Chapter 4 - Lesson two

Mya slept surprisingly well given the amount of knowledge that Remus had given her to think over. She had so many questions. One of them being; why had Darren ordered the other shifters to attack her? It made no sense to keep her here this long to then try and kill her off one day. But was he trying to kill her now? Surely an attack from that many shifters would have killed her off for sure. Unless he had ordered them to stop. But what was the purpose of that? She sat up in bed and waited. There didn’t seem to be any rush for her to get out of bed so why should she. She started to get impatient. He had said he would be back for her next lesson. She looked at the clock, 5am. There was a knock at the door and with that in came Beth, her hair curled on top of her head in a tight bun as usual.

“Good morning deary, now haven’t you been in the wars!” she looked Mya over from head to toe. She tutted “I have something for you” She turned and pulled from outside of the room a trolley with all manner of delicious treats piled high. Mya’s jaw dropped. She could see fruit, a full English breakfast, orange juice and croissants! Oh how glorious! Croissants! Beth shut the door and wheeled the trolley over to the side of the bed. She placed a tray on Mya’s lap with a glass of orange juice and the fry up on. Mya looked at her suspiciously. “Well eat up then deary, it’s not often Remus tells me to bring you breakfast in bed! Make the most of it!” she sat in the chair next to the trolley she had wheeled in and watched as Mya tucked into the breakfast like she hadn’t eaten in days.

Once Mya had filled her face with the fry up and started eyeing up the croissants Beth swapped the plates round so that she could tuck into those as well. Mya looked over at her, the only person that had shown her any sort of kindness in this place. “Beth” she said while looking down at her plate.

“Yes Mya, you have a question for me?” she asked in her soft tone.

“Remus spoke to me yesterday. He started to tell me about some of the people here.” She looked up at Beth who had stiffened in her seat. “I found out before I was attacked that I have been here for six years. I hadn’t realised that I had been here that long.” Beth was fiddling with her apron, she never looked uneasy before but something was bugging her. “Remus told me yesterday that Darren has been collecting other shifters from around the world in order to make him more powerful. I don’t know why he wants to be more powerful though. I don’t know what his aim is. I don’t even know where in the world I am right now. I just know that Remus said to talk to you, that you would know something that could possibly help me.” She stopped talking and carried on eating her croissants. She let Beth mull over what she had said.

Beth sat there quietly looking at Mya eating her croissants. “How much did Remus tell you about the other shifters? She said while twisting the bottom of her apron.

Mya swallowed her mouthful “only about Finley so far. That he comes from Russia. I already knew he was a were-tiger. Clearly, he helped put me in this bed” gesturing at her current position, she saw Beth wince. “But I’ve never spoken a word to him, or any of the others for that matter. All this time and all I get is beaten down every day with no-one telling me anything. I want answers Beth!”

Beth sighed and sat back in the chair. “Did Remus tell you about the shifters mates?” Mya nodded. “I am Finley’s mate.”

Mya spluttered on her mouthful of orange juice “WHAT?” she exclaimed in disbelief.

Beth nodded and looked at the floor “Yes it’s not quite believable is it? There he is tall and handsome and here I am, fat and old” a tear rolled silently down her cheek. Mya certainly wouldn’t call Finley handsome, his features were too austere for her liking but Beth truly did mean what she was saying, she loved him.

“What happened Beth?” she asked quietly.

Beth looked up, rage filling her eyes. Mya almost recoiled she’d never seen such a look on such a kind face. “He took me, that’s what happened. He stole me from our home and brought me here. That evil piece of shit! Kept me in a room, much like yours until id settled down and stopped beating at the door. Told me I was his new chef and to get used to it or id never see Finley again.” She sobbed. “I was due to be turned a couple of days after I was taken. We’d found out that I couldn’t have children so had decided not to wait any longer. I wasn’t getting any younger you see. We had waited to see if I could bear a child before being turned. Carrying children is much easier when human…”

Mya interrupted “Wait, what? Were-tigers can carry children successfully?” she was in awe, how could this be?

Beth looked up “Of course. I mean it isn’t easy! You have to hold off your change for 9 months until the baby is born. A lot of the female shifters really struggle with this. They say it starts off as an itch. This then grows to a burning sensation as time goes on, they end up in agony the last month or so. But it has been done a few times during my lifetime anyway. The babies aren’t born human either. They’re born pure were-tiger. They can shift into cubs from day one. They’re quite difficult to keep track of in cub form” she smiled wryly.

Mya was gobsmacked. They could hold off the change? But how? Werewolves couldn’t do that. Come the full moon they were forced to change, there was no choice. Beth looked at her and smiled “they’re not dictated to by the moon like the wolves Mya.” She looked sad. “Once a women turns into her wolf form she will never bear a child, just like me.”

Mya reached over and took Beth’s hand. She couldn’t bear to see the woman that had kept her going through the hell that was this place look so broken inside. Beth gave her hand a squeeze. “So that is why I am here and why I am so aged when Finley is not. Darren always takes a human mate. We’re more fragile, easier to kill, easier to control. We lose our chance to be turned and so we continue to age.” She sighed. “I will continue to age, grow old and then die. And my poor Fin will have to continue on without me. He’ll be free then. I told him to leave me but he won’t.” She looked at Mya then, anger in her eyes once more. “He never would have hurt you out of choice Mya! My Finley is a gentle soul. He never wanted to rank higher in the clan, too much fighting, he hates fighting. He was a school teacher before we were brought here believe it or not. He taught biology.” She looked across the room, remembering her old life. She stood, “I will leave you to the rest of your breakfast” Beth walked across the room and opened the door.

Mya called out “Beth wait!” Beth paused in the doorway. “How long have you been here?”

Beth turned to look back at her “forty-two years”.

Mya was stunned. Forty-two years here! Forty-two years of only seeing your mate once a month. “Beth, Remus said that he would see me today for my second lesson. Do you know when he will be here?”

Beth turned back towards the door, as she walked away, she said quietly “Remus told me to tell you, I am the second lesson.” She closed the door behind her leaving Mya reeling from all that she had learned.