Shifters

Chapter 19

Damian knew that something was wrong as soon as he discovered that it was Travis who had started the massive fight in the ballroom. Then he discovered the doors leading out to the gardens had been locked by Trixie and Regina, while the security guards scrambled to break up the fight.

At first, he had suspected that there was some massive and humiliating prank awaiting the bobcat students, but when no prank came and the fight was willingly broken up, he became concerned. Then he couldn't find Kayla, and his mind began whirring. She wasn't inside, there was only one other place she could be. The Gardens.

He ran through the front entrance and around the building. The tall wall was the only thing blocking him from the beautiful gardens, he quickly glanced around to make sure there was no one around. Then he scaled it with a single leap, and landed in the midst of the green plants and soft grass. It vaguely reminded him of Bermuda, it was as close to beautiful that they would ever get these plants to be here on Earth, which was barren, compared to Bermuda's fertile soil.

He slowly wandered around, sniffing the air for a scent. He found Cody's and followed it to another part of the wall close, the end of the stream. There was something else there too, it smelled sort of like dog, but he couldn't quite place it. It was extremely faint, like a very old scent, but it didn't smell stale like an old scent either. Then there was the other scent, dominating everything else.

Blood.

It trickled down the stream, not enough that gave way of some slaughter, but enough to say that someone was bleeding out. If Cody's scent was here on the wall where he had obviously jumped to get away, that only meant the blood could belong to one other person...

He ran frantically through the trees, splashing over the water and panting while his heart pounded in his ears. If she was injured what would he do? Anthony would surely cry for war, they would never believe that he was innocent of her injury. And even if they did, he was responsible for her this evening, that would be enough reason for them to kill him and his pack. What had his cousins planned?

He burst through a clearing, expecting to see a half dead princess. Instead, what he saw made his heart stop.

"Kevin?" Damian gasped, taking in the image of his brother, bloodied and bruised, kneeling over Raul, who was excreting red liquid in the water, with a clawed hand snaked around his crimson colored neck. He glanced between the two, trying to make sense of what he was seeing, recognizing Kayla's sour perfume hovering in the still air around them, and noting that Kevin possessed no scent at all.

"What have you done!?" He asked horrified when the shock of seeing his brother again left him.

Kevin sighed deeply and reluctantly let go of Raul. He knew the Pelisian was as good as dead anyway, he barely had enough strength to keep his head above the water and he was bleeding rapidly. He smirked as he took one last look at his long time enemy. The plan had gone even better than he thought, Kayla had been taken and would be dead by morning, and now Raul, the second heir, would bleed to death. The Pelisian Pack was finished in under an hour. He had to give Raul some credit for being a good fighter, he might've even won, had it not been for Kevin's dirty little trick of putting a Taser to him. The electricity would stun anyone, but it was extra damaging to a Lobain, because the electrical surge caused Raul to go through the entire shape shifting process twice, against his will. It was a devastating blow to his mind and body, and in his state of extreme weakness Kevin had beaten him to a pulp.

"Just saving your skin." Kevin smiled at Damian, "This brute here"--he indicated to Raul--"was going to kill you."

Damian snarled, he hated Raul as much as the next Serian. Maybe it was Kevin's untrusting ghostly scent, or his smug pride, that made him question his brother's integrity.