Shift by Emily Zimmerman. (best fiction books to read txt) 📖

of seeing!” I roared. Lamina roared along with me and we kept on mauling him, but it was no use, he was too fast a healer. Soon others of his clan joined in, and we were no match, I had to pull Lamina off of him with my whole body, “it’s no use Lamina, he and his clan are too strong, and we have no one else to help us down here, everyone is too weak” I told her. She was panting hard as she listened. “he has been torturing us from day one, I just want to kill him!” she growled. I held her back and looked her straight in the eye “wait, I have a plan, Drake is coming, because he is following my scent, they will be here soon” I told her as quietly as I could. I watched as the scratches on her face healed, and the wound on her arm healed. Garrison laughed humorlessly as he watched us, “you two are no match for my clan, they have been made strong from the weak” he said, pointing to the young boys and girls sitting against the wall, all watching with weak and tired expressions. They were chained up, and some seemed close to death, I roared at him but didn’t dare attack. I listened as footsteps –more than one set- came quiet as a mouse to the opening of the cave. “You are not as strong as you make yourself out to be Garrison, if you were so strong, you wouldn’t need this army, and you wouldn’t be hiding out here” I spat. Lamina growled in agreement “all you have done is bring people back for your army, not once have you shown any leadership to these people! All you do is sit and watch while they torture others! You are a sick and cowardly animal” Lamina spat. Garrison’s blood boiled and he stood from his once relaxed sitting positions “I bet you couldn’t even fight without your minions helping you” I challenged.
“Is that so? Well why don’t we test that theory? Me against you, Lamina won’t help, and my apprentices won’t help” he growled. I got up and got ready to pounce “with pleasure” I said. Garrison growled and lunged at me, I pounced on him in midair and we tumbled to the ground, roaring and mauling each other. He tried to rip my stomach open, but I raked my claws across his back to stop him, he roared and his paw hit my face instead. I heard another deafening roar and suddenly, Drake jumped out into the open, he looked very angry. Me and Garrison didn’t stop fighting, we rolled off of each other, I got up on my hind legs and so did he, we fought like wild animals, just like we were, I raked my claws over his shoulder, giving him deep wounds and making him roar in pain. Suddenly, so suddenly that I barely caught what happened, Drake jumped on Garrison, throwing them both across the room, and they mauled each other. I watched with alarm and shock. But I didn’t have time to watch for long, Garrison’s minions were excited and they wanted a fight, there were twenty of them, and two jumped on me, one jumped on Lamina, Maria, Laurence and William suddenly showed up, along with allot of the sanctuary animal’s. Some kept some off while they freed the weak ones. I was busy mauling the two animals that jumped on me, I jumped on one, and the other jumped on me, everyone was mauling something, now that the weaker ones were safely at the opening of the cave. When I finally got the two panthers subdued, I looked over at Garrison and Drake. Garrison was gone, and Drake was looking around for him. I looked around, while still watching for more attackers; I looked up at the ceiling to see him as a Lemur, ‘Drake! on the ceiling! He is getting away!’ I said in his mind. Drake looked up just in time to see him leave from a hole in the tall rock ceiling. Suddenly, all the other animals except for the weak prisoners, Maria, Laurence, William, Drake Lamina and the rest of the animal’s from the sanctuary ran out of the cave opening. We watched in shock as they left, jumping over the weak prisoners. Drake roared, and I expected him to run after them, but he ran right in front of me “are you insane!” he roared in my face. I sat down and glared at him “no, I am not insane thank you very much, I was just not going to let any more innocent shifters die! And if I had told you, you wouldn’t have let me gone” I growled, licking the wound on my paw.
“No! I wouldn’t have! Because you could have been killed!” he roared again. I growled “you’re going to bring down the whole cave if you don’t stop, and if you don’t, I’ll do it for you!” I threatened. He growled in my face, showing teeth “oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?” he asked. I sucked in a breath and roared so loud in his face that it shook the cave “like that” I shouted, my words laced with venom. He stared at me, a shocked expression on his face. “Stop it! Stop it now!” Lamina growled. I huffed and turned around, trotting away, “where are you going?” he growled. I didn’t answer, I just kept trotting “Jenna!” he roared.
