The older woman left her, after instructing her how to work the machine. Kataya decided not to go back to class. Not until her clothes were dry. It gave her time to think about the way Celia and Hiru acted with her. Alone with her thoughts, she realized Hiru wasn’t being as cruel as he normally was. She spoke softly to herself. “He acted like he was being considerate. But snakes can’t change their demeanor.”
She mulled over the way he acted a little longer before she got a headache. “Whatever goes through his mind, it isn’t my problem. It’s not like we’d be destined to be together.” A soft smile came to her face when she thought about who she wanted to be fated to: Ari King. He and Rei Kang were kind, but they were beginning to show their beast pairings. No one would want the shifterless to be involved with their clan.
Kataya put her head in her hands, wishing for the day to e
TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABUSE AND DEGRADATIONUpon her arrival at the temple, the priestess from before greeted her. Kataya raced to her with a slight smile on her face. “Greetings Priestess Jeremiah Lynn!”The woman turned around with a tiny smile of her own. “Greetings little one.”She launched into her question. “Why does the moon goddess only give you one mate, and if your mate leaves, you can never find another?”Jeremiah Lynn gaped at her question. “Huh?She asked again. “We were told you only get 1 fated mate and your mate can leave the community and reject you, but you never get another mate. Why did the moon goddess do that?”Words rapidly ran through her mind, but none came out. She, herself, will be one of the cursed ones, as the other priests and elders call them. Cursed to have a fated mate, but never to be with them. “Little shifters shouldn’t learn about this.”Kataya’s head lowered and her eyes turned down. “I’m sorry. I wanted to know if that was true.”Jeremiah Lynn p
TRIGGER WARNING: Child abuse, Lewd behavior with a minorKataya POVIt’s not something I wanted to do, but I had to. He’s the elder of the primates. Even though my dad is the king, he still has to submit when Elder Sanchez says so. I didn’t want my dad to have issues, especially with my mom so close to having the baby. We learned in school that chimps are a lot more ruthless than gorillas. They’re so bad they mutilate each other in a fight. No way would I want to see that sight. Dad is a gorilla and elder Sanchez is a chimp. We couldn’t have any problems. So, I did it.I touched him as he asked. It was a strange sensation under my palm. It felt small and wrinkly, but then it stretched and hardened. A disgusting smell scented the room. My cheeks bulged as my throat gagged. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. This man was gross to me, but what could I, a shifterless child, do against him?
Kataya's POVI looked up at her. “Do any of them ever come back?”We reached the sidewalk in front of my house. The weight of her hand on my shoulder had stopped me. “Only one hasn’t come back and his mate is still waiting for him. She’s gone through a lot of pain, unfortunately.”I tilted my head. “Like what?”“Well, she wasn’t pure. She was pregnant. The priests believe she lost her baby because of her sins.”“But isn’t that something that can’t be anyone’s fault?”She nodded her head. “That’s right, but her baby died just minutes after it was born.” The streetlamps illuminated the area around us.“She must have been very sad. Mommy was sad when she lost my sister while in her belly.”Jeremiah Lynn nodded. “That’s right. Her baby was part hers and part her mat
Omniscient POV“Is this your way of helping them choose? You ignore them?”The ethereal beauty stood before him, her hair outstretched. The glow cast around her spiritual form lent to her charm. “It’s not that I ignore them. I don’t know what to say?”His steps radiated with heat. A lesser person would have been burned. She welcomed the warmth and light. It gave her power. “You lie! I can’t and won’t take another turning from me to be a damn shifter. Why don’t you stop them beasts from hurting her?”Her delicate shoulders shrugged. “Because we gave them all the freedom to do as they please. Just as the mortals commit atrocities, so do the shifters. What would you have me do? Condemn them all?”Gritting his teeth, the man ground out her name, “Onwa! You have already condemned them with this deal. We are on our third and two have chosen
Kataya’s POVThe next day, I woke up to do what was necessary. Only there was a small difference inside me. I was determined to be the best shifter, so the moon goddess would speak to me. It was uncertain how I would go about doing so, but I figured as long as I spoke with one of the priests, I would have some inkling. Instead of making my breakfast, I got dressed. I could hear my dad in his study snoring away.Memories of last night flitted through my mind. It wasn’t a bad dream; it was real. My parents weren’t my parents. My mother wanted to give me to the temple. Questions on her love arose to mind. “Did she even care about me? Was it just a lie?”“Was what a lie?”Startled by her voice, I jumped and squealed. “Ah”She walked towards me. Her hair tousled from sleep. She appeared to have been well rested to me. “What were you talking about?
Marquelle’s POVWhile I was in the classroom getting the lesson prepared for the day, my mind drifted to the conversation I had with my students in the previous class. Scrubbing my face, embarrassment welled inside me that soon was replaced by sadness. “I practically broadcasted my mate left me.”An enormous sigh left my lips. Shaking my head, I wanted to dismiss the thoughts. And yet that faithful night when he left came to mind. The clouds opened, blocking out the sun. “Quelle, I’m sorry. I can’t stay here. Our community is… it’s not right.”The warmth from my hands seeped into his skin. His shoulders slumped from revealing his decision. “I know. I know there’s … problems, but I need you here.”“I want to be with you. Why can’t you come with me? We can start fresh elsewhere.”His back was to me. My hand went to my stomach. “Wha
Kataya’s POVWe all turned around when someone cleared their voice. I faintly thought I heard Ms. Tanis curse, but when I looked at her, she had a tight smile on her face. The assistant principal reached out to touch Rei Kang’s shoulder. “I hear your little ones are talking about things children shouldn’t involve themselves in.”A child popped out from behind him. It was one of Celia’s friends. She stuck her tongue out at me. Ms. Tanis moved to the side, getting Celia away from her leg. “Exactly right, hence why I was about to get them into the classroom and explain why this shouldn’t be a topic of discussion.”I watched and paid attention to the way they acted with each other. When assistant principal Dickerson spoke, I detected a strange tone. “Is that right? Then we should all go to the classroom so you can show ME how you handle unruly students.”Ms. Tanis stiffened. &l
Ari King’s POVI followed Rei out of the classroom, mostly to check on Ms. Tanis. When he hit her, the impact reverberated through the common area. The fact that Hiru followed us was surprising. Rei and I found Ms. Tanis leaning against the wall. “Ms. Tanis? Are you alright?”She looked up to see the three of us. Her left cheek was considerably swollen. “What are you three doing outside of the class?”Hiru looked down when he saw her face, but whispered. “He put that dumb lion out for calling him out on hitting you. Ari left and then so did I.”It was ironic to me that Hiru followed us. I had heard him threaten the slime with his father’s intervention. “And that sneaky snake said he would tell his father. So, he left.” Rei shoved his thumb in Hiru’s direction.She looked at us with tears welling in her eyes. “You should still be in class.”