Zachary Blake's Story

Zac woke up with a slight jolt as he saw someone beside him in his bed. It was already noon, Zac was custom to sleeping in. He was really glad his family had welcomed him back to the order, he hated the heat here though, he loved the ice cold waters of northern canada where he had spent most of his life in outcast.

Zac watched as the other person on the bed rolled over and he saw it was a woman. Zac smiled he then remembvered last night. Zac couldn't help but think 'Why the hell is she still here?' But what came out of his mouth was "You should get going." Then he felt a hand on his houlder and he looked behind him to see another woman. 'That was one hell of a night.' Zac thought to himsefl as both the women got up and finished putting the rest of their clothes on then left.

Zac got up and streched. When he yawed only a feline roar came out of his mouth. He sataggered to the washroom and brushed his teeth, he then walked back to his room and put on some black shorts and a green t-shirt. Zac hated the warm here. He always sweat, not matter the time of day. He walked out by the pool in time to see his lazy friend Kyra just layig in the pool in her tiger form.

Zac smirked and he slipped over towards her, he got behind her and then stepped into the pool nearly silently. He laid behind her, he then scratched under her chin with all his fingers on his right hand, his other scratching behind her ears. "Hey sexy." He joked. He knew she hated being pet like a tabby, but it was worth a laugh.

Zac laugehd wahen she growled at him. "Come on Ky." He laughed. He laid back and let the water sooth him and then let himself change into his tiger form. He always got dirty looks when he did this. He was the only red tiger in the clan, or "the prophecy" tiger. he always pleaded for it not to be him. He had to marry some girl he barely knew.

All he knew about her is that she's hot, kinda nerdy, and her name is Red.

Zac rolled over in the pool and stretched a little letting out another feline like roar that was actuallly a yawn. He followed Kyra's path back onto land and he shook a little. making sure to not get any on her but plent right beside her. He walked over to her and nuzzled his head against her back. "Come on Ky." Zac said and he stopped nuzzling her and he looked over the edge of the waterfall. Then back to her. "Is it your time of the month?" He asked jokingly. He let himself sprawl outbeside her on his back revealing his soft belly to her.

'She's in another mood...' Zac told himself a little upset, when she got in theese moods she often didn't change them very quickly. Zac then stared rolling around on the cold moist rock, he loved being cold. "Come on sexy cheer up." Zac purred a little, a deep feral purr that sounded like a dogs growl. It sometimes made Kyra laugh, Zac called it a "smokers purr"

Red shrugged, not giving another thought to the human. It wasn't that she thought humans less than her, but if anyone was going to be a bitch to her, she wasn't going to pretend that she cared. Simply because, well she didn't. All that mattered was that Red knew she could speak French, and she also knew that her French was littered with mistakes. It was like she learned it from Google Translate or something. "Tu ne parle pas français bien.", she said with a shrug, watching as Leo stole her apple and took a bite of it. "You're so lucky that I'm not afraid of your man-germs." Red said with a playful wink, taking her own bite out of the apple.

Leo walked off and she sighed, slightly saddened by the sudden absence of her friend. Stepping out of the room, she went back to the kitchen and then outside to the pool. As soon as she stepped outside though, she regretted it. The rest of the house was out here, including Zachary Blake. She shook her head, of course he was out here. If the rest of the house was out here, that meant him too. It was just something about him that made her want to rip all her hair out.

Pursing her lips, she spared a glance around before turning and going back inside.

Zac laughged at Kyra's antics. He knew she could see him rolling on his back a little over dramatically, When he did this he turned back into human form. and just looked into the sky. He stared at the sun and sighed. 'How can something so beautiful produce something so disgusting....?' Zac thought through his and Ky's link.

Zac laughed to himself and sat at the edge of the waterfall looking out over the manor, he then saw her. Valerie Red. She walke dout of the house and took a minute to stare at him. He could see a look of disgust on her face even from far away. "Don't flatter yourself your highness." Zac mummered to himself and to Ky giving her his mental picture.