“Screw you!” I shouted back. I broke into a run at the opening, running to the stairway and climbing it with incredible speed. When I got to the top, I kept running, I ran to the end of the cave and walked through the mossy wall. I looked around, there was nothing to indicate that they even left, just the scent of them. I kept running, following Drake’s scent to the sanctuary. I heard faint running footsteps behind me, so I just slinked in the place, watching as people peeked out of their rooms to look at me, my wounds were still bleeding slightly, but they were healing rapidly. I slinked up the stairs and onto the lunch deck. Lying on the ground with my head on my paws, I watched as the wind caressed the trees, making them sway slightly. I heard footsteps coming towards the lunch deck and ignored them, listening to the sounds of nature. I started licking the wound on my paw as it healed, “you shouldn’t do that you know” Drake’s voice came behind me. I ignored him and kept licking it. “Jenna” he said, lying beside me. I still ignored him, looking out at the forest. “Please answer me” he begged.
“Why should I? I like being silent, after all, I might want to save my voice for when I’m roaring at you” I said, not looking at him. He sighed “look, I’m sorry, I lost it out there, when I saw him hurting you…I just lost it, and when I lose it, I don’t calm down for a long time, and I take it out on something, Garrison ran like the coward he is, so I took it out on you, I was angry at you for just taking off, but it was amplified at the thought of him hurting you” he said softly. I didn’t answer; I just laid my head on my paw and looked through the bars at the forest. Drake sighed and got up, without another word, he left. Guilt flowed through me, but I pushed the feeling away, I shouldn’t feel guilty; he is the one that yelled at me “Jenna?” Lamina asked hesitantly. I got up and turned around, slinking over to her, she was standing there with one front paw on the ground and the other paw raised as if to take a step “I just wanted to say thank you, for saving us I mean, my brother won’t look at me, and I think I know why, he is feeling guilty, he was there the night that we were taken, he had fallen asleep, and we were just about to go to sleep, a tiger came in the room, and we thought it was just one of the shifters, he told us that it was an emergency and that the headmasters needed to see us immediately, I was about to wake Drake when he stopped me “it’s alright” he said “the headmasters only need to see you” he led us outside, and that’s where we were kidnapped. They made us swallow these little white pills that prohibited us from using our inner animal; I stopped taking them, secretly of course, just a week ago. Today they found out and punished me, that is when you found me” she explained.
“And that is why you were stronger and were able to change” I amended. She nodded, smiling slightly “every day, I made a plan of escaping, and every day, I just wished all of it was over, those three lying on the ground, were three of my best friends, Lamati, Ginger, and Bay” she whispered. I sighed and shifted into human form, she did the same, her clothes were tattered and old, and I felt so bad for her. I led her to my room and let her use my shower, giving her some of my clothes. I brushed out her orange-ish hair with black stripes; it was wild and curly, even wet. It took allot of work to get the tangles out, but I did, her wounds were completely healed, she had a small scar on her arm and back from the whip.
“How many times did he hit you before I got there?” I asked in a whisper as I looked at the jagged scar on her arm. “twice” she whispered back. Tears welled in my eyes, and fell down my cheeks “I’m sorry” I said in a small voice. She wiped the tears away and hugged me “hey, it’s just a few scars, you saved my life, and that’s all I need” she comforted me. I hugged her hesitantly back, we just met, and she already thinks of me as her friend, “thank you” I said softly. She pulled back and smiles, showing two small dimples. She really is a cute person, with a very mature personality, she sighed “I had better get back to my room, see what they have done with it” she chuckled. I smiled weakly “okay, and hey, don’t let anyone pester you about the whole kidnapped thing, if they do, tell them that you are back and are as strong and brave as ever, and if that doesn’t work, tell them that I’ll come get them if they don’t leave you alone” I said, trying to lighten my mood. She laughed slightly “no problem” she said, saluting me. She left the room with a smile; I sighed and lay back on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. I heard someone enter the room “did you forget some-“ I cut myself off when I looked up, Drake stood there, smiling slightly. “I doubt she forgot anything” he said. I looked away from his beautiful face “so you heard?” I asked him emotionlessly. He sighed and walked over, sitting on the bed “yes, I heard, she thinks of you as more than a friend, more like a sister” he said. I snorted “she just met me” I whispered. He shrugged “she is extreme in those kinds of things, that’s her gif- I mean…if she likes you, then she is your best friend for life, if she doesn’t like you, then you are her worst enemy, that’s just how she is” he said, rubbing his neck guiltily. I stared at him for a second “she knows you feel guilty” I said softly. He sighed “I know” he