The Cat Shifter (Book 1 of Shifter Series)

Chapter 34

The next couple of weeks became hectic with me learning about my other powers and listening to anything that the clans told me about what had happened to them when I had been away.

If not all, most of them had lost people, people that they cared about, and wanted to get revenge. Some of them had been through torture caused by Romanov and his cronies, and it took all of my self-control not to go over there and kill them.

After hearing that, I was training my ass off, using those that had visited as well as the pack members, who were willing to help me train in both my human and tiger form.

At that moment, I was training with Adrain because Carver had suggested that we work together and build a foundation of trust that would be needed, even if I did not become the High Queen.

I stared at the male in front of me and flicked my tail, waiting for him to make a move. Both of us were in our respected animal form, him being a bobcat and me being a tiger.

Adrian growled and flicked his tail before he stalked me. His eyes had a hard look in them, and all I did was merely roll my eyes at the smaller creature before me. Again, he growled before he lunged towards me.

I moved at the last possible second and nipped at his side before I pounded away. I was taller, stronger than him, but unlike him, I was still learning about this side of me, for it had been a little over a month or so since I had shifted in the first place.

Unlike me, he was able to move one with his other form. He was a greater advantage over me with that, even though I was taller and longer than him. He just trusted himself, and his cat form better than me.

I trusted Tigress with my life. I knew that she would listen to me and stop if things got out of control, but it was me that I didn't trust. It was me that I didn't trust to make a mistake if I gave partial control, and it frustrated both of us, me even more than my spirit.

Adrian somehow got the upper hand, and I ended up on my back. He snarled, and I blinked while I looked up at him with eyes wide with shock.

"Let her up," Carver said, sounding disappointed in me. "Good work, Adrain."

Adrian got off of me and shifted into his human form. He didn't say a word and held out his hand, and I shifted into my human form and took hold of it. He didn't say a word, but I could tell that he was worried about me.

"K-" Carver stopped talking when I held my hand, silencing him.

"Excuse me," I said. I forced a smile on my face while I met Adrian's eyes. "Nice work." I didn't look at Carver and left the training area, not knowing how I could be a great High Queen if I couldn't even beat a bobcat with my greater size and strength.

***

I lounged on a couple of rocks in my tiger form, moody. My head was rested on my paws, and watched the world pass me by. I flicked the tip of my tail, annoyed with myself, and how the training had gone.

"You don't trust yourself, don't you?" someone asked from behind me, and my ear flicked towards the male's voice. "May I sit?"

I grumbled but shifted into my human form so that the person could sit down. I clutched my legs and glanced to my left to notice Adrian while he sat down beside me.

"Do... you want to talk?" he asked when I didn't say a word, and I shrugged my shoulders but didn't reply. "Or do you want to be moody?"

"Moody," I grunted, and he snorted and rolled his eyes. I sighed and moved my hands through until I had two fistfuls and pulled, closing my eyes and grimacing.

"Why do you doubt yourself when you are in your tiger form? Don't you trust yourself?"

I lifted my head a little and gave him the stink eye, and a small smile curled on his lips. "Are you trying to give me advice?"

He shrugged and looked forward. "Trying to understand is more like it," he replied. "And seeing how open you will be. You're closed off."

I let out a breathless chuckle and nodded. "I know I am." I licked my lips and cleared my throat before I looked forward too. "No, I don't trust myself. I trust her completely, but..." I shrugged and grimaced.

"Believe it or not, I was the same way. I still am, to be honest."

I turned my head faster than I should have and stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. "What?" I exclaimed, and he blinked unamused.

"I didn't trust myself in my bobcat form."

"But you're so..." I gestured to him up and down. "I mean, you were the one that had attacked me, unlike the others."

Adrian rolled his eyes and smiled, but it turned into a grimace. "It doesn't mean that I don't have self-doubts, Kat." He glanced at me and sighed. "And it was fear that had led me to attack you. I was afraid that you would be like your uncle, even though I knew it couldn't be true, not the way that your parents raised you."

I slowly nodded my head. "So, how did you learn to trust yourself to give up control?"

"Believe it or not, play." He shrugged. "That, and I had my clan to help me." He stood and rolled his eyes when I chuckled coldly and opened my mouth to say something. "Now, I know what you are going to say, and even though you don't have your clan, you still have us." He held out his hand when there was a rustling in the bushes, and Carver, Trevor, Brody, and Arabella stepped out, all of them in their other form. "We will help you learn."

I looked at them before I looked at Adrian to see him giving me a small smile. A flicker on my lips and took hold of his hand. "Ok," I said, nodding my head and letting him help me up. "Let's do this."

Adrain squeezed my hand before he let go of my hand and shifted into his bobcat form, and I followed suit and shifted into my tiger form. He nuzzled my shoulder in a sign of respect before he shoved me off of the rock to claim it as his own.

I rolled my eyes and stood before I let out a playful growl and attacked his feet, much to the shock of the grinning cat.

And after that, we played king of the rock, and I slowly but surely learned to trust myself and let go of the control that I so badly wanted to keep.