A Time for Change

by Marquaylla Lorette

  “I like your idea better, that way we won’t have to find any outside teachers and have no idea what their true agenda is,” said Ace. Ace was worried they would hire teachers pretending they were all for the change and really weren’t. He didn’t want anyone getting in the way of what they were trying to do. The integrated school was just the first step, especially with their existing and future Alphas behind them. All of the other schools on the Isle would be shut down and the teachers would take over the jobs of the newly retired professors. So they weren’t taking jobs from anyone, just giving them a new position.

  The Alphas from the different shifter species had given them permission to shut down their schools as well. They were backing their plans for the changes of the Isle as well. The lion and bear shifters had a lot more mixed shifter families leave the Isle for the human side than any other shifter species. They didn’t want them to have to leave to finally find peace, so they backed Chelsea and the others on her plans.

  Five minutes later, they were done planning the school. Treasure would be teaching cooking and art as an extracurricular activity, while Greg was going to help as well by teaching auto shop and wood shop. Jadelyn had even been roped into teaching. She was going to be teaching business classes and math.

  Charity and Trevor’s family owned the Paradise Construction company who started building the school after hours in a section of the woods behind the Alpha and Beta’s house that no one else knew about. When the school was finished being built, only the shifters who were trying to achieve the same goals as James and the others would be able to find it, and only if someone in authority invited them there.

  When the plans and goals of the school were finished, each couple went their own way.

  ***

  The shifters who killed James and Charity’s parents and some of the ones who ran them off the Isle were sitting around a huge table on the human side.

  “How could all of you let them slip out of your hands and make it to the Isle so easily? We outnumbered them twenty to one. In the end, what were you all thinking? All you had to do was hold them until the rest of us got there,” a male lion shifter said as he pounded his fist on the table in front of him. He was pissed. He wanted to kill the whole family, not just the parents, and now that James and Charity were on the Isle, everything he was trying to prevent by killing them was coming to light.

  “Well, we all thought we had at least another hour before James and Charity returned home. How could any of us know their family bond was that strong and they could sense their parents’ urgency?” one of the wolf male shifters replied.

  “It is called anticipate, and none of you did that last night. Now we have to figure out a way to get back to the Isle without anyone realizing we were gone or noticing us returning on one of the planes. You all have screwed this up majorly,” the same lion shifter said.

  “If you think you could have done a better job than us, then you should have been there but since you weren’t, you need to shut it. Who’s to say you would had done better if you were the first one on the scene…no one. In fact, you were the last one there. We could say you were scared and that was why you were late. I just noticed you are always late when it is time to work, all you do is run your mouth and you are not the boss of this operation,” one of the male wolf shifters in the room replied.

  “Stop it, we have to come up with a plan to get back to the Isle in enough time. All of this arguing and blaming can wait. I have already received a call saying they have started moving ahead with the plans on that school they thought was a secret. We have to get there in enough time to halt it and then stop those plans fully, so man up and let’s get going,” a female wolf shifter stood and yelled loud enough for it to echo around the room they were in.

  “I have an idea. We can stow away on a plane until someone returns to the Isle or have one of our partners fly here and fly back in a few hours, with us hiding on the plane and having them conceal us until we reach our homes. I already have one of the members on standby just in case something like this happened,” a female lion shifter said as she looked around the room at each person at one point in time.

  “I like how you think and have a backup plan, you should have been one of the first shifters at the house instead of these fools,” the same lion shifter from earlier said.

  “Shut the fuck up, you should have been there instead of somewhere stalling. Now let’s go make these plans so we can get home,” a female shifter stood, and looked the antagonizing male in the eyes as she spoke to him directly.

  The Shifters with a Cause, that was what they named themselves, all rose at the same time and made their way to the airport, where they would wait quietly until one of their friends was able to get there and help them return home.

  ***

  Chelsea and Ace thought it was a good idea to take James to their secret spot, where they went when life was getting too overwhelming for them or they had to think over something. It was the perfect place for James to grieve and tell them what he saw, if he felt he was ready.

  James wanted to focus on something other than his parents’ death. He hated not being in control of his feelings. He knew the only thing that would make him feel better was finding the people who did that to his parents. James also knew his parents wouldn’t want him to be sad or let life pass him by.

  “I know you are hurting, James, and at the same time, you want to let go of the hurt. This is something Ace and I do when we come here and have to let things go. I am not saying not to grieve for the loss of your parents. What I am trying to say is instead of wallowing in it, ask yourself what your parents would want you to do and do it. Remember, their spirits are watching you every step of the way and they are always in your heart.

