Page 4 of Her Rabid Beasts

Only one other form feels correct. Bones crunch, ligaments snap and feathers make way for honey-yellow fur, silent paws and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

There are five sets of screams.

“She’s a lioness?” my leopard shouts.

My tigress inhales sharply. “Oh, Lia, are we not keeping it a secret anymore?”

“You knew?!” shriek the other felines at the same time.

“I knew s-something w-was up,” my wolf growls.

One of the tiny hatchlings with fur the colour of the sky squeaks and plonks himself on my head.

I make a sound of contentment and follow my nose, padding down into the shadows, knowing that my sisters will stop their babbling and follow.

Flames come alive as I silently descend and the animas continue to chitter like cockatoos behind me, their steps echoing all around the black stone.

“I knew something was up when she freaked out in the library the other day!” my fair-lioness cries.

“The sh-shark was reading the B-Boneweaver book,” my wolf gruffs. “He knows t-too.”

There is silence for a moment. A silence laced with secret realisation.

“Shit.” My dark-lioness sounds worried. “This is bad.”

“Yeah. Even more shit thatthey’reher mates,” my leopard says.

“A bit of optimism would be good here!” My tigress is angry.

The footsteps stop. I pause too, assessing for threats. The hatchling perched on my head squeaks with concern.

I let out a snarl that reverberates all around us, growing it into something more than menacing.

“She’s saying hurry up.” My tigress waves her human paw at the others. “Come on, we’ll talk about it later. I’m sure they’re looking for her. We need to make sure this place is safe from those Serpent Court goons.”

The footsteps start back up again, and satisfied, I bound down the stairs. Round and round I go until finally, the smell of brine fills my nose. I round a final corner and find stairs open up to a shadowy cavern with a low ceiling extending out into the distance like a tunnel. But there is nowhere for my paws totread. Instead, my path is filled with water. I growl at the calm blue surface before more fire splutters alive on either side. The hatchling zips from my head to a wooden vessel that bobs on the water, a flame housed in glass lighting up the prow.

The animas stomp down the stairs, gathering around me, the other hatchlings cooing in wonder. I suppose it is beautiful.

“You’ve got to be joking,” my leopard mutters.

“You guys! This is so exciting! I’m going to draw a map.” My tigress comes up to inspect the boat.

With another sniff of the water to assess its composition, I change again. My muzzle elongates into a snout, my fur blends away to leave a tough, scaled skin, and my limbs disappear, leaving me with only a long powerful body. Blinking at the new colours now visible to me, I slip into the water.

“She’s as big as a basilisk!” my leopard cries before all sound becomes muffled. The water is pleasant against my cool skin and I wiggle happily. Under the surface, a few green aquatic plants grow but my vibration and heat sensors detect nothing else.

The water agitates as my sisters clamber into the boat. Content they are following, I swim on ahead.

With the current soft against my skin and the peace of silence, I cruise down the waterway, allowing the lulling sensation in my mind to drift this way and that. A tiny inkling at the back of my mind irritates my peace, but I brush it aside.

All that matters is that those venom-tipped fangs no longer scrape at my protections, and while I am here in my most primal state, they cannot.

The canal floor begins to slope upward where it ends and I slither out onto the rough, hard stone floor, droplets of water sliding off my skin.

I shift once again for better walking, my limbs reappearing and sending my body upwards, fine whiskers on my cheeks twitching as I scent the air and look around at my new domain.

“I’m never going to get over her just shifting like that,” my fair-lioness whispers.

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