Feral

Chapter 34

It was interesting how quickly shifters adapted to new things. As Adrian walked around more in his shift, interacting and playfully chasing his mates, the others within the compound seemed to calm down more and more.

The young Feral had come to learn that Darius had pleaded for more leniency on Adrian's behalf. Even though his shift was that of a massive predator, Adrian and his shift alike had been more well-behaved than expected.

And that was more than some smaller predators like the lions could say about their kin. As both Darius and Levi had pointed out, the lions weren't as restricted as Adrian, nor did their shifting set off any alarms.

Despite them attacking others on multiple occasions. Zuri and Adrian being their latest targets, which Adrian had reacted remarkably restrained to the attack.

A new feral who's food was stolen would usually have to be sedated in order to stop the fight. Given that Adrian had merely bitten Ethan once and let go instantly without causing further damage, his reaction had been underwhelming, if anything.

"He might be a bigger predator than most but that doesn't mean that the Board and its teachers can discriminate against him." Darius had stated when a few protested.

"Given Adrian's size-"

A low growl escaped Darius, resulting in a soothing thrill from Adrian in response. Calming down his agitated mate before Adrian stood up and pointed at Levi.

"He's bigger than me, shifted or not. Does that mean he's under more scrutiny?" Adrian cocked an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "What about Willem? Considering his easily triggered shift and suppressed retaliations, is he on lockdown?"

Silence filled the room as Adrian pointed out several behavior he had spotted throughout his stay. "While it's understandable that predators are put under higher scrutiny for everyone's safety, you all are forgetting that some herbivores are far more dangerous."

The young raptor pointed at several teachers including Jacob as he added "All of you form a danger to my shift and can easily break a bone or seriously injure me." He gave the hippo a pointed look and Jacob didn't even deny it.

After all, Adrian's instincts had been more than wary of the portly man with oversized canines back when they first met. And whilst the man had been nothing but kind and polite, he also knew that if the man's instincts drove him to attack, Adrian would be severely injured.

Levi cleared his throat when there was a moment of silence, gaining the room's attention. "Do I need to remind everyone about the zebra incident? Where Maya and several of her friends cried about feral predators threatening them, stalking them to their dorms while it was the other way around?"

"Whilst you all have an eye on our safety and need to make decisions in a split second... you all seem to forget your own bias towards large predators. Ethan got severely punished for attacking and physically scarring Zuri, but what about Maya kicking Conny in the ribs, breaking several and claim self-defense?"

At that, Kwame scoffed as the honey badger curled his nose in clear disgust. "To be fair, I haven't met a single zebra that isn't a dick for no reason."

There were several murmurs of agreement and even Adrian had witnessed enough on his own. Small sneaky gestures of zebra shifters tripping up others, snapping at those smaller than them and overall bullying anyone who got too close to them.

Certainly there were actual self-defense cases where zebras were cornered or threatened by a carnivore. But in the case of Conny and Maya, hardly anyone believed that Maya had felt threatened by the caracal.