s a first” she muttered, narrowing her eyes at me. Ley is my friend, though she thinks were more than that, she thinks were mates-to-be or something. “Who was that?” she asked, pointing to the door. I started walking down the hall “that’s Jenna Lamer, she is the daughter of head masters Laurence and Maria” I informed her. She paused for a second, shock hitting her “well, what were you doing in there? I could swear I saw you touch her cheek” she said accusingly. I smirked and said nothing; Ley gasped “are you kidding me? I am your mate Drake! Your mate!” she told me. I stopped and looked at her “do you even know what having a mate feels like?” I asked her
“yes, you are my mate Drake” she said, getting close to me, touching my chest. I grabbed her hand, not roughly, but as gently as I could, and put it down at her side “Ley, I love you, but as a friend, you are like family to me, but you are not my mate, Jenna is” I murmured to her.

Chapter five. Premature. (Jenna’s P.O.V)
I awoke to speaking outside my door; it got fainter as if they were walking as they spoke. I got quietly out of bed and opened my door, I saw Drake with a girl, probably my age. “What were you doing in there? I could swear you were touching her cheek” the girl said. I walked to into the hallway, looking around the corner, Drake said nothing, and I could tell he was smirking. I gasped silently, putting my hand to my cheek. I heard Ley gasp “are you kidding me? I am your mate Drake! Your mate!” she said, looking outraged. I felt something flow through me, pain? Or was it jealousy? It seemed a little of both. I almost turned and ran back into the room, but Drake stopped and turned to her “do you even know what a mate feels like?” he asked.
“Yes, you are my mate” she put a hand on his chest. He took it off, more gently then I expected, and put it back down by her side. “Ley, I love you-“again, more pain and jealousy “- but as a friend, you are like family to me, but not my mate, Jenna is” those words shocked me more than getting told I was going to be an animal tomorrow night, more than being told I was going to leave my mother, more than being told she wasn’t really my mother. This also made me feel confusingly happy and joyful ‘why do I feel like this? I have only just met him, and I don’t even know what a mate means, but now I am feeling like someone just hit me with a joy-potion, and slapped me in the face with shock’ I thought to myself. Ley had tears in her eyes as she walked away. “Wait, Ley, please don’t be mad” he called after her. He was rubbing the back of his neck guiltily, the same way he did when I told him my father died. He turned around, and I hid back behind the wall, I quickly but quietly went into my room, closing the door and jumping into my bed. Drake walked past my room, seeming to go into a room right beside it. I got up from the bed, walking quietly to the door; I opened it, wanting a little time to explore. I walked quietly out into the corridors, looking around at the big place; I was wide awake tonight after hearing what Drake said. I ran a hand through my thick blonde hair as I thought about it. Does he love me? He couldn’t, we only just met. Being a mate has to mean something else. But then again, an animal’s mate is one that you mate with, and for penguins its mating for life. But I am not a penguin, at least, I don’t think. I chuckled at the thought of me turning into a fierce penguin. But something Laurence said came to mind “you only become the fiercest of animals” he said to me. I tried to think of what I would become, Drake told me he was a lion, it makes sense, he has blonde hair, and these bright green eyes. ‘Wait, don’t I have blonde hair, and bright green eyes?’ I thought to myself. ‘maybe I’m a lion’ I thought with a smile. I walked towards two glass doors; they looked out upon a balcony with tables and chairs. I walked out onto the balcony looking out at the forest, it was beautiful, with trees everywhere, and a beautiful ocean, I could see something in the trees, moving from one tree to the other. I looked closer, it was a monkey! A very small one, moving through the trees, it looked like a lemur. It was so pretty, with a white and black striped body all the way down to its tail. I smiled at I watched it move expertly through the trees in the moonlight. “what are you doing out here Jenna?” I heard Drakes soft voice from behind me. It startled me, and I whirled around, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” he apologized at once. He didn’t seem angry, just curious as to what I was doing out here at this hour. I looked around, trying to find an explanation for me being out here “I- I uh, I couldn’t sleep” I said finally. He seemed amused “you were sleeping just fine when I left you in your room” he said. The vague memory of waking up in his arms came back to me, and my cheeks warmed “well, I woke up, and I couldn’t go back to sleep” I said, scratching the back of my head nervously. He cocked his head to the side slightly “you seem nervous” he said. I sighed, turning back around and looking out at the forest “I’m fine, you can go back to sleep, I just wanted to explore that’s all” I said quietly. He walked over and stood beside me, not looking at the forest, but looking at me. I searched for the Lemur, but it was gone. “Jenna? Is there something wrong?” he asked. I looked away from his gaze “no, just go back to bed, I’d like to have some time alone to think” I said quietly. He touched my arm “Jenna, I’m not just here to be your bodyguard, I’m here to be your friend, under my own choice, you can tell me anything if anything is wrong, I just want you to know that” he said, his touch on my arm made me look him in the eye. I looked away again ‘could I ask him about what happened tonight? No, I wouldn’t want him to think I was crazy, so I’ll ask him something different’
“Drake, what does a mate mean?” I asked him. He visibly stiffened “why do you ask?” he asked me. I shrugged “Maria was talking to me about it, she said that William has his mate, and that she hopes I would find mine soon” I lied. Drake nodded, relaxing “oh, well, a mate is the one you spend the rest of your life with, when you shift, you have another half that you need to find, some find their mate immediately, some don’t find them for years, and some don’t find them at all” he said, staring at me strangely. So this is what I am to Drake, I’m the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with? “And when I shift, what do you think I’ll be?” I asked. He shrugged “my guess is a lion, you have blonde hair, and bright green eyes, so that is my number one guess” he said. I nodded; this is exactly what I thought. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked curiously about.
“yes” I said hesitantly. He nodded, not really believing me. “well, you should get some rest, you have got a big day tomorrow” he said. I chuckled “you act as if I have a wedding” I said. He chuckled “okay, well good-“I was cut off by a stabbing pain in my stomach. I fell to the ground on my knees, clutching my stomach “what is going on?” I choked out. The pain proceeded to shoot through my limbs. “oh my god! You’re shifting prematurely, we have to get you in the chamber now!” he picked me up, me crying out in pain as he did it. “What…does….what does that mean?” I choked out, the pain intensifying. “We have had cases like this, where the person changes before the time of their birthday” he said.
“does-“ I stopped to cough “does it always feel like this?” I asked, gasping for breath.
“the pain is normal, but you will still go into rage, and I need to get us into a chamber” he said, running at an incredible speed down the hall. We were going down the stairs, people were coming out of their rooms “get the head masters!” he shouted as he ran down the stairs. We came to a large door, and he pushed it open, Maria and Laurence appeared beside us “were here, she is changing?” they asked. Drake nodded as he sat me down on the floor on the far wall. “Close the door and secure it tight” he told them both. They closed the door, and I heard the lock seal it. He changed into a large male lion, standing in front of the door. The pain in my limbs was unbearable, I was forced on my hands and knees, and my scream turned into a roar, a huge roar emanated from the room. My human mind was gone, I was trapped behind the eyes of a beast, and I couldn’t control it. I roared at Drake, the killing instinct was so strong that it overpowered anything else. I started running, trying to hit the door with my body, but Drake blocked me from the door. I started running so fast that I was running on the walls. “Jenna, listen to me, you have to get control, you have to gain control of your body” I heard Drakes voice.
“How? I can’t even control my emotions!” I asked him.
“Close your eyes, and imagine yourself in control, it will take a few tries, but you will be able to do it” he said. My breathing was hard as I ran around the room on the walls. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in control, I imagined myself coming to a stop. It worked! I skidded to a stop and fell to the floor, I rolled once and got back up, that’s when I lost control again. I closed my eyes, imagining the same thing again, it worked again, I stopped running into the door, or trying to at least. I looked Drake in the eyes, and that’s when all control was brought back to me, I fell on the ground as a human, my clothes were torn and ragged. I was bloody and bruised and my breathing was ragged. But I was human again. That’s when I blacked out.

