"Thank you, Mom. I have to run, but I will call you again soon," I squeal hanging up the phone before she has a chance to answer.
The guys were standing a short distance away giving me the illusion of privacy, though I know they could hear everything. My own hearing has been improving daily since my first shift.
"Do you feel less guilty now?" Jack asks, putting his arm around my shoulder.
"I do. I'm ready to give this a go now," I reply leaning into him, letting Kylah’s purr soothe me.
We get into a waiting limo and go back to the area of town where I went shopping the first time.
"Are we going back to the same store?" I ask Jack, excited to see the sales lady again.
"Yes, I called ahead and had her grab you some choices to add to your wardrobe while you were talking to your mom," he replies smiling at me.
"Good, then I won't make you all wait too long," I reply excited to embrace the day.
The day flies by going from clothes shops to picking out stuff for all of our rooms. Evening hits and we're starving, so we decide to hit a buffet to not stand out among the humans as easily. When we've eaten our fill, it's time to go back to the plane and head home for the night.
"I'm actually excited about starting school for the first time," I admit as we board the plane.
"Me too, Kitten," Dom whispers behind me, making me jump and my panther growl audibly. "Sorry, I didn't realize how dominant your panther has already gotten."
Everyone averts their eyes and she settles down in the back of my head again.
"What the hell was that?" I ask, a little worried about how forceful she was.
"When they say you're royal, you're a princess, Princess," Vance answers looking just below my nose.
"There's no way. I mean, how?" I ask falling back on the seat in the plane.
"We don't know who your biological mom is, and there are rumors that three of the panther princesses hid babies but it was all just rumors," Kenton answers, trying to calm me down.
I feel panic racing through my veins stirring Kylah again. She starts pacing back and forth wanting to take over and save me from myself. I try to hold back the feeling to shift but it's overwhelming.
“I need out,” she hisses.
“Please, no,” I beg.
"Kenton, your lion is the only cat at this point that has a chance of dominating her panther. Don't let her shift!" Jack exclaims, panic tingeing his voice and evident on his face.
“You will not shift,” Percy booms.
Kenton stands in front of me his eyes partially shifting.
Kylah pauses and listens tilting her head trying to make up her mind on if she wants to listen to him. I beg her to please listen and assure her I'll calm down, so she huffs and lays down again, clearly not happy about it.
"I'm not dominant enough, but she paused and chose to listen," Kenton whispers, fear tingeing his voice.
"Let's not speak of this. You guys will be learning to control your cats very soon so it won't be a big deal. No one can know," Jack commands looking everyone but Kenton and myself in the eye.
"What happens when someone figures it out?" I ask, a warble betraying the nervousness I feel.
"I don't know, and that bothers me. I don’t like not knowing things. We need to catch you up on how our Royalty works since you will most likely become Queen someday," Jack sighs holding the sides of his hair with his hands.
"I can start with the basics. I've been learning them since I could walk," Kenton volunteers, trying to ease the nerves we can all feel radiating off of Jack. "You already know about the class structure. In the Royal class there are four queens. Each queen is chosen from the royal by how dominant her cat is. Occasionally, the nobles have a contender because of an especially dominant cat. The lion, panther, leopard, and tiger shifters are the ruling lines. Every ten years, all of the dominate princesses come together to compete for the crown. In theory, we could have one queen if one cat out dominates everyone else, but that is just an ancient prophecy."
"So, you're saying once I finish school, I will start going up every ten years to see if I can be queen or not?" I ask not understanding the point.
"Nope, you just go up once unless you become queen. Queens are the only ones that have to come back more than once," Reid answers around a mouthful on peanuts he's eating.
"That doesn't sound so bad. What's this prophecy, Jack mentioned this before?" I ask changing the subject, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my cat is dominant enough to compete to be queen.
"Let's talk about that at home please?" Jack asks, his hands now resting on the arm rest.
