“My Master is not dead.” The words were quiet, barely more than a whisper yet they were still more a growl than real words. Marek suddenly remembered where he’d seen such a stare. It was in a documentary about tigers. That was how a tiger looked just before pouncing on his prey. And Marek had a really bad feeling Robert was about to become prey. Marek’s friend had to have no self preservation whatsoever because he continued spouting off the same stupid shit.
“Sure he is. There was a fire and police thinks he burned in it. Got what he deserved in my opinion.” Marek watched it as if in slow motion. He turned to Patrick, opened his mouth to try to calm the situation, reason with the shifter, but it was to late. There was no reasoning with the beast that suddenly took over.
“Master!” The howl turned into a growl, then a roar as Patrick’s body contorted and twisted taking on a full tiger form for the first time. The roar was full of roar and anguish and Marek had a sudden thought that they made a huge mistake. Patrick became a tiger in a matter of seconds, the fastest shift Marek had ever seen, and he stood up, his tail swishing behind him. Marek caught a glimpse of feral animal eyes and was suddenly certain that they indeed horribly misjudged the situation. Marek used his superior speed to run out the room, knocking his friend aside and locking the door behind him. He was just milliseconds faster than a huge body of tiger who hit the door and started clawing at the piece of wood separating them.
“What the fuck?!” Robert shouted scrambling up from the floor. “What crawled up the crazy fucker’s ass?” Robert asked dusting off his jeans and scowling at the door. Marek tried very hard to keep onto his patience.
“Stop talking and grab that dresser from over there.” He tipped his head to the side indicating the piece of furniture decorating the hallway. Robert kept scowling but obeyed and in a matter of seconds had the dresser pushed against the door letting Marek step back. The tiger kept at the door for a few more minutes, then sounds of a room being demolished could be heard. Marek relaxed marginally and stepped back from where he kept the dresser pushed against the wooden door. Without a word he turned and pulled his mobile from his pocket. He went into his contact list and scrolled through it as he marched down the hall, Robert hot on his heals.
“Seriously, Marek, what’s with the kid and huge temper tantrum?” the oblivious man asked. Marek gritted his teeth but held back his anger. It wasn’t Robert’s fault. Well, at least not all of it. They misread the situation and Patrick was now paying for it. If only they tried to talk to him a bit harder. Pressed the kid for information earlier. But it was of no use now. They had to deal with the situation they had on hand now, and they had to do it ASAP.
“It’s not a temper tantrum, Robert. The kid just turned for the first time and it hadn’t gone well. First shift is never easy on anyone, but this is not all. I suspect Patrick has just gone feral.” Marek said still scrolling through his contacts. Where was the stupid number when he needed it?
“Gone feral?” Robert’s voice was dubious. “But it only happens to a shifter who had lost his bonded fated mate, the kid didn’t... oh!” Yeah, it seemed that lightbulb finally went off in the man’s head.
“Yeah, oh! He was constantly asking about this master. Defending him. Just now, he was angry that we took him and he wasn’t there to protect the guy from his father.” Marek gritted through his teeth as he finally found the right number and dialled it.
“You think...” Robert didn’t finish but he didn’t have to. In the light of circumstances the situation seemed pretty obvious now.
“That this Lowell Hayes is Patrick’s fate mate, that they bonded and the whole keeping-Patrick-prisoner was more to keep the kid safe from Hayes’s father than anything else? Yeah, that’s what I think!” Marek’s voice was full of anger at their incompetence. Robert went to speak again, probably to ask what they were going to do, but Marek waved him off as someone finally picked up the damn phone.
“Anna?” he asked and hearing confirmation he switched to his native tongue. “I need your help. We’ve got a serious situation with a young shifter who’s gone feral. Yeah, just now,” he answered her question then continued “But here’s the thing. He’s the one who was stuck mid-shift, the one we talked about? Yeah,” he answered another question, then, “No, we don’t know for sure his mate is dead. He’s presumed to be dead but no body has been found. No, I don’t fucking know how to do that!” Marek noticed they reached the front living room and some of the people gathered there were looking pretty uneasy. “Hold on!” He said to Anna then addressed the gathered shifters. “We’ve got a feral shifter on first floor. Two of you go guard the door, two more go outside and stand under the window. You know which one.” He snapped and people went to obey his command. They were enforcers of his pride-pack and knew their duties even if they didn’t need to do them often.
“Sir?” a hesitant voice spoke from the back of the room. Marek looked and saw Fabian, young enforcer who joined the pride after his parents disowned him for being gay. Fabian looked wary and Marek made a real effort to seem calmer. He didn’t blame Fabian for his reluctance. It was a well known fact that Marek reverted to cursing in his native tongue when the situation was really dire or if he was truly enraged. Or if he watched matches of Polish football team on the telly. That was his secret weakness.
“What is it Fabian?” He asked in the calmest, most encouraging voice he could manage.
“Is it... Is it Patrick, Sir? Is he feral?” the young man asked and swallowed. Marek noticed a real concern in the young man’s voice.
“Yes, unfortunately. It seems that we haven’t been given all the information and the man Patrick called his Master was indeed his fated mate.”
Fabian frowned before asking another question.
“But then why wouldn’t he call him that? Why would he call the man his Master?”
“Who knows?” Marek sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It is possible, if Patrick hadn’t been brought up among shifters, that he didn’t know this Lowell was his mate, didn’t know what a mate is. But if he felt the connection he needed to give it a label and chose one that was familiar to him.” Marek shrugged. “We might never know. Right now it is important that we try and help him. Try and bring him back from the feral state he’s in.”
“Is that even possible?” another one f the enforcers, guards, whatever you wanted to call them, asked.
“I’m not sure. But I’m on the phone with a specialist now, and she might know more. She’s been studying the phenomenon of shifters ferality for years now. If anyone can help Patrick it’s Anna. Now, I want two of you to go grab dart guns and go join the two groups guarding Patrick’s room.” He finished and went back to his call. “Yes Anna. Yes, I’m sorry, had to speak to my guards. No...” as he went to his office and continued the conversation he hoped that Anna could help Patrick. It would be too cruel that the poor shifter who suffered so much went feral without experiencing some real life. Marek finished his phone call with Anna, reassured that she’ll come as soon as possible and he went to call his contacts on the police. As he dialled the familiar number, he hoped against hope that Lowell Hayes was alive and could be found quickly. That was the only person who could get to Patrick in his feral state.
No comments:
Post a Comment