Chapter six. Shifted.
I awoke in a hospital bed, no beeping sound, no annoying dripping sound either, but I did hear another person’s breathing. I looked at the bed beside mine, it held Drake in it, he had a few cuts and bruises, and his blanket was pulled down enough that I could see a cast around his ribcage. I had broken his ribs? As I stared at his face, something happened, something started pouring within me, I didn’t know what it was, and I had never felt something like this before. It wasn’t pain; it was an emotion that I was unfamiliar with. And I realized just how hansom Drake was, his honey blonde hair was disheveled, and his lightly bruised face was actually beautiful. I heard two more peoples breathing in the room, deep breathing as if they were sleeping, I don’t know why I didn’t hear it before, I looked beside me to find Maria and Laurence sitting in what looked like very uncomfortable chairs. Maria had my hand in hers, and her head was cushioned on my bed, from what I could see, her cheeks were stained with tears. Laurence’s chair was right next to Maria’s, and he was sleeping the same way as her. I sighed as I watched them sleep “they really do care about you” Drake murmured to me. I looked over at him, he was looking at me with unfathomable eyes, I looked away and nodded “I know, they wouldn’t have sent me away if they didn’t” I agreed. he didn’t say anything else. “is it going to be like that every time I shift? Painful, I mean?” I asked. He shook his head “no, it won’t even be the slightest painful” he said. I relaxed “why did I do that?” I asked him. He looked away as he said this “the instinct to kill is the strongest when you change, you want to kill anything that is in your path, it’s sort of like the instinct to live in the prospect that it is overpowering” he told me. I nodded “but why is it?” I asked him. He shrugged “allot of people wonder that, I think it is because it’s the first time you have shifted, the animal in you takes over, and the only thing the animal knows to do is kill” he said. I nodded “it makes sense” I said. He chuckled and took my hand; he seemed not to think about it. I looked down at our hands, blushed, and looked away. He looked down at our hands and smiled sheepishly, taking his hand out of mine. We sat in an awkward silence for a little bit, before mom woke up. “Oh hey sweetie! How are you feeling?” she asked me, sounding just like my old mother when I had the flu, I would wake up and go weakly down the stairs, and she would ask that same question. “Fine, I think Drake is worse off than I am” I said guiltily. Drake shrugged “my ribs are almost completely healed now” he said. I looked at him in confusion “fast healing, it comes as a bonus to being an animal” he said with a smile. I nodded, making a silent O. I looked back at mom ‘Maria, you mean Maria’ I corrected myself mentally. She was looking at Drake knowingly, but she quickly looked away when I looked at her, not quickly enough though. William poked his head into the room and smiled brightly “hey Jenna! I’m glad you’re awake!” he said. I threw my arms up in the air “how long have I been asleep anyway?” I asked quietly, as not to wake da- I mean Laurence.
“You have been asleep for two days” mom said. Once again, I was shocked. “Two days?” I asked. Maria nodded sadly “you have been just…sleeping for days, we were worried that you wouldn’t wake up” she said. I nodded slowly, taking it all in, I changed prematurely, and I slept for an abnormally long time. “Man, I am messed up” I muttered to myself. Mom pats my hand “no you’re not, your just special” she chuckled. I smiled wryly “thanks, that makes me feel so much better” I muttered sarcastically. She laughed and squeezed my hand. I Laurence awoke to Maria’s laugh. “Jenna, you are awake!” he said. I nodded, “yep, and still tired, if you can believe that” I muttered the last part. He chuckled “well, you need sleep to heal, and it might help to shift, you heal faster that way” He told me. Fear rose up my spine and I froze. I knew it wouldn’t hurt anymore, but I was afraid –despite the assurances of Drake- of going into that uncontrollable rage. Drake seemed to sense my fear in my sudden silence. “Don’t worry, you won’t hurt anyone, the shifting point is over. You are able to control every emotion and instinct you have” he assured me. I swallowed quietly and nodded, Laurence nodded “yes, it only happens once, and then your free to shift without the danger of losing control” he told me. I nodded “yeah sis, and it’s fun being an animal, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a cat? Well now you know, only, you’re a really smart cat” he said. I smiled, it’s funny how he just accepted me right off the bat as his sister, as if we had known each other all our lives. Maria got up from the chair, and so did Laurence “come on, let’s go get some food, we’ll come back in a few minutes” she said, and I could have sworn she gave Drake a meaningful glance. I looked at Drake and he smiled, it looked like a shy smile. I smiled slightly back. “Jenna, I need to tell you something, and it involves…mates” he muttered. My heart fluttered and I tried hard to hide the anticipation off my face. “Okay, what about it?” I asked. He swallowed “I wanted to wait until we got to know each other better, but your mother convinced me otherwise” he said, taking my hand in both of his. I looked down at our hands, and then back up at Drake; I met his bright and beautiful green eyes and got lost in them, that strange feeling stirring in me. “Jenna, when I saw you, I thought you were…beautiful! The most beautiful human being I have ever seen, I had no idea why I was so drawn to you, it was like a magnet was pulling me to you, and when your beautiful eyes met mine, I knew that you were my….” He trailed off, seeming afraid to say it.
“I was your what?” I knew what it was, but I wanted him to say it. He hesitated and released his hand from mine, reaching up and touching my cheek. He stroked it softly, and I resisted the urge to close my eyes. He moved his hand to the back of my neck and pulled me close to his face, my lips were only inches from his “my mate” he murmured, his eyes drifting to my lips. He leaned in and touched his lips to mine, and it was like an explosion, I ran my hands through his hair and deepened the kiss, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his bed. He ran his tongue across my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I opened my mouth and he slipped his tongue in, his tongue wrestled with mine. I distinctly heard the sound of footsteps down the hall. Drake groaned and reluctantly let me go. I smiled and stroked his cheek as I crawled back into my bed. I grabbed his hand with my left hand and ran my right through my hair, trying to smooth it down. Maria and he rest came in, and she scrutinized the scene before her, Drake’s hair was more crazy then it was before, he was grinning like an idiot and his eyes were excited. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬I was trying to control my breathing; my heart was still fluttering and my hand was in Drake’s. She smiled a knowing smile at us. I blushed and Drake’s grin got wider. Laurence handed both of us a tray, they had a biscuits, bacon and eggs on them. Mm, bacon is my weakness. I dug into the bacon, sighing in pleasure as I ate the bacon. Maria laughed “Are you enjoying it?” she asked me.
“Bacon is my weakness” I told her. She laughed again and pat my leg. “She is just like you Laurence” she said. Laurence was stuffing his face with bacon. He chuckled and nodded “I told you! But she looks like you” he said, pointing to Maria. Maria studied my face for a second; I agreed with Laurence, I didn’t have her hair. Her hair was a light brown, and so was Laurence’s. I wondered what kind of animal they were. Anyway, I had her face and her light skin tone. Her eyes were dark brown, almost black. “She does not! She looks like her grandmother” she denied. Okay, I am going to take that as a compliment. “You look like your grandmother” Laurence reminded her. She looked up from her food in realization “oh yeah” she said. I laughed and pat her head.
We all finished our food, and Drake informed me that he was healed. I looked at him in worry as he un-wrapped both the bandages from around his waist. He seemed fine though, he sighed in relief as he relaxed against the bed. “I have not been able to relax my back for two days!” he muttered. I looked at him apologetically and he squeezed my hand. Maria got up and smiled “okay, well you need to test out being on four legs, and I would like to see your inner animal in person” she chuckled. The fear I felt earlier threatened to take over, but I rained it in. I smiled and hopped out of the hospital bed, realizing I was in different clothes then when I got here. I wasn’t in a hospital gown or anything, but I was in my favorite pair of jeans, with a light blue shirt on. I blushed, wondering who changed me. I didn’t dwell on that thought for long, actually not wanting to know. Drake got up and stood by me. Grabbing my hand “let’s go, you will do better if your outside” Maria suggested. We all followed her to a flight of stairs. They wound down to the first floor. I noticed, for the first time, how well my eyesight and hearing was. I could see and hear every single thing when we got outside, from a small bug scuttling across the ground, to small bird wings flapping a mile away. I could see microscopic specks of dust flying through the air. And about twenty feet away from us, the Lemur I saw two nights ago was watching us through the trees. I cocked my head to the side, watching the Lemur; it just stared right at me. I forgot what we were doing, watching the monkey intently to see what it would do, and it seemed to be doing the same. “Jenna?” Drake asked softly, breaking me from my trance. I didn’t look away from the Lemur though, not wanting it to disappear “what?” I asked softly back. In the corner of my eye, I saw Drake follow my gaze, that’s when the Lemur left, it leaped back into the forest, and –before I knew what I was doing- I shifted and chased after it. I ran through the trees, catching up with the Lemur, I watched as it expertly maneuvered through the trees. It watched me as I watched it; it seemed to have intelligence in its eyes, a calculating intelligence. I heard running footsteps behind me; it was paws, four sets of them. I slowed down and let the Lemur go; it was soon out of site. ‘Jenna! What were you doing?’ Drake’s voice chimed in my head. I turned around to find two bears, a Panther, and a large lion that I immediately recognized. Drake shook out his mane, panting a little. ‘I-‘ what do I tell them? I was chasing a Lemur? No, I’ll say that I saw something that sparked my interest ‘I saw something that sparked my interest, it was nothing’ I lied, sitting down on the ground. Drake rolled his big bright green eyes and walked over, sitting beside me. ‘you can’t lie to me Jenna, what really happened?’ he asked, looking at me expectantly. I huffed as everyone was looking at me in confusion accept for Drake. ‘it was a…Lemur, it was staring at me, and it seemed….intelligent, like it was calculating what I would do just as I did with it’ I told him truthfully. Drake wasn’t laughing, he was looking at me seriously ‘what did this Lemur look like?’ he asked me. I didn’t have to think to answer, I knew exactly what it looked like ‘it had a stripe down its back, and two perfectly round spots around its eyes, with-‘
“Did it have a white spot on its nose, and two more in its back?’ he interrupted me. I thought for a second ‘yes, it did’ I said, nodding my head. He got up and started pacing “what is going on?” Maria -I don’t know how she did it- asked, still in her bear form. “He knows he knows that she shifted” he told her. I looked at him in confusion “who?” Laurence asked. He looked at them and then at me, his expression grave “Garrison” he said. They all gasped except for me. “Garrison?” I asked. He nodded at me. “Garrison is our enemy, he went rogue for reasons we are unsure a year after he shifted and –after allot of damage caused- he disappeared, and we suspect he is building an army” he said. I nodded “then…why is he watching me?” I asked. Drake slinked over to me and sat back down beside me. “he either was watching you to see if you would be a good candidate to be a part of his army, or he was seeing how big a threat you were” William chimed in. Fear rose up in me again “and if he thinks I am a threat?” I asked tightly. Drake put his paw on top of mine, trying to comfort me “we don’t know but-“
“But what?” I asked Maria. She looked at Laurence
“A few people have disappeared. We don’t know where they have gone, and were afraid they’ve either joined him, or have fallen to his hand” she murmured sadly. I was tense all over ‘it’s alright, I won’t let him get near you’ Drake said in my head. I looked at him; he had a determined look in his eye. “We should get to the praise yard, to test your endurance and strength” Maria said. I nodded and we followed her around to a clearing that looked like an obstacle course, with walls that were laced with rope, hurtles that I assumed you jumped, and I didn’t even know what the others were. Maria looked at me as I gaped at the clearing; she shifted and walked over to the wall closest to us. “This is the praise yard, over here is testing your strength and speed, if you can climb both these walls, then your strength is normal, and if your fast at it, then your endurance is up to speed” she said, pointing to the wall and chuckling at her own joke.
“These are your regular hurtles, it’s like an athletics track, you jump them to test your…jumping ability” she said, trying to find a name for it.
“This wall is the reflexes test, how fast you move when something is shot at you, the arrows have Styrofoam tips, so if they do hit you, they will not hurt, but you will have to start again, this will determine how good your reflexes will be” she said, pointing at a wall with holes riddled in it.
“And this determines how fast you are, you have to run at your maximum speed, this speedometer will measure how fast you ran” she told me, pointing to a track that was probably half a mile long. On the end was a screen with a big zero flashing onto it. “Well, are you ready?” she asked me. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, just remember, get through it as fast as you can” she told me.

Chapter seven. (Drake’s P.O.V.)
I watched as she walked up to the first wall, it didn’t take much effort for me to do this, I was praying it didn’t for her either. “Go!” Maria called to her. Jenna raced up the wall, digging her claws into the rope and pulling herself up, she was up the wall in ten seconds. She jumped down from the wall and started up the second, in twenty seconds she was over the two walls, she beat my record of thirty one. She jumped over the hurtles effortlessly and in a few seconds she was on to the path to the reflex test. The first arrow shot, and she rolled under it, the second arrow shot and she jumped, twirling in the air, just missing it. She ran through it and the arrows got more frequent, but she prevailed without one arrow hitting her. She started running as fast as she could down the half mile track, so fast she was a blur to my eyes, when she got to the end, she skidded to a stop and turned around, her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she grinned. She wasn’t even winded. The speedometer said that she was going two hundred two miles per hour, my record speed is one ninety. She skipped back over to us, still doing that cute grin. Maria, Laurence and William were gaping “no one has ever been able to do all that on the first try…Successfully!” Maria exclaimed. Jenna sat back on her hind legs, shock overtaking her grin “really?” she asked. ‘not even me’ I told her in her head. She looked at me in utter shock. “Wow” she muttered. She shifted to her human form and looked at me. I shifted and walked over to her. “Her timing and speed is a new record too” I muttered, it usually takes everyone at least two minutes, it took her all of one, if that. “Yes, a minute and ten seconds, we haven’t had timing and speed like that since…” Realization hit her face and she quickly looked away. “Well, we should go introduce Jenna to the others” she said quickly, turning around and walking back around the sanctuary. Me and Jenna looked at each other in confusion and followed her. Jenna seemed a little shy, she moved a couple feet away from me, looking down at the ground and clasping her hands in front of her. I wondered if I did something wrong…

