Ursanthropy

Doreen

Things were going so fast now…

Jack kept holding me, as we stood still, looking towards my father’s army being attacked by a stampede of angered animals. The rhinos in the front, and all the other creatures that I hadn’t seen before like lions, boars, eagles and what not more, right behind them. The rhino’s armor was protecting them and thus also the creatures right behind them, and with their horns they crashed into the frontline of the solid army.

They crashed their cars, rendering their guns out of use; bears followed behind, smashing through all the gunners, archers and human melee fighters; cats jumped up when helicopters flew low, tearing through the people that were in there; Eagles picked up some of the hunters, holding them in their claws, only to be dropped from a height to kill them as they squashed down on the ground again.

Even some Luna warriors joined in the fight as well, fighting at the backline, killing off all the hunters that came through the animal stampede on the other side.

But this wasn’t a one sided battle. Bullets flew everywhere, hand grenades were thrown, knives were used and everything else that you could think of, that was in the slightest lethal to us, was being thrown at the shifters. My shifters, my people!

“Jack, we have to get in there! We have to help them!” I begged him in an attempt to release me, as casualties on both sides had fallen at an exponential rate. My mind was torn in two because of all the pain and sorrow that was on display in front of me.

“Where is your father?” He suddenly asked me as he had let me go, checking his surroundings to see where he could be. Hadn’t he be standing right in front of us, when the ground started to rumble and the massive horde of animals rushed their way to him? Maybe he was overrun by one of those rhinos at the front.

But then I saw him, at the edge of the forest, fighting with Justin as they apparently had found each other and wanted to get this over with in battle. Justin still hadn’t submitted himself to his natural side, so he was hitting my father in his human form. My father, however strong he might be, couldn’t be a worthy opponent to the strength of an angered shifter, even though he wasn’t in his animal form, I thought. But proving me wrong, he managed to steer clear off the hits and kicks that Justin wanted to lash out to him. Justin even landed a massive blow to a tree behind my father!

“Doreen.” Jack whispered to me, getting my attention towards him. He cupped my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes. “I have been foolish before, to act as if you were just a mere little woman, one that I have to protect with my own body. But I have let go of my arrogant thoughts, you are much stronger than anyone on this battlefield knows. So, tell me what you need now.” He asked me in full sincerity, and I was actually glad that he thought like that for a moment. Glad that he wanted to give me the actual choice to do as I wanted right now. But still… there was something wrong with that as well.

I looked towards everything that was going on here on the field, as both humans and shifters were fighting for their lives. Blood squirted around everywhere, littering the once clean forest with a bright red colour; sounds of breaking bones, gurgling of blood-filled throats and guns being fired, filled the crisp, night air; both naked and clothed people were splayed all around us, dead…

My mind was filled with dread, as I could feel tears well up in my eyes at the apparent so ‘normal’ display of anger and violence. Was this all necessary for me to live a normal life? Hadn’t I always just wanted peace? Hadn’t I left my father’s house because of the horror that he had administered for half his life already? What am I doing here?

I looked towards the blown up pack house behind me and only then realized that I had killed a man, while being in full control of my actions! I mean, I had killed my father’s hunters in the barn, weeks ago, but even knowing that I had done that when I had gone feral, it still haunted me for days! And now I hadn’t even been thoroughly thinking about killing Dennis! Without giving it a few more thoughts I had thrown a hand grenade into the house and obliterated him! I had killed a man, blown up his body and ended his life! Was that what was necessary from a Queen?

“I-I… never wanted this. I would never need this…” I said sobbing, while pointing towards all the people that were injured, fighting, or dead.

“I know sweetheart, but this was inevitable.” Jack tried to console me as he covered me from the impact of another hand grenade that exploded.

“Why? Why was it inevitable? Couldn’t this have worked out another way? What would have happened if I had just accepted my role, right from the beginning?” I cried angrily. “Would everyone still be fighting and killing each other? What is the meaning of this? Is this going to help the world to become a better place? TELL ME!” I ranted to Jack and he was at a loss for words.

Of course, I knew my questions weren’t that easy to answer, certainly not in a time like this. Hell, even I had become angry and wanted to kill every single bad person on this field, moments ago. But even so, my determination from earlier and my own choices and thoughts made me insecure of everything I saw in front of me now. Had I been the cause of this? Had I been the one that instigated all this terror?

What was I going to do? Was I going to let more people get killed by the second? Would it matter for a thousand people to die here, while millions of others on the planet were unaware of what was going on?

I know Nero, Kim Il Sung, Saddam Hussein, Stalin, Hitler and how many more of those human people, wanted to take power, eradicate people of whom they thought were lesser than them and used different tactics to get rid of humans and also shifters in an ‘efficient’ way. And while looking towards my father, as he was grinning while trying to fight Justin off, as he was now even using an army knife with serrated edges to keep his ‘son’ at bay, I knew that he had become one of those men on the list of evils as well.

Call it naivety, but I had never thought that my father was actually capable of becoming such a horror. I mean, I know what he has done the past two decades, but still I hadn’t thought of this. Of this carnage that he is causing right now.

A sudden slap in my face was snapping me out of my gaze from all the fighting people. “Doreen!” Jack suddenly scolded me, interrupting my tears and thoughts to make place for confusion. “If you won’t answer me, then look at them!” He said seriously, while pointing to the war in front of us. I have been looking towards them all this time! What is he talking about!?

