Chapter 2: Shape Shifting

Benson:

[Flash Back]

“So this is your new home… It suits you, both of you.” This was the first time I invited my father over to my new house. I got engaged to Sandra not too long ago. We purchased a house of our own, for several reasons that she wouldn’t understand at the moment. My father wanted to see our house, but I had a feeling he wanted to talk about Sandra again. Since I met her and figured out what she really was he wouldt always mention her. Having said that, he always reminded me not to tell her, since it seemed like she didn’t know herself.

“You’re not telling me something… I don’t care if I’m not a part of that tribe, but she is going to be my wife and I need her to trust me with everything. That includes knowing what she truly is.”

“I told you before, the Ruby Wolf Pack will deal with this. She'll find out what she is eventually.”

“I’m not talking about her knowing, I’m talking about ME knowing… She isn’t a wolf.” Finally his eyes met mine. I don’t know if I should be upset that he would think I wouldn’t figure it out.

“You noticed… Very good, Benson. I raised a very intelligent man.”

“I had my theories. All of them were wrong when I saw the mark on her body… Did you forget that I would see her nude, father. Or perhaps you didn’t know of the mark yourself. That would be a significant oversight since you helped raise her. You must have seen it when she was an infant.”

“I did… However, I was more worried about figuring out who her mother was. She was in my pack yet I could never truly figure out what she really was.”

“You mean what tribe she belonged to.” He confirmed my statement by nodding his head yes.

“I found out that her mother is part of the Anubis tribe.”

“The Dark Shifters… Why would she settle down and become a part of the Ruby Wolf Pack?”

“It was her mission. As you know, the Anubis tribe started off as wolf shifters. They are the forefathers of werewolves. Then, they became greedy and wanted to shift into other tribal animals. They slowly creeped their way into the other tribes.”

“And started a massive war between the tribes, yes, I remember. I was there for the end of it. This is why Shifters do not mate outside of their tribes. It became too dangerous.” My father gave me an odd look that forced me to halt my speech. He smiled lightly and nodded.

“You truly are a smart man. I’m proud of who you’ve become.” I was baffled by his words. I’m not sure what brought him to say such a thing. Perhaps it was a parenting thing. Either way, it felt like an odd distraction from our conversation.

“Thank you… Now what about her mother.”

“The Anubis tribe is planning something. I’m not positive on what it is, but I have a hunch… They’ll come for Sandra, my son. The moment she changes for the first time, they’ll know what she is. As I gather, they already suspect her of being the key to their plans.” His words made sense. I noticed members of different tribes suddenly appearing around this area. They were looking for her. Yet he still managed to end this conversation without telling me why. I’ve gotten more from him than before, but that wasn't enough. One final question before he departed.

“What is your hunch, father?” I can see the hesitation within his eyes. He thought about it for a moment. I believe he didn’t want to tell me. More so because he believed this theory to be true. His next question would haunt me for the rest of the time I spent living with Sandra.

“Have I ever told you about a shifter tribe that only has three to five shifters, and only three to five.” I couldn’t help but growl a bit as the name of this tribe rushed into my mind. It was a name us older shifters knew and to be honest, feared.

“Chimera…” Once again he confirmed with a nod. He sighs as if he was bothered by putting such a weight on my shoulder.

“Guard her well, Benson… Until next time, my son. Hopefully it’ll be a more pleasant conversation than this one.” He walked to the door and opened it after giving me a hug.

“Interesting enough… I don’t remember telling you about that tribe.”

“Mother did…”

“That makes sense. She is one of a small few who actually killed one… She almost died.”

“I know. She told me the story before… Even though I hated hearing it-”

“She’d tell you anyway. I know, she did the same to me… I’m glad we spoke, Benson. I’ll see you later.”

[Present]

I used that conversation as part of my explanation to the Ruby Wolf pack. They needed to be aware that all of us weren’t actually ‘werewolves’ but shape shifters. I believe my father wanted to explain this to his pack, but he was tending to Chaze’s wounds and most likely dressing him. As well, so no one repeats themselves he would bring Chaze up to speed on everything I was telling his pack.