We arrive at the airport shortly after, and the guys decided to go back to the house with us. I'm a bundle of nervous energy wondering why Jack wants to be at home to talk about this prophecy. I unload my packages as soon as we hit the driveway and toss them on my bed and start pulling out snacks for everyone.
Once everyone is sitting at the table eating I bring up the prophecy again. "So now that we're here, are you going to explain this prophecy to the new girl?"
"This is a big deal in this clan, but we don't speak of it in the general shifter population," Kenton explains, opening his mouth to continue but Jack touches his arm.
"The reason why the cats only have queens and are the only ruling branch of the shifter community goes back thousands of years to a prophecy from a gifted seer. One queen will unite the branches when darkness falls. She will keep a king from each branch, class unseen. The strongest will bow, though many will try to stop her, she will rule alone," Jack recites from memory.
"That is so vague why would anyone worry about it?" I ask confused.
"A second seer five hundred years ago saw a female panther shifter of royal blood, who will rule us all. That's when shifter princesses started having accidents regularly as babies," Kenton says, looking at his feet.
“That's why my birth mom hid me in the first place, so if anyone learns that I was adopted they might jump to conclusions." I shriek, not wanting to accept the weight of this prophecy on my shoulders. I hope there aren't still people trying to get rid of black panther princesses.
"There was a group that was devoted to keeping the society from becoming a monarchy, but they've gone silent the past fifteen years," Jack whispers, his skin pale white.
"Why are you so scared," I whisper back around a lump in my throat.
"Because, you're the only family I have now. I can't lose you too," he admits staring at the plate sitting in front of him.
“You’re my family too,” I reply.
I get up and throw my arms around him, hating the pain I see on his face. Tears begin streaming down my face when I realize as far as my panther is concerned he's the only family I have as well. I hold him silently crying for what seems like ages until a pair of strong arms remove me and hug me back.
"We'll make sure you're ok. You have a loyal group. Still not sure how you weaseled in with them, but they will keep you safe," Jack says then kisses my forehead and hugs me tighter.
After our emotional moment, the evening wound down and the guys went home. I put everything away, rushed through my night routine and fell into a restless sleep full of dreams of people trying to kill me.
Chapter 12
The rest of the week flies by hanging out with the guys and Jack, and before I know it, it's time to move into Nightfall. I look around my room that is packed up and ready to go, and although I've only been here a week, I already know I'm going to miss it. I close the door and sigh. The next part is even harder, time to say goodbye to Jack.
"I'm really sad I won't get to run with you every morning," I sob throwing my arms around his neck.
"I'll see you at Thanksgiving. Time will fly by," he hugs me back chuckling. "Do you have everything packed and ready to go?"
"I do, and Vance is bringing his truck to pick up everything," I reply removing myself from the hug and wiping at my eyes.
"You can text me whenever you w
ant. Now, go enjoy yourself," he says pushing me back and giving me a smile.
Vance pulls up just then and comes in the house and helps me load up the rest of me belongings. After they say goodbye, we hop in his truck and are off to Nightfall.
"Are you nervous?" I ask, chewing on my lip.
"Nope, I have the guys and you. What's making you so nervous?" he asks glancing sideways away from the road.
"Everything. Dealing with new people, the prophecy, being me," I sigh, not knowing how to articulate what I'm feeling.
"It'll all work out, Princess," Vance grins, trying to make me feel better.
We pull up in the parking lot, which is slowly filling up. I take a deep breath and hop out of the truck and grab my bags and straighten my back. I will be confident and not let anyone see fear. This thought makes my panther sits up straighter and prouder, over the last week we've connected more and more.
I make my way to my dorm room, leaving Vance behind to wait for the guys, wanting to get stuff put away as soon as possible.
As I pass the noble floor, I hear Amy making snarky comments as I walk by.
"Oh look, it's the new Royal who thinks she has a chance with any of those guys. Maybe she's a slut and sleeping with them all," she tells Kelly loudly so that I can overhear.
