Chapter 2

Lauren

I put my face in my hands. This was not happening. How could this happen? How was this even possible. The manticore were laying on the ground all over the warehouse, a sudden placidity seeming to wash over them, though they all kept their eyes on me, watching me, listening to the tone of my voice as I spoke. One cub in particular pushed his head under my hand, rubbing his muzzle into my side before turning around and repeating. Amelia sat across from me, Dyson, Kensi and Bo on either side of her. Bo would've sat next to me, if it hadn't been for the disgruntled and warning snarls she received from the underfae around me.

The Breeder was tied to his chair, placed in the corner until we were ready to deal with him.

"So…let me get this straight." I said, looking at the blonde across from me as she looked at her hands. "You saved me, by bonding my DNA with that…of a manticore?"

"It was the only way I could make your body immune to the poison killing you. I wasn't even sure it'd work."

"Then why do it?" I demanded, just barely registering that the cub had crawled into my lap, his wings brushing the underside of my chin. "Why turn me into some kind of underfae-human hybrid?" Amelia looked genuinely hurt, as if the answer was obvious. Few of the manticore raised their heads.

"I couldn't let you die, Lauren, not if there was the slightest chance I could save you from it." She sighed "once upon a time, you risked everything to save me because it was who you were, what you believed in. I risked my own life to save yours when I knew there was only a slight chance of you living. I broke an unbelievable amount of laws just by doing the ritual." She looked away, around at the beasts "If anything, it explains why the manticore now respect you."

"What do you mean?" Kenzi asked, clutching Bo's arm nervously. Amelia fixed her hair into a ponytail again.

"The enormous thing Lauren killed had been their leader, now under normal circumstances, manticore only travel in families of two adults and cubs. But, after being raised by a human who's as dumb as a block of wood, they've adapted to a pride-like form of social status."

"Well, that's swell and all" Bo said, also casting a nervous glance around the room "but what does that have to do with Lauren?"

"Well, like with lions, should the pride's leader be killed by another lion, that pride becomes his."

"So…Lauren's Mufasa?" Kenzi asked and Amelia looked indecisive for a moment.

"More or less, I suppose."

Now I felt frustrated, the others seemed to sense it and stood up, pacing around us, forming a circle. I was having a mental break down and they were busy talking about some stupid cartoon lions? What the hell!

"Uh, guys?" Bo said looking around her "maybe we should save the in-depth Lion King talk for another time." I felt their eyes on me all at once.

"Sorry." I stood up, gently lowering the cub in my lap to the crate I'd been sitting on. I looked at the man sitting in the corner and slowly walked towards him.

"What about you?" I demanded, hearing everyone else stand up, the padding of paws and shoes following me. "Where do you keep your sale logs?" I asked and he glared up at me, mouth pressed in a tight line.

"Why don't you go fu—" Now, normally violence was something I avoided or left for Bo or Dyson or someone who wasn't me. But right then, I had so much pent up anger I grabbed the front of his shirt and heaved him into the air, chair and all. The manticore erupted with intimidating roars that seemed to shake the entire building. I felt several hands trying to make me let him go, each failing to get a firm grip until Dyson managed to spin me around, making me drop the breeder back to the floor.

"Lauren, calm down." He cautioned and I planted my boot firmly in the centre of his chest, kicking him so hard he flew back, skidding in the dirt and into the middle of the underfae around us. And that's when I felt it happening again. The pulsing in the back of my head that slowly began to fill the rest of my body. The burning that began in my gums as my teeth sharpened and extended, the sharpening of my vision as my eyes changed. Dyson's own fangs extended, his eyes taking on the odd yellow colour they did when he shifted. My skin prickled with bumps that felt like goose bumps, but deep within I knew they were something more. Something I just couldn't figure out how to use yet. I took a step towards him, but, before I could do anything, Bo was in front of me, her hands cupping my face.

