Panthera Spelaea Ch. 21-30

"Really?" Anna's face lit up, and Svetlana was interested enough to agree. The girls ran off to get dressed. Anna was a big fan, so she had an extra jersey for Svetlana to wear with shorts and sandals. "You can buy a jersey outside the stadium. You'll blend in better that way," she told me.

I changed into shorts and a T-shirt along with canvas shoes, and we caught a cab outside to the stadium. It didn't take me long to get a red jersey and three tickets near the pitch. Anna took pictures of us outside the stadium in front of the statue of Spartacus. It was huge, almost twenty-five meters high, including the red pyramid base. We wandered around the stadium and took more pictures before sitting down for the game. It reminded me of the Dallas Cowboys stadium in design, but much smaller, seating forty-five thousand fans.

The quality of play was high, the company was fantastic, and even the stadium food was good. Svetlana sometimes watched soccer but wasn't as big a fan as Anna was. She had a good time, and the game was exciting. I had to learn some of the songs, which wasn't easy in Russian, but Anna tried.

We left with the crowd of others after a 3-1 win. The taxi stand was full of people waiting for rides, so we headed to the bus stop. It dropped us off a few blocks from the apartment, and that's when the fun started. Waiting in the shadows ahead of us were six young punks, wearing colors like the ones I'd beaten up on the subway. "Stop," I told the girls as the six moved away from the building to block the sidewalk.

I looked behind us, and more of the guys were blocking our retreat. "Call the police," I told Anna. She took her phone out, only for one of the guys to point a gun at her. Whatever he said in Russian was backed up by the pistol pointed our way. Anna put her phone back in her pocket.

I was looking for a way out. "When I say, run across the road into the park as fast as you can," I told them. "Find a place to hide and stay there; they're after me."

I watched the passing traffic and spotted the break. "NOW!" The three of us took off between the parked cars and across the street. Since we were in the middle of the block, the punks following us had to wait for traffic, giving us ten seconds of a head start.

Once we entered the park, the darkness would make it hard for them to follow. We ran for a few minutes to get away from the streets. I led the girls off the trail, using my vision to find a clump of bushes. "Hide in there, and I'll lead them away," I told them. I broke left, taunting the gangbangers as I picked up speed and headed back for the dimly lit trail. The girls headed for their hiding place. There was no way they'd keep up with me in a foot race, and I could circle back later to get the girls.

It was a great plan until it wasn't. I heard a scream, then another, and knew the girls were in trouble. I looped back to them, finding the girls on their knees. The leader had a gun to Svetlana's head, and she was crying.

Pain blossomed in my head, and everything went dark.

Ch. 24

Pain pushed me up as I fought through the fog. Once more, everything hurt, especially my head. I was lying on something soft, and I felt something stroking my hair. I could hear the television and the sounds of traffic outside in the heavy rain and thunder. I cracked open my eyes to see Svetlana looking down at me, a white ceiling above her blonde hair. "You're back," she said nervously.

"Where am I?"

"We're in my apartment," she told me. I forced my eyes open and looked around. I was on her bed with her sitting beside me, and I smelled blood. I tried to sit up, but the movement resulted in a stabbing pain in my stomach. I relaxed back onto the pillow. "We found you on the deck again. Don't move; you took three bullets in the fight. I got the bullets out and patched you up as best I could."

Shot? I could smell her nervousness and fear, and I hoped it wasn't from me. I remembered what happened just before the blackout, with Svetlana and Anna captured and in danger. "Anna? Is she all right?"

"She's fine, thanks to you," Svetlana replied. "The gang is dead, and there are cops all over the park now. You took off after the fight, and we gathered your things and ran after you. We made it across the street before the police got the perimeter established and came home. That's when we found you outside our door again."

"How long was I out this time?"

"It's been three hours," she told me.

Some things didn't add up. "I got shot three times, and I'm not in the hospital? Why?"

"What do you remember, John?"

"Water," I said as I gathered my thoughts.

She had a travel cup with a straw on the bedside table and brought it to my lips. "Small sips. I don't want you throwing up."