“Any questions?” By now I was in human form. They didn’t seem afraid of me now. My father was courteous enough to bring some of Chaze’s clothes for me to wear before I shifted back. In Fact, I believe sporting Chaze’s style allowed some of them to draw closer to me as I spoke.

“So… I’m not a werewolf?” I wish I would have told her the truth beforehand. Out of all of them she was further behind with knowing what exactly is going on.

“Correct. However, that statement applies to you more than anyone else here.”

“I’m sorry… What? I’m not understanding here.”

“Everyone in this pack is part of the Wolf Tribe as far as shifters go. You on the other hand, we actually do not know what you are since you never shifted.”

“But… But Chaze showed me a picture of me and him. I was in this pack before I was adopted. Shouldn’t I be a wolf?” I could see this was frustrating her. She believed she was one thing and now I’m telling her she is another. Not only was all this kept from her, but there were more secrets and ‘lies’ kept from the ones keeping the secrets from her… Yes, thinking about it that way, one would become utterly confused.

“Shifters are not like humans. When one of us is born we take the shape of the mother giving birth. So if a shifter is in animal form and gives birth, that is the first shape they take. If the shifter giving birth is in human form, then that is the first shape they take. They remain that way until their body is old enough to change into their second form, which consists of two stages. With the help of their parents they grow and learn to shift. It is taught but also instinctive. So no matter how old they are they can always shift, even if they were never taught how to.”

“Like me! Right? So I can shift or whatever, right?” Her excitement for such things caused me to smile lightly, most likely forcing me to blush as I nod my head to confirm her statement.

“However, shifters mimic their parents and are taught to shift into one of the animals from their parents. Back then different Tribes used to mate amongst other tribes. That all stopped centuries ago for reasons I rather not explain at the moment. Too much information will confuse even the pack members standing around you.” I cleared my throat for a moment as I continued to explain myself. Hopefully they were all getting this and not just Sandra, but most importantly Sandra.

“I took the animal form of my mother, who is a lion tribe shifter. For the reason I explained just now, my father was forced to leave his wife and me in order to keep us safe. Because my father and mother are from two different tribes he made a sacrifice and stayed with all of you.”

“Because of a damn vow he made to my mother… He picked me over his own son… Still doesn’t tell me why though.” Chaze spoke as he walked out from the back room with Nicolas holding him up a bit. He was wearing the clothes he took off before he shifted. 

“I’ve told you before, Master Chaze. You just don’t seem to understand my answer.” Nicolas helped him sit down as he finished speaking. Chaze just rolled his eyes as he held the side of his stomach. It was at this moment that he noticed my attire. He huffed and decided to ignore it for the time being. 

“Whatever, sorry for interrupting. Proceed, Mr. Serious.” I gave Chaze an approving nod. An apology is an apology. Even though he didn’t directly say it, I knew he was sorry for attacking me. Hopefully that moment was a teaching one… Doubtful… 

“Right… Sandra, your case is different. Because your mother never taught you how to shift, and since your father was a human so he wouldn’t know anything about it-”

“Wait… My father wasn’t a shifter? He was… Normal? So does that make me less of a shifter then?” Chaze you childish idiot! Of course he wouldn’t tell her everything. Of course, as much as that man doesn’t pay attention to details, he most likely didn’t know himself.

“What Benson meant to say was, your father was a human before he met your mother. She turned him into a shape shifter.” Great... This was the very thing I wanted to avoid. Now she looks more confused and lost than before. I believe she also looks disgusted by this news.

“My dad is… Was… So I'm… What am I?”

“You're a shifter, Sandra. And since my father decided to add another item about us to confuse you even more, let me explain. Only female shifters have the ability to change, or ‘turn’ as the new generation calls it, humans into shifters. There have been cases where some males were able to do so but it's mainly females. Having said that, shifters try their best not to mate with humans. The outcome of what the child will shift into is unpredictable. This is why it is vital that the shifter parents teach and grow their offspring.”

