Inner animal., Emily Zimmerman. [different e readers TXT] 📗

turned fiery with anger and he looked at Bane. Without a word he started around the bed.
I was over the bed and in front of Bane at inhuman speed. “Dad, don’t you dare even think about taking this out on Bane! It was a mutual decision!” I said.
He turned his fiery gaze to me. “You lied to us, Nina!” he shouted.
“I only lied because I knew this would happen!” I yelled back.
Bane put his hand on my arm to calm me, and I relaxed immediately. “You are grounded, young lady! And you are not allowed to see Bane again!” Dad yelled.
Tears welled in my eyes. “You can’t-“
“I can and I will!” He said.
I was trying to think of something, anything to say to try and persuade him, but my mind was blank. I stared at dad with pleading eyes, but his remained angry. I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at Bane. He stared at me sadly. “You have five minutes to say goodbye. We’ll be outside the door.” Mom said, dragging dad out with her.
As soon as the door shut I was in Bane’s arms, sobbing into his chest. “I don’t want you to leave!” I sobbed.
He stroked my hair, sighing. “I know Love. I’m so sorry.” He whispered.
“How can they do this?” I asked brokenly.
He tightened his arms around me and kissed my forehead. “I don’t know. We’ll see each other again, remember our plans? We were going to get married and have twenty children, and we were going to have a house on the beach where our children can play fetch with our dog Fido – for lack of a better name – and we were going to grow old together and have thirty grandchildren at our feet.” He chuckled.
I smiled and looked up at him. “That sounds nice. But we’d have to have quite a large beach to accommodate all of those children.” I said, wiping my eyes.
He smiled softly and nuzzled my neck. “I have to go, Nina.” He whispered sadly as a soft knock came to the door, signaling the end of our goodbyes.
I kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you.” I whispered.
“I love you too.” He whispered back.
He let me go, keeping ahold of my hand as if, when we let go of each other, the bond we had would be broken. “I love you.” He said once more before letting my hand go.
I stood in the middle of the room, watching as the door opened, and he slipped out with a saddened glance my way. I sank to my knees in the middle of the room and dropped my head in my hands. “Nina. I hope you understand that this is for your own good-“
“Will you please just…leave me alone?” I asked them, not looking up.
I felt them both pause, and then I heard their footsteps going out of the room. A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock at the door. I tried to compose my voice a little before asking softly, “who is it?” my voice was still thick with tears.
“It’s Lamina, sweetheart.” She said softly.
I wiped my eyes and got up, walking over, I opened the door and pulled Lamina in. I shut the door behind her and sat down on the bed beside her. Lamina studied me in silence for a full minute, and without having to say a word, I burst into tears.
“Oh, sweetheart! I know it’s hard, I’m so sorry!” she said, pulling me into a tight hug.
I hugged her back, needing her comfort more than anything. “They just tore us apart, not a word of understanding from either of them!” I cried.
She pat my back comfortingly. “I know sweetheart. And that’s why I don’t want to tell Drake I’m pregnant until after the wedding. He’ll go berserk. Joan wanted to tell them early, but I decided against it. Though, I suppose, I am almost twenty nine, and he needs to get over his overprotectiveness. But you are his daughter, and he’s most protective of you because he just got you back.” Lamina said.
I nodded, but I still didn’t understand how he could be so cold. He was like Bane when he was young, he also had a mate, and he knew the pull Bane and I had to each other. “I can’t just…not see Bane again! We’re connected to each other! We’re mates! Why don’t they understand that?” I asked her.
Lamina sighed. “They do understand…when they’re not being so stubborn. Just give them time to think, they’ll come around.” Lamina promised.
I nodded. “Okay. I’m a little hungry, let’s go get something to eat.” I said, wiping my eyes.
Lamina smiled. “Girl, you read my mind.”
I pulled my short hair back into a small bob, since I didn’t know what else to do with it, and we rode the elevator to the dining room. Dad and Mom sat at the end of the table, and I went silent. Lamina and I sat far away from them, more from my preference then hers. Joan walked in a few minutes later and sat beside us just as we got our food. I had a chicken salad sandwich, Lamina had some chicken nuggets with fries and a side of corn, and Joan had a strange concoction of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, and chicken all mixed together. I had to laugh at his creativeness.
“This is his favorite meal. He eats it every chance he gets.” Lamina rolled her eyes at me.
Joan smiled but didn’t look up from his meal. “That actually looks kind of good.” I said, shrugging.
Lamina laughed and mussed my hair, making me glare at her playfully. Though I was trying to be happy, to make Lamina feel better, I felt hollow without Bane beside me. I missed him, more than I missed the old sanctuary.
