(This song... poor Mina) 

He might have just peed himself. Mina tucked his dampening tail tighter beneath his belly as he hunched down to the ground, shaking. His instincts told him to hide in the grass, but it wasn't quite tall enough to disappear in. He couldn't get his animal to understand that, though. It refused to move, even as a giant lion came prowling straight toward them. 

Please, let me move my feet! Paws! Whatever! 

Mina had no experience what so ever with shifting, himself. Sure, his father and mother were both shifters, a cheetah and lion, but when they realized that he wasn't, they had kept their shifting to a minimum. He also had a brother who was quite a bit older who also shifted, but he'd also tended to keep it at a minimum when he'd visited.

I really wish that I had at least asked instead of just being upset that I was the only nonshifter in my family. 

The lion began to slow as it got close, then changed direction to begin circling around him. Mina tried to push himself up off the ground, but the slight bit of control he'd managed to wrestle away from his animal self couldn't function with how badly he was shaking. 

He stumbled about like a newborn, growing frustrated. 

Why can't I just move? Please let me help us! Mina thought to himself, trying to get his new animal side to understand. He knew that it took a little while for the animal and person to truly become one once born, but they really didn't have time for bonding right then. 

Please. We're in big trouble if you don't let me try. We'll both be dead if we can't work together and at least try to get away from him. 

He felt his instincts flare as the lion gave a content grumble, but Mina pushed them back as hard as he could. You might be young and just doing what you think is best, but I understand that there is a way out of this situation. Trust me, please. 

The little lion mix's claws dug into the damp earth beneath its paws for a moment before it slowly allowed Mina to finally have control of his body again. He knew that it wasn't technically an entity, but instincts weren't something he was used to having. It felt almost like another voice in his head, trying to persuade him without really taking the time to think through the decision. 

Alright. Let's see how this thing works. He thought as he finally stood up straight on all four feet. 

The lion came to a stop in front of him, the tip of its tail flicking back and forth behind it eagerly. 

He wants a chase. 

Lowering his little ears, Mina gave his best growl, earning a deep rumble from the lion in return. 

Mom had always been really fast... here's to hoping that I got a little bit of his speed with my new tiny legs. 

Mina slowly crouched, turning as he did so until he had the lion on his right side. Trying not to give himself away too quickly, he stumbled once, but as he was picking himself up, bolted toward the woods. 

He didn't hear the lion follow right away, but he had expected it not to. Del had said that he was ten thousand dollars. Considering the situation, Mina figured that whoever the lion was, they had paid that much to be able to hunt him. 

Del is a sick guy. To think that I thought he was nice. 

Mina remembered the man in the lobby that had shoved that nasty medicine in his mouth right then. 

Of course he's the lion. 

With a determined mew he scrambled over a fallen tree, then ducked beneath several bushes. He wasn't sure where he could possibly hide from the crazed feline until he realized something pricking one of his paws and looked down. 

Thorns? 

Glancing up, he looked closely at the large bush he'd found himself under and realized that it wasn't like the others. 

Blackberries. 

The lion, who had been forcing its way through the other shrubbery with ease, halted after just one of his paws stepped on a one of the fallen blackberry bush's branches. 

He hopped back with a startled, grunt, then sneezed and started trying to find a way to get at him. 

Mina felt a tiny inkling of triumph as he carefully dodged the large lion's swiping paws. It was trying to snag him with its claws without getting stuck too badly by the thorny bush. 

His own small paws were getting poked and pricked at repeatedly, but Mina greatly preferred the small amount of pain the bush was causing him to the possible damage the lion's teeth could inflict. 

As he got more comfortable moving his feline form, Mina began to swipe and bite at the lion's paws. He wasn't doing much damage, if any, but it definitely seemed to frustrate the cat more. 

Serves you right! Picking on someone so small. 

Just as he was thinking that, the lion, who had disappeared a few seconds prior, suddenly reappeared... unfortunately, it had managed to push its way through the bush just enough to land a strong swipe to Mina's poor cub. 

It went flying head over tail out of the thorn bush and ended up lying upside-down against a large, damp tree trunk with its tail between its legs and back feet in the air. 

The lion was bounding toward him in Mina's upside-down vision, making him flail his little legs to try and get right side up again. His backside was just falling forward so that he could try to get up and run when he heard something rustling quickly through the canopy overhead. 

Whatever it was, it had the lion skidding to a halt just a few feet from him in order to jerk its head up and growl a warning. Mina took that opportunity to rearrange his body, finally getting to his four paws again, just in time to see someone he hadn't expected break through the heavy foliage. 

Knight? 

The hawk gave the loudest screech Mina had ever heard as it dove toward him, making both the lion and himself, wince. He descended almost faster than Mina could see, but the lion somehow managed to have no issue. It snarled and jumped up, somehow clipping Knight's wing with a clawed paw. 