Chapter eight. (Jenna’s P.O.V.)
I was thinking while I ran the praise yard. About Drake and I. We barely even know each other! I don’t know who he is, I don’t know what he likes, what he doesn’t, what he has gone through, how he got here, I don’t know anything apart from that my father helped him through his transformation, his inner animal is a lion, and that were….mates. I thought about his lips on mine and shivered. I pushed those thoughts away when I felt him staring at me, I didn’t dare look at his face, that strange feeling I got when I stared into his beautiful eyes was unnerving, and I think its love. I sighed quietly and looked beside me to the tan colored wall; it had a red stripe that was slightly faded at the base. “Jenna…is there something wrong?” Drake asked, I could hear the worry in his voice. I looked up at the sound of his voice, meeting his bright green eyes ‘bad idea, bad idea!’ I chanted to myself in my head as I got lost in his eyes. I blurted it out before I could stop myself “I don’t know you! I know your name, I know you’re a lion, and I know we’re… but I don’t know who you are! You’re likes, you’re dislikes, and you’re kind of in the middles! I have no idea what you are like” I told him, running a hand through my hair. Drake stared at me in surprise “and you don’t know me! You don’t know who I am, my likes, my dislikes, and my kind of in the middles!” I said, tilting my hand from side to side. I was pacing the ground, and Drake stood in front of me, stopping me in my tracks just a few inches away from his chest. I looked up at him, his hansom face was troubled. “So…you want to get to know each other?” he asked me. I turned away from him, looking out at the forest, I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I don’t know” I murmured quietly. He gently grabbed my arm and turned me, staring deep into my eyes. “okay, how about a date? You and me on the lunch-deck tonight when everyone has gone to bed, we’ll get to know each other” he said, lifting his hand up to touch my cheek. His fingers grazed my cheek; a shock went through my body. I sucked in a breath and nodded “okay, I can do that” I said, smiling slightly. He smiled “thank you” he murmured. He looked behind me “we should get back to them before they notice we aren’t following them anymore” he said, grabbing my hand and running silently around to the door of the building. We ran in the doors and stopped ten feet away from them. I let go of his hand and looked around at the building. The ceilings on the building were very tall, and the hallways very narrow, we stepped into a vast room, where the ceilings were tall, and the room was wide. I noticed a grand piano, a few vintage looking guitars, a set of drums, and various horns and flutes. “This is the music room, the kids come in whenever and play their instruments of choice” Maria explained with a smile at me. The Piano is what caught most of my attention, I didn’t realize I was walking toward it until I felt its smooth surface under my palm. “Do you play?” Maria asked with a smile. I shrugged, holding my fingers up in a pinch “just a little” I said, smiling at the memories of me and my dad. She gestured for me to sit “go ahead, play something for us!” she insisted. I took my hand off the piano and shook my head; I hadn’t played since he died. “No, that’s alright, I’d rather not” I said quietly. Maria frowned, but nodded “okay, that’s fine sweetheart” Sadness flowed through me as she called me that. Sweetheart is the nickname dad gave me; he never called me anything but that. I just started walking away from the piano, not answering her. I heard them walking behind me, no one spoke, all was quiet. “What happened?” William asked softly, worry in his voice.
“I don’t know” Maria sounded as worried as William. I heard someone sigh. I stopped and looked back at everyone “do you think we can…you know… introduce me to everyone tomorrow?” I asked, not really in the mood to be in front of a bunch of people right now. Maria, Laurence, William and Drake all looked confused and worried “sure…” Laurence said. I smiled in thanks and started walking past them. “I’m just going to…explore” I lied. I heard Drake snort at my lie. I walked back into the music room and looked at the piano. I walked slowly toward it, afraid of playing it, it always brought back memories of me and my dad, and I was afraid of those memories. I was afraid that I might cry for him again. But I had to play, just once more; we sold my old piano after he died, so I never got to play again. Something was telling me to play it, my dad’s encouraging words sounded in my head “go ahead, if you don’t do it now, you’ll never do it” his words made me sit down at that bench and put my hands on the keys. I started the song dad reluctantly taught me-reluctantly because he thought it was a bad song to teach a seven year old –Almost lover- A fine frenzy-
Your fingertips across
The palm trees swaying in the wind
Images
You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick
I never ‘wanna see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do…

Chapter nine. (Drakes P.O.V.)
Everyone went their separate ways after Jenna left, which was strange. I heard the Piano, and then that voice…that voice was so beautiful, so soft, yet it had so much distance. I knew it must have been Jenna. I walked quietly to the doorway of the music room and watched her as she played so much emotion in her voice, sadness in her eyes as she sang the song she knew well.
“We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images
When you left you kissed my lips
You told me you would never ever forget these images! No...
I never ‘wanna see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless lover
My back is turned on you
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you’re gone and I’m haunted
And I bet you are just fine
Did I make it that easy
To walk right in and out of my life

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you!
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do
She stopped the song and smiled sadly, looking down at the piano keys. “Well dad, I hope your proud of me” she murmured, so quiet, I didn’t know if I heard it right. She looked around the music room at the high ceilings painted to look like a ballroom; we used it for events like celebrations and things. I got up and walked quietly away, as not to alert her to my presence. “Drake, I know your there” she called. I stopped and turned around, smiling sheepishly. ‘Busted’ I thought to myself. I walked into the room and leaned against the wall. “Where did you learn to play like that?” I asked her. She was still sitting at the bench; looking down at the piano keys “my dad taught me” she said quietly, not quietly enough, I could hear the sadness in her voice. I looked away out the floor length window that showed the praise yard. “You loved your father” I said. She nodded “he was my life, how could I not?” she asked me. I sighed “would you like to take a walk with me? I could show you around” I asked her. She smiled slightly “sure, that sounds fun” she said, getting up from the bench. She walked over to me and smiled shyly, I held out my hand to her, smiling “come on, I want to show you the garden” I said. She took my hand and I led her through the hallways, we went to the “back yard” as it’s called, I call it the garden, it was like a castle garden, with flowers of every kind, apple trees growing in a little field, orange trees growing in another, this was a fairytale garden, or at least…that’s what my sister called it. Sadness flowed through me as I looked at this garden; Jenna walked in front of me, amazement the dominant expression on her face. She looked around and then turned around to face me, I leaned down and stroked the soft petal of my sisters favorite flower, A giant White Calla Lilly, Lamina disappeared along with seven others one night, they were up late, and he had stayed up with them, but fell asleep. When he awoke, they were gone. Lamina reminded him of a Calla Lily, she was delicate, with snow white skin, these beautiful Golden eyes, and she was a Tiger, only ten years old when she changed, a very premature change. He always called her his little Calla lily, she loved the flower. He hadn’t realized Jenna was sitting beside him, looking at his saddened face until she reached out and touched his hand that was still stroking the lily. “What happened?” she asked him gently, trying not to pry. He looked at her in the eyes “This was my sisters favorite flower, a Calla lily, I used to call her my little lily, she was ten years old when she changed, a little tiger growing to be as fierce as her brother, she was only fifteen when she….” He couldn’t say it; he couldn’t bring himself to say the words that he knew were not true. She was still alive, he knew it. “When she disappeared” she whispered. He nodded “her along with seven others, I was there! If only I could have stayed awake! I could have stopped him” I whispered, tears threatening to break through. She wiped the lone tear that trailed down my cheek away with her thumb “you think that Garrison took them” she said, not a question, a statement. I nodded “I taught my sister never to trust the lemur” he said. Confusion took over Jenna’s face “I don’t get something, I thought you only changed into the fiercest of creatures, why didn’t he change into something other than a lemur?” she asked. I looked out at the forest “I found out that night that he can change into many creatures, no other shifter that we know of in the world has ever been able to have multiple inner animals, we think that is why he went rogue, his inner animals are controlling him now, I think he changed into something else to lure them out, I just don’t know how he got Lamina to leave without waking me first, I will never understand” he murmured. Jenna’s eyes seemed to be staring at something far away, something he couldn’t see as she looked out at the forest, her eyes were unfocused, she was listening intently to something “what is it-“ she shushed him, making him close his mouth instantly. She got up from the ground next to me and started walking slowly, she heard something, and she was going to find out what it was, it seemed.

