I could see the way his pupils dilated into slits revealing the beast that hid behind his human skin as he stalked closer to my crumpled form and bent down to curl his fingers around my tender throat. His fingernails dug in, and I could feel the sting of his nail in the mark he had placed on my neck.

"You are no longer my Chosen, and you are no longer a member of this Clan," he growled, his breath fanning my face as he tugged me up to my feet by my neck. He squeezed until he heard me gasp for breath. "I want you off of this territory and out of my life."

A broken, breathless sob escaped from between my lips as he delivered my sentence. "No," I tried to whisper, pin-pricked tears stabbing along the edges of my eyes. "Please . . . " I begged my Chosen. He was my lover, the one I chose to walk with me for life, my equal in soul — if not in rank.

For half of a second, I could see a flash of pain and doubt flittering across his pupils, allowing them to expand. But then it was gone, and his grip tightened more. "Silence yourself," he snapped. "I've made my decision and you will follow it through."

It was just that easy, wasn't it? An entire childhood together growing up, after three years of being mates, of watching our — His — Clan grow in a peace that it had not seen in centuries — together . . . He was giving up. He was putting the blame and weight of what happened entirely on me, refusing to see how he, too, was at fault.

He was completely willing to sign my death warrant so easily, write me off as if we had not both suffered a loss. I wanted to wail, to scream, to make him let me explain — but he was Denari, and his word was physically an order not even I could disobey. I could only manage a repeated, strangled, "please" as I stared at him.

His nostrils flared at the whispers I sent out, and he shoved me to the ground once more, slicing wounds into my neck in the process. Not deep enough to scar or kill me, but deep enough to sting and bleed. Yet the pain of these new wounds were nothing compared to how he took my entire life in his palm and smashed it in seconds.

"You're lucky I allow you to leave with your life," Andy said over my pleading whimpers. "You committed the highest crime and you lay here whimpering like a newborn kitten. Get ahold of yourself before I change my mind."

The order curled over me and I found myself, and Feline, fighting our emotions so we could stand. It was literally impossible to ignore or reject a Denari's order — those who try hard enough will likely meet the innner betrayal of their own feline. Their body will shut down, their organs will stop working, and death will greet them within seconds. That is why it is important to never attempt resisting an order.

Feline herself was trying so hard to push against the order for my sake, she was willing to allow her instinct to be overridden just so I could say my piece. That is when I decided to submit to his bared teeth and sharp tongue, growing limp. I wouldn't risk Feline's life. I couldn't.

Andy curled his iron-tight fingers around my wrist and jerked me behind him as he went toward the door of his office and threw it open. Outside in the common room stood many Clan members. All of them I knew since I was a cub, most of them I shared friendships with, many had mentored me in both school and training.

But the two that stood out the most were Lucky and Kay. Lucky, who's gray eyes were wide with despair once they landed on my blood-stained shirt and my mauled neck. Lucky, who was trembling and the stench of fear and an underlying feeling of fury nearly pooling around her like water. Lucky, my baby sister who I promised my brother to protect until my dying breath.

Kay, who had her arms wrapped around Lucky and was now pulling her against her chest. I locked eyes with the girl I called my best friend, brown meeting blue.

"Can I just . . ." The words escaped my throat as if I'd never spoken before. "Can I just tell her goodbye? I promise I . . . I won't take more than a few seconds." I turned in the painful grasp to face my former Chosen. "Please." I met his eyes this time, watching him hesitate. "I'll be gone quicker, Denari Andy. Please just let me say goodbye to my sister."

My words seemed to strike a chord, and the male nodded once and released my wrist. "Quickly, then," he snapped, narrowing his eyes and jutting his chin toward the two females.

I turned and opened my arms just as Kay loosened her grip on Lucky. The younger of us rushed toward me and her familiar scent filled my nose as I inhaled one last time — just to make it last. I buried my face in her hair and cupped the back of her head as she sobbed. "Lucky, I need you to listen."

She sniffled, but nodded against me. Good enough. My eyes scanned the crowd, watching them eye me warily, their bodies tensed. I knew it was not personal — I understood they had no voice in the matter of my exile, no matter how they felt, no matter how they saw who was truly at fault. They would be unable to save me from this fate.

