Shift: 33

Shade had to keep his anger from showing as he looked at the tiny Shifter get into the ring as a huge man got in as well. Jacob twitched at the size difference but he knew that Timber wouldn’t be a ‘reigning champ’ without having faced guys that size or even more.
“She’s a unique little thing, that Timber. She’s a jaguar, goes by a canine name in the ring, but if you watch her fight, she jumps around like a jack rabbit. It’s an interesting technique but she’s gotten me a lot of money.” The man smiled as he watched Timber jump onto the man’s back, wrapping her tail around to the guy’s face. “My little money maker…”
Jake let out a snarl that made Timber’s new owner jump at the sudden ferocity of his growl. Shade looked at Jake as he gripped the bar of the upper level with tension, his feline teeth showing as he glared at the scene in front of him. He didn’t want to, but to get Jake to get in order, he jerked the chain attached to his neck.
“Jacob.” Shade hissed. “I apologize; they have been by themselves and have not yet smelled a female of their species. Is she, uh…”
“Spayed? No!” the guy said with a haughty laugh. “No, I found that the female species of any shifter is especially aggressive when she is in heat. I never neuter or spay my shifters. Fighting purposes, of course, but common decency as well. They walk amongst humans and can even look like us, so why would I take their sexual devices away from them?”
“You are kinder than most, sir.” Shade said, one of the weights coming off of his shoulders.
He’d heard of some owners treating Shifters more like animals and neuter and spayed them as such. Shade agreed with this owner in that they were not just animals, but had thoughts and feelings and desires just like humans did. The only thing different about them was their ability to turn into an animal…
“After the fight, would you like to meet her?”
“I want to fight her.” Jake growled.
Lemuel looked at him and made a face as well as Shade.
“Jacob, you can’t do that.”
Jake turned, a menacing look in his eyes.
“Let. Me. Fight. Her.”
The man chuckled nervously. “Well, I can but it has to be owner’s consent…”
Shade sighed, knowing that even though the ruse was there, Jacob truly was his owner and his word would be done over his.
“He seems to have some… issues that he wants to get resolved.”
“Alright then. I’ll just have you sign some papers and we’ll get him down there. I will warn you, she’s fast.”
“I’m faster.” Jacob smirked, following Shade and the man.

“We have a new contestant in tonight’s fight against our reigning champion. He’s a new fighter but another rare species just like her! Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you Jacooooob!”
Jake walked out into the fighter’s ring and everyone booed him; but he wasn’t there for them. He looked at Timber, who was staring at him as she breathed in and out heavily. He was the same Jake she knew but the tail and ears made him look different than she ever imagined him to be. He was still huge, built like a rock, and giving her an angry look.
“Is this your way of rescuing me, Jake?” she growled sarcastically at him.
“No.” he said, lifting his lip at her. “This is purely a fight between jaguars. I come with no notion of convincing you to come home.”
“Then why are you here in the first place?!”
“Ringleader, are there rules to these fights?”
“Nope. Just can’t go outside of the ring or the fight is forfeit.”
“And it wins to the death, right?”
“Or a KO.” He said with a shrug.
“Good.”
The crowed began to get restless as the two stared each other down and began to yell for them to fight. Jake waited for Timber to start but she never did and finally crossed his arms.
“Your tactic is stupid and won’t work. I won’t start this.”
“Well somebody better!” the ringleader snarled. “These people bet money to see a fight, not a staring contest. Somebody better start moving!”
Jacob grabbed the ringleader by the face and pulled him to him.
“We are in the middle of a discussion so if you don’t mind, bub, I’d like to continue it without your blabbering lips within my vicinity.”
He let go of his face and the ringleader backed up.
“You got it…”
Jake suddenly felt a small foot make contact with his side and looked at Timber as she hopped back to her position. He looked at his side and back at her.
“Was that supposed to hurt?”
He took a position and the two finally began to fight.

