Ursanthropy

Doreen

I plunged myself into my seat again, completely forgetting about almost all of the things that I have read so far, besides knowing my true name, and completely forgetting that Jack had been standing near me.

“Are you alright, love?” He asked me but I didn’t hear him fully. “Doreen?” He asked me again when he touched my shoulder, and this time I looked up at him.

“Yes, I’m alright, it’s just a little strange to know that I am truly the heir. That’s all.” I answered.

Jack

I couldn’t possibly imagine what is going on through her mind right now, as it must all be so much to take in. I mean, she hadn’t been growing up in our way of life, she never even got to know anything about us, as her father always kept her shielded from whatever he did, and not for only recently has she learned that she was the last living heir to the throne.

But I guess that she needed this confirmation written on paper, even though Giselle had told her already. She just sat in the chair, slumped down, not knowing what to think.

And for me? It was actually just as strange. But I, like so many others, have been schooled, trained and lived through all these things. We knew that one of the males, high likely an Alpha, could be the mate of the current Princess. Henceforth we would be giving up our title and pack, and fulfil our destiny as the ruler of all the shifters.

But there is no royal pack present now, and no one knows what happened to the last King and Queen either. So, rules would have to be adjusted accordingly, and I was desperately hoping that Doreen would accept my pack as her royal army. She is going to be the leader in all of this, not me. Even though it is going to be hard for me to let them go, should she want that to.

I would then choose another successor, but before I could do that, I have to get Dennis knocked of that spot! There was no hair on my body that would let him continue to be the Alpha. It was either me, or someone of my choosing, but never him!

In the days that followed, Doreen had been in the library, teaching herself with whatever she could find about shifters. She was especially intrigued by all the laws and rules that were once being uphold when we still had the King and Queen to rule. She had even chuckled sometimes as the punishments for some of the crimes had been so ancient and cruel, that she told me about it and said that she wouldn’t want that punishment to be used.

More and more she was gaining the determination that she had, before this all happened to her, and her intelligent brain never seemed to get enough of all the things that she was learning.

In the meantime, Maxwell and I had been very busy to call every pack that we knew, explaining to them that we were going to plan an attack on the hunter King. We hadn’t mentioned anything about Dennis’ hostile takeover of my pack, or that we were going to attack them first, or even the fact that we actually had the Queen with us under our protection. All we did was inviting all the Alphas and Betas over for a meeting, to see where their alliances lay and if they would join us in our mission.

And then, when needed, we would show them Doreen’s roots. With her permission, of course.

“Rhino shifters? Are you for real? I mean, werewolves, bears, tigers and leopards, I can understand, but rhinos? Where do they get that armoured skin from? And aren’t they stronger than bears?” Doreen asked incredulously, frowning her dark brows above those blue eyes of hers.

“Yes, they are real, but they are rare to find and aren’t stronger than us. They are like tanks, once you get to know their weak spots, they are easy to knock out.” I replied to her.

“Oh, and you don’t have any weak spot?” She said, with a twinkling in her eyes.

“Nope, you want to test me?” I mocked her. “There is still plenty of time before the day of the meeting, and we do still have to train you.” I said, while lowering my mug of coffee.

“Bring it on! I want to see how strong I am in bear form!” She said with a big smile.

“Why isn’t it working? How come I can’t shift?” She said once we were outside, in a secluded area. I secured her that this was going to be the first time for her, and that she needed to focus on her inner strength and think about her beautiful fur, but after two hours she hadn’t managed to shift even a little.

“I told you, she needs a good motivation to get her to shift.” Vic linked me and I waved my hand for her to take over the training. Vic now stood in front of Doreen, while I walked to the side, standing against one of the trees here.

“So, you think you are strong, huh? Doreen, please, you have managed to lift more weight than me, only once. And now? You can’t even shift! What kind of Queen can’t shift?!” Vic suddenly started to yell towards her and it made me growl. Doreen looked at me with a perplexed face, and I wanted to step in, to stop Vic. “No, brother! If she is your mate and she truly is the Queen, than she should be able to shift! So, don’t you dare stop me, because you know I’m right!” Vic poured some more oil onto the fire.

