My Beloved
Chapter 1
"Easy. Easy… That's right. I'm not going to harm you, Diane. No one is going to take your cub away. I won't allow it."
Bill Chapman's gaze was fixed upon the azure-eyed, majestic, silvery-black cougar pacing around in his lab. The broken cage was behind the test subject. How on earth his invention was able to break the cage was among many things he had to wonder. He should be very, very afraid. But, like an insane man that he was, he was also thrilled. Diane was his masterpiece, a woman gone through many operations, engineered from a human into a feline, with conscience. At least, he hoped that she still possessed that conscience.
Diane had displayed ferocious behaviors as years passed, and things had gotten worse when she finally conceived three cubs. Two died. Only one cub had survived the second week. Diane was in the state of grief. She was as devastated as any mother would be, losing their children, only added with animalistic rage to go with.
Slouched on the floor, his back against the white counter, Bill tightened the Beretta in his hand. He halfheartedly aimed at the creature. He wouldn't shoot her for a billion dollars. She was his sweat and blood. She was a living proof of his glory, his dream come true.
"Easy, girl. It's just us. Everything is going to be all right," Bill cooed, beads of sweat running down his face. He briefly glanced at the body of his partner, another brilliant scientist, John Bennett. John was lying face down on the floor, his limbs spread out, a large pool of crimson puddled on the floor beneath him.
Diane was truly special. She could understand and respond to humans. She was just like a cat, only much bigger in size, and tamed. She was incredible until the recent years, when her 'artificial' instinct began to take full control, and she refused to follow her creator's orders. She had seemed to absorb more of the animalistic side. She had completely stopped transforming into her human form, living and breathing as a real cougar.
Diane took her gaze off Bill, and he let out a shaky sigh. He slightly lowered his gun, but he wasn't relieved. Far from it. His friend's body was a testament of everything he should be afraid of. It reminded him of his failure.
Diane nuzzled the cub. An underweight, spotted cub with blue eyes. It was the weakest and smallest cub, but had somehow managed to survive its siblings. For a moment, the mother just enjoyed the peaceful, small moment with her young, but that moment was soon over. She turned to Bill again, and leapt at him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bill didn't even think. He had no time to think. Not about his life-long accomplishments. Not about his dead friend on the floor. Not about his name carved into history, or millions and millions of dollars spent on his invention. He had shut his eyes as he fired, the only thing that had crossed his mind was his wish to see his daughter again.
Bill reached home at the wake of dawn. It had been the longest night in his entire life. The sky was still dark. His lab was destroyed. His partner was dead. His test subject was killed. And he had to write up a report to his employer to explain why his multimillion-dollar project had failed epically. He just didn't have the energy at the moment.
Bill passed out on the couch in the living room of his lavish, two-story mansion. A worn, leather, medical bag at his feet. But his nap was rudely awoke by the sounds of laughing and rushing footsteps around the house.
"Give it to me, Danny! You're hurting it!"
"Come and get it!"
"You, bastard!"
Bill flinched at the shriek, his eyes snapped open. Could it be his nine-year-old daughter, Piper, swearing at this early morning hour? Who taught his little girl to swear? His head groggy, he rubbed his eyes and sat up. He loosened his tie and groaned at the backache. He should have made the effort to get upstairs and sleep in the bedroom, where he would have been spared from the children's screams. He let out a heavy sigh as his right hand reached out to his bag.
The bag was wide open.
Bill watched his fifteen-year-old son, Danny, hop around the living room and the hallway, Piper yelling after him. Danny was tall and skinny with curly, dark hair and dark eyes.
In Danny's hands was the cougar cub Bill had sneaked out of the lab last night. Horror filled Bill's eyes as he watched how Danny grabbed the cub by its hind legs, and swung it high above his sister's head.
"Jump!" Danny laughed. The helpless cub squealed out a small sound.
Piper growled, jumping in attempts to get the cub. But the teenage Danny had already grown to almost six feet tall. Piper had no chance.
His jaw on the floor, Bill rose to his feet. The cub was the last remaining proof of his glory, something he refused to let his boss, the eccentric billionaire, Kubra Balik, take it away. But, in all honesty, after his horrendous failure with Diane, he doubted that his boss would spare the weak cub anyway. Kubra would have burn the entire lab in rage. Bill didn't particularly want to turn on the TV, fearing for the news.
"What's with all the ruckus? Danny, behave! Piper, be quiet!" Carol entered the living room with a cup of coffee on the tray. "Good morning, darling. Had a rough night?"
Bill just nodded to his wife, mumbling a 'thank you' to her. He turned to his two children. "Danny! Stop…! STOP!"