"This punishment is mine and mine alone," I murmured into Lucky's soft hair, swallowing the need to cry. "You must not, under any circumstance, try to make it so you're faced with exile too. You belong here, in Andy's Clan, where you will be protected and happy and safe. You hear?"

She mumbled something and I gripped her arms, forcing her to look me in the eye. She was only fifteen, five years younger than myself. "Lucky, this is important. I know it hurts. I love you so, so much. But you need to stay here and behave. I'll always be with you."

Lucky sobbed again and I could sense Andy growing steadily impatient. My time was up. I did not give her a chance to respond as I gently nudged her to Kay, who embraced her. "Keep her safe," I choked out to my best friend.

Kay dipped her head. "With my life."

I nodded at her, my chest bursting as I tried to not show just how quickly I was falling apart. "Thank you."

"Alright, your time is up." I felt the iron grip on my wrist again, and I breathed out shakily. "Kay, control that cub before she does something stupid. I am in no mood to put a wailing child in her place."

Just like that, Feline reared her grieving head. She pushed against my skull and my eyes burned, likely glowing with her presence as my chin frantically jerked toward him without my consent. "Don't touch her! She has no involvement in this!" I was sure more words, many of them unkind, spewed from my mouth under Feline's control, but my lips were buzzing and numb and I paid no attention to what left my lips as I went over the horrid possibilities Lucky could face under Andy's wrath.

Andy snapped his jaws and moved his hand to my throat for the second time as he began dragging me through the crowd and toward the door. "Your sister's meek wails are not worth my time or effort." He shoved the door open and tossed me onto the patio, his eyes flashing. "If you are not off this territory by dusk, I will send them out to kill you and then I'll show your sister what is worth wailing over. Go before I kill you now."

Not willing to risk Lucky's life, I changed into my feral form and turned, wasting no time to race into the forest that I no longer called home.

• • •

My body was screaming, the muscles in my hips and shoulders begging to be put to rest. I could not grant them that rest until I crossed our borders at sunset. When I did cross, it was like losing my identity and safety. I was alone, in danger, and now tired.

Once my entire form crossed that invisible line, a zap of painful electricity courses through my body, pulling at the hairs on my bulky form. I stumbled on my paws, coming to a halt, claws digging into the soil for some sort of grounding. I had heard and learned of what it was like to lose the Clan connection. Once a feline crossed the border with no intent to return, once the Denari sensed the loss of one person on their territory, they snapped the connection with the entire Clan.

I was truly on my own now. I lowered my head and turned my neck back to peer through the forest. No physical border could be seen, but they would know if I crossed. They would feel an intruder.

And Andy would send them to kill me instantly. I was safe from them, but not from the horrors the outside world would give me. Not from the vulnerability that being without a Clan would give me.

My bones tired, my heart broken, and my head too quiet, I found a place to sleep high up in a tree. Snow leopard shifters rarely climbed, but it was the safest option, in case anything — or anyone — did come across me. The next morning my journey to nowhere in particular continued. The mountains in the distance called to me, however, and I debated going there. I would live as a leopard, rid myself of human skin for the rest of my life in my exile.

It was two days before I found a stream. I was having to lap the dew off the grass of barren land. I didn't shift back once. What was there to shift back into? I had no clothes. I had my pelt, that was enough for me right now. My long, broad tail quivered with excitement as I edged down the slope towards the stream. I could already feel the cold water on my parched tongue.

I bent down next to the stream and lapped my tongue across the water, shivering from pleasure of the soothing water rushing down my throat. Two full days had past without efficient amounts of water — this was a discovery I couldn't overpass. I had scented the stream miles before I saw it. I was going to savor it.

I drank from the stream for a good twenty minutes, taking breaks to let it settle in my stomach before going at it again. I then pulled back from the stream and sat back on my haunches, lowering my head and breathing out softly.

I let out a raspy breath and lifted my head back up, taking in my surroundings. Through the forest trees to my right, I could see a mountain peaking through. It was a beautiful sight.

