EverChange

Chapter 23

I was on lock down, and until my court hearing I was to wear a collar. Very much like the studded dress collar, it hindered my powers. I felt my shifts under my skin, and felt my forms ready to spring out, but those little blue crystals made them go kaput. I would have totally opted for a bracelet-cuff, or even something like an ankle thing. This was way too...BDSM for my taste.

Between me worrying about the hearing, I would visit the people that helped out with the raid. A lot of them were actually happy to see me. When I spoke with a few of them, they had no idea that there were that many people. That there were so many kids being experimented on that were humans. Linden was up and about, and half the time was either hanging out with me or Roanne and her slowly growing crew of teens.

We were in a cafeteria, having a late lunch while Donovan was off doing Alpha business, and I was just lounging about. We had a booth whose thick cushions served as a window seat with a view of the court yards and some of the sports fields.

"Have you talked to mom?" I asked, poking at the bowl of clam chowder.

"Yeah," Linden reached onto Roanne's tray, exchanging his oranges for the apples the food server had placed for her. Roanne hated apples. "She's wondering when you're coming home."

"Are you?" Roanne split open the orange with her thumbs, citrus scent filling the air. For a moment, her eyes darted to the collar around my neck. "Or are you going to mutant jail?"

"They're still working out a date for me to plead my case." I picked up the saltine crackers and crushed them as I poured them into my soup. "And after that.... I don't know..."

Roanne narrowed her eyes at me, pulling a section of orange apart and putting it in her mouth. "Heard you're getting married." she chewed.

Linden's head tilted and they both looked at me. "Yeah, I heard that too." he said, large white teeth crunching into an apple, then the crunchy bread of a toasted sandwich.

Since coming out of the recovery ward, Linden had an appetite. He was more active and his shifting abilities weren't bound so he burned a shit ton of calories. Every spare moment, he was shifting between human or some large canine or bird. He had a favor towards dogs since childhood.

I shrugged my shoulder, "I guess."

"Sammy." Linden frowned at me, "....Are they pressuring you?"

"What? No!" I blew a raspberry, then he pointed to the collar. "This was cuz I......" I paused, trying to think of a way to describe what I did. "...Like, I met a guy, and he's got a lot of.... Political weight?"

Geez this was hard to describe, I should have paid more attention when Jass or Cosma was talking. "And well... People around here take the whole soulmate thing super serious." I put down my spoon. My soup was probably cold with all my stirring. "And since I'm his and he's mine... It was enough for me to throw my weight around and demand some people... Warriors from other families."

"Oh yeah, the other heads of the families were pissed about that." Roanne said, shoving two sections of orange into her mouth. "Like, I heard someone say they wanted to bind your powers permanently."

I pressed my lips in a tight line. I sucked in a breath, "And because I went behind a lot of people's backs, they don't think I'd make a good ally to their family." I groaned, wrapping my fingers around the bowl. It was still warm, so I brought it to my mouth and drank. Hardy cuts of clams and potato filled my mouth.

"And the collar?" Linden looked pretty passive aggressive, his brows knit in a frown but his eyes and lips neutral. He was pissed.

"Oh... The last time I was left alone, I turned into a panther, a cat, and tried to escape." I gave him a sheepish grin, and he rolled his eyes. "I got a few people hurt, so they'll probably lock me up for a few months--"