Chapter ten. (Jenna’s P.O.V)
I heard breathing, out in the woods, my hearing picked it up easily out of all the sounds, this breathing wasn’t right though, not a regular animal, but human, it was ragged, and I could hear whimpering. “Help” it whispered, as if it was too tired to do anything else. I shifted and broke into a run for the second time today, only this time it was to find and help whatever was calling for her. She ran through the forest as the sound of breathing got louder the closer she got. She heard footsteps behind her, one set, she knew it was Drake. She skidded to a stop and shifted as she caught sight of the injured boy in the middle of this clearing. She ran at inhuman speed to the boy, stopping at his side. “what happened to you?” she asked, immediately going into a strange “doctor” mode as she looked at his deep claw wound. “a-a ti-“ he stopped to cough, blood ran down his chin. “a tiger, it- it was a man..b-but then all of the sudden, he changed and attacked me, I h-have been laying h-here f-for hours” he coughed up more blood, his body was trying to heal itself, but his bones were broken and his wound was deep. She ripped the cloth from her jeans and wrapped it around his stomach wound, blood ran down his sides and he coughed up more blood. Drake was standing there, watching as I took charge and looking for a sign of another attack. “It’s alright now; do you have any parents here? Anyone that might be looking for you?” I asked him. He shook his head “m-my family disappeared two months ago” he whispered. I picked the boy up carefully and looked at drake “we should get him to the hospital wing, it’s neither safe nor good for the wound to stay here” I said. Drake nodded, still watching for Garrison. We started running, still in our human forms. I carefully cradled the boy in her arms, careful not to jostle him. I got him back to the garden alright, I ran through the doors leading inside, “I- I can’t breathe” he gasped. I stopped running and listened to his breathing, he was wheezing, but I hadn’t heard any gargle sounds, his blood wasn’t choking him, but I think he ruptured a lung. “you might have ruptured a lung, just stay with me, were almost there” she said, running again. We got to the hospital wing, everyone was buzzing around me and the boy, I set the boy down on an operating table and looked up. “Where is the doctor?” I asked. They all looked at each other, and then looked back at me “he is not on the island, an emergency came up and he had to tend to a shifter off the island. “you mean you don’t have another doctor around here?” I asked incredulously. Everyone flinched at the anger in my voice, except for Drake, who seemed to be watching me intently to see what I would do. I took a deep breath and looked down at the boy “okay, I have a small bit of experience in this, I need to sedate him, then we need to take an X-ray of his body, the bones are not healing right, I can tell, I might need to re-break them” I said grimly as the boy cringed. They went to work, grabbing the tools to sedate him, and setting up the X-ray. After I sedated him, I ran him through the X-ray, my suspicions were correct, I had to re-break his ribs and put them together, I listened as they mended, nodding to myself. I then sewed the wound together as best I could, and wrapped it with bandages. “Okay, you need to change these every day until the wound is healed” I told the nurse. The nurse nodded, “thank you, we don’t know how we would have saved him” she said thankfully. Jenna nodded, patting her shoulder. my clothes were bloody, and my hands were shaking and blood stained as well. The shock of what I just did was starting to set in. I stumbled my way back to my room, barely making it to the bathroom. I threw up into the toilet and leaned against the bathtub. “Jenna, are you alright?” Drake asked. Maria, Laurence and Drake were all standing there as I operated on the boy, my father not only taught me piano, but he taught me survival and health, I think he knew I would need it out here. I nodded “I’m fine” I mumbled, my hands were still shaking. Drake looked at me worriedly, “I just need a shower and to change clothes” I mumbled, trying to convince myself more than him. Getting up and washing my mouth out with water, throwing some in my face as well. Drake stayed in my room while I showered, afraid that I would pass out in the shower; I wasn’t so sure I wasn’t going to either. I got out of the shower and grabbed my towel, drying myself off. I put on some clean and not bloody clothes and walked out of my bathroom and sat down on the floor, putting my face in my hands and pulling my knees up to my chest. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked me, worry still in his voice. “I’m fine” I replied. I listened as he walked over to me, I didn’t expect for him to pick me up, he picked me up bridal style, me yelping in surprise, he set me down on the bed and pulled my covers over me, “get some rest okay? You need some time to calm down from the shock” he said softly. I nodded slightly, “okay” I mumbled. He was about to walk out of the room, but I grabbed his hand “stay with me, please” I pleaded. He looked at me and smiled softly, kissing my forehead “Okay” he said. I don’t know what got into me, but I insisted that he sleep in my bed with me, I cuddled up to his chest and fell into a deep sleep. I awoke the next morning to soft breathing, something I wasn’t used to hearing in the morning. I opened my eyes and looked up to find Drakes face, his hansom features completely relaxed; I had my head buried in his neck and my hands on his chest. He had his arms cradling me to his chest, his blonde hair was disheveled, but that only added to his handsomeness. Our legs were entangled together; it was like a pattern, his leg under my leg, my leg under his leg. I couldn’t help it; I reached up and stroked his eyebrow. It arched slightly, and his arms tightened around me, mumbling something incoherent. His face was so close to mine, his kissable lips so close to me, my mind went back to when he kissed me, the fiery passion that went through me was like nothing I had ever felt before, I had never dated anyone before, he would be my first boyfriend, “I wonder if it feels the same way with everyone” I wondered aloud.
“If what feels the same way?” Drake asked, his eyes cracking open slightly. I blushed “nothing” I muttered. He raised the same eyebrow that I had been stroking earlier; I wished I could stoke it again. “Alright, alright…I was wondering if…the way I felt…when I kissed you…” I trailed off, blushing deeper. He nodded, understanding “I don’t think it does, the way you feel when you kiss your mate is something that no human alone can ever feel” he said, his eyes drifting to my lips. I watched as his bright green eyes flitted back to stare into mine instantly. I cleared my throat nervously, hiding a small smile. “God, I don’t know how to act around you, you are too beautiful for your own good” he whispered in my ear, making me shiver.
Chapter twelve.
I felt her stroking my eyebrow softly, it felt so nice, she stopped stroking it after a few seconds, and I felt disappointed. Her breathing changed, like she was thinking about something upsetting, or, something nice. “I wonder if it feels the same way with everyone” she murmured, a quiet whisper. “If what feels the same way?” I asked, opening my eyes ever so slightly so they would adjust to the light. She blushed; looking down at her hands on my chest “nothing” she lied. She looked back up as I raised an eyebrow, a look of longing in her eyes. “Alright, alright…I was wondering if…the way I felt…when I kissed you…” She trailed off, blushing a brilliant scarlet red. I nodded, so that’s what she was thinking about, the day we kissed… “I don’t think it does, the way you feel when you kiss your mate is that no human alone can ever feel” I was sure of it, the feel of her soft lips on mine, it was like nothing I had ever felt before. I realized that my eyes had drifted to her soft red lips and quickly looked back up into her eyes. She cleared her throat, though I saw a small smile on her lips. She was so beautiful; I had to work to keep my words from being a jumbled mess. “God, I don’t know to act around you, you are too beautiful for your own good” I whispered, my lips close to her ear. I felt her shiver and looked into her beautiful eyes. How I longed to kiss her, to feel those naturally blood red lips on mine, to feel her soft skin, but I couldn’t, I promised myself not to kiss her until she felt ready. She put her hand on my neck and smiled. She then sat up and jumped out of bed, her graceful movements not helping me to keep from kissing her. She stretched and walked into the bathroom, grabbing clothes and a towel on her way. I laid back with my hands behind my head, looking up at the ceiling as I tried to restrain myself from going in there and joining her in the shower. This is going to be a hard few weeks. I had dreamed last night that she was in my arms, and I was kissing her deeply. Part of that dream was true, she was in my arms, but I was not kissing her deeply. A few minutes later, she came out of the bathroom, seeming to forget that I was in the room, she had a towel wrapped around her, this was definitely not helping, I raised an eyebrow at her, and she widened her eyes at me and looked down at her towel. My inner animal was growling inside of me, I wanted kiss her so bad. Before she could do anything, I was in front of her, I put my hand on the back of her neck and kissed her deeply, and she pressed her body against mine and put her arms around my neck, returning the kiss passionately. Then she seemed to realize she was only in a towel, we broke apart, her looking away from me, her breathing was heavy, and so was mine. Regret flowed through me “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me” I mumbled, sitting back on the bed. She looked me in the eyes; her eyes seemed to say that she wasn’t sorry. “I’m going to go get changed” she said quietly, blush coloring her cheeks. She walked back into the bathroom and I heard the rustling of fabrics. I decided to give her some privacy, I was about to walk out her door when she spoke, suddenly sitting on the bed “don’t go” she pleaded, again, that pleading voice I couldn’t resist. I turned around and looked into her eyes; they were afraid, she was afraid to be left alone. I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug “I’ll never leave you” I promised her. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my chest “thank you” she whispered. I didn’t answer, afraid that if I did, she would disappear, and I would wake up from a dream. I wanted to tell her that I love her, that she is my one and only true love until the end of time, but I couldn’t, afraid that she would reject me. She sighed and let me go “we need to go check up on the boy, I still haven’t gotten his name” she murmured. I nodded and grabbed her hand, we walked into the hospital wing, it was near her room. Of course, her room was close to everything. We walked in to find him still sleeping soundly, his bandages had been changed, and he seemed in good health, he was another case of premature; we seemed to have allot of those these days. He seemed to be only fourteen. Jenna watched with rapt attention as he shifted on his bed, she seemed to be listening for something, her hearing and sight was much better than the average shifter. And she was faster. She walked over to the boy and put her hand on his, listening. “He’s healed, but there will always be a scar” she murmured, looking at me. I nodded and walked over to her side. The nurse came to the other side of the bed, “I took out the stitches, but I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to start bleeding again, so I wrapped him back up for his ribs” she said, a quiet voice that I recognized. She had put a surgical mask on, and that was strange to me, it seemed strange to Jenna too. It was Ley; I could pinpoint her voice out of a shouting crowd. Had she put the mask on so I didn’t recognize her?
“if you don’t mind my asking, why the mask?” Jenna asked, breaking the silence. Ley seemed to have panic in her eyes, she glanced at me “uh, I am a little sick, I didn’t want him to get sick” she said. Jenna nodded “okay” she said. Ley seemed to relax. I began to wonder what Jenna’s power would be, I wasn’t supposed to tell her about the power, just train her in how to use it after she was informed of it. Her senses seemed heightened. Hearing, strength, speed, they all seemed to be better than average. Jenna cocked her head to the side, listening, “I think someone found out about our boy here” she said to me Just as footsteps faded in down the hall. Yep, her hearing was definitely heightened.

Chapter thirteen. (Jenna’s P.O.V.)

