Chapter 1
Adrenaline, speed, and power coursed through his veins as the enemy pushed him into the corner. "Luke! Get back in there!" a guy said as all the fans outside the cage cheered on, waiting to see who would die. Luke was tired, and he was starting to see doubles. He didn't even remember how long he had been in the ring, but he knew he was stronger than his opponent. He struggled on his paws for a bit as he looked up to meet his opponents gaze. Another cat, a leopard limped on his front paws. He remembered tasting the blood when he opened a gash on its left back foot. People from all around shook the cage, ready for the end to come to him. But the one thing the spectators didn't know is that he was human. To everyone else, they looked like an injured leopard and a panting black jaguar with the upper hand. He seized his chance while the leopard's head was down and pounced, bouncing off the side of the cage and charged him, knocking him into the side, he ripped at his pelt, hearing him growl in agony until he bit him in the throat, ending his life.
The crowd cheered and rose up in excitement as the match was finally over. Luke padded in a circle. He looked around the stands with his sky blue eyes, and ran his hand through his jet black hair. He hated this, but he knew it was the law of nature, kill or be killed.He then proceeded to the door as the man smacked a collar on him, guiding him to a hallway. They walked down the hall way into a locker room. He shifted forms, throwing his bloodied jeans and t-shirt on the tiles as he showered rinsing off all of the blood. He waved his hands through his hair, letting the water cascade down his built body.
He changed and threw on some dark grey sweats and a hoodie and walked out from the Underground. He walked father up to the street to Moe's, a burger shop; he walked in, sitting in the back in a corner. The waitress, Jessica, sulked over to him. "What would you like to order, Luke?" He ordered a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, and a coke. After controlling his breathing from the fight, he looked around. There was an old couple in the corner drinking coffee and chatting, and there was a young woman sitting at the table. She looked over his way, locking eyes with him, and then got up, walking to the bathroom.
Looking at the old couple made him think about his parents. From his mother dying, his father disappearing form his childhood, now he was all alone; deserted. He felt like the one orphan that no one ever took him. He stared blankly out of the window. It had just started down pouring rain. Alarming him, the bell from the entrance alerted him to see one of his friends, Rian walk in the door. All the time of knowing Rian, Luke wasn't even sure what he was, but he knew he wasn't human. He was averagely tall, with a swimmers body, bright blue eyes and stark white hair, cut short with a ponytail. He sat down opposite of Luke, and nodded in greeting.
"Rian, how are you?" Luke said as the waitress came back with his plate. "Would you like me to get you something to drink?" Rian stared into her dull brown eyes. "May I trouble you for a glass of water?" he said smiling with his pearly whites. "Sure, I will have it to you in a few!" she said being bubbly all of a sudden. This confused Luke, even though he knew her whole story from the several years he'd been in the district. Jessica had two kids and no husband or boyfriend to help, and working in a diner making less than minimum wage wasn't putting food on the table. So she helped some of the passerby's feel good just to make a little more than she filed on her taxes every year. He didn't blame her; she did what she had to do to make ends meet.
"We have problems in the community." Rian said looking around making quotations with his hands. He scanned the room with a small thread of power, making sure they were the only ones in the diner with more than human power. Humans had powers of course, but they were very basic thought. The power that enabled them to control their emotions, have thoughts, and memories without sharing them with others, their power was simply a cage holding all of their precious memories, dreams, wishes, even there mortal form. It was different for Luke, who was a Moonwalker, or in human terms, a shape shifter, one of the many races in the world that overlapped the human's realm of normality.
"What do you mean?" Luke said biting into his burger. "Roanoke's Dominus has been killed." Luke frowned. Dominus was a term the Roanoke's used, along with other packs, and clans, in the shifter community, to mean their ruler. He did he research along with the other pups when he was younger. He chose to live outside his pack, once his mother died and his dad left. Roanoke was the pack he was born from. He felt that he never was meant for pack life. "That means their looking for the next of royal kin." Rian said as Jessica handed him a tall glass of water.
"So? What's that have to do with me?" Luke said as he watched his arm as some of the scars from the fight healed. "You're the last remaining heir to the throne."
A dark silhouette darted in the darkness, under the shadows of the night as the lithe form climbed up a tree for cover. Just then a pair of body padded into puddles sniffing the air with their noses. They padded ahead and once completely out of sight, the form in the tree leaped down, with a ball of fur in its maw. Evelyn Roanoke, royal panther of the Roanoke Clan found a clearing of bushes where she could clean her cub. Licking his head, then his neck, he purred deep in his throat. She took human form, and then placed two fingers on her cubs forehead force changing him into human form. She wrapped him in a bundle, and then placed him in a basket. She didn't have a lot of time.
Overtop the city, a dark human figure leaped over building rooftops. In his arms he held a baby with bright hazel eyes and a brown head of hair. Standing on the edge of the building he looked down seeing the bright lights of a hospital. He leaped of the edge landing in between two buildings across the street. He landed in front when no one was looking and walked inside. "Ma'am, this baby has no mother. The baby was in the city park." The woman got up from the reception center and took the baby into her hands. "We'll help to the best of our abilities." He turned on the ball of his feet, walking out of the hospital with tears in his eyes…