Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 24: Rivalries

I was still fuming as I charged recklessly through the trees.  I kept hearing Lucas’s words over and over again in my mind.  I could hardly believe the things he had said.  His words had been so harsh and cold and arrogant.  Not only that, they contained just enough truth to really sting.

My actions had caused a lot of problems. He was absolutely right about that.  But, I was trying to fix it.  I was trying to make things right.  What else did he want from me?  Did he expect me to reverse time?  To change what had already happened?

I can’t believe I wasted three years thinking about him, I thought furiously.  What did I ever see in him, anyway?  He’s nothing but a rude, arrogant, self-centered, pompous, judgmental-

My inner-rant came to an abrupt halt as I emerged out of the woods and found myself near the school’s front entrance.  Standing off to one side was a group of tall, imposing horse-shifters.  Most of them appeared entirely unaware of my presence, but a few were staring right at me.  Like they had been expecting me or something.  One of them looked vaguely familiar.  She resembled the girl who had shoved me earlier.

Feeling suddenly nervous, I hunched my shoulders and kept walking, hoping to slip by them unnoticed.  For a second, I thought they were going to ignore me.  I got up the front steps and halfway through the main entrance before that same girl planted herself in front of me, slamming her feet down and deliberately blocking my path.  “Where do you think you’re going, cat?”

I looked up.  The girl was at least a foot taller than me, broad shouldered and strong.  She was big-boned and heftier than most horse shifters, leading me to imagine her animal form would resemble a Clydesdale.

“You’re the one that attacked that kid, aren’t you?” she sneered at me.

Oh great.  I was not in the mood for this.  I was already worked up enough over Lucas.  My inner animal was pacing and growling like a caged wolf.

“Could you get out of my way, please?” I fought to keep my voice calm and non-confrontational.  I was not a violent person.  I was normally about as far from violent as you could get.  But, the animal inside of me did not have nearly as much patience and it was currently nearing the end of its rope.

The horse stomped forward, driving me backwards down the front steps.  “Like terrifying little kids, do you?  Is that your idea of fun?  Do you get a kick out of it?”

“I didn’t-”

She gave me a hard shove, forcing me back several more paces.  The wildcat whipped its head around with a snarl.  I clamped my teeth together, fighting to rein the creature in.

“You should have been expelled for that.  If you can’t control yourself,” she pushed me again,  “you have no right to be here.” 

Her third shove caused me to stumble backwards into something hard.  I turned around to find another tall, muscular horse shifter—this one a young man—blocking my path.  Two more had closed in on either side of me.  In the fading light, the one on my left cast a huge shadow across my entire body.

The wildcat did not like this one bit.  Being cornered and surrounded like this provoked the worst kind of aggression.  It was standing up with its back arched, hairs standing on end. 

“What’s the matter, cat?” the guy in front of me sneered.  “Not so tough when you don’t have some poor, helpless kid to go chasing after?” 

He gave me one more shove that sent me reeling back towards the first girl, who stomped hard on my right foot.  The pain shot all the way up my leg.  I rounded on her with a furious snarl.