Freedom Is The Choice Between Love And Duty

I watched as Jakal inspected the doors and windows, growing more frustrated as he failed to find us an escape. Walking around the room, he looked through all the cubby holes he could think of. At one point he even searched through the closet, mumbling to himself angrily.

“Jakal.”

He looked at me, frustration and anger in his eyes.

“You’ve been at this for hours, come sit down and we’ll think this through.” I patted the bedding beside me.

Sighing deeply, Jakal paced to me, throwing his body on the bed.

“It’s worthless, it took me years to break out of here and I’m sure they’ve up security since.”
He looked to me with pain filled eyes, “I’m so sorry; I thought I could protect you from them, but I can’t.”

“Jakal, who are you protecting me from?”

He was about to reply, but the door opened, “Good afternoon, I hope you too slept well.”
John strode in, wearing a button down white shirt and black slacks, “I hope you didn’t mind, but since you two are always together I took the initiative and put you guys in the same room.”

He smiled when he saw how close I was sitting to Jakal, “But it looks like you guys didn’t mind much. Come on, Lily, it’s time to meet the folks.”

“She’s not going near them, especially not without me.” Jakal growled

John smiled, “Thought you might say that.”

He snapped his fingers and in walked four big polar bear shifters, and when I say big, I mean huge.

Jakal growled, fighting the bears when they reached for him and dragged him to the ground. I was about to jump in when another bear pulled me from the bed, moving me to the door. I screamed and fought, failing to remove myself from his hold.

Jakal fought even harder, seeing that I was moving out of the room. The last time I saw Jakal he was being jumped, his head slammed into the floor so many times I lost count.

“Jakal!” I screamed as the bear continued to move me down the hall and into another room.

“Do not worry about him, he will be fine and you will see him soon.” John spoke as I was thrown into a chair.

I tried to call my lioness so that I could rip these guys apart, but she was still paralyzed, still silent.

“Why can’t I shift?”

John smirked, “It’s a little mix my parents created. You’re animal will be perfectly fine in a few days.”

I was sending threat filled rumbles when the door opened and two people walked in, “Ah, Lily, it’s so great to finally meet you.”

The lady who walked in was a golden haired beauty. She was tall and had dark eyes, her face looked as pale as porcelain, but the dark gleam in her eyes made me feel like hiding.
The man behind her was just as beautiful, with white hair, dark eyes, and just as pale.

He had the same evil gleam.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t say the same.” I commented as they sat with a table between us.
I felt as if I was in an interrogation room.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The man spoke

“Well,” John inserted from the door, “I’m going to check on my brother.”

He left, closing the door quietly.

“Why am I here?”

Both of them looked at me, “Like I said earlier, we wanted to meet you.”

“Then why didn’t you just set an appointment, like everyone else?” I question

“Because we wanted you here, in our home.” The man answered

“But why? Why lock Jakal and I up if you just wanted a visit? Why kidnap me?!”

The woman sighed, “I only get to see one of my son’s, Jakal never visits.”

“We knew he wouldn’t come voluntarily, so we just made sure he came home.” The man spoke.

So these are Jakal’s parents.

I haven’t known them for 20 minutes and I already dislike them.

“That doesn’t give you the right to take us against our wills. What you’ve done is wrong.”

Jakal's mother’s expression became harder, “It may have been wrong, but it’s not the worst we’ve ever done, and I’m sure it won’t be our last offense.”

My hands became fists with my anger, “I want you to let us go, and never contact us again.”
She sighed, “We mean you no harm, and you will be released without a scratch.”

My eyes narrowed, “What about Jakal?”

“He will stay; he escaped us once, but not again. We knew he would follow you no matter what happened, so we had John go after you.” The man spoke

I scrapped my chair back. “I’m not leaving without him!”

“I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

As the woman spoke the glass mirror to my left began to move, showing a window into a room where Jakal was strapped to a table, a helmet tied to his head.

“What are you doing?! Let him go!” I pounded against the window.

“Why fight so hard, Lily?” His mother whispered

“Release him now!” I growled, fangs beginning to show.

“He’s not worthy of you, you could do so much better then the fool he became. You need a real man, not some pup.” I turned to the man, advancing toward him.

“Jakal is more man then you could ever be!” I felt my nails lengthen, the tips cutting into my palms.

“He is an animal; we made sure of that years ago.”

I was about to pounce at her, but a sound stopped me.

It was Jakal, he was thrashing and screaming. The helmet on his head was lighting up and his cries became screams of agony.

Those screams were what fueled my lioness to reach up and take hold of me.