“Human DNA is the reason for unpredictable shifters being born when we mate with them. Also what type of powers they develop. Master Chaze has fire and my son has electricity. Most of the time mating with a human, turned or unturned, results in different powers or simply their color fur when shifting.” I'm not sure if my father was trying to help or further confuse her. Luckily I know Sandra. She is smart and gets a handle on things rather quickly. 

“So what your saying is, you have no idea what tribe I belong to, because you have no idea what I'll shift into. All because my father is human… Was human… Right?”

“Correct.” I never had a doubt. I gave her some more time to process this before continuing. This was indeed a lot to take in, even for those that were shifters and didn't know it until now. 

“Before I continue with the original reason why we're all gathered here, we need to know what you are and which tribe you belong to… Are you ready for that?” She was giving it a lot of thought. I can tell this part scared her. This will be the first time she shifts, and she doesn't even know what she'll be. Her mind must be racing with so many thoughts, weighing the pros and cons of it all. It broke my heart to see my precious ruby in such a fragile state. 

“Okay… I'm ready…”

“Alright… Now just-”

“Wait! I would like to… Take off my clothes before I do this.”

“Hell yeah! - Ouch!” Of course Chaze would agree to such things. Great minds must think alike as my father gave him a good whack on the head for his comment.

“I'll get a towel from the back, hold on!” One of her friends from work ran to the back room. She didn't take long to come back out with a blanket and a towel. As she jogged towards Sandra she motioned for her other friend to follow her. The two girls held up the blanket and handed Sandra the towel so she could change. Once she took her clothes off she wrapped the towel around her and thanked her friends. They moved back as they picked up her clothes and held them for her. 

“Okay… I'm ready.”

“Good… Now, close your eyes and try to block out everything but my voice…” I slowly coached her into feeling that part of her that wasn't human. The part of her she's been ignoring all her life. The more I spoke I could see her body trembling. She was scared. Soon, determination set in as she began to do as I instructed. 

“Now, on your command, bring out that shifter within you. Transform and be you!” I could see it in her eyes as she opened them. She was desperately trying as she started to sweat ever so slightly. Suddenly she began to change. It started off slow, her fur was growing in. Soon the change was so rapid that her power rushed out and engulfed her. Water swirled around her and blocked our vision of her new transformation. I got her started but she didn't know how to stop releasing her power. 

“Sandra enough! You did it! You can stop now!” Oddly enough she heard me and the water dispersed quickly. What stood in her place gave me chills the more I gazed. She was beautiful and frightening at the same time. Ocean blue fur mixed with snowy white stripes on her head and underbelly, as well as her feet… All four of them. She was in her first stage of shape shifting, which was looking more like the animal aspect rather than the human aspect. None of that compared to the type of animal she shifted into.

“Do my eyes deceive me?”

“No, my son… I counted them three times. She indeed has nine tails.” My father clarified that what I saw was correct. 

“What! I have nine tails! How! Why! And why am I not standing up like Chaze and Benson! What did I do wrong?” She began to cry as she panicked. We were all too shocked to answer. She was talking. Shifters do not speak the human language so properly in their first stage of shifting. Somehow or another, she was talking with no difficulty at all. 

“Why is everyone just staring at me! Someone answer me!”

“My love, just calm down… There are two reasons why we are all speechless… More so me and my father, the rest of them only have one.”

“Benson, how do I fix it!”

“I said calm down!” I didn't mean to roar at her but it was effective. She slowed her breathing and stopped her crying. I walked to her and held her tightly to soothe her more. Her fur was so soft and light. She was bigger than me in her current form, a lot bigger, which was odd considering what she shifted into. 

“You did good, my love. Nothing went wrong. You're simply in your first stage of shifting. Having said that, normally we're not able to speak perfect English in this form… Secondly, you shifted into a nine tailed fox. That tribe no longer exists. So you are a rare beauty to gaze upon.”

“Wait, why the hell don't they exist? How many other tribes are dead and gone?” Chaze was finally shaping up. He was paying attention and actually participating. I didn't want to get into this subject so quickly. It looked like I had no choice now. 