I heard a faint noise, it sounded like footsteps, I cocked my head to the side, listening intently, yep, footsteps, and talking. “He is down here, but why won’t you tell me who you are?” I heard Maria’s voice.
I looked at Drake “I think someone found out about our boy here” I told him. His eyes went unfocused and he nodded to himself as he listened. I looked at the boy as he shifted in his seat, groaning. “He’s awake” I said, just as mom and some other person came into the room. “oh my god Jake! What happened to you?” the young girl asked worriedly. Jaikoren groaned again “I was attacked by… a tiger, this girl found me and saved me” he said, pointing at me.
“Excuse me, but who are you?” I asked, trying not to be rude.
“I’m his best friend, Teila, he didn’t tell you about me?” she asked me. I shook my head at her, then looked at Jake, he looked sheepish “I didn’t want her to worry, so I didn’t tell you” he told me. I crossed my arms and sighed “I asked you if you if you might have had anyone looking for you, you were almost dead and you were worried about someone worrying?” I asked him incredulously. He shrugged. I sighed and looked at Teila, “I’m sorry, I would have called you immediately after I made sure he was in stable condition” I apologized to her. She held her hands up as if in surrender “hey, you saved his life, and I am in your debt” she said, smiling in gratitude. I smiled back and nodded “well, I have to… we’ll just leave you two alone” I said, not able to come up with an excuse for why we are leaving. We left the room and Maria turned to me “that was very brave of you dear, what you did last night, I’m glad he’s alright” she said softly to me.
“Thanks mom” I said, not realizing what I said. Maria stared at me a second, and that’s when I realized what I said “I mean! Uh…” I trailed off. Maria patted my back “it’s alright, I know what you meant” she said. I blushed as she walked away. Drake chuckled “I was wondering when you would finally cave” he teased. I blushed deeper and changed the subject “hey, do want to have that date tonight? Since it was ultimately canceled last night?” I blurted. I heard his heart skip as his eyes lit up “yeah” was all he said. I smiled as we approached the lunch room. “So what do we do here?” I asked him. He shrugged “we hang around, do the things we like” he said. I nodded, walking over to the edge of the balcony and looking over the metal bars at the forest. “I have been wondering, do you remember the first night I found you here?” he asked me. I nodded “yes I remember” I said quietly.
“You were watching something intently, what was it?” he asked me. I froze, the lemur, I was watching the lemur, it flew through the trees as I watched it, expertly weaving its way through the branches. I had no idea what that lemur was capable of, it could have seen me, and that might have been the end of my life “Jenna? Jenna, are you alright?” Drake asked me, a worried look on his face. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at him “oh, sorry, I was just thinking” I whispered. It was all I could do, whisper, I couldn’t raise my voice any more than that, because it would break “no, you weren’t just thinking, you were afraid, and you are afraid, what did you see?” he asked me. I sighed and looked away, the forest stretched on for miles, it was beautiful, but oh so scary at the same time “I saw him, in his lemur form, he seemed to be circling around the building, he didn’t see me, and I thought at the time he was just a lemur” I whispered. Before he could answer, he was gone, everything was gone, I was standing in what seemed to be a cave. I stood there, terrified, afraid to call any names or anything. I started walking, my feet carried deeper into the cave without my permission, like a nightmare you can’t control. I suddenly fell down a steep bottomless pit in the ground. I felt like screaming but I couldn’t, I wondered if this was a nightmare. I landed on my feet without any pain, and decided this was a nightmare. I started walking again, and a far off light made my feet push faster. When I finally got to the light, I found that it wasn’t the end of the cave, it was a gruesome sight, I watched as kids probably my age –and a few younger than that- were beaten, I looked at a small pile of three children on the floor, dead. Tears ran down my cheeks as I looked at the sight. I watched as a boy raised a whip to strike another boy, he slashed him in the back as the boy cried out in pain. I looked over at a small girl, sitting with her knees up to her chest, she had this strange orange-ish hair, with black streaks like stripes, and she had these big golden eyes that seemed to glow. The resemblance to her brother was like they were twins, this was Drakes sister, she seemed to be about sixteen, and her hair had grown allot. I took a step toward her, and suddenly I was back at the sanctuary. I awoke with a start; Drake had me in his arms, tears in his eyes. My heart was racing and my breathing was hard. “Jenna? Oh thank God” he said in relief. I looked around, everyone had crowded around, worried looks on all of their faces “where am I?” I whispered. Drake helped me up and sat me in a chair, making sure I wouldn’t fall over. “We’re still on the lunch deck” he said. I rubbed my forehead for a second, then the memory of his sister came back and I gasped “Drake! I had a dream…or a vision…or something, but I was in this horrible place, and there were children who were my age and younger, some were torturing others, three children, no older than fourteen lay dead on the floor and I saw her! I saw your sister, she is alive! I know it!” I told him. He stared at me for a long time before he answered “you…had a…vision of this?” he asked me, a tiny glint of hope in his eyes. I shook my head slowly “I don’t know what it was, but one minute I was here, and the next I wasn’t” I told him. He gently grabbed my arm and pulled me up, leading me down the hall. We walked to a couple of doors that were big and wooden. He knocked on the door and Maria answered. “Hello Drake, Jenna, what are you two doing here?” she asked us both.
“We need to speak with Laurence” Drake informed her. She let us in to what I guessed was their room. Laurence was sitting at a desk, reading a large book. “oh, hello Jenna, Drake” Laurence greeted us with a confused smile. “Laurence, can I speak to you privately for a second?” Drake asked him. Laurence nodded and walked back into the hall with Drake. I stood there awkwardly for a second, waiting for their footsteps to fade before I walked out the door. “where are you going Jenna?” Maria asked me. I stopped and turned to her “I’ll be back in a few minutes, if Drake comes back tell him that my dream is calling, he’ll know what I mean” I said. I really didn’t know if he’d know what I meant, but if anyone would know, it would be him. Maria nodded, looking confused. I gathered my courage and walked down the hall, opposite to where I heard them walking. I shifted while still inside and started running, I ran outside, determined to find these people I saw in my dream, which now I am thinking was real. When I got into the forest, I stopped and listened for anything, I heard bugs scuttling across the ground, and allot of other animals, but nothing else. I ran to the beach, because in the dream, I could hear the beach nearby. I ran along the sandy beach, listening for any indication of being followed. I wasn’t being followed thankfully. All I heard was the water hitting the sand, and more wild animals. I stopped dead when I saw the cave, it was on the side of the beach, covered in moss, and no one would be able to detect it if they weren’t looking for it. I carefully walked toward it, afraid that there would be an ambush. I slinked to the opening, my head peeking inside, it was dark, but luckily I had night vision, I looked around the cave before completely going into it, the cave was mossy and made of complete rock, no water got in from the ocean though, it was too far away from it. I walked through the cave for a long time before my surroundings became familiar, I saw the large hole in the ground, like a bottomless pit, but if I looked closely, I could see the bottom, if I jumped, I would land on my feet, but I would break a leg. I circled around the hole for a second, and then I found a small natural looking stairway made of stone. I put my paw on it, testing its ability to hold my weight. I started down the staircase silently, not making one sound. I finally got to the bottom, having to jump because two of the steps were broken. I landed silently on my feet, and looked around. I saw the light, and headed towards it. I walked for a long time, paranoia making every little sound I heard sound like an attack. I finally arrived at the opening of the hole; I hid in the darkness as I watched what I had watched in my dream. Three children lay dead on the floor, making me want to cry for them, but also take my revenge for them. I looked around to find Drake’s sister, she sat there with her eyes squeezed closed as one of the boys raised a whip. That made me act fast, before I knew what I was doing, I flung myself in front of her and attacked the boy. I didn’t hurt him too bad, but I think I broke his leg, I slinked over to Lamina and looked her in the eye “it’s okay, I’m going to get you out of here” I told her, using my shift language. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared at me in the eyes. She looked behind me and pointed, I wondered why she hadn’t used her voice, I looked behind me just in time to see a tiger lunging at me, I roared at him and we rolled on the ground, mauling each other, my paw scratched across his bloody and already torn face, I pinned him to the ground and scratched open his stomach. I watched in amazement and shock as he healed completely, in under ten seconds. He took advantage of my shock to whip his paw at me, scratching my face. I roared in anger and lunged at him, we went rolling on the ground again, a fierce lion against a fierce tiger. Suddenly, another tiger jumped in, roaring as well, I guessed it was Lamina, she helped me maul who I guessed was Garrison. “You won’t win! No matter how many you have to help you! I am invincible, because I have three inner animals, all of them together heal more quickly then you ever wished you could!” he growled at me. I roared in his face as an answer. “You are the greatest peace of scum I have ever had the displeasure of seeing!” I roared. Lamina roared along with me and we kept on mauling him, but it was no use, he was too fast a healer. Soon others of his clan joined in, and we were no match, I had to pull Lamina off of him with my whole body, “it’s no use Lamina, he and his clan are too strong, and we have no one else to help us down here, everyone is too weak” I told her. She was panting hard as she listened. “he has been torturing us from day one, I just want to kill him!” she growled. I held her back and looked her straight in the eye “wait, I have a plan, Drake is coming, because he is following my scent, they will be here soon” I told her as quietly as I could. I watched as the scratches on her face healed, and the wound on her arm healed. Garrison laughed humorlessly as he watched us, “you two are no match for my clan, they have been made strong from the weak” he said, pointing to the young boys and girls sitting against the wall, all watching with weak and tired expressions. They were chained up, and some seemed close to death, I roared at him but didn’t dare attack. I listened as footsteps –more than one set- came quiet as a mouse to the opening of the cave. “You are not as strong as you make yourself out to be Garrison, if you were so strong, you wouldn’t need this army, and you wouldn’t be hiding out here” I spat. Lamina growled in agreement “all you have done is bring people back for your army, not once have you shown any leadership to these people! All you do is sit and watch while they torture others! You are a sick and cowardly animal” Lamina spat. Garrison’s blood boiled and he stood from his once relaxed sitting positions “I bet you couldn’t even fight without your minions helping you” I challenged.
“Is that so? Well why don’t we test that theory? Me against you, Lamina won’t help, and my apprentices won’t help” he growled. I got up and got ready to pounce “with pleasure” I said. Garrison growled and lunged at me, I pounced on him in midair and we tumbled to the ground, roaring and mauling each other. He tried to rip my stomach open, but I raked my claws across his back to stop him, he roared and his paw hit my face instead. I heard another deafening roar and suddenly, Drake jumped out into the open, he looked very angry. Me and Garrison didn’t stop fighting, we rolled off of each other, I got up on my hind legs and so did he, we fought like wild animals, just like we were, I raked my claws over his shoulder, giving him deep wounds and making him roar in pain. Suddenly, so suddenly that I barely caught what happened, Drake jumped on Garrison, throwing them both across the room, and they mauled each other. I watched with alarm and shock. But I didn’t have time to watch for long, Garrison’s minions were excited and they wanted a fight, there were twenty of them, and two jumped on me, one jumped on Lamina, Maria, Laurence and William suddenly showed up, along with allot of the sanctuary animal’s. Some kept some off while they freed the weak ones. I was busy mauling the two animals that jumped on me, I jumped on one, and the other jumped on me, everyone was mauling something, now that the weaker ones were safely at the opening of the cave. When I finally got the two panthers subdued, I looked over at Garrison and Drake. Garrison was gone, and Drake was looking around for him. I looked around, while still watching for more attackers; I looked up at the ceiling to see him as a Lemur, ‘Drake! on the ceiling! He is getting away!’ I said in his mind. Drake looked up just in time to see him leave from a hole in the tall rock ceiling. Suddenly, all the other animals except for the weak prisoners, Maria, Laurence, William, Drake Lamina and the rest of the animal’s from the sanctuary ran out of the cave opening. We watched in shock as they left, jumping over the weak prisoners. Drake roared, and I expected him to run after them, but he ran right in front of me “are you insane!” he roared in my face. I sat down and glared at him “no, I am not insane thank you very much, I was just not going to let any more innocent shifters die! And if I had told you, you wouldn’t have let me gone” I growled, licking the wound on my paw.
“No! I wouldn’t have! Because you could have been killed!” he roared again. I growled “you’re going to bring down the whole cave if you don’t stop, and if you don’t, I’ll do it for you!” I threatened. He growled in my face, showing teeth “oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?” he asked. I sucked in a breath and roared so loud in his face that it shook the cave “like that” I shouted, my words laced with venom. He stared at me, a shocked expression on his face. “Stop it! Stop it now!” Lamina growled. I huffed and turned around, trotting away, “where are you going?” he growled. I didn’t answer, I just kept trotting “Jenna!” he roared.
“Screw you!” I shouted back. I broke into a run at the opening, running to the stairway and climbing it with incredible speed. When I got to the top, I kept running, I ran to the end of the cave and walked through the mossy wall. I looked around, there was nothing to indicate that they even left, just the scent of them. I kept running, following Drake’s scent to the sanctuary. I heard faint running footsteps behind me, so I just slinked in the place, watching as people peeked out of their rooms to look at me, my wounds were still bleeding slightly, but they were healing rapidly. I slinked up the stairs and onto the lunch deck. Lying on the ground with my head on my paws, I watched as the wind caressed the trees, making them sway slightly. I heard footsteps coming towards the lunch deck and ignored them, listening to the sounds of nature. I started licking the wound on my paw as it healed, “you shouldn’t do that you know” Drake’s voice came behind me. I ignored him and kept licking it. “Jenna” he said, lying beside me. I still ignored him, looking out at the forest. “Please answer me” he begged.
“Why should I? I like being silent, after all, I might want to save my voice for when I’m roaring at you” I said, not looking at him. He sighed “look, I’m sorry, I lost it out there, when I saw him hurting you…I just lost it, and when I lose it, I don’t calm down for a long time, and I take it out on something, Garrison ran like the coward he is, so I took it out on you, I was angry at you for just taking off, but it was amplified at the thought of him hurting you” he said softly. I didn’t answer; I just laid my head on my paw and looked through the bars at the forest. Drake sighed and got up, without another word, he left. Guilt flowed through me, but I pushed the feeling away, I shouldn’t feel guilty; he is the one that yelled at me “Jenna?” Lamina asked hesitantly. I got up and turned around, slinking over to her, she was standing there with one front paw on the ground and the other paw raised as if to take a step “I just wanted to say thank you, for saving us I mean, my brother won’t look at me, and I think I know why, he is feeling guilty, he was there the night that we were taken, he had fallen asleep, and we were just about to go to sleep, a tiger came in the room, and we thought it was just one of the shifters, he told us that it was an emergency and that the headmasters needed to see us immediately, I was about to wake Drake when he stopped me “it’s alright” he said “the headmasters only need to see you” he led us outside, and that’s where we were kidnapped. They made us swallow these little white pills that prohibited us from using our inner animal; I stopped taking them, secretly of course, just a week ago. Today they found out and punished me, that is when you found me” she explained.
“And that is why you were stronger and were able to change” I amended. She nodded, smiling slightly “every day, I made a plan of escaping, and every day, I just wished all of it was over, those three lying on the ground, were three of my best friends, Lamati, Ginger, and Bay” she whispered. I sighed and shifted into human form, she did the same, her clothes were tattered and old, and I felt so bad for her. I led her to my room and let her use my shower, giving her some of my clothes. I brushed out her orange-ish hair with black stripes; it was wild and curly, even wet. It took allot of work to get the tangles out, but I did, her wounds were completely healed, she had a small scar on her arm and back from the whip.
“How many times did he hit you before I got there?” I asked in a whisper as I looked at the jagged scar on her arm. “twice” she whispered back. Tears welled in my eyes, and fell down my cheeks “I’m sorry” I said in a small voice. She wiped the tears away and hugged me “hey, it’s just a few scars, you saved my life, and that’s all I need” she comforted me. I hugged her hesitantly back, we just met, and she already thinks of me as her friend, “thank you” I said softly. She pulled back and smiles, showing two small dimples. She really is a cute person, with a very mature personality, she sighed “I had better get back to my room, see what they have done with it” she chuckled. I smiled weakly “okay, and hey, don’t let anyone pester you about the whole kidnapped thing, if they do, tell them that you are back and are as strong and brave as ever, and if that doesn’t work, tell them that I’ll come get them if they don’t leave you alone” I said, trying to lighten my mood. She laughed slightly “no problem” she said, saluting me. She left the room with a smile; I sighed and lay back on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. I heard someone enter the room “did you forget some-“ I cut myself off when I looked up, Drake stood there, smiling slightly. “I doubt she forgot anything” he said. I looked away from his beautiful face “so you heard?” I asked him emotionlessly. He sighed and walked over, sitting on the bed “yes, I heard, she thinks of you as more than a friend, more like a sister” he said. I snorted “she just met me” I whispered. He shrugged “she is extreme in those kinds of things, that’s her gif- I mean…if she likes you, then she is your best friend for life, if she doesn’t like you, then you are her worst enemy, that’s just how she is” he said, rubbing his neck guiltily. I stared at him for a second “she knows you feel guilty” I said softly. He sighed “I know” he whispered. I sighed and sat up, I crawled over to him and pulled him into a hug “she forgives you, even if you don’t” I whispered in his ear. He hugged me tightly back “I know” he whispered back. I pulled back and smiled “now get out, I have to get ready” I said, shoving him off of my bed.
he looked at me quizzically, “ready for what?” he asked. I rolled my eyes “I have a date tonight, with someone with the name of Drake” I said, shoving him out the door. He turned around and cocked his head to the side “really? You’re up to a date? After all that happened today?” he asked me, an amused expression on his face. I nodded “yep” I said. His expression changed to a guarded one “then…you forgive me for yelling at you?” he asked. I nodded, smiling softly, he smiled a bright smile and hugged me, I hugged him back and shoved him out the door, he chuckled and I heard his footsteps into the room beside mine. I jumped into the shower and washed my hair out, I grabbed a razor and started shaving my legs, then my under arms, when I was done, I turned the shower off and jumped out, brushing my teeth, and checking myself for any scars. I only three, one on the back of my leg, another on my stomach across the belly button, and another on the side of my arm, one was from Garrison, the others were from the two shifters that I fought. I hummed tunelessly to myself as I looked through my closet for something to wear, I found a light blue dress, and paired it with my favorite silver earrings with blue stones. I still had my #1 mom necklace on, and I planned on wearing it for a long time. I wondered what my little red haired mother was doing right now, sitting in that big lonely house? Or enjoying life with friends? I hope she was enjoying life, because right now, even after all the attacks and scars I have gotten, I am enjoying life. I slipped on some light blue flats and put some makeup on, a little bit of blue eye shadow with a thin layer of black eyeliner. I looked at myself in my floor length mirror and smiled, I looked good. I blow dried my hair, it didn’t need curling, it was already wild with natural curls. I had just got done brushing it when Drake knocked on my door, I opened it and smiled, he had a short sleeve button blue shirt on, with khaki pants. He looked at my face, then slowly went down to the floor, and as his eyes went down, the heat in my cheeks went up. He looked up at my face and smiled “ready?” he asked me. I nodded, and he held out his arm to me. I looped my arm around his and we walked to the lunch deck. Everyone was either in their rooms, or at the music room, I heard music being played from here. We entered the lunch deck and I stopped, looking at the gorgeous table set. Tropical flowers sat in the center, candles illuminating them nicely. The sun was setting over the horizon, which made it look even better. The table was covered with a white table cloth, and a rose lay on a napkin beside a plate of spaghetti with meatballs. I turned to Drake, who was smiling down at me “you did this?” I asked him softly. He nodded “yes, I sneaked out of my room when you were in the shower and walked over here, I did this, and still had time to change” he said. I nodded “thank you” I whispered, hugging him around the neck. He kissed my cheek and nodded. “My pleasure” he said. He led me to my chair, pulling it out for me, pushed me in and sat on the other side. He pulled up an ice bucket, and pulled out champagne, or what I thought was champagne, it was actually a bottle made to look like champagne, it was white grape juice. I laughed when he told me the reason “your mother wouldn’t let us have champagne, so she gave me this, it tastes better in my opinion” he chuckled. He poured me a glass and handed it to me. We tapped our glasses together in cheers and drank some. I set my glass down and smiled at him “thank you for this, I have needed a night like this” I said, looking around at the beautiful sunset sky. Drake smiled “anything for you” he murmured. We talked for hours while we ate and drank, I told him about my likes, my dislikes, and my kind of in the middles and he told me the same “you can’t tell me that you don’t like soggy cereal! It is the best kind of cereal!” he argued. I shook my head “no way, I hate the way it feels in my mouth, for some reason it reminds me of a wet diaper, the weird slushy like stuff inside, it grosses me out” I said, laughing at the disgusted look on his face.
“I’ll never eat soggy cereal again” he said.
“I told you” I laughed. He smiled teasingly “so, do you like Muse?” he asked. I stared at him for a long while with a blank face “do birds die?” I asked him. He cocked his head to the side with an amused expression “of course I do! They are like the greatest band ever!” I half shouted. He laughed “okay, I know what music to play at a birthday party” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. I just remembered that my birthday was three days ago, “oh yeah, I forgot” I murmured. He chuckled “wow, you forgot your own birthday, you should be ashamed” he teased. I shrugged, my cheeks turning pink “no birthday party’s!” I pointed at him. He cocked his head to the side in confusion and his eyes went down to my neck, it held my mom’s small necklace “you love your mother dearly” he said, not a question, a statement. I nodded “of course” I murmured. “You miss her don’t you?” he asked me. I looked away out at the darkened forest “of course” I repeated quietly. He sighed “I’m sorry, if I could, I would fly her out here and let her visit you. But I can’t. It’s too dangerous” he said. I nodded, understanding “I know” I whispered. I looked at him and smiled, “so…do you like Flyleaf?” I asked him. He snorted “who doesn’t?” he asked me. I shrugged “good question” I said thoughtfully. We talked for another hour before we started tiring, I yawned, making him yawn “I think it’s about time we called it a night, don’t you?” he asked me. I checked the time, it was twelve thirty “yeah, it’s getting pretty late” I said quietly. Drake nodded and got up from his chair, he stood up and walked over to me and held out his hand. I took his hand and he pulled me up. He pulled me into his side and put his arm around my shoulders. “So, why no birthday party’s?” he asked. I shrugged “because, it is embarrassing” I said. He laughed and kissed my forehead, my heart skipped a beat and I blushed. He walked me to my room, stopping there, he turned to me. I stared into his green eyes, and he stared deeply back. “Goodnight Jenna” he whispered.
“Goodnight” I whispered back. He leaned down, kissing my cheek. I closed my eyes as his lips lingered, “Goodnight” I repeated as he walked into his room. I walked into my room and closed the door, leaning against it. I smiled, closing my eyes and touching my cheek. I got into bed; the only thing on my mind was Drake. I turned over to face the wall, putting my hand on it, he was on the other side, and I could swear I felt the warmth of his hand on the other side. I closed my eyes with a smile and fell asleep.


