Page 46 of Seneca
But she was a huge, gorgeous tigress and he was damn proud of her.
“Hey, kid,” his dad called as he walked into the paddock.
“Hey,” he said.
“How’s the knife wound?”
Seneca looked at his side.He could stillfeelthe knife, but the wound was healed.“All good.But it does feel weird.”
“Stabbings are like that.”
Seneca snorted.“You’ve been stabbed?”
“During a sleuth battle for territory before you were born, I got stabbed by an asshole, who I took out afterward.Stung like a son of a bitch, though.”
He set a stack of clothes and a pair of shoes on Seneca’s lap.
“There were two jaguars who survived.Dario brought six with him.We found out that they came in through a weakness in the fencing by the apartment complex overnight.Between shifts.”
“Damn.”
“Right?They watched us and knew when to strike.It happened to be in a sort of dead zone for the security cameras and motion detectors, so Caesar and Jupiter are going over every inch of the park’s security systems to make sure there aren’t any other issues.We’ll reach out to Dexter’s construction company to redo the fencing at the back.The apartments are no good to us if they’re not safe.”
“Shit, yeah.”Stallion shifter Dexter’s construction company had built the apartment complex for the park.As he got dressed, he said, “What’s going to happen to the jaguars?”
“We’ll release them in a few hours and escort them out of town.They’ve been fully threatened by the alphas to never set foot here again.”He paused for a moment and then said, “The two that survived were trying to escape during the fight.I think they weren’t on board for a battle.With Dario dead, Fallon should be safe, but this other alpha is a wild card.We will just have to wait and see.”
Seneca nodded.
Marcus looked at Sunny, who lifted her head.“Thank you for saving my son.”
She yowled softly and he nodded, then left.
Seneca squatted down and cupped her big head.She blinked beautiful golden eyes at him.The knot in his chest was tight.She could have died trying to take out Dario while he’d been incapacitated.
But she was alive.
He was alive.
He was going to focus on the good stuff.
“Let’s go for a walk, sweetheart.You’ll be in your shift for a while.”
She rose onto her paws and stretched, swishing her tail.They wandered the paddock, moving slowly through the grass and trees that dotted the large enclosure.There weren’t safari tours during the week, so he didn’t have to worry about getting her hidden while she was in her shift.
“So,” he said, “I shifted right before I turned sixteen.I was scared because I thought it would hurt, even though my dad told me it’s not painful, just strange.He said that fighting it would make it worse and take longer.So I tried to relax, but thinking about relaxing made me stress out more.”He chuckled, thinking about the memory.
She looked up at him with a curious purr.
“It wasn’t at all like I thought it would be.It was so odd, hearing the bones cracking, feeling the muscles tearing and putting themselves back together so fast.And then I was on my paws and it was so freaking silent.What I really remember is how the air smelled and I could pick up everything all at once.All the sights, all the sounds and smells.It was exhilarating.Dad took me for a run and I felt free for the first time in my life.Like I finally knew what it meant to be a shifter.”He looked down at her.“I bet you feel like that now, huh?”
She made an agreeing noise.
He rested his hand on her shoulder as they walked.“You’re beautiful, sweetheart.I can’t wait to see you in your human form again too, whenever you’re ready.In the meantime, I’ll tell you about the time I accidentally knocked down a tree when I was eighteen by leaning against it to scratch a hard-to-reach spot on my back…”
* * *
A few hours later, as they were lounging near the pond and enjoying the quiet and sunshine, Jupiter walked in with a large bag over his shoulder.“I didn’t want to interrupt earlier, I figured you were enjoying hanging out.”