'she thinks I want to marry her? she's such a stuck up bitch. Seriously if we don't get married something bad will happen to all of us. I rather get this over with then leave her.' Zac said to Kyra, but he kept the last sentance to himself. He didn't want to be too much of an ass. Though he knew he was anyway. Why hide it?

He let himself fall off the top of the waterfall, it wasn't taht bad, he used to jump off of cliff into icy cold water int canada to catch the best fish a tiger could ask for. He let himself saty under the water for a bit while he drifted to the bottom then when his feet him he pushed himself off the bottom with force and he came to the surface taking in much needed oxygen.

He swam over to Ky and he stood beside her, she was still visibly angry. Zac bent over and kissed her on the forehead. If they hadn't been so close they would have been mates, but they were too good of friends for that. She was kind of like a sister to him. "I need to talk to this lion. Now I may need some back up if it gets ugly. Want to tear up some desert rats?" Zac asked her in a kind somewhat fatherly tone.

Zac sighed as Kyra left. He wanted her to come with him really just because he didn't want to talk to his "future wife" alone. It made him nervous and most of all kinda angry that his fate was already decided. But it was the Moon goddesses wish so it had to be done. he wanted to get to know her before he had to actually marry this girl.

He then smirked to himself. He walked in the house and he saw a lady talking to Val. He heard everything that was said, then the lady turned to him. "That goes for you too Blake." She seemed to snap at him. He laughed. He followed Valerie upstair and to her room but before he could knock and follow in after her the door was shut in his face. Hard.

'What a bitch! she won't talk to me?' He thought to himself. But he kept calm and knocked on the door lightly. "Red can I come in? I need to talk to you." Zac tried to say tenderly though he must have sounded somewhat annoyed at her anticts. By the gods he would never know why she didn't want to talk to him...... Ever.

Red had started typing a new paragraph, then quickly erased it and started again. This process was repeated many times in the few minutes, as she could never find the right way to start a chapter. It wasn't that she didn't have ideas, she had a lot of ideas. But she never thought her writing was... good enough. But then it hit her, and she quickly typed down her thoughts before she lost them. "We are our own worst critic. Probably why no one ever has anything positive to say at group sessions. Just as she was thinking more things to write, she heard a knock on her door. A few seconds later she heard a voice. His voice. And it caused a shiver to run through her body. How could she hate one man so much, yet feel so... strongly about him?

Taking a deep breath, she tried to make her voice not shake. "Of course." Simple enough, and she liked to think that she had managed to keep a calm tone. Though she couldn't be positive, as she was only listening for the door handle to turn and to hear the entering footsteps of the tiger. How did he make her so nervous?

Zac sighed as he heard a sound that he hadn't even notice stop. Was it typing? 'whatever.' Zac thought. He turned the door knob and walked in. That's when he actually noticed how pretty this girl was. He was a little shocked. But first impressions were everything and the idea of her being stuck up stuck to him.

He looked at her and saw she wasn't angry at all. He couldn't help but let a releived sigh pass his lips. He saw that she was typing something like he had guessed. He eyed it for a second them looked at her again. Her looks meant to drag him in and think many things boys did when they saw a hot girl. He laughed at himself a little. "So I just wanted to talk to you, about... well..." Zac trailled, he couldn't hold it anymore.

"You know what. I'm going to be blunt. I was always told we would have to marry or something terrible will happen." He said as tenderly as possible. "I don't want a terrible thing to happen." Zac said thinking of Ky. "I don't want to marry a stranger." He whispered the last sentance hoping that she hadn't heard, but knowing she would. He was waiting for a smack or to be yelled at, bracing for the worst.

Red didn't get mad. She didn't get up and storm over to him and smack him. There was no screaming or swearing or hitting. Instead she just sighed, almost sadly Slowly, she shut the computer screen and sat up. As she did so, she pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest, sitting her chin on her knees.