“What I'm about to tell you all is why we called this meeting. There is going to be a lot I'm going to explain, and a lot we have to do to prepare for what's to come. Now that we know what Sandra shifts into we can move forward. Once all of this is explained we'll start training Sandra to move into her second stage of shifting… I hope you're all ready for this.”

Sandra:

There was a lot Benson and Nicolas explained. I was just glad I wasn’t the only one out of the loop about all this. I didn’t pay attention to most of it but the group kept asking them questions.

“So we’re not werewolves, just shapeshifters. And there were many tribes of shapeshifters. Oh, and the underwater shifters don’t like us, or something.” 

“Correct.”

“You mentioned trolls, orcs, yetis, and dragons. They’re shifters too, just classified as Legendary shifters since shifting into those creatures is harder, right?”

“I thought he called them mythical shifters.”

“You both are correct. What the world has classified as mythical beings we call legendary shifters.”

“Oh! Got it!” They nearly shouted together. It was strange. I never pictured my friends lacking knowledge. I would always go to them for advice and they were normally spot on. Now they’re just as lost as I am, only I don’t care about the history of shifters. I’m only here for the part about me. After all, I've just learned that I’m a shifter and none of this doesn’t seem important to me. 

“What about these Dark Shifters, the Anubis tribe. Sounds like they stir up a lot of trouble for no reason.” Chaze was doing so well being their Alpha. He was asking questions and paying more attention than any of them.

“They made two attempts to overthrow the other tribes. The first time was an all out attack on every tribe. They thought because they used Dark Magic and elemental powers they would win. The legendary tribes were using elemental powers way before the Anubis tribe figured out how to do so. After that the legendary tribes tried to teach the other tribes how to use this gift…  Most of them rejected the offer and believed it was unnatural to do so.”

“Following what my son said, the Anubis tribe made their second attempt to rule over all by infiltrating the other tribes. They started teaching their tribe to shift into other tribal animals. As well, they thought experimenting with the bat tribe would leave them with an ace up their sleeve. It turns out, the bat tribe, now called vampires, turned on the Anubis tribe and their dark magic. They used blood magic to gain the advantage and freed themselves from the Anubis tribe.”

“However, the Anubis tribe was more successful than the last time due to the fact that they were able to attack the other tribes from the inside. Most tribes were taken over or wiped out, mainly those that refused to learn to use elemental powers.”

“But some of the tribes were wiped out because they were eaten, right?” Whoa wait… Did I miss something here? Apparently Chaze was paying more attention than everyone. I somehow miss the explanation of this. Benson sighed as he nodded his head. This subject bothered him for some reason. Also, he kept looking to me as if I should be paying attention to this part especially.

“Yes, you are correct, Chaze. These tribes were being eaten or killed by shifters known as Chimeras… You see, shifters can learn to shift into multiple tribal animals. However, switching back and forth is extremely hard to do, and very tasking on the body. Some tribes managed to merge only two tribal animals together. Some examples are griffins, mermaids, pegasus, nine tailed foxes, and unicorns. However, once a shifter merges two tribal animals they stay that way. Their body won’t return to human form, or whatever form they were at birth.  More importantly, only females can pass this ability of merging tribal animals, and only females are more successful at doing so. Chimeras are four to five tribal animals merged into one, which makes them powerful and very dangerous. The more you merge animals the more you lose your humanity. This is also why Sandra's transformation is a rare thing, not all nine tailed foxes can completely shift back to human form.”

“Speaking of Sandra, this is where you’re involvement of the matter comes into play.” Nicolas caught my attention even more. I swear I couldn’t have looked at the man any harder than I was. This whole thing was scary, and finally they were getting to how this revolves around me after talking about Chimeras! 

“The Anubis tribe plans on either turning you into a Chimera, in hopes of controlling you and using you to their advantage. Or, they want you to pass on the merging ability to one of them so they can become a Chimera themselves.”

“Either way you put it, Nicolas, they’re still going to come after me… So what do we do?”

