Dante shook his head no before he looked down at Renea. “That was nothing that I did, princess. That was all you, sweetheart.” He rubbed a hand across his beard, unsure of how to explain this to her or the others. He had only been a witness to this once in his lifetime.
“Sweetheart what do you know of your parents?” Dante pulled her closer to him before lifting her chin so he could see her face.
“Only that they died when I was young. They died in a crash. I somehow survived after I was thrown from the car a quarter mile up the road after they flipped down an embankment one late night. I’ve lived with Dita ever since then. Her parents and mine were good friends and they allowed me to stay.”
Dante nodded his head gently with a look of regret on his face. “I have only been witness to this once in my lifetime. It was so long ago now, but there is a race. One that can change at will into any creature they want. From a black panther, to a large white wolf, or even a fox and a bear.” Dante glanced at the other two quickly confirming his suspicions that she also smelled of their race to them from the looks on their faces. “You my dear are rarer than any jewel out there. You are the last of your kind.”
Renea listened and processed what he was saying. She sat up in his arms. “You don’t mean… I can... change into any animal?” she stammered nervously. At the nod of his head she continued, “Why didn’t I know about this my whole life though? Wouldn’t I know this about myself?”
“My answer is only a guess here but I believe that it was forgotten by your trauma or your parents hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet, before they passed away.” Dante looked at her sadly as he said this last part.
Renea looked back at him, glancing at the other two before standing up out of Dante’s lap. Heading over to the bar, she went to grab her food only to find it on the floor in a heap of shattered glass.Oops,Renea thought, guessing they had knocked it over by accident. Renea stepped around the mess and headed to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and a pack of steak from the fridge.
Dante was behind her before she could close the door of the fridge. He grabbed the meat from her hand and carried it to the stove. Still naked he opened the package popping them into a pan on the stove. Renea stepped up behind him, pushing her body into his and peaked around his shoulder at the steak.
“The first shift is always the hardest, it takes a lot of energy to shift back so quickly too. Normally you would stay in each form at least thirty minutes before trying to shift back. I saw you were starting to panic and had to force your shift very quickly. It was not an ideal situation and you need to eat and rest.” Dante loaded two steaks onto a plate and turned to hand her the plate.
Renea grabbed the plate and carried it to the couch. The other men sat and watched this in complete silence. They were in as much shock as Renea was over this. Renea scarfed her food down quickly and curled up on the couch. Josh stood and grabbed a blanket from the chair he was in and walked over to cover her up, He ran a hand along her back as he pulled the cover over her. By the time he had returned to his chair her eyes were already closing and her breathing leveling out.
Dante gestured at the others to follow him. They both stood, glancing at Renea as they followed Dante from the room. Dante slipped into his room, grabbing clothes from the bag on top of the bed. Slipping into them he turned and looked at Caleb and Josh. They were standing by the door waiting for him to start talking.
When he didn’t start talking quick enough Caleb spat out, “What the hell was that Dante?”
Dante scrubbed a hand over his face. turning to take a seat on the edge of the bed he shrugged. “I am not sure.Therianthropes are a unique race. There were only a handful of them growing up. I only had the pleasure of meeting one of their kind. It was by accident actually. She was marrying a pack member of ours a long time ago. It is why I know of their kind.”
“Could she be the one to save my race? I am the last of the fox clan. There are no more of my kind. Could she be the savior of my kind?” Josh looked at Dante hopeful beyond words at the thought.
Dante looked at him and smiled slightly, “She very well could be my man. We won’t know for sure until it happens of course. But we may be her saving grace for her own kind as well. The problem is that I suspect her parents didn’t die in a crash. My guess is they were killed for what they were. How they managed to miss Renea is something we may never know.”
“Are you saying that someone killed her parents because they were Therianthropes? Why would they do that? What does being able to shift into multiple races have to do with others killing them?” Caleb asked, getting more upset by the minute.
Dante sighed, “From what I remember from conversations I overheard back then, they were seen as a superior race that was trying to take over other clans. There was a seer that stated that a woman would rule all of the clans one day and would be able to shift into all of the animal races in order to do so. This did not sit well with many of the older races especially. Many races started hunting others silently. They figured if they could take as many heads as they could they would find the hidden Therianthropes. It only succeeded in causing inner wars and a lot less clans and future generations. It is part of the reason you're the last of your kind Josh.” Dante looked at him sadly.
They all stood there a moment before Josh broke the silence, “Now what do we do? Is this why that man is after her? Why she is having to hide here in the cabin?”
“It is our best guess at this point.” Dante nodded crossing his arms over his chest. “Our best bet now is to make sure she is safe. Protect her at all cost.”
The men all agreed, “Let’s go take our woman to bed fellas. It’s been a long couple of days.” Dante stood to lead the way but stiffened suddenly. “Somethings wrong.” Dante shifted into his wolf tearing through the house and toward his mate.
Arriving down stairs he looked around his eyes landing on the couch where Renea was. She was no longer there and he howled. Looking around desperately he found no trace of her. He sniffed the couch and howled in agony as he smelled it. The one smell he would never forget. The man that was after Renea. This man had stolen his mate out from under him.
Dante turned and looked at Caleb and Josh, they had followed him down the stairs. They both ran around frantically searching, hoping. At his look they stopped and shifted. They all took off through the open door and ran. They all ran in hopes of finding the man that took her from them. The man they would rip to shreds if they found him. No not if but when they found him.
Dante howled as he searched. They found her trail and followed her scent for a few miles through the woods, before it disappeared in a clearing. Dante let his wolf lead this hunt. He smelled around the clearing but could only find the smell of fuel and oil. A truck of some sort had been here recently and most likely what carried his mate away.
Shifting Dante explained to the men that he got away in a truck before shifting again. He ran through the woods, heading back to the cabin. Caleb snatched his phone from the counter and dialed in his team. He would have the whole state searching for her within the hour. Dante was having trouble controlling his wolf at this moment though. His mate was gone and he didn't know how to find her. He was lost, agitated, and ready to destroy the world to find her. Josh was pacing, still in fox form at the moment. All three of the men were at a loss on what they needed to do. Other than finding their woman, they were just lost.
Renea
Renea’s head bounced up and down as she felt her body move. She was so tired though her eyes wouldn’t open. She panicked, trying to make them open, or her body to move but she couldn’t do it. She had depleted all her reserves and her body needed time to recoup. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Why was she moving? Last she remembered was passing out on the couch. The men wouldn’t have taken her somewhere like this.
Renea lost consciousness again before she could figure out what was going on. Renea woke three more times, to more jostling and trying to make her body cooperate before passing out again. When Renea woke again she was still and cold. Her body lay on a hard surface and she was freezing. Her eyes cracked open this time as she willed them apart. Lifting her head, she looked around her. She lay naked on a stone floor. The cold stone caused her to shiver as she tried to sit up. Sitting slowly, she looked around her. She was in a cage in what looked like a stone cell. It had electricity and lasers around the bars. She could see the sparks flying across them as she looked harder. If she touched them, they would fry her. Looking further she saw a table and some chairs and then a door at the top of a crappy wooden staircase.
“Fucking great,” she whispered.
Sitting up she saw a bucket in the corner of the cage, one she assumed was to relieve herself. She turned her nose up at the thought.So now I am stuck here in a damn dungeon and the guys will be going crazy by now. They will find me if I can just hang in there.
The door opens and in walks the man that had been chasing after her this entire time. The reason she had been hiding at the cabin in the first place.What good that did me. Hiding from someone that apparently found me and then kidnapped me. Great.