Chapter fourteen.
I was standing on the lunch deck, not knowing how I got here, I just ended up here, I don’t remember even waking up. something told me to turn around, and I did without my permission, my body turned around, and behind me was death, everyone was dead lying on the ground, I saw Drake and my body went numb, my emotions were gone, I stared at him blankly, then the realization of his lifeless body lying there made me fall to the ground, I didn’t scream, I just sat there, suddenly in front of him, I sat there beside him, tears falling down my cheeks and onto his face as I cradled his head in my lap. Garrison and his minions appeared in front of me, Garrison was smiling wickedly, and his minions had the same look. I looked down at my night gown, and found it bloody and torn, I was bleeding, my stomach was torn open and I was bleeding to death, I suddenly fell onto Drake, I couldn’t move, it was like I was paralyzed. My last thought was ‘at least I’ll be with Drake’
I woke with a start, my sheets were wrapped around my legs and arms, making it impossible to move, my breathing was ragged, and I was covered in sweat. I looked around the room with my night vision, I saw nothing. I sat up and wiped the sweat off of my forehead. That’s when the tears started flowing, I put my head in my hands and cried, ‘it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real’ I thought to myself, my silent cries turning into quiet sobs. I slid down to the floor off of my bed, sitting against it. I wanted to go and check to see if Drake was okay, but I refrained. He was alright, I could feel it. “Jenna? Are you alright?” Drake’s deep, worried voice came from outside the door. “No” I said quietly, still sobbing. Drake came into the room, seeing me on the floor. He walked quickly over and sat down beside me, pulling me into a hug “it’s alright, you’re alright” he comforted me, rubbing my back soothingly as I cried into his chest.
“I had a dream about them Drake” I whispered. Drake held me tightly against his chest “what happened?” he asked me gently.
“I was…standing on the lunch deck, and I turned around th-there were dead body’s just…p-piled everywhere! You were lying on the floor, dead. I dropped to the ground in front of you, you were d-dead! And suddenly Garrison and the others were standing in front of us, I h-had the urge to look down and I…oh god” I sobbed. He stroked my hair “it’s alright, it was just a dream” he whispered, trying to comfort me. “I had the urge to look down, so I did, my stomach was ripped open, that’s when I fell half way on top of you, I couldn’t move” I whispered. I wanted so much to tell him how much I loved him, seeing him alive and well, it relieved me so much. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest, holding him tightly, he held me tightly too, whispering comforting and soothing words in my ear. I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. They were worried and full of love. I moved my arms and put my hands on the back of his neck, I pulled him into a passionate kiss, he immediately responded, he held me tighter, if possible, and ran his hand through my hair. He ran his tongue along my bottom lip, asking for entrance, I granted him that. Our tongues danced together in a fiery, passionate dance. We pulled apart to breathe. I stared into his eyes for a while, until my breathing slowed. “Drake…I…I love you” I blurted. He stared at me in shock, the palm of his hand touched my cheek, and he smiled softly. “I-“
I woke up, morning light streaming in through the window. My face was buried in my pillow, rolled over on my back and sat up on my elbows, looking around the room. Disappointment flowed through me as I realized that it was a dream. I sighed and fell back into the bed. I realized that I didn’t change last night, I was still in my blue dress, my ears were hurting because I laid on them with the earrings still in. I took them out and set them on the bedside table beside my bed. I looked at the clock to see that it was seven. I jumped out of bed and ran silently into the bathroom. Turning on the shower and jumping in.
I jumped out of the shower and grabbed my towel, wrapping it around me. I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed some clothes, I put them on and blow dried my hair. When my hair was dry, I walked out of the room and to the lunch deck; I assumed Drake was still sleeping, hence the deep breathing I heard in his room. I walked onto the lunch deck, which had turned into the breakfast deck. Everyone was there, eating eggs, bacon, toast, and whatever else was on the menu. I sat down at an empty table and looked out at the forest. Someone sat beside me, I looked up to find Lamina, she smiled and handed me a tray of bacon, eggs, and toast. I grabbed the bacon and bit off a piece “thanks” I said.
“My pleasure” she said smiling. A few people moved from their seats and sat at our table “hey, I’m Kristie, and this is my sister, Haley, we just wanted to know…how you found Garrison?” Kristie, a petite honey blonde haired girl with big brown eyes asked me. I shrugged “well, I had kind of like a dream, of a cave, I started walking down the cave, and I fell down a hole, I fell on my feet, and kept walking down sort of like a tunnel, I found the opening of the cave, and that’s when I found Lamina, and the others” I explained. I explained how I followed the beach to the cave and they both listened with rapt attention, I hadn’t realized that the whole deck had gone silent; they were all listening to my story. When I ended the story, I looked around; I had gotten so lost in the story, I hadn’t noticed that people were crowded around the table. “So…you actually challenged Garrison to a fight?” Haley asked me. I nodded and looked at Lamina “yeah, at first me and Lamina tried to take him on together, but he has three inner animals, giving him the ability to heal in less than ten seconds, soon his minions jumped in, and we had to back out, I called him a coward, and challenged him to a fight, just me and him. And he accepted, we fought for a while, but Drake decided to intervene, he jumped on him, leading to me getting attacked by two other shifters” I muttered with a smile. I looked around the deck, and my eyes landed on Drake who was leaning on the door smiling slightly.
Chapter fifteen. (Drake’s P.O.V.)
I watched as she told the story of how she found Garrison, and how we helped the prisoners. She glanced around the room and her eyes landed on me, she smiled and looked back at Lamina, “Lamina here had a plan a week before I got there, they had them all taking these white pills, which prohibited them to use their inner animals, Lamina stopped taking them, planning her escape, the day I found her was the day they found out she wasn’t taking them” she explained, a saddened expression taking over the smile. I looked out at the forest, guilt overtaking me. I looked back at them just in time to see Lamina take Jenna’s hand on top of the table and squeeze it. “It’s okay, I’m alright now, and the wh- it didn’t hurt that much” Lamina comforted, changing what she said at the last minute. Hurt that much? What didn’t hurt that much? Jenna snorted, “sure Lamina, sure” she said sarcastically. Lamina sighed and ran a hand through her orange and black hair. Jenna sucked in a breath and let it out slowly as she looked around the room, her eyes met mine for a second, but it was enough to know that she needed to be alone, and not to follow her when she left “well, I’m not very hungry anymore, I’m just going to…go” Jenna said, getting up. She walked passed me and I brushed my hand along her arm. I watched as she walked away with a solemn expression. “Drake, I need to speak to you” Lamina stood in front of me. I avoided looking in her eyes. “Okay” I murmured. She walked down the hall, the opposite way of Jenna. I walked behind her for a while; she got to her room and opened the door, gesturing for me to go in first. I walked in and leaned against the wall. “Drake, Look at me” she ordered. I looked up to see her frustrated face, leaning against the door. “I. Am. Fine” she said slowly, crossing her arms. I sighed “I know that” I said. she threw her arms up in the air “then I don’t get why you are still feeling guilty?” she asked me. I looked out the window “you wouldn’t have been in that mess in the first place if I hadn’t fallen asleep” I muttered. She growled “I am fine, and so are my friends, those three that died were my best friends, but you are not the cause of that death, what would you have done? Huh? Answer me that” she said. I thought long and hard about that “I would have fought him off until the headmasters arrived” I decided. She snorted “sure” she said sarcastically.
“why didn’t you wake me?” I asked finally. She went silent “he told me that the headmasters needed to see us, I was about to wake you when he stopped me, telling me that they only needed to see us” she murmured after a long silence. Rage flowed through me and I almost punched a hole in the wall, she stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder “you haven’t changed have you? Still the angry temperamental brother you used to be” she said, shaking her head. I widened my eyes, she was right, I thought I had changed, but I hadn’t, I am the same person I used to be, just older. She was taken a year ago, and I thought that that changed me, but it didn’t. I sighed and walked out of her room, I needed to be alone. I walked down the hall to my room, opening the door and stepping inside, I sighed. “oh dad, I’m sorry, if you could see me now, would you be proud, or angry with me?” I heard Jenna’s soft voice from her room.
“I miss you; of course you know that, I wonder what you would do if you found out that I risked my life to save another. You would probably kill me” she said, her voice thick with tears. I listened as she talked to her father, I could just see her face, her cheeks, tear stained, her expression heart broken. I wanted to comfort her, to tell her that it was alright. “Dad, I need your help, please help me, because I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, I know what you would tell me, follow your heart, and don’t ask questions, but the last time I followed my heart, it hurt me” she said. I put my hand on the wall, along with my forehead, trying to tell her that I’m here, that I wouldn’t hurt her. “I love him, but I don’t know if he loves me back, I think he does, but I’m afraid to find out” she whispered. Shock went through me at her words “I wish mom was here, she would tell me what to do” she said. I stared at the wall for a long time. Her room went silent, and soon I heard her soft breathing get heavier as she fell asleep. I wondered what she meant about last time she followed her heart. I sighed and laid on my bed, I wished the wall between us would disappear, so I could see her sleeping face. I closed my eyes, my only thoughts being of Jenna. I fell into a deep sleep.
I awoke when Jenna awoke, but it was different this time, her breathing was ragged, and she seemed to have jerked awake. I listened for something. I heard her soft crying. I got up from the bed and walked over to the door, knocking lightly “Jenna, are you alright?” I asked softly, worried about her.
“No” she replied, still crying. I opened the door and walked in, my eyes landed on her, sitting on the floor, with her head in her hands. “Jenna, what’s wrong?” I asked her, sitting next to her and pulling her into a hug. She hugged me tightly back and sobbed quietly into my chest. “I don’t want to talk about it” she managed to choke out. I tightened my grip on her and kissed her hair “you don’t have to, it’s alright Love” the last word slipped out without my permission. “L-Love?” she asked wetly, looking up to meet my eyes. My cheeks went hot and I laughed nervously “umm, I mean- well, I mean-“ I was cut off by her lips on mine. I reacted by slipping my hand in her hair and deepening the kiss, her hand caressed my cheek, while her arm went around my neck, I pulled her into my lap without breaking the kiss, I moaned into her mouth, and she slipped her tongue in, our tongues danced together in a fiery passionate dance. We kissed like this for a while before we pulled apart to breathe, not that we wanted to pull apart, but we had to.
“I love you” she whispered, her voice seemed wary.
“I love you too” I whispered. She looked up and smiled a bright smile, a complete turnaround from just a few minutes ago. She kissed me softly, her hands on the back of my neck. She pulled away and laid her forehead on my chest “this wasn’t a dream” she whispered to herself, as if amazed.
“What?” I asked her softly. She shook her head “it’s not important” she said softly. She seemed to be deep in thought, her face suddenly changed, fear overtaking it. “but if this wasn’t a dream, then-“ she was cut off by a scream, I knew that scream. Jenna and I were out the door before either one of us knew what was happening. We ran down the hall and to Lamina’s room, I slammed open the door, but she wasn’t here, Jenna was already running down the hall, she knew what was happening. I followed Jenna, she came to a dead stop in front of the lunch deck. I ran up to her and followed her gaze through the glass doors. Jenna looked at me, suddenly; she pushed me back against the wall, keeping me there with the force of her lion strength. “Stay here” she ordered. Her voice was a mix of worry, and authority, I was forced to nod. I watched as she walked slowly towards the glass doors and put her hand on the handle. She turned the handle and swung the door open. My last thought before I blacked out was ‘what is going on?’