I wet my mouth, then started talking. "You and Anna headed off to the hiding place, and I ran the other way. I put on speed, leaving them behind as I looped around the park. That's when I heard your screams. I got close enough to see them holding you with a gun to your head. That's when the pain came, and I blacked out."

I heard the apartment door open, and Anna came into the bedroom, drying her hair with a towel. "I took care of it," she told Svetlana.

I was lost. "Took care of what?"

"The bugs and the bloody stuff," she told me. "We had to get rid of the soiled sheets and medical supplies after we patched you up. It wasn't easy since the whole neighborhood is on lockdown while the search goes on. There are cops everywhere, but I managed to sneak across the parking lot to the dumpsters behind the office building."

"Lockdown? What's going on?" My head was spinning with the information. Someone shot me multiple times, and the girls fixed me up at home because they couldn't risk a hospital. I'd shown up after my blackout on their deck. The gang was dead, and now everyone had to stay inside while they searched the killer. "Did I kill them?"

"It's not that simple," Svetlana finally said. "You changed. I saw you scream in rage and pain, and then you changed."

"Changed how?" I could tell they were struggling to tell me something, and they were both scared of it.

"Two guys were holding me, and one ripped my shirt off," Anna said. "Another guy was holding Svetlana. They were yelling for you, saying they would rape us if you didn't come back. I was scared, John. There were so many of them. They had this crazed look in their eyes, and I couldn't get away. You yelled, and then it was like you exploded. One second you were there in your clothes, then your clothes went flying, and it was standing there." She looked at her roommate, and Lana nodded. "You turned into a huge fucking LION, John, and you were pissed. You charged the men and started ripping them to shreds."

My mind was telling me she was crazy. People didn't just change from one species to another in the blink of an eye. I looked at her, then at Svetlana, and smelled the air. They were frightened and anxious, but she wasn't lying. I looked at my girlfriend. "You saw this too?"

Svetlana nodded. "It happened so fast it was like your clothes shredded and flew away. You roared, and the man holding me let me go. He got two shots off before you were on him, and you bit his arm in half before you clawed his throat out. It was maybe five seconds from your shift until he was bleeding out at my feet. I curled up on the grass; I saw you look at me, then you took off for the others."

Anna continued. "Someone else had a gun, but he was dead after a few shots. The others panicked and ran, but you didn't let them go. One after another got chased down and ripped to shreds. The lion was a killing machine, John. It only took a few minutes to wipe out every one of them. When the screams ended, you trotted back to us. You were scary as hell, John! Your fur was full of blood, your mouth was dripping with red, and you were as big as a horse! I thought I was dead; I hugged Svetlana to me and waited for you to kill us too."

"Apparently, I didn't," I said. "Did I hurt you?"

Svetlana shook her head, no. "You came up and smelled us. Your head was the size of a garbage can lid, and your paws bigger than dinner plates. Your breath was hot in my face as you sniffed my hair while I was too scared to move. You licked my cheek, then ran off to the west. We lost track of you in the darkness."

Anna picked the story up. "That's when we knew we had to get out of there, John. There were dead and dying people all around, but we didn't care. You saved our lives, but we weren't going to stick around and explain anything. We went over to where you changed and grabbed your torn clothes and your wallet. We could hear sirens coming, so we took off running. We got to the road when the storm hit. We ran home and got into the house before the adrenaline crash happened."

"I smashed the bugs at that point," Svetlana said. "The rain was coming down hard while Anna took her shower, and I watched out the window. It seemed like every police car in the city showed up." From her window, you could see a narrow view of the park between the other buildings in the way. "Anna turned on the news while I was in the shower. They saw you, John."

"Who did?"

"Everyone, now. One of the dash-cams on a police car caught your lion trotting across the road. You disappeared before they could kill you, but it's all over the news. An escaped lion killed thirteen people in the park, including a cop. That's why the city's on lockdown while they look for you."

Shit. "How did I get here?"

"I heard a thump on the deck, and when I went to look, you were passed out naked by the door again. Anna and I pulled you inside and dragged you to the bed, where we removed the bullets and sewed you up."

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us more," Anna said.

"I don't remember any of that."