“Me and Benson have thought about this and decided to enlist the help of other tribal members. However, most of them declined and said that they would only give us aid if another war arose.” Well that doesn’t help. I bet only Benson’s tribe agreed to help since he is the king of it. Which, by the way, they never explained ranks and titles of the other tribes. I guess that wasn’t important for now.

“So we decided to start a war.”

“What! I’m sorry, hold on… What?” I’m hoping my darly Benson had a reason for spewing such nonsense. I just learned how to shift into my first form and they want to start a war! I can see why Benson said my training was going to start right away.

“Is that even smart? I mean, won't the other tribes come after us instead of the real target?” Chaze was right. How were they going to provoke such a thing and not expect backlash?

“We’ll make it look like the Anubis tribe is starting it. It's actually very simple once we pieced it together. Currently there are still members of the Anubis tribe hidden within the other tribes, whether their active or not is irrelevant. Most Anubis members are loyal no matter how long it takes for the tribe to rise and attack again.”

“We planned on stirring some chatter within the tribe to get a false notion out there that the tribe was going to strike again. Once that is in play it wouldn’t be long before the confusion brings about a war. Perhaps individual civil wars would start first, but with our warnings being passed around already it shouldn’t take long for the other tribes to come around.” These two were so cute following after each other when explaining things. You can tell they were really close. Besides that, I had a feeling their plan went deeper than this.

“What about me? I know you all could have done this without me so…”

“This was my idea before you go accusing my son of anything. As well, he fully disagrees with this but… We plan on using you to infiltrate the Anubis tribe.”

“Hell no!! Are you sick! She wouldn’t last a second being with them! Besides, you said they wanted her for some weird Chimera bullshit, how do you know they wont use her before this stupid ass plan of yours actually kicks in?” For someone so cool and calm Chaze seemed to be a bit of a hothead since we showed up. He wasn’t wrong though. This plan wasn’t sounding too good, for me especially.

“I agree, Chaze. I’m against this idea but my father assures me that she'll be fine… The only reason why I agreed to this, is because you’re going with her.”

“*Cough-cough!* The hell!” He really shouldn’t drink water while they explain things. Poor Chaze.

“Ha… Oh… That makes sense. Yeah, she’ll need someone strong to protect her and who better to do that than me? Sounds logical, indeed.” Was he mocking them! Ha-ha! What a goof! My knight and shining armor is a comedian rockstar. Boy am I in trouble.

“She won’t need your protection. With my training both of you will be fine on your own. You’re there as a cover. The Anubis prince can not do anything to her or force her to do anything if she is invested in another wolf tribe shifter. That is going to be you. He’ll figure this out when they take you, to which a ceremony will take place where he challenges you to a duel. During this time you shall stall for as long as you can until you receive word that our plan is set in motion and is taking flight.”

“Wait-wait-wait, back up. Say that again… You want me to go as her mate, only to fight the prince of the Anubis tribe, but somehow stall this fight so you guys can put your plan into motion?” They pretty much summed it up. Yet no one asked me if I was okay with this plan. They’re just assuming I’d go along with it… I mean, they’re right I am just going to go along with it but at least ask a lady first before throwing all of this in her face.

“How the hell do I stall a fight?”

“Their traditions are of the old days. Both challengers must agree upon a date, time, and conditions of the fight. Once a challenge is proclaimed the actual battle can take several weeks to occur, sometimes months. Keep changing your mind or disagreeing to the terms, change the terms and play around with it. Eventually a tribal meet will occur where the tribe, in this case both tribes, decide on the conditions for the duelist. Our plan should have sprouted legs and begun running by then.”

“I swear you guys are making this shit up as you go… Whatever! I got that part down. Now what about training? You mentioned me and Sandra. Why do I need training?”

“Because in order for this plan to work you’re going to need to learn how to shift into a nine tailed fox.” Me and Chazed both gasped. Our shocked expressions would have been a perfect match if I wasn’t still in my first form.

“What? How?”

“You’re going to pass on that ability to him. Only female shifters can do so, and Sandra… You’re one of them…”

“This will also confirm our suspicion. If you can not do it, then the Anubis tribe plans to turn you into a Chimera. If you can, then they plan on using you to turn one of them into a chimera.” I think Chaze was right. At this point it sounded like they were just making this up as they went… But knowing Benson and how much he plans ahead, I’m sure he and his father have been planning this for a very long time.

