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In a moment, he was in front of me, bloody hands on both sides of my head, scanning my face for any signs of injury.
“Are you ok?” His voice was shaking, as he continued his examination, moving lower, and checking that my armor was still intact.
“Yes… I’m, I’m fine.” I stammered.
“Why didn’t you shadow walk?” He snarled at me. “Or fly? Or draw energy from Rycon?”
I gaped at him. “I - I - I didn’t think - it just happened so fast.”
He gripped me by my shoulders and shook me.
“You could have been killed, Raven.” I had never seen him so angry before. Especially not with me.
“I’m sorry.” I said softly, my voice broke. We stood frozen for a second, his hands still gripping my shoulders. I didn’t know what he was going to do. Then suddenly, all the anger seemed to melt from him, and he pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me. I stood there while he held me, still in shock. I couldn’t keep up with his mood swings today.
“We’re going to need to work on combat training.” He sighed, finally pulling away. I could still hear the sounds of Rycon, Kasha and Dossidian fighting around us, but Amon did not seem concerned. He stepped away from me and magicked the blood off of his hands.
Before I could respond, a very large black panther dropped out from the tree above us. The enormous cat slammed Amon into the forest floor in a rush of black fur and teeth.
I gasped as the great cat reared back, claws out and ready. Amon rolled his eyes from where he lay, and I braced myself for what was sure to be another brutally violent attack. I wondered briefly if the panther’s spine was about to make a bloody appearance.
At the last second, Rycon swung down from a low hanging branch and booted the cat off of Amon with both feet.
“Not that one, Rhyalla,” Rycon said to the panther.
The cat screamed the way panthers do and launched itself at Rycon, who just chuckled and stepped out of the way.
“It’s nice to see you too. I see you still have useless idiots manning the perimeter. How many did you kill, Amon?” He asked nonchalantly, picking at his chipped black nail polish.
Amon, who was already back on his feet, didn’t respond. He just watched Rycon taunt the panther wryly.
“I think I killed six of them in the first thirty seconds. You’re going to need some new recruits for your K'aalpa-kah.” Rycon continued, deftly keeping the panther in his line of sight as it tried to circle around behind him. The great cat snarled, and Rycon grinned.
“Come on Rhyalla. You can’t say you’re not a little glad to see me.” The panther finally stopped trying to circle Rycon. I watched in awe as the cat’s fur began to ripple, as if its flesh was made of liquid and someone had dropped a pebble onto its back.
The fur peeled back away to reveal smooth olive skin, and long, thick black hair. A human shaped female stood, naked as the day she was born, where the large feline had once been.
Her entire body was lean and corded with muscle. Red cuffs of ink had been tattooed around her forearms. Two red pointed stripes had also been tattooed on her face, starting under her jaw, and curving up to her cheek bones.
Her nakedness didn’t seem to bother her at all, and the way she held herself made me feel strangely comfortable with her nudity as well. It did not feel like I was seeing body parts that should be hidden, but just a body that was strong and existing in its natural state.
“Where the fuck have you been, Rycon.” She snarled, and I realized with a start that this must be his sister.
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I could see the resemblance, especially in the eyes. Not only were they the same eerie yellow, but the shape of them was the same. He smirked at her and shrugged.
“Out and about.”
She responded with a roundhouse that caught him in the side of the face. Amon and I exchanged a look. She was fast.
“You abandoned your people!” She snarled at Rycon as she moved forward, I think to hit him again. He grabbed her wrist with one hand, while rubbing his jaw with the other.
“I came back though. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
She moved to bring her knee up into his groin, but he twisted to block it with his hip, laughing.
“Come on Rhyalla. Let me in. I’ll tell you what I’ve been up too. It’s a good story.” She paused for a moment, and her nostrils flared. Turning suddenly, she looked directly at me. Kasha and Dossidian chose that moment to melt out of the trees. Both covered in shifter blood. Rhyalla stared the four of us up and down, clearly sniffing the air around us.
