The Cat Shifter (Book 1 of Shifter Series)

Chapter 35

I pinned the person that I was fighting to the ground and grinned, nipping at their throat, much to their shock and amazement. 'Gotcha,' I said through the link, flicking my tail, satisfied that I finally won a battle against my mate in my tiger form.

Brody's eyes grew wide, and he nodded. Shock and pride filled his eyes, and he made me feel very warm and special because he knew how difficult it had been for me to pin him. 'Yes, yes, you did,' he said. 'Now, are you going to get off?'

I cocked my head and studied him before I shook my head and sat down, earning a groan from the male. "No," I said while I laid down on top of him. I nuzzled his jaw, feeling happy to have him pinned. 'I think I am comfortable.'

Brody's body shook while he chuckled, and he nuzzled me back. 'Well, I am not,' he teased. 'So, can you get off of me?'

'What will I get in return?' I asked while I cocked my head further and studied him with innocent eyes.

'A kiss,' he replied. 'A kiss from your dashing mate.'

I raised an eyebrow, amused. 'Dashing?' I asked, and he nodded. I smirked, and he raised an eyebrow. 'I don't see a dashing mate.'

My mate's mouth dropped open, and it took all of my self-control not to burst out laughing because he looked so hurt that I didn't call him dashing. 'What?!' he asked, shocked. 'What do you mean by that?!'

'What it sounded like,' I replied. 'I don't see a dashing mate.'

Brody furrowed his brows and cocked his head. He looked super innocent, and it made my heart melt and Tigress to purr happily. 'Then what do you see?' he asked, blinking innocently. 'Since you don't see me as a dashing mate?'

I shrugged. 'A mate,' I said, earning a cough covered laugh from Carver, who was watching us amused. I looked at my advisor, making sure to be fully aware of what my mate could do now that my attention was not solely on him. 'What do you see?' I asked, cocking my head

"A male that had finally lost to his cat mate," he replied. He cleared his throat and bowed his head. "I do think that it might be best for you to let him up. Both Arie and Adrain are still expected sometime today, and I want you to pin him down one more time before they arrive."

Both my mate and I groaned in annoyance, not liking the fact that we were going to have to fight again. It had taken me a while to pin him the first time, and both of us were hungry and tired.

Carver raised an eyebrow, and amusement flickered through his eyes. "I guess that means you have to get better at pinning him, Your Majesty," he teased. "It shouldn't have taken you so long to pin him."

'Ya, well, fight me,' I said, hopping off my mate, earning a laugh from him. I stretched my body and yawned before I flicked my tail and sat down. 'Can't we just eat and then come back to this?' I asked, cocking my head. 'After Aunt Arie and Adrian had left?'

Carver raised his eyebrow further. "I think it'd be best if you two fought now." He gave me a pointed look, and I narrowed my eyes at him because I didn't trust him. He did something, and I knew that he had done something for me because he stopped meeting my gaze.

'What did you do?' I asked. 'Why do you want me to fight Brody now and not later?'

Carver shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. He ran a hand across the back of his neck, but he didn't say a word. His whole body was tense, and I could smell this small bit of guilt coming off of him in waves.

'Well?' I pressed when he didn't answer the question. 'What did you do?'

He sighed. "I had asked them to come and help you train," he said, finally. "Considering that you respect them both, I had asked them to come and give you... pointers that I couldn't give you myself."

I raised an eyebrow. 'What do you mean about that?' My whole body grew tense, and I started to feel anxious. My heart pounded hard in my chest, and I started to feel as if I couldn't breathe.

Carver shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. Again, he looked away from me and placed his hands behind his back. "Well," he said, finally, looking at me. "They are coming here to fight you. They are coming here for the right to claim the throne."

***

"They are coming here for the right to claim the throne." His words echoed through my brain, and it shocked both me and my tiger spirit. "They are coming here for the right to claim the throne."

I shifted into my human form and stared at him in shock and horror. "What?" I all but shrieked. "What do you mean by that?" Power filled my voice, and my advisor bowed his head. A loud and murderous growl escaped my body, and all I wanted to do was find those two and kill them.

How dare they decide to do this against me, especially Adrian, when I saved his life. They had no right to try and claim the throne when it wasn't even their place. They did not need to be coming here if that was their plan all along.

Betrayal filled my body, and it made my eyes sting because all I wanted to do was cry about the loss of supporters. I felt used, betrayed, and thought lowly by the people who I thought would be with me through thick and thin.

Carver sighed and moved a hand through his hair and across his face. He groaned and shook his head, muttering something about asking for an apology from them. "It's not like the way you two are thinking," he said, finally.

I rubbed my eyes to try and stop the tears from forming. Both my tiger and I were hurt and angry at the people that we cared about, thinking that they would always be by our side, Adrian more forced than Aunt Arie. "What do you mean?" I asked, my voice shaking while I looked at him through blurred eyes.

He sighed and again rubbed his face. The male looked tired and not his normal self. He looked to be hiding something, knowing something that he didn't want me to know. "They respect you a lot," he said. "They know that you have worked hard to be able to connect with your cat spirit when fighting. They want you to prove yourself to yourself, and they suggested that the only way to get you to prove yourself to yourself is to fight for the throne."