The tiger didn't seem that bad, not right now. He almost seemed like a normal person, something that she found to be almost odd. Wasn't he supposed to be some stuck up, rude, horny male? Instead he just seemed like... like her. He seemed lost, unsure, maybe even hurt. And she didn't know what to say, what to do. It almost brought tears to her eyes, and she didn't like that. She didn't cry in front of people, and he certainly would not be the first.

Then the next round of words started, and it seemed to have no effect on her. At that moment she just felt... numb. She heard his words but didn't register them. Not until his last sentence, the one she probably wasn't supposed to hear. And then the tears welled up, but she didn't let them fall. Ducking her head, she let her hair fall in front of her face to try and hide it. "Do you love her?", she said, obviously referring to the tiger he'd been with earlier.

It was weird, but hearing him say that he only loved her like a sibling made her feel better. Maybe it was just the desire to feel loved, or cared for. But it felt strange. Why did she even want this man to care for her? God, it didn't even make sense that she wanted him to think good of her. Usually she really didn't care what people thought of her. She knew she was nerdy and sometimes rude and liked to be in charge. Everyone knew that. Sometimes she could act stuck-up, but it was very rarely. And usually it was on purpose, so people wouldn't like her.

Even his arms being around her made her feel safe. Suddenly there was noises of... probably people coming up the stairs and she let out a heavy sigh. "I really don't want to go to that movie..." Red said, taking a few shaky breaths before standing on shaky legs. She almost felt like she couldn't walk, and was glad Zac was there for her to hold onto and steady herself for a moment. "Sorry...", was mumbled before she stood on her own, trying not to look at the guns pointed at them.

Zac looked at Red in her current state. She still looked shaken up. "Guys, This young lady has been through some stuff. Her father has just died. Please let us have some time alone." Zac said. He elbowed Valerie to give her the hint.

The lead man, he was tall, his dark skin looked intimidating, but he was a resonable man. He let his gun loose on it's sling. "You Two have an hour. then you have fifteeen minutes to get to that movie or we'll be back." He said before turning and leaving. The rest of the men fell in behind him in a sort of wing postion that only taring would have provided.

Zac sighed and looked at Red. "I really didn't feel like getting shot, and I really don't like Finding Nemo that much." Zac said with a smirk. "Humans are friends! Not food!" He joked. He sat down in a computer chair in the corner of the room at a tiny desk, it had papers all over it with brainstorms, about.... A horror story.

"Okay. Either you're a physco-axe-murderer, or you're an author." Zac said with a joking and questioning look. He had always like reading despite his personality, he loved fanatssy novels. It was like when Zac read that he was transported to the setting, he loved it, especially J.R.R.T., he was his favourite, he especially loved The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. But hey, horror is just fantassy for crazy people.

Red blushed(sort of ironic, right?), unable to look up at the guards. She wasn't a very good liar, actually she had a tendency to smile and laugh whenever she lied, so as soon as she heard Zac begin to lie she ducked her head and bit the inside of her cheek. Apparently the guards just took it was a girl about to cry, since she was red-faced and shaking slightly from trying to not laugh, and they easily bought into whatever Zac said. As soon as she heard the retreating footfalls, the need to laugh faded away and the everything else came flying back.

She shook her head, trying to laugh when he made a joke but it came out forced. In a way she was almost... no she was sad when he moved away from her. But she tried to not let it bother her. Pulling a pillow from the top of the bed, she carried it down to the bottom and sort of curled up around it, now seeing everything sideways. Including Zac, who was looking at her desk. For a moment she debated telling him to leave her stuff alone, that it was none of his business, but after what he'd done for her she would feel bad. "I could be both.", Red replied with a small smile. "But I rather prefer the term author." She shrugged, knowing that the work on her desk was just another story that she started and couldn't finish. About a hundred pages before she gave up on it.

Zac chuckled. "I'm so scared." He joked. He smiled at her. She was actually kind of cute all curled up, like a cub. It brought a smile to Zac's face, reminding him of his sister before he was outcast. Now he didn't even know where she was, or any of his seven siblings.