Vic looked at me with a certain expression, one with determination, but also mixed with love. It confused me for a moment, before I knew what she was trying to do, she didn’t have to link me her ideas for me to know what she was getting at. Instead, she urged me to continue my efforts to stop her and try to help Doreen. But, Doreen wasn’t going to be happy about it, when I should… Shit!

“Vic, you can’t treat your future Queen like this!” I said to her and Doreen sighed with relief.

“My future Queen? Ha! She is nothing! I am the sister of an Alpha and I am the strongest female here! So, let me train her into oblivion, because you are clearly clouded by ‘love’!” Vic spat and I tried to not laugh at what she said.

“No, I guess that you are right.” I mumbled. “What?! How can you let Vic talk to me like that!?” Doreen suddenly yelled and I chuckled on the inside.

“Sweetheart, if you won’t listen to my tips and training, than what am I doing here?” I said as I wanted to walk away, but she interrupted me. “You are supposed to guide me through this!” She yelled.

“I can’t, not if you don’t listen to me.” I said while bending my head forwards, standing with my back towards her. “But I have been listening! It just doesn’t work!” She yelled again and I got frustrated by the emotion in her voice. But if she is going to be able to this, she has to shift.

Anger doesn’t always have to be the incentive for her to be able to shift, but a strong emotion helps a cub to shift for the first time. But a strong emotion for a cub, could be about a sibling picking on them for taking a toy for example, but as she is a grown up, her emotion needs to be bigger than a toy that is taken from her.

I need to break her down, just enough for her to be able to do this, even if I don’t like it. Just once! Then she will know how to do it again.

Doreen

I know that Vic and I haven’t been talking much lately, and I know that she hasn’t been the friendliest around me either the past few weeks. But even so, how could she say these things to me now? And how could Jack just walk away from me, like this!

“Jack, Vic, what is going on with you two?” I yelled.

“Jack is walking away, Princess, because you can’t fulfil your duty!” Vic snapped and I got confused.

“But he should support me! Not walk away from his duty!” I yelled and got angrier by the minute.

Suddenly Vic stepped forward and slapped me across the face. “You are not worthy of being his mate! Get up!” She yelled while I had stumbled to the floor. Vic made me completely furious, but I couldn’t hit her, not really! She is Jack’s sister and my dearest friend! Even though I didn’t understand her right now, I don’t understand what it is that she wants me to do!

I saw Jack really walk away now, and he was out of my vision when he bend around the corner. “Vic really, what is going on?” I asked her, while rubbing my face where she hit it. “Is he gone?” She suddenly whispered and I looked perplexed. I checked around her, and nodded when I didn’t see him anymore for sure.

“Goddess sake! I’m sorry that I have hurt you, but I just really needed a reason to have you alone for a minute.” She said as she lowered herself and sat on the ground next to me. What kind of rollercoaster have I been entering now? From one moment to the next, her complete angry demeanour had been changed into this frustrating behaviour she has now.

“I know that I shouldn’t bother you with this, but I have something to tell you.” She said and the pain in my cheek had been gone already. “What is it?” I asked her and she sighed, deeply. “I have met my mate.” She said and let her head drop on her hands.

So, that’s why she is all so cranked up. Her mate must still be in Jack’s pack at home and she is being torn in two from being so far away from him! That’s why she hasn’t been talking to me recently!

“Oohh, is it one of the leading warriors at home?” I asked her with a smile, completely forgetting about all the things that she had said earlier. I know that she just wanted to get me angry, for Jack to leave and for her to be able to talk to me. But she scoffed at my question. “No, otherwise I would have known earlier, no, it’s way worse.” She said but I couldn’t come up with something worse than to be miles apart from your mate.

“My mate is right here… He is a tiger…” She said and my jaw dropped to the floor.

A/n: As the title said... What?? 😻