Everyone snapped. Carol almost dropped the tray. Danny skidded to a halt, dropping the cub in panic.
"NO!" Bill leapt from his position.
"No!" Piper dove to catch the cub.
Bill was already climbing over the couch, but paused when he saw the cub curling in Piper's connected palms.
The blonde girl looked up at her father, grinning from ear to ear. "It's safe!"
The day went by slower and more peaceful than Bill could have ever hoped for. Danny was punished to lawn mowing in the afternoon. Carol was out for her manicure. Piper stayed in her bedroom with the cub. Bill hadn't promised to let Piper have it out of fear for her safety, but it seemed relatively harmless at the moment. His cell phone was turned off. He had the long hours of sleep he had desperately needed.
Bill woke again when Carol returned in the evening. Her breath smelled of alcohol. He kissed her temple, mumbling, "Hey, darling."
"Danny is going to spend the night with Rick. You were too harsh on him," Carol said.
Bill sighed and entered the bathroom. "I can't just let it go. He has to learn."
After a quick shower, Bill went down to the dining room. He and his wife sat down at the long dining table. Claudette, the maid, was serving the dinner.
"Where's Piper?" Bill asked.
"I will go fetch her, sir," Claudette said.
When the maid left, Carol turned to her husband. "Danny is waiting for you to call him."
Bill cleared his throat, and then gulped down some water.
"You have two children, Bill."
"He did something wrong. He deserved to be punished. This has nothing to do with Piper. I love them both." Bill had scolded his son, scaring him and being mean to him enough to make sure that he would never speak of the cub outside of this house. He had to make sure of it. No one was to come between him and his prize.
Carol just sipped her wine. Bill eyed her briefly, deciding not to say more.
Shortly after, the maid came back. "Miss Piper insisted that she isn't hungry."
Bill frowned. "What? She never missed her dinner." He stood up from his chair and strode out of the dining room.
Carol downed her glass and raised it a little. "More wine, Claudette."
"Right away, ma'am."
"Piper?" Bill gave a soft knock, and carefully pushed the door open.
The room was dim with only a table lamp on. Piper was lying on the bed, the cub sleeping next to her. She turned to her dad and gave a 'shush' sign.
Bill quietly shut the door. He lied down beside Piper, gently touching the small shoulder. "It's dinnertime, sweetheart," he whispered.
"Can I bring it to dinner with me?"
Bill chuckled. "Your mother wouldn't like that, would she?"
"I don't wanna leave it alone. If it wakes up and doesn't see me, it might get scared and cry," the girl explained, her face serious.
Bill smiled widely, kissing the top of Piper's head.
Piper scratched the cub's tummy. "I googled names, dad. I'll name it 'Alex'."
"It's a she, Piper."
"Oh." Piper momentarily frowned, but then smiled. "It's ok. I'll call her 'Alex' anyway." She giggled when the sleepy cub turned and curled, sucking on Piper's thumb.
Bill softly caressed Piper's head. "Darling, you do know that daddy can't let you keep her here. She's a cougar cub. One day, she will grow too big for this house. For any of us. She's a wild animal."
Piper quickly grabbed Alex and hugged her to her chest. The cub weakly squealed, and Bill's heart almost stopped.
"Easy, Piper. She's weak. Hold her gently."
Only then Piper loosened her grasp on the cub, but still wouldn't let go. "Daddy, please, let me keep her. She's so cute. I promise I won't tell anyone about it. Please, daddy. Please. Please." Tears were already brimming the innocent, wide blue eyes. Bill never knew how to refuse his little girl, his most precious of all.
Bill sighed and rubbed the top of Piper's head. He went through a lot of trouble in exchanging the body of another cub with Diane's only surviving one. But there was no denying that he expected the cub to die soon. Piper could have 'Alex' until then. "Promise me that you will never mention it to anyone. As long as you still have Alex, you can't have friends visiting, and you cannot take her outside of the house, understood? This is very, very important, Piper. I've already emphasized this to your mother and brother. Do you understand me? Do you promise?"
"I promise! Thank you, daddy! I love you, daddy!" Piper beamed.
"All right. Leave her here for a little while, and come have dinner with us. Your mother is waiting." Bill stood up from the bed, smiling. He would give anything to Piper. She was the world to him.
Piper nodded. She gingerly collected her pillows and placed each around the cub as to prevent it from rolling off the bed. "Be a good girl, and don't sleepwalk. I'll be right back, Alex."
Piper then hopped off the bed and took her father's hand, gleefully leaving the room with him.