Her Dark Knight

The Shift

Arabella was confused. She had no idea why her closest friend and her betrothed disliked each other so much, especially if they were not well acquainted. Her mind took her back to her earlier question, on the circumstances in which the two had previously seen each other. She felt like their animosity towards each other must be linked to this event. The Duchess frowned, thinking on what it could be, before asking, “Prince Alaric… If I may be so bold, I would really like to know what that was all about. You see, she is my closest friend and I would love for you both to get along, but now it seems like this may not be possible…” She tapered off.

“My Queen, although this may upset you, sometimes two people will never get along – and that just happens to be the case for myself and Lady Kylia. We’re two very different people with our own opinions, I’m afraid that you are just going to have to get used to it.” Prince Alaric sighed, finishing off his tea and resting the cup on its saucer upon the table.

“Yes… I see,” Arabella mumbled, “Okay, well your trip doesn’t have to be completely ruined! How about we take a stroll in the garden?”

The Prince nodded his agreement, and with that they proceeded to leave the comfort of the house and descended into the large, well-kept grounds of the Angelos estate. As the two betrothed walked side by side, Arabella took her chance to ask the Prince about the recent kidnappings of children within the city.

“Ahh… Yes, my father assures me that it is only a local criminal and that he has the best detectives on the case, so I’m sure they’ll find the culprit soon enough. I fear that most of the information spreading about these cases are the workings of gossiping wenches, so I wouldn’t take it to heart, my love.” He replied curtly.

Arabella felt her heart skip a beat at his endearment towards her. His love? She thought, sighing like a lovesick child. Feeling herself get lost in her thoughts, she scolded herself, before verbally agreeing with him.

The conversation naturally progressed to their upcoming wedding, with Arabella expressing her delight that they were to have a large and flamboyant event. Prince Alaric, however, was more excited for their wedding night. He had always been told that she was a very attractive young woman, but to see her in person had solidified his feelings for her. He was extremely happy that she was to be his wife.

“Has your father started to plan the ceremony, Prince Alaric?” The Duchess asked enthusiastically.

“Yes, he has. It will definitely be a large wedding with most of the nobles invited, I hope you don’t mind being the centre of attention, my Lady – because no one will be able to take their eyes off you,” Alaric flirted, making Arabella blush a deep shade of red.

“You really think so?” She whispered, looking up at him with eyes wide in delight. He smiled down at her and stepped closer, grasping her delicate chin, and stroking it. His thumb rubbed against her bottom lip, pulling it down slightly and releasing it again.

“Yes," he whispered softly, "you’ll be the most beautiful bride that has ever graced our lands. I can’t believe how lucky I am to marry you. Every man will be jealous of me, I’m sure.”

Arabella smiled at him, heart fluttering wildly in her chest as she tried to memorise the feeling of his finger on her lip. “And what of the ceremony?” She asked breathlessly, “what will it be like?”

“Well, there will be a minister who will conduct the official ceremony, with a choir to sing our national anthem. The celebration afterwards will be accompanied by a feast, and a sacrificial lamb. It will be like any normal party, except with a few more guests and nobility. You’ll love it, my Queen,” Prince Alaric said, then leaning down to whisper in her ear seductively, “Oh and the evening… You will finally be mine, and the night will be full of pleasure.”

Arabella gasped, feeling a tightening within her core that she had never felt before. Was this what Kylia had always been telling her about? Lust? Her body began to grow all tingly as she felt his breath caress her neck. It was a weird feeling, so she quickly moved away from his embrace before things between the two got out of hand. The Duchess placed a hand on her beating heart, feeling it pulsing crazily within her chest, and swallowed to try and regain some dignity. What was this male doing to her?! She thought.

The Prince gained his wits much faster than she, and cheerfully inquired, “Tell you what, why don’t we shift and let our other forms see each other? Let them meet?”

Arabella pondered for a minute, before agreeing and sending a nearby guard for her father’s butler, Igor, to act as a chaperone. As they would not have any control of their Were forms, it was usually customary for an unmarried pair to have a human individual chaperone them, stopping any unfortunate or lust-filled accidents.

Before Igor arrived, Arabella tried to get rid of any trace of her previous state, breathing in and out deeply and running her hands through her hair – trying to calm the wild fray of blonde locks. The Prince watched her with a smirk on his face, deliberately showing how proud he was to have such a profound effect on the Duchess.

“My Prince, before we shift – can I ask what form you take?” Arabella asked.

“I take the form of a jaguar, my Queen. I'm a proud man, but an even prouder shifter,” He winked playfully, making a sharp ache appear deep within Arabella’s groin again.

She hummed and turned away from him, trying to gather her wits before she embarrassed herself. Soon, they heard footsteps approaching them and both turned to witness Igor jogging up. “Everything alright, Duchess? Your Highness.” He inquired, bowing quickly to the Prince before facing his employer’s daughter.

“Yes, yes. Quite alright, Igor. I was just wondering if you would be able to chaperone the Prince and I as we would like to shift.” She said, smiling at him sweetly to persuade him.