He had only spoken to his parents after he had come from exile up north. He may have been a tiger, but he longed to see his family again. Even if they didn't want to see him. He looked at her story again and he smiled. "Very good actually, very descriptive. But possibly a little 'too' descriptive, you want to make the reader have an image in their head, not a nightmare. And also, sometimes no description at all is good, the imagination is a great tool for an author." Zac said he then looked himself up and down and laughed.

He hadn't beleived waht he just said. Him, Zachary Blake, the womaizer, the bad boy. Speaking like a literature critic. Something about it made him to cover his face in shame, another be proud of himself, and the last to just laugh at himself. He then smiled at Red. "So we have an hour to get out of here." Zac said. "Or we could stay and go to the movie...." Zac trailled off.

Zac sighed. This girl had guys troubles. One thing he had expected. He sighed and just ignored it, like he hadn't had problems with girls before. "Then let's get out of here." He said with a smile. he shot up quickly. he was used to making get aways. Mostly from girls homes though... never with the girl.

Zac pulled Red up by her arm and gave her the signal to follow him. He searched the hall carefully for the armed guards again and when they weren't there, like all tigers can (even in human form) he snuck almost completely silently, only something a dog, with the keenest ears would have heard. He looked down the stairs. no one.

he looked back at red. "If anyone sees us they'll tell those goons." he whispered to her. They continued through the house not being seen by anyone, that he thought anyway. they finally made it to the garage which he had to open with a key card. all the vehicles were open to everyone, but zac had his own car reserved all the time. He walked over to it and hoped in. it was a black and white dodge charger. he smiled and started it. "my baby." he said with a smile.

Red followed Zac, just as quiet as him, if not quieter. As she was probably forty pounds lighter, and females usually just naturally had lighter footfalls. But that wasn't what she was paying attention too, she didn't care about that. Unlike most the other characters here, she didn't care which breed was better. Faster, stronger, smarter... it depended on the person. Not the animal.

They seemed to make a clean escape. Only once were they almost discovered, by a maid that was doing some cleaning up while they were supposed to be watching the movie. Though they'd just ducked behind a wall and waited for her to go into a room before continuing. It was all way easier than she expected, then again she'd never tried to sneak out before. Never had a reason too.

As they entered the garage, a small sigh escaped her. Not only a relieved sigh, but almost a pleased sigh. The cars they kept here were... spectacular. Another thing she adored, cars. Though Zac's made the rest seem like golf carts. Her fingers brushed over the black and white exterior as she made her way around and to the passenger door. "Top-of-the-line 370 horsepower 5.7 L HEMI V8 Engine, incredible fuel economy, 3.6L Pentastar's® V6's 31 highway mpg, and the dual Variable Valve Timing..." She gently bit her lip as she sat inside the car. "Alright, you're officially my best friend."

"A girl who knows cars?... Sexy." he said with a smirk. It was his nature. "But actually.... 6 litre. And 35 highway mpg. I like to work on them. but then again.... I may have needed to get some tutors." Zac joked. he had learned from a guy in Canada how to work on cars, he had worked in his shop, and got paid a little less than everyone else. it was fair.

he looked at her and he resisted the urge to rev the engine. everyone knew when his car left, it was his signature "Peace!" to everyone. if he did it people would know he was leaving. he sighed. "She purrs like a cub." Zac said with a smirk. He pressed button down on his stick shift to open the garage and then he pressed the gas lightly and let the car roll out. it was a little dusty from his last joy ride, but it still looked sleek and bold in the sunlight.

Zac drove away then quickly in low gear trying to be silent. it worked fro the most part. as soon as they reached the end of the property after a couple minutes he revved it up and listed to his baby hum. "This is like crack to me." he said with a little chuckle. he looked at red. "later you want to re-enact that scene from transformers with Megan Fox?" Zac joked, he winked at her.