“Heh… No pressure, Sandra… You got this.” Chaze told me with his sweet sly smile. I’m glad he wasn’t worried about it like me… After all, what's the worst that can happen…

Prince Kane of the Anubis Tribe:

These meetings were such a bore. My father barked in anger as his pack continued to fail him time and time again. Honestly they only listened to whatever I told them to do. He was old and needed to leave the pack to me, to younger minds that aren’t stuck in the old ways of thinking.

“All of you are dismissed!!” Finally it was over. My ears were ringing from all his yelling, which you’d think I’d be used to loud noises since I listen to very loud music. None of my music can compare to his loud ass mouth. I have to give it to him though, for an old man he holds his own. Of course several pack members tried to take the crown. Obviously if his own son hasn’t taken it yet, what makes them think they can take the King of Anubis? Idiots…

“Son, my son… Why do we work with such complete failures? Why can’t they do the simplest task?”

“I don’t know… Maybe they just don’t like you.” He chuckled slightly and smirked. I returned the smirk with a devilish smile.

“I admire your honesty. You say the same thing over and over, and trust me, I hear you, I simply don’t understand you. Why don’t they like me?”

“Do you honestly give a shit about any of them?”

“No… Not one bit.”

“Heh, well there you go, dad. You don’t care, neither do they. Simple…”

“But why don’t they care?” He leaned forward in his chair to get closer to me. We were sitting in his large office on one of the top floors of his business building.

“Dad, you’ve been on this war path ever since you failed to take over the other tribes.”

“No, Kane! It was not a failure!” He pounded his fist on the desk and glared into my eyes. They were glowing purple, swirling with dark magic. I simply flared my purple glowing eyes back as a warning to back off. After a short staring contest which I won, he backed off and sat back in his chair.

“Proceed.” I cleared my throat and cupped my hands together while placing them on the table. You know, to let him know I meant business.

“After your failure…” Yes, of course I was going to repeat it. I’ll do it as many times as I need to until he gets it.

“Most of the pack, hell, most of the tribe lost faith in you. Even more so, you’re stuck on this path and refuse to move off it. The war is over and we lost. Yes, we have members still cloaked in the other tribes but so what. Most of them have forgotten the war, some have children who were not a part of it, and a lot of us aren’t willing to go through this all over again.”

“So, you include yourself in this abandonment.”

“Yes, dad. You know my heart isn’t for this plan. However, my heart is tied to you. So, I respectfully follow your plans because of my love for you…” Great, he got me saying mushy crap now. His eyes locked with mine and began to water a bit. My dad wasn’t a sap, not normally. When it came to me though, I could always make him cry like Niagara Falls.

“My son, my faithful son. I would always wonder on what day I shall take advice from you. That day is today, young man… What do I do, how do I rally my army and pursue this victory?”

“You don’t.” He was a bit shocked by this. He huffed and waited for me to say more.

“Let me lead this tribe. Your father had his chance during the first war. You were closer than he was the second time. Dad, the third time's the charm, and it needs to be done by me. Your father wasn’t there to see you progress further than he did. You’re here, now. So allow me to give you the satisfaction of watching your son take the throne of all tribes…” Out of all our conversations, this one was going over better than the rest. He was listening, he was thinking, he was considering… But ultimately, just like the other times…

“No… Such burdens shouldn’t be passed onto you. You’ll have your chance, my son. This is something I need to accomplish. Don’t worry, you’ll have the satisfaction of watching your father rule every tribe. Ha!” He slapped my back and rolled his chair back to stand up. I hated when he did that. Flaunting that smug look of his as he got up and motioned me to leave. I smirked back but once my back was turned I’m pretty sure my eyes alone scared anyone crossing my path. Once I made it outside I could hear the noise of the city again. My driver was waiting for me as I got into the SUV. Inside my beta was waiting for me. My father may be ruling the whole tribe but he allowed me to run my own pack. He fails to realize that my pack is five times bigger than his. Oh, and they all listen to me. This is why most of his members don’t follow his commands. They take orders from me.