A girl who looked my age, maybe a little older than me scooted into the seat next to mine. She had strange black spots in her hair and the rest was a tan-orange color. “Hi, I’m Velody, but you can call me Vel, everyone does. I’m sorry to bother you, but I just need to say, you are extremely powerful.” She said.
I looked at her and cocked my head to the side. “I’m Nina. What makes you say that?”
“My power is to sense others powers, I know their power before they do. You can read people’s minds, but you have to have a pencil and a pad of paper, you can also look into the future that way. But you have a second power that hasn’t fully developed yet…I’m not sure…but it seems extremely powerful, like your mother’s. It’s not developed enough to know what it is just yet.” She murmured.
I smiled at her. “Thank you; I wondered what was happening when I’d try drawing. Do you know if there is any way to control it?” I asked.
She nodded. “Of course, it just takes practice. All you have to do is focus your mind on any one person, or object, and choose what you’d like to do, if you’d like to see their future, or if you’d like to read their minds.” She said.
“Thank you very much. You have a very unique power, what is your inner animal?” I asked her.
“Me? Oh I’m a cheetah, only I can run for hours, regular cheetah’s and only run in short bursts.” She said.
Lamina and Joan were listening intently, and I suspected mom and dad were too, with how they weren’t moving, but they kept their heads down, looking at their food.
“Is it natural to have more than one power?” I asked her curiously.
“It is rare to develop two powers without developing two inner animals, but it can happen, and I don’t sense another inner animal developing in you, only power. If you did develop an inner animal, they’d fight for dominance and eventually, they’d take over your mind so they’d both have room for each other. It’s a vicious cycle, but it has happened.” She said, her face twisting up in a grimace.
We both knew to whom. Garrison.
Velody turned her eyes to Lamina and they twinkled with delight. “Your child will be special. She’s going to be a fierce Clouded leopard, I can already feel the inner animal developing inside her.” She saw Lamina’s worried expression and tried to calm her. “Do not worry, she is in no danger. She will be premature, by quite a few years actually.”
“What?” dads booming voice echoed through the room, making me wince.
Velody’s eyes widened with understanding and she grimaced in apology. I pat her hand to tell her it wasn’t her fault. Lamina sighed. “It’s okay Velody, they were going to find out anyway.” She said softly.
“Lamina…I want to speak to you…alone.” Dad said through clenched teeth.
Lamina rolled her eyes and stood up, following Bane out of the room. “I am so sorry! I had no idea-“
“Don’t worry, Velody, you couldn’t have known.” I told her soothingly.
Joan sat with his hands clenched in front of him, staring intently at his plate. “Come, Velody, I want to test my power.” I told her, seeing that she was still brooding over her mistake.
“Okay.” She whispered.
As we took the elevator to get to my room, I noticed there were tears rolling down her cheeks. “Velody, you couldn’t have known-“
“I felt his inner animal’s anger at me. I can sense powers, and inner animals, and that means I can also sense the emotions of inner animals. He was angry at me.” She said.
“He wasn’t angry at you. No one is. I promise you, my dad is just going to speak with Lamina, and then she is going to set him straight, he can’t interfere with their relationship, she’s a grown woman. No one is angry at you at all.” I told her.
Velody broke down as the elevator doors opened. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her to my room. “I always mess things up. I’m such a pathetic excuse for a shifter.” She said in between sobs.
I pulled her into my room, trying to comfort her as best I could. “You are not. How long have you been a shifter?” I asked her.
She sniffed and looked at me. “Three weeks.”
“It’s taken me much longer to even comprehend my power, if anything; you are one of the best shifters I’ve met. When we get to the island tomorrow, we’ll go to school and meet so many other shifters. I promise you, you are not a pathetic excuse for a shifter.” I said sternly.
She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “You really think so?” Valery asked me softly.
I nodded. “Of course.”
She smiled through her tears. “You are a good person, Nina.”
I smiled back. “Thank you, now I’m going to get a pad, some paper, and a pencil, and we’re going to try this out.” I said.
I went into my closet, searching for the pad that I knew was in the box. I finally found it on the shelf in the far corner. I grabbed it and the colored pencils that sat on top of it and plopped down beside Velody on the floor by the bed. “Nina…I didn’t want to say this in front of your parents…but your inner animal seems to be in emotional pain.” She said.
I sighed. I’d felt that too. “Yes. We both are. My parents have forcefully separated me from my mate. I don’t blame them, I just wish they’d understand why Bane and I…never mind. Let’s start the experiment.” I waved my hand.
“I understand.” She whispered.
“Okay. Does the person have to be in the same