“They aren’t fighting for you!” He suddenly said, feeding me with more confusion. “They are fighting for their right to live, for their right to make their own lives, for their right to be themselves! Even though they said to want to protect you, they are not only doing that! They want to live on, to live freely and be out of danger! They are thinking about their families and how your father’s hunters have destroyed so many others!” He raged on, but then turned my face towards him again. “Like you have explained to Justin, a pack is only a pack when all the parts of it work as one. And right now, about ninety percent of that pack is acting their part, except you! You have to lead, to be their Queen, to be their anchor for when bad things happen.”

He smiled to me now. He smiled!

“Sweetheart, you have saved the women in the barn, you have saved all the Alphas and Lunas by dragging them out of the pack house when danger was imminent, and above all, you have saved me.” He then gave me a passionate kiss, one that made my toes curl up, and then released my lips with a pop. “You even let go of your own insecurities and shifted in front of hundreds of people. Shit, you are even standing here naked right now! Where is the fury that I have seen, when you roared to everyone in their minds that you are their Queen?” He said when he looked me straight in the eyes.

“You are destined to rule them, so now my Queen, tell me what to do.” He whispered, while he kept staring into my eyes.

Wow, all the stubborn things that he has done from the moment I had met him, were washed away by these words. Was he really asking me to decide what to do? Was he really going to let me rule this fight even though he has the majority of experience in this matter?

Yes! He is right! Being a Queen is a big responsibility, but even so, it is just a title, I’m just one teeny tiny piece of a complete puzzle.

Just like my paintings, my people are my paint and I put the colours in the right places, just like I have to put the people in their right roles. I have to lead them, like I lead my paint on a blank canvas. With determination and a steady hand I need to create a complete picture of how I want everything to be. And the signature on the lower left corner is just my name, my stamp to make sure to everyone who sees it, to know who owns the painting, who created the piece of art!

It’s time for everyone to know who I am, who the name on the painting depicts! Let’s paint, shall we?

I wiped away the tears, nodded towards Jack and looked at the fight between Justin and my father, and the battle field. My heart wanted to fight my father, to help my brother, but deep down I knew the war on my right needed more guidance right now. So I just took a few moments, to see where everyone’s capabilities lie and what we have to work with.

Jack

Finally I was able to snap her out of confusion and saddened world of thinking. It was the hardest thing for me to do, to give up on my own pride, to let her make the decisions, even though she has never done something like this before. But I knew she had to do this, this had to be her moment, her euphoria of acting as a true Queen. So I couldn’t take over as an Alpha, just because she was nailed to the ground in apprehension.

She is the smartest woman I know, the most wise and justified person I have ever met, so the only thing that she needed now, was just a nudge to push her in the right direction again. To get her back to the way she was thinking before the French wolf had charged his way into the hunter’s crowd.

Her head tilted sideways, just as she always does when thinking hard. I was smiling at that, knowing that she would come up with the right things, just as she has always done when tilting her head like this. It was just stupid enough for me to be so stubborn to not always have listened to her, to not always immediately give in to what she was thinking.

But ever since my bear nearly got ripped out of me, as I had been ignoring her calls to leave the pack house, it had been clear to me. My Queen’s words aren’t something to take lightly, if she says something, you’d better listen to her!

Doreen took a few deep breaths and walked herself forward. I followed right behind, until she stopped and looked around. It was as if a switch had turned, because within a few seconds she started to push out commands through the powerful link.

“Cats! Prowl the forests on the left and the small elevations on the right, find and kill the snipers!” It beamed in my head and I rose one eyebrow. Snipers? What is she talking about? But before I could ask her, a wolf got shot down in front of us, in mid-air, while he wanted to lunge himself onto an upcoming enemy. There was no evidence of someone on the field that had shot him, so it must be one of those snipers Doreen had mentioned. Fuck!

“Eagles! Get that last helicopter out of the sky!” She roared and the eagles quickly followed her command.

“Bears! Go back and protect the Lunas!” She said as the Lunas were indeed nearly being overrun by the hunters.

Doreen now stood on a small hill herself as well, overlooking the event from above, straining her eyes and ears to make sure that she wasn’t missing out on any enemy that might be able to pass through her line of defence.

And that’s how it went, command after command, she made every single creature get to their rightful place, according to their skills and type of animal. Rhinos took care of the oncoming cars, wolves fought against other melee hunters and as soon as the cats were done with prowling their way through the snipers, they came back on the field from behind the hunter’s army and caged in the last remaining few hundred enemies.

She couldn’t make me any prouder than right this moment, but there was still something going on, on the side of the field. Damien and Justin were fighting, trying to end each other’s lives. Doreen had seen this of course, but even so, decided that she was needed for the bigger part of this fight. Her father was something that she had to deal with, after the battle was over.

“Jack, make sure- “That Justin stays safe, I’m on it!” I interrupted her as I understood her question and ran over towards them.

I’m older and more experienced than Justin is, but the way that he is fighting Damien, let’s me know that he is pretty strong. He took a few swings at Damien, at which some landed and also at which he received a few from Damien in return.

It surprised me though, that Damien was able to hold himself off for all this time already. How could it be that he was strong enough to keep himself safe against a nearly full grown bear? An unshifted bear that is, but still.

A/n: We are nearing the end people!