I looked at her, felt her hands gently caress my cheeks, her soft words reaching my ears but my mind couldn't register what she said. Suddenly, I found myself wanting to know and the pulsing slowly begin to ebb from my body. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, wrapping my fingers loosely around her wrists, concentrating on my heart and my air intake.

"You're ok, Lauren." Bo's voice said softly, brushing the scattered hair from my face. "You're ok, you just need to relax a little bit. Go and sit down, I'll see what I can get out of the moron taped to the chair, alright?" I nodded and she kissed my forehead.

"Actually," I said, stepping away from her "I think I need to be alone right now, I'll meet you at home." I moved to leave and every single beast in the room moved to follow me. I stopped and turned to see them all staring at me, eyes bright and questioning, heads tilted when I sighed in frustration.

"Oh boy," Kenzi murmured "I don't think we can handle this many 'they followed me home' underfae." I took a step backwards towards the door and they matched me. They were like soldiers. Soldiers that refused to go anywhere I wasn't.

"They're waiting for you to lead them to a new territory now that their old leader is dead." Amelia murmured quietly. I glanced over at the large carcass and stared disbelievingly at the ceiling.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Bo rubbed her temples

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it."

Great, just great.

+/+\+

I was laying on the ground of the warehouse looking up at the ceiling. Bo had offered to take the breeder elsewhere for interrogation so I could rest with my new group of…I didn't know what they were in relation to me. Pets? Family? I didn't even know what I was.

By nature, I was a freak. I was part human and part something that ate humans. I was partially underfae, something that baffled me. I needed to be away from everyone else. I needed to think without being asked if I was ok or having to hear the concerned whispers of my friends. Only the breathing of the manticore around me was all I could tolerate.

Soft, yet somehow clumsy, padding of paws came towards me. I turned my head to the side and saw the same cub from earlier, his large paws causing him to stumble as he made his way to me. His brilliantly blue eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark of the room as he weaved in and out of scattered sleeping bodies, his muzzle twitching as he grumbled mewling noises.

"What is up with you?" I asked, lifting him up when he got close enough, holding him above me. His nails gently scratched my wrists though his fur was soft in my hands. His tail wrapped around my forearm as he looked down at me, head cocked, big eyes adorable. "You don't have a name, do you?" He sneezed. "Well…" I said, examining him closely.. "I guess if I'm Mufasa…you'd be Simba." He licked his nose, eyes crossing as he tried to see his tongue. I couldn't help but laugh. I set him down on my stomach, scratching behind his ears in absent thought. He curled up, a low purr rumbling from his tiny chest, vibrating against my stomach. I sighed "I'm in a bit of a pickle, Simba." He 'merowumph' and extended one paw higher up to the arrow of my rib cage. "On one hand, I'm alive, feeling as good as I could be after nearly dying." I unconsciously stroked his head, But, on the other hand, I'm now some kind of human-fae hybrid which makes me neither human or fae…" I sighed slowly as a tsunami of emotions swept over me, forcing a tear from my eye.

I closed my eyes, jumping when I felt the muzzle of a closer manticore poke me in the neck, then heavy head stretched over my thigh, neck arching over my muscle, nose pressed firmly against my opposite knee cap. They all seemed to be shuffling closer and closer to me until I was surrounded by them, their bodies warm and, oddly enough, comforting in my moment of distress. I ran my finger tips through the whiskers of a muzzle closest to my face, admiring the way the lips pulled back, exposing the dangerous razors sheathed beneath the soft skin.

It's hard to describe it, really. Perhaps it was the beast's DNA that created the placid feeling flooding me, but when they were there, their body heat keeping me warm despite the freezing temperature, I felt like I was home in a weird sense.

My eyes slowly sagged back closed, sudden exhaustion and comfort making me slowly lull to sleep with the cub on my chest, tiny claws pinching my skin and my new found family around me.

Finally, in so many years, I felt safe.

Finally, I slept without fear.

Without nightmares.

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