Anna played with her phone. "This is what they are looking for." She showed me the picture. It looked like an African lion, but the lack of a long mane for an obvious male made it stand out. It was roughly nine feet long based on the road markings and over four feet tall at the shoulder and weighed eight hundred pounds or more.

It looked exactly like the cave lion I'd brought out of the permafrost.

Ch. 25

My mind was reeling, so I closed my eyes and dropped my head back on the pillow. This shit wasn't possible! Cave Lions had been extinct for millennia, and werewolves and shifters were the domain of primarily bad teen stories on Wattpad. The stories were as fantastical as they were illogical; after all, not every abused teen omega was the mate of the strongest, cruelest Alpha who rejected her. (That would cover about half of the stories.)

Me shifting into an eight-hundred-pound predator was a physical impossibility; it violated the laws of physics and nature! The Law of Conservation of Mass stated mass could not be created or destroyed. You couldn't instantly add six hundred pounds to me at the same time you changed me into an extinct predator!

One of my girlfriends in high school was into werewolf fiction, and she made me read some of the better ones. Products of active imaginations, a few authors like CRGangell and Rachelle Mills aside, the stories were crap, and I told her so. There were so many things wrong with the idea of shifting that my mind couldn't handle it. I'd blame it on delusion or hallucination, except for two things.

First, Svetlana and Anna had seen it all, and you couldn't fake the way they talked about it.

Second, there was a video of it, and no one could make a fake that quickly. If a computer geek wanted to make a lion video, it would be an African lion, not the extinct cave lion version. Until a few weeks ago, no one had seen an intact adult cave lion! We couldn't admit to anything, especially my change.

"We need to get our stories straight," I told them. "Sooner or later, the cops are going to figure out we were in the park at the time of the attack. If we say we weren't there, they'll keep digging. You know what will happen to me if they think I can turn into a freaking lion."

The girls knew they'd never see me again if that got out. "There might be video from the road showing the gang stopping us," Anna added. "All it shows is one of them pointing a gun and us taking off across the street. We tell the truth; the guys were after revenge after you beat up their guys, and we spotted a break in the traffic and took off. We're all in good shape and know the park so that it wouldn't be surprising we'd try and lose them there."

"Did they hurt you? Bruises, cuts, anything we'd have to explain?"

"No," Svetlana replied. "You came back before then. Anna's torn jersey is gone, but they might have caught us coming back across the street on the way home. They already saw your lion."

Yeah, they wouldn't see me coming across. "We split up so I could draw the gang away from you two. You lost the punks in the darkness of the park, then came home. I got home later. NOBODY saw a lion. Whatever happened, happened to them when we were long gone."

"Agreed," Svetlana said. "Mostly truth, and nothing illegal. We didn't report it because we didn't want the gang coming back for us again. We heard the shots and saw the police cars and thought the cops had them."

"What about the bugs?"

"You found one, then the other, and destroyed them. You're under no obligation to let the police listen in on you," I told the two. "The cops probably won't bring it up because they won't want to admit I'm under surveillance."

All of the revelations were wearing on me. "John?" Svetlana was worried, and her hand moved over my forehead. "You're running a fever. You should rest."

"Where was I hit?" Enough things hurt that it wasn't obvious.

"Left stomach, left leg, and right shoulder," she told me. "The wounds weren't what I expected. The bullets were only a few centimeters deep, and I was able to remove them easily. I flushed them out and sewed them up."

My mind worked through why quickly. "Because I got shot as a full-sized lion, then shrank back to a human. Pistols wouldn't penetrate that far into a big lion."

"That's what we thought," Anna told me. "Svetlana is right; you should rest, and she should too. I'll stay up and watch the news and check on you every hour."

Both of them looked like hell, and for a good reason. They'd been chased, caught, and threatened with rape and death. Then they watched a cave lion tear apart their attackers before he came up to them and spared them. After all that, they had to drag me inside and patch me up. "Dating me isn't boring," I teased them.

Anna was able to laugh a little, though Lana was crying. "I've never had so much excitement as her wingman. Now, sleep."

I closed my eyes, trying to relax as Svetlana hit the shower. I was still half-awake when she crawled into bed with me, her naked body tucking up next to mine for warmth and comfort. I put my good arm around her and drifted to sleep.