I got back to my paws, a new energy now in my system. Maybe I would indeed go to those mountains and live the rest of my days there. It would be better off. If a Feline didn't have her Clan, she didn't have anybody. Real wild cats are perhaps loners, but not shifters. We seek out the bond of family and our mates, being alone was like a suckling newborn being ripped away from it's mother's milk supply and left to starve.

We weren't human without those bonds. We were nothing. It was decided. I would go into the mountains and find refuge there, never to be seen again. I gripped my long, thick claws into the slope as I started hauling myself up. Mud clung to my legs and paws, but it was soothing against my sore muscles and pads.

I scrambled over the ledge and shook myself, shaking my head and flicking mud off my whiskers. A flash of brown passed me and I was suddenly knocked back down, tumbling down the muddy slope and splashing into the river.

Rage and confusion filled me as I lay dazed. What the hell? I wondered, lifting myself to my paws and shakily looking around. I flattened my ears and looked around, snarling when I saw large beasts surrounding every edge of the slope, blocking any sort of escape route.

The wolves. I had crossed into a wolf-ridden territory, shifter wolves at that. Werewolves. Moon children. The sun children, the Felines, opposed everything the wolf cherished. It couldn't help that I was surrounded by a pack of them.

I snarled, lifting myself into the tallest position I could manage. Like the werewolves, Felines grew very large when they shifted. Not as big as the wolves, who grew a few inches taller than a grizzly, but still big.

The wolves snarled down at me, lips curled back around their teeth and tails in the air. They were just waiting to rip me to shreds. They were awaiting their alpha's order.

Alpha. A pathetic word. I have heard of many alpha wolves who had become soft at the hands of their mate. A Feline's Denari would never show such softness outside of his bedroom to his lover.

I lashed my tail and paced back and forth, yowling a challenge to them, encouraging them to come forward and try their damned luck with me. Go on! I dare you! I will claw your throat out and turn this stream red! Go on!

A loud snarl broke the crowd, causing wolves to back away. Most flattened their ears and flattened themselves belly to ground and backed away, whereas the more dominant lowered their heads as they backed.

The only other wolf to remain was next to the approaching wolf. It eyed me before turning to their alpha, and twitched their nostrils.

The first wolf squinted and shifted, showing me a very disturbing but . . . perhaps attractive view. He stared at me from the ledge and said, "Feline you are in Blackwood Territory. I highly recommend you shift if not out of courtesy, then out of respect."

I lifted my lip, revealing my teeth. The internal debate in my head went on for a solid thirty seconds, my eyes never leaving the male's sharp jawline rather than drifting downward. My skin crawled under the pelt of my body, and Feline's gentle nudging had encouraged me, for whatever reason, to reluctantly oblige and shift back into my naked human form.

The male slid down the mud slope, slowly, his bare feet collecting mud as he went. The other wolf watched with an intense gaze, tense and ready to lunge at me on command. Behind me, I heard the buffs of the other wolves as they paced out of eyesight, longing for action. I clenched my fists, my feet digging into the rocky ground beneath the water. I curled my lip at him, nostrils flaring as I took in his scent. Unexpectedly, it was not overwhelming. It was . . . rather pleasant. But the second he inches close enough to reach out, I sharply growled, ready to shift again.

He halted, his palms opening and fingers spread toward me to placate me. "I am not going to harm you," he announced, eyes focusing on me. They were so gold. "I promise."

I found my body relaxing at his words, but I watched him closely as he continued his approach. My lips peeled back when he brushed against me, yet I did not attack. Why wasn't I attacking?

He hummed slightly, his body radiating warmth from where he stood only inches away. He tried to reach out again, very slowly, his eyes locked with mine. I could see him reaching through the corner of my own eyes, and my breath left me in rage. When his fingers brushed against my hip, many things happened at once.

I jerked away as flames erupted across my skin where his fingers had simply brushed, the wolves around us started crying out, their barks sending messages to one another but falling on me as an unknown meaning.

And once more, the male crosses over to me, quicker, and caresses my chin and forces me to look at him. "It would seem we have a lot to discuss, Kitty," he purred, his lips curling into a smirk. "Come with me."