  “We are here for you if you ever need to talk or want to talk about what happened. Don’t let it fester up inside of you until it gets to the point where you cannot control it. I also have something I want you to try. Here is a rock and special pen. Write down the things you would like to let go and toss it in the river as hard as you can and remember when you toss it, you are fully letting it go. It helped me when I was grieving through my grandparents’ murders. I was the one who found their bodies and Ace brought me here and helped me get through it. I want to help you get through it as well, not only as a mate but also as a friend. You can also put things on there you want to achieve, not just the things you would like to throw away,” Chelsea said as she stood and handed James the rocks and pens. This had helped her when she grieved her grandparents’ deaths, who were killed by unknown shifters for trying to bring the schools together as they are doing now.

  James so wanted to honor his parents more than anything else and knew he could do that by helping others that were in the same situation as they were in.

  On the first rock, James wrote guilt. James knew it wasn’t so much as the grief that kept him up or replaying the scene repeatedly, but the guilt he felt. He thought just maybe if he had left the bar earlier, then his parents would be alive today and helping them change the Isle.

  James stood, shifted, and roared, bringing the pain and guilt he felt forth through his roar. The sound of their mate’s roar had Chelsea’s and Ace’s hearts aching as they felt his pain. One lone tear fell down Chelsea’s face, it was so painful.

  James shifted back with a painful look on his face, stood, and threw the rock into the water as hard as he could and then turned to Chelsea and Ace.

  Just from the look in his eyes and the painful roar, Chelsea and Ace knew. He needed to talk about the word he wrote on the rock before he could fully let go about his parents.

  “You want to talk about the word you just threw in?” Ace asked, he had a degree in psychology, amongst others.

  “I just feel guilty about what happened to my parents. I keep thinking if only I went home earlier, my parents would be alive,” James said as he threw more rocks in the water, trying to release his frustration.

  “James, I have to tell you so
mething I found out this morning. I talked to Aishe, and she said your parents knew they would never step foot on this Isle again and would die before they even left the Isle. They left the Isle to give you and your sister a better life. Now live the life they wanted you to without any guilt, make them and yourself proud,” Ace said.

  James had no idea his parents knew what was to come from all those years ago and he didn’t know how to feel about it. He wished they had told him so he could have protected them when he wasn’t around. James would have stationed law enforcement around his parent’s home whenever he left the house if they would have told him. It pissed him off that his parents died willingly. They could still be alive if only they told me everything, not just what they wanted me to know, James thought as he picked up another rock.

  James wrote abandonment on another rock and threw it into the water with a fierce throw. He didn’t know why, he just felt like his parents had abandoned both he and his sister when they died. James knew in his heart his parents would have fought for their lives if possible or told him what was going on if they could.

  On his final rock, James wrote negative thoughts; he wanted to throw away all his negative thoughts and start fresh. He would live his life to the fullest since his parents died for him to be able to. James knew in his heart he would see the changes on the Isle through like his parents wanted and needed him to because if he didn’t, he would feel like they died for no reason.

  “How about you guys tell me about this Beta Battle and how it works,” James said; he wanted to change the subject and learn about the battle at the same time. He knew they had to win the title as First Beta for the changes to happen.

  “We have to win all of our battles the first day, that way we won’t have to battle again until the following week. There will be four battles. If we only lose one out of the four battles, we will still have a chance the next night. The first battle we will be on our own. You fight once alone, Chelsea fights once alone, and I fight once alone, and then we fight as a couple. Whoever wins three out of four battles will battle against each other the following night until they find a winner. We will only have to battle for the title against the person who won the losing battle the following week if we win all four battles in the first round. So we have to win all four of our battles.

  “If we lose the first night, we will have a second chance the next night. To battle everyone who lost three and two out of the four battles. The last two shifter couples standing in that battle moves on to the finale the next week. Where they would battle each other to see who gets to fight the winner of the first battle,” Ace said.

  “Since the school is being built now, we should wait until after the battle is finished before we start teaching. We need to start training with James now in private,” Chelsea said.

  “How about we call Eli, Trevor, Greg, Jadelyn, Charity, and Treasure to train against all at once. It will help us practice fighting as a couple and keep up our stamina during the battle. Come on, let’s get started. We are going to run around this lake three times before we meet them behind the Alpha house,” James said.

  Chelsea sighed. She knew James was going to have some crazy training plan when they told him everything about the battle. Chelsea and Ace had been writing James separately over the years since a few weeks after Eli moved to the human side. James wanted to know what it was like on the Isle and what other shifters were like besides Eli. Chelsea felt as though she knew who James was through his letters. To Chelsea, James was a responsible, protective person who would rather act on things instead of talking about them.

  Chelsea was more on the strategy side; she liked to plan everything or talk, not run. She knew James and Ace were going to make sure she was ready in every way for the battle with fighting techniques. Chelsea liked to go with the flow instead of practicing. She reacted when she was in the situation.

  James and Ace knew all those things about Chelsea but felt she needed to be overly prepared for the battle. They didn’t have room to make any mistakes during the battle.

