Inner animal. by Emily Zimmerman. (ebook reader for laptop .TXT) 📕

the best night of my life” I said immediately.
She was silent for a beat before she finally whispered, “really?”
I slid down to her level, leaning over her and staring into her eyes “really”
A slow, small smile spread across her luscious lips and she looked down at my chest “it was for me too”
I leaned down and captured her lips with mine, kissing her briefly before I got up. Her beautiful lips twisted up into a pout and she crossed her arms “we have to go, Nina. What would your parents think if they found you here?” I asked her on a sigh.
She groaned as she sat up, and just as her feet hit the ground, a scream echoed through the sanctuary. We both looked at each other for a mere second before running out my door. The whole place was in chaos; Jenna and Drake were shifted, along with Lamina and Joan. And I could just make out two bears, Laurence and Maria, fighting off two Jaykoren.
“Bane! Get these people to the ship! Your father is waiting. We’ll hold them off as long as we can and then meet you there. Go!” Jenna called.
I grabbed Nina’s hand and called for everyone in the sanctuary to follow me. I smelled smoke and realized that they had set the entire building on fire. We all shifted as we left the sanctuary and ran in the direction of the beach. As we barreled through the forest, behind the group, I listened for footsteps that didn’t sound like shifters. I didn’t hear any.
I looked at Nina and realized she was doing the same thing, I shook my head at her and she nodded once. We hit the sand, still running. The ship that we used for evacuation was idling off the shore. We shifted and piled into the smaller boats. I nodded to my dad who was in the other boat at the shore and we sailed off to the evacuation ship.
The ship was a mega yacht; easily big enough to hold us all. The trip by sea to our new sanctuary was three days, the island held a little village. The leader of that village of shifters feels the need for schools. So we’ll have to go, but I wasn’t thinking about that right now.
I grasped Nina’s hand in mine as we reached the boat. I pulled the boat around to the wet-room and jumped out, helping everyone off. I picked up a child whom hasn’t even shifted yet, she had to ride on her mother’s back, most of the children did. I lifted them all onto the boat and they ran to their fathers while they waited for their mothers.
Nina was leaning down on one knee in front of a woman with an infant, trying to convince her to let her go so she could get safely off the boat “I promise, she’ll be okay, let me hold her until you are safely off of the boat, and then she’ll be handed to you. Please.” Nina said softly, holding her arms out.
The mother stared into Nina’s eyes for a few seconds before quietly nodding and tentatively giving her the infant. She got up and took my outstretched hand, climbing carefully off. Nina cradled the child to her chest as she walked over to me, giving me the baby. Just as I was helping Nina out, Jenna, Drake, Lamina, Joan, Laurence and Maria sailed in and quickly jumped out.
We anchored the boats to the side of the yacht and Nina and I watched from the sundeck as the sanctuary went up in a plume of smoke.
“All of my things, my pictures, my clothes, they’re all gone” she whispered, staring out at the island as it slowly got farther away.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple “it’ll be alright. We’re still alive. Barely anyone was hurt, and those who were hurt are healing as we speak. Your things were just things; our lives are something we should be grateful for.” I tried to convince her.
I heard her hitch a breath and watched as a single tear fell down her cheek “I know. I’m sorry. But you can’t blame me for being sad.” She murmured.
“And I don’t. How could I ever blame you? Come on, love. I’ll show you your room.” I murmured softly.
We walked to the elevator, and she held tightly to me as if afraid I would walk away from her. I punched in the third floor and we started up. She looked up at me “where are we going now?”
“We’re going to another sanctuary. The headmaster is going to have us in school. College grade probably. It’s going to be a three day trip.” I explained. Her eyes were still filled with tears, and it killed me to see her this way. I wished that I could just go back in time and at least get some of her things. I understood how she felt, we all lost things most important to us.
I held her close to me as we stepped out of the elevator. I turned to her and pressed my lips to hers.
“We prepare for every new shifter in case of emergency. We have new clothes for you in your room, copies of pictures, and a few of your favorite posters. Sadly any picture frames or pieces of jewelry will be lost forever.
She paused mid-stride “I still have my pictures?” she asked softly.
I nodded “of course. And the clothing we give is set according to your style. My clothing is all black and green” I chuckled.
