~

He slowly stood up and walked to the end of her bed not wanting to scare her. He pasted a smile on his face to show her he was fine even though he could tell she didn't buy it. All of a sudden his feelings started going crazy again and all he wanted to do was sweep her off her bed and take her someplace where they can be alone and he can tell her how he really feels about her and hope that she feels the same way.

He wouldn't do that to her, that could possibly make things a lot worse.

~

Jasey looked at Derek; she could tell that he had something bothering him, other than her. She knew that he only knew small things to sign in sign-language so she settled for trying to talk to him. She had to calm herself and play in her mind what she was going to say. When she finally thought she could talk she took a deep breath and said, "What's wrong, Derek?"

His face and body language couldn't hide his surprise although she could tell his eyes tried to. He looked at her as though he had seen a ghost. She tried to hide her smile but it didn't work so she let it appear on her face and in her eyes. He cleared his throat and told her, "I'm just worried about you. I just want you to get out of here quickly because we both don't do so well in confined spaces. Now, do we?"

He walked over to her side, and slowly rubbed one hand up and down her arm, while with the other he was gently grazing her knuckles. With the hand that was rubbing her arm; he brushed her hair out of her face and slowly leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. She notice that he lingered there as if he was trying to say more than what he was doing. He sighed like he couldn't take the pressure of something anymore, and kissed her temple. She took a deep breath and said his name in a whisper.

~

"Derek." His name that was it, that was all she whispered. He leaned away from her so he could look her directly in the face, when he moved she quickly grabbed his hand and held a tight grip on him. Her hand felt so tight on his, her knuckles were white. He looked at her, he just barley breathed her name and looked into her eyes; he saw her innocence, her love, her fear. His chest tightened right then he knew he had to tell her, he had to tell her either he knew that the change she was going through was that of a lioness, or he had to tell her his feelings for her, either way, he knew he had to tell her the whole truth. He was scared though, he was terrified that if he told her that she was to become a lioness that he would scare her off or that she would think he would have gone mentally insane and he would never get the chance to tell her he feels. So he decided he would tell her how he feels about her and later when she is ready tell her about what her body is going through. How do you tell the woman that you love how you feel about her or that you have been in love with her since you were kids? He thought. That when I turned sixteen that my body began to change and I became a lion that I never meant to hurt her when her brother and I ran away. He had figured out that he and Adam were going through the same thing and so they had left to see if they could control it that was when they met James, he was about forty but he looked twenty tops, he had taught them how to shift and to control the beast within them.

"DEREK!!!" He was jerked from his thoughts back to the present, he must have looked stupid to her when he zoned out while he was thinking about telling her his feelings for her. He let his eyes focus then, and he realized she was biting her bottom lip, and her eyes had glazed over. "Help me Derek! Make it stop! It hurts too much!" That was her voice he heard it in his head, but how? Then he heard the heart monitors going off like a police siren. Oh no, I've got to get her out of here now! He thought, reaching for his cell, automatically calling Adam to let him know that the change was starting now. He took the I.V. out of her arm, and took the sticker off of her chest that monitored her heart beats. He put his jacket over her and picked her up and carried her to the door where Adam was waiting for them.

~

The pain in her head was too much, she couldn't take it, she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She screamed in her mind at Derek to make the pain go away, but knew he wouldn't be able to hear her. Her whole body began to sweat and burn like it was on fire, her organs felt like they were going to explode. All she could tell was that Derek had picked her up and taken her outside to Adam's jeep, her head was pounding and her chest was burning, her legs felt like rubber and her arms felt useless. She had never been in so much pain before she felt like she was going to die, but she knew she didn't want to not without kissing Derek goodbye first. She had to tell him that she loved him, her thoughts immediately turned to Derek then all of a sudden the pain was gone. She was fine but she couldn't move, and she felt like she was floating. She was in her own mind but thoughts of someone being worried for her life were running through it in front of her eyes, that her body may not be able to stand the change of the lioness' body. Wait, what changes? What about a lion's body? She thought. She was confused then thoughts of love for her were before her eyes. Then she realized she wasn't in her mind, she was in Derek's!

~

He had to get her out of here, the last thing the pride needed was someone sniffing around some kind of supernatural species. He knew the pain she was going through, but he couldn't help her, her body would have to fight it on its own and the only thing he would be able to do is to make her as comfortable as possible. He was worried though, if her body continued to reject the change she would die. He didn't want to lose her, he loved her too much for that, and she was his lioness, no one else's.

He and Adam were almost to his apartment when he heard something, someone saying something in a whisper so quiet he couldn't make it out. He sent a message to Adam telepathically, "Did you say something?" "No I didn't," ignoring it he told Adam to make a right and go around the back.