Chapter sixteen. (Jenna’s P.O.V)
I heard a rustling noise in the forest below, I walked cautiously over to the railing, looking over it. I saw animals down there, but they didn’t seem friendly. My ears picked up a noise and I froze, my dream, I was standing at the railing. I slowly turned around, only to scream. A pile of bodies lay on the ground where I once walked, I listened for heartbeats, anything, I didn’t get anything. The one thing that caught my attention was orange hair with black streaks. I sat beside the body of Lamina, she lay lifeless beside me. Then blonde hair caught my attention. I stumbled over to Drake; he lay in the door way, dead. I put my hand on my mouth as I lowered myself in front of him. I choked on a sob as I touched his once full of life face. “Enjoying the view?” Garrison and a few of his soldiers were standing in front of me and Drake. I growled, my inner animal showing in full, I changed and roared a booming roar that shook the building “you! I am going to rip you limb from limb!” I roared, pouncing on him. He changed into his tiger and started attacking me, I clawed and bit him, and made sure to really rip him up, I knew I couldn’t kill him, but I would try. I was thrown off him, and suddenly I was in my human form, pain was coursing through me, like fire through my veins, I looked down at my stomach, this was how the dream went, I die with my love, and everyone else dies. My stomach was bleeding, and I had a knife through my heart. I pulled the knife out and fell to my knees in front of Drake “this is how it ends then? I die, and you get what you want” I said, my voice stronger than I felt. Garrison cocked his head to the side, as if considering something “hmm, no, that’s not how its going to work, what I want is to rule, not to kill everyone off, I want to rule, and you dying would not help that, I am going to let you suffer for a while, and let your mate suffer too” he said. He looked at Drake, and as my vision started getting blotchy, I watched as his eyes opened and he jerked up, he was panting and sweating as he clutched his heart. I fell on my side, gasping for air as my heart rate got faster. Drake looked at me, and he panicked, “Jenna!” he shouted. I had my hand over my heart, leaving my stomach to bleed. “oh god Jenna, it will be alright, I’ll make sure of it, don’t close your eyes, don’t you dare close your eyes, look at me” he ordered, tears streaming down his cheeks. I strained to keep my eyes open, to keep him with me “I- I don’t want to die” I whispered. He kissed my forehead “you won’t Jenna, you will be alright!” he insisted. I coughed “I’m sorry Drake, I love you” I whispered. I closed my eyes, and blacked out.


Chapter seventeen.

