10. Every time I look at you.

We walked side by side as we delved deeper into the forest. The dwellings were no longer in sight. My parents didn't question us when we parked Mia's car at their place and turned to the forest. I could see the worry in their faces but with Mia accompanying me, they didn't follow me like the usually do.

I tried to contain the anxiety creeping up on me. Deep breaths. That's what Mrs. Biggs taught.

Mia grasped my hand in her own when my steps started swaying "Let's go back Amy. You don't want to be here"

I shook my head "You wanted to know"

"No if it's associated with Cathy, I am sorry for reminding you of her. Let's go back. I don't want to know"

"I want to tell you" I replied stubbornly "He wants me to tell you"

"Leoline?"

I nodded as we came to a stop before a relatively younger tree surrounded by ancient trees "It's grown bigger than the last time I saw her" I noted sitting down next to the tree. I pressed my lips to the rough surface of is trunk "Hey stubborn-head. I'm back. I am not alone though. I hope you don't mind a little company. Its just Mia not Sophie. I know you didn't like Sophie. I'll keep her away as much as I can"

Mia chuckled sitting down next to me "Sophie will kick you for saying that" she touched the tree "Hey Cathy we miss you. Spirits! How long has it been since my monkey last kicked your butt"

"Twelve years" I took a deep breath looking at the rows of trees ahead, shuddering at the images my memory served me. I looked away quickly.

Mia rubbed my shoulder "You got to let her go Amy. Even if that day never happened, Cathy wouldn't have been with you today. Non-shifter horses don't live longer than twenty five to thirty years"

"I know" I nodded "I know she wasn't a human but..." A lone tear escaped my eyes. I didn't bother wiping it away. There will be a lot more of those today "she was a piece of my heart. She was my wild spirit. She was my soul sister. You wouldn't understand"

No one does. They don't understand what Catherine was to me. We were born a month apart. My dad's a vet. Catherine's mother's owner brought her to my dad. She had little money to take care of her sick horse so my dad took her in. Her mother died at childbirth. I was only a month old when dad brought her home. Mom says took care of the two of us together.

Growing up no one ever saw the two of us without one another except at school of course. Mom says I threw a fit when I was told that Cathy wasn't allowed to my school. I even tried teaching her the alphabets. Dad laughs when he recalls how Cathy tried to chew the alphabet book when she got bored of my antics. I learned it the hard way that Cathy wasn't like me and I couldn't take her wherever I go.

I cried for weeks when I read in my text books that Cathy has a lot shorter lifespan than us. My dad then bought us a friendship book. He took pictures of us at every milestone we took together and stuck it to the book. I remember sitting in our lawn with Cathy next to me as I filled the book with detailed description of what we achieved. It was the memories I would gather one by one so when the time for me to bid her goodbye comes, I would be prepared.

Making friends with Cathy by my side was hard. She didn't like sharing my attention so most of the kids kept away from me. That was until one day Mia decided she had enough of her diva attitude and shifted into her animal. Her monkey climbed on Cathy effortlessly and started hitting her on the head with her little fists. Cathy found it entertaining and thus started her love for Mia. Sophie wasn't that lucky. Cathy had picked little Sophie up the first time they met and had flung her at a stash of hay. Sophie hated her since then.

"It was the day of Catharine's sixteenth birthday" I stared "I begged dad to let us go to the forest. Cathy was always so eager to get away from home. I would often find her by the lake grazing away when I come back from school. I wanted her to be where she loved to be.

I shifted into my animal and my mom tied my clothes on my back in case I decide to shift back. We walked by the lake, grazing at the sweet grass along the bank. We didn't realize how far we got" I broke down at that point.

"It wasn't your fault" Mia cooed taking me in her arms.

"It was" I argued "I shouldn't have left her alone but I did. I watched Cathy jump into the shallow water of the lake and decided to shift so I could wash her better. I thought there will be others around. I didn't realize how far we got. I swear I couldn't have gone for more than ten minutes and when I returned...." I shivered at the memory "....she was gone. I ran around looking for her listening to ant sound I could gather"

"I know Amy" Mia said softly "I know what the wild predator did. You don't have to recount it"

"No you don't. You don't know anything Mia" I shook my head violently "There" I pointed at a tree a few meters away "I was standing there when my eyes finally found her or rather what remained of her and next to her was a man, a shifter"

Mia gasped "I thought it was a wild lion"

"There was a lion alright but the shifted lion wasn't the one covered in Cathy's blood from head to toe. No. It was the shifter in his human form" I whimpered at the memory "I screamed at the sight but my feet wouldn't move. That was the moment I realized what fear smelled like Mia, the moment the shifter's head snapped to me and his eyes met mine.

His golden eyes danced with pride, his jaws dripping blood of his latest accomplishment, his white t-shirt now red in the colour of his victory. He was the one that took Cathy away from me. The shifted Lion was simply sharing his meal.

My eyes moved to his feet and my own feet gave away at the sight. The lion growled and the shifter growled back but I paid no attention to them. How could I when my Cathy was lying lifeless in a pool of red at his feet. She was gone"

Mia held me close as I wept.

