“Yes. You’ll be able to do that, too, one day. You’re already the best climber in your age group.”
“No, I’m not.” Head down, he kicked at the pine needles below him. “I can’t do things like everyone else.”
“That’s true,” Lachlan said and, dropping Dorian’s hand, lifted him up with a grip under his arms; the alpha put him on a standing position on a huge boulder.
Dorian could now look straight into Lachlan’s eyes. It was hard because Lachlan was alpha and Dorian was just a kid, but Dorian didn’t look away. “I’m not a leopard.”
“Did someone say that to you?” Lachlan’s voice held a growl.
Shaking his head, Dorian swallowed and folded his arms again. He wasn’t going to be a tattletale crybaby. Especially since the cubs who’d been so mean weren’t even his real friends or pack. They were just visiting from another pack. He’d only been playing with them because Mercy and Barker were grounded.
“I’m not dumb,” he said instead. “I try really hard to shift, Lachlan! I don’t know why I can’t do it!” It made him so angry and hot inside and it hurt.
“I know you try hard.” Lachlan put his hands on his hips, the leopard in his voice as he spoke. “The fact that you can’t shift doesn’t have anything to do with that.”
“I know! I’m latent!” Dorian didn’t really understand what that was; he just knew he hated it. “Why can’t Shayla fix me?” The pack’s healer could fix everything else, even Mercy’s broken leg when she’d slipped and fallen on the rocks by a waterfall.
“Dorian, you’re a smart boy. I’m not going to patronize you by telling you things will be easy for you,” Lachlan said, speaking to him in a way no grown-up had ever done. “It’s going to be harder than it is for your friends.”
Dorian stared at his alpha, his leopard at attention. “What do I do?”
“You’re not only smart but strong,” Lachlan said. “One of the strongest, most dominant young cubs in DarkRiver. I think you could be a sentinel one day.”
“But I can’t shift.”
“Neither can Zeph and he’s my sentinel.”
Dorian frowned, having never really considered that. Zeph was human, but he was still DarkRiver, even if he couldn’t change into a leopard. “He’s really good at stuff.”
“Yeah, he is.” Lachlan held his gaze. “You can become good at stuff, too. You just have to work hard and never, ever forget that you’re a member of DarkRiver. What keeps us strong as a pack are our members. I can’t have you giving up.”
Dorian growled. “I don’t give up!”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Lachlan looked at him without blinking, his eyes leopard again. “So, what will you do the next time someone makes you feel bad because you can’t shift?”
Dorian thought about his angry-sad feelings, and he thought about Zeph who was so good at stuff, and he thought about how his mom and dad said he was a wonderful son, and he thought about what Lachlan had said. Then he nodded. “I won’t let them,” he said, his leopard standing straight inside him. “Just ’cause I can’t shift doesn’t mean I can’t do everything. I just gotta try harder.”
“Good.” Lachlan nodded up toward the canopy. “You want me to start teaching you how to climb from tree to tree?”
“Really?” Dorian jumped down to the ground, landing easily because his cat told him what to do. “Let’s go!”
II
Dorian lay high on the branch above the battle zone, his body as still as stone. The leaves rustled around him, but he didn’t move, barely breathed. Inside him, his leopard was contained, held back with sheer willpower. It had taken him time to learn to do that, to contain the animal so it didn’t claw him bloody on the inside.
For a long time, he’d woken curled up in agony as the leopard fought him for a freedom he couldn’t give it. At first, he’d cried out and his parents had run in to pet him and cuddle him. It was kind of embarrassing to think about now, but, like his mom said, he was their baby so he just had to suck it up. Because she still petted and cuddled him even though he was fourteen.
His little sister Kylie always giggled when Mom did that. And then he had to growl and chase the real baby of the family around the house and tickle her until she shifted into her cub form and tried to tickle him back using her paws.