Kylah gets upset but I choose to ignore her and keep moving, upsetting her even further. I run up the rest of the stairs and drop my bags as soon as I open my door.
“We should teach them a lesson. We are not weak, and they are horrid,” Kylah growls, reverberating in my throat.
“We can’t, that will get us in trouble, please calm down,” I beg.
“We need to let them know we are better than them,” she roars.
I grab my phone and text.
Me: 911
Kenton: What's wrong?
Me: Mean girls upset Kylah, and I can't calm her down in my room.
Kenton: Coming.
I pace back and forth trying to match her movements hoping to calm her down. Seconds later, there's a knock on the door. I open it and the lion shifter comes in and grabs me in a big hug instantly calming Kylah. I can feel her purring in my chest.
"I didn't expect that to work but was hoping it would," Kenton whispers in my ear.
I can feel his chest vibrating against mine, so his lion must be just as content. I relax into him.
“He’s mine. My mate,” she purrs, melting into him further.
“Yes, mate,” Percy purrs back.
"Our cats are at home," he whispers his forehead against mine.
"I'm not ready to date anyone in the group. I meant it when I said that before," I reply, Kylah sulking. A part of me was over the moon by the announcement, but I didn't want to lose any of the guys. They were the first group that made it feel okay to be here, and I just couldn't jeopardize that.
"Doesn't change facts," he says then kisses my forehead and lets me go.
He quietly leaves the room, making my heart break just a little. Why can't I just have all of them? I think to myself, causing my panther to perk up and start purring loudly.
"Oh no you dont," I tell her aloud. She just huffs and lays down in the back of my mind again.
I busy myself putting everything away and decorating the room which looks less empty with the new furniture Jack ordered. An hour later, things are feeling much more put together and like home. I decide to text the group, hoping Kenton isn't mad at me.
Me: I'm finally organized, how are you guys?
Dom: Hanging in Kenton's, come over.
Kenton: Only if you can stand our company.
Spence: WTF is your problem?
Me: I guess I'll stay here since Kenton doesn't want me around.
I toss the phone down and start to cry, and I mean ugly cry. I don't want to lose my group, but pushing him away might have had the same effect. Seconds later, there are fists pounding on my door.
"Killer, open up this door now," Spence booms, his voice full of worry and anger.
I wipe my eyes and stand up and answer the door to four angry faces and one looking at the ground. They look at my red face and swollen eyes.
"Why are you crying?" Dom demands.
"What happened between the two of you?" Reid asks confused.
"I'm crying because it hurt when Kenton didn't want me to come over and he can tell you the rest," I whisper, trying to hold back my tears with him refusing to look at me.
"Fine, our cats said we're mates and she rejected me, so I'm pissed. She said she doesn't want to ruin our friendship," he snarls then stomps out of the room, causing me to break fully into sobs.
Spence rushes forward and scoops me in his arms holding me tight, causing my heartache to ease a bit.
“He’s mine too. My mate,” Kylah purrs, content as can be.
"Not again, I'm going to lose all of you because I can't choose any of you aren't I?" I scream, sobbing harder.
I feel more sets of arms surrounding me and my cat responds the same to each.
“We have five mates; we’ll be well taken care of,” Kylah purrs so loud I can feel my chest vibrating.
"How can I be so defective that my cat wants me to be with all of you," I crumble to the ground going limp between their arms.
"I'm going to go get Kenton; we need to all have a talk and explain cat culture to Jet," Reid explains then leaves the room.
I wipe my eyes and ask, "What do you mean?"
"Wait until Reid and Kenton come back. He needs to eat some crow after the way he treated you, Kitten," Dom says rubbing circles on my back.
A few minutes later, Reid is back with a sulking Kenton following him. I feel like pulling myself inwardly when I see him. My heart hurts, and I want to run and hug him; my panther agrees, but I refuse.
