Subduing the Beastly Queen

put himself between her and the very real danger of her f

rest of the world the teeth and claws and rage that snarled inside him. To stand in defense of her the way sh

ubs, stood before all of Anima and faced down he

ge burned i

at the King-shifting in midair to the glorious, golden lioness she was. Her father shifted a heartbeat behind

curdling snarls of predators ready to kill, he stood there shaking,

s way, since the day they'd become friends when she was eight, and he was twelve, and a gro

hen she was so small, she had her father's fierce nature, t

d leapt out of the trees and in one breathless moment, she'd done at eight what he'd begged, sweated, and raged for since he was old enough

m, growling until he submitted, and shifted back to his true human form. That one was in tears, and the third had f

th anger and her glowing red hair flying in every direction, h

tened. "I'm Helena," she'd said, then tipped her h

r attack, he'd j

ed. "Do y

t stupid! "Yes, I speak," he snapped. "But you

lder and turned to walk towards what he soon learned was the

since. And more often than not, fought like cat

e age of mating. These days there was a large enough deformed p

other females, he'd never really wanted anyone else. A

ssion. She loved him like a brother. More, actually. He k

r the alienated. She'd been arguing with her father about what to d

ht it would come

asily half-again as big as Helena in Beast form-shook off the hold she'd almost gotten on his b

er chest, opening shallow wounds in her skin that left her chest fur bloodied. But she didn't even pause. Despite the wound, as

their clash. They whipped over and around each other so quickly, he

al feet, but then they faced each other, heads down, che

k his mane onc

h's step seemed jerky and the way he kept shakin

how much Helena had play-fought with him in t

claws. That was real blo

Helena do in the twelve years he'd known her-sh

at as he pleaded with the

oose-every Anima who could shift had lost control of their beast

She recognized his scent and marked him as a pride member

if the stakes were much, much higher this time. So, as the rest of the Ani

e him onto it!" he called, trying to keep

ase... let

r padded in a circle, growling challenges at each other, as each looked for the

e was there-clasping his arm, her brow furrowed and

where she gripped him. "He

her tone said she wanted to c

wave, huge and relentless, teeth bared and claws exten

come down on his extended shoulder instead. But the cunning warrior only dro

ed at the same moment

o the stage floor, the great beams