Igor sighed but agreed, he often found it difficult to say no to her when she used her ‘puppy-dog-eyes’ on him. Arabella squealed in delight and turned quickly to hug the Prince. “Okay, I will go over there to shift,” She said, pointing behind one of the rare bushes within the garden, “and how about you go over there!” She finished, and the Prince watched as her finger changed direction to point towards the large cactus growing rigidly about 10 metres away.

The Prince nodded in compliance, before taking off to round the plant and undress. Arabella watched him leave for a second, before smiling quickly to Igor and walking in the opposite direction. As soon as she was in private, or as private as she can be whilst in the middle of a garden, she began to strip. The dresses that were in fashion at the moment were often difficult to manoeuvre, but with a little difficulty Arabella managed to undress completely. Taking a deep breath in and releasing it slowly, Arabella willed herself to relax and allow the shift to overtake her body. The last thing she remembered was briefly opening her eyes and seeing a large black panther stealthily making his way towards her.

- - -

Arabella awoke. The first thing she saw was Igor’s panicked face staring down at her, before relaxing when he saw her eyes open. Then she registered the pain, on the left side of her waist, a pain so great that tears quickly gathered in her eyes. Next, it was her right leg – it felt like something had drilled tiny holes into her skin and then retracted quickly, leaving small but numerous cavities within her flesh. She was confused, barely remembering the events that had taken place before her shifting – but then it slowly came back to her… Where was Prince Alaric?

Arabella tried to sit up quickly but hissed and led back down on the sandy ground as the pain in her side flared. She felt a hand on her chest and looked up to see Igor saying something to her, but she couldn’t make out what it was. That was when she noticed the ringing in her head, it was so loud and fuzzy, she could not hear any other sounds. When she noticed this, the Duchess started to stress and cried out, grabbing onto Igor’s hand like it was her lifeline.

She continued to wail as Igor lifted her up into his arms and started to carry her into the house. Arabella looked around quickly behind them but could not see any sign of the Prince.

Whilst Arabella was carried through her home, she tried to remember anything that had happened. Anything at all, but her Were side only left her with a blank memory. Igor quickly brought her to her father’s study, opening the door quickly with his foot and carrying her to the divan in the corner. Her father, who had been writing something at his desk, immediately stood up and ran to her, his face overcome with panic.

It was at this moment that she realised the ringing in her ears was starting to subside. She was starting to hear bits and pieces of the conversation between Igor and her father.

“…Chaperoned… immediately, just fighting… I tried… break up… ran away… and hit her head!” Igor was explaining rapidly.

Her father did not seem happy about the news and started shouting at Igor, who just hung his head in shame, apologising frequently but taking the scolding as he knew he deserved it.

Arabella reached out for her father, who immediately turned to hug her. “My child, I’m so sorry. Please never do that again, we can’t control our Were forms and the Prince is too strong for you… We’re lucky that you’re alive.” He said, holding back the tears in his eyes.

She whimpered to him, apologising as she buried her face in his chest, holding him tightly as she let the tears escape and dampen his shirt. They stayed like this for a while, but soon her father drew away from her and sighed, “Would you like some tea, Arabella? I can go ask the kitchen to make you some.”

The Duchess nodded her agreement and he left the room, taking Igor with him. Poor Igor… Arabella thought, feeling guilty that her actions had caused him to be shouted at.

Once she was left alone, she let her eyes wander over the many bookcases living within the office. Her eyes were drawn to a certain section, and she got off the divan to walk over, slowly and in pain, to inspect it closer. She ran her fingers over the spines of the books showing, before settling on one that was entitled The History of the Were. She had probably read the book before, but something compelled her to take the book out of its hiding place and gather it within her arms, wincing slightly from the sudden ache that accompanied the movement. It was a large and cumbersome book, so it took some manoeuvring to situate it upon her father’s desk – which she did with a loud bang.

Arabella cringed from the loud noise, looking behind her to the door to see if she had disrupted anyone. When no one appeared to scold her, she opened the book to the contents section. Within its pages, she saw many chapters – such as Beginnings, Legends, Traditions and Mating. Another section caught her eye, entitled Fighting, to which Arabella navigated to its pages immediately. The book was old, with some words having faded over the centuries, but the general gist of it remained visible.

“The Were people can be extremely jealous and territorial creatures. They will often fight other Weres of a similar standing in order to retain their territories and positions in the pack. They do not take kindly to someone else taking what they imagine to be theirs.”

After she read this, Arabella sighed with relief as she realised that this is probably what had happened between the Prince and herself, so there was no need to worry as long as they did not shift in the same vicinity again.

However, just before she shut the book, she caught sight of a scribbled entry at the bottom of the page, saying –

“Most Were will not fight unless provoked. But, they may attack anything that they deem to be a threat, often with fatal consequences. If this is the case – DO NOT LET THEM SHIFT – they will attack the threat until it is dead, or defeated itself. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES-.” The rest of the sentence had been rubbed away over the years, so Arabella could not read the rest of the passage.

With her childlike innocence, Lady Arabella did not pay attention to this entry, as she thought that because it had been written later and not within the original book, it was probably not true.

If only she had listened to this note, maybe things would have turned out differently.