She smiled slightly “okay. I can handle it if I have all my pictures” she murmured.
We entered her room and she took a deep breath, examining the purple bedspread and dark mahogany bed-frame. This room was much bigger than her old room, with a small flat-screen TV in front of a purple sofa on the other side of the room. Her walls were painted a darker shade of purple, and the ceiling was regular white.
I watched as she walked over to a box sitting in front of her bed on the floor. She leaned down and, with a sigh of relief, picked up a picture.
“Your room will not be changed. We have copies of the pictures in that other box that you can use in your room at the sanctuary. The reason that we do this is because we feel that the inner animal is comforted by familiar sites. So too many new things don’t make you go…feral” I explained.
She smiled at me “I think we went pretty feral last night” she raised an eyebrow at me.
I grinned, yes we did.
Chapter twelve:

I got up and walked over to Bane. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled his head down and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up off the ground, crushing me to his chest. I smiled under his lips and tangled my hands in his hair.
The clearing of a throat made Bane and I break apart, he set me down and we looked behind him. Mom, dad, Lamina, Maria and Laurence all stood there, looking between Bane and I.
I blushed and hid behind Bane “there seems to be a pattern here” dad muttered.
“How long has this been going on?” Maria asked.
Bane wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me out from behind him. “We’ve been together for two weeks” I shrugged.
Dad and mom knew, and I’m pretty sure Lamina – if not knew already – suspected something. Bane wasn’t shy about it at all, he was grinning widely.
“Well I can see you two are happy about it” Maria smiled.
I glanced at Lamina, who was giving me a look that said we needed to talk about this.
I turned to Bane “I need to talk to Lamina. Go to your room and get settled” I murmured.
He nodded, kissed my cheek and, with a wistful smile, left.
Mom and dad raised an eyebrow, Laurence looked distrustful, Maria looked like she didn’t see anything wrong, and Lamina KNEW something was wrong.
“You guys go get settled. We need to talk in privet” Lamina ordered.
Everyone rolled their eyes, but separated. Lamina pulled me into my room and shut the door, ‘’tell me everything!” she exclaimed.
I laughed “well…we’re mates”
She let out a loud squeal and pulled me into a hug “I knew it, I knew it!” she jumped up and down with me in her arms.
“Has he told you he loves you yet? Are you guys…serious?” she asked me excitedly.
I laughed and nodded “yes, we’re pretty serious; I mean you saw me with him. He has told me he loves me, many times actually” I sat down on my bed and sighed dreamily “he’s so wonderful. He’s kind, sweet, charming. He is always gentle when he’s around me. I love him” I whispered.
Lamina sat beside me “that is nothing like the Bane I know. Bane is always so…full of disdain. I’ve never seen him act the way he does with you. That smile was a very unusual Bane smile. He’s usually got no smile at all, his mother’s death changed him.” She murmured sadly.
I looked down at my hands. I’d heard about his mother’s death. Poor Bane.
“Lamina…can I tell you something? I don’t want to share this with my parents because I know they’ll go ballistic. I’m trusting you with this secret and I want you to cross your heart – no matter what you think of this – that you won’t tell them.” I said fiercely.
Lamina immediately crossed her heart and acted as if she was sticking a pin in her eye; it surprised me that she didn’t jump to conclusion.
“Bane and I sort of… did the deed last night” I blushed deep red.
“What? Oh my God!” she screamed.
I shushed her, she didn’t seem upset, just completely surprised.
“You had sex with Bane?” she whispered loudly.
I smiled sheepishly “I hadn’t really thought about it in that…use of words, but yes…we did” I muttered.
Lamina did a strange squeal in the back of her throat and grabbed me by my shoulders “how was it?”
I stared at her in shock, how do I answer that? Honesty seemed the way to go.
“It was the best night of my life” I blushed again.
“Oh my gosh! I understand completely! Joan and I have been keeping it from Drake too, you know how protective Drake is of me…and now that you’ve told me your secret, I have to tell you mine. I’m pregnant.” She put her hand to her flat stomach as if to protect it.
I gaped at her, and then half screamed “seriously?”
“Shh! Drake doesn’t know. He would go berserk. But yes, I just found out two weeks ago. You know how Drake has been so protective of me? Well that is because Joan and I are planning our wedding” a tear slid from her