"Now that we're all back, Jet. I'm guessing where you came from is monogamous?" Reid asks, giving me a pointed look.
"Yes, like most of the world," I reply, confused on where this is going.
"In cat society, our females usually have two to five mates. When we're sixteen and older our cats tell us who we're meant to be with if we meet them. When you tried to tell Kenton that you didn't want to date him because of the group, he thought that meant you were rejecting him because you were hoping for a different mate," Reid explains holding my hand gently.
"I wasn't rejecting you," I say looking up at Kenton, "I was afraid if I was with one of you, it could ruin your friendship if something went wrong."
Kenton's face suddenly brightens with understanding, and he rushes forward and scoops me up off the floor holding me tight. He kiss me forehead and says, "I knew you were trouble."
"You don't hate me?" I ask, afraid to let my guard down.
“We will always love you, even when you don’t us,” Percy says.
"How could I hate you? I was hurt that you didn't want me, and I handled it wrong. I've forgotten you haven't always been with us," he explains, his features dropping in sorrow.
"So, it really doesn't bother any of you that Kylah wants to be with all of you?" I ask, nervously, scared that they wouldn't want to all be with me.
"Of course not! We've always been brothers; this means we'll always be together regardless of class. We'll all be Royal eventually now," Dom says then kisses my forehead.
"Put the princess down so I can hug her," Vance says coming up behind me.
Kenton complies and Vance spins me around in a bone crushing hug. I finally feel content and whole though I'm scared of the thought of dating five guys at once.
"Nothing has to change between us right now, Trouble. Just knowing what we're meant for is enough for me now," Kenton explains, picking up on my anxiety.
“That helps a lot,” I answer pulling out of Vance’s embrace finding Spence ready to hug me again. “Though it looks like I’ll have to get used to lots of hugs.”
“Sorry, Tress wants to be close to you,” Spence gives me a sheepish grin but holds me tighter his chest vibrating with his tiger’s purr.
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"I feel the same way about all of you right now, it's just a bit overwhelming," I admit as Spence releases me. "I'm not ready to be in a public relationship with five guys outside of friendship."
"I'm down with that," Dom smirks.
"I'm happy with whatever makes you happy, Princess," Vance speaks up.
"It's agreed. We'll stay friends in public with Trouble," Kenton says, grabbing my hand, "But in private, Percy won't be happy unless we can touch you."
"I can deal with that.” I never imagined how much my life could change in a matter of weeks, yet here I am standing in a group of boys that would protect me and do anything for me. Maybe life at Nightfall wouldn't be so bad after all. “What time do we have to be at the auditorium?" I ask, remembering there's an assembly before lunch.
"Um, now. Let's go," Reid answers looking at his phone screen.
We take off out of my room and down the stairs. As we pass by the second floor, Amy and Kelly are still standing around.
"See, total slut," Amy says loudly making Kylah come running towards the surface.
"Oh and how many mates are you hoping to have?" Dom snarks at her, his hackles clearly raised.
"Well, I um, don't talk to me commoner," she stammers and turns beat red.
Kylah stops in her tracks with her mates defense of her. I give him a smile of relief and we continue on our way to assembly.
I'm not looking forward to the seating in the assembly. The rules are archaic. Genders are separated, and we’re also separated by class. Royals sit up front, nobles in the middle, and commoners in the back. I wish this system didn't leave me on my own but glad it keeps me away from Amy, Kelly, and Krissy.
Once in the auditorium, Kenton and I walk to the front together me branching to the left and him to the right once we hit the first row. We have assigned seats that correspond with our room numbers, I roll my eyes at how planned out this is.
A tall redheaded girl with emerald green eyes sits next to me. "Hi! I'm Rachael, second year here," she introduces herself.
"Lia, and my first, obviously," I chuckle nervously.
Nightfall (The Huntsman Clan Book 1) Page 10
