****
Raul glanced to the rest of the pack gathered behind him in the shed, watching him interact with the three panthers. He had been shocked—slightly—at the fact that the woman was actually fairly attractive. The chains wrapped around her body did nothing to cover the full, lush curves; thick, glorious dark hair tumbled down past her shoulders, framing a sharp-featured face with green eyes. Her breasts looked heavy and full, the copper chains only emphasizing their size and the fact that they strained at the fabric of her shirt.
“Are you serious?” Raul shook his head, smirking at the thought of the panther actually daring to challenge him. “This isn’t a sparring match with one of your cubs, panther,” Raul added. “If you fight me I’m going to treat it like an actual challenge.”
“I know how to handle a challenge,” the woman said, her upper lip curling slightly in the start of a snarl. “I just don’t think you can actually give me one.” A murmur rose up in the pack members behind him, and Raul felt his body heating up, his adrenaline beginning to flow. He could sense the way that the pack was reacting, feel the doubt in them. Raul felt the suggestion that he would lose status in the pack if he didn’t shut this she-panther up, and fast.
“Fine,” Raul said. He glanced at the other two panthers. “They stay chained; one on three isn’t fair.”
“I thought you could take us all,” the woman said, smirking. “But fine. I can take you all by myself.” Raul carefully reached out and began to loosen the chains around the woman, glancing at the other two panthers from time to time, making sure that they weren’t using the situation to try and break free. It would be just like these assholes to stage a showdown just for the chance to sneak out.
Raul tugged the last of the chains free of the woman and stepped back, watching her intently. “You going to get up and fight me?” the woman shrugged, rubbing her arms and legs, looking bitterly angry.
“Ever been in silver chains, asshole?” she started to stagger up onto her feet. “It takes a minute.” Raul considered that and nodded, taking another step back and preparing to begin the transformation. He would show the stupid she-panther what she was made of, and then he’d get the chains back onto her before Reginald arrived to inspect the prisoners. Reggie wouldn’t mind if he roughed up the female panther a bit, especially since she had challenged him. Cam’s comment—about the panthers being executed—worried him, but Raul knew better than to believe anything that Cam spouted off in the heat and excitement of the moment. Reginald knew better than to simply summarily execute three rival shifters. The only result that would bring would be war: out and out war between the panthers and the wolves, something that the elementals would intervene on, because it would risk discovery of the two-natured by the regular humans.
After only a few moments, the woman began to strip her clothes off, and Raul commenced as well; having grown up as a shifter, with part of his consciousness consistently animal, Raul had no qualms about nudity, even among strangers. He felt the change crackling and tingling along his bones, his body gearing up for the transformation that came to him as second nature. He sank down onto all fours as the change intensified, and saw the surprisingly beautiful, full-figured woman doing the same, taking up her position to change into her animal form. The wolves behind him began to yip and howl, excitement overtaking everyone in the room—even the panthers still chained up helpless a few feet away. Raul focused all of his attention onto bringing the change over himself as quickly as possible, feeling his bones shift and transform inside of his body, feeling his face elongate, fur pushing through his skin.
In a matter of moments, his vision had shifted and Raul let out a long, proud howl, throwing his head back and giving voice to his challenge. He looked at the woman; in her place there was a long, lean, muscled panther with dark, mottled fur and bright feline eyes boring into him. The panther growled, ending on a coughing, hissing note, and began to move, slinking in a slow, appraising circle around him.
The rest of the pack backed off, and Raul began to circle the she-panther, examining her movements, thinking in the strategic, animal part of his brain about how best to defeat her. There was no reason to hold back; this wasn’t a member of his pack, this wasn’t part of his family. He needed to put her down and then get the chains back on her, prove his point and be done with it.
The female seemed to be slightly weak in the hindquarters, a slight limp interrupting her slinking steps. Raul growled, low in his throat, hunkering down into a crouch as he watched the panther move. She was beautiful: sleek, deadly in spite of her limp, staring at him with yellow-green eyes that Raul knew were taking in every possible weakness he possessed.
As the moments of circling, waiting, evaluating reached a torturous peak, Raul launched himself at the she-panther, diving towards her injured hindquarters. She slipped underneath his dive, surprising him with her speed and nimbleness, and sidestepped his attack. Raul felt the rake of claws along his back, the heat of his blood flowing, and roared out, turning quickly to throw himself at the sneaky panther again.
Everything became a blur; Raul attacked, the woman evaded and countered. Raul hung back, waiting for her to make her strike, and barely shifted away from her attack in time. He managed to get in a few good hits, but in what seemed like mere moments, he was already beginning to tire. He could tell that the panther was beginning to tire as well—she was panting slightly, low growls leaving her throat. The other two panthers were still firmly chained—they couldn’t help their clan-mate—but the wolves were starting to get restive. The human part of Raul’s brain was too proud to give up the battle—he wasn’t going to let an upstart panther, little better than a glorified housecat, best him in a challenge.
But when he saw his opening, Raul hesitated; he could smell that Reginald was coming. The unmistakable scent mark of the Alpha of the pack hit him like a brick—and with it, the impression of the Alpha’s brain, imposing its presence on the room. In the moment Raul was distracted, the panther struck, launching herself at him, raking her claws down the sides of his body and tumbling him onto the floor. Raul kicked and twisted, knocking her off him, but he hadn’t managed to completely subdue her.
Reginald’s ear-splitting howl filled the air and Raul fell back, staring at the injured—but still defiant—panther. The panther glanced around the shed, and then launched herself at her two clan-mates in a flurry of movement, transforming into a dark, mottled blur in front of Raul’s eyes. He growled, throwing himself into the battle with her once more, suddenly realizing what she intended to do: break her friends free while everyone was distracted. Raul grabbed the back of the panther’s neck, locking down as tightly as he could without breaking bones.
All around him, he heard the groans and growls and howls of the rest of the members of the pack in the shed with him transforming. In a matter of moments, Raul found himself—and the three panthers—surrounded by wolves, Reginald taking up his position as Alpha in his human form. “Change back into your human forms and chain these beasts down more securely,” Reginald said, his voice firm with the authority that came from being in command for years. “They will be put to death in the morning in sight of the whole Pack.”
Raul let the panther’s neck fall out of his mouth and turned to look up at his Alpha in astonishment. The human part of his mind, asserting itself more fully now that the most animalistic urges had been fulfilled, was stunned—stunned and horrified—to learn that Cam’s comment had apparently been correct: Reginald intended to make an example out of the three panthers by putting them to death. The other wolves in the shed leapt to action, securing the three prisoners anew, piling copper onto them to make it impossible for any of them to move. The panther herself was subdued with a dozen heavy chains, borne down onto the floor of the shed screaming in the agony of the metal against her bare skin and fur. Raul staggered back at the sight unfolding in front of him and started the change into his human form as he watched Reginald slink out of the room, leaving the enforcers and the lower pack members to take care of keeping the prisoners secure enough.