Red almost blushed at his sexy comment, but she also knew he was just teasing. Or at least she hoped he was. Anyways, being called 'sexy' wasn't exactly something she enjoyed, or even usually tolerated. It was such a demeaning and ugly word, but for now she could let it slip. If he called her it again, then she could correct him. "Really? That's more advanced that even the latest brand... and I've check." She raised an eyebrow, looking over at him. "Impressive.", and she meant it.

"I bet, this is a very nice car." Her fingers still trailed lightly over the interior, just mostly on the door but... it was nice. Really nice, and you could tell that he took great care of his baby. God, if she had this car she'd probably sleep in it. In front of them the garage door opened and again she bit her lip, wishing they could just take off but knowing that would give away their escape. "Makes my beat up Dodge Durango look like trash." But she loved her car too, and immediately she felt bad for calling her baby trash.

They reached the end of the driveway and she felt him rev the engine, which in turn almost caused her to purr with the extreme delight of being in the car. "Like a heroin addict in a room with a hundred needles, but with no heroin in sight.", she whispered to herself. That's what it felt like. She could be in the car, she could touch, but she couldn't have it. His comment about reenacting Transformers caused a short cough of laughter from her, and she could almost feel her cheeks flushing red. "Honey, you wish." She said with a smirk of her own, not even glancing at him as she watched the scenery pass by.

"Oh well." He laughed. he looked at her and smiled. She was a pleasant surprise, not at all what he had expected from her. He had expected at least four to six slaps by now, but they were met with either laughter or understanding. She was still a lion though. He despised the Lions after what they had done. He only liked a select few, maybe Red would be getting into this exclusive club?

"But if you ever change your mind, let me know." Zac said with a little laugh. He did like red now. But he wasn't really sure about all this. he was still annoyed that his fate was pre-determined. It irked him that he had no say in this. But then again so far he didn't have much protest except her kind.

"So where to?" Zac asked. "Just around town?" He asked. the town was nice, it had some parks and a nice down town. "City?" he asked, which was a little further away, about half an hour further than town which was about half an hour itself. "Or just a joyride?" he asked with a smile. he would like that. "maybe even you'll get to drive. but if you even scratch my baby, consider yourself dead." Zac said dead serious. This car had cost him $20,000 in all paint, parts, and the car itself.

It was still all so strange to her. She'd expected Zac to be this total man whore with a bunch of stupid blondes trailing after him like dogs. Well, actually she still did sort of see him like that. But then she wanted to believe that she saw this side that was so jerky and wasn't so whore-y. If only she knew that she could handle both sides of him, but she couldn't. That was one thing she could never fight. Love, jealousy, heartbreak, rejection. The lion would rather go up against a pack of tigers than deal with it all. And she had a feeling that if her and Zac went through with the whole marriage thing, he would take her on the ride of her life. All good things must come to an end though, she reminded herself. Sadly this end predicted pain.

Snapping back to attention, she glanced over at tiger who was listing off places to go. She gave a light shrug, leaning back in her seat and enjoying the comfort of the car. "Just drive, anywhere.", was said quietly. "The city means shopping, and that's just disgusting. And the town means food, and I'm not hungry." The girl didn't feel the need to ask if he was hungry, because surely he would tell her if he was. In all honesty, she didn't want to have to leave the car. So, a joyride was a perfect idea. He mentioned her being able to drive and she laughed, shaking her head. "I'd be so nervous, I'd wreck before even getting back onto the road."

Zac sighed to himself. "Then joyride it is!" He said. He stopped holding back, This stretch of highway was almost always empty, He stomped on the accelerator. The car roared to life in a instant burst of pure masculine force, It began to go many more Kilometers faster than it had before, at least fifty, and they were already going 100km (150km=93mi) The car shot forward, gaining speed, another half km every second. until they reached 170km and Zac began to slow down.

"I could do this all day." Zac said with a smirk. He loved the open road, the smell of gasoline and oil. He couldn't resist the racing and joyriding.