I awoke in a small square room, my back was hurting, and I my stomach was on fire. Of course that could be because I was breathing hard. I sat up and looked around. ‘Where am I?’ “Jenna!” Drake’s voice came from the corner. I looked over in time to have his arms go around me, he hugged me tightly “Jenna, I thought you were gone!” he said, tears were running down his cheeks. I wrapped my arms around his waist, my hands splayed across his back. “Drake” I whispered, relief flowing through me as I realized he was alive.
He seemed thinner than last time I had seen him, and I could feel his rib cage. I pulled back and looked at his handsome face, his cheeks were slightly sunken in, and he was thin. I put my hand on a scar on his neck, it was a pink line now, but there was no telling when he got it “Drake, where are we?” I asked him.
“were at Garrisons hide out, he is holding everyone hostage, he stuffed us in a room, making me sit with what I though was your dead body, I had to look at you night after night, he would leave me food, but I didn’t want it, you were dead, there was nothing I could do, you had no heartbeat, nothing, I think that is one of his powers” he said thoughtfully. I looked at him quizzically “powers?” I asked him. He stared into my eyes for a long time, contemplating something “I might as well tell you, when you shift, you slowly start to develop a power, and the power gets stronger the older you get, and Garrisons has three, he can stop your heart for as long as he wants without permanently killing you, his second is mind control, but he has to be touching you, like a touch to the hand, or shoulder, something like that. The third is infection, he can infect your wounds, without killing you, or he can kill you by infecting your wounds, luckily he hasn’t done that to you, your wounds have healed just fine” he said, staring into my eyes. I nodded “and that is what you talked to my father about? I have some sort of power?” I asked him. He studied me a little while longer before answering “You have three powers in one, you can tell the future, past, and present just by thinking about it, of course the price is that while you are looking at those things, your conscious body is left behind and you are vulnerable, of course that roar of yours that you used on me in the cave could be a power too, I have never seen one that powerful before” he explained. I was about to reply when a clanging noise from the door interrupted me, followed by it swinging open to reveal Garrison and a few of his guards. I growled but Drake held me back from trying to rip him apart again. Garrison smiled wickedly at me “why hello Jenna, it’s nice to see you’re awake, it’s time to move you outside with the rest of them, both of you” he said, his voice dark and menacing. I realized that I couldn’t feel my inner animal inside of me anymore, when I got angry my inner animal didn’t growl like it used to. I looked at Drake with a worried look as they put chains on our ankles and hands ‘I can’t hear or feel my inner animal!’ I said through his mind. He nodded sadly ‘they made me take the pills, but I don’t know how they made you swallow them without me seeing, I had thought you were dead up until now’ he thought back. I nodded, desperately trying to find my inner animal. After a little bit of searching, I found a faint part of her deep within me, she was trapped inside whatever these pills did. I looked around the cave as they chained me up, my eyes landed on Lamina, my mother, my father, and my brother, all chained up across the room. They watched in silence as they brought us in. I looked over at Drake as they chained him to the wall on the other side of the room. I sat on the stone floor in defeat, there was nothing I could do now, except stop taking the pills and try and strengthen my inner animal. But Lamina already tried that, and she was caught. I studied the locks on the shackles around my wrists; it didn’t seem I was going to get out of this one alive. “Listen to me Jenna, I have a plan, but I am going to need your help” Drake whispered to me as the guard made his rounds, he was across the room, but I could hear him. I didn’t look at him, ‘tell me in my mind, I don’t want you to get in trouble’ I told him.
‘Lamina stopped taking the pills, she crushed them up under her foot and let the water leakage from the cave dissolve it on the floor, the reason they caught her was because she spit the pills out too late and the guard was already coming her way, she told me the whole thing’ he explained, watching as the guard made his way past us.
‘So you want to repeat Lamina’s plan, but be a little more tactical about it?’ I asked him.
‘Exactly’ he nodded ever so slightly.
‘Okay, so what is the plan?’ I asked him.
‘First, we stop taking the pills, but don’t even put them in your mouth, just make it look like it, use your strength to crush them in your hand, and then throw them down that drainage pipe’ he said, discretely pointing to a small hole in the ground, water was all around it, so it would dissolve and drain. I nodded ever so slightly ‘okay’ I said to him. A few guards walked over with a small tray, ‘get ready’ he told me. I watched as they gave Drake and the rest these little white pills, I searched for my inner animal again, and I could feel her fear. The guard gave me some pills and watched as I faked popping them in my mouth, I hid them in between the creases in my fingers when he looked at my hand, I opened my mouth to show him that I swallowed them, and watched as Drake did the same. I waited until the guard walked away and then crushed the pills in my hand; I threw the remains into the drainage pipe as discretely as I could. I nodded at Drake and he nodded back. I looked at the others, and watched as they did the same, he must have told them the plan, how? I have no idea. Drake had told me before that I could see the past, present and future, I decided to try and see the past to see if I could figure out how the pills worked. I closed my eyes, working to see if I could use my power without my inner animal helping me. I exerted myself trying to use my power. I finally just gave up and opened my eyes. I gasped, realizing I was not in the cave anymore. I was on the beach, the waves were high, and the moon was up. I looked around, and found two people standing on the beach about twenty feet away. This time I had control of my feet, I walked cautiously over to them, afraid they would see me. I stopped when I realized it was Garrison, and a strange young man, about nineteen or younger, and he was holding a briefcase. He had brown short spiky hair, but I couldn’t see his eyes. I listened in as they spoke “have you completed it?” Garrison asked him, smiling wickedly.
“Yes, the tests have proven positive, it will weaken their inner animal, but not remove it completely, but I must warn you, you cannot mix it with anything, it will kill them” he warned seriously. Garrison raised an eyebrow, but nodded “great, so do you have them now?” Garrison asked, eyeing the briefcase. The man nodded “of course, but you have to uphold your part of the deal, remember? Jenna is mine, I don’t care how you get her to me, I want her” he said darkly. I gasped and suddenly I was brought back to the present, I opened my eyes, gasping for air. I was slumped against the wall, with my knees to my chest. I clutched at my heart as it beat sporadically. I looked up at Drake and he was staring desperately at me, he had his arms behind him as he leaned forward, straining against the shackles as if trying to get to me. “Jenna! What happened, are you alright?” he asked me desperately. I nodded weakly “I’m fine, I had another vision” I whispered. He went completely serious as he stared at me ‘what about? Past, present, or future?” he asked me through our bond.
‘past. It was when Garrison got the pills, this man was there, he invented the pills for Garrison, he had short brown hair, and was carrying a briefcase, he gave him the pills, but in exchange he wants-‘ I paused, staring Drake in the eyes, Drake cocked his head to the side, ‘what? What does he want?” he asked me.
‘Me’ I told quietly. Even from here, I could see the rage building up in his eyes. I knew this angered him more than anything else.

Chapter eighteen. (Drake’s P. O. V.)
Rage built up in me as I stared into Jenna’s frightened eyes, just the thought of that man she described getting close to her made my anger boil to the point of breaking these chains that bound me from the wall. My inner animal was already stronger from throwing those pills away, he growled inside me, rage in his mind too. I watched as Jenna sharply looked to her left, I heard faint footsteps a few seconds later coming toward us. I sat back against the wall and watched as Garrison came in with a man, Garrison was smiling wickedly, and so was the man, he was smiling at Jenna. I looked at Jenna to see a terrified look on her face; she closed her eyes and whimpered as he leaned down in front of her. It was him. “This is the girl you asked for Jay” Garrison said.
“yes, this is the girl” the man, Jay agreed darkly. I growled as he reached out his hand to touch her, pulling against the chains that bound me. “Drake, who is that?” Maria asked me.
“I don’t know, but he wants Jenna for something, Jenna had another vision, and he was in it” I said, never taking my eyes off of Jenna and the man. The man heard my growl and stood up, turning around to look at me. He walked over to me, smiling in a menacing way, that’s when I recognized him. I knew I recognized the name; Jay was one of the engineers who helped build the invisible shield to keep humans from knowing our existence. He was thrown off the island because he was working behind the head inventors back, making things to harm us. He told us that he would have revenge someday, and I guess that day was today. “well hello there Drake, it’s nice to see you again, I see you’ve found your mate, that’s a shame. It’s a good thing we gave you my pills, because what you are about to see would probably destroy your inner animal” he said menacingly. I growled “If you put one finger on her, I will rip you apart!” I shouted, pulling against the chains.
“Oh, I’m not going to put a finger on her, I am testing how good your strength is, under pain” he said, just as one of the guards came in with a whip. Now everyone growled. Laurence, Lamina and Maria were all growling. They unchained Jenna and set her in the middle of the floor, I pulled harder against the chains as the guard prepared to use that thing on her. She swung it in the air, and brought it down, slashing it across her back, pain coursed through me as well, but the pain of letting her be hurt, tears ran down my cheeks as she cried out in pain, my inner animal started getting stronger, and as he brought the whip down again, and she cried out, my inner animal got angrier, which made him stronger. I growled and pulled harder than before on the chains. He was about to bring the whip down again when I shifted and broke the chains that bound me, I jumped over Jenna and landed on the guard, ripping him to pieces. I turned around, only to be frozen completely; Jenna was in a choke hold, a knife to her throat. The one holding her was Jay, the knife was shaking as he held it to her throat “I’ll kill her, I promise I will” he said shakily, sweat dewing on his forehead. I shifted back to human form and looked Jenna in the eyes, I didn’t see a frightened or even scared look, her eyes had gone white and she looked pissed. I looked back up at Jay in confusion and then something happened, as if a shockwave went through the entire place, she sent Jay flying across the room, he hit the wall and went limp. Jenna’s ripped and tattered clothing was flying out around her, and her hair was flying up behind her as if wind was blowing it. She was floating in the air, and when she spoke her voice echoed her own “my friends, you are free” she said kindly to the other prisoners, in a voice that didn’t sound like her own. Suddenly, all the chains that bound the prisoners vanished, then she set her gaze upon Garrison, and it became full of anger “Garrison Lane Hothorn, you, however, are not free! You have abused your powers, and abused your right to be called a shifter; therefore, I shall take away your right. And you will be human again” her voice was full of anger, up until the last part, then her voice was soft and a smile touched her lips. suddenly, Garrisons eyes changed color and were no longer brown, but dark grass green, and his hair changed to brown instead of grey and black, he fell on his knees in front of Jenna and put his hands together as if in prayer “oh thank you so much! I have been trapped in those animals for years! I thank you!” he said, the menacing voice replaced with a grateful and caring one. She nodded and gestured for him to go “be free my child, there is a boat waiting to take you to the nearest island, but do not worry, it is a populated island with your own kind” she assured him. He nodded, got up, and ran out of the cave entrance. I watched as Jenna closed her eyes, she fell on the floor, kneeling on one knee with her hand on the floor. I ran to her side, lifting her head to see that her eyes were back to their bright green color. “Drake, tell me I wasn’t dreaming” she whispered in disbelief. I shook my head “you weren’t dreaming” I said truthfully. She nodded “I thought so” she said quietly. I looked around with a smile as everyone got up, brushing themselves off “its over, you did it” I told her. She started laughing, it was a laugh of relief, everyone looked at each other, even the guards were not guards anymore, Garrison had them mind controlled. First one, then another, then all of them, all started cheering “Jenna has done it!” they cheered. I pulled Jenna into a long and deep kiss, stopping her mid laugh. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately back, she pulled away with a smile “we did it” she whispered.
“no, you did it” I said to her.

Epilog. (Jenna’s P.O.V.)
I sat staring at my little newborn as she wriggled around in my arms; I looked up at Drake who smiled sadly. “We have to let her go, her safety is the most important thing right now, don’t worry though, she will understand” he assured. I looked back down at Nina with tears in my eyes as I stroked her little head. Drake wrapped his arms around me as we walked toward the plain that would take my baby away from me. “Jenna, I love you, and I would never lie to you. We will get her back as soon as the danger has passed, I promise, but with the Jaikoren running around out here, we can’t take a chance” he said softly, kissing my forehead. As we entered the plane, I let out a sob; I just couldn’t handle losing my baby as so young. I sat down in the seat beside Drake, who wrapped his arm around my waist as I leaned on his chest. Nina started crying and I comforted her with soothing words, trying to comfort myself too. I stared into her little eyes and she smiled at me for the first time. Maria, Laurence and William sat across from us, Maria had tears in her eyes too as she watched me with the baby “I love you so much Nina, never forget that” I told her softly. Now we have to fight the battle of Jaikoren, in order to keep my daughter safe.

The end.

Authors note:
Well, this is the end of this book, what do you think? do you think it deserves a sequel? I might have to think about writing a second book. thank you guys for being to supportive of my books! thank you for taking the time to read them, and to favorite them, I love you all!
Emily <3

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.02.2012

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