It was the longest fight that had ever been done there and the first time that the shifters had actually turned into their full animal forms and fought so harshly. After what seemed like hours and hours, Jake finally pinned Timber to the floor as a jaguar. She began to turn into her shifter form and Jake followed suit, making sure to grab her wrists as soon as his paws became hands and she struggled underneath him.
Timber had never fought so long and with so much vigor against an opponent like Jake. She’d fought some but they were easy to read, making the mistake of letting their instinct take over their fight instead of keeping their head. Jake was different. He kept his mentality while he fought her, fighting in his jaguar form as if he were human. The amount of energy she had to use was too much and his weight was so heavy. She finally stopped trying to get out from under him and surrendered, deflating to the ground.
The crowd was silent as Jake lay on top of Timber, not moving. The ringleader finally came out from the corner he’d been hiding in and peaked into the ring. Jake was just holding her there and the ringleader went back into the ring.
“It looks like we have a new champion!” he yelled.
The crowd went wild and he bent down to the floor.
“Good job, kid.”
Jake got up and leaned back on his knees, looking at Timber.
There was suddenly a gun pointed in Jake’s face and he looked up at the man.
“I declare RAL.”
The ringleader blinked at him in confusion.
“RAL?”
“It’s in the rule book, dumbass. “RAL: Reverse Aztec Law: if a shifter of the same species gets into the ring, an owner may declare RAL against the victor in homage to the ancient people.” The Aztecs were known to kill the losers of their games as human sacrifices. In the rule book, I can declare RAL if I feel like it.”
“So… you’re pissed off because I won fair and square?” Jake asked, looking at him with a sarcastic look. “Aren’t you a sore loser.”
The man pulled the hammer back on the gun and pressed the barrel to Jake’s forehead.
“I hate to sacrifice a good fighter like you but I need my reigning champion.”
“Then why are you killing me?”
“The rules say the winner can do what they want with the loser.” The ringleader said.
“I see…” Jake stood up and closed his eyes. “Then shoot me.”
The man was about to pull the trigger when Timber stood up and looked at her owner.
“Master Stark, please don’t kill him.”
“I’ve declared RAL.”
“I declare Aztec Law then.” Someone said, coming into the ring.
Everyone looked over as Shade walked in and slammed a huge stack of cash into the owner’s hand.
“This should be enough for the winning of my shifter and to buy this shifter off of you.”
“You’re not-“
“I have more. Say the word and I can pay as much of a price as you want for her. I’m sure her real worth is not the same amount you paid for her.”
“I paid $40,000 for her! That’s a lot.”
“Yeah, well I have a receipt here when Lord Nicosia of Gregory bought her for $500,000. I also have the Certificate of Ownership here and huh, that’s weird… I don’t see it…”
“See what?”
“Well, odd thing here but, I don’t see a Bill of Sale.” Shade looked at him and smirked. “Naughty, naughty; it seems that you have stolen Lord Nicosia’s jaguar. Tsk, tsk.”
“What the hell you mean? Let me see that!” the owner growled, snatching the certificate away and his eyes bugged out. “This… this can’t be real!”
“Cash receipt.” Shade sang, fluttering the skinny receipt in front of the man. “You didn’t do a background check on her, now did you? And, if I’m correct, you guys can get into big trouble for not only stealing a certified jaguar-shifter from a noble, but since she is owned, you’ve technically slandered Lord Nicosia’s name. So, you can have the authorities of Tabatha come after you but also the authorities of Gregory.”
“Th- this…”
“I’m sure you were pissed off because you didn’t buy her outright, but on credit. You get a hefty sum for each win but not enough. Damn, don’t you just wish you could pay off that debt? Oh, hey, look at that big wad of cash I just handed you! I think if you just sell her to me so I can take her back to Lord Nicosia, you’ll be able to not only pay her off to your creditor but have some money to spare, not get caught by the authorities of both cities, and not have this whole operation taken down.”
The man glared at Shade but gestured to Jake.
“Do what you will…” He counted the money and frowned. “Eh, this is only $50,000.”
“Yes.”
“You said you paid $500,000 for her.”
“He did, but you didn’t.”
The man pointed his gun again. “Don’t you fuck around with me.”
Shade glared at him and snapped. Both Lemuel and Jake loomed over him and he gulped.
“Let me tell you something, kid; these two are shifters that came from the Shifter War. They have been trained in military combat to dispose of humans in as many ways as forty and no one ever know where you went. This one, Lemuel, was on the front lines and killed a lot of men; the one on the right is General Jake, the director of the torture camp for the captors. So, if I were you, I’d put your little gun down before they make you… disapper.”
The man put his gun down and Shade smiled.
“Thank you, kind sir. Jake, take your prize.”
Jake cracked his knuckles and grabbed Timber up, throwing her over his shoulder as she let out an ‘eep’. They left the ring and went back to surface.

Jake set Timber down and looked at her, battered and bruised by his hand. She looked at him also when he suddenly slapped her.
“Jacob.” Lemuel said.
Timber looked back at Jake as he pointed a finger at her.
“Don’t you ever run away from me again. Do you understand me?”
“Yes…” she said softly.
Jake’s eyes softened and he touched where he slapped her, making her turn to him. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. She looked at him in surprise.
“Masta Jake…”
“I’m not your master anymore, Timber, I’m the same as you now. If you’ll let me, though, I can own you in a different way.” Timber’s ears went out in confusion as he went down on one knee. “Timber, will you marry me… slash become my mate for life?”