“I’m assuming you have news for me.”

“Her name is Sandra. She is the daughter of Lilly.”

“Wait, Ruby Rosaline-Lilly.”

“Yup, that exact one.”

“So she’s a Nine Tailed Fox… Where’s her father?” He shook his head as if to say something bad had happened to him.

“Chimera.”

“Shit… Wait, he was eaten?”

“Yeah… Did you think he turned into one! Ha-ha! Yeah right, there has only been one male Chimera in the entire history of Chimeras.”

“Yeah, Tory Nessa… Damn bastard is still alive.”

“Nope! Not Tory anymore. He goes by the name Nicolas. He tried to hide in the Ruby Wolf Pack after his wife killed him… Allegedly… He also has a son named Benson. Currently, Benson and Sandra are engaged.”

“Interesting… Who’s the alpha of the Ruby Wolves.” He smirked, and then he smiled a cool and bazaar smile. He looked out the window for a second then back at me, like he wanted me to guess. I smirked back as if asking him to tell me.

“Thor…” Suddenly my heart pounded loudly in my chest. My smile deepened as satisfaction flooded in.

“Ha! My damn brother… Half brother, but still. How the hell did he become the alpha? He isn’t a wolf primarily.”

“Nicolas, of course…” I looked at him with a confused face. A very confused face. At this point he knew he needed to use names because saying his mother, her mother, their uncle, wasn't cutting it anymore.

“Alright, follow along here… Your brother, Chaze, AKA Thor, tried to kill your dad, Lero.Your mother, Cena, who cheated on your dad and had Chaze, stopped your dad from banishing Chaze from the tribe completely.”

“Yeah. Because she cheated on my dad with a dragon, Chaze’s first form was a dragon and he always believed himself better than him because of the nonsense she filled his head with.”

“Your dad tried to kill Chaze’s father, didn't work, and was going to banish Chaze from the tribe but your mother saved his ass. Lero, your dad, allowed him to stay in the Anubis tribe but kicked him out of any pack associated with Anubis.”

“Since the Ruby Wolves aren’t directly involved with Anubis affairs he was brought there by my mother.”

“Right! So! Nicolas, who used to be Tory, starts being tempted by your mother even though he is already with Carla, queen of the Lightning Lions. Lilly, Sandra’s mom-”

“Kyle… You don’t have to do that everytime…” Describing each person after stating their name was overly redundant.

“Right… Only a few more times… Anyways, Lilly and Cena become friends while in the Ruby Pack. Lilly talked about leaving the pack and wanting a normal life outside of the pack. So, Cena decides to help her since Lilly fell in love with a human. Cena teaches her how to turn humans into shapeshifters, since only females know how to do that, which is total bullshit but whatever.” He wasn’t wrong there. Never understood why that was a thing. My dad couldn’t even explain that phenomenon.

“Before she was able to turn him, Lilly got pregnant. At this point, Cena and Tory, now Nicolas, were messing around while she taught him how to shift into other tribal animals. Carla finds out and a big feud breaks out. At this point Benson was already born but still very young… I’m surprised Tory didn’t knock-up your mom and have a kid with her.”

“He did, but go on. I’ll explain that later.” Kyle looked completely stunned. It was satisfying knowing something he didn’t. He only paused for a moment as he continued his train of thought. It was becoming a very long train, it seemed.

“Anyways, this love affair goes too far and Tory becomes a Chimera. Apparently your mom knew how to become one as well. Her plan was to kill Carla and her tribe because Tory was still loyal to her. Carla ends up killing Tory but somehow he survived and lost a good portion of his memory. After several months of being in a coma he only remembers the basics. After a while he regains all his memories and abilities. To which he gave himself the task of killing your mother.”

“Wait, why the hell would he do that? She was a Chimera, dead to the world and to him so why bother?”

