Page 23 of Raven

The four guys from Spy Glass.

What were the odds?

ELEVEN

I tensed as they made their way toward us, and I felt Tia stiffen beside me. Her fear pulsed alongside my own heartbeat, beckoning my panther to the surface, a primal urge to protect and soothe her overwhelming me.

I held no fear for these Humans—bullies fuelled by arrogance and ignorance. In a true contest of strength, they wouldn't last a heartbeat. Even all four against me, devoid of silver, would find themselves woefully unprepared. But my fear wasn’t rooted in the physical confrontation.

It was the laws that haunted me, the biassed rules woven into the fabric of our existence, heavily skewed in favour of Humans. A Human could strike me down, mar my flesh, and walk away with barely a slap on the wrist. Yet, should I dare to retaliate with even the slightest aggression, I’d find myself shackled and condemned.

These were the chains that bound us, not just the physical but the societal shackles that held tighter than any metal.

So, as they approached, I suppressed the rising growl, the instinctive need to defend and dominate. I remained seated, my voice steady, cloaked in a veneer of calm I was far from feeling.

“We don’t want any trouble,” I declared, my eyes locked on the Human I had clashed with outside Spy Glass. The faint bruise on his face was the evidence to our last encounter—a lingering shadow of defiance.

“Oh, there’s no trouble.” He chewed on his gum, smirking with a cocksure swagger. Leaning against the table, palms down, his eyes weren't on me but on Tia—and not her face. She squared her shoulders, trying to mask the fear but it radiated from her as she sat up straight. But his gaze wandered from her throat slowly downward, lingering lewdly on her cleavage. His smile widened into a predatory grin.

I leant in, my voice low and lethal. “Back the fuck off.”

His movements were slow, almost teasing. I wasn’t sure what game he thought he was playing. This was just a crude contest of dominance, and although I might win in a physical showdown, he knew he had the societal upper hand. I could stand, push back, charge through him and his damned cronies to make them leave us alone.

But it wouldn’t matter. Not here in the diner with all these witnesses. Not one of them would vouch for me. None would admit he provoked me, that he came in and targeted us. No, they would all testify how the shifter lost control. How our kind should be eliminated at birth, because that was the Human agenda, wasn’t it? Every time we defended ourselves, justified or not, just provided them more evidence of our so-called danger. And anything deemed dangerous needed to be eradicated.

"You even think about touching her, I’ll?—"

"What?" He cocked a brow at me, his smirk daring me to continue.

Tia’s arms rested on the table. Where he stood meant she was trapt. She tried to pull her hands back to her lap, to shrink away, but he caught them, pressing down on her wrists. "Not so quick, sweetheart."

Her eyes blazed with the fierceness of her panther, the green in them intensifying. She yanked her arm, pulling away from him. She could handle them too. Maybe not all four, but him for sure. "Get off me," she said firmly.

The primal snarl that rumbled from my throat was uncontrollable, a visceral reaction as my panther sensed not just a threat, but a direct challenge to the woman I might one day claim as my mate. In the depths of my soul, I had already marked her as mine. Though we were young, and society's harsh laws loomed over us; my instincts screamed to protect her, regardless of the consequences.

"You forgot to say please," he said as he reached for her once more.

My reflexes were quicker, honed by both nature and necessity. My hand shot out, fingers clamping down on his wrist with an iron grip. Unlike Tia, he could only retreat if I permitted it. With a mere twist, I could shatter the fragile bones of his Human hand, reducing him to writhing agony on the dirty floor. The image of his pain flickered through my mind, a tempting siren call. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to unleash the full wrath of my panther. He wasn’t worth the price of my life.

None of us noticed the woman who'd approached until she slammed a bat down on the table beside us, making each of us start in our own way. Yet, my grip on the man remained unyielding.

“There’ll be no fighting in here. I’ll call the police. I’m not afraid to,” she declared sternly.

“We’re not fighting, we’re talking, aren’t we?” the Human retorted smugly.

“They were leaving,” I countered firmly.

The woman, large and imposing, exuded an aura of authority that could instil fear in anyone, regardless of species or toughness. I could almost picture her at home, ruling over abrood of sons with an iron will that brooked no challenge. She placed her hands on her hips. “I think that’s a good idea.” She then nodded at me, “You two, finish that cake and then you leave. I don’t want to see you back here ever again.”

See, that was it. We were all asked to leave, but Tia and I? Banned. For what? Defending ourselves against some jerks? I despised them. Fucking Humans. It was so ludicrous. Sometimes, often really, I thought maybe we could achieve some kind of peace. Not me and those guys, but Humans and shifter species in general. Just to live. It was one world, and we were all part of it, crafted by whatever creator you believed in, each here for a reason.

But they were fucking idiots. All of them. They spewed lies, concocted stories, and seemed to thrive on vilifying us. When I came across Humans like these, no, I didn’t want equality; I wanted them gone.

“You need to let go of his hand, son,” a man’s voice interrupted my brooding thoughts, maybe the same age as the woman, possibly her husband and co-owner of the cafe. He held a gun, not aiming it directly at me, but the implication was clear, especially with the silver-laced darts it held—not bullets, but just as lethal to our kind.

Reluctantly, I released the Human’s arm, and the smirk that spread across his face was like that of a schoolyard bully who had just got you in trouble.

“Now, the four of you leave,” the woman directed them sharply. “And don’t come back here tonight.”

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