Minutes passed before she broke the silence that my tears had brought "Was it Leoline? The shifter?"

I took a deep breath and pulled myself away from her before nodding "Arthur Leoline. The man I wish I never met"

"Did he hurt you?"

I chuckled humorlessly "Oh we haven't even gotten to the fun part yet. Turns out the Arthur Leoline who could kill a fully grown horse in his human form couldn't hurt me"

"What do you mean?"

"After he realized I was there, he tried to wipe his blood smeared mouth with his bloody hands" I barked out a laugh "You should have seen his face Mia. It was like he was more scared of me than I was of him. I tried to keep my fear, my agony at bay as he started walking towards me but the smell of Cathy's blood was too much for me and I fainted" Mia took a sharp breath as I continued "When I woke up I was in my room, in my bed. Alone. A part of me was snatched away from me and I couldn't even bid her a respectable goodbye"

Mia rubbed my back in consonance "I'm sorry you had to go through so much Amy"

We sat in silence there for a long time, my head on Mia's shoulder as she rubbed my shoulder gently.

"Three months later I saw him again" I said at last breaking the silence.

"Arthur? What did he want?" she frowned.

"I couldn't find out that day" I replied "He was waiting for me near the old park the one I used to walk by on my way to and from school. I fainted at the sight of him. Later we got a little colt delivered at our house with an apology letter that said he didn't know Cathy was mine. He thought she was a wild horse"

"That makes sense" she nodded.

"He sent a f*cking replacement Mia" I raised my voice "As if my Cathy was replaceable. She was just another accomplishment to him"

"I'm sorry" Mia said softly "You have suffered so much"

"I kicked the damn colt out of our premises and then came his incessant calls"

"That's weird" Mia commented.

"That went on for months and when I finally gathered enough strength to talk to him, I told him that I didn't want him anywhere near me or Cathy's remains. I didn't understand his insistence that I forgive him when he very well knew he couldn't even be punished by the law. Cathy wasn't a human or a shifter. Shifters are allowed to hunt animals in the forest. All I asked of him was to leave me alone and he refused to do that. He promised to leave me alone if I stopped hating him. How can I stop hating him when every time I look at him I see him tearing into Cathy's flesh?"

Mia nodded in agreement "He atleast has the decency to feel sorry for you"

I scoffed "Oh please! Don't fool yourself by thinking that he was doing it because he felt sorry for what he did to Cathy. No, had it been anyone else but me, he would have left without a second glance. He wasn't doing it for me, he was doing it for himself, for his animal. Remember when Victor asked me to prom?"

Mia nodded "The bastard ditched you on the day of the prom and lied saying he was kidnapped" Mia rolled her eyes "Who kidnaps someone and then drops them home the next day?"

"Arthur did it" I said "Arthur kidnapped Victor"

Mia frowned "Why would he do that?"

"Because I am not allowed to go out with anyone, because I'm not allowed to love someone, to kiss someone....to want someone. The day I lost Cathy, I lost my free will too" I smiled "I now belong to Arthur Leoline and only he can decide what I can or cannot do with my life"

"Amy...."

"I am his mate" I said it out loud "I am Arthur Leoline's mate Mia"

Mia gasped "That's impossible"

"The spirits make mistakes sometimes" I told her "We are one of those mistakes"

"Oh Amy" Mia hugged me "I'm so sorry. How did you deal with it for so long?"

I shook my head "Let's go, it's not something I want to talk about in front of Cathy's grave. Moreover it's getting late. Mom will worry about us getting lost in the forest"

She agreed and we bid Cathy goodbye before making our way back home.

"I have never heard of any such case" Mia said as we walked through the forest.

I shrugged "I don't care, neither about predators nor their mates. I just want a way out"

"Did you find a way out?"

I gritted my teeth at that "That's what we were fighting over the other day when you broke in my house. All these years, he promised me that he would find a replacement, you know find another of his kind to mark. But the other day he told me he was simply lying to me. He has no intention of finding another mate"

"He wants you" she said.

"Spirits! No" I scrunched my nose at the idea "his animal wouldn't allow him to take another mate so he wants us stay this way"

"How long?"

"Forever"

"Like this as in without love forever?" Mia's eyes widened.

I nodded "I'm not going to obey him this time though....."

"Wait" Mia cut me off "Does that mean he beat up all your boyfriends?"

I nodded "He got his assistant to do it"

"The bull?"

"Yeah. His name's Keith"

"How did you keep this from us for so long? Do your parents know?" she asked

I shook my head "No one knows. Only you and Keith"

"And the Lion?" she asked.

I frowned "He refused to divulge who the Lion was" I recalled a conversation we had years ago. He didn't seem to like the lion much.

"Do you plan on telling Sophie?" she asked.

I shook my head "Once I get rid of him, I'll tell her"

"Is it possible to get rid of him?" she asked unsurely

"I have found the perfect bait for that" I replied confidently "Rhea Wright. You have to help me"

"What can I do about it?" She frowned.

"Arthur was once in love with her but her mate came by and he had to give her up" I smirked "Now we have to help Arthur Leoline get back with his lost love. Isn't that the perfect plot for a romantic movie?"

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