Blessings And Curses

2x5

Georgia’s POV

As soon as they leave the room, he relinquishes control of his humanity. His face twists, his limbs crack, his muscles bulge and his body contorts painfully. His Jaws open in a silent roar, and a few seconds later the transformation is complete. I am completely horrified at how long it took, and how graphic it had been. Did Cora have to watch that happen to me?

My concerns are cut off by his deep, throaty growl. He looks exactly how a lion should look, expect for his faintly glowing blue eyes. He sniffs the air, growls again, and takes a massive leap towards me before I can even comprehend why he’s attacking. Thankfully, my body is a lot more alert than I am. In a second, I have transformed, and swatt him to the side with my massive paw.

Adrenaline floods my system, along with a thousand animal instincts I don’t have time to shift through. Craig comes at me again, and this time I am ready. At over twice his size, and multiple times faster than him, I have him pinned down with nearly no effort. He tries to struggle, so I snap threateningly at his neck.

Craig goes limp beneath me, submitting. I am bombarded by the urge to bite down on his neck for real, to form a pack with him. He is strong, I think, a worthy companion. And look how still he lies beneath me… he knows that I am alpha, the lion in him wants to join my pack.

Something is stopping me, though. The memory of Cora comes rushing forward, and how I regret taking the decision from her. I feel deeply saddened at the thought of letting this opportunity pass me by, but Coras face gives me the strength to move away from Craig.

The lion looks up at me, confused. He really did want to be in my pack, I realize hopefully. He walks to me cautiously, eyes lowered in careful respect. When he reaches my feet he lays down and lick my paw. He rolls over onto his back, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in a way that looks ridiculously adorable.

The door creeks open, and my head snaps towards it. Cora peers at me through the small gap she’s opened.
“Is it over?” she asks, and I nod. She strides in, followed by a very upset looking Jacob. When he sees me he squeaks in alarm. Craig growls at the prey-like sound, and I gravitate closer to him.

I remember reading that having an alphas presence can grant the pack mate near immaculate control on full moons. Just being around me should be enough to draw his humanity closer to the surface. Sure enough, I watch as his glowing blue eyes fade to their everyday colour and purr with success.

“Craig?” Jacob calls hesitantly, and the lion nods numbly in response. It occurs to me that this is probably the first time he’s been in control of his body on a full moon. The shock he is feeling is abundantly justified.

Jacob shuffles guardedly over, afraid any sudden movements could set him off. I am not concerned. As long as I am in the room, Craig will not go against my wishes. I quietly hypothesize that a land shifter alpha has a lot more control over their pack mates than mer alphas do. I’ve certainly never felt this level of authority over Cora.

Jacob reaches his hand out towards Craig’s face. When his fingers aren’t immediately ingested, Jacob inhales sharply and breaches the remaining distance. He runs his hand across Craig’s mane, and the lion gives an elated purr.

Jacob laughs, his voice heavy with emotion.
“This is bloody amazing,” he informs us, “I’ve watched Craig turn a dozen times, but I never dreamed I would be able to…” He throws his arms around Craig’s shoulders, and I smell the tears rolling off his cheeks into his fur.
“God I love you so much,” he gushes, his voice as thin as frost.

I walk over to Cora, who’s standing off to the side of the room, looking lost. When she sees me coming she smiles brightly.

Coras POV
We look at each other for a long moment, standing at eye level and less that an inch apart. I feel like I’m standing before an ancient Greek God, inhumanly beautiful, mortally flawed, and brimming with unexplored power. I raise my hands to the sides of her face, and the muscles jump beneath her fur. It’s so soft I feel heinously privileged to touch it, and pet it, and caress it the way I am.

Her ears twitch, and that’s all the warning I get before her massive tongue licks all the way down my face. I laugh in surprise, and the moment is abruptly over.

We watch Jacob and Craig for a few more minutes, before Georgia whines adorable and walks over. Jacob jumps, and I don’t bother muffling my laugh. From the moment I saw panther Georgia, she seemed impossibly cute. Looking at her from Jacob’s perspective, I can see how a sleek, black, larger-than-a-horse sized panther would probably be the most intimidating thing the average person could ever see.

She walks right up to Jacob, and he gulps as he looks up to her eyes. Georgia licks his cheek, and some of the fear melts from his face.
“Your pretty damn scary,” he informs her meekly. Georgia warbles in a way I know is a laugh, but makes Jacob look like he wants to make a run for it.

“Don’t worry,” I tell him, “Georgia’s completely in control.”

She nods, and purrs comfortingly. Craig responds with a purr of his own, and the two humans in the room laugh. Georgia strolls over to Craig, and licks his ear consolingly. He looks up at her with an emotion I can feel is undulated adoration. A plan bursts merrily to life in the back of my mind, and I elect to ignore it for the time being.

Georgia walks towards the back door, and Craig follows. She’s taking him to the garden, I realize. Curiosity insists that I follow. I walk across the lounge, and out the door. They have an impressively large garden, not that I can see much in the encroaching darkness. They have one massive, foreign looking tree in the centre of the garden, upon which Georgia and Craig are already climbing. They leap from branch to branch, playfully  snapping Jaws and swatting paws. It warms my heart to see how careful Georgia is not to get carried away in the game and hurt Craig.

I ache to be up there with her, to be part of her pack as well as her pod. For a second jealousy sets in, and I feel too miserable to stop it. Suddenly Jacob walks up beside me, and wraps a surprisingly comforting arm across my shoulders.
“Sucks to be us, right,” he laments, and I nod in quiet agreement.
“Come on,” he says with false enthusiasm, “Let’s go find some mindless drivel to watch, while we wait for our loved ones to come back to us.”

I smile at him forlornly, finally starting to see why Georgia and him had been such good friends. I hope we can be friends too.