He didn't say it, Derek, I did. I told you that I love you- the voice in his head was cut off because of a truck that had smashed into the jeep, it was speeding fast enough, and hit Adam's side that caused Derek to smash his head up against door window. The hit caused him to be momentarily dizzy, but his super healing helped him get over it. Derek!! Be careful they have guns and some kind of formula thing!! Don't get shot!! He shook his head, that wasn't normal. But he did as the voice in his head told him to, he leaned Jasey up against the seat of the jeep and checked on Adam quickly to make sure he was alright. The healing agent in his blood should have healed him quickly, and it did, but the impact had crushed the jeep door up against his leg to where it was stuck in between the door and the pedal he was working at getting it out so he left him to it. Derek kicked his door open, jumped out, and ran around to where the guys at the truck that had hit them were still dizzy from the impact.

He ran around to the driver's side of the truck grabbed the old guy by the collar of his shirt and hauled him through the broken window; he shook the guy vigorously, "Why did you ram into us?" Derek demanded. The old guy laughed and his foul breath washed over Derek's nostrils. He smelled like beer and smoke. "If you don't know what kind of abomination you are then you really do need to be terminated!" the old guy cackled. "What do you mean 'abomination'?" Derek asked a little terrified of his answer.

"We are going to make every single one of your 'pride of lions', as your kind call yourselves, wish ya'll ain't been born, starting with you and your little friends over there think you ain't being watched, day and night to make sure ya'll don't kill nobody. We'll have your unnatural butts off this good green earth." He smiled like he was doing the world a favor.

Kill us all? But what about the leaders of the pride, what would he tell the others? KILL us ALL? Derek's mind was reeling, he didn't know what to make of the information he just got. Out of his peripheral vision he could see Adam as his lion-form, fight with the two other guys, carefully staying out of reach of the knives and moving too quickly for the bullets to meet their mark . He slammed the old guy head up against the back of the truck; he heard the skull crack as the old man slumped to the ground.

Derek jumped over the head of the truck shifting midair and tackled the biggest of the two men from behind helping Adam bring them down. However, he wasn't expecting the guy to grab him by his mane and yank him off, but before he got the chance Derek dug his claws into the bigger guy's shoulder and took him with him which resulted in Derek landing on his back. Derek racked his claws down the guy's back and jumped to his feet quickly, he then circled him while he was still on the ground trying to get up. Then Derek saw the guy's neck wide open and took his chance lunging for it and sinking his teeth into it, blood poured from his mouth, and he dug his claws into the guy's chest and stomach, through his skin and muscle. Once the bigger guy's body stopped twitching and became lifeless, Derek released his mouth from the body. He shifted back into his human form instantly looking around for any survivors and to check and make sure Adam was alright, he found Adam was fine, but still in lion-form. He turned his attention towards the jeeps to make sure Jasey was alright only to find her standing and leaning up against the back of it , to find her staring at him with a look of horror. He felt his stomach drop, as he never wanted her to see that side of him.

~

She didn't know what to think, she just stared at Derek, as though she was worried about him getting hurt and not even bothered by the fact that she saw him morphed into a giant beast, like a lion or something, and then once it was all over, she saw the lion, then glanced over and saw another. She watched as Derek morphed back into himself, not taking in the fact that he was naked, then she saw her brother, the other lion, was gone. Was her brother one of what Derek was? The fighting and everything hadn't scared her since during most of it she was trying to get her body to move, and get out there to see if they were alright. But now that it was over and the guys that had crashed into them were dead- they were dead- Derek and Adam killed them. She looked back up to the other lion believing that he was her brother, she knew he would be okay, then she looked at Derek, he was a little scratched up, but the fact that Derek killed them scared her to no end. Then he glanced at her, and she knew he saw her face, before she had a chance to collect herself. As Derek read the terror in her face he couldn't help but frown as he stared back at her with sad eyes.

Derek slowly took steps towards her, and every step he took forward, she took backwards. She just stared at him and she could see her brother out of her peripheral vision, he was slowly walking towards her from the side. She had a sudden intense urge to run but, she knew that if she did it wouldn't solve anything that she saw tonight. Her mind screamed at her. She could barely hold herself up with one arm on the car let alone, if she ran, how would she be able to run. She decided she didn't have a choice but to run, she risked a last glance at her brother, then the last one at Derek, before she turned around on her heels and sprinted as fast as she could down the street.

She could hear them behind her, chasing her, trying to catch up to her, but she kept running. She was breathing really hard; her feet were cold, and numb. All she had on was her tank top and shorts from the hospital. She turned a corner and then her body started to feel like it was on fire, but it didn't matter to her, as much as she loved her brother and Derek, she wouldn't go back to them. What she saw back there was too horrific; she still couldn't believe that they could do something so monstrous. She was still running and she recognized where she was, she was close to her friend's house. They were out of town, but she knew they wouldn't mind if she crashed there for a bit. She turned down the street and into the house shutting the door quickly. As she stood there catching her breath she slid down to the floor, as the pain caught up to her. But with as much pain as her body was in, she knew exactly where the true pain was.