Therian Shifters: A Liolf's Mind

Chapter 10: The Mysterious Beast:

The next morning, Akira awoke from her bed. She had handled the Blood Moon well. She had only a couple of mild scratches and the kind of bruises that would fade in a few hours.

Stretching her limbs and getting up, she yawned and tiptoed over to Chase's room.

His door was already open, he always kept it open in case Akira needed waking up or just to check on her in general.

"RAH!" Akira shouted as with a thump, Chase fell out of bed, Akira laughing.

"AKIRA!" Chase yelled with a laugh.

As they got into Akira's father's car, they drove off. But as they turned, they were stopped by a police officer.

"Sorry sir, you're gonna have to drive the other way." She said. "Something happened here overnight."

As they turned their heads, they were shocked. There was police tape in the alley and there was a stain of blood on the floor on the inside of the taped up area, and there were officers and crime scene investigators.

"What happened there? Officer, are you able to say what happened?"

The officer sighed as she still displayed a serious expression. "A murder. Someone, or rather something attacked last night." The officer took a plastic, ziplock bag out of her pocket and took out an ID badge. "Recognise this woman?"

Shocked to see the photo of Ms Blanc, the strict teacher who provoked Akira to shift, they gasped.

Karma came to her really quickly... Akira thought with slight shock.

"Y-Yes.. " Akira said shyly. "She was really ableist and horrible. She shouted a lot and was really strict."

The officer noted down Akira's words, gave a respectful nod and went on her way to the crime scene.

She then came back. "We've finished here for today, so you may go on your way as normal."

When they got to school, most of the students had heard about the murder. But a rumour also spread that Akira was the culprit. Posters were put everywhere in the school with a picture of Akira's face next to a poorly-drawn wolf shadow with glowing eyes with a large, bold red caption that read "MURDERER".

Akira looked around in panic. There were posters everywhere. And there were also looks of fear and shock in every direction.

Taking one of the posters from the wall, she widened her eyes.

"B-BUT... IT WASN'T ME...!" Akira stuttered in shock and fright.

All of a sudden, with a knock at her neck, Akira was knocked out.

Waking up, Akira groaned. The floor was stone-cold.

"Are you sure it's her? Those kids would make up anything-"

"Of course it's her, she's a Wild Therian Shifter, those ones are vicious!"

As her vision adjusted, she saw the officer from that morning who showed herself, her father and Chase the blood-covered ID of Ms Blanc.

She opened the cage and came in slowly.

"Hello there, I saw you this morning." She smiled, sitting opposite Akira. "Are you hungry?"

Before Akira could shake her head in shame, her stomach answered quicker.

"Right, before you do eat, I want to ask you something?" She said. "Are you a Wild Therian Shifter? If so, what emotion triggers it?"

"A-Anger or Threat..." Akira said shyly. Feeling her heart beating fast from the new, strange experience, Akira began to shift slowly again. "H-help... with cl-clothes..."

The officer helped her change out of her clothes. As she had stripped Akira while she transformed, the officer held Akira's hand as it became a paw. "Fascinating." She said. "Does it... does it hurt?"

Akira nodded. "O-only... OW... when I'm anxious..."

As Akira's changes were complete, she passed out from the changes as the officer lifted the mattress from the cage's bed and laid it onto the floor, carefully lifting Akira and lowering her onto the mattress. She saw Akira still shaking from anxiousness, as the officer felt pitiful for her.

You're not the culprit. You're too innocent. The officer thought. Grabbing Akira by the front paws and lifting her onto her back, the officer carried Akira out of the cage.

"Officer Ashley, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Taking her home, she's not the killer! I looked at her pawpads and they didn't match the beast's tracks at all! Those kids are freaking horrible to have accused her of such a thing!"

Carefully putting Akira in the back of a police van, Officer Ashley drove the van out of the station and towards Akira's house.

"63... Collarend Street. Over there and left, got it." She spoke to herself as Akira was sound asleep in the back of the van.

As the police van parked up, Akira's mother ran up to the van. "Thank you for getting her home, I can't believe those horrible kids would do such a thing!"

"No problem, Mrs DarkTail. I suggest you make something for her to eat, she didn't get to eat anything because she had one of her slow, painful shifts." Officer Ashley tipped her hat to Akira's mother as she carried Akira on her shoulders, passing her to Akira's father. Tipping her hat again to Akira's father, she got into her van and drove back to the station.

Akira woke up in her bedroom, yawning and stretching. Chase was once again sat next to her. Petting her and stroking her down her back and her mane, Akira let out a content purr.

Akira's mother brought up some medium-rare beef steaks for her as she jumped down onto the floor, lowered her head and ate.

Feeling better after her food, Akira settled into bed and curled up to sleep.

The next morning at school, all the posters were taken down. This was a relief to Akira and her friends. A few days later and the rumours died down.

Akira found that there was somewhat a sense of peace that came over her. But little did she know was that the peaceful feeling wasn't going to last for long.