  Ace, on the other hand, was a cross between James and Chelsea’s way of thinking about things. He liked to prepare for things somewhat but not too much and was unpredictable.

  “Come on, get up, I am going to run behind both of you so I can make sure you both are taking it seriously,” James said as he stood.

  Damn, I was going to walk behind them and pretend like I was running only when they turned around. I should have told him there was a rule and we could only practice with one of the Beta’s, well, one of our dads, Chelsea thought as James and Ace helped her up off the rock she was sitting on.

  James and Ace talked back and forth as they ran behind Chelsea. Chelsea couldn’t figure out how they had the energy to run and talk at the same time.

  “I bet she can only get through one lap before she starts complaining or tries to quit,” James said as he and Ace laughed.

  Chelsea whipped her head around and stuck out her tongue at them. She was just about to complain and stop but now that they were teasing her, she was going to show them by sucking it up and getting through it without any complaining. It wasn’t that she was tired, Chelsea just didn’t like running.

  “Nah, I bet she couldn’t even make it around the first time before she starts complaining,” Ace said.

  Both Ace and James knew the only way to make sure Chelsea was going to finish was to tease her into it.

  Chelsea was so exhausted by the time they were finished running around the river that James had to carry her to the car, but he suspected she was pretending just so she wouldn’t have to walk.

  After their drive home, the three went upstairs to get ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day training for the Beta Battle, so they wanted to get a good night’s sleep. After showering, they climbed into bed, but something was on Chelsea’s mind, the letters they sent each other over the years.

  “James, Ace, I have been thinking about the letters Jadelyn and Eli sent each other over the years. Do you guys think other things besides the stuff about Jadelyn were tampered with in the letters?” Chelsea asked worriedly, biting her bottom lip.

  “Like what?” James turned to her and asked.

  “Like everything we ever told each other in the letters we sent. What if it was tampered with?” Chelsea said.

  “How about we ask each other about the important things we read about each other and see if the answers are the same as the things the other wrote?" Ace asked.

  They realized none of the personal stuff they had wrote to each other about themselves was tampered with. All three breathed a sigh of relief when they realized everything they knew about each other was true.

  Chapter Four

  Eli, Charity, Greg, and their mates were already in the enclosed backyard of the Alpha house when Chelsea and her mates arrived, waiting to help Chelsea, James, and Ace train for the upcoming Beta Battle in two weeks.

  “Ace, Chelsea, and I will individually battle two of you at the same time. We will then battle all six of you against us three each night until two days before the battle,” James said.

  James stepped forward first to practice against Trevor and Greg. He wasn’t going to battle against Eli since they knew all of each other’s fighting maneuvers from all their years of training together since they were kids and being partners on the police force for twelve years. They knew what move the other was going to use before they did so Eli was going to help Ace with his battle training instead.

  Eli blew the whistle, which signaled for the training to begin. James stayed back and waited for Trevor and Greg to approach him first. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Greg as he tried to maneuver behind him while Trevor was coming at him from the front.

  James knew they were trying to plan a sneak attack and knew he had to do something before they could. So he closed his eyes and concentrated on calling forth a little of both his wolf and lion shifters abilities. His senses were quickly enhanced; he could smell, hear, an
d sense things all around him without looking. James swiftly sensed someone getting closer on his right side without having to open his eyes. He waited until the shifter was close enough to him before he made his move.

  Greg knew it was time to make his move. Greg walked up on the side of James slowly as not to alert him of his presences, the closer he walked the more confident he became that he could get to James before James realized it. Just before he could take the last step to close the gap between them, James grabbed Greg by the arm—shocking Greg—right before flipping Greg over and onto his back. James then opened his eyes, and looked down at Greg.

  Trevor brought his wolf senses to the front a little before approaching James. He could tell from James’s elongated pupil that his cat shifter was close to the surface.

  Greg was back up by this time with a more aggressive look on his face. At first, he didn’t think they were going to really battle. He was just going to tap James on the shoulder, letting him know he had to work on watching his surroundings, but now that he knew they were actually going to fight in the practice, he was ready.

  Greg and Trevor approached James on either side of him, ready to react to anything they could throw at him. Without warning, James flipped in the air and landed closer to Greg and Trevor, closing in the gap quickly. As soon as he landed in front of them, blow after blow and kick after kick were exchanged in a fight for dominance.

  James, Greg, and Trevor battled for over an hour before Eli called a halt.

  By this time Baron, Jack, their mates, and Chelsea’s and Ace’s parents, were watching from the back porch. The noise had caught their attention and brought them out.

  When Baron called the three of them to the center of the yard, Ace, Eli, and Trevor went right into battle. Ace wasn’t taking the training serious at first until his father and James yelled for him to. The battle went on for an hour as well with James yelling different moves for Ace to use that James learned on the police force and out on the field.