I woke up to Anna checking my blood pressure. "What time is it?"

"Four in the morning. Your fever is gone now."

That was good. Svetlana had rolled away from me on the bed, so Anna was able to check me over without waking her up. She was using a headlamp so she wouldn't disturb her with lights. "I need to check your bandages," she told me as she pulled the sheet and blanket back from me.

This action exposed my naked body, including my erection. "Sorry."

"I'm a nurse, and I've seen a thousand of those," she said with a smile. "Still, that one is exceptional. I can tell from Svetlana's orgasms that you know how to use it." It was embarrassing to hear her talk about my performance like that, but I could sense she was a little jealous of her roommate. Anna continued removing the bandage over the wound in my right shoulder. "What the hell?"

"What?"

She moved a gloved hand down, pressing against the wounded area. "Does that hurt?"

"No."

"It's healed. It's been six hours, and all that is left is a scar!" She took off the other two bandages, finding the same thing. "Can you sit up? Let me know if there is any pain from them."

She helped me sit up, then I put my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Not only was there no pain, but I felt great! The soreness that had followed previous blackouts was gone, and all that remained was hunger. "I'm fine, just hungry."

"Come into the bathroom. I'll take your stitches out, and you can take a shower while I make some dinner." She only needed a few minutes with her medical kit to get them out, and the shower felt great. Svetlana was still sleeping as I went out to the kitchen.

Anna had heated some of the food we had left from the Ukrainian place. She had a small plate of the leftovers while I started devouring a heaping plate and a bowl. I could see she was nervous as she watched me. I couldn't blame her; I was dangerous, as the pictures on the news showed. One of the news channels had gotten a drone in the air at the park to show the carnage. The police hadn't been able to cover up all the blood, dismembered limbs, or torn-up bodies from view just yet. "Are you afraid of me?" It was a reasonable question to ask.

"Like this, now? I'm trying not to be," Anna replied. "You are a good man, and you make Svetlana happy. I'm a little afraid of what you can become."

"I'm sorry it scared you. I wish I could tell you I could control it, but I can't even remember anything that happened during the blackout." I could understand her hesitancy; being around a full-sized wild lion would scare me too.

"Do you think you killed those people on the river, back in Siberia?"

I hadn't thought of that. "I must have," I finally said. "Two drowned; both might have jumped out of the boat to get away from me. Waders and heavy clothes in cold water are a recipe for drowning. The other guy? Maybe he tried to attack me, or I just went after him. I have no idea, but a big lion explains the missing head." Looking at the news coverage, ripping a head off was no big deal for the lion.

"Your lion isn't stupid," she told me. "It knows things."

"What do you mean?"

"Twice now, you've made it back to the building and jumped over four meters up to get to our deck without being seen. When your lion attacked, it went after the men with the guns first, then kept the rest from getting away. It prioritized the threat, not just striking out in rage against the closest targets. Does that make sense?"

"I can't explain what I don't know."

She paused for a second. "When they were all dead, and the screams stopped, I was petrified. Your lion checked them all, making sure they were dead before trotting back to where Svetlana and I sat petrified. My life passed before my eyes for the second time in a minute. I could see the anger in your eyes when you went after them, but looking at us? It was the same way you look at Svetlana now. You sniffed her to make sure she was all right, licked her face, and took off into the darkness. You have no idea how scared I was, John. When you looked at me, I knew after that you wouldn't harm us. That's why we didn't call the police on you. You saved my life, John. I'll never forget that."

I'd finished off my plate by then. I reached my hand across the table to take Anna's hand. "I think you are right. I think this lion of mine is intelligent enough to know you are with me. I'm glad he saved you, but I'm not sure staying here is a good idea. Maybe I should move back to a hotel or find a place in the country."

Anna's reaction was not what I expected. "NO! You need us to protect you, John! Do you see what is happening out there? They think a dangerous African lion is running loose in the city. Cops are patrolling with hunting rifles, and the mayor is calling in the military. If you go outside as a lion, they'll cut you down in a hail of bullets!"

"I don't know what is causing these changes, Anna. I can't assure myself I won't hurt you."