I hopped on my bike and put a chokehold onto the grips, hating how out of control I was getting. There was no explanation for this. I was a dick by nature, but I wasn’t always this insufferable to be around. Lately, I was so pissy, I was getting on my own nerves. I needed to get out of the public eye and shift before I lost what little self-control that seemed to linger within me.
As soon as I was certain I had traveled far enough away, riding straight into the woods, I was off my bike in a flash. The leopard was right, I didn’t need to lose it while in human form. It was easier to link me to crimes and put my brothers at a higher risk of getting exposed.
A leopard attack or committing felonies was a bit more complicated to explain. As long as I was in this mood, it was better for everyone if I stayed a leopard.
“Ya know, that actually requires being me, right?” My leopard stopped my mind from wandering any further down the rabbit hole I was traveling.
“Patience.”
“Fuck patience! You’re about to go fucking insane, and what set you off? Jackson calling you the same thing he’s called you since the day he met you.”
“Dense fucker should have learned by now.”
“That’s true, but no reason to implode,” the leopard pointed out, our bones moving into place after I removed my clothes and stuffed them into my saddlebags.
“What do you want to hear? You’re right. I’m wrong. The all-mighty leopard knows all and sees all?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s pretty damn accurate,” he replied in a condescending tone.
282
Trista
Day ? I don’t know
“Here, kitty, kitty,” the guy chortled as he slung the door open.
“Real fucking original,” I said in a disinterested tone, not at all amused by the few words he had chosen. It was rare he spoke anything to me when he entered the room. Usually, he dropped food and water in a dog dish and left without breaking the silence between us. Normally, I didn’t bother wasting any of my energy on him either. I’d gone through a twister of emotions while he held me prisoner. Hopefulness. Hopelessness. Fury. Panic. Today I happened to be bitter, but I guessed that meant I still had some grit left inside me somewhere. It also meant that even though I had thought I’d given up, my subconscious hadn’t. Either that or I truly didn’t care what happened to me at this point. I had no idea if she was still alive or not. I tried listening to his thoughts, attempting to find out how or where she was, but couldn’t pick up anything because we’re not linked.
“I don’t have to be original, bitch. Just smarter than you.”
My upper lip curled in a growl as my liger surfaced. I was quick to remind her if I shifted, we would die. “Go fuck yourself!” she roared from the depths of our throat. “I can take him. Just trust me,” she purred in response, excitement coursing through our veins from the looming fight brewing between us.
“I’m trying to keep all of us alive. Retract the claws and let me handle this,” I argued, frustrated that violence was the first thought she always had.
“If you would have let me shift in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
I huffed. The liger was right, and we were both more than aware of it. “We have to be in this together.”
“Fine. If we die, It. Is. Your. Fault!” she snarled.
“Honey, I think we need to get one thing straight, I’m not the one who will be doing the fucking. Your buyer will be here tonight.”
“My buyer?” I repeated his words and agreed with the liger, this was my fault.
“You didn’t think I was keeping such a beautiful specimen to rot in this basement, did you? Your sister was picked up two nights ago. You bitches are making me a lot of money.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” she responded, and I felt my face broadening. “Coward,” she growled, and my bones contorted as she overpowered me.
“No!” I meekly tried to stop her, but the heaviness inside my chest pushed harder with each passing second. My sister was gone.
“Yes!” she countered in a stern voice. “We’ll find her, Trista. But, we have to survive this to save her.”
I nodded slowly, fighting back the tears burning my eyes.
“You’ll die,” he warned us as he dropped to all fours, and his shoulders popped out of place. “That is reinforced steel, but be my guest. If you’re stupid enough to try, I’ll have to get rid of your body somehow.” He winked and licked his lips.
“I don’t give a fuck what it’s made of, and this isn’t a fucking kid’s movie. So, no, we won’t be your damned guest. We’d rather die with pride and by our terms. Not yours,” my liger declared, and I agreed with her.
“There’s no dignity in dying chained to a wall—”
“Like a fucking domesticated animal. I won’t let that happen to us!” she finished my sentence as she reassured me.
We endured the pain of the transition. I was proud of Trista. Over the years, she had learned, the faster she let me overtake our body, the less it hurt. I was her animal within, and she kept me connected to humanity. The steel spikes punctured my skin, and blood fell from so many places on my body that I wouldn’t be able to count them all even if I tried.
“Stupid bitch. You’re both going to die now,” he growled as the length of his legs morphed, and faint lines spread across his exposing body. His clothes ripped as his ribcage widened, and he cried out.
Shifting was different for every shifter. For some, the pain was excruciating, and a lot of humans selfishly fought against
