Tuesday Night October 17th, 2025. Highway Ninety-six Cattlecove, WI.

  Andre’s life was flipped on it’s head in a matter of days. He was no longer a teenage shut-in screaming for a chance at a normal life despite his doting mother’s wishes— that made no sense.

  Now, he was feline shape-shifter royalty. He was in danger— of others like him. And his mom? She made a little more sense now. Her stiffness. Her hypervigilant tendencies. She was both a single mother and a bodyguard.

  Despite everything, he was in high spirits. Maybe he just couldn’t fathom killer were-lions and tigers hunting him as clearly as he could fathom seeing city lights for the first time in person.

  Usually, his mother stuck to the outskirts and back-ends of Wisconsin when they made trades and sold farm-stock. But now, in their trashy moving truck, they rumbled down the highway.

  It was chaotic. Almost overwhelming.

  Every car that passed them splashed water from the spotless black street. Green and red beams from street-lights reflected in celebratory rays off the beads rolling down windshields. People played music with the same heavy bass he heard in movies. It all blended and merged.

  In the distance, the capitol of WI known as Lake-Town stood like something out of a sci-fi novel. Towering skyscrapers of glass shined in the night-rain. Cranes twisted and turned. Helicopters shined lights on complexes and streets below. Nothing was sleeping.

  “What are you thinking, Andre?” Cora asked.

  “I’m not really….just taking it all in.” Andre said as he looked out the window.

  “Lake-Town is beautiful in winter.” Cora said.

  “You’ve been there?… that feels stupid to ask since we’re so close.”

  Cora smiled, “I have. But it was for work.”

  “Where else have you been? I mean…. I know you were born in Greece. But you said my dad was a big shot in west africa so…”

  “You want the story.” Cora said.

  Andre nodded, “Yea.”

  Cora gripped the steering wheel tighter, causing the leather to squeak against her palms as she switched lanes, “Like I’ve told you, I was raised in Greece. Not far from Athens. When I was young, Greece had a growing number of Leon-Breeds. I was among them.”

  “Leon— what?” Andre asked.

  “Leon-Breeds. There are many different kinds of Ailourans. Leon-Breeds are the brawlers and laborers. We have thick skin, we’re very large, we’re also Sun-Sworn. We work better in the day. At least that’s the case for the Pure ones. I’m not Pure.”

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “Is that why your fur is black and your eyes are green?” Andre asked.

  Cora nodded, “My family wasn’t very prominent. But my father was smart and my brothers were strong. They made me strong. Eventually, I made a name for myself. The other Prides knew me as Nemea the Dark-Lioness.”

  “Badass.”

  Cora side-eyed him.

  “My bad.” Andre mumbled.

  “Ailourans back then organized summits to discuss our future in mans world. A lot was changing— faster than ever. We had to adapt. Sometimes Prides would also unify to complete riskier missions and deals. It was in one of those summits that I met your father. He was a new unrecognized King operating out of Nigeria— a defected Pride that broke away from his father in New Benin. He got along with my brothers. My father agreed to help his Pride so they lived and trained with us in Greece.”

  “How steamy.” Andre said.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Mom!?” Andre almost jumped out of the window.

  “…my bad.” Cora mumbled. She continued, “As you can tell by your own form, your father was not a Leon-Breed. He was not Sun-Sworn either. He was a Pardian-Breed— a Leopard. Night-Hunter. Part of the reason he defected from his father’s Pride is because his mother was a mistress from a fallen Pride of Pardians.”

  “So… what? I’m a black lion-leopard thingy?” Andre asked.

  “You’re a Hybrid. That’s what we call any Ailouran that isn’t Pure.” Cora said.

  “Phrenology. Got it.” Andre said.

  “Not quite.” Cora replied. “Anyway, during our time in Greece, a war broke out in Africa. The Prides could no longer function within the same land. Backstabbings, massacre’s and assassinations ran rampant. “

  “How was this not on the news?” Andre asked.

  “Tragedy in Africa is the norm. It’s by the western worlds design. They profit from it. Sure maybe they didn’t know shapeshifting feline-people specifically were behind the chaos, but they knew. Locals and news stations blamed the mess on drug smugglers, religious extremism, leopards, lions, hyenas and poaching gangs.”

  “Damn…”

  “It spilled into Greece. That’s when we knew we had to flee. The powers that be in Greece were no different from those in Africa. We decided to start new in America. We decided to try. To set up new rules and norms that didn’t end in the same bloodshed as always.”

  “Obviously, that didn’t work.”

  “There were those among us that disagreed with your fathers ways. They felt that he was throwing away his chance to stand atop the rubble in africa and build something. Something meaningful in their homeland. Where they felt they were meant to be.” Cora said.

  “You sound like you have sympathy.” Andre said.

  “I do.” Cora replied. “Imagine being this— no royalty. You’re not special, but you’re loved by your people. You can hide among the humans. You can love and live and let be. That can’t always happen in america. Not in the same way it could for me.”

  “Ohhhh…..you mean skin color.” Andre said.

  Cora didn’t reply, “Your father had Pride members that were alive when those ships came and stole people from their land to build America.”

  Andre spun around to face her, “Wait what?”

  “Remember, you’re not human.”

  “How long can we live?”

  Cora cleared her throat, “Not long usually. We die early often. We are a race at war. A war your father was victim of.”

  “…yea.”

  “But before then, we had a great time.” Cora said, “Your father would be so proud of the man you’re becoming.”

  “….really? I feel like I haven’t done a thing.”

  Cora shrugged, “I think you’ve done many things despite your situation. I think that means something. You’ve always been one to overcome whatevers in front of you. Sometimes it takes a few tries…. but you get it.”

  “Yea…. shout out to my persistence.” Andre replied sarcastically.

  “All the best hunters have it.”

  “Is that what I am now?”

  “It’s what you’ve always been, Azlan.”

  Police lights flashed in the side-view mirrors suddenly.