The roar of the man shook the dust from the rafters.
Leah scrambled away from the man. Her body was close to the floor, and her shoulders were trembling as she stared at the man who was melting in front of her. And no. Not the —he blushed too hard— kind of melting. No, he was literally melting.
His skin started to peel off his bones and flesh, and blood started to seep through the torn and burnt patches while his eyes glowed an eerie shade of orange.
"What have you done to me!?" The man stumbled forward with his hands stretched forward.
As if he were not the one who was trying to suppress her just a moment ago.
The temperature in the room spiked, and Leah stepped away from the man. The faint glow that was emanating from the man's skin started to get brighter and brighter. Soon, the body of the man was glowing like a burning ember, and his body soon started to turn a furious shade of black, like it was a living, breathing piece of coal.
The smell of burning flesh permeated the room, making Leha's head spin. This was simply insanity. It was simply chaos.
And just when Leah thought that the situation was going to turn even more chaotic, there was one last roar followed by a sudden boom, and the body of the man exploded like a small, miniature human bomb.
Blood, flesh and bones splattered all over the floor, the walls and even the ceiling.
As for Leah? She stood in the middle of the mess. Her body was still recovering from the shock. She had no idea what had happened, but Leah knew that it was due to her. The man had touched her; his fingertips had brushed against her skin, and then the man had screamed in pain.
How it had happened, Leah didn't have the slightest bit of an idea about it. But the shifter—the alpha had died due to her. Which meant that she would be blamed for it nonetheless.
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh no, no, no.
She knew that she had to get out of here, even though Leah hadn't meant to kill this man; it had happened, and it happened with her in the room. Killing shifters was prohibited to begin with, and alphas even more so. Now that she had killed an alpha—no, he had died on his own—
Do the actions and consequences even matter when you are about to be executed if the council catches you? The voice in her head jeered mockingly, and Leah snapped out of her thoughts.
She had to get out of here. She had to— with the restraints off her feet, she shifted. The sound of popping and bone cracking echoed in the room as Leah's body shifted and turned smaller. Soon, on the spot where Leah stood, a small furball was crouching. Her grey fur was matted with blood and flesh.
With her green eyes staring at the bloody mess in front of her, the pallas cat let out a purring sound. Her tail thumped on the floor as if annoyed with the turn of events before she turned around and jumped out of the window.
**
Everything felt distant, like she was watching a play unfold, or maybe she was participating in a TV series herself. There were at least three murderous shifters hunting her, and yet all Leah could think about was the oddest thing at the moment. Like the burger shop that was just a few buildings away from where she was hiding.
Maybe she had officially gone loopy. Like the proper—the patient needs to be dragged to the white room with a straitjacket—kind of loopy. Leah had always known that this was going to happen to her sooner or later; she just never thought that it would happen before she could even reach twenty.
Like spending her eighteenth birthday in the mental hospital? That was crazy.
But then again, after getting framed for killing an alpha who had bought her for the night and then tragically died in front of her, the very night he purchased her. So, of course, the suspicion was going to be pointed at her. Turning her into a frenzied woman was the least that would happen to her.
Or maybe she was in shock. It would make sense if that was what she was into at the moment. Shock was the only way a body would protect itself from trauma and ptsd, right? After all, seeing a man exploding like a piñata should be counted as something traumatic?
And to cap it all, she was hungry. She really needed something in her stomach, or, God, she was going to faint right here and now.
She should be grappling with the idea of three murderous shifters chasing after her, and yet all she could worry about was the rumbling of her stomach.
Leah knew that she was not normal.
But then again, nothing about the current situation was normal.
Her paws were struggling hard to hold her steady. She had no idea how long she had run or how many turns she had taken. Her small frame was about to give up, and the only thing that was holding her up was the hope that she would be able to snatch the out-of-proportion breakfast from the ladies sitting in Cuck-A-Oh.
These ladies should be sitting in a lavish, fancy breakfast cafe, and yet they were lounging right outside a burger store. The server had already brought over their breakfast and placed it all on the table.
As the sound of children's laughter echoed behind her, Leah ducked behind a trash can. Not her fault. Cats and children never went hand in hand. She had no idea what part of a predatory, wild kitty attracted these hell-raising minions, but every time they saw her, they wanted to carry her in their arms and look at their parents with a puppy dog eye look.
And all of them only had one sentence to say —
"Mommy, can I keep this kitty, pleaseeeee!"
Like hell you can!