Ursanthropy

Jack

My rage was burning, my claws were tearing through flesh and bones, as I wanted to get closer to Dennis. Just one swipe, just one bite, to lash out through Dennis’ body, that was all I needed! I just needed him to be dead, so that my Queen could take over the ruling.

I trusted her judgement, her female power, to figure out a way to get everyone to listen to her. But none of her determination would be useful if this monster in front of me was still alive.

The horn of the rhino was rushing towards me, but like I told Doreen, rhino shifters have one big flaw… I dodged his approach, got bitten in my hind leg by the wolf, but still managed to curve my body to be able to lash out for the stomach of the rhino. Because that’s where they are vulnerable, as besides all the other spots on their body where they have thick leather armor patches, their bellies don’t.

He roared in pain, as he shifted back into his human form, laying on the ground, holding his stomach tight to prevent intestines from coming out. One down, two to go…

“GET OUT!” It roared through my mind, by the voice that was so dear to me. I flinched from the power that resonated through her yelling, as it was almost as if she had used a megaphone to make everyone else in this room, hear her as well.

But I was a little too busy to listen to her command, so I shook my head and focused my gaze to the wolf that had bitten my leg. But as I turned my head towards him, I saw him standing with a complete confused look on his face. The wolf had blinked his eyes, shook his head as well, and took a step or two towards the door.

“Don’t you dare get out!” Dennis suddenly yelled to him, and it confused me even more. Had he heard what Doreen had linked me? “I’m the King, get back inside!” Dennis roared again while he looked towards the door behind me.

I shifted my gaze towards the door, right where I had passed all the other Alphas as my rage had been guiding me through them. But just like the wolf, they were wanting to get outside as well! They had that same confused look, just like the wolf had, just like Dennis had… What the hell is going on here?

Well, let them walk out! This will make it a lot easier for me to get Dennis killed, and the bonus was that I wasn’t going to die either, because Dennis was not stronger than me. A smile crept onto my face, as I knew that he wasn’t going to win this.

I stalked my way over towards him, as he scurried himself towards the table in the back of the room. Tables and chairs were shoved aside as my bear body was bigger than the space in between these items.

“Jack, let’s talk about this!” He tried as he stumbled over a chair.

“Jack, you know that I wouldn’t do anything against our pack members!” He tried again, failing miserably as he had done plenty of things against them, against defenceless women even!

I took slow steps forward, thinking of ways to grant him the slowest death possible.

“JACK, GET OUT!” It roared through my mind again, by my lovely strong mate. And again I could see that Dennis flinched by it as well. It was strange to see him act like this, as I could see the confusion in his eyes, as if he wanted to follow an Alpha’s command, but couldn’t because he was in danger.

My mind was clear though, I wasn’t going to act on my mate’s command because I was in danger, but because I have something rather important to do…

Damien

I still wanted to have some Alphas in my laboratory to experiment on, so that was why I gave her the impression that there was something inside that could be harmful. Which was actually the truth.

There was no question from her that I had lied about, even though I hadn’t spoken about everything that she wanted me to tell. But even while leaving out some certain details, it had been all true.

I looked down at my watch and double tapped on it as soon as I heard those creatures get out of the house. I always had my assumptions that these shifters were able to communicate to each other in some sort of telepathic way, as I hardly ever found any communication devices on them, when they were killed. But now that when I had suggested to Doreen that it wasn’t safe inside the house, and her not saying a word out loud, while the house suddenly emptied by running creatures, it had made my assumptions true.

The only strange thing was, was that even Justin had flinched when Doreen’s look had become one of fury and thoughts. Had he heard her as well? Was it possible for these shifters to talk to each other even though they were not in the same pack, even though they were all loyal to different Alphas? Cross species even?

Hmm.. that is something that I still have to figure out.

Twenty minutes, until I could do what I came here to do. Twenty minutes to stall, before everything would be over and done with, for me to have my Alphas locked up and secure, for my daughter to be in my custody again, and oh yes… the gas cylinders to be in my possession. I’m going to back-engineer them to find out what it is, and how I can use it in an efficient way in the future.

And Justin? Ah well, it had been risky for me to call him just a means to get me what I want, which is actually true, but I doubt that he will believe Doreen over me. He has been with me for nearly sixteen years already, and he won’t be believing the same creature that he has killed plenty of times already.

Doreen

I still stood nailed to the ground, in between my father, his hunters and the boy behind me. My father was tapping away on his watch, completely being at ease and without a hint of stress, until Vic came running into our direction.

“He still won’t come out!” Vic hollered to me, referring to Jack.

I had to keep my anger subsided, but Jack’s stubbornness was getting on my nerves! It had been the plan all along for Vic to get both Jack and Maxwell, and hurry out the house as soon as possible, even though we didn’t know that there was something dangerous inside the ballroom.

“Where did he go to?” I asked her.

“To the ballroom, after Dennis!” She said.

“JACK!” I roared towards him for the third time, making sure that he would finally listen to me. But when I did that, Vic clasped her hands on her head and pushed her eyes shut.

“Doreen, I know that you are powerful, but when you do that, you shout to every shifter around you!” Vic scolded me, letting me know that when every creature ran out of the house, it wasn’t because of the plan, it was because I had yelled to every single one of them!

I looked towards my father, as he furrowed his brows. He didn’t ask me anything, but he didn’t need to because by what Vic had said, she had let him know that I was a little stronger than my father could have suggested on his own. Vic had realised this as well, as I could hear her curse in a whisper. Unaware, she had told my father something that I didn’t want him to know.

But between all this chaos, Jack still hadn’t replied to my yelling, my command to listen to me. He is my mate and a strong Alpha as well, so I guess that he could push his urges aside, as the person that has made his life a living hell, was standing right in front of him.

I need to get inside there!

Jack

Dennis finally managed to get to the place where he wanted to go. Not that he had a way out of this alive, but I could tell that he was determined to reach for something.

“Jack, I don’t want to do this, but if you don’t stop yourself, I’m determined to use it anyway!” He begged me one last time, while picking up his tablet that was laying on the ground behind the toppled-over desk.

He stressfully tapped away on it, getting more secure of his actions by the second.

Doreen had blasted through my mind, by using the link again, but I couldn’t listen to her. Dennis was going to die, right here, right now!

Doreen

I didn’t care that I was leaving my father, the boy and Vic behind me. I was running towards my mate and was using a lot of my strength to drag my feet in front of me. I still hadn’t shifted, but the entrance of the house was close by.

I ran past all those other people, all those Alphas, all those pack members, as they rushed themselves outside.

Jack

Dennis smiled. “You should have listened to her, you know.” He said, while looking at the tablet and walking back a few steps. I just stepped closer, watching in a bit of curiosity, at why he suddenly all became this gleeful.

“You will never be able to take my title!” He finally said, as he dramatically used his index finger to push an apparent button on the tablet.

I suddenly heard a weird sizzling sound, coming from above me. A purple coloured gas slowly came out of most of the vents in the ceiling and along the walls close to the ceiling.

Doreen

I ran as fast as I could, to the back of the packhouse, while looking towards the doors of the ballroom. They were knocked out of their hinges, knowing that Jack had breached through them.

A sudden weird smell invaded my nose and I could hear a pair of coughs and growls that accompanied with it.