Shades of a Warrior's Soul

Ch 8

I woke up on the ride home. I'd apparently blacked out – which was also a sign of the coming Markings. Kelvin was driving, and he was wearing his seatbelt. When he was driving his own car, he never touched a seatbelt. I sat up from where he'd laid me in the backseat.

"Hey." He swerved slightly, jumping at my voice.

"Fuck, Kat." We were on a back road, heading back from the lake towards home. "Scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry." I clambered into the front seat before pulling on my seatbelt. "How long was I out for?"

"About ten minutes." He offered me a bottle of water.

"Thanks."

"You know Uncle Mason is going to notice." I shrugged in response. "He's a Clan Doc. When the young shifters turn of age and they shift for the first time their Markings appear after the shift. Weeks before their birthday, they start to have problems. Itchiness, blacking out. He'll notice the symptoms and see your Markings."

"I'll be ok."

It was silent the rest of the way home. At the driveway, we got out and he waited around the front porch until I went inside and locked the door.

I went inside and sad to say I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the bed.

The next morning, I could hear Dad's footsteps above my head. I felt different, and the fact that I could hear Dad walking above my head was a clue that maybe Sebastian was right. Just yesterday I couldn't hear anything through the basement walls. I knew it was him because he didn't shuffle his feet. He always walked like he was at the clinic – quick and efficient. It was too dark in my room for me to predict what time it was. Honestly, the best way to sleep.

I showered before putting on a sweater and some yoga pants. Dad was home, the kids were with Ethan. He was probably sitting at the breakfast counter, drinking coffee and reading the newspapers. No matter where we lived, Dad always got a newspaper in the mail every morning.

When I got upstairs, he was exactly where I knew he'd be.

"Morning Kat." I hugged him, not giving him a chance to drop his paper to hug me back. "I made some of that fancy coffee we got a few weeks back." I could tell he was watching me as I reached for my favorite mug and made myself a cup of coffee.

"Dad-"

"I can see the Markings on your shoulder, kid." I turned to face him, sipping on my coffee as he set his newspaper down. I leaned up against the counter, knowing the look on his face.

"I was just about to tell you about them."

"Some shifters do shift earlier than their time." He folded his newspaper and set it aside before taking a swig of his coffee. "Those that do, though, usually get their markings soon after. But never before their shift; it's unheard of."

"I have a few weeks still before-"

"Now, I'm not so sure how long you have." I set my coffee cup on the counter and turned to the fridge. "I'm heading to the Clybourne's to meet with Liam. I should be back later tonight. Kelvin said he'd come by and hang out with you." A few minutes of chitchat and then he was gone, letting Kelvin into the house on his way out.

"So, what's the plan for today?" He slid into the seat beside the seat Dad had just been sitting in.

"I want to know about the myths Sebastian was talking about at the bonfire." He seemed taken aback by my words. "If this is happening, I want all the information there is to be had about it."

Apparently one of the Elders of every clan held the texts and scripts of myths and history of our species. Books published in secret to allow everyone the same knowledge to better prepare ourselves for the future.

When we got to his house, he noticed my Markings as he showed us to the library. It took up nearly half of his house; he lived like a monk, using the bare necessities and caring only for the books and the knowledge. I noticed when his gaze finally caught sight of a piece of Marking on my arm. His eyes widened and after he left us, I still felt like I was being watched.

It took us four hours to find a single reference to the Female Warrior. And the book, some old leather-bound palm-sized journal, was very vague.

"What the hell does that even mean?" I asked quietly, shoving the books across the table. We'd taken so long just to find some Confucius bullshit.

"It says, Kat." He glanced up at me and cleared his throat. "The line isn't direct. It comes towards the end of another text completely unrelated. '...and in the time of unrest, the untamed will become tamed by the mightiest mother of all'."

"Yeah and it sounds like a crock of bull. What else can they say, huh?"

"The reason there are no other references is because it sends you to a book about a book, about a book that only the Untamed know about." He set the book down and ran a hand through his hair. "The Untamed aren't going to just let anyone see those books. Especially if it's the last known knowledge of it. Those things are kept under lock and key and only the shifters in the know, know about it."

When we left the Elder's home, I noticed he seemed unrealistically quiet as opposed to his monk routine earlier. Kelvin didn't say anything on our way back home.

We didn't speak until we were back in the kitchen at home. I had just pulled open the fridge door when everything seemed to sink entirely in. The Markings on my arms, my body, were already darkening even by the hour. My eyes were adjusting to the sight of what only shifter eyes could see. By tomorrow morning, I would no longer need my glasses. Sounds further away had begun to sharpen and come into focus. I just, I was beginning to feel like a predator. It was like when my period came on and I needed chocolate, coffee, and sleep. And pain meds because my uterus hurt so bad. That's what this felt like, only I wanted medium-well done steak for dinner and a barefoot run through the woods behind our house. Everything Kelvin had talked about doing, except now I could feel myself doing it.

"Kelvin?"

"Yeah?"

"There seriously hasn't ever been a female Warrior?"

"No, Kat. Ever. It's unheard of. I'm sure once word gets out, the Untamed will be here to meet you." We scarfed down a whole sub each before I went to nap. He crashed on the couch, and I knew I was out within fifteen minutes of lying down even though it was only early afternoon.

I woke up to the sound of Kelvin getting off the couch. When I sat up, I realized my eyesight was better. I didn't even reach for my glasses when I got out of bed.

"Don't need them now, huh?" Kelvin's voice was quiet as he pulled his shoes on.

"My jaw hurts." I confessed as I perched on the arm of the couch. He glanced up at me with a knowing look. "What's it mean?"

"Your body is getting ready for your shift. When you shift, your body realigns itself slightly to accommodate the bones of your panther." He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "Sebastian will want to know about this. Your shift could happen any day now." That thought terrified me a bit.

"Will I have to go to training like you?"

"Yeah, kid." He glanced at his phone before clearing his throat. "I have to go for my patrol now. And Sebastian wants an update on you."

Once I'd let Kelvin out, I decided a bath would help my aching body. When the tub was full enough, I began to undress. When I bent to take off my socks, I became dizzy, so dizzy that I toppled over. The last thing I remember was the excruciating pain of my head hitting the edge of the tub before I blacked out.