Panther

Chapter Fifteen

The look on Ike's face tells me everything I need to know. Disgust. Horror.

"What... happened?" He asks, backing away from me to sit on the couch that we had had sex on mere minutes ago.

I sigh, moving to sit across from him. I fold into myself as tightly as possible. I have never told the story of my family's death to anyone.

"I was six the first time I changed. A lot younger than werewolves typically change. It happened while I was playing one day. I remember backing myself into a corner of the yard, wondering what the hell was happening. My parents always told me I wouldn't change until I was at least ten, as late as thirteen. I remember the sound of my claws scratching against the hardwood floor when they tried bringing me inside. I remember them staring at me in horror. That's when everything started going wrong." I looked at Ike, who was staring at the floor and not me anymore. Give him a chance to hear your side of the story.

"At first I was excited. I was a badass panther! What six year old wouldn't be psyched?" I shrugged my shoulders, remembering how happy I truly had been. I had been so confused as to why my mother and father were acting like something was wrong. "They took me to our Alpha and told him what had happened. The first thing he said was that I needed to be banished. Said I was too dangerous. They should have listened."

"She's just a child, Gerald!" My mother was yelling at our Alpha, something that no pack member ever did. My father grabbed her arm, and I watched as he squeezed tightly. She glanced at him over her shoulder, and closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, and then refocused on the alpha. "I am sorry for my outburst. But you have to understand why I am upset."
"And you have to understand why I am upset." He said. I looked at him now. He was a giant, taller than even my father, as wide as a tree. His voice was deep and final, his eyes wise and serious. My mom always thought he was handsome, but I thought he was scary. Especially right now, when he was trying to send me away from my home.

"We can help her control herself." Says my father, stepping forward.

"And how do you plan on doing that? I know nothing of her kind, how can you expect to? Do you have some wisdom about panthers that I am not aware of?"

My father looks at the ground, chewing on his lip. "No, Alpha."
"Then how can you expect me to allow her to stay here and endanger the other pack members? She's already here under extenuating circumstances." He turns his attention to me now, scanning me over.

"I don't feel dangerous, Alpha." I say quietly, avoiding eye contact. To make direct eye contact with him right now could be seen as a challenge, and while I felt stronger since shifting, I certainly did not think I could take on my own Alpha.

"We may not know anything about panthers," began my mother, coming to stand behind me, "but I know her. If nothing else, we can teach her to hide it. To keep it in check. Isn't that right, Cleo?" All three adults look at me now, waiting for me to say something.

Deep down I know I don't want to hide it. I want to shift right now and run into the woods under the moonlight and never look back.

But instead.

I nod.

Sealing my fate.

The next few months are not easy.

Word of my "aliment" spreads quickly, and soon people begin alienating me. My classmates refuse to be paired with me in class or even look at me for that matter. Teachers would just smirk at me in smug satisfaction as I sat alone day after day, my childhood slipping away as they watched. The same people who were supposed to protect me and watch over me were now making me feel like I didn't even exist. I was only six. I didn't really understand what the problem was. Just last month I had been sitting with my friends at a full and happy lunch table. Now those same people scoffed and glared when I tried saying good morning to them. And because I went to a pack led school, there was no one around me who didn't know my shame.