“She killed Lilly. So to carry out Lilly’s dying wish he would put Sandra up for adoption and kill Cena. However, in the process of killing her she managed to gain self control and speak with him in her Chimera form. She begged him to take care of Chaze and to not leave him alone in fear of your father. So, he broke one promise to fulfil another… Sorta.”

“He put Sandra up for adoption knowing her father knew the truth about what she really was. He tried to fulfill part of the promise by having her live a normal life… Away from anyone who knew about her being a shifter… Honorable. I guess that worked out in the end, as you told me earlier that her father was eaten by a Chimera. Sandra could have been eaten too. ”

“Exactly. And then he killed your-”

“No, not at all… My mom is still alive… She is the leader of the Chimera Tribe. The only one who can speak and has common sense. The others follow her orders and obey her recklessly.”

“Wow… That’s top secret stuff…” I couldn’t help but puff out my chest since that was a second thing Kyle didn’t know.

“It is… Only three people know of this. You, me, and my father.”

“Wouldn’t that be four since your mom is… Ha-ha!” He and I laughed a bit. For a very smart man he could win an oscar at playing dumb.

“So what about this other siblinging of yours, the one Cena had with Nicolas.”

“My sister? She’s your source. You talk to her everyday.”

“Shela!! THAT’S your sister! Oh man, dude look-”

“Kyle, it's okay. I know you two are a thing. Just don’t break her heart”

“Yeah-yeah, I know. You’ll break my face, beat my ass, blah-blah, I got it.”

“Ha-ha! Right… Dude, there will be nothing left of you if you break her heart… You’re dating a half breed Chimera… Remember?” His face was completely flushed. He looked worried, more so than I’ve ever seen him before.

“Damn… You’re right… She’ll eat me if I piss her off…” I laughed so loud I startled the driver. I only calmed down because Kyle wasn’t laughing. He was genuinely worried now.

“You’ll be fine. It's going well so far, right? Anyways, we need to hurry up and plan this fake kidnapping. Remember, Chaze and Sandra are going to be taken by my pack. Chaze already knows. To be honest he never told me he was the alpha of the pack. He just told me he was in it.”

“Yeah, pretty wild… I do have a question though… Is Benson and Nicolas right about their theory? Is your dad trying to raise his own Chimera?” I paused for a moment as I thought long and hard about this. I knew the answer, but trying to get into my dad’s way of thinking was impossible. I also felt bad for him.

“My dad doesn’t run the Anubis Tribe. Honestly speaking, I don’t either… My mother does. She has my poor father under her thumb. He is afraid to breathe because she can come down and rain hell on all of us and win. The thing that scares him the most, is no other tribe will help us if that ever happened. Anubis Tribe will be lost forever, all because he pissed her off… So yes, he is trying to have at least one Chimera on his side, or at least have one around ready to blow up if she decides to come after him… Here is another thing you don’t know… My dad has been working with Chaze’s dad to put this plan into motion. Little does Benson and Nicolas know, Chaze’s dad is king of the Wind Dragons. He has a lot of allies in different tribes. So when Benson and Nicolas went around asking for their aid, most of them ignored them because my dad already has Caesar on his side, and the two of them are planning something different then what Benson and Nicolas are making it out to be.”

“Yeah but, won’t your plan to kill your dad mess this up?” Hearing that line made me smile with passion. Plotting to end my old man was enjoyable to me. All of his talk about finishing what he started, ha! Not in this lifetime.

“That depends how smoothly this goes… I plan on making it very smooth… Lets focus on the task at hand. First, we kidnap my brother and Sandra. Then, we worry about the rest.” Kyle nods as the SUV pulls up to a club I loved to visit. Not only were the drinks the best in town, but I owned the place. I quickly texted something to Kyle as I got out.

“Driver, take Kyle to the warehouse on Central. That’s where we’ll bring our precious cargo when we kidnap them.”

“Very well. Right away.” I tapped the top of the car and took a few steps back. I got a reply from Kyle on my phone. Reading our messages made me smirk with delight.

Kane - Kill the driver when you get there. He isn’t under my pack. Don’t want any of what we said to reach my dad

Kyle - Already ahead of you. I texted my team to prepare for a body disposal