The hawk fumbled a little, but didn't drop like Mina had expected. In fact, he extended his talons and snagged his little lion form by the back of his neck. Knight's claws dug into his scruff, easily cutting through his skin, though Mina knew that he likely didn't mean to. 

Just get me away from him, please!

Knight was doing just that, but it became clear almost right away that he was struggling. He did manage to get them up to a branch high enough to keep the large lion at bay, though. 

Mina moved very carefully once he was released, not daring to risk falling down where the lion was currently pacing angrily. Looking up at Knight's hawk as he hugged the branch as best he could with his little paws, Mina felt his eyes widen. 

His wing has a bad gash in it. 

They wouldn't be able to fly out even if they wanted to. 

Mina felt his heart sink into his belly. He knew that Del had said that he'd just needed to survive for twenty minutes to be let out of the area, but that didn't mean that he would let them go. He didn't doubt that there was a bullet waiting for him on the other side of tunnel he'd been carried down earlier. 

A sudden sound a little off in the distance had Mina's attention turning in its direction. 

What now? 

The lion had turned toward it, too, and neither of them had to wait long before the crashing of something heavy flying, seemingly quite poorly, through the trees met their ears. 

The cat below him took a few steps backward, but even though Mina wanted to run, he was stuck in the tree Knight had placed him in. 

Wait a second. Knight's here. Then... 

The thunderous crashing sounds stopped abruptly. After a few seconds of deafening silence, a heavy thud reverberated through the area. Whatever had landed sent vibrations up the tree Mina was gripping with all of his tiny might. 

Below him, the lion was baring its teeth and hissing a warning, but Mina knew the moment he saw a black nose, followed by drawn back lips and giant, bright white teeth, that he would actually live through his current nightmare. 

Palace. 

His uncle's boyfriend was slowly stalking out from between two thick bushes. His mixture of fur and feathers were bristled to pinpoints, his wings outstretched to make himself look even larger, and menacing. 

Believe me, Palace. If I didn't know that it was you, I'd be peeing myself... again. 

Mina expected the lion shifter below him to book it out of there, but to his surprise, the cat actually reverted back to its human form and took a step toward Palace. 

Does he want to die? 

"Del? You actually changed your mind? Why did you not sound the stop hunt alarm?" 

Del? My boss? He thinks that Palace is my boss? 

Mina couldn't believe it. There was no way that there could be two creatures that looked like Palace. His uncle's boyfriend actually paused, too, seemingly surprised that he was being mistaken for someone else. His posture and wolf's expression didn't stall, though, and soon he was stalking forward again. 

"Hey, it's okay. I'll back down from him if you want the kill." The man said, taking a step back and raising him arms a little. 

Palace didn't seem to care, however, and before Mina could even blink, he had the man on the ground. Wisely, the shifter returned to his lion form, but even as impressive as his shift was in size and strength, he was no match for Palace. 

He's going to kill him... 

Without considering his own safety, Mina swallowed down his worry and let himself slip from the branch, much to Knight's hawk's screeching disapproval. He thumped down onto Palace's thick coat, then slid down to the grass before lunging for his face. 

His intention was just to distract him enough to get him to stop killing the lion, if he was still in time to keep that from happening, but as he moved, his body wavered. In an instant Mina was back to his human self and wrapping his arms around Palace's thick neck. 

"Stop, please!" He shouted, doing his best to try and hold Palace back. 

At first, it didn't seem like he was accomplishing anything, but over the next couple of seconds, Palace slowly began easing away from the bloody, unmoving animal before them. 

The moment Palace was far enough away for Mina to feel safe releasing him, he did so and crawled to the lion. 

Thank god, you're somehow still breathing. 

"Thank you, Palace." Mina said as he got himself up on his own shaking, bleeding legs. 

He looked up at Knight to thank him, but managed to catch him right as he fell from the tree. Blood ran down his arm from where it brushed against the hawk's damaged wing. 

"Palace, your brother." He said, hugging Knight a little tighter. 

Grunting, Palace lowered himself, silently signaling for Mina to climb onto his back. Not wanting to cause any hesitation in his own rescue, Mina carefully but quickly got himself and Knight onto Palace's back. 

As soon as they were situated, the giant wolf spread his wings and they were off. He was really sloppy with his flying, but he managed to get them just high enough to make it through the damaged windows they must have broken in through high above the fake forest. 

So glad we were in an area that lead to the outside. 

Mina took in a shaky, deep breath of chilly air as Palace began picking up speed. The sounds of the quieting, dark city around them began meeting his ears as they moved, but not before one final reminder echoed out to him from where they had just left. 

A single gunshot.

They killed him...