Of shifters and mates

Rise and shine

„Rise and shine, sweetheart!” My father chirped as he pulled the blanked from my curled up form. I barely lifted my head from under my paw and snarled at him. It was fucking Saturday morning, it was summer break and I was tired! “Don’t give me that young man. Come on, shift back and get dressed. You promised to help out at the café.” Growling I untangled my limbs and stretched, clawing at the mattress, my back arched, my ass high in the air. I mewled when my father gave me a shove to the side and I tumbled over. He laughed at the pouting glare I shot him before getting up and off the bed. Doing so I caught a look at myself in the mirror and my fur ruffled with pride. My father and I are cheetah-shifters and I was even more than that, I was a king cheetah and proud to be.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re gorgeous, now hurry up.” I sneezed at that and gave my father a once over. He was young, only thirty-four and still rather attractive, for god’s sake he was smoking hot. He wasn’t the tallest but he was lean, his dark blond hair framed his face, the bangs falling into his sea blue eyes. His jeans were tight in all the right places and his white button-up shirt clung to him for dear live… I couldn’t understand why he didn’t have women hanging all over him. I slowly shifted back to my human form and stood up.

“Do I really have to help? Tim wanted to hang out at the mall.” I asked, opening my cupboard and pulling out a similar attire to what my father wore – every waiter at the café had to wear it. I knew he wouldn’t let me of the hook, but asking didn’t hurt.

“You do want to take over someday, don’t you, Riley?”

“Of course I do. The café is like my big brother, it’s your second baby.” I teased and heard him huff as I slipped on my shirt. We were more like best buddies than a real father and son duo. We didn’t even look the part I noted once more as I ruffled my black hair and starred at my deep green eyes. I assumed they were traits from my mother, not that he ever mentioned anything about her. Hell, I didn’t even know her name or why she wasn’t with us…

“I can’t believe you’re turning seventeen in a few months.” I hadn’t noticed him moving but sure enough he stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. He looked… sad.

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

“You look more like him every day.” His voice was a whisper, but I was still able to hear him and I was highly confused.

“Him?! Who’s ‘him’?”

His eyes widened slightly and he let go of me, taking a few steps before answering, voice unstable. “Your… uncle. And now hurry up, we can’t let the guests wait.” With that he fled the room, leaving me to my thoughts. So I had an uncle… and I looked like him, but what about my mother? Ah, well, at least I finally got some information. Fixing the last button I left my room and headed to the stairs. Our flat was directly above the café my father opened after moving into this small town in the middle of nowhere. On my way down I took two steps at once and nearly crashed into our manager when I flew past the door to the café.

“Woah! Sorry, Carol.” The woman standing before me was small and petite and could clearly be my grandmother. With her sixty-two years of age she was still tough and if one thought he could be impolite she showed him just what exactly a dirty mouth is. When my father first came to town she took him in, didn’t even ask him questions, she just took him in. She had money to spare from the live insurance of her late husband so she founded the café and she took care of me, when my father was at work. Now she just snorted.

“Sorry my ass. How many times did I tell you not to run down the stairs like a madman?”

“Oh, come on granny.”

“Don’t you granny me, Riles. And now hurry, your shift is about to start!”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I mock-saluted and went on into the little kitchen, snatching my apron, block and pencil and fixed the most professional smile I could muster on my face. It was only six in the morning and there were only a few customers but that changed as time passed by. The café was rather famous because of the good service and the even better coffee. I liked working here, I liked to meet new people every day and of course I loved to chat with the frequent customers. My shift for today ended at 3 PM with a thirty minute break. Right now there were only twenty minutes left and I counted the seconds. Lisa, my best friend, had called earlier to tell me to come to the mall as soon as I was free – she wanted to go shopping. It was crowded and I had my hands full, taking orders, bringing the food and clearing the plates. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a loud crash. Turning around I expected to see a few glasses scattered on the ground, what I didn’t expect was to see my dad lying face down on the floor.

“Dad!” I screamed, running to his side and falling to my knees. As gently as I could I turned him around and checked if he still breathed, sighing with relief when he did. “Granny… Carol! Call an ambulance!” I heard her hurry into the room, but I didn’t look up; my eyes were fixed on my father.

“Riley what… did anyone see what happened?!” She demanded to know, facing each and every guest, whilst smashing the number into her phone.

“H-He just collapsed.” A woman cheeped, clearly in distress. “He just brought me my latte and cleared the next table and then… he fell like a log!”

When they finally picked up Carol told them everything she knew and then we waited… it didn’t last longer than ten minutes, but it seemed like eternity to me. I had to step aside as two men lifted him onto a stretcher and carried him to the car, I proceeded to follow them but was held back by Carol.

“Take care of him… I’ll take over the café for now.” I didn’t hear her clearly, the blood rushing through my veins was too loud, but I nodded before climbing into the back. Taking my dad’s hand I sat down. I don’t know what I would do if I lost him… I didn’t want to find out.